Out of the sudden, Ava collapsed with next to no warning. Husan and the accompanying centipedes were startled but the four-armed elder managed to catch her before she slammed the rocky ground. He put the young girl next to a wall and checked her pulse. It was weak.

The old man’s eyebrows scrunched together; this was the second time she was out cold. Like a candle flickering in the wind. As Husan contemplated their next course of actions, some of the centipedes weaved a silken blanket for the young girl before disappearing out of sight.

He gently stopped her from standing up with the said blanket, “Young missy, take it easy. The Moss Worm can wait.”

“S..sorry.” She tried to get up regardless, with her trembling hands.

Husan maintained his stance, “No, take a rest. Life’s once. This old man can stand guard just fine.”

“Con..firm.” The young girl raised her hands one last time, pointing her ring finger outward.

She’s sure stubborn. The four armed elder became silent, trying to not disturb the fatigued girl. He saw a small mountain of stuff at the direction pointed by her but paid it little attention; how could he answer to Muzaid or Makya if he didn’t properly look after the young girl?

The old man certainly felt some guilt but what else he can do at the moment? He was no herbalist or fighter. He was just a tea brewer with some adventuring experience. As Husan was lost in thought, an Azure Centipede bowed its head, attempting to comfort the old man.

Husan snapped out of it and proceeded to follow the creature, “Uh-hum, yer right. No need to worry too much.”

“These are…boxes? Yer want me to open them?” The elder was perplexed on why the insect kept turning its head to the small mountain of stuff.

The centipede carefully lifted one of the nearby boxes with its mandibles and put it some distance away from Husan. Under his gaze, the creature used one of its jaws to push a little depression under the box’s lid. It automatically swung open, for both to see its contents.

“So, there’s stuff in it. What an odd thing,” He glanced over and then reached out to the opened box, “Yer saying this is food? This looks like mud bricks.”

“Uh…okay, I’ll give it to yer” Husan looked at the insect. It was alternating between snapping its jaws together to nodding repeatedly.

The elder took one out and put the palm-sized ‘brick’ in front of the insect. However, it didn’t bite the ‘brick’ and instead stared at him. It clicked its mandibles once before pointing its head at the grey ‘brick’, the old man and the opened box several seconds each respectively.

Husan took one for himself, “Is this…’brick’ even edible?”

Crunch!

The Azure Centipede picked it up and gnawed at the grey stuff as if it was chewing some leaves. Husan stood there dazed; he was doubtful whether his old set of teeth can bite the ‘brick’ at all. The vicious creature and its kind had strong jaws, in order to dig inside this Wadi.

Husan decided to leave it to the heavens and bit the ‘brick’ in his hand. It was strangely tasteless and odourless but it had a crunchy texture. Before he knew it, he had finished it. Husan put two and two together and guessed other boxes might’ve been storing the same thing.

Even when sick, she’s still thoughtful. The old man became depressed. Not only Ava saved him multiple times, she even gave them sizable supplies. Perhaps the young girl had expected this? Husan sighed and looked at the centipede. It was giving some of said boxes to its kin.

Some outright refused and put back the offered box to its pile before darting off. Others opened the box and gave its contents to some teetering centipedes. Husan marveled at the sight; these creatures were actually smart, emulating how humans would act in this situation.

One of the vicious insects swayed its head at Husan, as if telling him to follow it. The old man agreed as he had nothing to do anyway. It led the elder to a flat ground with three centipedes. Two of them were clicking their mandibles while the odd one scratched the hard ground.

“These are…count marks? How many boxes are there?” Husan got what were they trying to convey. There were fifty single line scratches, eleven of them crossed out.

The old man asked some things and the centipedes replied with their unique gestures, “I see, yer divided them boxes, some for yer kin and some for me. These should last us some four days huh.”

Now came the long wait. Husan took turns with the centipedes to monitor Ava. He had named some of the insects out of a whim since the creatures in question rarely left the human pair alone. The rest came and went, bringing plants or small bugs. Some however, never returned.

Even though the centipedes didn’t show it, Husan knew some of them had probably perished. They sought to make the supplies last as long as possible by foraging and evidently not all were successful. This lull was all but transient, Alkharm Wadi still containing hidden dangers.

To distract himself from boredom, Husan started to experiment with the plants brought by the centipedes. The old man found some of the boxes held pure water and mixed it with the plants. Most turned to be poisonous while others smelt bizarre. A few turned up to be useful.

He didn’t know the names of these random plants but he had a rough guess what did what. The useful ones had variety of effects; one made the centipede blazing fast for a moment while another made a different insect regained its former complexion, for a vicious creature.

