My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 32 Can you perform a Flash Blast?

"sewer……"

Upon hearing this word, Garen's expression changed slightly, as if he had suddenly thought of something, while Rhodes, the corpse collector, stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.

Rhodes wasn't very familiar with the sewers, and his "business" area in Mist City was small. He could only take charge of a small, sparsely populated, and poor community, and there was almost no profit to be made from them.

This led to Rhodes spending most of his time wandering around the outskirts of the Misty Forest, hoping to get lucky.

Even so, he was still frequently targeted by city guards and gang members who demanded protection money.

As for the sewer area, where the quality of the corpses is extremely high...

Such fertile areas are naturally not for outsiders like Rod to share.

What is a sewer?

Although everyone's first reaction to this word is filth and stench, it is precisely because of this that it has become a natural haven for selling stolen goods, disposing of corpses, and harboring criminals.

The corpses in the sewers are often far more valuable than the half-baked adventurer corpses that Rhode has touched; the profit from one corpse can be much greater than that from ten civilian corpses.

After all, the vast majority of those who die there are of unknown origin; some are gang members engaged in shady dealings, while others are criminals fleeing with all their possessions...

In short, nobody cares if you die, and nobody will investigate.

Just as Rhodes and Garen were lost in thought, the sound of dragging footsteps came from the alley entrance.

A girl with a dazed expression walked over. Her hair was messy, her face was sallow, and she was carrying a tattered wicker basket with a little food in her hand. Her face was full of disappointment and exhaustion.

It wasn't until she reached her front door that she came to her senses, abruptly stopping in her tracks, realizing that two men seemed to have come looking for her.

"Who are you...?"

Her eyes were full of vigilance, and she instinctively held the wicker basket in front of her and took a few steps back.

"I am Father Galen, a friend of old Jack. Do you remember me?" Galen quickly explained his purpose. "My friend Rod and I happened to be passing by and wanted to visit old Jack."

"I'm sorry, Lord Garen, I didn't recognize you just now..." The girl finally saw Garen's face clearly, and she breathed a long sigh of relief.

She took out her key, opened the wooden door, and stepped aside to greet her, saying, "Please come in, the house is a bit messy."

Garen and Rhodes exchanged a glance and followed her inside.

"I heard that old Jack has gone missing," Garen asked impatiently as soon as he sat down.

"Yes, I've asked many people, and they all say they've never seen him..." the girl said, lowering her head. "No one in the Adventurers' Guild or the nearby taverns is willing to take my request either."

"Then why didn't you go to the church to find me?" Garen couldn't help but frown, looking at the young boy in front of him and gently scolding him, "Your father and I are friends, you should have told me about this the first thing."

"...Father once said he didn't dare face you and told me not to bother you," the girl's voice was very soft. "He said when he was drinking that he was ashamed to see you. He hated himself for abandoning your younger brother and running away alone, only to bring back news of his death..."

"That wasn't his fault," Garen said, clenching his fists, glancing at Rhodes beside him before relaxing them. "It's all in the past."

"How did he disappear? Was there anything unusual before that?" Rod interrupted the two, bringing the conversation back on track.

"He started acting strangely about two weeks ago," the girl thought for a moment, "It feels like he's getting old and confused."

"I go out before dawn every day and sometimes don't come back until midnight, covered in the mud and stench of the sewers."

"When he came back, he didn't eat. He just lay on the bed laughing to himself, saying that there was a treasure inside, a treasure that could change everything, and told me not to tell anyone."

"Three nights ago, he suddenly rushed home, didn't even drink a drop of water, grabbed his usual body-collecting equipment, stood up and ran outside. I called to him but he didn't respond."

"Three nights ago... and now," Rod tilted his head and muttered softly, "the golden time for rescue is almost over..."

Hearing his murmur, Garen's expression instantly became much more serious, but he was not good at finding people and didn't even know where to start investigating.

"Do you know which areas he usually frequents?" Rod asked from the side. "It would be best if you had a map or something."

"Map..." The girl pondered for a moment, then rummaged under the straw mat on the bed and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment.

"I'm not sure if this is..." The girl hesitated for a moment before handing it to the two people in front of her. "But one night I saw him put this there and told me to hide it and not tell anyone."

