Wildfire

Bai Wei's movements were so fast that before Wei Ke could even react, the Serrated Knife had already carved deeply into the wooden door.

What are you doing...?

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Wei kicked down the town's wooden door with a swift and decisive kick, then smiled and said to Wei Ke.

"Missionary work".

The door collapsed with a crash, and the townspeople behind it had lost their previous attitude; their cloudy eyes were filled with fear.

"What are you doing?!"

The townsman pointed at Bai Wei's nose, his body trembling slightly with tension.

Bai Wei didn't pay attention to him immediately. Instead, he waited until the dust kicked up by the collapsed wooden door settled before slowly stepping inside.

Wei Ke, standing behind him, had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow him inside.

He's Bai Wei's assistant now, so there's no reason for him to stop Bai Wei.

But if Bai Wei really wanted to do something that would anger both heaven and man, he would definitely not just stand by and watch.

Once inside, Bai Wei leisurely observed the furnishings.

This looks like a pharmacy, with bottles and jars of medicine everywhere you look.

It seemed as if only this male villager lived in the entire house, but there was a tightly closed door inside. When Bai Wei's gaze fell on that door, the tension on the villager's face intensified.

"What exactly do you want?" the male townsman roared at Bai Wei, but compared to when the door was still there, he now seemed somewhat timid.

Bai Wei naturally knew what he was worried about, but he didn't expose it. Instead, he looked at the male townsman with a smile.

"Just here to buy some medicine."

"Purchasing medicine?" the male townsman said. "You just said you came here to preach!"

"Yes," Bai Wei nodded. "If you were to convert to our religion, would I need to make special purchases?"

The male villager's expression turned very ugly. "Do you know where you are? If you dare to cause trouble... the Hunter will deal with you!"

"Oh?" Bai Wei's smile remained unchanged. "Will the Hunter deal with me, or will the Wildfire Cultist deal with me?"

Upon hearing this, the male townsman's expression darkened further.

Only Wei Ke didn't know what they were talking about, but he vaguely sensed that something was wrong, so he wisely kept quiet.

The male villager was silent for a moment before finally asking, "What kind of medicine do you want?"

"Some Wound Medicine Pills," Bai Wei said, "And... a 'Blood Coagulation Potion' that allows you to walk in the dark."

Upon hearing "Blood Coagulation Potion," the male villager instinctively took a step back. He seemed to want to say that he didn't have it, but looking at the gleaming Serrated Knife in Bai Wei's hand, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

After a long pause, he said, "Yes, but not here, and it's not cheap."

"It's alright." Bai Wei said with a smile, as if he had already guessed that the male townsman would answer like this. "I'll wait for you here. Go and get it quickly... but you'd better not have any other ideas, or I'll burn your house down."

As he spoke, Bai Wei glanced casually at the inner room, which made the male townspeople even more hesitant to make any further moves.

With a dark expression, he quickly left the house.

Before leaving, Wei Ke heard a male villager muttering something in a low voice, seemingly about the Hunter.

So after the male townsman left, Wei Ke immediately approached him. "Why did you do that?"

Bai Wei glanced at Wei Ke and said calmly, "If we're going to the Sacrificial Ground, we'll need these medicines."

"So we can just rob it?" Wei Ke said. "That's not something Hunter should do."

"I'm not Hunter," Bai Wei said. "I'm Father from the Rhine, I have no manners."

Wei Ke: "..."

"Just kidding," Bai Wei laughed, then said, "If you tried to buy medicine as Hunter, would he sell it to you?"

Wei Ke wanted to argue, but some memories also surfaced in his mind at that moment.

It was a scene of an old Hunter knocking on a door repeatedly in the dead of night, pleading.

This scene naturally caught Bai Wei's eye.

"It will still happen, but it definitely won't be that easy, right?" Bai Wei said. "For example, arbitrarily raising prices, or taking the opportunity to make unreasonable demands. Imagine you're injured while hunting at night, and you ask for help from these houses with their doors tightly shut, but all you get is rejection and insults, like 'Get away from me, don't bring danger here'..."

