Chapter 29: The Carriage (4k)

This was a dilapidated carriage abandoned in the thickets.

The body was crafted from a certain reddish-brown wood, hard in texture and warm in hue; the varnish applied to its surface gave it an exceptionally lustrous appearance.

On both sides of the carriage were hollowed-out circular window openings, currently half-open. Through the sunlight filtering down from the canopy above, one could catch a vague glimpse of the emptiness within.

The roof was slightly curved like a roof ridge, with wooden eaves extending to the left and right, carved with intricate patterns. However, the specific details of the imagery had been damaged and worn away by some external force, rendering them unrecognizable.

"This is it!"

Haian stood in a clearing a short distance from the carriage, a hint of excitement flickering in his expression.

"This traditional design style, which reveals exquisite craftsmanship through simplicity—it is exactly like that piece of wood!"

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

Standing to the side, Xia Nan remained silent, his expression calm.

Yet, waves of emotion surged in his heart once again.

His knowledge of history was not profound; even the facts he had memorized day and night from textbooks during his student years had long since been mostly forgotten amidst the dull and exhausting grind of his professional career.

Therefore, based solely on minor design styles and material details, he could not judge the approximate era of an object.

Even so, just as he had with the wooden plaque earlier, Xia Nan could sense the heavy "Middle Continent" characteristics of the carriage at a single glance.

"Something's not right!"

Just as the members of the group were lost in their imaginations due to the appearance of the carriage, Larry, who was always blunt and outspoken, suddenly spoke up.

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

His words instantly snapped everyone out of their thoughts.

Larry was right.

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

In such an environment, even an experienced adventurer party could usually only proceed on foot, cautiously and with great difficulty.

Even if there truly were a "master driver" who could drive a carriage into the forest, the massive commotion caused by the carriage's movement would be enough to attract monsters from hundreds of yards away.

"And look..." Haian, having gradually regained his senses, also began to notice the discrepancies. He pointed a finger and frowned. "There are no traces of wheel ruts on the ground nearby."

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

Wood, who had been guarding Haian's side like a shadow and had remained silent since the beginning, suddenly spoke up to add

"Normal wooden materials would quickly decay and rot under the corrosive influence of the mana permeating the air in the Misty Forest."

"The material of this carriage is not enchanted, yet there is very little dust and there are residual signs of use. Clearly, it was parked here recently."

"That shouldn't be possible. If it was recently... how could there be no traces around it at all?" Haian's brow furrowed deeply, his confusion growing.

The interior of the carriage was empty, making it unlikely for a monster to be hiding inside; the surrounding shrubs and tall grass had also been checked and confirmed safe.

The group approached cautiously.

Although the entire carriage was battered and broken, looking as if it had been struck midsection by an Owl Bear, certain details still reflected its originally exquisite and luxurious decoration.

For example, the hollowed-out flower lanterns hanging beneath the wooden eaves on both sides, and the curtains inside the windows, which were soft and smooth with elegant patterns embroidered on the surface...

"Ah!"

A sharp scream, instantly lowered in volume, suddenly rang in their ears.

Xia Nan, whose nerves were already strained by the high-pressure environment of the Misty Forest, couldn't help but shudder.

Frowning, he looked over.

At the edge of the group, the blonde girl, "Doris," was covering her mouth with one hand due to her accidental outburst, while her other hand pointed toward the shadow beneath the carriage's shafts.

"Scor... scorpions!"

Larry moved to shield her behind him, intending to perform a classic "hero saves the beauty," but as his gaze followed Doris's finger, the fat on his cheeks trembled.

"Sss... sss..."

It sounded like countless grains of sand scattered across the ground.

The first thing Xia Nan heard was a strange sound composed of countless sharp, tiny movements.

Then came a "black flow" that seemed to gush from the bottom of the carriage like a spring.

They were countless scorpion-like insects, each the size of a knuckle and pitch black!

"Shit!"

Xia Nan felt a chill rush from his tailbone to the crown of his head.

He lunged backward, his decapitation longsword already held horizontally across his chest.

The half-elf reacted even faster; with a flutter of silver hair, she retreated several steps into the tall grass behind them—as an archer whose primary output was the bow, creating distance the moment combat began was the most correct move.

Larry's performance was somewhat unexpected. Though his face had turned pale with fright and he appeared extremely panicked while retreating—even nearly tripping over a branch and stumbling—he still shielded Doris closely and did not choose to flee.

In the blink of an eye, only Wood remained alone in the clearing.

Gazing at the solitary figure in front of the carriage, Xia Nan gritted his teeth and stepped forward again.

Retreating was merely the first reaction driven by survival instinct.

Though he was a newcomer, the moment he realized his role within the team, he pushed forward again.

He wouldn't drop the ball at a time like this.

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

Yet, his heart still felt waves of numbness.

He held a fine longsword scavenged from a blacksmith shop, had miraculous healing potions prepared in his backpack, and wore hard, expensive leather armor.

He was physically fit.

Xia Nan was confident that even if he had to face twenty goblins alone, he could fight his way through them.

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

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

Then, from a waist pouch carried close to his body, he pulled out a palm-sized, brown clay jar.

He hurled it violently!

*Bang—*

The jar hit the ground and shattered instantly.

A thick, lusterless ink-colored liquid, mixed with turbid dust, spilled and flew everywhere.

Then, there was a spark.

*Whoosh!*

A heatwave surged, and orange-red flames were reflected in Xia Nan's pupils.

The blazing fire erupted suddenly!

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

The swirling flames seemed to stir a fear deep within the bloodlines of these insects.

