Chapter 101 Accident at the Lakeside Outpost

After the spaceship disappeared from the bottom of Blood Lake, it triggered a large-scale cavity backflow. Tons of lake water, coupled with the water pressure from several hundred meters above, slammed heavily onto the lakebed, causing a massive tremor. This commotion would definitely be transmitted to the outside world, but since the little green men and the spaceship had already left, Hao Ren didn't need to worry about any more trouble – at most, it would just leave another unsolved mystery in the minds of the locals; Blood Lake certainly had no shortage of those.

Nangong Wuyue helped everyone resist the impact of the lake water backflow. At this moment, she was swimming sideways at the front of the group. Hao Ren couldn't help but worry when he saw the siren girl swimming like a half-dead fish, instinctively flipping her belly upwards: "Are you sure you're okay?"

Nangong Wuyue swam ahead, lopsided, still stubbornly insisting: "I'm fine! I'm just a little dizzy! Don't underestimate a siren's ability to survive in the water..."

Vivian watched Nangong Wuyue with particular sympathy: "...But you're already belly-up..."

Nangong Wuyue tried hard to right herself, but failed, shaking her head: "Sometimes, looking at the world from a different angle can lead to many discoveries..."

Seeing this, Doudou happily followed behind Nangong Wuyue, imitating her by floating belly-up. Hao Ren quickly grabbed the little fellow's tail and pulled her back: "Learn something useful! This position is unlucky!"

Nangong Wuyue was dizzy after being shaken by the lake water backflow and had transformed into her mermaid form to maintain her balance (although it didn't seem to help much). At this moment, she suddenly turned her head to look at her tail and began to struggle with the issue again: "...Do you guys think I have spines or not..."

Hao Ren felt cold sweat pouring down his back even though he was soaking in the water: "How long have you been agonizing over this question!"

When everyone reached the shore, the four ascetic monks who had been waiting for a long time came to greet them. They still looked as expressionless as before. Hao Ren estimated that even if these four vajra met the end of the world, as long as that end of the world wasn't something their goddess had casually created, they could continue to stare blankly with their zombie-like faces. The bearded man came to Hao Ren and asked: "Those green creatures have already left?"

"Don't call them green creatures, they're people too, they're called the Campbells – in the eyes of some incorporeal aliens, we're called meat people," Hao Ren became righteously indignant at this moment, completely forgetting that he had been calling the Cabala the little green men the whole time. "The spaceship has been sent away. That last movement was really loud, a slight miscalculation... but rest assured, aside from the loud noise, nothing went wrong."

The young female ascetic monk among the four (would it be okay to call her a nun?) followed up with a question: "Did you see any abnormalities at the bottom of the lake?"

"No," Lily, who was fiddling with two black stones she had picked up from the bottom of the lake, answered casually upon hearing this, "What were we supposed to see?"

The four masters shook their heads in unison, indicating that it was better if there were no abnormalities. At this moment, Hao Ren looked up at the sky, which had completely darkened. After identifying the direction based on his memory, he started walking towards the lakeside station where he had previously stayed: "Let's go quickly. The commotion just now was quite loud, maybe it has already alerted the nearby Crusaders. It'll be difficult to explain if we're still wandering around the lake at this time."

The group set off towards the lakeside outpost. On the way, Vivian glanced at the several silent ascetic monks: "Masters, you know our situation. We're not from this world, but we have no malice towards this world. If we encounter anyone questioning us later, especially if we're questioned by members of the Church, I hope you can help cover for us. Also, we hope you can honor your agreement regarding the Holy Relic."

The bearded man walked unhurriedly, his voice calm: "Rest assured, clerics must abide by agreements – although clerics should not lie, this matter involves a sacred object, so we naturally know how to adapt to circumstances. Moreover, in that 'surface world,' we received much help from you, and it is time to repay that favor."

Although the bearded man and his group always wore stern faces, they were actually very easy to talk to. In fact, as long as it was under the major premise of "mission," the extent to which these ascetic monks could adapt was astonishing. In order to protect the Holy Relic and return it intact, they could surrender, be captured, die, fight, and even violate the bottom line of ordinary clerics to work with heretics or even deceive and swindle. It could be said that they could do anything except hand over the goddess's sacred object; they could be saints or villains. This was the special kind of cleric cultivated by the Church of the Glorious Light. Their thoughts were pure, their actions were clear, and their entire lives were focused on only one thing: the "sacred mission."

