Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World-Chapter 371: The Village’s Last Hope

"And if they enter a third time…"

They never come out again.

Or, if they do, they're nothing more than a lifeless corpse.

The old man didn't need to finish his sentence—Kim Haru could already tell from his expression.

This revelation made Kim Haru's heart sink.

The restriction on the number of entries made exploring the fog exponentially more difficult.

Even though everyone speculated that there might be a way out within the mist, this kind of situation made it nearly impossible to find a solution in the short term.

No wonder, when Kim Haru first arrived in this village, he noticed some people in poor physical condition.

There were even those with disabilities—it seemed that most of them had suffered because of this fog.

"Why… did you all seem so excited when you saw me?" Kim Haru couldn't think of a way out for now, so he pushed down his anxiety and asked about something else that had been on his mind.

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The village chief immediately snapped out of his despair.

Not only him, but the other villagers present also had eyes shining with excitement, their moods lifting significantly.

"Because you can take us out of this place!"

The old man's words left Kim Haru stunned.

He looked at the old man in confusion.

He wasn't joking—Kim Haru could see that he truly believed this.

It wasn't just him; everyone else was looking at Kim Haru with hope, as if they had already seen a way out.

"Why?"

"The prophecy," the old man explained. "My late wife, Yesui, awakened the ability to see the future. None of her prophecies have ever been wrong. This message was the last prophecy she gave with the final moments of her life. Yesui said that an outsider who descended from the stone forest would be the key to leading us out of here."

After delivering that prophecy, the old man's wife, Yesui, took her last breath.

Every prophecy she made had consumed her life force, which was why the village chief was still alive while his wife had passed away long ago.

This prophecy had been etched into the hearts of everyone in the village.

Even the children, from the moment they were old enough to remember things, would hear the adults reminding each other of it every so often, afraid that anyone might forget.

With Kim Haru's arrival under such circumstances, how could they not be excited?

"Before me, had you never come into contact with outsiders?" Kim Haru found that hard to believe.

The old man, willing to share everything he knew, sighed at this question. "How could we not have? In the first few years, people would occasionally fall down from above. But… none of them survived."

The cliff was so high—anyone who fell would experience a tremendous impact.

The fact that they didn't immediately shatter into pieces was already a miracle.

However, even so, most of them took their last breath the moment they hit the ground.

There were a few who didn't die right away.

But…

The old man glanced around at the surroundings. "Even if they were still breathing when they landed, they were already gravely injured. In our primitive conditions, there was no way to save them. The longest anyone lasted was a week before they too…"

It was these few survivors who managed to share information about the outside world before they passed away.

Unfortunately, none of them lived long enough to truly help the village.

Not only was there no way to save those who fell, but even the villagers themselves had no means to treat severe illnesses.

It wasn't until a year ago that a young villager suddenly awakened a minor healing ability related to the Water-type ability, making things slightly better for everyone.

However, in recent years, fewer and fewer people had fallen from above.

In the past two years, there had been no movement at all—

Except for the occasional zombie.

Fortunately, the villagers had already learned that the outside world was overrun with zombies.

When they saw humanoid figures crashing to the ground, their limbs broken yet showing no expressions of pain—only struggling to rise while letting out hoarse, inhuman screams—the villagers immediately understood.

These were not people who could be saved but zombies beyond rescue.

Strictly following the instructions left behind by the previous outsiders, they smashed the zombies' heads, extracted their crystal cores, and then burned the bodies to ash.

Thanks to these precautions, their already small village had not been wiped out by the undead.

Aside from these occasional zombies, no one else had ever fallen from the stone forest above.

"The stone forest is where the kind of beast you arrived on prefers to land," the old man explained. "They don't eat people. Sometimes, they even descend in front of humans, allowing them to clean the dirt from their feathers in exchange for prey."

This time, when the villagers heard a disturbance, they thought it was the same situation again.

All the stronger people in the village had hurried over, expecting to see another beast seeking assistance.

But they never expected—

That they would see a human on the back of the descending beast!

When they first laid eyes on Kim Haru, the villagers didn't even dare to confirm whether he was truly human or merely a creature that resembled one.

It took them a long while before they could be sure.

And once they remembered Yesui's prophecy, how could they not be both shocked and reverent?

Even now, if Kim Haru looked toward the doorway, he would see countless eyes peeking through the gaps, all fixed on him with barely concealed excitement.

Even the people in the room couldn't hide the hope shining in their gazes.

The old man had spoken at length, his mouth dry, yet he couldn't help but ask Kim Haru, "Can you… take us out of here?"

Kim Haru: "…"

Well—

He had absolutely no idea himself.

Instead of answering, Kim Haru said, "Take me around the area."