I never upgrade

Chapter 31 Forced to Work the Night Shift

Sure enough, after gathering some strength, the heavily injured Luca gasped:

"I...can't...live...up..."

"Sigh..." Xu Lun sighed.

"I heard your species is called the 'Cloud Leopard,' and it seems you didn't originally live here, but rather in Cloud City. Why would you come here of all things? The humans here aren't as worldly-wise as those in Cloud City, and they're especially afraid of wild animals. And there's been a case of a wild animal attacking a person nearby. Your appearance here at this time is practically suicide; you've unwittingly walked into the line of fire..."

Luca did not respond, perhaps because he lacked the strength, or perhaps because he did not want to respond.

Xu Lun glanced at the piece of wild boar meat hanging down. The other party hadn't touched it. It wasn't that he didn't want to eat it, but he really didn't have much strength left. Even speaking was difficult, let alone chewing.

Moreover, its injuries cannot be healed simply by eating.

Xu Lun said nothing more. Words were futile now. He could only sit there silently, watching people come and go outside, like watching over a sick man, watching over the dying Luca.

He saw the chief and his group pass by again, the chief and Zhou Bo chatting and laughing happily.

A moment later, a faint voice suddenly came from the dungeon:

"I came here...for...my mother..."

Xu Lun was slightly taken aback and couldn't help but glance down at the cave entrance.

"You mean... you came here because of your mother? What do you mean?"

This time, he didn't have to wait long before he heard Luca's response:

"My mother...is dead...I want to go...to...the place...where she used to be...to see...when I was little...I came here...that's how I got my name..."

Xu Lun tried to piece together the gist of the matter from its limited breathing:

"So you mean, when you were very young, your mother brought you to this place, and your name, Luka, is related to this place? Zulu Village... Luka... No wonder... So your mother is now... um... gone, and you want to go back to the place she used to be, to take a look? Is that right?"

Luca didn't react much, seemingly acquiescing.

Xu Lun sighed inwardly, feeling a pang of sadness; even animals possess maternal instincts...

Hearing it talk about its mother, Xu Lun couldn't help but think of his own mother as well.

The last memory I had of my mother was the phone call she made on my birthday.

Thinking about this, and combining it with what Luca had just said, Xu Lun suddenly felt a sense of indescribable loneliness.

"You and your mother... must have a good relationship..."

Xu Lun asked this question subconsciously, and after asking it, he felt stupid. Of course, if they didn't have a good relationship, would someone travel all this way to remember their mother?

But unexpectedly, Luca responded quickly this time:

"Yes... I miss her..."

Just from that one sentence, Xu Lun suddenly felt a tremor in his heart, and a strong emotion welled up inside him.

Luca's words once again reminded him of his mother, his childhood experiences, and the various struggles he had had with her over the years...

Xu Lun remained silent for a long time, then suddenly thought of something and said:

"Your mother...couldn't have...been...that..."

Luca seemed to understand his meaning, and before he could finish speaking, he replied:

"She's sick..."

"oh."

Xu Lun understood.

No wonder. Actually, when I heard Luca's voice yesterday, I felt that it was still a very young lad. It was so young to lose its mother. Xu Lun thought it was the work of humans again. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

After that, the man and the leopard had no further interaction.

Xu Lun sat there silently until it got dark outside. He knew he should go to the village entrance to keep watch at night, so he got up and left.

When he left, he didn't say anything, not wanting to bother the other person.

Xu Lun even suspected that Luca might already be dead. The light was too dim for him to see clearly what was happening in the dungeon, and he didn't want to confirm it.

He felt that leaving quietly with thoughts of his mother was perhaps the greatest comfort for Luca at that moment.

Night falls.

Xu Lun carried the straw mat from home, walked through the village, and headed towards the eastern sentry post.

As he passed the village square, he saw that a bonfire had been set up, its intense heat illuminating the surrounding darkness. Villagers gathered in the square, chatting and laughing. The arrival of the cultivator swept away the previous gloom, and everyone seemed to have forgotten the ferocious beast lurking in the darkness, wanting only to enjoy the joyful moment to the fullest.

Xu Lun was unmoved by this; in a horror movie, these were just cannon fodder, a bunch of bystanders who wouldn't survive the night.

Moreover, the words Luca said earlier had a lasting impact; he was still savoring the story of the affection between Luca and its mother, and had no interest in paying attention to those people.

Although Luca is just a wild beast and what he says may not be true, and may only be to gain human sympathy, it is precisely because he is a wild beast that even a wild beast understands maternal love and kinship that Xu Lun was moved by.

Even animals understand this principle, so what about humans?

Xu Lun thought back to his childhood, recalling his parents from his early years, the helplessness he felt when he ran away from home, and the various hardships he endured from naivety to maturity...

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Lun didn't glance at the noisy crowd and walked through the village until he arrived at the eastern end of the village, near the village entrance.

The sentry post was just ahead, in a thatched hut.

It's a bit bigger than the one Xu Lun lives in.

Far from the village lights, the surroundings were now dark and deserted, with an eerie silence.

"They dare to put someone on night watch in this godforsaken place? Unbelievable..."

Xu Lun mentally complained.

He looked around for a moment, then walked toward the thatched hut where the night watchman was located.

Upon arriving at the thatched hut and entering, Xu Lun was utterly dumbfounded:

The room was covered with dark, spray-paint-like marks, and there was a large patch of splatter-like residue on the wall.

Although it was dark and he couldn't see clearly, Xu Lun knew immediately that this was the bloodstain of the night watchman who was murdered last night!

The entire thatched hut was decorated like a horror movie set, which was extremely unsettling, not to mention the lingering smell of blood.

"Bastards... these bastards are only thinking about wild boar meat, aren't they? They don't even bother to clean up after someone's dead..."

Xu Lun couldn't help but curse in his heart.

He didn't want to go inside the house anymore; he felt that being inside was even scarier than being outside.

Xu Lun circled the thatched hut once, and finally found a secluded spot behind the hut. He placed the straw mat he had brought earlier on the ground, leaned against the hut, and sat on the mat, making do with it for the time being.