Easygoing, but extremely stubborn.

Hao Ren had been in contact with the bearded man and his group for two or three days, and he couldn't say that he fully understood these strange people who were always silently thinking, but he had more or less grasped their way of doing things from their occasional conversations and knew how to get along with them. That was why he and Vivian were able to get the four ascetic monks to vouch for them: this did not violate the principles of the four ascetic monks.

Becky looked up at the starry sky of her hometown, appearing preoccupied all the way. She was finally home, but the way she was returning home was different from what she had imagined. Even the mercenary girl, who was always cheerful, had moments of worry. However, she quickly threw her worries to the back of her mind and became happy again: "That's right! We still have to collect the reward after we get back! Master Bearded Man, we have to go together when we hand over the Holy Relic. I'll be a noble then... I wonder which important person will knight me! If Marshal Ofra hasn't left the west yet... Ehe, ehehehe..."

Vivian couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine when she heard Becky's strange laughter, and she ran to Hao Ren's side, hugging her shoulders: "Why am I so allergic to this kind of laughter?"

Hao Ren rolled his eyes: "Haasiana—"

Vivian immediately remembered many things that made her hair stand on end, and she glared at Becky: "Don't laugh like that! I'm allergic!"

"Speaking of which, it's useless even if you're knighted and given a manor now," Nangong Wuyue glanced at Becky. "You can only stay here for fifteen days at most each time, so even if you get a big house, it's the same as letting the servants live in it."

"Don't remind me of that!" Becky jumped up as if someone had stepped on her tail. "Can't I just enjoy the experience and leave?"

The group was full of extraordinary people. Although they were joking and laughing along the way, they moved quickly. Soon, they arrived at the lakeside station, but when the silhouettes of those simple wooden houses appeared in front of them, Izhaks suddenly called out to everyone in a low voice: "Wait! Something seems to have happened ahead!"

Hao Ren looked up and immediately noticed the problem: the outpost in the distance was dark and silent, without even a sliver of light. The brilliant starlight and the light of the two moons shone on the outpost at the same time, but he couldn't see any signs of life inside. Moreover, after careful observation, Hao Ren also noticed that many of the outpost's buildings seemed to have been damaged. He had the deepest impression of the arrow towers on the corners of the outpost, but now there were only a few vague wooden stumps left.

Becky hadn't quite seen the situation at the outpost yet and was just wondering why there were no lights: "Hey, why does it look like there's no one there? Shouldn't these lakeside outposts be permanently garrisoned..."

Lily sniffed hard, the fur on her ears and tail standing up: "There's a faint smell of blood, almost completely dissipated. It should be from several days ago."

"Someone attacked the Holy Lake outpost?!" The bearded man and his group finally couldn't remain calm. The four of them dashed forward: "Hurry, let's go see what's going on!"

Hao Ren quickly followed, and before long, he reached the high ground by the lake. Only then did he see more details: the wooden walls around the small outpost had basically collapsed, and the magical barrier that had originally enveloped the walls had also dissipated. Two-thirds of the wall on the front of the outpost was shattered and scattered around the high ground, as if it had been trampled by some enormous creature. He followed the bearded man into the camp, and everywhere he looked, the buildings had collapsed in the same way: the walls were broken by brute force, the solid wood was shattered and scattered, and many building fragments were even pressed into the ground.

It was as if a giant had looted the outpost.

Hao Ren immediately thought of the stone giants he had encountered once before: could it be that the defenses of Layton Town had been breached in the two months since he had left? Had the stone giants already charged into the inner line of the Holy Lake?

But the situation at Holy Lake didn't seem to have changed much, and the camp on the island in the center of the lake was brightly lit – he had specifically asked Doudou to swim over and take a look just now, so there was no mistake.

At this time, the bearded man had already circled the camp. He said in a very serious tone: "What exactly happened here? Did heretics attack the Holy Land?"