Chapter 378: A Job Most People Shouldn't Try

The texture and taste of wild boar meat were as unsatisfactory as expected.

Even though Xia Nan had tried his best to refer to the techniques learned from the back kitchen of the "White Tit Tavern," carefully removing the subcutaneous fat and glands of the pork, and performed a certain amount of bloodletting during slaughter.

On the table before him, this large piece of wild boar meat, which looked quite good after cooking, still couldn't satisfy Xia Nan's taste buds, whose threshold had been raised to a considerable degree by the many delicacies of the previous life, when eaten in his mouth.

The meat was tough and dry, with very little fat content; chewing it in his mouth was like chewing tree bark; at the same time, it was accompanied by a difficult-to-describe fishy, earthy smell, far from being as delicious as those carefully cooked dishes in the tavern.

It was only by relying on the anvil honey he carried with him, as well as the instinctive need for nutritional supplementation of the professional-level body, that Xia Nan, who was quite picky about food, endured the strange smell and stuffed the meat into his mouth with honey.

He knew his cooking skills were average, and he didn't have the environment to perfectly handle wild boar meat in the wild, so the effect wouldn't be very good.

But...

If he could really eat something better, why would he choose this kind of ingredient?

It was a bit embarrassing to say, at this moment, on the 35th day since setting off from River Valley Town, and 20 days after leaving Yangjiao Town.

To some extent, Xia Nan truly entered the state of "wilderness survival."

Without space storage-type props, after the supplies he carried were consumed, he could only rely on hunting in the wild to fill his stomach.

Fortunately, his physical fitness far exceeding ordinary people, and the various combat techniques he mastered, were almost a dimensionality reduction strike when facing ordinary wild beasts in the forest.

Even if he didn't master any profound hunting techniques, when he could discover prey across countless dense branches and shrubs, move faster than the goshawk in the sky in the forest, and end the other party's life with one punch,

the so-called "prey"... after being discovered by him and decided to be used as food material in his heart, became "food" itself.

How well-prepared Xia Nan was for this trip had already been mentioned before, so there was no need to repeat it.

But regardless, this was indeed his first long-distance trip since traveling to the Aifala Continent.

No matter how detailed the planning was, it was inevitable that unexpected situations would occur during such a long journey.

It could be a goblin nest that was off the marching route but extremely tempting;

or it could be a node village that should have allowed him to rest briefly and replenish supplies, but when he arrived, he found it had been destroyed by some unknown magic beast.

When several unexpected events occurred simultaneously and gathered together.

It made Xia Nan fall into this situation of "wilderness survival."

Fortunately, the full preparation before setting off was useful after all.

The extremely detailed backup rest nodes in the plan, even in this deep mountain and old forest where few people visited, when the original supply plan was declared a failure due to the destruction of the village, Xia Nan could still refer to the map and find the nearest village to replenish, instead of running around like a headless fly.

This was exactly why he came here.

Xia Nan didn't know the name of this village, which was only marked as the smallest point on the map, representing a human gathering place, and he had no intention of staying here for a long time, or having any profound interaction with the people in the village.

He just wanted to exchange for some supplies with the villagers in a reasonable way, whether by gold coins or barter, to let himself get rid of the "wilderness survival" travel state.

If possible, he would also like to inquire about some detailed information about the Southern Islands to prepare for his later plans.

Swallowing the last piece of wild boar meat in the plate into his stomach, he drank a few mouthfuls of clear water to wash away the fishy, strange smell remaining in his mouth.

Xia Nan's gaze turned to the few villagers ahead who looked exceptionally nervous and restrained, his gaze lingering slightly on the curious and cautious boy among them, and he thanked them politely again:

"Thank you all for being willing to lend me the kitchen."

At the same time, he pushed his hands lightly, pushing the whole wild boar leg and a few coins toward the other party, indicating that this little reward didn't need to be minded, they could rest assured to accept it, and asked:

"May I ask if your village chief... or the sheriff is in the village now?"

"I have something to discuss with them. If you know them, please go and report it."

"Or just tell me the location, and I'll find them myself."

The one who replied was a middle-aged man among them who looked a bit tired, who should be the pillar of this family:

"Of, of course, Adventurer Lord!"

Xia Nan didn't know any mind-reading, but his perception ability as high as 12 points allowed him to achieve the same effect for these honest people in the village who were not good at hiding their own emotions, even if he didn't pay extra attention.

Almost the moment the middle-aged man opened his mouth, he keenly sensed the concealment in the other party's stammering words.

"In a small place like ours in the mountains, even merchant caravans don't pass by on weekdays. It's our honor to have an adventurer like you visit. I don't know if you have the interest tonight to participate in our..."

Xia Nan listened very patiently to the other party finishing the whole paragraph, until the middle-aged man finally finished his unskilled polite words and issued a dinner invitation to himself.

Only then did he wave his hand and politely decline the other party.

He could hear that behind those polite words and invitations, the other party also hid some kind of purpose.

But he didn't intend to stay here for too long, and making it clear would be good for both sides.

His gaze swept over the firewood knife in the young man's hand and the pitchfork placed in the corner of the wall.

Xia Nan's voice was straightforward:

"If you have anything to say, just say it."

"I will give Youan answer based on the actual situation."

"..."

When Xia Nan was taken to the village chief's residence by the middle-aged man, after several people explained and requested very carefully, for fear of offending him, he finally knew what this small village was experiencing.

—A goblin colony with a group size of at least fifty, suspected of having an elite leader subspecies.

It had even been forced to the point of planning to send the young people in the village to a distant place first, and the remaining villagers would fight the goblins to the death.

Naturally, they didn't dare to threaten Xia Nan with supply replenishment and ask him to solve the trouble.

Almost the next second after Xia Nan proposed to the village chief that he wanted to exchange for supplies in the village, the other party arranged for the villagers to help handle it without any demands.

Then, with extreme sincerity and earnestness, they requested Xia Nan to provide help with the greatest reward their entire village could offer.

Weighing the small cloth bag handed over by the village chief himself, which contained coins and felt a bit light.

Glancing at the simple furnishings in the room, his mind subconsciously recalled the dilapidated houses he saw all the way, and the oppressive emotions on the villagers' faces.

After pondering for a moment, in front of everyone, Xia Nan returned the money bag to the other party.

Making the village chief's face darken, but he forced a smile on his face, cautiously saying:

"It was my abruptness, Adventurer Lord."

"Please rest assured, the supplies you need will be..."

The words were only halfway through when they were interrupted by Xia Nan.

"How much do you know about the specific location of that goblin nest?"

"Take me to see the situation tomorrow morning."

"Just treat it as... the reward for these supplies."

... ===== CHAPTER 379 =====