AITAMITB Chapter 137

They walked this way fairly smoothly.

Midway, they encountered two places infested with evil spirits, casually cleared them, and then, guided by various clues, finally found the nearest “city” — more like a town, packed with people on its two streets.

Some people were leaning against windows, peering outside; some sat by the walls, eyes vacant. More people had no shelter at all, residing in makeshift shelters where a few pieces of plastic sheeting were pulled together to form a dwelling.

On the outskirts of this small town was a wooden fence encircling it. Even Zhao Xiaokui could sense the aura of the barrier from quite a distance.

She turned to ask Park Huiya, “Can you pass through the screening of that barrier after transforming?”

Park Huiya stared for a moment. On the gate of the wooden fence, people were still entering and leaving from time to time. They were mostly tall and strong males, often carrying plants or small animals they had hunted, indicating they had found food outside. After observing for a while, Park Huiya gave her an answer, saying, “Yes, I can do it without any problem.”

They didn’t rush in but waited outside for a while. Only when a gun-toting Caucasian speaking English walked out, and Ye Ying confirmed he had gone far enough and wouldn’t return soon, did they let Park Huiya change her form. She was ready to infiltrate the settlement and inquire about matters related to the evil god.

Zhao Xiaokui had seen Park Huiya transform more than once, but watching a lovely girl suddenly turn into a tall man still astonished her. In Zhao Xiaokui’s opinion, the most incredible part was when Park Huiya transformed; not only did her height increase, but she even managed to replicate the male anatomy below the waist. It was undeniably impressive.

After transforming into a Caucasian male, she mimicked a few phrases in the language they had just heard, asking Arthur if everything was in order. Upon receiving an affirmative response, she discreetly exited the path where young and middle-aged men hunted. Keeping her head down, she appeared very inconspicuous, taking confident strides toward the settlement.

Someone was sitting on the street who seemed to be acquainted with the Caucasian man, asking, “Mike, why are you back, and where’s your gun?”

Park Huiya, with an unchanged expression, replied, “Just came back for something, I’ve hidden the gun.”

Park Huiya casually dismissed the man’s inquiry.

Due to the presence of this man, she found it inconvenient to investigate the surroundings. After scanning the area, she headed towards the chaotic shantytown. As her figure gradually disappeared into the crowd, both Zhao Xiaokui and the others in the team felt a growing tension.

Zhao Xiaokui gave orders, “Take turns resting. Two people on guard. Lin Bai and I will start first; Sucha and Ye Ying, second.”

As Lin Bai had a lower rank, Zhao Xiaokui asked Hill for a heat-insulating blanket for him to wrap around himself. She kept her gaze fixed on the surroundings of the settlement, ready to respond to any potential surprises.

Park Huiya’s shapeshifting skills were impressive, and her adaptability was strong. Even before becoming an extraordinary individual, she was a soldier from the special ops academy. There shouldn’t be any problems, and even if there were, she should be able to handle them.

Hopefully, she could gather information about the specific location of the evil god…

Zhao Xiaokui had an unspoken concern – she hoped the evil god wasn’t within this settlement. Although evil gods from other realms might not be interested in such places, for them, similar locations were like pigsties to humans, where they wouldn’t consider cohabitating or sharing with the beings they kept. But the fear was that the evil god might not play by common rules, and if there really was one inside, Park Huiya might have a hard time escaping unscathed.

Gathering information was not an easy task, especially considering that Park Huiya and the locals didn’t share a common language. In this part of Africa, the most spoken languages were French, Arabic, English, and German – languages she was familiar with, but the heavy local accents made understanding not so straightforward.

Zhao Xiaokui and her team waited outside for a full four hours.

A break every half an hour, and each of them had at least rested for two rounds.

The sky quickly darkened. Just as Zhao Xiaokui was considering whether to leave Park Huiya here and take her teammates to find a place to settle, Park Huiya, dressed as a Caucasian, walked out from the exit.

Before reaching her hiding spot, a tall Caucasian man approached her with a gloomy expression. Upon recognizing Park Huiya, he calmly changed his face.

The man who walked past turned back, looking at him with confusion. Was there such a person in the settlement?

But it didn’t matter to him. He couldn’t survive on his own, so how could he care if there were compatriots in this place?

Park Huiya’s return brought valuable information.

They first found a safe place—an abandoned house where they had driven away the evil spirits. They set up camp and then heard about Park Huiya’s discoveries from the afternoon.

