Chapter 67: Newspaper Clippings and Hidden Side Quests

As soon as the sky brightened, Wu Chang left the post office and followed the map toward the police station.

The police station was located on the west side of the small town, while the post office was at the far eastern end.

The route to the police station required crossing almost the entire town, which gave him the opportunity to observe it.

Brif is both an island and a town.

Only one-third of the island is flat land; the remaining two-thirds consist of mountains, forests, and beaches.

The town's urban area is concentrated within that one-third of flat land.

The town was established only twenty or thirty years ago, and with the townspeople diligently maintaining it, the town is neat and orderly during the day.

When they pass each other, the townspeople stop and exchange greetings.

Even if their greetings are somewhat stiff, like some kind of programmed setting, they still appear harmonious overall.

As an outsider, at first glance, one would truly feel that Brif is a quiet and peaceful island town.

Most of the buildings in town are two-story houses; each is small, mostly made of wood, and simple in structure.

Standing at one end of the street and looking to the other, the houses on both sides seem to be copied and pasted from the same model, with no discernible differences; one can only distinguish the households by their different colors and house numbers.

There are three landmarks in town that are most eye-catching.

The first is the cathedral in the residential area; it is nearly fifteen meters tall, built entirely of white marble, and its massive, beautiful form makes it impossible to ignore.

Placed in a town of simple, low-rise houses, it can be said to stand out from the crowd.

The second landmark is the Earl Jermaine Manor; if the cathedral is something you see the moment you look up, then the Earl's Manor is something you see the moment you tilt your head back.

The Earl's Manor was built on the summit of Seabird Mountain in the mountainous region on the west side of the island, which is the highest point on the island.

Every evening at dusk, the setting sun overlaps with the grand main house of the manor, as if the manor were built inside the sun.

That kind of scenery is unforgettable once seen.

Unfortunately, ever since Earl Jermaine went missing, strange things have occurred frequently at the manor, and it has now fallen into ruin.

The final landmark is the Brif port.

As a transit point for maritime trade routes, merchant ships arrive daily to load and unload cargo.

It is just unclear why the frequency of merchant ship traffic has been steadily declining in recent days.

It is as if Brif Island is being forgotten by the entire world.

The police station and the cathedral are located at opposite ends of the same street, and the road to the police station passes by the cathedral.

In the marble plaza in front of the cathedral stands a faceless female statue.

The artisan who carved it poured their emotions into this statue; even without facial features, the posture alone allows one to feel her compassion and mercy.

But after looking at it for a few more moments, Wu Chang perceived a different meaning.

It was a feeling that could only be judged through intuition, impossible to describe in specific terms.

In the resentment of the former mailman last night, the bronze statue that witnessed the mailman's death also held this feeling.

In front of the statue, Ling Hu, dressed in a nun's habit, was sweeping up fallen leaves.

Without the aid of cosmetics, Ling Hu's appearance was still striking, but she could not maintain her refinement, revealing the dark circles characteristic of a worker, and her complexion was a shade duller.

Combined with the shock of accidentally entering a C-rank dungeon, she appeared very dejected at this moment.

Wu Chang greeted her as he passed by and asked, "How was your night?"

Ling Hu yawned and complained, "It was simply terrible. The people here don't seem to sleep at night. There was an old nun in her fifties who kept me up all night lecturing me on prayer rituals."

Wu Chang shrugged, "I was about the same. Near three o'clock last night, there were still townspeople lining up to pick up their mail."

He pointed at the statue and asked, "Did that old nun tell you what's up with this statue?"

Ling Hu thought hard and said, "The old nun said she is called the Great Madonna, the patron saint of the suffering."

"Then why does she have no face?"

"It is said that the artisan died of illness halfway through the carving, and since no one else on the island switched to that trade, the face was left blank."

Lacking personnel for the corresponding job, the work was shelved; they neither moved the statue nor thought to complete it.

How very characteristic of Brif. After chatting for a moment and finding no further information, Wu Chang waved goodbye to Ling Hu. Just as he was about to leave, Ling Hu grabbed his wrist.