Time passed without him knowing as he was engrossed in making more concoctions. At some point of time, one of the named Azure Centipedes snapped one of the plants he was handling and scratched the ground for multiple times. Husan came to his senses, he was too into it!

“Uh…okay, okay, this old man will stop. Sheesh.” Husan pulled himself together. Thankfully the centipedes covered his absence from watching over Ava.

A childish voice greeted the embarrassed old man, “Ava thinks it is good to have hobby. But Ava have bad news.”

“Thanks heavens yer okay now. Here, have this.” Husan was visibly relieved and offered her a small cup filled with pale blue fluid.

The Post Human’s body remained glued to the floor. A nearby centipede came and brought said cup to her with its mandibles, “Ava expressed thanks. Ava have bad news, Old Man.”

“Young missy, don’t be ominous. It’s good that yer awake now.” Husan purposely turned a deaf ear.

The golden-eyed girl gulped the cup with much difficulty, “It is important for…Old Man. And our coming work.”

“This old man can already guess it. Yer lost some of yer powers, right? It’s okay, I can still fight. We should step back.” Husan gave out some assuring words, not to worry the feeble child.

Ava stared at him blankly, “However…we still need to go against Moss Worms.”

“I know but…” Husan hesitated. He knew Ava alone could’ve done it but now? Without her strength, this could be immensely risky.

As if she read his mind, the young girl proposed a new plan, “Ava knows Old Man do not know how to help, right? Old Man just have to follow what Ava says. Ava will stay back.”

“To leave yer? Then who will protect yer?” The four-armed elder crossed two of his arms.

Ava waved her tiny hands and a waiting centipede propped her up, “Ava friends will keep Ava safe. Ava will stay not far from Old Man. Ava will tell Old Man what to do.”

“Uh…if young missy insists…but we’re getting out if I feel it’s not safe.” Husan shrugged. It seemed he cannot change her mind.

The old man lifted the young girl up and put her on his left shoulder. She waved her ring finger, causing the pile of boxes in their vicinity to vanish. Remaining Azure Centipedes stopped whatever they were doing and met the pair once. They darted next, as vanguards.

Crack! Clank, clank, clank!

The noise caused Husan to turn his head. Now he knew why Ava was confident; so, she had some powers left and summoned her odd item again. The elder knew how powerful the floating cylinder was; it alone blockaded tens of Black Yellow Centipedes from attacking him.

Its azure glow nevertheless still giving the old man some unsettling feeling, that this object was definitely dangerous, gnawing at his consciousness. The old man forcibly detached his gaze from it. They went further in the caverns, meeting with streams of water and damp moss.

Splash, splash, splash!

Husan was knee-deep now, in the flowing water. The pair’s centipede escorts swam along like a snake, waving their bodies side to side. Small fishes and creatures gave way, frightened by the Azure Centipedes. Suddenly Ava raised her hand, stopping the group from advancing.

“Hm?” While it was quite dim, Husan saw something moved some zhangs away.

Ava pinched his nape, causing the old man to jump, “Old Man, move to the left. Get on solid ground.”

It was a close call. Husan barely got on top of a wet boulder, almost dropping the young girl. In split second, he saw an Azure Centipede dashed in the opposite direction and made a big splash. Next was stifling silence sans sound of running water. Was there something out there?

“Old Man, remember what Ava said. Do not go too far inside the water.” Ava descended and sat on the rock. Her odd cylinder floated close, emitting a pale azure-coloured wave.

Husan wanted to nod but raised one of his arms by chance, “What cursed desert is this?! Moss Worms?”

Indeed, the vicious worms had shown themselves! If not for the tough Void Gauntlets and his suit, Husan would’ve been seriously injured. He shook two of his arms, dislodging several reddish-coloured hooks. Husan rolled to right side, avoiding more of them coming his way.

The elder shifted his gaze toward Ava and found she was relatively safe, her floating object stopping the tentacled hooks with an invisible force. The hooks withdrew inside the water and instead came for the old man! Husan forced to dodge again lest he got dragged away.

Clank, clank! Pow!

It was quite difficult as his opponents kept attacking from the darkness. Husan was forced to be on the defensive, punching and deflecting the sharp hooks. Without warning, an Azure Centipede leaped at the old man, pushing him aside. It immediately got caught by the hooks.

Cursed desert! Not Shahih! Husan had no time to grieve the loss of the named centipede as the attacks intensified. He purposely jumped in another direction, drawing the attacks aimed at the young girl. Husan sank to the bottom and saw some visage of his hidden opponent.

