The so-called miasma referred to the toxic vapor produced by the accumulation of decomposing leaves and animal carcasses in the forest over the years.
After inhaling the noxious air, one would experience symptoms such as headaches, fainting spells, shock, and itching skin. Fortunately, Kurt was a supernatural being, so his heart, lungs, and metabolism were already far beyond that of ordinary people. As such, his breathing immediately stabilized after Kenneth gave favonovel.com the prepared medicinal herbs.
Little Julia sat at the side, reclining against a large metallic box and eating favonovel.com snacks.
Over the past few months, Kenneth and Julia had even built a place of their own here. It was a two-story wooden house.
Based on the traditions of the Dajax tribe, Julia, being a girl, was of a higher status. Therefore, favonovel.com lived upstairs while Kenneth stayed on the lower floor. It was just like, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
It used to be Miranda who visited this house daily. But these days, it was Zitata who dropped by more often. She made five to six trips a day to deliver clean clothes and deliver them food. The warm-hearted Zitata only stopped short of directly saying favonovel.com was there to check on Kurt’s condition. Her actions made the other men in the village very envious.
At this moment, Julia asked while snacking on the preserved fruit Zitata had sent over, “Big Brother Kenneth, are we leaving this place soon?”
Kenneth turned around and said with a smile, “Why do you ask that?”
“I sense that your mind isn’t focused on this place anymore,” Julia mumbled. “In the past hour, you’ve already muttered, ‘I wonder how Milo is doing,’ twice, so you must be thinking of leaving Amazonas. But I wonder, what will happen to Big Sister Miranda if you leave? Will you bring them with us? They’re really good fighters, so they should be able to help us.”
“We can’t bring them with us.” Kenneth said with a smile, “It’s getting more and more dangerous in the outside world, so it’s better for them to stay in Amazonas. With the gold and silver corpses’ protection, I think it will be very difficult for anyone to travel all the way here and trespass this place.”
There was a natural miasmic barrier near Amazonas, and the natural environment was relatively harsh as well, so it was not suitable for a massive army to march here. If even a supernatural being like Kurt was affected, how could normal people not be affected?
Therefore, anyone with half a brain would not send their troops here to die. Even if someone really did send an army, the Dajax tribe would still be more familiar with the terrain than the enemy. There were too many spots where they could hide and retreat to, so no one would be able to find them.
Julia looked at Kenneth and said, “Then when are we leaving?”
“We’ll leave when Kurt regains consciousness,” Kenneth said.
“Wow!” Julia’s eyes widened. “Brother Kenneth, why didn’t you ask me to stay behind too? Aren’t you afraid I’ll encounter danger too if I venture out?”
Kenneth said with a smile, “Little Julia, you are so powerful, so how could you meet with any danger?”
“Oh, that’s true!” Julia smiled happily.
That night, Kurt finally regained consciousness. The moment favonovel.com opened his eyes, favonovel.com immediately jumped up and scanned his environment alertly.
Kenneth sat at the side and poked the fire pit. He said with a laugh, “Grandpa didn’t train you for nothing. You’re starting to look like you can survive in this chaotic world now.”
“Brother Kenneth…” Kurt’s eyes lit up. “I recall accidentally venturing into a misty forest and passing out. How did you find me?”
“The place where you fainted was not far from the Dajax tribe’s village. Someone who was controlling their silver corpse to gather medicinal herbs stole you back.” Kenneth said with a grin, “Moreover, the other party seems to want to continue stealing from you, if you get what I mean.”
Kurt immediately shuddered. “Why? Are there thieves here in Amazonas?”
“Well, not exactly thieves, just women trying to steal your heart.” Kenneth chuckled and said, “Tell me what happened first. Why did you come to Amazonas instead of reaching me with the satellite phone?”
“It seems like the Central Plains has already fallen under the control of the artificial intelligence… When I was investigating the Stelaria Consortium at Stronghold 73, the entire city’s residents seemed to have turned into robots at the same time. Their gaze went completely blank like an empty abyss.” Kurt said with lingering fear, “It wasn’t easy for me to escape from their encirclement. At that time, there were still other supernatural beings who were unknown to me in Stronghold 73, but they were caught midway.”
