Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 681, Part 24 (Part 1)
Water, water zombies?
Thales scanned incredulously at the monsters in the sewers—they were densely packed, of various shapes, and constantly emitting inhuman roars.

"Human, what does your flesh taste like? Is it the same as the last one?" The worm-like creature covered in tumors deliberately lingered a few feet around him, with ill intent.

Thales swallowed hard.

What? These ghost stories at Emerald City Wharf are actually true?

Do they really eat people?

Since Marius's "safety rope" worked, could they have found this place?
Even if they find them, do they have a way to deal with these monsters?
No, it's too late to count on them. The most important thing now is...

Thales took a deep breath and, amidst the increasingly pungent stench of the sewers, looked at Hilly at the end of his line of sight—she was still lying alone on the giant's hand, her face covered in blood, her life hanging in the balance.

The sins of the River of Hell began to burn, and the sewers shone as brightly as day before his eyes.

"Thank you."

Amid the monsters' roars, Thales gritted his teeth.

"Why thank me? Is it because I ate you?" The insect monster chuckled, its limbs twitching back and forth.

“Thank you for the art design,” Thales said calmly, his knees slightly bent. “It makes you look disgusting, at least not as scary as Blackpath.”

"what?"

The next second, before the insect monster could react, Thales roared and pounced on it like an arrow!

As always, one chance.

The insect monster let out a shriek, but Thales seized the opportunity and rolled away, barely escaping its side!

Wow!

Amidst the roars of the monsters, large splashes of water erupted, and Thales, covered in filth, struggled to his feet and charged forward without pause!

He dashed left and right, passing through the gaps between two rows of monsters, and continued forward.

Startled, the non-human monsters became agitated, their roars growing louder rather than quieter.

The sins of the River of Hell burned ever brighter, and the colors that appeared in the monsters' senses in Hell were strange. In some places, it was the red of flesh and blood, and in other places, it was cold darkness—wait a minute.

Before Thales could figure it out, a tentacle lashed out from the side like a whip!

Snapped!
At the last second, Thales flipped forward to avoid the whip, water splashing up behind him.

But he didn't stop. He just kicked out and slammed his leg into the spherical monster that had thrown out its tentacles. The monster roared in pain and cowered backward.

Water ghouls aren't as troublesome as you might think, right?
With a slight increase in confidence, Thales continued his forward momentum without stopping!

"How dare he, a human!"

The insect monster's furious roar echoed:

"Catch him, eat him! Catch him, eat him!"

The sewers were filled with different roars, and another monster’s forelimbs slammed down like scythes, but Thales’ hellish senses allowed him to time it perfectly. Instead of retreating, he advanced through the splash, bringing his legs together and arms in, and slipped out through the gap in the scythe-like limbs!
Finally, after breaking through the scythe-limbed monster, all that remained in Thales's eyes was the ugly monster that had captured Hilai, who was howling and seemed to be turning to run away.

Get closer to her, even closer to her!

Thales roared and quickened his pace!

The next second, the ugly giant suddenly turned around and its huge arm swept across fiercely!
Sure enough, as expected.

The Sin of the River of Hell crackled and popped within his body, and Thales gritted his teeth and leaped into the air!
The giant roared and smashed into the air, its arm slicing through the sewage and sending up a spray of water as high as two people.

But Thales didn't stop. With the blessing of the River of Sin, he swung his dagger in mid-air, pinning the monster's arm and using the momentum to swing onto its shoulder!

If Yara were here, she would also praise the timing and technique of that leap, wouldn't she?
In mid-air, Thales couldn't help but think this.

After all, this was the most profound image of the bartender from that underground street that remained in his heart.

But unfortunately...

The next second, Thales roared and swung his elbow as he fell, hitting the monster squarely in the forehead!
Boom!
The monster's ugly features twitched for a moment, and a second later, it swayed and fell down.

Thales landed in front of it, rolling over to dissipate the impact.

Very good—he took a step forward and barely caught the girl who slipped from the troll's grasp.

"Hilai, are you alright? Wake up!" Thales shook the motionless girl anxiously and couldn't help but reach out to check her breath.

Thankfully, she's still breathing, but she's passed out.

