Chapter 212: You’re alive?!

They learned that these people couldn’t leave the dungeon before the eviction time. Once the dungeon evicted them, they were all teleported to the surface.

Some had arrived twenty years ago, others ten, five, or even two years earlier.

They found one another along the way. Some had been teleported together, while others encountered each other after arriving on the surface. Eventually, they formed hunting teams to survive, and those small groups gradually grew into the huge settlement they were seeing today.

Adrian and the others were shocked to learn that the surface had been livable for so long without them knowing.

They had always assumed that the people who didn’t come out before the dungeon’s eviction were dead.

They had never imagined that those people had simply been teleported to the surface years before them.

If it weren’t for the blackout, they would have continued living in ignorance, believing that the surface was filled with poisonous gas and completely uninhabitable.

*Present*

Alex and Marvin were strolling around the village when their gazes fell on a hunting team that had just returned with a sizable haul of beasts.

They had gathered in the square at the center of the village.

Children rushed ahead with laughter and squeals, playing around the corpses of the hunted beasts scattered across the grassy ground.

"Should we settle here for a while? We can learn more about the surface before we find the Oasis people. We need to inform them about this."

Alex muttered as they approached the center, where several people armed with butcher knives had begun dividing the prey among the villagers.

"Hmm. I miss those folks back home."

Marvin murmured emotionally.

But when he remembered his grandpa, his touching expression immediately disappeared.

They got closer to the square and met up with Adrian and the others, who had stopped at a corner to watch the excitement while mentally assessing the hunting team’s strength.

"Mum, I want to join the hunting team!"

"Whoa! The horns are so huge!"

"Meat! Meat!"

The sounds of children’s chatter filled the air as the hunters’ families discussed what portions of the meat they wanted.

Almost the entire village had gathered.

Some people planned to exchange their crops for a share of the meat, while others offered dungeon drops they had obtained from the dungeon.

Only one woman stood out from everyone else.

Her blue hair was cut to shoulder length, and a fading scar stretched from beneath her eye to her eyebrow.

The scar did nothing to overshadow her mature beauty.

Instead, it gave her a dangerous aura that warned everyone to stay far away.

She strode forward unhurriedly, and everyone immediately moved out of her way.

Their gazes were filled with awe and a hint of respect.

Only the children weren’t afraid of her.

They rushed toward her, some pulling at her sleeves while others grabbed her hands, calling out her name with familiar affection.

"Aunty Lily, did you visit the dungeon again today?" one of the children asked.

The question prompted the others to start asking their own.

"Was the beast you fought huge like Dad’s?"

"Can you take me there? I want to see what a dungeon looks like!"

The loud chatter made the woman smile.

Not a hint of impatience or annoyance crossed her face as she calmly answered their questions.

Her gentle tone was a stark contrast to her cold aura.

The children’s parents smiled helplessly before coming over to carry them away.

"No! I don’t want to leave!"

"Aunty Lily, save me!"

The children struggled against their parents’ grip, earning themselves a few playful smacks on the bottom.

"Sorry for the trouble, Madam Lily."

"Don’t mind this brat’s chatter."

"Noisy brats, don’t you want to choose the meat you want? Madam Lily, take any part of the meat you like."

One of the parents offered good-naturedly while holding his squirming child close.

The others dragged their struggling children away, finally giving Lily some peace.

Not that she ever minded the children.

She was about to continue on her way when she felt an unfamiliar gaze on her.

She turned around.

Her eyes landed on Adrian and the others.

An image suddenly flashed through her mind, and her expression changed.

Her calm composure crumbled.

She immediately dashed toward them.

"Are you Randall’s grandchildren?!"

Her voice rose with emotion as she faced Daniel, whose face bore a striking resemblance to Randall’s.

Daniel was stunned.

He could only nod in a daze.

His eyes widened when the woman suddenly burst into laughter, tears streaming down her face.

Everyone watched with stunned expressions, unsure of how to console her.

Finally, what felt like a century later, the woman composed herself.

Her red-rimmed eyes brimmed with hope as she asked in a trembling voice,

"Do you know Ethan?"