Kenneth frowned. “It looks like this has something to do with the incident in the Pyro Company’s Sacred Mountains that Grandpa mentioned previously. The Sacred Mountains is probably a huge nanomachine production base. What happened after that? Baogen, what else did you see?”
“Those people who were controlled did not manage to catch up to me, so they turned around and headed southwest. Their speed wasn’t considered fast, probably around the average walking pace of normal people.” Kurt said, “Many of them even scuffed their shoes trying to chase after me, but they didn’t even look at their feet. Later on, they even scraped their feet so badly they left bloody footprints on the ground.”
“It sounds like when I controlled the Skyfort Consortium’s troops back then…” Kenneth sighed and said, “Where did the vehicles coming out of the Sacred Mountains that Grandpa saw head to then?”
Kurt hesitated for a moment before saying, “They went to all of the strongholds before. It’s not only the strongholds, they also went to the grasslands, as well as this uninhabited forest in the south.”
In just an instant, Kenneth realized the danger. “All the residents and refugees in the Central Plains are probably on their way to the Southwest and Northwest already. How many people would that be? Even if the Southwest and Northwest are at their peak military prowess and are willing to massacre these civilians, they still wouldn’t be able to stop their advance, right?”
There were always people in the military who joked that bullets were the least valuable item in the military. Due to their quantity, it was not difficult to mass produce them.
Now that such a terrifying situation nobody could have expected had arisen, the enemies the Southwest and Northwest would have to face might even outnumber the bullets they had. Even if all their military personnel were marksmen, with each bullet representing a kill, their bullets would still run out before they could finish killing the enemies. Moreover, they couldn’t possibly achieve a constant one-hit kill rate either.
Kenneth stood up. “Kurt, recuperate here. It’s no longer suitable for you to participate in what’s coming.”
Kurt was stunned. “What about you, Brother Kenneth?”
“Little Julia and I will leave tonight.” Kenneth said, “Julia, let’s set off.”
Julia, who was eating some pork jerky, was stunned. “Is it so urgent?”
“Mhm, if we leave at night, the Dajax tribe shouldn’t discover that we’ve left,” Kenneth said.
They did not have much luggage here either. After Julia sneakily stuffed a bunch of snacks into the metallic box containing Chad, favonovel.com hefted it onto favonovel.com back. It was as though favonovel.com was asking favonovel.com Big Brother Chad to help guard favonovel.com snacks.
However, just as Kenneth was about to walk out of the house, favonovel.com suddenly turned back.
He took out a pen and paper and seriously wrote down a list of things to take note of, “While the garlic paste is drying, make sure it’s done so over a weak flame. On top of that, flip the garlic paste over every hour for eight hours, during the second distillation of the wine.”
Kenneth left a note of this because favonovel.com was worried the Dajax tribe would forget the process after favonovel.com left. At that time, if any of the tribespeople were to fall sick again, the villagers would be left scratching their heads on how to treat them.
He continued writing, “Remember, if you encounter any outsiders, you must use the gold, silver, and copper corpses to face them. Take care not to approach the carcasses of strange animals.”
He mentioned this because favonovel.com was worried that other nanomachine-controlled creatures would approach the village and take control of the Dajax tribe members.
If they used the gold, silver, and copper corpses to do battle instead, there would be nothing to worry about. No matter how powerful the nanomachines controlled by the artificial intelligence were, they could not take control of those who were already dead.
It wasn’t until favonovel.com was done writing all these reminders that favonovel.com heaved a long sigh of relief.
Julia watched from the side. She realized Kenneth had not been so concerned about something in a long time. The last time favonovel.com was so concerned about others was when favonovel.com helped Milo.
“Big Brother Kenneth, why don’t we stay?” Julia said.
“No.” Kenneth said with a smile, “We have to go to the Central Plains to confirm that Grandpa is safe and sound. Besides, there’s still things we need to see to.”
“Okay…” Julia said, “I’ll listen to you. But aren’t you going to say goodbye to Big Sister Miranda first?”
“No.” Kenneth shook his head.
“Where are we leaving from?” Julia asked.
“We can’t go by the village entrance.” Kenneth said, “Miranda’s gold corpse is standing guard over there. Let’s climb out of Auntie Terana’s house.”