At this moment, Hilaire's face was covered in blood and his body was soaked in filth, while behind them, the deafening roars of the water corpses and worms echoed:
"Stop him!"

Just then, Thales felt a jolt beside him—the fallen giant began to move with a whooshing sound.

Damn it, I knew it, the legendary water ghouls weren't so easy to kill.

Thales didn't care about anything else. He supported Hilly with one hand, letting her lean on his shoulder, while with the other hand he gripped the JC dagger and aimed it at the troll's neck.

But just then, a gloved hand grabbed his wrist.

"Xi-Wyana?"

Thales was both surprised and delighted, but when he looked down, Hilly, who was slowly waking up in his arms, couldn't help but pfft and spray a face full of dirty water on him!
Damn.

Thales had to wipe his eyes with his sleeve, while Hilly broke free from his embrace, knelt in the water, and coughed violently, spitting out a lot of dirty water.

"Listen to me, we can't stop. There are still a lot of water zombies behind us, who knows what they are..."

As they spoke, the giant beside them sat up and shook its head.

Thales' expression hardened, and he prepared to grab Hilly and run away, but Hilly pushed him away rudely.

“No, wait,” Hilly said weakly.

"what why?"

Thales was immediately stunned, but the monster slowly regained its senses and leisurely raised its giant arm, enveloping them!

Fuck!
Thales instinctively grabbed Hilly's hand, pulled her behind him, and raised his dagger at the monster.

But in that instant, Hilly suddenly looked up.

"No!"

Hilaire was covered in filth, her face smeared with blood, a truly horrifying sight. Clinging to Thales' arm, she trembled as she looked at the hideous giant, struggling to speak:

"Bobo, no!"

At that moment, the monster's arm stopped in mid-air.

what?
what happened?

Thales stood in front of Hillay, nervously watching the monster.

The monster tilted its head and moved closer to them, its small eyes blinking on its ugly face.

"Woo?"

The monster mumbled something Thales couldn't understand.

“Yes, Bobo,” Hilly coughed again, panting, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

"Woo!"

The next second, the monster lowered its giant arm and stomped its feet joyfully.

"You, you recognize this thing?" Thales frowned, but dared not put down the dagger.

“He’s no ‘thing,’ drop your weapon.” Hilly exhaled and swayed, and Thales quickly pulled her back.

Just now.

"Big guy!"

The insect monster's shrill male voice rang out as it led a large group of monsters to attack from behind: "Kill him! Eat him!"

Before Thales could even frown, Hilly sighed, leaned half her body on Thales' arm, and staggered around to the front of the troll:
"And you, Woniak!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs:

"You hit the wrong guy!"

Hilaire's voice stood out sharply amidst the cacophony of monster roars in the sewers, and for a moment, the monsters' noise subsided.

"Stop! Stop! Everyone stop!"

The half-human, half-insect monster shouted loudly, telling its kind to make way, and then it appeared before them, its feet treading on the water.

With the situation unclear, Thales nervously shielded the girl behind him.

Swish!
A torch was lit, its light so bright that Thales had to squint.

"Twenty-four?"

In the firelight, the insect monster's face was still covered with ugly, disgusting tumors, but its voice was full of doubt:
"You, are you okay?"

“Isn’t that right?” Hilly said irritably, wiping the blood from her face. “Is this how you welcome me?”

What's going on here?

Twenty-four?
Thales looked at Hilly, then at the insectoid monster, completely bewildered.

The insectoid creature named Woniak held a torch and watched Thales warily. Finally, under Hilla's stern gaze, it sighed and began to reluctantly "molt"—to be precise, to shed its skin covered with carapace, spikes, and insect limbs, revealing a normal human body.

Thales' mouth dropped open.

Behind him, the giant who had just been elbowed by Thales shook his hands and pulled his arms out of a pair of fake giant arms, but his face was still distorted and crooked—probably congenital.

More and more torches were lit, illuminating the sewers: the monsters behind Voniak also began to move and "molt" amidst the commotion. They peeled off different monster masks and hoods, removed their skins, threw away their prosthetics, and revealed human figures.

