novelraw Chapter 733: Migrating Ghouls
Chapter 733: Migrating Ghouls
A pool of fog appeared ahead.
The remnants of the anomalous fog on the grounds of the Wasteland were like shallow pools exposed at low tide. They usually appeared only in the morning and gradually dissipated as time went on.
Most importantly, there were no anomalies in the pools of fog. They were quite safe; the only danger was how easily one could lose their bearings.
The pools of fog, like scattered shards, were strewn across the lowlands of the Wasteland. They resembled islands, and Lu Li and Katerina moved along them as if sailing across a sea.
— Are you always like this?
When they re-entered the fog, the whispers of the Wasteland were left behind, and Katerina’s tension eased.
Katerina wasn't lying when she said she rarely spoke to people. Most of the time, she kept her distance, trusting no one but herself. Lu Li was a little different, given his legendary origins and the fact that he was a pureblood human.
— Always like what?
The fog was slowly thinning, visibility down to about ten meters.
— So quiet. You barely speak, except to ask questions.— Mostly.
— You should try to change, talk a little more. — Katerina wanted to hear stories from the era before the anomalies.
After a moment's thought, Lu Li took Katerina’s advice. — Tell me about the current prices.
Katerina was about to say something when a ghostly figure appeared faintly in the fog ahead.
It was the blurry silhouette of a woman cradling a small boy, quietly singing him a lullaby.
— Those are shadows of the Old Era...
Katerina involuntarily lowered her voice, gazing at the past with a sense of longing. — Like a mirage, they replay scenes that happened before the Age of Anomalies.
Before them stood the woman, cradling the child.
A lullaby drifted from her lips.
— Hearing the song, close your eyes; seeing shadow claws reach for the light, step on them; hearing three knocks at the door, tell the creature outside: 'Come in'; when the foolish slab of meat draws near, pay it no mind; when the beautiful song begins to flow, close your eyes and listen; hearing the lullaby's gentle tune, the child falls fast asleep...
Joy shone on the little boy’s sleepy face as he drifted off to dreamland to the sweet melody.
Lu Li and Katerina walked past the woman, a projection from the Old Era, and she paid them no mind.
— How did infants avoid the ritual of Silence later on?
Lu Li asked the question as he walked farther away.
The woman’s adoring gaze left the sleeping boy. She lifted her head slightly, looking into the distance at the silhouette that was about to disappear into the depths of the fog.
— ...That lullaby, it can put a child to sleep.
Katerina said, humming quietly, caught up in the emotion. — Hearing the song, close your eyes; seeing shadow claws reach for the light, step on them; hearing three knocks at the door...
The discordant song, filled with emotion, became somewhat pleasant.
— Who composed this lullaby? — Lu Li, devoid of sentiment but driven by reason, asked.
He sensed a strange power in the lullaby—it was relaxing.
For children, it could lull them to sleep.
Katerina stopped singing and reminiscing. — I don’t know.
In any case, people really did find a way to continue their lineage during the time of Silence.
This pool of fog was about the size of a town square, and by the time they finished talking, they had already reached its edge.
Silence once again enveloped the Wasteland, accompanied by the giant claws reaching for the sky. Two tiny figures walked across the dangerous plain.
After a while, they took refuge in another pool of fog.
Walking through a much thinner fog, Katerina returned to their previous topic of conversation—prices.
Prices in the Age of Anomalies had stabilized. The rampant inflation from the beginning of the era was gone; they had returned to their original value.
But earning shillings had become much harder. The only steady source of income was in the Wasteland, and it came at the cost of one’s life.
— Taking contracts, searching for useful resources, hunting, patrolling safe zones... all to survive, — Katerina said.
She thought it would go on like this until her contamination became too severe, and she would have to sell herself to live lavishly for a while before finally dying.
Lu Li’s arrival had changed that, giving her a faint hope. Perhaps she could earn a large sum of money... or even become a resident.
Over time, the pools of fog that had protected them in the Wasteland gradually dissipated, leaving Lu Li and Katerina exposed on the gloomy plains.
Katerina was an excellent hunter.
That much was obvious: she was alive, and her contamination wasn't too severe.
In the Wasteland, "excellent" didn't mean strong, but able to survive. The ability to survive depended on many factors, like luck.
Katerina's luck was usually not too good, but not too bad either. Such people found it easier to survive—they didn't die suddenly like the unlucky, nor were they as inexperienced as the fortunate.
Closer to noon, the Light Stealer, having risen high enough, fully revealed its monstrous black claws, which towered higher than the World's Spine Mountains to the north.
Ten kilometers from the safe zone of Livitown.
Lu Li and Katerina hid behind a rock, peering ahead.
The entire flat plain was laid out before them. Several hundred meters ahead, a column was moving quietly, crossing the Wasteland.
— Trouble... those are Ghouls, — Katerina lowered her voice, identifying them by their outlines.
— Ghouls?
— They're an undead anomaly... worse than any mutant. They hunt us, travel in packs, and they're intelligent... Damn it, we were supposed to go around the Ghoul nest! — Katerina cursed under her breath.
— Give me the map.
Katerina handed the map to Lu Li, watching the Ghouls in the distance while also keeping an eye on him.
Krot had said the route would help them bypass the Ghoul nest, but they had run into a pack of them anyway...
Had they gone off course, had Krot deceived them, or was the Ghoul pack on the move?
— It looks like they're migrating, — Lu Li said calmly.
— Migrating?
— Look closer. They're carrying things. — Lu Li observed the sprawling column, where stronger Ghouls were herding the others. — Do Ghouls have a habit of migrating?
Katerina thought for a moment, and her body suddenly trembled slightly.
— What is it?
Katerina suppressed her excitement. — We're going to be rich... that Ghoul nest is turning into a Ghoul city. They're migrating to find a new home!
This news was important enough to attract Livitown's attention, and they could get a huge sum of shillings for it.
— Let's go, quickly. We have to get this information to Livitown, — Katerina whispered, then pulled Lu Li and began to retreat in the opposite direction.
The reason for Katerina’s actions quickly became clear: more and more powerful Ghouls were appearing in the pack, among them indistinct, enormous silhouettes the size of houses.
Scattered scouts were sweeping the area, missing nothing, including the rock they were temporarily hiding behind.
Hundreds of Ghouls were crossing the Wasteland, and when the migrating column disappeared from view, not a single straggler remained.
At the same time, the rising claws drew even closer to the sky.