Simulation Management

Holding the Ice Badger's corpse, Linsey blinked.

Only then did he react and begin checking the changes on his Game Player panel.

Game Player Module Unlocked: Simulation Management

Simulation Management Level: 1

Simulation Management Ability: Goods

Goods: All items held by or touched by the player gain basic commodity information.

Note: Food, medicine, antiques, real estate, even slaves.

In the eyes of a mature merchant, everything in the world can become a commodity.

Just like the previous two Game Modules.

After Simulation Management was unlocked, it also came with a basic ability.

But Linsey thought of much more.

The first time, he fought bravely and escaped death, activating the RPG Module. The second time, he joined the hunt and was ultimately rescued, activating Hunting Simulation. Now, Finn had died, he had inherited his teacher's Plant Hut, and after killing the Ice Badger that had turned Finn into a Living Corpse tonight, Simulation Management had activated.

All three module activations had actually been tied to his real-life experiences.

"If I have time, I should test this theory."

"But there's a Task Completed notification on the Attribute Panel. Simply doing related work probably isn't enough to unlock a Game Module. Only experiences involving something like a task should be able to unlock a new module."

After briefly analyzing the situation, Linsey shifted his gaze to the Ice Badger corpse in his hand.

"But this Goods ability came at just the right time."

Hunting Simulation → Simulation Management

After stopping Trace Tracking, Linsey's Life Source Material recovered at a decent rate.

He soon had enough Essence to switch modules, and the appraisal ability of Goods took effect on the corpse in his hand.

Corpse: Ice Badger

The corpse of a magical beast that lived in cold regions.

The corpse seemed to contain some kind of unusual change. If he found the right buyer, it should fetch a good price.

"An unusual change..."

Linsey murmured under his breath, then hurriedly picked up the other two Ice Badger corpses for inspection.

Sure enough.

All three Ice Badgers had the same commodity description.

The phrase "unusual change" was not unique to the Ice Badger in his hand.

"..."

Without a word, Linsey silently stored all three Ice Badger corpses in his pack.

Afterward, he did not head toward town.

Instead, after his Essence recovered, he switched modules again and reactivated Hunting Simulation's abilities.

In the pitch-black forest, Linsey carefully searched the surroundings.

There were plenty of traces of animal activity in the woods.

But judging from the color and shape of the footprints, there was nothing suspicious.

He persisted for half an hour.

Once Linsey was sure he could find no clues here, he briefly tended to the heads of his arrows and headed deeper into the forest.

Twang—! Two hours later.

The sound of a bowstring echoed through the forest as another icy arrow shot forth, chilling to the bone.

On the branch of a pine tree beneath the moonlight.

An Emerald-tailed Snowy Owl that had been resting there fell to the ground in response.

Linsey emerged from the darkness and picked up the Emerald-tailed Snowy Owl by one of its legs.

It had taken him two hours to find this magical beast, one that had awakened Essence. With his prey in hand, he immediately switched modules and checked its commodity properties.

Corpse: Emerald-tailed Snowy Owl

The corpse of a magical beast that lived in cold regions.

Someone might be willing to purchase its plucked feathers, meat, and claws.

"..."

After reading the simple description.

Linsey closed his eyes and tilted back his head, drawing in a deep breath.

"Whew—"

"As expected, the descriptions are completely different."

The Emerald-tailed Snowy Owl and the Ice Badger were both magical beasts of the lowest rank. Yet the final lines of their commodity descriptions were entirely different.

This discovery.

Finally confirmed Linsey's suspicions.

—There really was something wrong with the Ice Badgers.

Now, he had to figure out how to find the culprit behind it all.

Thinking over the matter, Linsey stored the Emerald-tailed Snowy Owl's corpse in his pack before setting off back toward town.

His first destination was naturally Graveyard Church.

The source of the corpse animation had been identified.

Linsey had no reason to let Finn's corpse continue lying on the church floor. Whether he was to be mourned or buried, it needed to be dealt with immediately.

Beneath the starry night sky, he returned to the church entrance.

Linsey raised an eyebrow slightly.

The church doors, which had been shut a few hours ago, now stood open, and lights could be seen burning inside the chapel.

"Someone else is here?"

Linsey muttered quietly.

He first took the three Ice Badgers from his pack, casually tied them together with a rope, and then walked toward the church doors.

"Nun...?"

The moment he entered, Linsey saw Red Moon.

Finn's corpse had already been moved into the chapel. Red Moon was praying over him, and upon seeing Linsey return, she merely gave a slight nod.

But farther back in the chapel, Dan and several other townspeople were also standing there.

Linsey glanced at them and immediately understood.

These people were all residents living near Finn's cabin.

In the end, they had not listened to Linsey's reassurances. After hearing the commotion, they came out to investigate. When they found Finn's cabin empty, they woke Dan, who lived nearby, and then headed together to the church on the eastern side of town.

Dan was the leader of this group of townspeople.

When she saw Linsey, along with the prey in his hands, she immediately walked over.

"Linsey, what exactly happened?"

Linsey directly handed one of the three Ice Badgers to Dan. "Tonight, these things were lurking around the cabin and turned Teacher Finn's corpse into a Living Corpse."

"Huh? What?" Dan's eyes widened in surprise, clearly finding Linsey's explanation hard to believe. "Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

As a professional hunter, Dan was probably the most knowledgeable person in town when it came to magical beasts.

If it had been some powerful magical beast that gained intelligence after awakening, then something like this might have been possible.

But Ice Badgers... they were magical beasts barely equal to a first-stage awakened one.

At least, in Dan's eyes as a hunter.

These things, only slightly stronger than ordinary beasts, could never have done such a thing!

Linsey immediately stressed in a grave tone, "I'm certain. Their behavior was abnormal. They must have been influenced by some external factor."

"These Ice Badgers passed right through the fields without damaging any crops. Instead, they ran all the way to the cabin, animated Teacher's corpse, and then turned around and fled back toward the woods. When I found them, these beasts were fighting over pinecones on the ground because they were hungry!"

With Linsey's explanation, Dan also realized the severity of the situation, and her voice immediately grew tense.

"Linsey, tell me, where did you find them?"

Linsey immediately answered, "In the forest south of town, about an hour's walk from here."

Dan nodded and headed straight for the church exit.

At the same time, she instructed Linsey.

"Don't wait for dawn, Linsey. Take the other two Ice Badger corpses and tell Anrui about this immediately."

Linsey chased after her from the church.

"Dan, what are you planning to do? I didn't find any other traces in the forest."

Dan turned around, naked killing intent flashing in her eyes. A confident, chillingly vicious smile appeared at the Female Hunter's lips.

"Kid, don't underestimate me."

"Since you've put the clues right in front of me, I can't possibly let them go to waste!"