Thales suddenly realized: So that's how it is. What Hell's senses had just seen were actually flesh-and-blood people wrapped in skin.

Screw the water ghouls.

“Sigh,” Thales sighed helplessly and put down his dagger. “After all that, it turns out it was just people scaring each other.”

He thought his martial arts had improved, that he could dodge and leap in the dangerous sewers full of water zombies, and fight his way in and out seven times—wait a minute.

Thales blinked in surprise, watching as Woniak removed his monster skin, revealing his true form:
He looked young, but the tumor protruding from his right shoulder was as big as two or three heads, like a ball stuffed inside his body. It not only made his body look crooked and bulging, but also pushed his head to the left and raised his right shoulder and right arm by a foot. His whole gait was uneven and irregular. To make matters worse, the pus-filled tumor extended to Vonniak's face, making half of his face look swollen and distended.

To be honest, it was even more shocking than the half-human, half-insect image from before...

Thales frowned instinctively.

The oddly shaped Voniac seemed extremely sensitive; he noticed Thales staring at him and abruptly turned his gaze back.

"What? Never seen a monster before?"

"Voniac said viciously, his shoulders swaying as he spoke, and the glaring tumor on the side of his neck twitching uncomfortably," Voniac said.

Thales gave an awkward smile and whispered to Hilly, "Where exactly is this place...?"

"Ah, so it's you, you little troublemaker, Twenty-Four!"

Before Thales could finish speaking, a short figure laboriously dragged a bunch of limp leather suits through the water to them.

Thales had to look down to see the figure clearly—it was a short-armed man, no more than three feet tall, but with an unusually large head and a face that looked to be forty years old. He was, well, a dwarf.
"Why are you back! The party isn't even here yet!"

The unusually short man raised his head, revealing a weathered face.

“Uncle Hauser,” Hilla said weakly, “can’t I come back and visit beforehand?”

Voniac snorted, and the tumors on his face and shoulders trembled violently.

The short, middle-aged Hauser tiptoed, squinted at Hilly, then at Thales, before grunting in response. He turned and trudged back, waving his tiny hands.
"Go back, go back. It's not an invasion, it's our own people coming back. Let's disperse, let's disperse. Aren't you going to eat?"

A collective sigh of relief came from the sewers. The people who had taken off their protective suits turned around, whispering among themselves as they dispersed.

Uncle Hauser patted the ugly-faced, unusually small-eyed "monster" on the shoulder and shooed him up: "Yeah, Bobo, you go back too, go back, go back to eat. You're done here. Yeah, you clumsy big guy..."

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

"Okay, okay, you cute big guy..."

"Woo!"

Thales stared in disbelief at the “monsters” dragging their leather suits back: some of them were ugly, some were missing limbs, and some had peculiar shapes…

This is……

"By the way, where's Slimani?"

Hilly realized what was happening and quickly asked:
"Woniac, where is the man who came down with us?"

Voniac leaned to one side, shrugged his left shoulder (the only shoulder he could move freely), and raised the torch to make room:
Behind him, Slimani lay stiffly in the corner of the wall, his eyes closed, having already fainted from fright.

----

A few minutes later, Thales and Hilly sat around the fire beside a long-abandoned reservoir, where sewage flowed quietly in the lowlands a few meters away, and beams of light shone from the wellhead overhead.

"what can I do?"

Voniac sat opposite them, waving his hands, the tumor on his shoulder almost resembling another head:
"The emergency exit suddenly opened, and Bobo carried you back, your face covered in blood and unconscious. Then two people arrived, the second one even carrying a weapon. Anyone would have thought you'd gotten into trouble outside and were being chased... Tell me, Twenty-Four, what could I do?"

"Maybe you could be more friendly instead of starting to scare people right away."

Hilly changed into a slightly cleaner set of clothes, her head wrapped in bandages. She held up a container that looked more like a metal box than a cup, and drank the strange-tasting liquid inside.

"I haven't been back for so long, I missed a turn and hit my head so hard I passed out, ouch, it hurts!"

Hilly touched the wound on her head, her expression pained.

Thales sat beside her, frowning as he looked at the medicine in his "cup".

“Hey, it was your idea to scare people away that came up!” Woniak protested.

