I, Stone Golem, only want to forge.

Although the worker had some doubts about Murphy's existence, after thinking about it for a moment...

He figured that with such a huge stone man and their limited manpower, they couldn't stop it from escaping any danger.

The housing for the staff is not far away, and it takes up such a large area that it can be found easily.

Upon closer reflection, this is a situation where there is nowhere to hide from trouble and nowhere to conceal danger.

He stopped worrying about the Stone Man's identity, nodded, got up first, and led Siri and Murphy to their residence.

This so-called accommodation was probably temporary, located near an open space by a creek along the Kulun River.

They passed through a specially compacted dirt road.

At its end were some shacks, an open-air kitchen covered only by a cloth shed, and two things in the distance that looked like dry toilets.

There were seven or eight shacks, of various sizes.

On average, a dozen or so people live in a single shack.

The total population is probably around 100 to 200.

The shack was extremely poorly furnished, consisting of only a few bamboo boards, wooden planks, and some sheet metal pieced together.

While it may offer some shelter from the wind and rain, it's better than nothing.

If the wind and rain are a little stronger, rainwater will seep in through the gaps in the building materials.

You can even see the crowds moving slowly below through gaps in the rain clouds.

When Siri saw this scene, he raised an eyebrow slightly.

I couldn't help but feel a sense of empathy.

His post was like that at first, and although it's much better now, it's still essentially a shack.

"Diaz, why did you sneak back? The goods outside are unattended; what if something happens to them? And what are that person and rock next to you?"

On a wooden chair outside the shack sat a middle-aged man with a lean body, dark skin, and a slightly sunken face.

He was looking down, carving something with a small knife, when he heard footsteps in the distance. He looked up and saw them.

When his gaze fell on Diaz and Sremurf behind him, he immediately stopped what he was doing.

He put his things aside, got up and walked over, asking questions.

He took each step with extreme caution, his hand seemingly reaching for the sword at his waist.

Diaz shrugged at the lean man's reaction and glanced at Murphy behind him with his chin.

"Haigan, there's no point in you making a fuss. See that stone man? With its size and the stone it's made of, you can't even chip it apart with an axe, let alone a knife."

The man called "Sea Pole" thought it made sense.

More importantly, all they had on them was a pile of scrap metal.

Valuable goods were all on the ship, and the property had already been deposited.

Why would someone with nothing better to do take action against them?

Do you want to see their tattered, dirty clothes, stained with the smell of the sea and sweat?

After figuring things out, Haigan relaxed a bit.

He sighed softly, his gaze bypassing Murphy and landing directly on Sri.

"This gentleman is...?"

"Oh, this gentleman said that the illness these crew members have been suffering from recently is frostbite, a disease from the north, so I specifically asked him to come and take a look."

Diaz quickly began to introduce them.

Haigan's eyes flickered. He glanced back at the shack, then at Srui's clean clothes, scratched his head, and said somewhat awkwardly.

"It might be a bit difficult to step in here, and it's not easy to move around. I'll find one of my brothers who can still move to come out and let you take a look."

Siri didn't insist on going in to take a look, but simply nodded in agreement.

"That's up to you."

Upon hearing this, Haigan immediately got up and went into the shack.

After a long while, he helped a similarly thin man out.

The man's skin was originally dark, but due to the effects of frostbite, it appeared as if it was covered with white patches, making it both black and white.

Seeing this, Sri quickly went up to the man and, before the man could speak, lightly touched the back of the man's hand with his fingers.

After sensing it for a moment, Weiwei frowned.

"It is indeed frostbite... and it is indeed because the curse of the ice crystals has spread into the water, which is a bit troublesome."

"A curse? How is an illness related to a curse?"

The man diagnosed by Sri suddenly heard his illness linked to a curse, and his already pale face became even paler.

If he gets sick, he can spend some of his savings to find a mage or priest to help him.

But he didn't know where to deal with curses, which sounded so mysterious. What about those old charlatans loitering around in taverns?

The probability of death is definitely much higher than the probability of recovery!

"Is there no hope?" Diaz asked hurriedly from the side.

Siri didn't answer, but simply shook his head noncommittally, then glanced at the man in front of him and asked another question.

"Your symptoms shouldn't be this mild... Have you been carrying anything unusual or eaten anything unusual?"

"Well, let me think... I can't think of anything right now."

"Well, I didn't expect you to have to think about this too! There are so many people in the shed, and everyone else is almost unable to move, but you can still move a little! We're counting on you."

He sighed and paced back and forth by the sea pole.

However, this kind of thing can't be forced into existence. If your mind isn't filled with knowledge, you won't be able to notice anything unusual even if you encounter something extraordinary.

The man pondered for a long time but couldn't think of anything unusual.

Siri frowned and looked the man over four or five times, but still couldn't find anything unusual.

Just then, Murphy, who was standing nearby, said something quietly.

"Vitality, stone, is in your embrace."

"A stone? Oh, I remember now, didn't you buy a talisman when you left the island, saying it was for your daughter? Could it be because of that?"

Diaz slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering something, and reminded him with a start.

The man remembered and hurriedly took a stone out of his shirt pocket.

It is dark green all over, with a dull color and some mottled black spots on the surface.

Is this it?

After the man took out the item, he handed it to Sri. Sri glanced at it but didn't notice anything unusual.

He simply shook his head and looked at Murphy, who had suddenly asked the question.

"Forgive my limited vision, but I don't see anything unusual about this stone. Could Mr. Murphy explain?"

The other three crew members also suddenly realized what was happening.

The one who just spoke wasn't Sri, but the man next to him, the Stone Man known as Mr. Murphy.

Haigan scratched his head again, having no other choice, and gestured for the man to hand the gem to Murphy.

Murphy didn't say anything, but silently took the gem and held it high, pointing it at the sun in the sky.

It unlocked two of its own vision capabilities.

Countless eyeballs reappeared in the sky, and the sun turned pale again.

And the dark green stone in Murphy's hand, under the pale sunlight, sprouted tendrils that looked like tentacles or vines, which floated lightly in the air.

Every now and then it would make a grasping motion in the air, then suddenly retract into the stone, only to emerge again a moment later.

However, the four people nearby did not notice this scene at all.

It seems only Murphy can see it.

This stone may seem ordinary to others.

But in Murphy's breath of the earth, it was as abrupt as seeing a pool of seawater on parched land.

And... it suddenly felt as if it could eat the stone.