The paper was yellowed and brittle, the edges were worn and frayed, and there were crooked lines drawn on it with charcoal pencil. Many places were blurred by fingers, but you could still vaguely make out some of the architectural features of the sewers.

Garen couldn't understand the dog-crawling patterns on it, and after looking at it for a while, he started to feel overwhelmed. Rhodes, on the other hand, excitedly took out his map and lay on the table to compare it with the others.

"Found it, in this area," Rhodes pointed out the location to Garen beside him. "The nearest entrance is in the neighborhood right here."

Upon seeing the location he pointed to, Garen's expression changed slightly, seemingly in surprise and anger, before he quickly regained his worried look.

"You...want to go?"

Garen sat beside him, his brown eyes flickering as if he were worried about something.

"Otherwise what? You're so concerned about him because you want to find him, aren't you?" Rhodes looked up at him questioningly. "You can't just sit here and wait for him to fall from the sky and come back, can you?"

"Of course I'm planning to go look..." Garen paused, "but the sewers are too messy, with rats and poisonous insects, and lots of outlaws... You don't need to get involved."

In fact, Garen had almost no hope of finding anyone.

Even though Old Jack was a friend he had known for many years, he was still just a lowly corpse collector, and even if he reported it to the police, the guards wouldn't go looking for him.

"If I go missing, will you come looking for me?" Rod asked.

Garen hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Yes."

"That's settled then," Rod said, turning his gaze back to the map. "It's better for the two of us to go together than for you to go alone, isn't it?"

"I dare to go even to the outskirts of the Misty Forest. Now that you're with me, what's wrong with taking a stroll through the sewers?" Rhodes shrugged. "Let's go while it's still early. Maybe we can still find someone. If we run into something we can't beat, we can just run away."

"But……"

Seeing Garen still hesitating, Rhodes became even more confused: "Do you think I'm weak and will hold you back?"

"That's not what I meant, never mind..." Garen, seeing his serious expression, finally gave in, "If things don't go well, we'll retreat."

Rather than waiting for Old Jack to die and his territory to be occupied by other corpse collectors, which might cause other troubles, it's better to find a way to give it to Rhodes, one of our own, at least it will be easier to deal with.

"Right, if not, we can call Lucius to come along tomorrow." Rhodes nodded.

Upon hearing this, Garen fell silent and didn't respond.

Fortunately, Rod didn't notice this and assumed that he was just worried about old Jack.

"We'll take the map, is that alright?" Rhodes asked the girl beside him, picking up Old Jack's "treasure map."

"Of course," the girl said, her anxiety finally eased a little upon hearing their decision. "Thank you, thank you so much."

Rod folded both maps and stuffed them into his pocket before standing up.

"I'm gone."

The two went out and, following the markings on the map, made two turns to reach the nearest sewer entrance.

A stench of rot, sludge, and excrement hit me.

Garen instinctively frowned, covered his nose, and showed signs of discomfort.

Rhodes pulled a coarse cloth mask from his pocket, tied it to his face, and then gave one to Garen.

It was an iron fence embedded in the ground, with several broken wooden barrels piled up next to it, emitting a foul smell.

Rod moved them aside and looked at the rusted fence, which showed signs of having been opened. He immediately felt he had come to the right place.

He stepped forward, pried open the lock with his dagger, and ripped open the iron gate.

crunch--

Seeing Garen eager to go in, Rhodes immediately stopped him.

"Don't go down yet."

He took a candle out of his backpack, lit it, and waved it at the entrance of the hole.

The flames burned steadily without going out.

"There's enough oxygen, let's go," he said, and jumped down first.

Garen jumped down after him.

The sewer was higher than he had imagined, and he could barely stand up straight.

The walls were covered with slippery moss, and the water underfoot was ankle-deep, making a crunching sound when you stepped on it.

Black insects would occasionally crawl past my feet, and flies would buzz around my head.

Garen raised his hand, a point of white light appearing at his fingertips, intending to use a light spell to illuminate the path ahead.

"Don't use it yet, I have a lantern," Rhodes said, taking off the lantern he always carried and putting the candle inside. "Save your magic for monsters, the candle is enough, and it can also be used to determine the wind direction."

As he spoke, he raised the lantern in his hand a little higher.

The dim, yellowish firelight flickered in the darkness, illuminating the passage a few meters ahead.

The two walked along the main passage, and the sewage under their feet became deeper and deeper.

