Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 268 - 195: The Shadow of the Tree (Part Two)_2

Chapter 268: Chapter 195: The Shadow of the Tree (Part Two)_2

"They have vision in dark environments," Meckel the mentor shook his head, "It looks like we’re in trouble."

"We still need to do another test," Malin said as he removed the crossbow arrow from the insectoid corpse and then headed toward the neighboring farmstead.

The two mentors, bewildered, followed him.

This time, Malin pulled out a shock grenade, didn’t bother knocking, and threw it through the window.

It’s not like the farmstead was likely to have glass windows; they all used lattice wooden windows and cloth curtains. Once the shock grenade entered the room, it exploded with a loud bang.

Malin and the two mentors observed the surroundings and, seeing no insectoids bolting out of the door uninvited, felt reassured enough to open the door. Looking at the insectoids that had collapsed on the floor, Mentor Aemet Sayer personally conducted an autopsy on one of them, confirming that the insectoid embryos were dead inside: "What’s the principle behind the shock grenade?"

"It affects the human neural center with loud noises and flashes," Malin replied.

"Neural center? What the hell is that?" Meckel took a moment to process.

This made Malin realize that this world’s understanding of the human body wasn’t as deep as he had imagined. He could only explain in a different way: "You can think of it as a generic term for the organs that control the human body."

"It’s the soul that controls the body, Malin."

"I know, Your Excellency Meckel, but the soul alone can’t move a puppet as naturally as the human body. The neural center is like... a switch for the soul to control its own body." Malin felt sad for the first time that he wasn’t a medical student because he really couldn’t explain it all with the most accurate words.

Fortunately, both mentors understood the term switch, so they both nodded in agreement. Mentor Aemet Sayer asked, "You mean to say that the insectoids are replacing the human soul to control that switch, and when your shock grenade affects the center, the insectoid embryos die because they lose control over that switch?"

"That’s one way to put it, and don’t we also have factual evidence here?" Malin pointed at the insectoids on the ground.

"So are they still alive or dead now?" Mr. Meckel looked at Malin, "If they’re still alive, what can we do to save them?"

"I think it’s beyond saving now. Once they take control of the switch, the human soul and their body are completely disconnected, and when the insectoid embryos die, their souls cannot continue to take over the body because it’s already mutated. Mentor Meckel, both physically and theologically, they’re already dead."

Malin looked at the old man in front of him. He knew that this old man was a mentor of the Benevolent Church, that he wanted to help all the innocents... but these innocents were already gone; they had become man-eating monsters, and for everyone, encountering them was a dangerous affair: "We have to end all of this as quickly as possible, otherwise, once the sun sets, all of us are going to die."

"Let’s go, Mentor Meckel." Mentor Aemet Sayer patted the old man’s shoulder.

"I know, Malin, and Mentor Sayer, but the Benevolent God tells me to save the innocent at all costs..." the old man sighed, "We must end this."

The three men continued along the dirt road, passing through the farmstead fields and began to enter the town. Sturdy cobblestone replaced the dirt road, eliminating the rising dust, but the usual hustle and bustle of the town was also gone. Malin let his Blood Roar take the lead, walked on one side of the street, while the two mentors walked on the other. That way, even if something attacked, it was unlikely to catch them all at once.

In the alleyways of the streets, there were shadows of insectoids, but they often clustered together, deepening Malin’s understanding of their behavior—they indeed feared light, and for prey standing in the sunlight, they acted as if completely blind to it.

From a distance, Malin could see the corner, where a large number of insectoids gathered in the shadow beneath the central layer. This caused Malin to halt, and when he looked at the two mentors, they stopped as well.

"If we enter the shadows, we’ll definitely be attacked," Mentor Meckel said as he moved towards Malin’s side, "The alleys are also full of insectoids. We can’t use guns; firing guns will attract the insectoids. Do you have bayonettes?"

"Here’s a military bayonette, passed down to me from my father and grandfather," Mentor Aemet Sayer pulled a bayonette out from its sheath.

"Sharpness Art, it’s a good thing. 1772, did your grandfather fight in the Patriotic War?"

"Mm, a Patriotic War veteran, in the latter half, fought Chaos for thirteen years," Mentor Aemet Sayer fitted another bayonette onto its mount.

```

"My father died in the battle of a thousand," the old man fitted the bayonet.

Malin cleared his throat and gestured with his hand, "Please," as the two mentors followed his hand to the alley and noticed an axe that seemed to walk by itself had already hacked a bloody trail.

"We’re leaving," Malin said and stepped into the darkness.

While you were chatting, Blood Roar had already chopped its way through.

Following the blood trail carved by Blood Roar to the end, Malin came to a stop when his axe paused, so he stopped too, crossbow in hand, and peeked out with one eye: "No more Insectoids, I see the city walls." They emerged at the end of the alley to view a stretch of the city wall.

"There are a few Insectoids lying outside, but they don’t seem to be killed by your axe. Maybe we should walk out with a white flag."

"No need." Malin removed Blood Roar from the axe handle that Fio had transformed into, tied a white handkerchief to it, and had Fio hold it up as they walked out.

"I never thought a World Tree Sapling could be used like this," Mentor Meckel said with a puzzled face.

"Me neither, life is always full of surprises with Malin," Mentor Emet-Selch said, embarrassed as a head peeked out from the other side of the wall: "Who goes there!"

Carterburg, the tiny offshoots split from Fio spelt out the large place name.

"People from Carterburg, is the Central Administrative Province holding a contest?" The voice was filled with incredulous exclamation: "Oh my God, how did you make it through the alley? Come out, I’ll tell them not to point their guns at you."

So, Malin poked out his head and then was the first to walk out followed by the two mentors.

The person on the city wall leaned out halfway: "A kid, an old man, and you, Kwasir, how do you manage to stay alive for so long in Carterburg."

"If I don’t live longer than you, how could I die in peace," Mentor Emet-Selch said very unhappily.

"You damn pesky brother!" The person on the wall cursed, then lowered three baskets from the wall. Malin jumped into one and was the first to be pulled up.

At the top, Malin jumped out of the basket and saw all the weary living people—young men, old men, and children around eleven or twelve years old.

"I thought there were no living people left in the city." Malin said to the loud-mouthed man, who appeared to be another Mentor Emet-Selch, except he didn’t seem to have time to properly care for his hair and had no quality hair wax or dye. The white-haired elder smiled upon hearing Malin’s words: "Malin, if you had arrived a few days later, there might have really been no living people left."

"Why does everyone recognize me? Hello, I’m Malin, Malin Gaiate." Malin grinned, extending his hand to clasp that of the old man.

"I’m also from the Benevolent Church, only I’m a bishop, and my useless brother here, with white fluff on his head, could not have come at a more inopportune time to die." The old man shook his head at the sight of his brother being hauled up.

Don’t tell me your name is Rahabreah.

Malin made a quip and then extended his hand to help the two old men.

"Let’s stop our quarreling for now, brother, we have important matters to discuss."

"Of course, we can set aside our sibling matters for now. If you have something to say, say it quickly." The old man spoke while several other old men stood behind him.

Well, this truly is the Sunset Red Bishop Squad.

```

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.