The Reason

Bang!

The One-handed Hammer, gleaming with a metallic sheen, came crashing down.

With the sluggish sound of something hard striking flesh, the green snake that had been curled up with its head raised in warning just moments ago instantly became a lump of twitching, writhing meat.

"There are way too many snakes in this forest, aren't there?"

Larry, the fat man in fitted short clothes, shook the blood droplets from the hammer's face with some disgust and complained.

Several hours had passed since Xia Nan joined the party.

The complex terrain of Thin Mist Forest, thick with dense shrubs and tall grass, did not make every step unbearably difficult, but it still made their journey extremely arduous and rapidly drained their stamina.

With an encounter battle potentially breaking out at any moment, Xia Nan and the others naturally could not exhaust all their strength just traveling. They needed to maintain a certain level of combat capability.

Thus, they had found a relatively safe spot and planned to rest temporarily to recover their stamina.

Xia Nan leaned against a tree trunk, sitting in a corner of the camp.

The iron-gray Beheading Longsword lay slanted beside him, ready to be picked up at a moment's notice.

He dabbed a little water onto the bandage in his hand and wiped down his Leather Armor.

Although he had not been injured in the desperate battle against the pair earlier, their blood had splattered all over him.

It was not that he had any obsession with cleanliness.

Blood Scent could easily attract danger, and the sticky feeling on his body made him uncomfortable as well.

Now that he had some free time, he took the opportunity to clean himself up.

"Xia Nan, do you usually run into this many snakes when you take missions too?"

Larry casually asked as he tossed the snake, already hammered into a mushy lump of flesh, into the nearby bushes.

Now that they were members of the same party, they had naturally introduced themselves to one another.

Xia Nan glanced up, forcibly suppressing the urge to rush over and dig out the Snake Gall.

Thinking back on what he had encountered along the way, he too felt somewhat puzzled.

"There really do seem to have been rather a lot of snakes on this trip."

"When I was with the Stinky Fish Rotten Shrimp party before, I never saw this many snakes in the forest."

That was what he thought, but he did not say much.

After all, this was only his second mission. He was not much more familiar with Thin Mist Forest than Larry was, so he merely said, "Maybe this area is a little unusual? You know how it is—Thin Mist Forest is full of strange things. No one can say what they might run into."

"Oh? Strange?" The vague answer piqued Larry's interest. "Do you mean rare Magical Beasts? Or giant plants that can eat people?"

"My cousin told me that places like these, 'large Magic Power gathering points,' might even contain legendary ancient fortresses and dungeons!"

Talking about something that interested him, Larry's voice rose slightly. The Blonde Girl beside him also seemed to prick up her ears, as though eagerly awaiting stories from the newly joined adventurer.

But without a doubt, the topic had already gone beyond Xia Nan's knowledge.

Not knowing how to answer, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and said helplessly, "I'm just a newcomer too. I don't know much about the things you mentioned."

"A newcomer!? You definitely didn't look like a rookie earlier!"

"Why don't you ask Wood? His experience is obviously much richer than mine." Xia Nan stiffly changed the subject.

At that, Larry first drew back his head and sneakily glanced around. Then he remembered that Wood had already left the camp to scout ahead.

He leaned closer, lowered his voice, and whispered, "Him? Other than Hai An, he always looks like everyone else is dead. Who would dare ask him anything?"

"He can't squeeze out a single sentence for half a day, and no matter what you ask, he just gives you a cold look. If it weren't for—"

"Ahem."

Hai An deliberately coughed twice, interrupting Larry.

His expression was somewhat helpless. "Don't listen to his nonsense. Wood is still very dependable."

Xia Nan rather agreed with that.

He could sense the Guard's wariness toward him, but that did not stop him from recognizing the man's professionalism.

He was still troubled by that Wooden Token. They had had no chance to discuss it while traveling, but now that Hai An had taken the initiative to speak, Xia Nan asked about its origins as well.

"This?" Larry eagerly picked up the conversation. "I bought it last month when I went out looking for goods. At the time..."

According to the fat man Larry, the Wooden Token had first been found in Thin Mist Forest by an adventurer. He had thought the token, full of exotic style, would fetch a good price, but not a single shop in River Valley Town had been willing to take it.

In the end, it could only be sold cheaply to Newm, the owner of Griffin Department Store, where Larry eventually discovered and bought it.

"I originally wanted to hire that adventurer to lead us here, but he absolutely refused. In the end, I could only spend some Gold Coin to buy the location where he found the Wooden Token from him."

"Just the two of you? Why didn't you bring any Guards?"

Xia Nan spotted the flaw and could not help frowning.

Even a rich young master traveling to the countryside would bring at least a few personal guards.

Whether judging from Larry's clothes or the way he behaved, he did not look like someone short of money.

Yet in such circumstances, he had not brought a single personal guard?

Xia Nan could not understand it.

If it were him, he might not even come personally. Since this was only the outskirts of Thin Mist Forest, he could spend some money to hire dozens of professionals. It would be safer and greatly increase the chance of finding something.

In response, Larry merely grinned foolishly and scratched the back of his head.

"My dad has always hated... bank accounts... they're all informants... secretly..."

He muttered incoherently, but his gaze unconsciously flicked toward the Blonde Girl resting nearby.

"Tch."

Xia Nan curled his lip and shook his head, no longer curious.

They had already come this far. Whether it was him or Larry, whatever they encountered would be the result of their own choices.

"Then what is so special about this piece of wood that made you come all the way from Newm?"

As for Xia Nan, there was no need to elaborate on why the Wooden Token attracted him.

But what about these natives of this other world?

They were not archaeologists. Risking their lives to enter Thin Mist Forest, a place filled with Monsters, for a token of unknown origin was hardly worth it.

Larry fell silent.

Hai An, however, let out a soundless sigh and explained, "I led the party." He raised his head, his Half-Elf silver-gray eyes fixed on Xia Nan before him.

"I can't say much about the specifics, but I suspect this Wooden Token... is connected to the disappearance of one of my relatives."

Xia Nan could not help frowning at those words.

Just as he was about to speak, a sound suddenly came from the tall grass beside the camp.

He instantly rose to his feet, instinctively grabbing the Beheading Longsword beside him, already prepared for battle.

Then Wood's figure, clad in black Leather Armor, appeared before them.

His gaze swept over everyone's faces before finally stopping on the Half-Elf Hai An.

"Young master, I found something."