Thales looked around nervously:

This is a long-abandoned sewer, with rudimentary conditions but a considerable area, inhabited by all sorts of... well...

“The phantom in the teacup today showed ‘Return,’ and I knew something was going to happen, haha,” On the other side, a short, dwarf woman scooped a spoonful of foul-smelling liquid from a broken bucket and approached Slimani, who was huddled in the corner, even more terrified after waking up. “Keep drinking, unless you want to get sick or die from an infection! You know, that was sewage from the sewers!”

"Thank you, Aunt Gadama."

Hilly sighed and drank the foul-smelling potion without hesitation.

“In any case, Twenty-Four is back, which is the best thing. Perfect timing, come and have lunch with us!” A girl stirring the pot by the fire chimed in. Her voice was sweet and clear, and her long hair was jet black and shiny.

“Thank you, Dorothy, I can’t wait,” Hilly replied with a smile, her voice exceptionally gentle.

Thales couldn't help but glance at Hilly; this was the first time he had heard the other speak in such a polite manner.

But for some reason, the other girl named Dorothy kept turning her back to them—wait, what?

Thales was startled, and then he realized:

The girl's face was covered with dense hair from her forehead to around her eyes, and from her nose to her chin.

That's why it looks like the back of a head when viewed from a distance.

Dorothy felt Thales staring at her and shuddered. She quickly covered her face and turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.

"Hey, where are you looking!" Woniak yelled angrily, and Thales quickly lowered his head.

“It’s alright, Dorothy, he’s my friend,” Hilly comforted Dorothy while giving Thales a reproachful look. “He’s just being silly.”

"friend?"

Woniak retorted irritably, his hostility toward Thales palpable: "We have no friends!"

“Oh, don’t be silly, you little rascal,” Granny Gadama put down the spoon that was taller than her and turned around. “Of course you have friends, there are friends all over the tunnel!”

"Woo-woo!" The outermost Bobo—a giant with a peculiar face and rare appearance, yet with the intelligence of a child—huffed and puffed as it nodded.

The entire tunnel.

Thales turned his head: In this abandoned sewer, in every corner and cave, lived some people, well, "strange" people. It was mealtime, and they were busy going about their business, their shadows flickering in the firelight.

“It’s different! You, me, Twenty-Four, Dorothy, Popo, and Uncle Hauser, we’re all the same, we belong here,” Woniak said, pointing angrily at Thales. “But he, he’s not one of us!”

One of us...

Thales frowned.

"Oh, of course he's one of us! You'll see."

Hilly looked up, turned around, and smacked Thales on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

Thales screamed in agony, "What are you doing?"

But Xilai not only didn't stop, he hit her several more times.

"Ouch! Ah! Ouch!"

Thales could no longer contain himself. He took three steps back, turned around, covered his head, and glared angrily at Hilly.

"See?"

Hilly glanced at Woniak and Dorothy, and shrugged:

"This is Wyman. He broke his head when he was a child and is mentally disabled."

Everyone was stunned by what they heard. A few seconds later, Vonig turned his head angrily, while Dorothy chuckled.

"I'm so happy for you, Xiao Liu!"

Grandma Gadamah waved her spoon and laughed heartily:
"You finally have a boyfriend!"

"Woo!"

The strange tunnel dwellers around the bonfire cheered and jeering, but Voniac remained unconvinced.

Thales felt incredibly embarrassed by their gazes.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Hillary said listlessly.

"Really? But the way he saved you just now was so cool!" Granny Gadama blinked.

“Yes, that’s how it’s written in the storybooks!” Dorothy added.

"What about him?"

Uncle Hauser emerged from another opening carrying a pile of goods. He came to a table that was clearly a workbench, stood on a footstool, and gestured to Slimani, who was hiding in the corner forcing a smile.

“Well, he was a passenger, he came from upstairs,” Hilly sighed, “a refugee.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Thales sensed that everyone's gaze towards Slimani immediately became wary, filled with rejection and hostility.

In that instant, he suddenly realized that the blows to the back of his head he had just received were thanks to Hillary's voucher.

“Okay, Slimani is a defense attorney.”

Hillay said:
"He's rich."

