Chapter 63: The Living in the Ruins

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: The Living in the Ruins

"The God of Light..."

Yu Zhun nodded. "Makes sense.

"Dragon Slaves are afraid of the light, and the God of Light naturally represents it. If there are still living residents, the location of the God of Light is likely a place the Dragon Slaves wouldn’t dare approach.

"Moreover, the God of Light is an object of faith. For the residents here, the current situation must be completely despairing. It makes perfect sense for them to try and find psychological comfort through their faith."

As he spoke, Yu Zhun picked up a stone and drew a circle on the ground to represent Ruins City. He then marked their current location and the approximate spots where they had encountered Dragon Slaves along the way. "Does this make it a bit clearer?" he asked.

"The distribution of the Dragon Slaves looks a bit like a crescent moon." Ji Xiaoyu pointed to an unmarked, blank area. "It should be here."

"This location is completely opposite the tunnel entrance." Yu Zhun drew a line connecting the center of the blank area to the tunnel entrance, neatly splitting the entirety of Ruins City in two. "It all makes sense."

Tossing the stone aside, Yu Zhun and Ji Xiaoyu headed straight for the direction corresponding to the blank area. It was a section of the ruins they hadn’t explored yet. Venturing deeper into the wreckage, the two came across what looked like an altar. In the center stood a humanoid statue, though it had already been shattered.

"This should be it," Ji Xiaoyu said softly. "Altars are tied to faith. That statue was probably of the God of Light. It’s just a pity that it’s broken. But there doesn’t seem to be anyone alive around here." She looked around, a puzzled expression on her face.

"It’s not that simple." Yu Zhun shook his head. "If it were this easy to find the hidden residents, they wouldn’t have survived the Dragon Slaves’ hunts for so long, and other players wouldn’t have failed to find them."

Even if the others hadn’t noticed the anomaly in the inscription, some players would have undoubtedly combed through Ruins City carefully in search of clues.

He thought, "The God of Light, huh..." He thought for a moment before slowly stepping up onto the altar. In front of the statue lay a stone slab engraved with a complete set of ritualistic bowing procedures. Such stone slabs weren’t rare, but at that moment, an interesting idea popped into his head. He wondered what would happen if he bowed to the God of Light.

Acting on the thought, Yu Zhun reviewed the ritual procedure. He walked in a circle around the sculpture, performing different gestures at six specific positions. The instant he returned to his starting point, a faint glimmer of light appeared on the broken sculpture, seemingly in response to his ritual. However, because the statue was damaged, the light quickly dissipated.

Before Yu Zhun could even marvel at the fact that his ritual actually elicited a response, his ears twitched. He whipped his head toward a specific direction.

"Who’s there?"

A petite figure flashed past the rubble of the ruins, quickly vanishing from sight. The figure was clearly much smaller than a Dragon Slave, bringing a look of joy to both Yu Zhun and Ji Xiaoyu’s faces. They realized there really was someone here.

"After them!"

Yu Zhun kept his voice low. Not waiting for Ji Xiaoyu, he activated Swift Step, pushing his speed to the absolute limit. He dashed out like a gust of wind, arriving at the spot where the figure had just appeared in the blink of an eye. The area was dead silent. Yu Zhun looked around but couldn’t find a single trace of anyone’s presence. Still, he was absolutely certain that the faint rustling he had heard and the fleeting glimpse of the figure were not hallucinations.

Ji Xiaoyu arrived a step behind him. After scanning their surroundings, she thought for a moment and suddenly pulled an incredibly fragrant cake out of her inventory.

Yu Zhun gave her a questioning look.

"This is a special food item made by the Chef Profession, so it can be stored in the inventory," Ji Xiaoyu whispered. "I kept some in there, originally planning to eat them as snacks." She was afraid of getting fat in reality, but she didn’t have to worry about that in the Divine Revelation World. "I figured that if there really are living people here, they must be suffering from a severe food shortage..."

Before Ji Xiaoyu could even finish her sentence, they both simultaneously heard a loud GULP. Yu Zhun’s gaze toward Ji Xiaoyu instantly changed. He thought, "Leave it to the rich lady!"

They both turned toward the source of the sound. A head poked out timidly from behind the rubble. A pair of eyes, filled with both wariness and intense longing, was fixed intently on the cake in the rich lady’s hands.

"It’s all on you," Yu Zhun whispered, shooting her an encouraging look. After what had just happened, he didn’t dare make any rash movements.

"Mm-hmm!" Ji Xiaoyu nodded earnestly. She flashed a sweet smile at the hidden figure and held out the cake. "Here, for you!" Seeing that the other party still didn’t dare to come out, Ji Xiaoyu pondered for a moment before gently placing the cake on the ground. She then pulled Yu Zhun back, retreating a few steps.

Once they had backed away a fair distance, the figure seemed to feel a bit safer and cautiously stepped out from behind the rocks. It was an emaciated little girl who looked no older than eleven or twelve. Her hair was a dull, yellowish-brown, resembling withered grass. After taking a few steps and seeing that Ji Xiaoyu and Yu Zhun weren’t advancing, the little girl suddenly lunged at the cake. She dipped a grubby finger into it and shoved it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up instantly. She gathered the remaining cake as if it were a precious treasure. When she looked back at the two of them, her gaze was no longer as guarded as before.

"Are you..." the little girl stammered, "people from the outer cities?"

He thought, "Outer cities?"

His eyes flashed, and he replied with a smile, "That’s right. We’re from another city. We heard about what happened here, so we wanted to come and see. We are all believers of the God of Light. When faced with difficulties, it’s only natural that we help each other."

As he spoke, Yu Zhun made a devout hand gesture—one that he had just learned from the stone slab, of course.

Beside him, the corners of Ji Xiaoyu’s mouth twitched as she discreetly gave Yu Zhun a thumbs-up. She thought, "You really are a master bluffer, Boss!"

"The God of Light..." The little girl’s eyes gradually brightened. Having witnessed the statue of the God of Light respond to his ritual with her own eyes, she completely believed his words. Dropping her guard entirely, she stepped forward on her own accord and tugged at Yu Zhun’s sleeve. "Come... with me."

Yu Zhun and Ji Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up simultaneously. They thought, "It worked!"

Holding her cake carefully, the little girl led the two of them through countless twists and turns within the ruins, eventually arriving at an inconspicuous pile of rubble. Setting the cake down temporarily, she used her frail body to push hard against a stone slab, revealing a narrow entrance hidden beneath it.

"Everyone... is in here." She picked the cake back up and motioned for the two of them to follow.

Yu Zhun nodded at Ji Xiaoyu. A little girl definitely couldn’t survive in a place like this on her own, so he had already deduced that there must be more than one survivor. This little girl probably wasn’t a key figure, but the people they were about to meet might be crucial.

The two of them followed closely toward the entrance. Walking in the back, Ji Xiaoyu didn’t forget to shift the stone slab back into place, concealing the entrance once again. The little girl took in this sight, her eyes flickering slightly.