The insect swarm, which had originally been as dense as a tide, instantly scattered, turning into countless "tributaries" that vanished into the nearby bushes and grass.

*Crackle.*

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

"Where did all those scorpions come from? They scared the life out of me!" Larry said, his pale face covered in cold sweat, speaking with lingering fear.

The half-elf Haian's figure gradually emerged from the grass, a wooden arrow already notched on his bowstring, his expression solemn.

Xia Nan's heart pounded violently, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

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

Fortunately, there was a professional in the team who actually carried something like a Molotov cocktail.

Otherwise, facing so many small insects, he really wouldn't have known how to solve the problem.

Glancing at the retreating swarm of insects, Xia Nan looked thoughtful.

He wondered if there was a place in River Valley Town that sold such throwable items.

Once he returned, he would get a few bottles himself; they might prove highly effective during future missions.

If all else failed, he could look back at his somewhat blurred memories from his previous life and try to research it; he might be able to make a rough version

"A bottle, alcohol, flammable cloth... what else was there?"

Xia Nan shook his head, dispersing his wandering thoughts.

He would deal with that later; now was not the time to consider such things.

His gaze followed the flames.

He saw that after dispersing the insect swarm, the fire continued to spread along the weeds on the ground, appearing to grow more intense.

The cognition and worldview formed by the influence of his previous civilized society made him instinctively resist this emerging natural disaster that was capable of swallowing large patches of forest.

Without thinking much, he asked subconsciously

"This fire... is it okay?"

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

To his surprise, Wood, who had maintained a vigilant posture ever since Xia Nan joined the team, responded quite seriously, breaking his usual pattern

"The mana in the Misty Forest is dense. As long as it is a normal flame, it is basically impossible for it to cause a massive forest fire."

"With the current scale of this flame, although it looks like it is gradually expanding, it is actually only burning the surrounding shrubs and weeds. It might not even touch a single tree before extinguishing itself."

Xia Nan's proactive behavior of stepping forward when facing danger seemed to have changed the guard's perception of him.

Of course, since they had only been in contact for a short time, that was all it was.

After speaking, Wood no longer responded but instead stepped forward toward the fire.

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

He examined it, his brow slightly furrowed.

"What is it, Wood? Did you find something?" Haian asked, pulling his arrow back, as the pungent smell of burning in the air made him feel uncomfortable.

"Young Master, this... is indeed a bit strange."

The Misty Forest was vast and boundless, and the abundant mana in the air made it a habitat for countless species.

No matter how experienced an adventurer was, they could not claim to be able to identify every single magical creature within it.

Let alone the common animals, which were numerous in variety and possessed many subspecies in special environments.

Therefore, Wood was not surprised by this strange scorpion he had never seen before.

But at this moment, as he looked at the black scorpion in his hand—which he was holding by the tail, yet still raised its pincers in a warning posture—he felt that the group of people seemed to have been invisibly caught in a massive vortex, sinking deeper and deeper.

Wood suddenly turned back to look at Haian, who was watching him with concern.

In a moment of trance,

He saw the same figure that had rescued him from the slums filled with sewage and trash many years ago.

Those familiar silver-gray eyes, those same smooth, lustrous strands of silver-white hair...

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

In the end, he only left a dry sentence

"Let's bypass this place first, Young Master."

"It's time to set up camp."

...

...

It gets dark very quickly in the forest.

Sometimes, you think it is still early and you can make some progress while the sunlight filters through the gaps in the canopy.

But perhaps in just a few steps, the night will envelop you.

Wood's timing was very accurate.

By the time Xia Nan and the others had clumsily laid out their sleeping bags, piled up the branches they had gathered from the woods, and ignited them with flint to start a campfire, the once bright sky had already turned to twilight.

*Crackle—*

The fire burned.

Crystal-clear eyes reflected the orange-red light before them.

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

Wood had long since set up sentries and traps around the camp. Seeing Haian's state, he hesitated for a moment before saying slowly

"Young Master, as you know, the Matriarch gave me my second life."

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

"Forgive my bluntness, but the piece of wood in your hand is not in 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 pale from excessive force.

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

"I'm sorry."

His tone was once again calm and gentle, but Haian's gaze was fixed only on the fire before him.

Wood stopped speaking and lowered his head.

As always, he sat in the half-elf's shadow.

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

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

He had no intention of intervening in someone else's family matters.

But since they were in the same small squad and the other party made no attempt to hide it, it was nothing wrong to learn about it incidentally.

Moreover, Xia Nan was actually a bit curious.

Unlike the reckless Larry, the half-elf was clearly more meticulous, and even judging by the attitude of the group toward him, his background was higher.

Yet he only brought one guard, even if he was a professional, and dared to venture this deep into the outskirts of the Misty Forest to search for an unknown target; he was clearly hiding something.

(He himself knew that the location of the Glow-Garlic Vine was in the outermost outskirts, which was basically safe, and the round trip was only about a day and a half, and he had even traveled it before; combined with the tight mission deadline, that was why he dared to enter alone.)

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

The twilight was dim.

It was as if even the mist in the air had taken on a hint of laziness, drifting leisurely.

Doris seemed to have been quite frightened by the scorpions, and Larry's soft words of comfort beside her were indistinct;

Haian and Wood sat by the campfire, surrounded by swirling smoke in a silent atmosphere;

Xia Nan sat alone in a corner leaning against a tree trunk, his eyes lowered, cradling 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 like the post-credits scene of a movie, as an adventurer walking on the edge of a blade, you must always be prepared to welcome those unexpected "surprises."