Chapter 557 – Ant-acid Flesh Nest
Chapter 557 – Ant Acid Flesh Nest
Sol followed the mountain mover all the way down the avenue and into the nearby survivor’s ancient forest.
However, that mountain tumbler took a slight detour, avoiding the place where the seven blindfolded ordinary people had once appeared.
Saul followed him all the way into the woods and halfway up the hill.
Then the donkey cart came to a stop and the driving mountain-topper, the man stood on the frame and lifted up the black leather, dropping the topmost boy under the roots of a large tree off to the side.
The donkey cart started again, leaving the motionless boy where he was, and continued deeper into the ancient forest.
Thor, on the other hand, did not follow again, his footsteps lingering beside the boy’s.
He knelt down and turned over the boy’s mouth, nose, and eyelids, and finally found a half-finger-long wooden thorn at the back of the boy’s neck.
The wooden spike was shallowly pierced under the skin and hung there.
He pulled the wooden splinter off, sniffed the odor on it, and gave a very faint smile.
“Is this what they use to camouflage people into a state of fake death?”
“It’s sort of an underground trade? If someone discovers it, they can also easily turn someone into real death.”
Saul looked at the boy’s hands and feet again.
The other man was only eleven or twelve years old, but his hands were full of calluses, so he obviously labored a lot.
As he looked, Saul let out an “eek”.
He went up and squeezed the boy’s skull and spine, “This boy has been prodded to grow.”
Although the boy looked to be in his late teens, his actual age was most likely only seven or eight years old.
He had been boosted like a wheat seedling in a field!
After much tossing and turning by Saul, the boy still didn’t wake up.
At this rate, he was going to go from fake death to real death.
“It seems like the people doing this business don’t care much about the survival rate of their goods either.”
That bearded man had somehow used some connection to send the boy out of the settlement completely by faking his death. And that mountain tumbler and the old man with the flower pot guarding the gate should both know about it.
They turned a blind eye, most likely because they were able to profit from this route.
Judging from their indifference to the boy right now, the vested benefits were already in hand, and the commissioned goods naturally didn’t need to be taken too seriously.
Life and death are by fate.
Or better yet, death.
No hidden dangers will be left behind.
As he watched the life in the boy’s body fade away, Saul suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and a healing spell fell, causing the boy, who was about to step into the gully of death, to jerk his eyes open.
“Cough cough cough cough …… cough cough cough ……”
The boy who had just opened his eyes coughed violently, having climbed back from the death gulch in a circle had caused a considerable amount of damage to his body as well.
When the boy had managed to catch his breath, in his afterglow he saw a man in wizard’s robes, crouching at his side.
While facing Saul, who had just saved his life, a look of horror appeared in the boy’s eyes.
He subconsciously crawled backward in an attempt to get away from Saul, but he hit the big tree behind him with a thud.
Several sections of dead branches and leaves fell from his head.
“No need to be afraid, it’s useless to be afraid, I ask, you answer?”
The boy’s back was dead against the tree behind him, and he slid his throat hard, swallowing, but his mouth was so dry it burned.
After a moment, he regained his composure a little and nodded.
He stared at Saul like a young rabbit fresh from the nest.
“That bearded man is your father?”
The boy hesitated a little.
“Lie and I’ll kill you.” Saul’s voice didn’t rise or fall in the slightest.
In the face of such a death threat, the boy did not have the fear and panic he had just before when he realized that Saul was standing beside him.
“Yes.”
“When I came here I saw you running away, but you were held down and nailed two holes in your feet by the men behind you.”
“They said I was old enough for the meat nest. I saw, I saw the boy in front of me get holes in the soles of his feet and put two ants in them, and he screamed in pain. I, I got scared and ran out.”
“What’s with this wooden thorn?”
Saul held up the wooden thorn he had pulled from the back of the boy’s neck to the boy.
The boy looked at the wooden thorn blankly and shook his head. “So how did you get thrown out again after that?”
The boy recalled for a moment.
“When I was taken back, they put an ant in the center of my foot, but as soon as the ant crawled into my paw, I fainted from the pain, and I don’t know what happened.”
“Oh, and didn’t your father give you any instructions on how to live after you left the gathering place when he had someone sneak you out?”
The boy still looked confused, but all could clearly hear his suddenly quickening heartbeat.
“It’s true that surviving in a place like this, the truly stupid white people would have died out long ago.” Saul shook his head in his mind.
He didn’t continue to hold onto this issue. Just now, he said that just to tell the boy, I’ve caught your pigtails, it’s time to ask some deeper questions next.
“What’s a meat nest?”
“Doesn’t this colony allow the commoners inside to leave?”
“Do many of the wizards here come in and leave?”
Some of the boy’s questions were answered, others he just shook his head to show he didn’t know.
Nearly dredging up the information in the boy’s head, Saul got back to his feet.
He looked at the boy, who was leaning weakly against a large tree, and rummaged through his storage for a bit of food to throw at him.
The small package that the boy’s father had given to the mountain tumbler would have been the food intended to be left for the boy.
It was just that Tumbler had neither intended for the boy to survive, so naturally he foraged down the food in the package.
“This is your payment for answering my questions, of course if you tell the truth, you can get more.”
With that Saul turned around and prepared to continue into the mountains.
He was going to look for a few bowback termites.
If the termite acid of this termite could really create a magical drug that could put a sorcerer into a state of high brain speed without any side effects, it would definitely become a rare sorcery material in the future, and would be fought over by many sorcerers.
It would be better for him to start getting into the research now.
It was just that since this Bowback Termite was so magical, it was bound to be guarded. Saul had to be careful not to miss his movements, so as not to be targeted by the second-order sorcerers in the settlement.
And just as Saul took two steps out, he heard the boy behind him calling him.
“Lord Sorcerer, please wait a moment.”
Saul stopped and turned back.
“My lord, may I, may I ……”
“No.” Saul knew what the boy wanted to ask, but he refused without hesitation.
When he had just examined the boy’s body, he realized that this hyped boy’s mental body and body had long been broken.
Not to mention becoming an apprentice, it would be difficult to even live to the age of twenty in good health.
Unless he could have the opportunity of a scrappy protagonist in a novel, encountering some heavenly material, changing his scriptures and washing his marrow, ah no, I should say reorganizing his spiritual body, awakening his magical talent, and amplifying his elemental perception, he wouldn’t have even the slightest chance of learning.
The boy originally wanted to fight a little more, but as soon as he raised his head he met Saul’s gaze that was as calm as the deep sea. The plea that came out of his mouth couldn’t be said anymore.
“He’s quite smart, it’s a pity.” Seeing that the boy didn’t know better and didn’t continue to plead, Saul turned to leave.
He marched forward through the forest, releasing the small algae.
“Be careful not to startle the people and creatures here.”
Algae jumped to the ground and dove under the soil and disappeared.
After about half an hour, it suddenly burrowed back out, its black tentacles circling Sol’s ankles.
Saul followed the force of the small algae forward, silent all the way.
It wasn’t long before he saw a few familiar figures in the mountains and forests ahead.
They were several slim figures with black scarves over their eyes and shackled feet.
The person in the lead was also carrying a carrying lamp and advancing silently.
According to the boy, these people should be the flesh nests used to collect ant acid.
Saul quickly circled around to the front of these seven men, only to realize that these seven men were no longer the seven he had seen before.
“It seems that most of the ordinary people in this tiny settlement are alternative materials for making meat nests.”
(End of chapter)