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I love my Shari.

I always will.

But I'm not sure if I can completely agree with what she's trying to do here.

She intentionally came to these humans and exposed us in front of them.

And this after all her talk about avoiding looking suspicious.

This was about pretending to be a normal human when you aren't, right?

So why does she do this?

I only see risks.

Maybe I should just now dissolve all of them.

If they're all gone no one can hurt my Shari.

I mean, they are dangerous.

What I went through when she fought that rude person.

The only moment when I was that anxious in my whole time of existence was when she fought that Chris-person.

So maybe I should quickly get rid of all these humans.

My Shari's resting mode isn't too deep, but she just reacts to loud noise and close movements.

So I should be fine with leaving this area and exterminating all these nuisances.

However, my Shari could get angry with me over this when she becomes active again.

Nevertheless, such a threat so close to her is unbearable.

But if she hates me for this?

How long might it take until she would like me the same as now?

This is complicated.

The minimum is to take some precautions.

So how to do this?

The door is a little risky as there are guards.

These might not be able to see very well in the dark, but fear makes them attentive.

Yet this is the only way out.

I would say intentionally as this seems to be this place's purpose, considering my Shari's explanation.

But this isn't of interest.

The most important thing for now is to keep my Shari safe.

So I start with the highest priority, dissolving a direct connection to my Shari's room.

Naturally, it has to be big enough of a hole that my core, as well as my membrane, can pass through.

It goes rather well since I'm completely full right now and have more than enough energy.

Like this, it's no problem to create a fitting passage.

And while doing this I directly find a solution for my first problem.

The walls are hollow!

Just ten centimeters inside and I'm in a hollow space between mine and Shari's room.

If that isn't the perfect solution to get past the guards, I don’t know what is.

Now I need to decide which precautions take priority.

The first thing I should do is to secure an escape.

I have a rule whenever I dwell in a cave to have a second exit in case one gets blocked during an attack.

I'm fairly confident I could fight whatever they'd send down here, but who knows how long this would take?

Anyways, I couldn't watch very well over my Shari while I fight.

So I glide between the walls and move upwards.

As soon I have my intended height I flow in the direction of the closest outer wall of the building to create a small hole there.

"Squeak!"

Oh, we even have some smaller creatures inside here.

This is great!

I will have enough to replenish after I'm done.

It's not like they could get away.

I won't let them.

I know how these creatures react.

They will try to hide deeper in their burrows, hoping I can't follow them there.

But I can.

I always can.

But first an exit.

A single one won't do, I need at least one for each direction.

The critters here are a perfect example why this is so important.

Like this, I open a hole directly behind a bush.

If it would be too exposed the humans might just close it again which would contradict the idea of my secret escape route.

Because of this, the next one goes a little further beyond until I'm sure it's out of sight.

Dissolving through the earth is still one of the simpler tasks.

I once said that earth has almost no energetic value.

And this is true.

The small number of tiny living things contained inside is neglectable regarding the energy they provide.

But this means I still get a little out of this.

And this means burrowing through the earth is no problem at all, as my energy consumption stays positive.

The same goes for the other direction.

But before I tend to that, there is something I was curious about.

You know, the room I have for myself now smells of blood.

However, there is none.

Not even a stain.

My experiences with liquid tell me it would be an effort to gather as much as I sense was spilled here.

The reason why this room is still mostly clean is simple.

It drained below.

There is a hole in the ground with a metal seal through which it would flow.

And so I am very interested in where all this blood went.

But I shouldn't destroy the floor of this room.

Instead, I turn to my hole and dissolve my way to the location where I assume the drainage to be.

It's rather easy, as I'm large enough to still observe that hole and at the same time dig my way in its direction.

So I make it through.

Not knowing what to expect here I mostly use my slime and leave my core as far behind as possible.

The path leads to a round stone tunnel.

While the walls directly under my room were mostly coated with blood, I find that the larger tunnel contains almost entirely human excrement.

It is negligible for my energy consumption, as just like earth it has only these small critters inside going for it.

Yet it's slightly more.

I mean, it wouldn't be the first time for me.

To be precise, it's bound to happen that you take in something like that with the rest when you dissolve a whole living being.

It doesn't change much if it's still inside or outside.

And it's quite often outside, as for some reason humans tend to release it when I start dissolving.

Strange creatures.

Yet here is quite much of this stuff.

Not like I have a reason to avoid it, but I still cling to the walls and ceiling since below me, aside from the mentioned feces, water is also running, merged together with some other liquids and the excrement into a solution that is difficult to analyze.

While slime isn't soluble, this current might drag a part of me away if I'm careless.

Which is not recommended.

But in case we would ever need to escape this might give us a boost in speed.

After some time I find a hole above me, rather similar to the one where I went inside.

This one splits into two tunnels, leading upward to different locations.

After some thinking, I come to the conclusion that these might be the two buildings I saw from afar when I was on the field behind the big building.

I decide to first take the right passage.

Giving the interior it should be the higher one.

Yet, as it mostly consists of stone and I perceive quite an amount of people quite a large number of people passing by the rooms, I decide against further exploration.

The other side is even worse with the number of people around there.

But if I ever need to realize my extermination this might be the place to start.

So, having obtained valuable information, I dive back into my tunnel.

I follow the way to the end and find myself at a pit in the forest where all the stuff from the tunnel flows to, accumulates, and forms a small swamp.

I think this should be our best alternative if we ever would have to escape.

Also, this structure is the perfect opportunity to solve another problem of mine.

I can dump here all the excess slime I've gotten by dissolving my exits.

Perfect.

Now that this is done I should tend to my other issues.

I still think that maybe I should maybe kill all the humans here.

Who knows when they will attack us?

Speaking from experience, this time of the day is the best opportunity to do so.

Nothing is easier than killing a sleeping human.

I mean, most of them don't wake up even if you dissolve their only guard directly next to them.

It's really advantageous that slimes don't make any noise while moving for this kind of task.

But if I want to do this, I'll first have to know where each of them lies, so I can make it fast before anyone has time to notice that something is going on.

I flow back into the large building I came from to find all of their sleeping places.

Fortunately, this space between the walls is the perfect way for me to stay hidden while moving through the whole building.

The few obstacles where my core might get stuck are easily dissolved away.

And I have even a source of sustenance here.

"Squeak!"

"Zsch"

Like I said,

Perfect.

If I'm right, Shari said that people would usually sleep on the upper floors.

This makes sense.

There's quite a number of creatures who choose high positions to sleep, to feel safe.

So I best check the building from top to bottom.

Yet this place even has four floors.

The fourth is just the attic.

Just an open space with some stuff.

Some of these items might have a bit of magic.

At least I sense something around them.

But I know that those aren't any better to dissolve than the real deal of a living being.

While crawling upwards I naturally also expanded in all the other directions.

At the moment, I should span around four to five rooms.

Yet, if my body's mass moves too far away from my core it will first become increasingly unresponsive, while the link deteriorates, until in the end I completely lose the connection to that part.

So while it might help to gather more information at once, it's not recommended if I want to preserve my body.

Just in case if I lose some I will grab myself another snack.

"Squeak!"

"Zsch"

Ah, that was nice.

So, now I can proceed.