Chapter 1037: Sophia

At a point 7 km from the Thunder Spear Safe Zone, a temporary excavation cave.

Moonlight clear, stars sparse; under the dim night, a thin black shadow cautiously crawls on the ground, slowly approaching the Illusion Entrance set up by the Mechanical Compass.

Only see that the black shadow moves like a lizard, hands and feet lightly alternating forward, occasionally sticking out its tongue as if sensing information, carefully probing.

Although the movement is slow, something inside the cave seems to be attracting the black shadow, causing it to advance steadily toward the pit.

In the cave dug out halfway up the mountain with a sword, the girl placed in the military tent is soundly sleeping.

Outside the tent, the cans left by Lin An when he departed are piled together; a low-grade Props-generated bonfire crackles, burning spirit-energy flames, adding a bit of warmth to the cold cave.

Like a scene from a movie, the black shadow clinging to the mountainside moves like a gecko, continually approaching.

For some reason, the environment that should affect all living beings seems to have no effect on the black shadow.

As time passes, as if smelling some enticing scent, the black shadow crawls faster and faster, finally, after flexibly avoiding a rock, it wriggles into the cave like a loach.

"Good... fragrant..."

The voice is hoarse and weak.

After the black shadow crawls in, that silhouette actually stands up like a person, twitching its nose, obsessively sniffing the cave's aroma.

Shush, after a moment, as if confirming danger, the small figure cannot resist the temptation and walks straight toward the tent where Mo Ling is.

Inside the tent, Mo Ling, still digesting power, remains unconscious, completely unaware of the approaching outsider.

"Lin Dui! Is something wrong with Mo Ling?!"

Seeing Lin An's ever colder expression, Xiong Hanzi desperately follows behind, exerting all his strength like a kangaroo, hopping along after Lin An.

There's no way; his agility and spirit energy are far too inferior, he simply cannot match Lin An's supersonic flight.

Flying ahead, he leaves an afterimage.

Lin An stares fixedly at the nearby hill, his spirit energy burning to the limit.

"What is it that broke through my defense?!"

Without looking back, Lin An quickly replies to Xiong Hanzi, then accelerates again, directly producing a booming sound.

A faint sense of unease lingers in his heart.

Sensing that the aura of his left-behind defensive device has been breached, Lin An's heart fills with doubt.

Although the defensive Array Formation he left for Mo Ling is not strong, under his spirit energy's support, the environment set up by the Mechanical Compass can cause any being below Third Rank to lose their way. Even if a Third Rank Awakened One arrives, as long as it is not psychic-type, it cannot reach Mo Ling's vicinity in a short time.

For a remote small peak with no mutants around, Lin An wonders if this defensive measure has already reached its utmost.

Near the Safe Zone, there is only one Third Rank individual in the city; Lin An wonders if the other's movements have always been under his control, and even if there is a one-in-ten-thousand chance they find Mo Ling's location, they could not possibly breach the Mechanical Compass without hindrance.

But in fact, a crisis has indeed occurred.

There is an unknown creature that directly ignores all his means and rushes straight toward Mo Ling!

What is it? A person or a mutant?!

Not daring to bet on whether Mo Ling will wake up in time, after sensing the anomaly, Lin An simply rushes straight to Mo Ling's hiding place.

Fortunately, his route for hunting mutants is nearby; especially after hunting that one, he originally planned to finish and then return to check on Mo Ling's condition.

"Whoosh! Boom!!"

Accelerating again and again, seeing the hill already within reach, Lin An draws his twin swords without hesitation and wildly Blinks like a ghost.

"Whoosh-! Bang!"

Inside the cave, the rubble trembles; a violent booming sound rushes from far to near.

The black shadow squatting on the ground, gnawing on something, seems startled, stiffly raising its body like a mouse, constantly lifting its head to look around.

However, before it could react, the swiftly flying Lin An rushes into the cave like a sudden afterimage.

Destruction!

Blood-red light bursts instantly; Lin An, who can only roughly sense a creature ahead, his eyes turn icy, and without hesitation he activates the Destruction Skill, preparing to slay the unknown creature with one sword.

To break through the Illusion, it must either be psychic-type or an unknown mutant!

However, at the moment the sword light flares, the figure trying to flee, like a frightened puppy, lets out a scream; the can it was holding drops to the ground, and under the overwhelming aura of Destruction, it trembles.

"Huh?!"

"What is this?!"

The aura stagnates; Lin An, upon seeing the creature's form, momentarily loses focus, the sword he was about to slash down slightly tilts, and instead strikes the side of the figure, then slashes the nearby rubble.

"Boom!!"

In the tremendous explosion, Lin An's stunned expression shows a strange look as he incredulously gazes at the creature before him.

A few seconds later, the hastily arriving Zhang Tie sees at a glance that Lin An is motionless.

"Lin Dui?!"