Rod walked ahead, his steps light, stopping every now and then to look at the scratches on the wall and compare them with the map in his hand.

"Ah... the sewer system is really complicated." Rhodes looked around and couldn't help but sigh.

Garen didn't speak, his eyes constantly scanning the darkness on both sides, his steps becoming somewhat heavy.

"What's wrong? You look terrible," Rod asked with concern.

"It's nothing." Garen immediately looked away, his voice a little dry. "I'm just not used to the environment here."

"Oh." Rhodes nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

He turned back and continued walking forward, referring to the map.

"Just one more turn and you'll be there. Old Jack's mark is at that fork in the road."

The further you go in, the more polluted the air becomes.

The original putrid smell was now mixed with a faint smell of blood.

Water dripped from above onto the ground, its sound particularly clear in the silent sewer.

There was also a strange scratching sound coming from the depths of darkness, intermittent.

Rhodes stopped and raised the lantern a little higher.

"arrive."

He pointed to the fork in the road ahead.

The crooked five-pointed star on the map is drawn right here.

There was also a fresh scratch on the wall, exactly like the chip on Old Jack's tools.

Just then, a sharp scream suddenly came from the darkness.

Three fat, enormous rat-men rushed out from the fork in the road.

They are more than half a person tall, covered in greasy gray fur, and their bellies are swollen like balls.

Its sharp teeth protruded from its lips, dripping with yellowish-green saliva, and its claws scraped the stone ground with a harsh sound.

"careful!"

Garen shouted and charged forward, raising his oak staff.

The staff tip, glowing faintly white, slammed hard into the head of the foremost ratman.

With a crack, the ratman's skull shattered, and he slumped softly to the ground.

Rod also drew the dagger from his waist.

He dodged the claws of another ratman by sidestepping it, and then stabbed it in the eye with a backhand.

"Squeak squeak squeak—"

The rat-man let out a scream and rolled on the ground, covering his eyes.

Before they could catch their breath, more screams came from all directions.

In the darkness, countless red eyes lit up.

A dozen or so rat-men emerged from various side paths and surrounded them.

Upon seeing this, Rodhan came down.

He wasn't in his Gale Knight mode right now, so how could he dare to invite trouble by fighting against multiple opponents on their turf?

"We can't win, run!"

Rhodes grabbed Garen's arm and turned to run back the way he came.

The swarm of rats surged after them like a tide.

Their claws scratched wildly at the wall, leaving deep scratches.

Every now and then, ratmen would rush out from the side passage, trying to intercept them.

Garen turned around and swung his staff, knocking away a ratman that lunged at him.

"There are too many! We can't possibly finish them all!"

"Don't look back! Run!"

Rhodes ran very fast, the lantern waving in his hand, the firelight casting distorted shadows on the wall.

The familiar iron fence entrance was right in front of us.

Suddenly, three of the largest ratmen rushed out from the side passage and blocked the entrance.

The swarm of rats was right behind me, and the stench of the wind was blowing against my back.

"Rhodes, you run first, I..." Garen hesitated for a moment.

"Can you perform a Flash Burst?" Rhodes suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Garen was stunned when he heard this.

"It's that kind of sudden burst of bright light, the brighter the better!" Rodd explained very quickly, "These dark underground creatures can't stand strong light."

Garen was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what was happening.

"I'll give it a try."

"Release it after counting to three."

Rhodes crouched down, gripped the dagger in his hand tightly, and stared intently at the three ratmen in front of him.

"one two three!"

A blinding white light suddenly burst from Garen's fingertips.

The entire sewer was instantly illuminated as if it were daytime.

All the ratmen screamed in pain, covered their eyes, and ran around in circles.

Rod seized the opportunity and rushed forward.

The dagger was so fast that it left only a blur.

puff-

Three stabs, precisely into the throats of the three ratmen.

"Run!"

He grabbed Garen, who was still squinting, and rushed to the ladder, stepping over the corpses of the ratmen. He then climbed up the ladder using both his hands and feet.

"You..." Garen, catching his breath after escaping, "your physical skills are much better than I expected..."

"Maybe it's because I'm a sports student?" Rod replied, catching his breath and thinking he was being humorous.

"Huh?" Garen was stunned by the answer.

"It means I have pretty good athletic talent."