Chapter 24: The Corpse-Eating Monster

  This night, the poor worm indeed slept very lightly. At midnight, she was woken up by a strange sound, a weird "crackling" sound that came with the wind. When the poor worm sat up and turned around, she found that the tortoise who had been sleeping beside her had disappeared. She immediately felt a sense of panic in her heart, as if staying by the tortoise's side was the only safe place in this vast wilderness.

  But soon she saw Xia Ya.

  Xia Ya crouched by the river, facing the opposite bank, and heard the sound of Keliang Chong sitting up. Xia Ya turned her head around, made a "don't shout" gesture to Keliang Chong, then lowered her voice and laughed: "There's something fun, come take a look."

  The poor worm crawled to Xia Ya's side, sat on the ground, and leaned its body against Xia Ya's, looking in the direction Xia Ya was pointing towards the opposite bank of the river.

  On the other side of the river, the earth spirit tribe that had been slaughtered, in the darkness of night, could only vaguely see the outline of a damaged earthen wall.

  The starlight twinkled, and on this side of the river, a dialectical gaze could vaguely see around that tribe, one by one tall shadows, as if standing upright, gathering towards that tribe. Inside the earthen wall, some dark shadows had already gathered there, those guys didn't know what they were, walking with straightened bodies, but moving very slowly, and from a distance, it seemed like their upper body was long and lower body short.

  There are also some people who have already knelt or sat on the ground, holding onto something and burying their heads in motion...

  "Kuma?" The poor insect was somewhat perplexed.

  "Ghoul." Xia Ya turned his head and smiled at Keliang Chong, intentionally making a terrifying face. Keliang Chong's body trembled, almost letting out a scream. Xia Ya quickly covered her mouth and whispered, "Don't disturb others from enjoying their dinner."

  Ghoul...

  Just hearing this name, Poor Bug knew what those things on the opposite side were doing without asking!

  Along with the wind came a series of loud, crunching sounds that made one think of teeth scraping against bone. The poor insect felt only a growing sense of unease in its chest, wave after wave of nausea.

  Xia Ya, on the other hand, watched with great interest and even let out a sigh of admiration: "Wow, I've never seen a real Ghoul before. Today's encounter is really something."

  In the distance, the occasional howling of wolves could be heard, that was the wolf pack or dhole roaming in the wilderness, these guys were also rushing to the corpses of the goblins in this tribe, but the powerful ghoul had arrived first and occupied this place, the wolf pack and dhole could only wander around reluctantly, hoping that after the ghouls ate their fill and left, they would leave some leftovers for themselves.

  The poor worm almost threw up his dinner, but Xia Ya finally had enough. He picked up a stone and threw it across the river. His arm strength was extremely strong, and the stone actually flew far into the outer wall of that tribe's village. At the same time, Xia Ya stood up, put his hands to his mouth, and let out a loud roar towards the other side.

  The poor insect was so frightened that it almost jumped up and choked Xia Ya's neck!

  "You lunatic! What are you doing?! Do you want to attract those monsters?!!" The poor insect turned pale with fright.

  "Hahaha." Xia Ya patted the poor bug's shoulder: "You're really an idiot, don't you even know common sense? Ghoul creatures are naturally most afraid of water. We're on the riverbank, they absolutely won't dare to come over."

  As expected, a group of ghouls were startled by the commotion caused by Xia Ya. They rushed out of their tribe with angry roars and ran to the riverbank, baring their teeth and claws at Xia Ya on the opposite bank. As they drew closer, the poor creature even got a clear look at these monsters' appearance.

  Their legs are thin and short, their upper body is sturdy, they have yellow fur all over, their arms hang down below their knees, a sharp triangular head, a large mouth with rotten teeth.

  So, if you take a bear and a wolf, smash them up, and then randomly reassemble the pieces, that's roughly what a ghoul looks like.

  But Xia Ya was right, several corpse-eating monsters had rushed to the riverbank, trying to cross the river to catch Xia Ya. However, as soon as their feet touched the water, they let out a panicked cry and hastily retreated, only able to vent their anger by roaring across the river at Xia Ya's location.

  Those earth spirits all woke up, these earth spirits performed much better than the poor insects, they were obviously very familiar with the characteristics of the corpse monster, across a river, without any fear, watching and laughing at the opposite bank.