Wei Ke opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a moment.

Because this was exactly what he was thinking at that moment, and Bai Wei described it so vividly, it was as if he had read Bai Wei's mind.

Of course, Wei Ke didn't think about mind reading; he simply asked, "How do you know so much?"

Of course, it's because I've been through it too.

Bai Wei smiled inwardly.

This map in the game is definitely one of the worst. Not only are there countless monsters chasing you at night, but the town is also full of unruly people. When players are injured and want to buy medicine, they will find that the price of medicine is ten times that of medicine during the day.

The one selling the medicine was naturally the same guy Bai Wei had just kicked out.

This is truly karma in this lifetime.

But Bai Wei naturally wouldn't tell Wei Ke any of this. He simply shrugged and said, "Don't forget who I am. Rhine is Wildfire's mortal enemy. Our understanding of this place is definitely no less than that of your locals. And we don't just have a superficial understanding; we also know the deeper reasons."

As Bai Wei spoke, he walked to the medicine cabinet and picked up a blood-stained medicine bottle.

"The root cause is that the Senro God died, the former order collapsed, and the Hunter's skill level dropped significantly, but the dangers you face have not decreased." Bai Wei said leisurely, "So the people here depend on the Hunter, but they don't trust Hunter, fearing that their investment in the Hunter will go to waste, thus creating an increasingly vicious cycle."

Wei Ke said with a hint of helplessness, "There's nothing we can do about it; it's very difficult for the townspeople to buy medicine."

"Really?" Bai Wei pointed to the medicine cabinet in front of him. "If it's really that difficult, where did this whole box of medicine come from? He couldn't have just been taking it all by himself, could he?"

Wei Ke fell silent.

He naturally knew who these medicines were intended for.

Wildfire Cultist.

"So," Bai Wei said with a smile, "What's wrong with me, a Father of an orthodox church, taking things from a cult?"

Wei Ke had nothing to say.

"Speaking of which, the reason you're in such chaos here is because the Wildfire Cultist haven't yet become the true rulers of this land," Bai Wei said. "The Senro God has been gone for a hundred years. If it were us in the Rhine, within ten years every household here would be singing praises to the great glory of the Lord of the Rhine. But the Wildfire Cultist..."

Yes, Bai Wei pointed out the most fundamental problem of this land—the lack of a new order.

Although the outside world now regards Wildfire as one of the four major Esoteric Sect, compared with the former Senro Church, Wildfire Cultist are more like a rabble, a group of cruel mercenaries.

The main reason for this is that... there are no new gods in this land.

The Wildfire Sect does not have Wildfire God.

Therefore, after the passing of the Senro God, no new faith was born among the people of this land, and the Wildfire Cultist did not cultivate in this direction. So even now, they have not been able to completely replace the functions of the former Senro Hunter. This has led to the strange phenomenon that the Hunter under the command of the Senro God has been gone for a hundred years.

The job, naturally, is... to fight against the darkness.

After hearing Bai Wei's words, Wei Ke realized that Bai Wei understood Senluo better than he did, so he didn't dwell on the topic and instead asked, "Why do you need the 'Blood Coagulation Potion'? Even if you have that, it's still very dangerous to go into the dark."

"What if your little dog got lost in the night?"

Wei Ke's pupils narrowed slightly, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Bai Wei smile.

"I was just guessing."

Wei Ke: "..."

"But it's also possible." Bai Wei put the bloodstained medicine bottle back in the cabinet. "If you really want to find it, you can't ignore the darkness."

Before Wei Ke could answer, the male townsman from before had returned, carrying two dirty blood test tubes.

"These are the only two portions left," the male townsman said with a dark expression.

"Very good." Bai Wei smiled and took the test tube. "This is enough. As for the Wound Medicine Pills, I've already taken it, so I won't trouble you."

The male townsman's face darkened further, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "You haven't paid yet."

"Ah, I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it." Bai Wei patted his head and belatedly smiled at the male townsman, "My name is Ulu, and I come from the Rhine."

The male townsman didn't care what Bai Wei's name was; he only cared about the money. But after waiting for a long time, he found that Bai Wei hadn't made any further moves.

