Chapter 29: Carriage (4k)

This was an old, abandoned carriage in the bushes.

The carriage body was made of some kind of reddish-brown wood, hard in texture, warm in color, and the clear varnish applied to the surface made it look exceptionally lustrous;

The two sides of the carriage body were hollowed-out circular windows, which were now half-open to the outside, and borrowing the sunlight seeping down from the canopy above, one could vaguely see the emptiness inside;

The carriage roof curved slightly like a house ridge, and the patterns carved on the wooden eaves extending to the left and right were delicate, but the specific image details were destroyed and worn away by some external force, making them unrecognizable.

"This is it!"

Haian stood in an open space some distance from the carriage, his expression vaguely revealing excitement.

"This traditional design style that reveals delicacy in simplicity is practically exactly the same as that piece of wood!"

He held the ink-black token in his hand tightly, as if he were one step closer to the truth.

Xia Nan stood on the side, silent, his expression calm.

But in his heart, he was surging once again.

His attainments in history were not deep; even the knowledge points he had memorized day and night in textbooks during his student days had long been forgotten along with the dull and exhausting workplace life.

Therefore, just by relying on some design styles and material details, he couldn't judge the

But even so, Xia Nan, just like with that wooden tablet earlier, felt the thick "Central Continent" flavor of the carriage before him at a single glance.

"That's not right!"

Just as several people in the group were letting their imaginations run wild because of the carriage's appearance.

Lali, who had always been straightforward, suddenly spoke up:

"How could there be a carriage in the Mist Forest? It's surrounded by big trees; how did it drive in?"

His words instantly jolted the few people on the scene out of their thoughts.

Lali was right.

The Mist Forest was a gathering place for dangerous magic beasts, the ground was almost entirely covered in tough, tangled thorns and shrubs, not to mention the towering trees so dense they occupied every corner of one's vision.

In such an environment, even an experienced adventurer squad could usually only walk through it cautiously and with great difficulty.

Even if there really were such a "highly skilled" driver who drove a carriage into the forest, the massive commotion caused by the carriage's movement would be enough to attract magic beasts from hundreds of yards away.

"And look..." Haian, gradually coming back to his senses, also discovered the suspicious points, pointing his finger with a frown, "There are no wheel tracks on the ground nearby."

"It's as if this carriage just dropped into the forest out of thin air."

Wood, who guarded Haian closely like a shadow and had not said a word since the beginning, suddenly spoke up to add:

"Normal wooden materials would quickly rot and decay under the corrosion of the magic-filled air in the Mist Forest."

"And the material of this carriage is not enchanted, there is very little dust, and there are traces of use remaining; it is clearly something that stopped here recently."

"That shouldn't be... if it was during this recent period... how could there be no traces at all in the surrounding area?" Haian's brows were tightly furrowed, the confusion on his face deepening.

The interior of the carriage was empty, with no possibility of magic beasts hiding inside; the surrounding shrubs and tall grass had also been checked once, confirming they were safe.

The group approached cautiously.

Although it looked like it had been rammed by an Owl Bear, the entire carriage was in ruins.

But occasionally, a few details could still reflect its originally exquisite and luxurious decor.

For example, the hollowed-out lanterns hanging under the wooden eaves on both sides, the soft and smooth-textured curtain fabric inside the windows, embroidered with elegant patterns on the surface...

"Ah!"

A sharp scream that instantly lowered in volume suddenly came to their ears.

Xia Nan, who was already feeling tense due to the high-pressure environment inside the Mist Forest, could not help but shudder in his heart.

Frowning as he looked over,

He saw the golden-haired girl "Doris" at the edge of the group, covering her mouth with one hand because she had accidentally made a sound, while her other hand pointed at the shadow under the carriage's shaft.

"Sc... Scorpion!"

Lali shielded the other person behind him, originally wanting to perform a classic "hero saves the beauty," but when his gaze followed the direction of Doris's finger, the fat hanging on both sides of his cheeks also shook twice.

"Sha... sha..."

It was like countless grains of sand flowing onto the ground.

What Xia Nan heard first was a strange sound composed of countless sharp and tiny movements mixed together.

Then, it was a "black flow" gushing out from the bottom of the carriage like a fountain.

They were countless scorpion insects the size of knuckles, pitch-black all over!

"Damn it!"

Xia Nan only felt a chill rush straight from his tailbone to his crown.

He retreated violently, his longsword already held horizontally across his chest.