  Both sides stood on opposite banks of the river, shouting at each other. Some of the goblins even picked up stones and threw them across the river, although they didn't have enough strength to throw the stones more than a hundred paces. However, this reckless behavior still seemed very amusing to these timid goblins.

  Both sides made a big fuss for half the night, and it wasn't until almost dawn that those ghouls finally dispersed reluctantly.

  "Alright, let's get going." Xi Ya patted the poor bug and thought for a moment: "But before we head out, there's one more important thing to do."

  The important thing is...

  Take a bath!!

  Uh... don't get me wrong, it's not Xia Ya taking a bath herself, nor is she making Keliang Chong take one (at this time, even if Xia Ya were to threaten Keliang Chong with a knife, she would absolutely refuse to jump into the river and take a bath in public).

  The Goblin needs a bath!

  `

  The dwarves have a rather... questionable tradition: their sanitary habits are probably the worst of all known intelligent and civilized races.

  Even in the language of the earth spirit, there is no word for "clean".

  For gnomes, in general, most gnomes from birth to death may never take a bath in their lifetime. Their bodies are forever covered with mud, dust, and even layers of suspicious and nauseating secretions. Over time, it's as if their skin is stuck with a layer of armor.

  In the earth spirit's racial group, only some of the prestigious earth spirits have the habit of taking baths.

  Tribal chiefs, lords, and... princesses.

  Yes, when Xia Ya asked Mr. Oakeshott a question about whether he had the habit of taking baths, Mr. Oakeshott tilted his head and thought hard for a moment before responding:

  It remembered its last bath was during the grand wedding of Lord and Lady...

  But as for the one before that, I just can't remember it anymore.

  In short, you can't measure this creature by human standards.

  For earthworms, those who wipe their buttocks after defecation are already a rare few with cleanliness habits!

  You can imagine when someone who hasn't taken a bath or even wiped their butt in many years is standing next to you... what kind of smell would they have on them?

  What's more, what if it's not one, but a group?

  Yesterday, the task of escorting the prisoners was handed over to Mr. Wang Fei, which was also a helpless measure for Xia Ya - standing with a group of earth spirits for more than an hour, if you haven't been smoked to death, then your respiratory system must have very serious problems.

  Since it's already been decided that all these earth spirits are going on the road, Xià Yā should at least make some effort to ensure her own nose's safety.

  The earth spirits all said they were lazy, Xia Ya gestured and scolded them for a while, but these guys shook their heads and refused to jump into the river. Xia Ya was straightforward and kicked several earth spirits into the river with one foot, and the remaining ones saw that this old man was angry, so they jumped down with a splash.

  The king's concubine, who had just been promoted to the position of prison head, initially burst out laughing at the misfortune of others. However, she soon discovered that Xia Ya pointed his finger at her and then at the river water, and it was only then that she realized - she too did not have any special privileges.

  There are many legendary stories that use a rhetorical device to describe the bloody scenes of slaughter: the river is dyed red with blood...

  A group of earthworms washing in the bath can also achieve this effect!

  A group of goblins who had never bathed in their lives splashed around in the river for half a morning, not because they didn't want to come up, but because Xia Ya was standing on the shore with an axe in his hand. The first one that tried to come ashore had already been chopped back into the water by him - of course, Xia Ya used the blunt side of the axe.

  For nearly half a morning, the dwarves scrubbed until they almost peeled off several layers of skin...

  What's even more terrifying is that for a long stretch of water near the river, the color of the water has turned into a frightening black...

  "It's a good thing we're heading upstream... otherwise, I wouldn't dare drink the water from this river even if you killed me." Xia Ya patted her chest in lingering fear.

  The poor worm had already hidden far away... Watching a group of naked male earthworms taking a bath was not something someone with her status could do.

  Xia Ya walked over to Ke Lian Chong's side, who was changing the dressing on her leg wound.

  "Hey." Xia Ya suddenly spoke up, looking down at the poor insect: "I'll ask you something."

  "What?" The poor worm subconsciously stopped his action, quickly putting down the hem of his pants to cover his calves.

  "Adeline, who is it?"

  The poor insect's body suddenly shook violently, and its eyes widened in incredulity as it stared at Xia Ya!

  Xia Ya rubbed his chin, scrutinizing the poor insect: "Hey, do you know? You have a habit of talking in your sleep, and when that group of ghouls woke us up last night, I just happened to hear your voice."

  Everyone remembers to put this book on the bookshelf for collection, okay?

  Be a good person and read books with dedication.

  `