American comics farmer: start by adopting the villain savior.

Chapter 168 If it is not the day of destruction, how can one know the suffering?
Blinking eyes.

In the end, Kayla simply lowered her wolf head, gently nuzzled Salafir's face with her nose, and let out a low moan that was almost a sigh.

Then, it opened its mouth, carefully picked up Salafir by the back of his neck, gently lifted him up, turned around, and walked silently toward the deep cave half-hidden by thick snow.

“Let’s go, little one,” she said, her voice slightly muffled but still clear as she walked, “It’s cold outside, let’s go inside the cave and talk.”

“My mother-in-law said that Thanksgiving, for people of Native American descent like us… um…”

She tilted her enormous wolf head, seemingly choosing her words carefully:
Its significance may be a bit... complicated.

"It's a bit like someone breaking into your cornfield, taking all your corn, and then many years later, they say to you, 'Thank you for giving us your corn; let's celebrate together!'"

"Although I don't feel anything,"

Kayla flicked her fluffy tail, her tone becoming lighter:

"But after all, it was my mother-in-law who said it."

"That's why I never celebrate this holiday."

Holding her by the scruff of her neck, Salafir dangled her short legs in the air.

He struggled to process Kayla's words, his little brows furrowed tightly.

They actually stole all my corn.

"These people are so wicked," he said angrily.

"is a bit"

Gently place Salafir in the cave where soft hay and animal hides are laid out.

A soft glow emanated from Kayla's body.

The white wolf's posture then rippled and contracted like water.

She eventually transformed back into the snow-white-haired girl. Though completely naked, she remained composed, like a mountain spirit, pure and without a trace of worldly shyness.

"but."

Picking up the scarf, Kayla patted Salafir's little head, her azure eyes like melting glacial lake water, filled with genuine joy: "I really love the gift."

Seeing the warm and contented smile on Kayla's face after she put on the scarf, Salafir's slight anxiety finally subsided. He could clearly feel her heartfelt joy.

So he laughed along, nodding his little head with a mixture of understanding and certainty:
“I have plenty more here, Sister Kayla.”

"Wow——!"

Under Kayla's astonished gaze, Salafir performed as if by magic.

He dragged his not-so-large cloth bag to his front, then grabbed the bottom and pulled it up forcefully—

"Clatter!"

Endless streams of clothing poured out of that small bag, instantly piling up into a colorful little mountain on the ground covered with animal hides!

There were thick sweaters, durable work pants, soft cotton socks, and even a few fluffy hats and scarves. Although they varied in style and condition, they were all clean and neatly folded...

At least it's packed neatly.

Kayla's bright blue eyes widened in surprise.

She stared at the suddenly appearing mountain of clothes, her mouth slightly agape, speechless for a long time. This was a tremendous shock to her, someone who had been almost completely disconnected from modern society and lived alone in the mountains for years.

Curious, she stretched out her slender fingers and carefully touched a camel-colored sweater that looked particularly soft.

This feeling...

It was similar to the rough handiwork she remembered her mother-in-law doing.
Clothing with a primal, wild feel is completely different; it offers a different kind of delicate warmth.

When she was a child, she did wear clothes knitted by her mother-in-law.

But since her mother-in-law passed away, she has completely lost her source of clothing.

In addition, she lives in this cave almost 24 hours a day, and due to the lack of magical energy, she can only go out hunting or patrolling in the form of a white wolf, which is more suitable for survival.

This means that her human form hardly needs these cumbersome features.

So, in the long years when no one was watching over her or caring for her, she had long since lost any concept of or need for these human creations in the cave.

In fact, if she hadn't met Salafir, she might never have become...
Human form.

However, at this moment, looking at this colorful little hill in front of me...
Feeling the soft touch from my fingertips, a long-lost instinctive desire seemed to quietly awaken.

Kayla's face showed a look of novelty and excitement.

Like a child who has discovered a treasure, she began to examine the clothes one by one, picking up one to compare it to her face, then picking up another to feel the fabric against her face, occasionally letting out a soft sigh of surprise.

Finally, her gaze was drawn to a dark blue hooded sweatshirt with an abstract wolf head print.

She picked it up and awkwardly but enthusiastically put it on.

The sweatshirt was a bit too big for her slender figure, with the hem covering her upper thighs and the sleeves being too long, requiring her to roll them up several times to reveal her fingers, but she didn't seem to care about the ill-fitting clothes.

Instead, she tugged at the wide hem of her clothes and excitedly twirled around in place, her white hair fluttering in the breeze.

