Chapter 105: The Undercover

This was a sight Li En had never seen before.

Perhaps this was the place closest to the starry sky in the entire underground.

Glowing moss shimmered with light on the rock walls overhead and around the rock pillars; between the staggered pillars hung wooden platforms on woven nets, which, together with the pillar-houses, built this floating village.

Fortunately, there was no wind in the underground world, so the wooden platforms and woven nets were quite stable.

Otherwise, life here would not be as simple as fearing heights; one might lose balance by accident and skydive without a parachute.

Woven net bridges formed the foundation and linked the rock pillar towers one by one.

The hollowed-out rock pillars were not merely houses for one person and one family; some of the larger ones even had six doors and eight windows, enough to house dozens of people.

The glowing moss was obviously deliberately transplanted, yet the light within the town made the rock-wall village appear dimmer compared to the surrounding environment.

This seemed to be a form of protection, making it difficult for beasts below and in the air to notice this place.

As for lighting, it was actually not a major problem.

Or perhaps some do not know, but spiders, despite having eight eyes, actually have very poor vision; they are mainly used for sensing light, while the true main sensory systems have always been touch and smell.

Even though the spider-people evolved a relatively dominant pair of main eyes, the extra compound eyes on their foreheads, which look like decorations, are mostly for show. It is said that some specialized races evolved to use them, making them quite formidable weapons.

"Our village does not need protection from outsiders; our Ghost-Face Spider Warriors can handle everything."

These spider-warriors were obviously one of those types; their compound eyes were open, with white pupils and black backgrounds, looking terrifying.

It is said that their "Ghost Eyes" contain demonic arts and curses that can paralyze, cause hallucinations, and instill fear in those who meet their gaze.

Although it sounds subtle, if you want to fight them, you must stare at their face; one slip and you will fall victim to their power.

Li En had also opened his eyes, seeing so many spider-people at once, and they were completely different from the folks in Radiant City.

Most in Radiant City wrapped themselves quite tightly, as if this race felt somewhat ashamed of their slightly slender bones.

These wild spider-people, however, mostly wore rather revealing clothes, which was especially pleasing to the eye. Outside were basically female spider-people, while the males, clearly numbering less than a third, mostly dared only to look out from inside the windows.

The knowledge previously explained was also true; without the concealment of armor and long robes, the female spider-people's body size, which was obviously twice that of the males, was very apparent.

Furthermore, during the conversation, these female spider-people appeared quite dominant, especially the warrior clan serving as leaders, among whom there was not a single male.

Because of this, Larry became their main contact; her male disguise meant nothing to them, as they only communicated with powerful female spider-chiefs.

And the habit of recognizing only the strong made them disapprove of the goal of this migration. They did not look highly upon Labore, and even felt that the current male head of the family had no qualification to lead them.

Using their traditional concept, these wealthy relatives moving into the city: if you cannot defeat us, these country old farmers, then on what grounds should we listen to you?

However, since the caravan has not been driven away yet, it shows that they actually want to leave, but simply want a better price.

Li En listened to a couple of sentences but found that no one paid any attention to him. Perhaps in the eyes of the local spider-people, a small-sized iron-plate warrior with weak aura (a First-Rank Paladin), and a male at that, was probably just a servant or lackey.

Larry, the strongest of her own kind (a Third-Rank Paladin about to evolve again), became the contact they recognized, while her language ability could only be described as quite un-Paladin-like.

Some Paladins can truly put all their talent points into their face and mouth, and then travel the world.

The more Larry spoke, the more urgent she became, yet she could not achieve results for a long time.

Her face was full of helplessness; she was truly awkward with words and could only bite the bullet and say her family had no ill intentions.

And her clever younger sister, Nocturna, the originally designated negotiator, had no say at all due to being too weak, and was even pushed out of the conversation circle.

Nocturna, with her eyes narrowed, was furious but still tried to keep a smile and attempted to communicate with her country relatives.

But even the children of this tribe could look down on her with disdainful eyes: How many abdominal muscles do you have, to dare speak to me?

Sometimes, when wealthy landlords who have moved into the city encounter such country tribes, they are powerless.

The other families happily watched the spectacle; they did not want to see the Labore family grow strong again.

As for wasting some time in conversation to gather intelligence, they did not care either.

Except for Miss Shaliman, their mission was actually already complete, and most of them were even preparing to return.

"Senior! You are back!"

Seeing Li En, Larry's eyes lit up, and she immediately showed a pitiful look, like a puppy asking for help.

With her cry, the gazes of those local spider-people wearing beast skins turned toward them.

"Your boss? Why is he so small..."

A Ghost-Face Spider-person, a head taller than Li En, walked over. She lowered her head, seemingly curious, wanting to touch Li En's head and tail, as she could not distinguish Li En's race at the moment.

This was obviously a very disrespectful act, but for them, there was never any need to give respect to males!

Seeing the large hand trying to grope randomly, Li En subconsciously reached for his sword hilt.

But the next moment, he saw Larry's troubled face; if he really acted, there would be no talk of annexation.

Forget it, let's just give a little respect to the "allied family."

"Smack!" Li En was too lazy to play the game of pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger; he just shook his spatial bag.

Shake, shake, and out came a huge dragon head with its eyes refusing to close.

Shake, shake, and out came a severed giant dragon claw.

Shake, shake, and out came a pair of red big briefs—cough, quickly put this away.