Her words jolted them awake.

They exchanged glances before Alex responded.

"There are so many Ethans in Oasis City. Which one are you talking about?"

He asked, though inwardly, he already had a feeling about who she meant.

"He uses ice like me. His grandfather is a rival of yours."

Lily explained desperately.

She even created icy flakes in the air as though demonstrating what she meant.

"Isn’t that cousin’s husband?"

Daniel gasped in surprise before he could stop himself.

Lily’s eyes immediately brightened, tears gathering in them.

"He is alive..."

Her voice trembled.

"He is alive."

She repeated the words, her voice carrying so much relief and joy that she began crying.

Alex waited patiently for her to gather her emotions before asking the question everyone was thinking.

"Who is he to you?"

Their gazes fell on her as they waited for her answer.

"He’s my son."

At her admission, their eyes widened in disbelief.

The way they looked at her immediately changed.

"You’re alive?!"

They all shouted in unison, staring at Lily as though they were looking at a ghost.

"We heard you were dead. It caused your husband to grieve and go berserk that he destroyed all the nest of three-headed snakes."

Marvin muttered, his expression a mixture of gossip and shock.

"Ahh! This news is so shocking that my mind is about to explode."

Adrian murmured as he pulled his slackened jaw back into place.

Alex, Cole, and Daniel were no less shocked than the others.

Only Zoey was completely clueless about what they were talking about, but her eyes were filled with curiosity as she quietly listened.

Lily felt helpless and lost at their reactions.

She couldn’t blame them, though.

It had been sheer luck that she had survived that attack seventeen years ago.

That scene still woke her in the middle of the night, leaving her heart pounding and her face pale with fear.

She could never forget that moment.

Not until the day she died.

And she never wanted to relive it again.

Now, however, her heart felt lighter at the news of Ethan’s survival.

She finally had the courage to ask them how they had arrived there.

"Were you evicted from the dungeon as well? All of you at once?"

She sympathized with them.

"Your parents must be heartbroken, assuming you’re dead."

Lily knew there was no way to return to the underground city once the dungeon brought someone to the surface.

She had tried countless times over the years.

There was no use.

She would either be teleported back to the dungeon’s entrance or sent somewhere else that was ten days away on foot.

"Umm... everyone in the underground city is here on the surface."

Zoey suddenly chimed in.

Lily’s expression froze.

Then her heart began racing with excitement at the possibility of seeing her family again.

"Really?! They’re all here on the surface?!"

She couldn’t help asking again.

They nodded.

A wide smile immediately spread across her lips.

The people who had been paying attention to their conversation, especially those who still had families in the underground city, were filled with hope and excitement.

Alex didn’t want to dampen their happiness by telling them that they had no way of contacting the others or knowing where they were currently staying.

He could only watch awkwardly as Lily and the others became excited at the thought of reuniting with their loved ones.

Daniel, however, had no such qualms.

He bluntly broke the news.

"We’re separated from the others and don’t know where they currently are."

His words plunged the surroundings into silence.

But their smiles didn’t disappear.

They felt it was still better than everyone remaining underground.

If they were patient and searched carefully, they would eventually find the others.

"Thank you so much for telling me this."

Lily’s tone was filled with gratitude as she glanced at Alex and the others.

"I’ve explored more than half of this place, so there shouldn’t be any problem finding them."

She was confident that she could locate them.

It might take some time, but at least there was hope.

Her words immediately grabbed their attention.

Alex made a prompt decision.

"Can we go with you? We only arrived a few months ago and completely clueless about this place. We’ll need you to guide us along the way."

The others immediately agreed.

They felt it was better to follow someone who already knew the area rather than wandering around aimlessly.

"All right, then. Once I pack up and my beast egg hatches, we’ll head out."

Lily readily agreed.

Having them around would also allow her to learn what had transpired in Oasis City during all those years she had been gone.

Some people in the crowd felt tempted to follow them.

But when they remembered their children and newborns, they suppressed the idea for later.

They had already built a life here.

They couldn’t simply pack up and leave like Lily.