It was a quarter zhang long with pale white skin. Numerous hooks on string-like tentacles lined its round ‘mouth’. This creature had no visible eyes or ears, blind and deaf at the first glance. Yet it was able to target the four-armed elder with unnerving accuracy and frequency.

Shoom!

Husan had enough. He tapped two of his gauntlets together and formed a huge vacuum. Two thirds of this belligerent had vanished without a trace, diffusing blue ichor when the surrounding water rushed in to fill the created void. The old man quickly swam to the surface.

“Are you okay, Old Man?”

“Huh? When did young missy get in my head?” Husan managed to find a small pillar and climbed on top of it.

As he kept his eyes peeled out, the voice continued, “Ava will tell later. For now, Old Man should run. We need to respond in a certain way. Raise the first right hand.”

“Uh, okay.” Several hooks aimed for Husan’s head was stopped by his raised fist. They quickly retreated after seeing the ambush had failed.

Ava calmly explained the situation to him, “If Ava is right, Moss Worms are like Ava’s centipede friends. Old Man should find out which one is the boss.”

“I see. Take off their chief and they’ll be headless chicken.” The elder got into action, following the young girl’s specific instructions.

The remaining Azure Centipedes followed suit, weaving inside the slow-moving waters. However, it was easier said than done; Husan and the insects had searched far and wide but the worms looked all the same. The area was also dark, making identification pretty difficult.

Nevertheless, they found out the attacks were amplified in certain locations. So, Ava’s right. The worms form broods but thanks to their long reach, no one are be able to pinpoint them in time. Such inference came with cost; several Azure Centipedes had been killed by the worms.

“Young missy, yer still there?” There was slight frustration in the old man’s voice.

“Ava confirms. Ava advises to keep looking.”

The four armed elder lifted a medium sized boulder and angrily threw it to oncoming tentacled hooks, “How long would this last? I see there’s less of yer friends now.”

“Ava suggest new plan. But…” The young girl grew uncertain. Would the old man accept her idea?

Husan threw more rocks he found lying around, smaller this time. By instinct, he shoved one inside the mouth of an ambushing Moss Worm behind him, “What’s the worst could happen, young missy? They kept running away, this is difficult!”

“Ava friends told Ava that the worms’ boss is nearby. Old Man need to draw them out, in the location Ava had pointed.” Her voice was accompanied with a floating image that entered Husan’s vision.

Husan shook his head and then swam at full speed, “Hahaha, me as bait? No problem! Bout time these worms get a beatin’!”

“Ava disabled Old Man’s gauntlets for a moment. Old Man cannot kill the worm’s boss.” The young girl had just to pour cold water on his hopes.

The elder didn’t respond this time. By hook or by crook, he needed to do it anyway. The rest of swimming centipedes provoked the worms and coincidentally moved toward him next. Really?! Husan wanted to curse out but he was chased by no less than five barrel-thick worms!

The old man and six or so Azure Centipedes all swam to a single point, a small mound of dry land among these waters. The centipedes arrived first but Husan slipped back into the water, no thanks to the moss. Cursed desert! Husan felt three of his arms were being gnawed at.

Thump!

He threw some punches and by chance two of them hit his assailants. The old man had never felt lighter than before, leaping directly on dry land. The pursuers were still persistent; both man and insects were surrounded by rising tentacles! Clearly the worms had been angered!

Husan and the vicious centipedes were able to hold on, working together to deflect or cut most of the tentacled hooks. But there were simply too many tentacled hooks, wriggling and lashing about! Bit by bit, the old man found their maneuver space shrunk with passing time.

“Young missy, is boss worm here or not?!” There was sense of urgency in his words. Half of the centipedes with him had been wiped out and all of his arms were aching.

Ava remained monotonous, “Wait a little bit more, Old Man.”

“Ouch! Blasted worm!” Five hooks had been latched on his arm. The old man didn’t try to remove it and instead tugged with all of his strength.

Splash!

A direct contest of strength. Husan however, had additional help; the surviving centipedes spit some threads and pulled on the hated creature as well! Their efforts combined saw the worm being dragged on dry land. Husan rushed forward and punched the worm in its face!

“Stay back and close your eyes, Old Man. Ava will take care of the boss worm.” The Post Human finally said what the four-armed elder had wanted to hear.

Crack, clank, clank, clank!

Husan averted his gaze, catching a single glimpse of a hovering object assembling itself out of thin air. This must be one of her strange magics again. He laid close to the ground and felt enormous amount of energies were being accumulated in a single point. Then, all sounds had ceased to be.