Reward

Lin Feng, dressed in ragged clothes, raced onward with the girl in his arms. Fourteen-year-old Yun Lu was very light; to Lin Feng, her weight was practically nothing. So he tried his best to carry her in a position that was more comfortable for her.

Yun Lu secretly opened her eyes a sliver and watched Lin Feng, who had saved her from danger, as they traveled. Since Lin Feng had no interest in a girl who was only fourteen, his hands did not wander. He merely supported her back and legs.

Even so, Yun Lu, who had never been in such close contact with the opposite sex, had a flushed face. Though her teacher had taught her not to be overly intimate with men, she knew Lin Feng was only trying to save her. Even as her breathing grew a little hurried, she did not scream or make a fuss.

Though she was still shyly pretending to sleep, she understood how much danger Lin Feng had faced in order to save her after she had charged into the Withering. Yun Lu silently made up her mind. Once they got out, she would ask her father to give Lin Feng more reward—she would simply give him all the Mora they had brought. Yun Lu decisively made the decision on her father's behalf.

But feeling up a girl was still far too rude. Yun Lu's face turned red as she thought of what Lin Feng had done earlier, as well as how she had failed to object in time. Her heart was a tangled mess.

According to her teacher's lessons, he was wrong for touching me. I was wrong for not objecting. So were we both at fault?

The girl, who had never experienced anything like this before, fell into a troubled dilemma.

Busy hurrying along, Lin Feng naturally could not imagine the rich inner drama of the girl in his arms. Once he had calmed down a little, he had naturally noticed that she was awake. He figured she might be frightened by what had just happened and did not know how to face reality for the moment, so he planned to wake her once they reached her father.

A few minutes later, Lin Feng finally left the rainforest. Seeing the uncle waiting where they had agreed, he let out a breath of relief.

"Uncle, I fulfilled my promise. I brought your daughter out."

Lin Feng set the girl down from his arms and gently shook her shoulder.

"Miss, wake up. Stop pretending to sleep."

Lin Feng reminded the girl, who had been peeking around the whole way and apparently thought he had not noticed.

"Ah, I wasn't pretending to sleep!"

Startled, the girl retorted stubbornly, her face red.

"Xiao Lu! My Xiao Lu!"

Seeing that his daughter was safe and sound, the uncle, who had been anxious all this time, hurried forward. Overcome with emotion, he failed to notice the stone underfoot and stumbled, nearly pitching headfirst to the ground.

Quick-eyed and quick-handed, Lin Feng hurriedly caught the excited uncle. Once the man had regained his footing, he said to the reunited pair:

"Uncle, I understand that you're both excited, and I don't want to interrupt the reunion between father and daughter. But I'll have to trouble you to first visit the Forest Ranger outpost in Gandharva Ville and register the appearance of the Withering."

"Besides, after this ordeal, I'm sure you're both exhausted. You can take the opportunity to rest up as well."

Lin Feng released the middle-aged merchant he had been supporting and made his suggestion.

"Ah, I was foolish. I forgot that Xiao Lu must have been terribly frightened along the way."

After steadying himself, the middle-aged merchant seemed to calm down a little. He turned to Lin Feng and said:

"My surname is Yun, and my given name is Shan. I am a traveling merchant of Liyue's Feiyun Commerce Guild. Benefactor, you may simply call me Yun Shan. You saved my daughter this time. If there is ever anything I can help you with, please come to the Feiyun Commerce Guild and find me. No matter what you ask, I will do my utmost."

Looking at Lin Feng's clothes, torn in several places, and the wounds on his cheeks and hands, Yun Shan solemnly made his promise.

"For now, I must trouble you, benefactor, to take us to Gandharva Ville. Once we have handled the official business, please honor us with a simple meal. Then we can discuss your reward in detail."

"Alright. Uncle Yun, just call me Lin Feng. No need to be so formal. I'll take you to the nearby Forest Ranger outpost first. Please keep an eye on Xiao Lu, Uncle Yun, and don't let her get lost."

After saying that, Lin Feng began leading Yun Shan from the front.

Yun Lu puffed out her cheeks, a little discouraged that Lin Feng treated her like a child. Still, she obediently stayed by her father's side and selectively explained what had happened after they were separated to her worried-looking father.

With Lin Feng leading the way, the registration was quickly completed. When his colleagues returned from investigating with disbelieving expressions, Lin Feng said that he did not know the exact circumstances either. He had merely taken advantage of the monsters' inattention to rescue the girl, and after they got out, the Withering had collapsed.

The specifics amounted to a triple combo of "Huh?", "I don't know either," and "What exactly happened?" Luckily, Lin Feng was also a Forest Ranger. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy to fool them.

As soon as the incident report was completed, the enthusiastic Yun Shan dragged Lin Feng to the most luxurious restaurant nearby. Looking at the table full of expensive dishes, Lin Feng realized that this Uncle Yun might not be the ordinary traveling merchant he had imagined.

Only during their conversation did Lin Feng learn that Yun Shan was the son-in-law of the Feiyun Commerce Guild. His wife was the younger sister of the guild's current chairman. Though the couple loved each other dearly, they had only one daughter after all these years: Yun Lu, who was sitting beside them.

Because Yun Shan was exceptionally capable in business, he had been sent to Port Ormos in Sumeru on this trip to negotiate business with the guild members stationed there.

Yun Lu, who had been sent to school from a young age, had taken advantage of her holiday to pester her father relentlessly, hoping he would take her to Sumeru for a visit.

Since the journey was not long to begin with and he did not need to bring much cargo, Yun Shan, who doted on his daughter, agreed to Yun Lu's request.

Since Forest Rangers cleared monsters and protected traveling merchants all year along the road between Vimara Village and Gandharva Ville, Yun Shan had not hired any additional mercenaries to accompany them.

Who could have expected something like this to happen just as they were about to return?

Though overjoyed to have regained what he had lost, Yun Shan was also deeply shaken. He could not imagine how he and his wife would cope if they lost their only daughter.

Having suddenly learned all this, Lin Feng looked at Yun Lu, who was taking small bites of her food beside them, with some surprise. Though Lin Feng had noticed along the way that the girl's posture was proper and her skin fair, that she did not seem like a commoner's child, and that her every word and action was polite and measured, giving her the faint air of a refined young lady from ancient times.

But he truly had not expected her to be related to someone he knew from the game—Xingqiu. Since Yun Shan was Xingqiu's uncle by marriage, Yun Lu was naturally Xingqiu's cousin. Looking at it that way, Yun Shan was indeed far from ordinarily wealthy.

Midway through the meal, Yun Shan took out a small pouch and a waist token, then solemnly handed them to Lin Feng.

"Since you do not like being called benefactor, and I happen to be a few years older, I will presumptuously call you young brother."

"This pouch contains the reward I prepared for you, Brother Lin. Uncle Yun is a crude man and can only offer such worldly things to show his gratitude. I hope you will not dislike it."

Lin Feng frankly accepted Yun Shan's reward. Feeling the pouch's weight, he knew there was not much Mora inside, but he did not refuse it.

—If he refused the reward entirely, Yun Shan would only feel uneasy. After expressing his thanks, Lin Feng accepted the reward without further fuss.

"Phew." Seeing Lin Feng accept the Mora, Yun Shan let out a breath of relief. Since this trip was not for a major transaction, he had not brought much Mora with him. He had feared that too little Mora would make Lin Feng feel that he did not value his help enough.