"Hmm, I am his boss. How about I talk to you?"

Li En was very calm as he responded to the other's doubt.

"It is that cunning Shadow Dragon! How is that possible? That guy killed many of our warriors."

"How is that possible? He is so small, and I can't feel his strength..."

But at this moment, the other party had to curb their arrogance.

The prey is the warrior's honor; the sword marks on that dragon claw faintly still smelled of holy power.

Li En reached out, pushed aside his short hair, and revealed the round ears on both sides of his face.

"Degenerate race!" In that instant, the warrior opposite showed respect, even bowing slightly and placing a hand on her chest in salute.

A warrior who can stand up again is worthy of respect.

"I was stronger than I am now; they called me a Great Knight. Now I am indeed down on my luck, but it is just a new beginning."

Li En glanced at the Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei, after all, he had borrowed her trophy.

But the Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

That speaking look encouraged Li En to go ahead and do it.

And since Li En had taken action and seized the floor, he naturally would not serve merely for Labor's benefit.

"We learned from the Shadow Dragons that there was once a group of people wearing masks here, masks with a single eye; they might have been very slender and tall, and possibly possessed antlers."

Li En wanted to head to the next city as soon as possible to ask directly for the most critical intelligence.

For some reason, Shaliman, who should have been in charge, was still in very poor condition; in fact, she should have stood up long ago. Since he was now called Sudar, he might as well help her out.

Li En's communication skills were not bad, especially since he knew the local dialect.

The spider-people's language here was something even Nocturna could hardly understand, and the local spider-people, feeling respected, naturally became easier to talk to.

And the more Li En listened, the more subtle he felt; the situation was quite bad.

They not only knew those "single-eyed masks," they had even lived together for a while.

"A village of at least twenty people?!"

Several years ago, these people had been operating nearby; they even had a small village and stayed in this area for a period.

At least at first, they behaved normally and even had some trade between them, but later they fell out.

"It's one thing that they hid their heads and tails, but they spread some strange religion, claiming it could change fate. Some foolish males in our village believed it, and not one of them came back."

It seemed the Beast Cult had been active here long ago.

This was undoubtedly a grim reality; since they had operated here for a long time, they likely already had some connection with that Dark Elf city, and might even have become allies.

As for mentioning magical girls, they did not know.

To them, it was just a spellcaster with a staff; nothing particularly special.

As for the food to be purchased, the answer was equally subtle; not completely useless, but of little use.

They themselves relied on hunting for survival; nearby, there was a tribe of mushroom-people from whom one could buy some delicious mushrooms.

Those were rare, somewhat benevolent creatures of the Underworld, but even if their entire clan and their mushroom fields were taken away, it would not be enough for Glowing City for a single day.

With Li En's help, communication went much smoother, and in the end, these underground spider-people also agreed to relocate.

In fact, even if Li En's group had not come, they would have had to run away soon anyway; now, many flying creatures had appeared in this Underworld and had already begun to threaten their safety.

And the underground monsters had undergone several rounds of elimination, becoming much stronger; their warriors who went out hunting were frequently injured, with no medicine to treat them.

The moss vegetables they grew themselves could not support the tribe's population, which had already swollen several times over.

This was a helpless reality driven by the general trend; other intelligent races had already fled, and they were merely relying on the village's geographical advantages to hold on a bit longer.

"We are truly grateful for your help." After the communication ended, Larry and her sister immediately came over to express their thanks.

Li En, however, shook his head and spoke a great truth.

"Without me, you would have managed too; it would just take a bit more time."

When it really came to this point, there was no need to rush.

By this time, the caravan was already preparing to part ways.

Some people's work was already done; their main trading targets had left, so continuing onward held no meaning.

Cutting losses in time meant they could return directly; it just so happened they could travel together with these underground spider-people.

And Shaliman and a group of others would naturally go to the Dark Elf city to complete the remaining tasks.

The good news was that some elite warriors from the tribe directly accepted Shaliman's employment and joined this temporary squad.

Although it was a pity to abandon this miraculous town, as long as people lived, there was hope; if these crises could truly be resolved, these underground spider-people could return.

"They probably won't be able to come back; once they really enter the city, how could they bear to leave?" Li En smiled helplessly. Even though the city held much darkness and difficulty, once one truly stepped into it, leaving again became unrealistic.

The addition of these elite warriors (who were earning relocation funds for their tribe) made the caravans continuing onward more lively, and the protective circle became even more stable.

But at this moment, a small incident occurred.

When they were only half a day's journey from the Underground Elf city, and everyone had dispersed to rest for the night, one tall female spider-warrior suddenly pulled Li En aside.

She pondered for a moment, then spoke up.

"You are the Princess's knight, honored with a medal, right? I heard others say so."

Li En nodded; he did not know why the other party was so serious, or if there was some secret that could not be told to others.

"Then you should be trustworthy. I once trained outside, so I know more than others... Those cult bases actually had some outsiders visiting; some of them wore robes. Although they disguised themselves, I recognized them; the holy symbols they held in their hands when casting spells..."

The female warrior glanced at the people not far away, lowered her voice, and leaned close to Li En's ear to speak.

"... are exactly the same as the holy symbol on Larry's chest."

At this, Li En was utterly shocked.

The enemy was actually already within the True God Church, or even within the Shanshen Sect?!

Why didn't you say so earlier! It's hard to notify the surface now; will the upper world be backstabbed again?!

(End of this chapter)