The deputy dean must have thoroughly investigated him. In fact, the moment the Evolution Core became famous, countless major forces had already begun checking his background.
Lin Suo’s identity was not entirely flawless, but there was no definite proof against it.
All the related personnel, except for him, were dead.
No, Earl of Seth from Magma Kingdom knew, but he didn’t know much, only that Lin Suo was a Dan Dong Traveling Merchant who had accidentally entered the battlefield.
The team that truly discovered him, Gray’s Vanguard Squad, had already perished in a treacherous night raid by the locals, while he was hiding under the bed, fortunately surviving.
Only his life in Koster had traces that could be followed.
He believed that was the point in time when the deputy dean thoroughly investigated him.
Guessing his relationship with the Elf Clan was quite normal.
It was specially left for him.
This matter, he really needed to make a trip.
What if Valia was there, what should he do?
He, Lin Suo, was not a good person.
But he still had his principles, the friendship from six years ago and the naïve throbbing seemed like just yesterday.
After learning about the recent situation from the deputy dean, Lin Suo went back to prepare for a while and set off immediately.
Thea was with him; it was impossible to trust her with others.
The time for the Demon Hunting Points competition is twenty years!
That meant, a farther future, the pathway to promotion was already in everyone’s hands, it depended on whether they dared to fight for it.
One could say the wizards are inhumane, squeezing out every last resource before departure.
But it absolutely is the best method to forge battle geniuses.
The Starry Sky shouldn’t be as peaceful as his hometown.
Traveling by goblin airship only takes five days, but now without airships, he could only rely on flying himself.
It would take close to a month.
The journey was a bit farther than going to Bertos Kingdom.
Lin Suo could only hurry, having persisted for a month, another month should be... no problem, right...
Once a bustling port city, although small, housed numerous families and had a constantly transitioning population that exceeded the residing population.
After recovering from an upheaval of the Late Bell, it took a few years to revitalize, only to fall into chaos again, this time turning completely into ruins.
On the various big and small streets, mutated Mermaids with twisted, broken crow wings on their backs, oozing pustules covering their bodies.
Crawling on the ground, leaving trails of wet, sticky fluids and red marks from flesh abrasions, their stench was unbearable.
These were special individuals formed from failed Crow-man transformations cursed by corruption, similar to the [Eternal Drowner Curse].
But their strength was decent, with strong infectivity.
Apart from them, there were numerous Sand Mermaids, Snake Demons, Sea Giants, Multi-headed Snakes, and other monsters emerging from the water, ninety-nine percent of them cursed.
These were considered the lowest level servant army.
More advanced large-winged Crow-men, along with the Blood Clan and their Blood Slave army, were plundering territories; Koster had become a major rear base for them from an initial landing point.
So, these were just stragglers that hadn’t kept up with the main army.
Only the Crow-man troop responsible for guarding was not weak.
Lin Suo knew the terrain around Koster very well, therefore, his first destination was the outlying Rhein Castle; he planned to enter the city through the underground passages to search for those trapped.
At this time, in Rhein Bookstore.
Sisters Tina and Valia from the Nature Language family, along with a group of young elf cubs, were hiding in an underground safe house on the route from Koster to the Monster Salt Swamp.
Who knows why Rhein had placed so many supplies underground.
It was as bizarre as if they had known beforehand.
They found enough supplies from various underground safe houses within the city to sustain a single person for fifty years, enough to feed their group of a hundred for a year without worry.
The reason for such a disparity was that Lin Suo’s stored food mainly consisted of synthetic jerky, which elves do not eat. But in critical times, surviving for three to five years wouldn’t be a problem.
Valia and Tina were sitting on the sofa, discussing how to save themselves.
"Sister, you just returned from the Thousand Island Sea Domain and fell into such a great trouble, it’s all my fault."
Tina didn’t really like Lin Suo, but this time it was indeed thanks to his family’s resources that they managed to survive.
"Lea, no need to blame yourself, you are my sister, as an elder sister I should naturally support you. It’s that Rhein who is unthoughtful, forgetting you after gaining fame."
Somewhat despondently, she clearly understood Tina was just feigning toughness.
Initially, it was her and the older generation of the family who were the most vociferous, preferring to marry a Giant Troll rather than forming a marriage alliance with Dan Dong people.
After all, it was the last pride of the Nature Language family...
As for liking... She was also unclear what that kind of experience would feel like.
"Sister, let’s not talk about this."
"Alright, but self-rescue is too dangerous. How can we take these hundreds of children with us?"
"The underground has these special material walls to hide us. We won’t have such good things once we go out."
"This new type of material, I have no idea what that guy was thinking. Without seeing it personally, one simply can’t notice the issues."
The sister made sense.
Valia, compared to her earlier simplicity and naivety, had grown a lot, at least enough to see the real issues.
Her abilities had also improved, from being an Advanced Witch Apprentice to a First Rank Witch, she spoke after pondering for a moment.
"How about this, let’s wait one more month. If the situation above doesn’t change, we’ll then evacuating in batches from the exit of Monster Salt Swamp.
Take three children at a time, heading south."
Tina immediately objected.
"Little Lea, if there is no change after a month, it means the Dan Dong Empire has already abandoned Koster. Only our family knows about our existence, rescue will surely come."
"And it’s too dangerous to head south, there’s no place better than this to relocate the children in batches, look."
Valia followed the direction Tina pointed.
She saw elf cubs, age ranging from thirty to fifty years old, all drooping their heads, huddled together, their eyes swollen and red from frequent crying.
This age corresponds to human children aged 6 to 10.
They lost their relatives from the Mixed Blood District, and the uncles and aunties from the Nature Association are gone too. Now they only have their two unreliable elder sisters.
"What do we do then?"
Tina picked up a bag of seeds.
"Look, Rhein has already planned for us. If it really comes to it, we can use witchcraft to hasten the growth of these seeds. We can hold out for a long time, the family will surely send someone to rescue us."
She wanted to do something, to show her sister that she was no longer the nodding and agreeing little Lea from before.
She is a formal witch, mature now!
Someone they can rely on...
But... for the safety of the hundred children, just follow her sister once more!