She looked at Salafir, her eyes sparkling as if filled with stars.

With a hint of expectation for approval, she asked, "How is it? Does it look good?"

"Hmm. I don't understand it either."

Salafir nodded vigorously, her little face full of agreement: "But it should look pretty good on Sister Kayla!"

Kayla smiled happily, a pure smile.

Looking at the gift from her friend, the subtle distance that had arisen because of Thanksgiving gradually dissipated.

Oh dear...

It was just a gift shared between friends.
My mother-in-law, in heaven, must understand my happiness right now and won't blame me, right?

In high spirits, she crouched down, bringing her eye level with Salafir's, looked into the little one's eyes, and said very seriously:
“Sarafil, these… are gifts between friends, right?”

She needed to reconfirm the nature of this affection; it was important to her.

Salafell nodded vigorously again, her tone unwavering: "Yes! It's not a Thanksgiving gift, it's a gift between friends!"

"That's great!"

Kayla's smile brightened, and she took Salafir's little hand:

"As a return gift... come with me. I'll show you that... the 'stone statue' that my mother-in-law and I have always protected!"

"Stone statue?"

Salafir blinked, a look of curiosity on her little face.

He vaguely remembered that his sister Kayla and her mother-in-law had been guarding something very important in the mountains, something like an ancient stone statue.

To be honest, he'd always been quite curious about what it looked like.

"Correct!"

Kayla nodded, her expression becoming slightly more serious.

But still with the excitement of sharing the secret:
"It's at the very back of the cave. Grandma said no outsiders should be allowed in... but Salafir, you're a friend, so it's okay!"

As she spoke, she pulled Sarafil up.

After lighting a small flame, he carefully made his way into the deep, dark depths of the cave.

We walked for quite a while along the natural passageway that wound its way down into the depths of the cave.

They stopped in front of a huge stone gate roughly carved from a single block of rock.

The stone gate is still carved with some patterns that are now blurred and indistinct.

It depicts stars, wolf packs, and some kind of bound existence.

"This is it, Salafir."

Standing before the stone gate, Kayla released Salafir's hand, took a deep breath, and stretched out her seemingly slender arms to press against the heavy stone gate.

"boom--!"

With a low shout, her slender arm suddenly unleashed an astonishing power completely disproportionate to her size! The heavy stone door, with a teeth-grinding grinding sound, gradually opened a crack inward.

A blast of cold air rushed out from behind the door, making Salafir shiver involuntarily.

"Come on, be careful." Kayla picked up the stone lantern again, slipped inside first, and turned back to call to Salafir.

Sarafiel, also curious, followed and squeezed through the crack in the stone door.
then
He was completely stunned.

What met his eyes was not the ancient statues or murals he had imagined, but a...

An endless expanse of lush green!

Beneath the enormous cave ceiling are countless jagged green crystals!
The entire vast underground space was bathed in an eerie and inexplicable light.

Salafir recognized it almost instantly!
Although its form seems closer to the most primitive state of minerals.

But that unique energy fluctuation is definitely not wrong!
He had previously sensed a faint, similar aura on Lana's bracelet; Clark would feel extremely uncomfortable whenever he got close! Some special-colored kryptonite would even make Clark become evil.

Salafir's little face turned serious, and he subconsciously took a small step back, immediately making up his mind:

From now on, I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely cannot let Brother Clark get even a kilometer closer to this place! To him, this place is the most terrifying drug den in the world!

What if we get inside?
Clark is definitely in for a rough time.

“Sarafil, look this way…”

Unaware of Salafir's unusual state, or perhaps Kayla had already grown accustomed to the energy field here, she led the somewhat stiff Salafir along a path carved out of the green crystal forest, continuing towards the deepest part of the cave.

The path was lined with towering kryptonite crystals.

Walking through it feels like traversing a maze made of jade.

After walking for about several dozen steps, the view suddenly opened up before me.

The two arrived at the bottom of an even larger underground cavity.

The energy here is so concentrated it's almost tangible; even the air feels thick and stagnant.

At the very center of the cavity stood a piece of unprecedented, enormous size...

Green crystal!

This crystal is as big as a small mountain.

It is probably tens of meters high, crystal clear throughout, yet it emits the most intense and pure ominous green light, as if it were the source and core of all green crystals.

However, what puzzled Salafir the most was the interior of this huge green crystal—

That huge black shadow!

It seems to be the stone statue that Kayla's sister mentioned?

However, it was different from the statues of gods he had seen before.