“The people in the town are all gathered from nearby villages. The places they originally lived in were either destroyed by wild beasts or completely occupied by evil spirits. Ordinary people can’t survive there.”

“These people are gathered here and can go out for hunting and gathering food, but they can’t leave within a radius of ten miles. They mentioned a place name; I didn’t quite understand it but recorded it. You can listen to it. Supposedly, it’s another settlement belonging to another powerful figure. The ‘big person’ here should refer to the evil god that has descended.”

“They are required to actively reproduce, and the newborns undergo selection by the priests. The strongest one among them is chosen and sent to the dwelling of the evil god, supposedly directly nurtured by the god. Every month, an emissary of the evil god comes, taking away the selected child. Tomorrow is the day the emissary of the evil god arrives.”

“The strongest child…” Zhao Xiaokui immediately understood what the evil god was doing.

“The god is selecting destinies, extracting the last potential from this group of people.”

Others were not quite familiar with these matters, and they turned their gaze toward her.

Zhao Xiaokui explained in the simplest and clearest way possible, “Usually, after we reach adulthood, our personalities are already settled, so the course of our destiny tends to be somewhat predictable. To put it colloquially, people who are idle at thirty will likely find it hard to become wealthy suddenly even at fifty.”

“But children are different; their destinies are full of variables. The education they receive and the way they are nurtured all can lead them down paths completely opposite to their parents’. Most people in this settlement come from slums, having a life with little success. To the evil god, they are like pig feed. It’s okay to eat a bit when hungry, but given the choice, the god would prefer something better.”

“I initially guessed that the evil god would keep humans like livestock, similar to raising pigs. However, it seems the ambitions of the evil god are even greater than we estimated. They’ve probably left themselves some time to recover, preparing to attack other parts of the human world. Otherwise, they wouldn’t treat the remaining humans in such a way. Looking at their living conditions, they barely have enough to eat or wear, no electricity, relying on primitive hunting and gathering. In this area contaminated by the power of the evil god, they can’t sustain themselves for long.”

The situation became more urgent.

But the more critical the situation, the calmer the few individuals became.

After discussing plans to hunt the first evil god the next day, they quickly arranged a duty roster and took turns to sleep.

At nightfall, Sucha took out a lotus lamp from Hill’s space. After dripping his blood into it, he ignited the wick. The pale yellow flame burned, dispelling the surrounding chill.

Vaguely, it seemed as if one could hear Buddhist chants.

Zhao Xiaokui thanked him.

Sucha said, “It’s what I should do.”

The evil spirits at night were rampant. Those who didn’t live in the settlement could hear the howling of the eerie wind through the walls. If it weren’t for Sucha’s lotus lamp, no one would have had a good night’s sleep tonight.

With this lamp, even Lin Bai, who had the lowest strength, managed to sleep for a full six hours before getting up from his sleeping bag.

Zhao Xiaokui had been awake for a while. She sat outside the house, the sky not yet bright. Faint shadows of evil spirits could still be seen around, resembling the common ghosts in movies when not possessing anyone – semi-transparent and white, with discernible human outlines. They ran with the wind as if countless grievances and pains sought someone to confide in.

She extended her hand beyond the range covered by the lotus lamp, her fingertips playing like plucking strings. A faint golden light, resembling lightning, circulated around her fingertips. The roaming evil spirits, as if attracted by something, rushed towards her fingertips.

When they first touched, it was extremely cold, and countless scenes appeared before Zhao Xiaokui.

But before she could examine them closely, these scenes abruptly collapsed. The evil spirits that collided with her fingertips dispersed slowly, akin to clouds illuminated directly by sunlight, gradually fading away until they completely disappeared.

A faint smile appeared on Zhao Xiaokui’s face. The newly awakened ability seemed promising, especially when dealing with entities like evil spirits that lacked a physical form, showing some particular efficacy.

Moreover, she could control the range of her release of extraordinary energy. Unlike the dominating holy light power contained in holy water, which, unless suppressed, would announce its arrival aggressively, her new ability was much more practical.

At the moment the evil spirits dissipated, Zhao Xiaokui also sensed a unique energy flowing into her body.

The power she had expended was instantly replenished, and she even gained some surplus. However, fine-tuning the use of extraordinary energy consumed a considerable amount of mental energy. As the day began to break, and the evil spirits gradually retreated into the dense jungle, Zhao Xiaokui withdrew her hand.

She said to her teammates, “Let’s go. We’ll lay in wait and see what the emissary of that evil god looks like.”

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