Ling Hu was very close to him, so close that only he could see her expression clearly.

Her dejection and listlessness were merely a protective mask; at this moment, her face was full of fear, unease, exhaustion, and anger.

The dungeon had not yet made a move against her, but her willpower had already dropped significantly.

Her voice trembled as she whispered, "Aren't you afraid?"

Wu Chang shook his head, "No."

"Why aren't you afraid? I remember you are only level 7, the lowest level among us." Ling Hu could not understand.

Wu Chang said expressionlessly, "Not afraid means not afraid."

He was not only unafraid, he even felt a little like laughing.

"Am I too weak? You are the same, and Hamster is too. I really envy you for being able to withstand this kind of pressure."

!

Ling Hu's tone weakened. She buried her head lower, completely hiding her expression, and let go of Wu Chang's hand.

Wu Chang had intended to let Ling Hu be, but out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the faceless statue and vaguely felt that the statue's face had gained a hint of a contour and was looking at Ling Hu.

Tsk, was Ling Hu's willpower too low, or did she trigger some condition that made this ghost thing target her?

Ling Hu was both his colleague and a companion in clearing the dungeon; furthermore, as a nun, she could collect important information related to the religion.

Whether from the perspective of her identity or functional considerations, as long as Ling Hu wasn't dragging him down, he had no reason to stand by and watch her die.

He hurriedly pressed both hands onto Ling Hu's shoulders and shook her firmly.

Being suddenly grabbed by Wu Chang left Ling Hu at a loss, temporarily pulling her out of her negative emotions.

Her face flushed slightly, and she asked in surprise, "What are you doing?"

Feeling the statue's gaze vanish, Wu Chang breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down at Ling Hu, met her eyes, and said in an incredibly serious tone:

"Listen, as a 'survivalist' player, I have rich experience in how to survive in dungeons. Maintaining your mental state and not letting your willpower be affected is of the utmost importance."

"With a veteran player like Jianxing here, you don't need to worry about combat; you just need to survive as best you can. I guarantee you, as long as you do your job as a nun and don't violate any rules, everything will be fine!"

His firm gaze, combined with his high willpower, radiated a powerful sense of security.

Although Ling Hu knew the man before her was weaker than she was, she still subconsciously chose to believe Wu Chang.

"I know, let go."

Wu Chang lingered for a while longer, confirmed that Ling Hu's mental state was stabilizing, and after sending her back to the cathedral, continued toward the town police station.

As a small town with a population of only a few thousand, the police station is not large; including the sheriff, there are only four people in total.

Seeing Wu Chang arrive, Mo Leina ordered the newcomer under her command to retrieve a mailbag from the evidence room; the newcomer in the police station was Hamster.

Just as Ling Hu said, Hamster's mental state was quite good, and he still maintained a vibrant appearance.

Mo Leina handed the mailbag to Wu Chang personally and instructed:

"The mailman is an indispensable profession in this town. It has been over a month since your predecessor committed suicide. Hurry up and deliver the letters in the bag to everyone; they must have been waiting anxiously."

Wu Chang took the mailbag, not knowing where to begin his complaints.

If you say the townspeople aren't anxious to receive mail, they can show up at the post office in the middle of the night to urge the mailman to work.

If you say they are anxious, the mailbag sat in the police station for over a month, yet they could stubbornly refuse to come and claim it, insisting on waiting for the next mailman to appear before having them deliver it.

The zipper of the mailbag was twisted and deformed when the previous mailman was attacked, and the lock had to be removed to open the bag, but after more than a month, the deformed lock remained on the bag.

This indicated that no one had opened the bag to check what was inside.

In the minds of the Brif townspeople, it seems only the mailman can use the mailbag.

Returning to the post office, he removed the lock and found five letters inside, as well as the clippings the previous mailman had made before dying.

Just as he was about to close the mailbag, a sudden flash of inspiration struck, and he reached out to feel the inner lining of the mailbag.

He found a hidden compartment on the inside of the bag and pulled out a letter sealed with wax.

The moment he obtained the letter, his title "Perfectionist" reacted.

Hidden side quest triggered.

(End of chapter)