The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 523: Halida's Treasure
The collapsed wooden house was not big to begin with, and with half of it included, it became a ruin.

Stumbling, Shandel followed Roland through the sloppily covered branches and crooked tree trunks, bypassing a pile of wood chips and discarded rusty nails.

The soles of boots rolled over them, making loud creaking sounds in the silence.

then.

A leopard-like shadow jumped out from behind the wall, and five sharp fingers scratched Roland's neck.

—Through the phantom.

Then he was punched in the face by Shandel and kicked in the stomach with the tip of his boot!
A thud.

She rolled a few times, roared like a wild beast, and quickly crawled back to the 'room' on all fours - an open-air 'room' with one wall broken off.

Shandel glanced at Roland, silently put the dagger back into the sheath, and curled his lips as Rose often did.

Halida...

Roland walked into the hunter's cabin which had neither a door nor a door frame.

The nose called the police before the eyes.

A strong odor of decay penetrated my nostrils.

Halida knelt in the corner, hugging the source of the smell tightly in her arms, and staring at the two people who were slowly approaching with vigilant eyes, as if she was afraid that someone would snatch her treasure.

Yes.

The source of the smell was the body of a baby.

A highly decomposed corpse.

The baby had been dead for a long time, and the foul-smelling fluid flowing from its skin was probably unbearable even for a person with a broken bone. Its body was covered with sores, and as it was soaked in the fluid and kneaded and slapped like a cradle, it made a sound like watery, greasy, and sticky fat.

Its entire body was glistening with oil, and its rotten eyeballs, nostrils, and unnaturally open mouth were filled with maggots that were squirming in a crowded mass.

They squeezed together, squeezed together, and shrank together, then scattered outwards along with the humming and swaying of their 'mother'.

The woman with black hair and silver eyes hummed a not-so-common nursery rhyme.

This gradually calmed her and the child in her arms.

She stared at Roland and Shandel, freed one hand, and picked up the paper box hidden behind her back - the empty milk inside had long gone bad, and black bugs flew out from inside when she shook it.

Roland looked at her quietly.

Watch her pour the remaining blackened milk into the baby's mouth, with maggots flowing out.

They slid down the rotten and worn skin, the unnaturally bloated belly, and the brown and yellow fat on the thighs.

then.

On the floor, struggling in that stench.

Behind her were several piles of incomplete bones, all dug out from the tomb.

"Halida."

Roland cried softly.

There was a chaos in the silver eyes that penetrated the black hair.

She should know this person, but it seems she shouldn't know him now.

“…Woof.” She wanted to call Roland’s name, but had forgotten it long ago. She just pulled her uncontrollable face and put on a friendly and ferocious look.

however.

When Roland leaned toward her and offered her his hand, she flinched away again.

She gathered all that was rotten and turned to bones into her arms, hugged them tightly, curled them up, and used her arms, knees and calves to block the bad guys to prevent them from stealing her treasures.

"younger brother…"

She spoke the complete sentence in a hoarse voice.

"mine."

Retreat into the corner.

She hadn't had any water for a long time, nor had she eaten anything that "a person should eat" - the good things were left by him to the children, and the children who fell asleep early left them to maggots and ants.

Squeak.

Suddenly, Shandel's leather boots sank into a tilted wooden board.

This undoubtedly made the mother, who had several children, instantly alert!

She was afraid of the smell of this gray-haired, blue-eyed monster. She could feel the approaching, condescending danger, the razor-sharp malice and the terrifying, precisely angled smile.

But my mother just lost the wind of her legs.

How could she abandon her child?

"He——!" It was as angry as a cheetah, but its body was shrinking smaller and smaller, almost competing for territory with the spider webs and soil in the corner.

"She's frightened of me."

Shandel was in high spirits, biting his lower lip tightly, eager to try.

This is much more interesting than animals and mentally normal people.

"Xandel."

Roland whispered her name.

The girl suddenly stopped moving forward, slowed down her rapidly rising and falling chest, tilted her head, and had a strange expression on her face: "Have you thought about how to cover this up, Master?" "Fernandez Devinsson is not the kind of executive officer who would let the criminal go just because 'we are friends'. He doesn't have a flexible mind, and this matter might end up in front of Enid Jutia - you don't want things to get to this point, right?"

of course.

Grave digging is easy to cover up, but in this case a person has indeed died.

The baby in my arms.

If Halida was caught, there would be only one outcome - maybe Roland could say a few words for her and save her from being hanged.

And then, live in a dark cell without seeing the sun for ten years?

"I can give you a suggestion..."

There was a hint of pity in Shandel's smile.

"A cultist who stole a baby happened to steal Halida's brother. The foolish girl followed him into the dense forest outside the city. Executors Cinder Kratov and Roland Collins rescued her. Unfortunately, in the battle with the cultist, Captain Fernandez Devinson died in order to protect his team members..."

The devout believers clasped their hands together and lowered their eyes to pray.

"…May the All-Father bless his fearless soul."

Roland was silent for a moment, staring at the woman shivering in the corner.

She was still wearing the same clothes they had first met, and the exposed skin was covered with cuts.

He was barefoot with a pair of slender feet, and his toes were filled with mud.

She looked at Roland, then quickly looked away and hugged the babies in her arms.

Then, he quietly turned his head and looked at Roland, but his gaze still retreated immediately.

"mine…"

She mumbled hoarsely.

"be mine…"

Roland turned around and looked at Shandel who had already drawn his gun: "Let's do as you said - the first half, Shandel. I don't know where you got the conclusion that the two of us can deal with a fourth ring. Weren't you present at the battle in Bristol?"

"You should know what kind of power Fernandez possesses."

Shandel looked disappointed: "I wanted to hear you say 'How can we hurt Fernandez' - Roland, you are really disappointing."

"You get used to being disappointed."

"I don't want to get used to it at all." Shandel lowered the gun slightly and pulled the trigger.

boom--!
The bullet grazed Roland's trouser leg and pierced into the already soft wooden board.

then.

There was a continuous sound of gunfire.

It broke the silence of the dense forest and echoed throughout the cemetery in the wind.

"Don't die at the captain's hands, Roland."

Shandel emptied his gun, threw it down and drew his dagger.

"If that thief were here, he probably wouldn't approve of you facing a fourth-ring Holy Flame for such a thing."

Shandel glanced at the crazy woman who was wailing with her hands covering her ears, and a trace of malice flashed in his eyes: "I hate it when someone causes trouble for you."

Roland was silent.

"Xandel."

"Ok?"

"The last person who gave me trouble... was you."

Shandel looked innocent: "Isn't that a romantic love story? The warrior saved the sleeping princess..."

Roland bent down, picked up the trouser leg that was torn off by the bullet, and put it in his pocket: "Can I choose to be the king?"

Shandel was surprised and delighted: "Then...father?"

Roland: ...

Not wanting to bother with the sick woman, Roland bent down and brushed off the maggots crawling on Halida's arm, and brushed aside her greasy black hair: "If you forget my name, I can say it again."

"I'm Roland Collins."

he whispered.

The white gauze falling from nothingness poured over the man's body like a clear spring.

The silver eyes suddenly widened.

She saw it.

Behind the hazy veil...

'younger brother…'

Halida muttered and reached out her hand, but was interrupted by a deafening boom.

Behind the broken brick wall, the storm swept in.

"Cultists!!"

(End of this chapter)