With a roar, just as Zhang Tie thinks something has happened, through the gap left by Lin An's sword, he also sees the face of the unknown creature.

After a moment, the furious face likewise shows a look of bewilderment.

Not.. a monster?!

This damn thing is...

A little girl?!

One minute later, a bonfire is lit again inside the cave.

Warm firelight fills the cave; a small girl dressed in tattered rags, under the gaze of the two, hugs her knees, her teeth chattering.

She fearfully "gazes" in the direction of Lin An's breathing; her big eyes are full of blankness and dullness.

"Lin Dui, this girl... is she blind?!"

Huddled beside the girl, Xiong Hanzi sits cross-legged, constantly waving his hand in front of her eyes.

No reaction at all; the frightened girl merely keeps trembling, sensing air disturbances with her skin, her little head constantly shrinking back.

"It should be.."

After a moment's hesitation, Lin An also looked at the girl's dirty little face with some astonishment, unable for a while to put his feelings into words.

He never expected that the creature which ignored the illusion and broke through his defenses would be a blind little girl...

Although the girl had a faint Awakened One aura, her rank would definitely not exceed the Fourth Rank; she could be said to be the lowest of the low among Awakened Ones, not much different from an ordinary person. From head to toe, let alone equipment, she didn't even have a complete set of clothes.

Seeing the tooth marks all over the ground and the cans scattered everywhere, Lin An also realized that this girl must have been drawn over by the smell of food.

Looking at the girl's frightened little face, Lin An couldn't help feeling a strange sensation.

How could a blind person have managed to survive until now?

In his doubt, he couldn't help but faintly release an aura, trying to calm the frightened girl, and asked softly:

"You should be able to hear us speaking, right?"

"What's your name?"

A moment later, the girl questioned by Lin An trembled like a startled small animal, her shaking worsening.

She stammered and uttered "ah" sounds for a while, and only then, with the system's translation, could she barely make out a few vague syllables:

"Su.. fei.. ya..."

"Don't... hit... Su.. fei..."

"Sufeiya... hungry... will lose money..."

Having said that, the girl clasped her hands pleadingly, her body trembling as she kowtowed forward, as if begging Lin An to spare her and not hit her.

"Sufeiya... pain... please... please..."

Like a small animal that has been abused by humans, the girl kept shaking her body forward in pleading, and the wounds on her back were also exposed.

Seeing the several knife wounds on the girl's back, covered with grime, Lin An fell silent for a moment and sighed.

His expression was complex.

He also hadn't expected that what approached after breaking through would be some monster or a powerful Awakened One; but now it seemed merely a disabled little girl who didn't know how she had survived until now. Seeing the girl's frail body, food must be severely scarce. This frightened appearance likely came from having once approached a human settlement and been abused by many survivors.

"Lin Dui, how did this child break through the illusion?"

"This child seems very hungry..."

Crouching on the ground, Zhang Tie looked at the girl's wounds with some reluctance, his broad palm wanting to comfort her, yet afraid he'd frighten her, so he froze mid-air, at a loss.

Without a reply, Lin An glanced at the mechanical compass hovering in midair; his eyes flickered.

He also wasn't sure how the girl had gotten in, and could only wonder whether it was because she lacked sight, making her immune to the illusion, or perhaps... some special talent?

After gently opening a can of luncheon meat, Lin An let out a soft sigh and slowly pushed it toward the girl:

"Go ahead and eat..."

"Are you the only one around here?"

Lin An was indeed very curious about how the girl had managed to survive until now.

Smelling the meat's aroma, the little girl's curled-up hand paused, then, like a kitten, she tentatively sniffed; once she confirmed Lin An was really giving her food, she quickly snatched the can from the ground, scooped out the meat with her hands, and began to wolf it down.

His expression complex, Xiong Hanzi looked at the starving little girl and felt a pang of sourness in his heart.

A moment later, under the two people's silent gaze, Sufeiya, as if thinking of something, swallowed the meat in her mouth with a dry gulp and then carefully clutched the remaining half‑can of meat to her chest.

Seeing the girl neither answer nor continue eating, Lin An's expression stalled, and he asked softly:

"What's wrong? Why aren't you eating? Do you want water?"

After his words fell, the girl shrank her head, fell silent for a moment, then replied in a low, muffled voice:

"Can't bear to..."

"Someone... has a teacher..."

"Sufeiya... someone... everyone needs Sufeiya..."

Her eyes were dull, her face full of vigilance. Not knowing whether Lin An's kindness had moved her, Sufeiya hesitated a moment, then timidly pointed in a direction:

"Everyone... is over there..."

"Sufeiya's food... take it back..."

"Huh?"

Lin An and Zhang Tie exchanged a glance, and, without thinking, followed the girl's slender arm to look toward the distance outside the cave.

At the far end of the horizon lay an abandoned garbage dump.