Chapter 356: Orange Garden and Snowy Night

For Xia Nan, whose constitution attribute reached as high as 8 points and whose physical recovery efficiency far exceeded that of ordinary people, a daily sleep of only 6-7 hours was enough to fully replenish his energy, making his perception of "a day - 24 hours" far longer and more durable than in his previous life.

Right now, having completed a full set of training procedures on the outskirts of the town, washed his body, had two failed probing attempts with the tavern owner and the town blacksmith, and even taken a stroll around the square in the center of the town.

It was still only morning.

For reference, when he returned from the square, Huolake was eating his breakfast in the inn lobby, and the two members of the Black Wood Squad might have gotten up a little earlier than the other party, but they had only just finished organizing their equipment and come down from the second floor.

"You mean... all the residents of Yangjiao Town have been affected by that thing?"

Sitting at the dining table, Margaret frowned and said in a voice that only the few people at the table could hear clearly, surprised.

"At least the owner of this inn, the blacksmith who had a conflict with Mr. Huolake yesterday, and several farm women in the town square are like this."

Xia Nan nodded slightly.

He didn't answer directly, but the three different identities and backgrounds of "tavern owner," "blacksmith," and "farm women" were enough to explain the widespread influence of the gem.

They were all in the same boat. Except for the parts involving his own secrets, he had no reason to hide information. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was together, he told Margaret and the others the information he had gathered and some of his own conjectures.

He also hoped that his teammates could use their much richer adventurer experience than his own to help broaden their thinking and find the key to breaking the situation.

"That shouldn't be..."

"If the god that the priest believes in is really the 【Chauntia】 Goddess, with the doctrine of this existence, how could he allow such a thing that can affect human sanity to circulate in the town?"

On the side, the dwarf Suoerding gave his doubts.

Regarding this, Xia Nan had similar thoughts just now when he left the square and was on his way back to the inn.

The answer was actually very simple, just two points:

1. Priest Moxi knew about the pastel gem, and the situation in Yangjiao Town was tacitly approved by him, or even fueled by him in secret;

2. Priest Moxi knew nothing about the gem-related matters, and was even affected by the gem's charm effect just like those ordinary residents—after all, he was just a member of the clergy in a church in a remote town, not a god-favored person watched by the gods. Let alone mental control, even if he died on the spot, he might not necessarily be noticed by the 【Goddess of Agriculture】, a powerful deity with hundreds of millions of believers.

Facing Suoerding's question, no one at the table could give an answer.

Everyone fell into silence in unison.

But there was no doubt that they should all have answers similar to Xia Nan's in their hearts.

The situation in the town was confusing. If it weren't for the discovery that the 【Dream-Weaving Corridor】 was the "natural enemy" of the pastel gem, not only able to easily eliminate its charm effect, but also absorb the energy in it to charge the device, Xia Nan would have left with his backpack long ago and would never have gotten involved.

Now that the caravan members were increasingly aware of the complexity of the situation in Yangjiao Town, as the captain of the Black Wood Squad, Margaret brushed the dark gold braid hanging on her shoulder to the back, looked at Huolake across the table, and suggested seriously:

"May I ask how much longer it will take for the goods brought by the caravan to be processed?"

"Continuing to stay in town... is very dangerous."

"In order to avoid falling into some unnecessary trouble, please ask Mr. Huolake to deal with it as soon as possible. We need to hurry and leave."

Regarding the female swordsman's urging, a look of helplessness appeared on the merchant's round face.

He didn't answer, just turned his head to look at his assistant, "A-Fu," who was sitting next to him.

"Mr. Huolake already discussed related issues with me last night." A-Fu took over the conversation and explained actively.

"In fact, in order to speed up the progress as much as possible, we are no longer considering the price of the goods. It doesn't matter if we lose money."

"What is really consuming time now is the replenishment of supplies."

"From Yangjiao Town to River Valley Town, a journey of more than ten days, even if we can find some small villages to rest temporarily on the way and buy food from the villagers, under the premise of saving as much as possible, we still need to buy enough supplies for ten days."

"And this, in a remote town like Yangjiao Town... takes time."

"But please rest assured, I have already notified everyone. Everyone in the caravan knows the urgency of the situation and no one will delay."

"Once the supplies are replenished, we can leave immediately!"

Speaking of this, A-Fu suddenly hesitated.

A hint of hesitation rarely appeared on his serious and rigid face. He mumbled his lips twice before speaking slowly, lowering his voice to the limit.

"The judgment is yours. If the situation in town really develops to the point where we must leave immediately... please take Mr. Huolake out of town first. I and other members of the caravan can wait until later to..."

"A-Fu!"

Huolake interrupted, his round face, which usually hung with a kind smile, was now expressionless.

He patted the other party's shoulder heavily twice with his palm.

After a moment of silence, he finally just shook his head:

"Don't think so much, just get the things in your hands done as soon as possible."

"Coming to Yangjiao Town was my decision."

"Since I brought you all to this place, of course, we will go back together."

After speaking, he didn't wait for the other party to reply, his gaze turned to the three Xia Nan at the table, his expression sincere.

"Everyone, the situation has changed now. I don't have the power to demand that you must do anything, but... at least for the sake of gold coins, if something really happens in Yangjiao Town, please try to inform me so that we can make some preparations in advance."

Clearly knowing that the more it reached this moment, the more he needed to rely on the few professionals in the team, Huolake put his attitude very low and did not exert pressure at will just because he was the employer.

In this case, let alone Margaret and Suoerding, who were the contractors of the escort commission, even Xia Nan, who was just taking a "free ride," didn't mind pulling the other party if he could.

At the dining table, the few people didn't discuss for too long.

A-Fu, who had the heaviest burden on his shoulders and needed to handle the most affairs, just stuffed a few mouthfuls of things into his mouth and left quickly to do things.

Xia Nan intended to stroll around the town as he did in the morning to see if he could find anything. ===== CHAPTER 357 =====