The statue is larger than imagined, with exaggeratedly bulging muscles and its surface covered with sharp bone spurs and keratin.

They didn't pay attention to Salafir's ulterior motives.

Kayla simply pointed to the enormous crystal that sealed the terrifying shadow and solemnly said to Salafir:
“Look, Salafir, this is the ‘stone statue’ that my mother-in-law and I guard.”

"My mother-in-law said that no one should be allowed to disturb its slumber..."

"Uh-huh."

Salafir tilted her little head back, looking at the dark figure imprisoned in the giant green crystal.

But I still felt a little strange.

So he quietly asked himself:
"Shen Du, Shen Du, can you tell what's in here?"

"Actually, it looks vaguely familiar, but I can't quite place it, though..."

Deep within his consciousness, the voice of the god carried a languid boredom:

"There shouldn't be anything special about it, brother. Anyway, I didn't sense any mental fluctuations or consciousness within this thing."

"Just like that white wolf said, there's just a lifeless thing in here, a rather uniquely shaped... statue? Or fossil? What else could it be?"

He paused, his tone as sarcastic as ever:

“Maybe it’s a super-large amber from hundreds of millions of years ago? But looking at these strange green stones, they should be related to Brother Clark. I suggest you go back and let your father take a look.”

"Oh~"

Salafir scratched his head, since even the gods said so.

Then he naturally felt relieved.

Actually, he had a slight worry before that this might be a poor thing sealed inside.

But if it's just a lifeless statue or fossil, then there's nothing to sympathize with.

As for letting Dad take a look
He felt he should first ask Kayla's opinion.

His attention quickly returned to Kayla.

He feels...

It seems that Sister Kayla is not staying here to protect things because she likes it, but rather because her mother-in-law said so, and she feels that this is the only thing she has to do.

Like...like those in town who were forced by adults to practice piano every day.
It's like a child who isn't happy at all.

Salafir felt sorry for Kayla.

They have to stay here with this big rock all day, and they can't go out and play like I do.

He hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help looking up at Kayla with his clear eyes, and asked earnestly, "Sister Kayla, you and your mother-in-law have protected it for so long... Have you asked it if it wants to be protected like this forever?"

"what?"

Kayla, who was enthusiastically introducing the statue, was taken aback by this sudden question, and a blank look appeared on her face.

"Ask...ask it? I...I don't know either...Grandma never said to ask it..."

I don't think I've ever thought about this question before.

For her, protecting the statue was like sunrise and sunset—a natural law that required no reason and no consultation with the person being protected.

Seeing her reaction, Salafir sighed like a little adult, and then made an even more groundbreaking suggestion: "Then... how about we ask it?"

"Ask it?"

Kayla was even more confused. She pointed to the enormous crystal:
"But...but it's just a statue! It can't talk."

"I have a way! I'll bring it back to life."

Salafir puffed out her little chest and waved her hand confidently.

Then, in his mind, he called for outside help:

"Shen Du! Shen Du! Please help me! Like how you made the scarecrow in the barn come to life! Your method of turning stillness into motion!"

Shen Du: "..."

After a few seconds of silence in the consciousness space, a speechless rant erupted: 'Brother, has your brain been ruined by this green light? The complexity of that rule is equivalent to two of your most proficient skills! Our mental strength is struggling to keep up right now, do you understand?'

He concluded irritably, "Before you try to help others, improve yourself first! When you become stronger, I become stronger too. Only by growing can we master these rules more quickly!"

"..."

Salafir was speechless after being rebuked, and her face fell.

Why is it so complicated...

He looked up at Kayla, who was still gazing up at the crystal shadow, her little face filled with philosophical agonizing thoughts like, "Does it want to or not?" and "What if it doesn't want to?"

He could only awkwardly reply:
"Um... Sister Kayla, how about... we talk about it another time? Let me... let me get ready?"

"Uh-huh……"

Kayla nodded subconsciously. She didn't think Salafir was exaggerating at all; instead, she was completely immersed in the brain-overloading concept that "the statue might have a will."

Hearing that we don't have to face this problem for the time being is naturally something we'd love to hear.

He scratched his head, looking at Kayla who seemed a little sullen because of her inner turmoil.

Saraphiel felt a little guilty, thinking that her suggestion might have made Kayla's sister even more annoyed.

"Sister Kayla! This is a return gift!"

He took Kayla's hand, a bright smile spreading across his face:
"How about I take you to a secret base? A place only three... um? four people know about, it's super fun!"

(End of this chapter)