Chapter 590: The monsters threatening Aaru Village

“Candace… Sister Candace, are you alright? What happened???”

Seeing Candace return covered in blood and gravely injured, Ebeid and Hilmi hurriedly rushed forward, eyes full of worry.

“Ebeid, Hilmi, step aside for now. Let us take Candace to be treated first.”

Someone in the group spoke, and the two quickly moved out of the way.

Supported by everyone, Candace was brought into a house and laid on a bed.

A doctor-like figure immediately began cleaning and bandaging her wounds…

“I didn’t expect that even someone as strong as Candace would suffer injuries this severe…”

Aether and Paimon arrived at this time as well.

Looking at Candace, then at Su Yuan, they spoke in disbelief:

“So in the end, Candace was fighting something far beyond ordinary monsters, right?”

“Even though we’re in a hurry to continue our journey… since Aaru Village is being threatened by monsters, and even Miss Candace has been wounded so badly…” Kirara spoke, “We can’t just turn a blind eye to this, can we?”

“You’re right…” Su Yuan nodded.

“Even though I’ve long since realized that my strength is limited, and I cannot save everyone in this world…”

“At the very least—any difficulty or obstacle that appears before us, we must overcome it!”

Su Yuan’s voice was firm, resolute.

“Haha, just as I thought!” Aether smiled, “That’s the Su Yuan I know!”

Since Candace was gravely injured, her consciousness was still unstable and she had not fully awoken.

For now, Su Yuan and the others could only ask the villagers who had been traveling with her about the situation.

“Oh? You’re travelers? You want to know about that monster?”

“That monster first appeared several weeks ago, during the night…”

“That night, a few children disobeyed their parents and snuck out to play in the dark…”

“And then, the tragedy happened. Those children mysteriously vanished, leaving only pools of blood behind. They likely didn’t survive…”

“After that, Candace said that as the guardian of Aaru Village, she had to bear the responsibility of protecting it.”

“So, she began patrolling around the village every night without rest, guarding the village and searching for the culprit.”

“One night, Candace noticed something strange and chased after it alone. But she did not find the monster—only several Treasure Hoarders who had been brutally slaughtered…”

“Candace believed the monster is extremely cunning. It knows she is guarding the village, so it avoids attacking directly, roaming around the outskirts instead…”

“After discussing, we and Candace agreed: instead of waiting for it to strike again, we should hunt it down!”

“Since this evil monster is lurking near Aaru Village, we must eliminate it completely to protect everyone.”

“Based on our observations, the monster only appears at night. So every night, we go out with Candace to search for it…”

Hearing this, Su Yuan couldn’t help but comment, “Wait—if most of your fighting forces leave the village at night, what if the monster is smart enough to attack while you’re gone?”

“Don’t worry. We’ve dug underground shelters. At night, when the able-bodied fighters are out, the elderly and children hide below ground. The monster shouldn’t notice them.”

Underground, huh…

Su Yuan nodded thoughtfully, but couldn’t help mentally complaining:

You desert followers of the Scarlet King sure do love digging tunnels, just like him…

Back when I did the desert world quests in the game, before layered maps existed… that was true suffering.

“Anyway,” the villager continued, “Even though we’ve been searching constantly, and even lost several people…”

“What makes it strange is that aside from Candace and those who sadly died… no one has ever actually seen that monster!”

“Huh? What??” Paimon’s eyes widened in shock.

“So besides Candace, nobody has ever seen this mysterious monster?”

“So what about Candace’s current condition? Why was she injured so badly?”

Aether frowned, unable to understand.

“That’s the strangest part! Right before dawn this morning, Candace said she suddenly sensed the monster’s presence. She rushed off on her own and left us far behind in an instant…”

“When we finally found her again, she was already lying on the ground, gravely wounded!”

“But the strangest thing is—there were no signs of a battle anywhere around her!”

At this moment, Su Yuan and the others were completely puzzled.

Just what was this mysterious monster…

Or rather—did it even truly exist?

“Could it be… that all of this is just Candace’s imagination? That she has some sort of mental illness?”

Paimon spoke, voicing a bold guess.

Su Yuan fell into deep thought, sorting through the information, then murmured the intelligence prompt received earlier today:

“Those who violate the rules… shall become the enemies of Aaru Village…”

Suddenly, a realization flashed in Su Yuan’s mind.

He immediately pulled Aether, Paimon, and Kirara aside:

“Aether, I haven’t had time to share today’s intelligence prompt with you yet.”

“And among them… was the condition under which Candace becomes Eerie.”

Su Yuan then told them the newly unlocked intel, before continuing:

“And now… I’ve formed a new theory.”

“Candace may not be suffering from mental illness like Paimon suggested.”

“Because the ‘monster’ threatening Aaru Village…”

“…may actually be Candace herself!!!”

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