Alien Species Invasion? I Kill Them Back.

Chapter 94: Chapter 92: Fox Village

Pei Xianjue blinked. "Are we just going to let them argue like this?"

"I don’t even understand what they’re talking about. On what grounds would I tell them to stop?" Feng Ling said nonchalantly. "Besides, one’s a player and the other is from the game system. It’s normal for them not to get along."

Feng Ling glanced back at Huangfu Miaomiao and Li Qing. ’They won’t actually come to blows anyway, so what’s there to worry about?’

Her conscience clear, she continued walking forward.

Ahead was a sharp bend, with a steep cliff face and a somewhat slippery path.

Feng Ling slowed her pace, looking up and peering into the distance. "Don’t you guys think the fog isn’t as thick anymore?"

Pei Xianjue also looked into the distance. "You’re right. Just now, visibility was only a dozen or so meters, but now we can see much farther... Are those houses down the mountain?"

Feng Ling beckoned to Li Qing behind her. "Daoist, come take a look. What is that place?"

Hearing this, Li Qing walked to the front and looked closely, his brow furrowing slightly. "I don’t know. Based on the location, that area should be the highway and parking lot near the scenic area."

"But it looks like an ancient village," Pei Xianjue said with a frown, her expression showing discomfort. "I wonder if anyone lives in the village... If they do, would humans in the Maze even count as human?"

"The footprints around here have become more numerous..." Feng Ling said, looking down and stopping beside a thicket of bushes. "The size of this footprint... it looks like it was left by a Giant Wolf."

Hearing this, Pei Xianjue hurried over. Sure enough, she found an exceptionally large beast’s footprint in the mud. There were also dark red bloodstains nearby, most likely left by the injured Liang Zhou.

She followed the direction of the footprints for a few steps and discovered more bloodstains.

A faint unease grew in Pei Xianjue’s heart. She looked again toward the hazy village shrouded in fog and said uncertainly, "It looks like he went toward the village..."

"Let’s go take a look, too," Feng Ling decided immediately.

...

The mountain path was difficult to travel. Although they could see the ancient buildings with their blue tiles and gray walls from afar, it took them a full two hours to finally reach their destination.

From a distance, the houses seemed to be packed closely together, but as they got nearer, they discovered the buildings were actually far apart, separated by either a patch of barren fields, a messy grove of trees, or a hillside.

Moreover, these houses didn’t look inhabited. They resembled abandoned ancient residences, with broken tiles and mostly shattered doors and windows.

Feng Ling randomly pushed open the wooden door of one of the houses. Dust immediately billowed down, and a damp, musty smell emanated from within. Cobwebs hung from the rafters, and on the floor were a few broken jars and a wooden table missing a leg.

She backed out of the house, puzzled. This was strange.

’Why are there houses like this in the Maze? They can’t just be decorations for atmosphere, can they?’

"There’s someone up ahead!" Huangfu Miaomiao suddenly raised a hand, pointing toward the hillside in front of them.

Feng Ling followed her gaze and did indeed see a woman in ancient clothing. The woman held a hoe in one hand and a bamboo basket in the other, and was digging for wild vegetables on the hillside.

Feng Ling took two steps forward, but then felt something was wrong. She frowned and said, "It’s a fox."

She got a clear look at its face. It was furry, with the head of a fox, just like the Fox Demon that had been killed by the Horse-faced Monster on the mountain path.

At that moment, the Fox Demon on the hillside also spotted Feng Ling’s group.

It wasn’t afraid of them at all. It giggled at Feng Ling, then picked up its basket and turned to leave.

It walked away unhurriedly, its hips swaying in a highly exaggerated manner, perhaps to conform to ancient depictions of fox demons.

"Ah..." Huangfu Miaomiao said. "The exploration rate went up. It’s at 23% now."

Li Qing glanced at their surroundings. "This village must be a relatively important area, which is why the exploration rate increased."

Feng Ling asked curiously, "Besides discovering new locations, what else can increase the exploration rate?"

"Killing certain unique, special monsters, like Oxhead and Horseface." Li Qing paused, then looked at Huangfu Miaomiao. "The player has to be the one to kill them."

Huangfu Miaomiao shot him an annoyed glare. "I don’t care. So what if the exploration rate reaches 100%? It’s not like the Maze is going to give me an extra reward."

Pei Xianjue looked between them. "Should we go into the village? This place feels strange."

"We’re already here," Feng Ling said, looking at the retreating back of the fox. "Besides... aren’t you curious whether Liang Zhou is in the village?"

She hefted her axe and followed the Fox Demon.

The others exchanged glances and followed her in silence.

Since the Fox Demon hadn’t shown any aggression, Feng Ling didn’t attack it. After following it from a safe distance for a while, she noticed that the number of Fox Demons was increasing.

Some stood in pairs under trees, whispering to each other. Others hid by the windows of dilapidated houses to peek out. Some were pushing a millstone, some were carrying water, and some were hoeing the ground...

This was actually a Fox Village.

Every Fox Demon was imitating human life, creating a pervasive sense of eeriness.

Pei Xianjue gently tapped Feng Ling’s arm, motioning for her to look to the left.

In the courtyard to the left, a Fox Demon was pushing a stone mill, walking in circles. At first glance, it seemed diligent, but a closer look revealed that the mill was completely empty. There was nothing inside.

It was the same with the Fox Demon up ahead carrying a bamboo basket. The basket was filled with a bunch of random weeds it had dug up, not wild vegetables at all.

’It’s a mystery how the Maze managed it, but it seems to have written the imitation of humans right into these Fox Demons’ genes.’

Feng Ling observed all of this with a sense of novelty.

Then another thought occurred to her: ’If genes could make Fox Demons imitate humans, were the two Fox Demons who went up the mountain together earlier also influenced by their genes?’

’What was on the mountain that was attracting them?’

Behind her, Li Qing and Huangfu Miaomiao had stopped walking at some point.

Feng Ling turned back and saw that their gazes were surprisingly aligned. Both were staring at an old willow tree in the middle of the village.

Under the tree was a stone statue that felt completely out of place.

Why did the statue feel out of place?

Because while this was an ancient-style village, the statue was a cartoon smiley face on a pedestal.

The smiley face and the pedestal were a single, bizarre piece.

Wait a second...

Feng Ling suddenly thought of something.

’A stone statue, a sculpture...? A Divine Statue?’

Just then, Huangfu Miaomiao’s eyes widened. She looked over, pointed at the smiley face, and said to her, "It’s a Divine Statue!"

Feng Ling: "..."

’You’ve got to be kidding me...’

’A Divine Statue from your world looks this abstract?’

’And here I was, thinking it would look magnificent and sacred!’

’And it’s so carelessly placed, just sitting out in such an obvious spot, surrounded by nothing but a bunch of neurotic foxes.’

Feng Ling’s feelings were hard to describe.

"This is the Divine Statue?" Pei Xianjue heaved a great sigh of relief. "That’s wonderful! If the Hero is still alive, the Divine Statue can help lower his Pollution Value so he can return to normal."

Feng Ling thought for a moment, then strode toward the smiley face. Her peripheral vision scanned her surroundings warily—the Fox Demons weren’t reacting at all.

With a subtle thought, she recalled the nearby Cat Spiders and Cat Owls, then said to the others behind her, "Keep an eye out for me. I’m going to test the Divine Statue."

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