Chapter 554: Doubt

Night shrouded the land, leaving only a giant, round moon hanging in the sky. Its pale white light spilled over Zijing City, making the ruined city seem even more desolate and cold.

Levi reached out and flipped back the hood on the head of the small figure before him, the moonlight revealing its face in the clearing.

It was a girl with a peculiar appearance. Two fluffy cat ears perched atop her head, trembling incessantly with fear.

Her skin was as white as milk—a sickly pallor caused by a prolonged lack of sunlight.

Below the waist, however, the girl had a huge snake tail. It was the same color as her hair—a black as deep and profound as the starry night sky—and was currently coiled around the Lord’s arm, struggling with all its might in an attempt to escape.

“Fatir, are there Half-Beastmen like this in the New World?” Levi’s pupils narrowed.

Looking at her upper body alone, she was undoubtedly an ordinary Cat-man, but she also happened to have a snake tail.

She stood about 1.4 meters tall, with a frail, skinny frame. Her Power was only slightly greater than Buji’s.

She wore only a single hooded robe, washed so many times it had yellowed. Her cheeks were sunken, a clear sign of an extremely harsh life.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. According to the Lord Saint, the New World is supposed to be inhabited mostly by humans,” Fatir said, equally perplexed.

“Father, could she be the offspring of a Cat-man and a Snake-man?” Little Buji suggested, sizing up the creature with curiosity and letting her imagination run wild.

“Have you been secretly reading my books?” A jolt went through Levi’s heart. ‘This is not good.’

“No, no!” Buji shook her head frantically, but it was obvious, even to Fatir, that she was lying.

“You monster, let go of my sister!”

Just then, a trembling voice cried out from nearby. They turned to see a young Snake-man boy, who looked just like the captive. He was holding up a rusty knife, his gaze fixed on Levi and the others, a mixture of fear and desperation in his eyes.

The words he spoke were clearly a common tongue, but they had an archaic flavor, somewhat different from the modern version. Fatir and Little Buji could understand him, to say nothing of their Lord, who possessed the innate Language Mastery ability.

No longer the center of attention, Little Buji patted her chest in relief. Then, planting her hands on her hips and making a grand, sweeping gesture with one hand, she mimicked her Lord and bellowed a line straight from a stage play: “Halt! Where did this ugly monster come from, daring to accuse *us* of being monsters!”

“This is your sister?” the Lord said maliciously. “Explain why you were spying on us, or I’ll kill her right here and now!”

Levi didn’t let his guard down just because the two of them looked young and were, to some extent, part human.

After all, that white rabbit-like creature had given him quite the rude awakening right after he’d teleported.

Who knew what kind of monsters these two were in disguise.

Seeing his sister, who was nearly suffocating in Levi’s grip, the young Snake-man boy blurted out everything with almost no hesitation. “We were just out looking for useful things! We smelled the food from here and couldn’t help but come closer. This… Lord, we truly didn’t mean to offend you. Please, let us go.”

“Your name?”

“Lord, my name is Kemisi. My sister is Kemini.”

“Is there anyone else around here besides you two?”

“No, it’s just us. My sister and I came here alone from the Dungeon to find food.”

“You’re very honest. Honesty is a valuable thing.” Levi released his grip. The Little Snake Maiden crumpled to the ground, clutching her throat and hacking with dry coughs. A moment ago, she’d felt as if her neck was about to snap.

Kemisi scrambled to his sister’s side and threw his arms around her. Though terrified himself, he still tried to comfort her.

“Don’t even think about running. You can’t afford the consequences. Whether or not I spare you will depend on your behavior from now on,” Levi said coldly, then turned and headed for the camp. “Follow me.”

The young Snake-man hesitated for a moment, but the memory of the man’s speed and Power made him help his sister to her feet and follow.

‘He was starting to regret bringing his sister out today. It was bad enough they’d come out at all, but they just had to investigate the firelight. And now, they’d run into a Human Abomination.’

‘But hadn’t Nanny Milan said that long, long ago, all the Human Abominations were exterminated by the Divine Lords?’

Levi, for his part, kept a close watch on them as they walked. If they tried anything, he could obliterate them with a single punch.

Fortunately, even though he deliberately left his back exposed, they didn’t transform into some indescribable monster like that treacherous white rabbit had.

Back at the camp, the Left and Right Guardians were still dozing by the bonfire. The coals on the grill continued to sizzle the remaining meat skewers, crisping them to an even deeper golden brown.

“Speak. Who are you? And what is this Dungeon you mentioned?”

Levi sat commandingly on a log while Fatir stood beside him, her hand resting on her Longsword. She was indeed kind-hearted, but not one to bestow it needlessly.

“We are the Snake Spirit People, of the Divine Servant tribe. The Dungeon is the city where we live,” Kemisi said cautiously.

He didn’t reveal the Dungeon’s location. He remembered Nanny Milan saying that Human Abominations were a pack of cruel executioners; revealing the location would bring ruin upon all his people.

The corner of Levi’s mouth curved into a subtle smile.

As a powerful expert—and one who had reached a high station by navigating countless petty intrigues—excellent observation was a fundamental skill. He had noticed from the very beginning that the two of them had clearly faltered for a moment upon seeing him and his companions.