134: Rescue Plan

Chapter 133: Rescue Plan

Leaving the woods, a desolate field stretched before them. Arthur took over from Flora in the driver’s seat, and the carriage bumped along the overgrown path.

Broken fences stood like crooked gravestones, and a few empty farmhouses were scattered across the fields.

“This doesn’t look normal at all,” Arthur said to the Sheriff.

“It wasn’t like this when we came last time,” the Sheriff replied.

He scanned his surroundings with a tight frown, as if searching for evidence to support his words, “And all the workers who came back said everything was normal.”

But there was nothing around except knee-high weeds and farmhouses that clearly hadn't been inhabited for a long time.

“What do we do now?” A hint of imperceptible panic was in the Sheriff’s voice. “Should we turn back?”

He was already worried that they might be ambushed by something at any moment.

“We’re already here. Are we going back without investigating?” Arthur said in a deep voice, “Calm down, Sheriff, don’t let the evil forces here affect your judgment.”

The Sheriff nodded and spurred his horse onward.

After another stretch of road, they arrived at a small village.

“This is where the serfs live,” the Sheriff introduced.

The village was in a mess. The soil was turned over haphazardly, as if someone had ploughed the open spaces between the huts;

A horse’s body lay in the doorway, its belly slit open, and swarms of flies buzzed over it;

Long streaks of brown blood crisscrossed the dirty white walls.

It was eerily quiet all around, without a single sound.

Arthur motioned for the Sheriff to stop the carriage.

He jumped out, and Flora and Drax followed him out of the carriage.

Heir, as before, did not get out of the carriage.

Arthur asked her to use the method she learned from the Granny to detect the power guarding Mist Town, wanting to figure out where the boundary of that power was. “This place is similar to the village we went to before,” Drax said.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Arthur asked.

“I remember,” Drax responded.

Just then, Heir got out of the carriage, but her mental state seemed off.

“We shouldn’t be here,” she muttered, gazing at the signs of destruction, “This is not a place for the living.”

Arthur motioned for Drax and Flora to prepare, while he walked towards Heir and asked, “Can that power extend here?”

The girl clutched her head, her expression one of unbearable pain: “No, there’s another power here.”

“And it has noticed our arrival; its minions are awakening.”

“Focus, Heir,” Arthur urged, “Try to get rid of it.”

“I’m trying,” Heir said with difficulty.

“What’s wrong with her?” the Sheriff asked, walking over.

Arthur told him to step back, giving the girl space.

Heir clutched her head with both hands, squatted down, and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

The Sheriff’s eyes widened, and fear once again gripped his heart.

He drew his sword, but this action did not improve the situation at all.

Flora and Drax, who hadn’t gone far, also stopped and looked over.

“Go do your work, she’s with me,” Arthur said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Heir’s wailing stopped.

She slowly stood up from the ground.

The Sheriff noticed that her eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of white frost, and the surrounding temperature was rapidly dropping.

“You—” Heir pointed at Arthur, only uttering one word, her voice hoarse and unpleasant.

“She’s possessed,” Arthur concluded.

“What?” The Sheriff gripped his sword hilt tightly, unsure what to do.

“Don’t let her get close to me.”

After Arthur finished speaking, he began to chant a spell.

Hearing the spell, Heir suddenly rushed towards Arthur like a madwoman.

The Sheriff quickly sheathed his sword and hugged the girl around the waist.

“Calm down, calm down, Heir!” he shouted urgently.

The girl’s strength was astonishing; the Sheriff had to use all his might just to barely restrain her.

Fortunately, Arthur’s magic was completed quickly.

He aimed the holy emblem at Heir, guiding the divine power, trying to force the resentful spirit out of Heir’s body.

The entire process was exceptionally difficult; this resentful spirit was much stronger than imagined.

It must have sneaked into her consciousness when Heir was perceiving the demigod’s power.

“Heir!” Arthur shouted at the girl, “Fight it, don’t let it take over your consciousness!”

After a roar that sounded like a laugh yet was gender-neutral, a pale figure flew out from behind Heir.

At the same time, a large fire erupted in the plantation fields—Flora and Drax were throwing Blazing Fire Glue into those fields.

The white resentful spirit looked at the fire, letting out an angry hiss, and the next second, it vanished from its spot.

The Sheriff released the girl, staring at her uneasily. “I’m—I’m fine now.”

Heir said weakly. She took a few steps back, then suddenly “oops” and vomited a pool of black filth.

She wiped her mouth and continued, “We have to go to the manor. There—there are still living people there; I saw them.”

Arthur nodded: “That’s the plan.”

The three got into the carriage and headed towards the Candy Family’s manor.

As planned, the Sheriff drove the carriage onto another forest path.

Behind them, black smoke billowed, and faint, terrifying wails could still be heard.

“Before you told us about all this this morning, I would never have believed any of it was real,” the Sheriff said, ducking to avoid an overhanging branch, “Undead in the fields, Ghoul in the manor, and ghosts—

“Damn it, what the hell happened to this place? In just half a month, it—it turned into this!”

“The corruption must have been slowly progressing in secret,” Arthur speculated, “The first to be transformed were naturally the core members of the Candy Family.”

“Then the manor servants, then the serfs, and finally the workers from Mist Town.”

“He had been secretly accumulating power, which is why he let Night Mist transform the people outside Qingfeng Valley.”

“Who is he?” the Sheriff pressed.

Arthur looked at the manor that appeared in the mist and replied, “Perhaps the survivors can give us the answer.”

“You know where the manor’s wine cellar is, right?”

The Sheriff replied, “Last time we came, the wine cellar was a key inspection point.”

“Then it’s the same this time.”

The carriage circled half of the manor, then broke through the flimsy iron gate at the back and stopped directly at the entrance to the wine cellar.

The three jumped out and found that the wine cellar door was locked with a large padlock.

At this moment, Arthur couldn’t help but start to miss Airo. The Sheriff, without a word, stepped forward and began to smash the lock with his sword hilt.

The sound of crashing the door earlier, plus the noise of smashing the lock now, made Arthur’s heart beat rapidly.

He only hoped that the large fire in the fields would attract enough Undead creatures so that they could successfully rescue the survivors.

The sound of shattering windows came from above their heads.

Arthur reminded Heir: “Get ready, they’re coming.”