The oil lamp's glow appeared at the edge of the corridor. Lu Li stepped out of the Long House, looking toward the twisted cultists and laborers in the distance.

The Crown of Thorns hanging by the door slipped onto Lu Li's shoulder, returning to his forehead to form a circlet once more.

"Did you help them?"

Just descriptions couldn't bring back such details, even the floor at the door worn out by friction was restored. Even the Mother of the Marsh had seen the Detective Agency in a dream.

"Just a little."

Lu Li nodded, expressing gratitude to the Mother of the Marsh and the craftsmen.

"I hope to see it reopen someday; I'll be the first customer," replied the Mother of the Marsh.

The laborers temporarily stored leftover boards, paint, and sand in the workshop next to Mrs. Phelin's bakery and returned to camp.

They would be used in future renovations.

Five twisted cultists would stay here. The Detective Agency had returned to civilization and couldn't afford to lend its power again, though it's unlikely the weird will return or be interested in a building.

The Twisted Shadow still overlooked the Ashes District, the bizarre iron forest under its threat was like a leaking reservoir; most gaps, never surrounded by twisted cultists, left, while some were polluted into servants or submission under the ocean-like breath of the Twisted Shadow.

On the way back to camp, the Mother of the Marsh conveyed good news brought by the Twisted Shadow: a weird leader had become its servant.

The Twisted Shadow wanted to hand it over to Lu Li to restore humanity, which he refused: "The camp needs strength, a weird leader is more effective than a few slices of humanity."

Especially during the camp's transition into the Land of Light.

Back at camp, Lu Li saw a caravan of carts covered with oilcloth, filled with cargo, leave the Immortal Wall.

Scholars of science and craftsmen followed the procession to leave camp, while Valendo and his chosen assistants tallied materials at the source of the caravan.

"Mr. Luli, we happen to need your help."

"Bring a wooden boat." Valendo tossed his record book to an assistant and led Lu Li to a mid-sized generator, its height close to chest level: "Sir Ross gave data of about 16,000 pounds, the carts can't bear this distance, and the Banyan Tree Guardians are too slow."

"Couldn't Merchant Anthony do it?"

"Better not..." Valendo explained why: "Earlier today, scholars found generator equipment corroded, initially thought to be poor storage, but mysticology scholars said it was affected by Inner World's aura…"

They temporarily only had this set of generators. If it broke, they could only transport from Vena Ice-Free Port, which would add at least over a week's wait.

Wasting time in the Land of Light is shameful.

As for dismantling the generator for separate transport... they haven't mastered restoration techniques, it might result in many strange and useless parts upon reassembly.

"What do you plan to do."

"Use a boat."

Valendo pointed to a small wooden boat pulled by assistants with carts in the distance.

A wooden boat couldn't bear nearly 8 tons of weight, but it could with help from twisted cultists.

Lu Li nodded and said to the Mother of the Marsh: "You and the Twisted Shadow choose suitable believers to join the inner affairs department."

Thus allowing Valendo to mobilize the Twisted Church and the Shadow Church without consulting Lu Li.

Craftsmen reinforced the wooden boat, the Banyan Tree Guardians lifted the generator onto the boat, and twisted cultists summoned ocean power after the crowd stepped back, gathering seawater to lift the wooden boat.

The twisted cultists left camp with smudges and the wooden boat.

Solving matters at hand, hearing the restored Detective Agency, Valendo excitedly said: "If we had a newspaper agency, we could take a photo for the headline."

The Hope Land newspaper agency hasn't been prioritized yet.

"We can let Vena Underground City publish it," Lu Li responded.

"His Excellency Lulian, that lacks some feeling; announcing it ourselves would be more inspiring." Valendo already considered him one of Hope Land's people.

Returning to the wooden house at Lake Heart Island, before long, the Mother of the Marsh informed Lu Li: "It brought it over..."

Looking out the window, a gray point like the outline of a house appeared by the Shore of Agate Lake.

Through a telescope, its appearance revealed: gray-brown scales with brown spots resembling metal; an elliptical form grew many tentacles for movement and feeding, like a giant sea cucumber.

What distinguished it from purely giant weird or weird leaders was the head, flat-faced, with only eyes and a mouth several times larger than the face.

Worms would have common topics with it.

Accompanied by twisted cultists, the weird leader slipped into the shimmering Agate Lake, the ripples spread and vanished.

As a weird leader, it's unsuited for further dispatch to the bay for waste; it would enter the Temple to accept the Twisted Shadow's aura until becoming its follower, posing no danger.

The Twisted Church's power reinforced once again; in comparison, the Shadow Church and Vine Church seemingly had no expansion desires.

Two weird leaders remained in the Shipwreck District, the Twisted Shadow capable of handling them anytime, thus twisted cultists completely surrounded the iron forest, no gaps left.

Awaiting the final result, the Mother of the Marsh informed Lu Li, the Ashes District agreed to communication.

Time seemed coincidental, just after nearly solving the Shipwreck District.

Perhaps the Ashes District had always observed outside.

"It wants to speak with you…"

"It knows me?"

"I told it the Land of Light's lord is human, it expressed surprise…"

"Is there danger?"

"Wait a moment…"

Lu Li quickly understood why the Mother of the Marsh asked him to wait: It appeared on the wooden bridge across the Agate Lake.

The Mother of the Marsh sheltered Lu Li, using the Crown of Thorns for him to communicate with Ashes District's awareness.

As if in a dreamy haze, Lu Li sensed emotions keeping a distance.

Lu Li remained silent, feeling the emotions gradually becoming clear, transforming, a tentacle-like strand extending friendliness.

"It's just a nascent awareness, unable to communicate."

The Mother of the Marsh's awareness appeared beside. Emotions retreated in fright, tentatively pushed back, releasing more friendliness.

The Ashes District's awareness behaved like an innocent beast, not confronting the Land of Vortex as a forbidden zone.

It was merely confirming the Mother of the Marsh hadn't deceived it with lies; further communication was still between the Mother of the Marsh and it.

"The Ashes District agreed to become allies, help protect the Land of Light, requesting mutual non-aggression," the Mother of the Marsh translated, while Lu Li felt its "gaze."

"Is it trustworthy?"

"I will help it obtain humanity…"

Transforming a naive new awareness wasn't challenging, even if it harbored caution and alienation towards the external world.

Lu Li nodded slightly: "Promise it."

The moment words landed, the awareness released an equal degree of friendliness to Lu Li as it did to the Mother of the Marsh.

The Mother of the Marsh ended the connection, returning to the vestibule to prepare today's afternoon tea—the Ashes District's awareness would attend too.

Now, only the Silent Hill stands in their way.

In fact, after the Land of Vortex's destruction, Silent Hill also restrained itself in caution.

Two choices lay ahead: eliminate or become allies.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.