The Half-Elf reacted even faster; as his silver hair fluttered, he retreated a few steps into the tall grass behind him—as an archer whose main output method was the bow and arrow, opening up distance the moment the battle started was the most correct move.

Lali's performance was somewhat unexpected; pale with fright, even though he appeared exceptionally flustered while retreating and was almost tripped by a branch on the ground, stumbling a few steps.

He still shielded Doris beside him tightly, not choosing to flee the battle.

In the blink of an eye, only Wood remained on the entire field.

Looking at that lonely figure in front of the carriage, Xia Nan gritted his teeth and stepped forward again.

Retreating was only the first reaction driven by the survival instinct.

Although he was a newcomer, the next second, realizing his positioning in the squad, he stepped up again.

He would not drop the ball at a time like this.

The cold, undulating touch of the sword hilt came from his palm.

Yet he still felt a tingling sensation in his heart.

Holding a fine longsword scavenged from the blacksmith shop, with a healing potion of miraculous efficacy prepared in his backpack, and wearing hard, expensive leather armor.

His stamina was full.

Xia Nan was confident that even facing twenty Goblins alone, he could kill his way in and out.

But facing the black scorpions surging like a tide beneath his feet, he felt at a loss for how to start.

And it was at this moment that Wood suddenly reached out, signaling him to stay back and not come over.

Immediately, he took out a palm-sized, brown earthen jar from the pouch he carried close to his body.

He threw it violently!

Bang—

The jar landed on the ground and shattered instantly.

Viscous, lightless ink-colored liquid, mixed with murky dust, poured out and scattered.

Then, there was a spark of fire.

"Whoosh!"

Heat waves surged, and the orange-red firelight was reflected in Xia Nan's pupils.

Scorching flames erupted suddenly!

In an instant, it swallowed countless scorpion insects along with the entire carriage.

The swirling flames seemed to stir up the fear deep within the bloodline of these insects.

The insect swarm, which had been dense like a tide, scattered instantly, turning into countless "tributaries" and disappearing into the nearby shrubs and grass.

"Crunch."

Carapaces cracked under the high temperature, and the unpleasant smell of burning filled the air.

"Where did so many scorpions come from? You scared me to death!"

Lali's pale face was covered in cold sweat as he said with lingering fear.

The figure of the Half-Elf Haian also gradually revealed itself in the grass, a wooden arrow already nocked on the bowstring, his expression solemn.

Xia Nan's heart was beating violently, and he let out a slight sigh of relief.

He slowly sheathed his sword, feeling fortunate in his heart.

It was a good thing there was a professional in the squad who actually carried this kind of thing, similar to a Molotov cocktail.

Otherwise, facing so many little bugs, he really wouldn't have known how to resolve it.

Glancing at the insect swarm retreating before him, Xia Nan had a thoughtful look on his face.

He wondered if there was a place in River Valley Town that sold these kinds of throwing items.

After he went back, he would get a few bottles; maybe they would have miraculous effects when going on missions in the future.

If that didn't work, he could look back and research it based on his somewhat blurred memories from his past life; maybe he could make a rough version:

"Bottle, alcohol, flammable cloth... what else was there?"

Xia Nan shook his head, dispersing the thoughts that were gradually wandering.

He would talk about it later; now was not the time to consider these things.

His gaze followed the firelight.

Seeing that the raging fire, after dispersing the insect swarm, was still spreading along the weeds on the ground, looking like it was intensifying.

The cognition from his past civilized society, along with the worldview formed under the bombardment of massive amounts of information, made him instinctively resist this natural disaster that was taking shape and capable of swallowing large swaths of forest.

Without thinking too much, he asked subconsciously:

"This fire... is it okay?"

It was just a casual mention, and he didn't expect anyone else to respond.

Unexpectedly, Wood, who had maintained a defensive posture ever since he joined the squad.

At this moment, he acted contrary to his usual self and answered quite seriously:

"The magic in the Mist Forest is dense; as long as it is a normal flame, it is basically impossible to cause a large fire."

"The scale of this fire now, although it looks like it is gradually expanding, in reality, it will only burn the surrounding shrubs and weeds; it might not even touch a single tree before it extinguishes itself."

Xia Nan's act of taking the initiative to step forward in the face of danger earlier seemed to have changed the guard beside the Half-Elf's opinion of him.

Of course, since the time they had been in contact was still short, that was all there was to it.

After speaking, Wood stopped responding and instead took the initiative to step forward and get closer to the fire.