"What do you mean?"

"Pay up," Bai Wei said. "Didn't I tell you my name is Ulu?"

"... What does this have to do with money?" the male townsman said. "This isn't the Rhine, what use is your name?"

"Not now, but soon."

"... You're kidding me?!"

"I'm not kidding you, I'm telling the truth," Bai Wei said. "Someone will be coming here to find me soon. You can tell them my information and you'll get your payment."

"... Are they your subordinates?"

"No," Bai Wei said lightly, "They are my enemies."

"That's about it, Bishop Fei Ge," said a Rhine priest. "Ahead lies the territory of the Wildfire."

Fei Ge stopped in his tracks, looking at the dense jungle before him, which resembled an outstretched claw, exuding a savage aura.

"What a repulsive smell." Fei Ge wrinkled his nose, then turned his head. "How are the preparations going?"

Behind him was a Knight order disguised as a merchant caravan, their thick muscles practically bursting out of their simple, unadorned clothes.

This is the most elite Knight order under Fei Ge's command.

But they were not the focus of this trip.

The highlight is the unique wooden box on the carriage.

At Fei Ge's signal, one of the wooden crates was opened.

A pungent stench, accompanied by a gurgling sound like bones being chewed, emanated from the source, creating a strong sense of unease.

"The Devourer's reaction is more intense than before," Fei Ge said. "It seems to have sensed something."

"Yes," the Knight beside him replied, "The Devourer has always been very sensitive to Visas's power. If we release it now, it will follow the scent directly to the holder of the body parts and will not give up until it achieves its goal, but..."

"Um?"

"Our control over it is only effective within a certain range. Once it exceeds that range, it will become ineffective," the Knight said. "At that point, it will go berserk and attack all living things around it. To regain control of it, we must return to the range and ring this bell."

The Knight picked up the bell at his waist and shook it gently.

A soft bell rang, and the devourer inside the box trembled slightly.

Fei Ge laughed, "Isn't this great?"

Then he stepped forward and stared at the ugly contents of the box.

"Let it cause a ruckus."

Having said that, he unlocked the chains.

Bai Wei successfully bought the medicine and left the town resident's house satisfied.

The townspeople weren't very satisfied.

After leaving the house, Wei Ke immediately caught up with Bai Wei and then whispered, "Ulu..."

"Call me Father Ulu."

"... Father Ulu," Wei Ke asked. "That man seemed very interested in the innermost room, and you seemed to know what was in there."

"Oh? So you noticed."

"It's hard not to notice."

"Your senses are really sharp." Bai Wei reached out and ruffled Wei Ke's hair. "Didn't you smell anything?"

"... a foul odor," Wei Ke said.

"Like those things in the dark?"

Wei Ke nodded.

"Hehe, that's normal." Bai Wei looked at Wei Ke and said with a meaningful look, "The Hunter have declined, but people still have to live in the dark. They have to have some means, and most of these means are shady."

Wei Ke frowned deeply, pondered for a moment but still couldn't come up with an answer, so he said, "Can't you explain it more clearly?"

"I was just helping you find your dog, I didn't say I was going to answer your questions."

Just as Wei Ke was about to get angry, Bai Wei spoke slowly again.

"However, seeing how well-behaved you are, it's not unreasonable to give you a reward." Bai Wei took out the Blood Coagulation Potion he had "bought" earlier. "The answer lies in this."

Wei Ke was initially somewhat displeased with Bai Wei's statement, but after hearing Bai Wei's words, his attention was immediately diverted.

"What's the meaning?"

"The Blood Coagulation Potion is a means for Hunter to hide in the shadows." Bai Wei handed the potion to Wei Ke. "Take another look."

Wei Ke accepted the medicine.

He had never used it before, so he immediately smelled it after receiving it.

Bai Wei watched quietly from the side.

When he saw Wei Ke unconsciously stick out his tongue and lick the edge of the test tube while smelling it, his smile widened.

I was out of town this weekend and wrote this on my phone, so there might be a lot of typos. Please bear with me...