Chapter 117

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Chapter 117: Good Ants Get Good Rewards

Evening.

Western Village One.

"It’s been three years."

A middle-aged man, carrying farm tools and wearing a soiled burlap shirt, passed by a house and couldn’t help but sigh.

"I wonder how that child, Jilly, is doing now."

"What can be done? Just being alive is a great blessing."

Another villager, shorter in stature, chimed in.

"That child is so young; how could she possibly stand up to two adventurers? Besides, the journey to the town isn’t without its perils. If she were to encounter a monster—"

He left the sentence hanging, but the other man understood his implication.

"Ah, that child. No matter how much we tried to dissuade her, she wouldn’t listen. It’s as if she was courting death."

"Who can blame her? After all, her only family was killed—her beloved mother. Who could endure such a loss?"

After sharing a few more sighs, the two villagers each made their way back to their homes.

They sympathized with Jilly’s plight, but felt powerless to help. After all, even a small group of ordinary goblins was enough to overwhelm these villagers, and if their numbers were too great, they would have to seek the aid of adventurers from the town.

…

Once the villagers had finished their farming and returned home.

The sky darkened.

Faint lights began to flicker in the villagers’ homes.

But likely in an effort to conserve lamp oil, or perhaps due to their early-to-bed habits, these lights gradually extinguished in less than half an hour.

With the disappearance of these light sources, the village plunged into deeper darkness.

Under the dim moonlight, several shadows swiftly moved from a distance to the door of a particular house.

Then, the shadows abruptly transformed, and in the next moment, they became a few gray ants.

"Hidden Shadow": Upon activating this skill, the user transforms into a shadow, reducing damage and slightly increasing movement speed. Additionally, the user can conceal themselves within the shadows of other beings or objects.

This is the new skill that Stealth Ant acquired at Class B.

Stealth, invisibility, Hidden Shadow…

It’s becoming more and more like a true assassin.

Lin Yu focused her attention on Stealth One, and she saw Stealth One signal the other seven Stealth Ants to leap over the dirt wall and into Jilly’s small yard.

Over the course of three years, this little yard had become overrun with weeds.

The Stealth Ants then approached the house, opened the door, and ventured inside.

The interior of the house was dusty and draped with cobwebs from years of disuse.

First, find clothes, then other useful items.

Yes, Sister Stealth One.

Under Stealth One’s command, the other seven Stealth Ants dispersed to search.

Stealth One followed one Stealth Ant into a bedroom on the left, a room she had visited before; it was Jilly’s mother’s bedroom.

Though she couldn’t compare to her own mother, she was still a very good mother.

Gazing at the empty wooden bed, Stealth One thought silently.

"Sister Stealth One, should we take this?"

Stealth Five Three extended a gray forelimb, pointing at the dusty grass mat on the bed.

"Hmm, you first move it to the hall, but be careful not to damage it."

As Stealth Five Three carefully carried the mat out, Stealth One approached the wardrobe and opened it.

Inside were a few women’s clothes.

"Mom, these clothes?"

"Keep them."

"Hmm."

Stealth One acknowledged and then thoroughly checked the room. Finding nothing of interest, she walked out.

In the center of the hall, several items had already been placed.

There were the previous mats and some other things that the Stealth Ants had found useful while searching the house.

"Which ones does mom think we should take?"

"Hmm…"

Through Stealth One’s eyes, Lin Yu examined each item.

There are two mats, so both are necessary.

Then there are pots, bowls, and kitchen utensils like knives and spatulas. I’m tired of barbecue; now that I’ve turned into a person, with a pot, I can stew, boil, and stir-fry meat!

Cooking skills? My cooking skills are quite good!

Although the dishes I make aren’t so delicious that they make you stomp your feet, they are still very tasty!

With these kitchen tools, I can showcase my skills and let my daughters experience what mom’s cooking tastes like!

Anyway, I’m usually free at home, and there are plenty of ingredients. There are also many ants to taste, so I can definitely refine my cooking skills.

Besides kitchen tools, the seasoning salt… has already gone bad. There’s nothing I can do; after all, the salt in the village is not of good quality, and it has been stored for so long.

Besides this, there is nothing else worth taking.

Oh right, there’s also Jilly’s clothes.

"What about the clothes in the other room?"

Stealth One seemed to notice this too and asked Stealth Two and Stealth Seventeen.

"Sister Stealth One, the clothes are in the wardrobe. They looked a bit… not very clean, so we didn’t touch them."

"Hmm."

So Stealth One nodded and entered another bedroom.

Against the wall stood a wooden wardrobe; she approached and opened it with her front legs.

Inside, there was only an old fabric outfit, along with a slightly better piece of fabric for wrapping and a small pair of underwear. However, these clothes were not only yellowed and wrinkled but also moldy in some places.

"Mom, what should we do with these?"

"Take them away."

Mold and dirt can be handled with the life skill "Cleaning." If it’s just a few pieces of clothing, it can be easily managed with just a little bit of Magic Value.

But one piece isn’t enough.

Red Pupil is also currently without clothes, and considering that other daughters may also gain the "Transformation" skill to become human in the future, we should prepare more clothes.

Also, the salt is almost gone, so it’s time to get some from the villagers.

Western Village One has more than a hundred households; if each household gives us a little salt, they won’t notice, and the total amount will be quite substantial.

While getting some salt, we can also take a look through their wardrobes and pick a few pieces of clothing.

After nearly three years of observation, the people of Western Village One are simple and kind, and they definitely won’t mind these few pieces of clothing.

And I am not getting it for free!

Because I often let the Stealth Ants observe the village, sometimes they easily handle some monsters like goblins that come close to the village, so it makes sense to get something in return~

Well, before this, I tried letting a few goblins go and watched how the villagers reacted.

"It’s a goblin!"

"Those darn monsters are back! We can’t let them ruin the fields!"

"Luckily there aren’t many, let’s all go together."

"Be careful of their teeth; getting bitten would be a problem."

If bitten badly, I might have to rest at home for a few days; even if the injury is minor, working while injured will slow us down.

These villagers have better Attribute Panels than the average goblin, but they are much worse in battle; one villager is clumsy when fighting against one goblin.

When they killed one or two goblins, the other goblins began to make a noise and retreat. The villagers were too scared to chase them; everyone was afraid of getting hurt, and what if they ran into another monster?

Level and strength are two completely different things; a high level does not always mean someone is strong.

These villagers are weaker than expected.

So, the kind beautiful girl helped them get rid of the monster.

Good deeds are rewarded; the villagers’ gratitude came faster than expected.

Stealth One, collect the salt; the other ants will gather the clothes.

After receiving Lin Yu’s command, Stealth One collected the moldy clothes from the bedroom closet, two straw mats from the hall, and kitchen utensils and stored them in another space.

After leaving Jilly’s house, the eight Stealth Ants transformed into eight shadows and spread out, sneaking into the nearby villagers’ homes.