Faced with so many strange gazes, Slimani had no choice but to force a smile amidst his fear and tension.

"Two coppers an hour, twenty for overnight stays, meals included, extra charge," Voniacla said with a stern face. "Stop looking, you're not the first person to come here to escape!"

Slimani was stunned for a moment, until Popo next to him snorted angrily:
"Woo!"

Slimani then realized what was happening and hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, I'll give it to you, I'll give it to you, damn it..."

But he stopped taking out his money.

"Uh, I, I, all my money is here..." Slimani awkwardly pointed to the top of his head.

Under the unfriendly gazes of the residents, Thales sighed, took out the money bag that Wyah—the real Wyah—had given him, rummaged through it, and handed it to Woniak.

The gazes of the crowd softened, and Dorothy and Aunt Gadama began to hand out bowls of food to everyone—although it was just some ordinary oatmeal porridge and stew.

"Thank you, thank you. Is this a sewer? Where exactly is this place? And who are you people?"

Slimani was no longer as nervous as before, but perhaps due to his circumstances, or perhaps because the environment was too dirty, he was still very uncomfortable.

“This place is our home,” Granny Gadama said, dragging the pot along, ladling a spoonful of porridge into his tattered bowl, then gently stirring it in the pot before carefully placing the next spoonful into Hilai’s bowl. “If all else fails, just think of it as: our gang.”

"The Overlord Gang!" Voniac held up his bowl with immense pride.

"The sewer gang!" Uncle Hauser sarcastically remarked as he rummaged through the secondhand goods.

“The Brutal Gang!” Woniak retorted.

"The Scary Gang!" Granny Gadama laughed heartily.

“The Super Terror Gang?” Voniak hesitated, then offered another suggestion.

“Woo woo!” Bobo responded from the other side.

“The Underground Monster Gang!” Voniak tried to struggle one more time.

"Helping others is a joy!" Dorothy, whose face was covered in hair, said softly.

“Okay,” Woniak sighed, giving up the argument, and touched the tumor on his shoulder. “We’ve been arguing for over a decade, and we still can’t agree on a gang name.”

“You’re the only one making noise,” Uncle Hauser said with difficulty, opening a tattered old umbrella and starting to disassemble the ribs. “In the tunnels, everyone is busy with their lives, nobody cares about this.”

“Of course we care!” Vonjaka argued. “How did the Blood Vial Gang and the Brotherhood get their reputation? Yes, it started with a powerful name!”

Thales remained silent, watching their back-and-forth bickering, yet a sense of familiarity washed over him.

It was as if he had returned to the sixth house of the beggars.

The outside world may be treacherous, but once you're inside, nestled in your own people's den...

"So, the legend of the water ghosts in Emerald City is your doing?" Thales suddenly asked.

“That’s outrageous,” Uncle Hauser shook his head. “We used the legend of the water ghost to scare away unrelated outsiders and keep them away from danger—Twenty-Four’s idea.”

Thales leaned close to Hilly's ear and whispered, "Why do they call you Twenty-Four?"

Hilly's eyes lit up, and she raised her left hand, flicking her six fingers back and forth.

"Oh," Thales exclaimed, suddenly realizing.

But the next moment he realized: at some point, Hilly had taken off his gloves.

Lady Kevin Deer, with her twelve fingers outstretched, holding her broken bowl, sat there with ease and composure in the filthy, smelly abandoned sewer, around the fireplace, bickering and joking with Dorothy, Woniak, and Popeye.

There was no splendor, no fine clothes and delicacies, and no spotlight.

But she, Hilla Kevindeer, or, twenty-four, sat among them—the strangely-faced, intellectually challenged giant, the tumor-covered young man, the dwarf couple, the hairy-faced girl, and perhaps more—and laughed so happily.

So comfortable.

It seemed as if this was her home, her fortress, her empty palace.

In that instant, the mutilated faces and bodies of the people before me suddenly became much more pleasing to the eye.

Thales suddenly realized how Hilly had gotten involved here.

In comparison, does he, Thales Star, have such a quality?
Mindis Hall?

Star Lake Castle?
As Thales pondered this, he gradually drifted off into thought.

(End of this chapter)