I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 454: 454 Village Chief

Upon hearing the militia say that there were Magic Source Stones for sale in the village’s general store, Song Jian was overjoyed.

The reason he had explored this realistic difficulty replica was to obtain Magic Source Stones. However, this time he had only collected fifty grams of them. To gather enough stones to build a Magic Tower, it would take him a long time.

If he could buy Magic Source Stones in this village, that would be the best news for Song Jian.

“Let’s go; take me into the village and have a look!” Song Jian put away the Magic Source Stones and said with a smile.

When Song Jian entered this village, he saw an old man dressed in a gray linen robe, with a wrinkled face and snow-white hair. Leaning on his crutch, the old man stood in the center of the village surrounded by people.

Upon seeing Song Jian, the old man trembled as he approached and paid his respects, saying, “Warrior, I am the village chief of Fok Village, Zola Fok. Thank you for saving our homes and sparing the lives of hundreds of innocents…”

Song Jian hurriedly rushed to help the old man up and said with a righteous look, “I am just a wandering swordsman. Seeing such monsters, I naturally couldn’t stand idly by. Regrettably, I wasn’t able to save Falakfu; he was a brave guardian!”

“Falakfu was a good boy. I hope his soul finds rest.” Village Chief Zola said softly, seemingly unfazed by the loss of their strongest combatant.

Upon hearing Village Chief Zola’s words, a faintly strange feeling welled up in Song Jian’s heart. This was highly unusual.

However, Song Jian didn’t continue the conversation, but asked, “Respected village chief Zola, I came here for a magic material, the Magic Source Stone, which is this black crystal. It only exists in the bodies of demonized bats. I want to ask if you know any nearby places with demonized bat nests?”

“These black crystals can often be picked up by villagers when they go out. Although we don’t know what it’s used for, carrying it around often helps to avoid pain and illnesses, so many people have some with them.” Village Chief Zola opened his collar and showed Song Jian a Magic Source Stone. It was about half the size of a fist and weighed over three hundred grams, making Song Jian somewhat envious.

“You can go to the general store at the front of the village to have a look; they have them for sale.” Chief Zola looked at Song Jian up and down, seemingly assessing his strength, and then said, “As for the den of demonized bats, if you follow the path from the back door of the village straight ahead, you’ll find it at the north-facing cliff in the Mourning Wasteland. There’s a huge cave there with many demonized bats.”

“The Mourning Wasteland? I see,” Song Jian nodded his head.

Soon, Song Jian found the general store the village chief mentioned. It not only had a large number of Magic Source Stones, but also many other valuable items. Song Jian even saw a gold-quality musket. Although its properties were average, a gold-quality musket outside this area was worth at least 100,000 Doomsday Coins.

The items in the store had to be purchased with replica human prestige, which was of no use outside the replica. It could only be used here as currency.

“I need to grind this replica for at least half a month to buy the gold-quality musket…” Song Jian calculated in his heart, shook his head, and ultimately gave up the idea of continuing to grind this replica.

He exchanged all his replica human prestige for Magic Source Stones, and combined with what he had already obtained, Song Jian now had more than three hundred grams of Magic Source Stones.

“This is worth thirty million!” Song Jian held the small bundle of Magic Source Stones in his hand, a bitter smile on his face.

A short stay in the village before moving to the village’s back door, Song Jian found himself at the back gate of the village.

With the village backed against a cliff, the so-called back door was, in fact, the only escape route for villagers. In case the village gate was breached, the villagers could flee through here.

At this moment, Village Chief Zola was standing at the back door. Seeing Song Jian approaching, Zola took out a yellowish parchment scroll from his bosom and handed it to Song Jian, saying, “Warrior, you saved our village, and I have nothing to repay you with. This is a map of the entire Mourning Wasteland, including a small part of the Nest of Mourning, the den of the demonized bats. I believe it will certainly be of help to you.”

Zola’s expression was very sincere, which surprised Song Jian. Even when they lost their militia captain, who had always guarded the village, the village chief had not shown such an expression.

Upon glancing at the map, Song Jian could see that it detailed the Mourning Wasteland’s topography and even marked the locations of powerful monsters. It was quite thorough.

In the lower right corner of the map, it depicted a small section of the Nest of Mourning, marked with numerous holes and passages. It looked like someone had explored it for a long time before drawing it. It was detailed but only showed about less than a third of the entire nest. Based on the markings on the map, it appeared that there might also be a second layer to the Nest of Mourning. However, since nobody had fully explored it, this was just speculation.

“Thank you, village chief!” Song Jian put away the map and thanked Zola with a smile. Regardless of the purpose for giving him this map, it did save Song Jian a lot of exploration time. Otherwise, he would have had to spend at least a few days in the Mourning Wasteland to find the den of demonized bats.

In fact, there were many more side quests and hidden quests in this village that could be dug up. If a small team entered here, they could benefit greatly, but it would also take more time. After all, this was just a level 10 realistic difficulty replica. The items within it were not that interesting for Song Jian. It was better to find the demonized bats’ nest as soon as possible and obtain the Magic Source Stones.

Watching Song Jian holding a torch and disappearing into the rocky passageway behind the village, a trace of a complex expression flickered across Village Chief Zola’s face. Under the dim light, it seemed like a dark snake-like aura was nestled between his eyebrows.

The rocky passageway behind the village was spacious and bore traces of artificial chiseling. Creating such a passageway would have taken at least several decades of efforts by the entire village.

Holding a torch, Song Jian walked for more than twenty minutes before finally seeing light ahead.

“Finally made it out.” Song Jian said as he walked quickly to the end of the passage. As soon as he stepped out, a miserable scream rang in his ears.

This sudden howl startled Song Jian, making him shiver. He couldn’t help but summon his Crimson Fire Heart Ape Sword, gripping it tightly in his hand as he anxiously looked around.