He bent down, used his fingertips to control the tail, and picked up a scorpion that was fleeing from the ground.

Examining it, his brows furrowed slightly.

"What's wrong, Wood? Did you find something?"

The pungent burnt smell in the air made Haian look uncomfortable, and he was currently retracting his arrow to ask.

"Young Master, here... it is indeed a bit strange."

The Mist Forest was vast and boundless, and the abundant magic in the air made it a habitat for countless types of creatures.

Even the most experienced adventurer would not dare to say they could identify every type of magic beast within it.

Not to mention those common animals that were numerous in variety and possessed many subspecies under special environments.

Therefore, Wood did not feel strange because of this unfamiliar scorpion he had never seen before.

But at this moment, looking at the black scorpion in his hand whose tail he was pinching, which was still raising its pincers in a warning posture.

He felt that the few of them seemed to have been invisibly drawn into some massive vortex, sinking deeper and deeper.

Wood suddenly turned his head and looked at Haian behind him, who was looking at him with concern.

A moment of trance,

Just like the figure many years ago that saved him from the slums filled with foul water and garbage.

Those familiar silver-gray eyes, those same soft and lustrous silver-white hair strands...

He opened his mouth, and countless words flowed through his heart.

But in the end, he only left behind a dry sentence:

"Let's go around this place first, Young Master."

"It's time to set up camp."

It got dark quickly in the forest.

Sometimes, you think it's still early and you can take advantage of the sunlight spilling through the gaps in the canopy to hurry along for a while.

But it might only take a few steps before the night shrouds you.

Wood's judgment of the timing was very accurate.

When Xia Nan and the others were somewhat clumsily setting up their sleeping bags, piling up the branches they had brought back from the forest, and using flint to ignite them to start a campfire.

The sky, which had been extremely bright, was already in twilight.

Crackle—

The fire burned.

Crystal-clear eyes reflected the orange-red firelight before him.

Haian sat by the campfire, rubbing the ink-black wooden tablet in his hand, his expression appearing somewhat dazed.

Wood had long since set up alerts and traps around the campsite, and seeing him in such a state, he hesitated for a moment and said slowly:

"Young Master, you know, it was the Matriarch who gave me a second life."

"Although the Matriarch... when you were very young... but I have stayed in the Wickliffe family for many years."

"Pardon my bluntness, the piece of wood in your hand is not the style of the High Elves; the Matriarch used to..."

"Shut up!" Haian's emotions suddenly became agitated, and even the fingertips holding the token turned faintly white from excessive force.

But the next moment, he realized he shouldn't be like this and immediately calmed down.

"I'm sorry."

It was still that same calm and gentle tone, but Haian's gaze only looked at the fire in front of him.

Wood stopped talking as well, lowering his head.

Just as always, sitting in the Half-Elf's shadow.

The air became silent, with only the muffled sound of the fire burning remaining.

Xia Nan sat on the other side, wiping the longsword in his hand without looking sideways, his pricked-up ears already quietly retracted.

He had no intention of intervening in other people's family affairs.

But since they were in the same squad and the other party didn't mean to avoid it, it was understandable for him to learn a little bit along the way.

What's more, Xia Nan was actually a bit curious in his heart.

Unlike the reckless Lali, the Half-Elf was clearly more meticulous, and even judging from the attitude of how they got along, his background was higher.

But to dare to go so deep into the outskirts of the Mist Forest with only one guard, even if he was a professional, to find an unknown target, clearly meant he was hiding something.

(He himself only dared to enter alone because he knew the location of the Glow-Garlic Vine was in the outermost part of the outskirts, basically had no danger, the round trip would only take a day and a half, he had even walked it before, and the mission time limit was tight.)

Since he couldn't hear anything now, he stopped paying attention.

The twilight was dim.

It seemed as if even the mist in the air carried a hint of laziness, drifting leisurely.

Doris seemed to have been badly frightened by the scorpions, and the soft, thin comforting voice of Lali beside her was blurry and unclear;

Haian and Wood sat by the campfire, smoke and shadows swirling, the atmosphere silent;

Xia Nan sat alone in a corner leaning against a tree trunk, his brows and eyes lowered, holding the iron-gray longsword in his arms.

A day full of twists and turns seemed to be coming to an end just like this.

But just like the post-credits scene of a movie, as an adventurer walking on the edge of a blade, you must be prepared at all times to welcome those unexpected "surprises."

(End of chapter)