Lu Li stepped out of the carriage and took out the spare key from the mailbox.
The sleepy children woke up one after another, hugged their blankets tightly and got out of the carriage one by one.
"Is this our new home?" The youngest girl tilted her head and looked at the foggy two-story wooden house in front of her.
Wei'er glanced at Lu Li's figure and answered her softly: "Yes, we will live here from now on."
Squeak——
Pushing open the door, Lu Li walked into the house first, holding an oil lamp, and lit the candlestick on the dining table.
Children with unhidden joy on their faces poured into the wooden house, looking around as if they wanted to memorize everything here, and exclaiming from time to time.
But in fact, there was nothing in the empty house, including cobwebs. There was only dust and the supplies that Lu Li had prepared in the corner. They were left to Remi and his sister after Lu Li decided to go to the Lennon Islands.
But it seems they haven't had time to go down the mountain to get these things yet.
"You can sleep upstairs. The bedroom is big enough to sleep everyone." Lu Li said to the children.
Weier nodded and ran upstairs with her brothers and sisters.
There was a burst of chaotic footsteps, dust falling from the cracks in the ceiling, and then the inaudible voices of children.
A few minutes later, Weier went downstairs alone and told Lu Li that they had made the bed to rest. She came down and asked what to do next.
"This is your residence, you decide for yourself." Lu Li did not intend to interfere too much in their lives.
A disappointed look appeared on Wei'er's face. She thought Lu Li would stay and take care of them later.
"I have other things to do, but I will bring you food and supplies regularly."
"Then what do you need us to do?" Weier asked puzzledly.
"Stay alive."
It is not easy for a group of children to survive in the shadow of the approaching apocalypse. Even with Lu Li's protection, they can only be relatively safe.
Wei'er understood this sentence, hesitated a little, and finally summoned up the courage to say to Lu Li: "Can you tell me the knowledge? About those monsters."
Lu Li looked at Weier calmly. She nervously avoided looking directly into Lu Li's eyes. After a moment, a voice asking her to relax sounded.
"Can."
This little girl is willing to bear the price of knowledge for her younger brothers and sisters. Lu Li has no reason to reject her.
In the next half hour, Lu Li and Wei Er talked a lot. From the three organizations of the Exorcist, the four weird camps: evil spirits, evil spirits, evil gods, weird, to information about sanity, and finally Lu Li's current situation.
All known evil spirits.
[Shadow of Stealing Fire] [Bottom of the Abyss] [Shadow of Thread] [Uninvited Guest], and the sources of the decline of human beings and the environment: [Lightless Night] and [The Beginning of Extinction].
Because of their disastrous nature, these evil spirits are also known as "disasters".
[Strange Fog] and [Rain of Mutations] have not been traced back to their source, so they are not included in the evil spirit camp.
During this, Lu Li told Wei Er the most important point: observation.
When encountering an unknown monster, no matter which one of the four camps it belongs to, you must first keep quiet and observe the other party. If it is an evil spirit, analyze its rituals based on the other party's shape and movements.
This is difficult for a little girl under nine years old to understand, but it can slightly improve their chances of survival.
It was almost nine o'clock in the evening, and the children who were used to going to bed early had already fallen asleep. Even Weier began to doze off constantly.
Lu Li, who had nothing to tell Weier, took out the small wooden box containing the carrion from his arms and told Weier that if he confirmed that he encountered something strange, he should open it and wait until the crow arrived to let him know.
This is of no use. No matter where Lu Li is, it's difficult to get there within a few minutes. But it can help the children not panic because they are alone and help them, and they can muster up the courage to save themselves.
In addition, Lu Li also told her some survival factors - they may be experienced, but their vision is not long-term.
For example, hoarding drinking water, firewood, coal, and kerosene, burying household garbage, reinforcing doors, and nailing first-floor windows with boards to prevent riots and robbers.
"Go back and rest. Remember to light at least two oil lamps and leave at least one person to keep watch. I will leave in a while." Lu Li handed her the key.
Wei'er thanked Lu Li again, put away the small wooden box and keys, and ran upstairs.
After a period of low voices, the upstairs gradually returned to silence.
After the children fell asleep, Anna appeared and sat opposite Lu Li.
She was ready to listen to what Lu Li had to say.
"What is your wish?" Lu Li said, always direct.
"Wish?" Anna couldn't understand what it meant.
Lu Li went into more detail: "What you want to do now."
Anna, who was quietly watching Lu Li's black eyes reflecting her own, suddenly averted her gaze. This made both Lu Li and Anna feel a little bit of the youthfulness and fear she once had.
Even though they were with Anna two or three months ago.
"I want... to be your shadow."
As if he knew what Anna was thinking, Lu Li's expression did not change and he continued: "You can become an independent individual and no longer completely dependent on me, like you did before when I was away."
After her words fell, Anna's cold air overflowed uncontrollably and lingered around her, but she carefully avoided Lu Li to prevent him from getting hurt.
Anna's expression was filled with heartbreaking sadness, and even her speech became clumsy and slow: "But I don't want to... separate."
Anna's mood has been wrong for a long time. Lu Li had to tell her in a more persuasive tone than when talking to Weier: "It has nothing to do with separation, our relationship will not change. It's just that you have your own judgment and thinking, and
What you want to do.”
"Why are you saying this?" Anna tilted her head and asked.
Lu Li replied: "Because if you continue, you will lose yourself and become a real shadow."
Anna was indifferent to everything except herself, whether it was Mary Poppins or her favorite book.
"Isn't this bad?"
"That's the problem."
Anna didn't notice anything strange about herself at all.
Lowering her head slightly, Anna murmured: "But I don't know what I can do..."
"There will always be."
Anna is like a giant vine wrapped around a tree - but she could have been another tree.
"There are many types of protection. The current one is to become my strength." Lu Li's words echoed in Anna's heart at the same time. "The other type is true protection: using your own power to protect me from weird intrusions."
"To truly protect you..." Anna repeated Lu Li's words in a low voice.
The cold breath gradually retracted from the illusory body, and Anna nodded gently: "I will try to change."
I just hope that the breath of the other world will not distort Anna's understanding of protection.