Chapter 83 — The Origin of the Monsters

Halfway through her sentence, Amber noticed Gao Yang crouched beside one of the aberration remains, head bent, studying something with total absorption, and asked curiously.

Gao Yang waved her over. "Come take a look."

Amber obediently came closer. She saw the aberration lying on the ground, the great mass of flesh and mud on it already "evaporated," leaving behind only a blood-red skeleton (which would take a few more days to fully dissipate). And lodged in that dreadful skeleton was a length of metal, severely twisted and corroded.

Amber blinked. "What is that thing?"

"A soldier's sword of Gondor Imperial pattern," Gao Yang said, his tone grave. "No mistake—it's the model used by the Empire's northern watchposts back in the day."

Flighty as Amber was, she was no fool. In that instant she understood: "Wait! This monster had that thing on it... so it came from the Gondor Wastes?!"

Gao Yang nodded silently.

"That... that can't be!" Amber felt cold sweat spread in an instant from the back of her head all the way to her heels. "The whole of the Gondor Wastes is ringed by the magnificent wall the elves built—those sentinel towers aren't just for show... How could these monsters possibly have gotten out?!"

Gao Yang was silent a while, then suddenly said in a low, eerie voice: "That magnificent wall has stood there for seven hundred years now."

Amber's face twitched. She gave a dry laugh: "Heh... hehe, don't scare me. Maybe these monsters were locked outside the wall from the very beginning, wandering between the Dark Mountains and the sentinel towers all this time, and only this year wandered over here."

"Impossible. Aberrations gradually disintegrate once removed from a mana-tide environment—unless their numbers are enough to form a new chaotic mana environment," Gao Yang snuffed out Amber's last shred of hope. "These monsters couldn't have survived outside the wall for seven hundred years. So... they came from inside it."

Amber thought it over, then shuddered. "...Mother of God!"

"Don't make a sound about this yet," Gao Yang said, looking into Amber's eyes. "It may not be as bad as all that. I was there when the Sentinel Towers were raised—I know those things can repair themselves and balance their load, so it's unlikely they'd shut down completely. Most likely one of the towers has lost some power from sheer age, but the barrier will heal itself in a short while..."

Amber swallowed hard. "And in plain language, what does that mean?"

Gao Yang: "...It means the barrier may have a hole in it for now, but it'll patch itself up."

"Then why didn't you say so sooner?" Amber hastily patted her chest, which was not exactly prominent to begin with. "Scared me half to death."

But Gao Yang was still frowning. "Don't be so quick to breathe easy. Something is plainly wrong with the Great Wall—even if a hole opened and closed again, that's proof enough that it's aging. A small hole will turn into a big one sooner or later."

"Then what do we do?!"

"...No. I have to go take a look—even from a distance, just to see the Wall still standing," Gao Yang said, rising abruptly. "Sitting here guessing will never set my mind at ease."

"Then I..." Amber stood up after him, her resolve swinging wildly between cowardice and recklessness, but in the end she was caught up in Gao Song's manner, and she gritted her teeth. "I'm coming with you!"