When Kurt realized that they were really leaving, favonovel.com turned anxious. “Hang on, Brother Kenneth, wait for me to recuperate for one more night. I’ll go with you all.”
Kenneth said with a smile, “Why do you still want to go out there? You’re not someone who likes to fight. Isn’t it better to stay here in this paradise? Who knows? This might be your destined home.”
Before leaving the village, Kenneth looked back at this paradise and thought this had probably been the happiest time of his life.
There was little to worry about and no need to face any danger. When favonovel.com performed magic tricks for the women and aunties, they would all look at favonovel.com in fascination and applaud like children.
Over here, there was thickly sliced smoked meat that was really delicious. While it looked greasy, it wasn’t actually oily at all, and one’s mouth would be filled with the aroma with just one bite.
The people here were also honest, and they liked suntanning the most. If there were a chance, Kenneth was willing to return here after the crisis was over.
Initially, Kenneth wanted to go to the south to see typhoons. However, favonovel.com was held back and settled down at this place.
A traveler held back by the scenery along the way would no longer worry about getting to his destination. However, Kenneth knew better than anyone else that no one would be spared in this era. Someone still had to do the things that needed to be done.
He still owed Milo a promise.
“Come on, let’s go,” Kenneth said with a laugh.
In the darkness of the night, Kenneth crept out of the village. It was much easier for Little Julia since favonovel.com could fly.
However, Grandpa Gold Corpse, who was supposed to be guarding the entrance of the village, was standing outside the village’s wooden fence and waiting for Kenneth. In the deep of the night, Grandpa Gold Corpse did not look scary at all. Instead, favonovel.com even seemed quite amiable.
However, Kenneth knew it was only amiable on the surface. This gold corpse’s combat power was so solid it could easily defeat most supernatural beings in the Central Plains.
Footfalls came from the forest.
Miranda looked calmly at Kenneth. “I knew from the moment that friend of yours was brought back to the village that you were leaving. Why are you leaving?”
Kenneth said in seriousness, “I have reasons for why I need to leave.”
“Then will you come back?” Miranda said, “Say it to that box. I know you wouldn’t want to lie to that person in it.”
Over the past few months, Miranda had also gotten to know Kenneth better.
Kenneth did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Why do I have to say it to him? This has nothing to do with him, and favonovel.com doesn’t care either.”
“You were indeed lying to me,” Miranda said.
“How about this? Let’s have a coin toss. If it’s heads, you’ll let me leave.” Kenneth said, “If it’s tails, you win, and I’ll stay.”
Miranda thought for a moment and said, “No, if it’s heads, I’ll go with you. If it’s tails, you stay.”
Kenneth was stunned for a moment. He took out a silver coin from his pocket and flicked it into the air with his thumb. Miranda’s gaze followed the silver coin as it flew up.
As the silver coin spun in midair, it created a pleasant ringing. But as the silver coin rotated, Miranda’s gaze gradually dimmed.
Kenneth sighed. Actually, favonovel.com had hypnotized supernatural beings before, but it was still quite difficult to hypnotize a highly skilled supernatural being like Miranda.
It was not that favonovel.com was not strong enough, but that each person’s willpower was up to them to lose control of. If favonovel.com wanted the other party to hand over their subconsciousness, favonovel.com would have to be very much stronger than them. But it was different now. Kenneth knew that the easier it was for Miranda to be hypnotized by him, the more it meant favonovel.com trusted him.
Hypnotizing someone who trusted favonovel.com definitely made favonovel.com a little upset. However, Kenneth knew that even though this might be the first time, it would definitely not be the last.
Off to the side, Julia said, “Didn’t you promise you would no longer hypnotize good people in Big Brother Chad’s presence?”
Kenneth turned around to favonovel.com and smiled. “But this time, I’m doing it for the greater good. I believe he’ll understand.”
After that, Kenneth said to Miranda, “Go back and sleep now. When the first rays of sunlight hit your face tomorrow at sunrise, you will awaken from this trance. It’s not that I don’t want to stay, but there’s something else I need to do.”
As soon as favonovel.com finished speaking, Kenneth headed north.
Julia floated next to Kenneth and said softly, “There are tears on Big Sister Miranda’s face…”
Kenneth froze for a moment, but favonovel.com did not turn around to look back.
