Abandoned Camp

"Ha--"

Linsey yawned while walking down the street, covering her mouth with her hand.

The group of refugees behind him followed closely, just as they had in the previous days.

Linsey opened the map; the surroundings were perfectly safe.

All the knowledge and skills you've accumulated in the past will come in handy someday.

It was probably the hunter's mark left by Linsey that came into play.

In the following days.

The Wilderness Hunter who appeared that night did not pursue and attack.

Linsey's several reconnaissance missions failed to uncover any trace of their tracking.

Up to this day.

Three weeks have passed.

At the same time, due to the unpredictable dangers of the Wasteland, the team's progress was much faster than expected.

Linsey unfolded the map and did a quick calculation:

"Hmm... if we keep going like this, it will take no more than two weeks to successfully reach the World Boundary."

"This is much faster than I expected?"

At that moment, Hammer ran up from behind.

After spending some time together, he knew that Linsey was easy to get along with, so the middle-aged man began to take the initiative to contact Linsey, but his attitude and tone remained cautious:

"Lord Linsey, is everything alright today?"

"Those Wilderness Hunter... still haven't caught up?"

Hammer knew the greed of the people in the Wasteland and was particularly concerned about this matter.

Linsey waved her hand:

Don't worry.

"Even if he catches up and attacks us, I can guarantee that nothing will go wrong."

Hammer listened, gave an awkward smile, and followed Linsey like a lackey.

The procession continued forward.

Around noon.

Along the road to the World's Edge, Linsey discovered a nearly dried-up riverbed from the side of a small valley.

"There's a river over there, and there's still some water left. Do we need to replenish it?"

Linsey asked a question.

The refugees had no reason to refuse and began to move closer to replenish their water supply.

"That way I won't have to create an unlimited supply of water for them."

In his spare time, Linsey opened the map again, and this time he discovered something unusual.

Following the direction of the small valley, behind some rocks, there is an open flat area with obvious traces of human activity.

This place is well hidden; it's almost impossible to spot from the road or river. Linsey only managed to detect its existence by using Map Skill.

"This... place? And nobody's here?"

To be honest, this was the first time Linsey had ever discovered a human settlement in the Wasteland.

He was somewhat curious.

So he greeted Hammer and went to check it out himself.

Linsey leaped over several times and landed behind the valley, where he found a clearing cleared by humans. The ground was dotted with pits, and above them were rough tent roofs made of wood, leather, and straw. There were also some abandoned Farmland and a game processing point with hide racks set up nearby.

"I used to grow crops."

"But they couldn't continue, and hunting alone couldn't sustain them, so they had to abandon the camp?"

Linsey continued his inspection thoughtfully, switching modules as he went:

"An old animal hide tent—abandoned for more than a week; fertile, abandoned Farmland —almost impossible to continue planting; Man's Footprint —fresh footprints left within 2 hours by a man weighing 56kg and 177cm tall..."

"Huh? Two hours?"

Linsey's gaze slid over the data before she realized its unusual nature.

Other tents or Farmland have been abandoned for more than a week.

Why would a footprint appear suddenly at an interval of only two hours in a place where production and residence have ceased?

"I couldn't have stepped on it myself, could I...?"

Linsey muttered as he continued the examination, and even more subtle results unfolded before his eyes.

There were a total of 6 sets of fresh footprints in the camp, consisting of 5 men and 1 woman, and they all appeared and left at the same time.

"..."

What's going on?

Linsey was completely baffled, so she simply activated her skill to piece together the clues, and the corresponding phantoms began to appear.

About 15 hours ago.

These six humans entered the camp from the south.

They first explored the interior, and then began engaging in some meaningless activities, seemingly pretending to be native inhabitants.

Linsey then accelerated the changes in the image.

In the final moments, two hours ago.

The six men stood up at the same time and moved towards the east side of the camp, seemingly confronting something.

Linsey followed the direction and found several more sets of fresh footprints.

However, this time the group consists of two men and two women.

What is particularly noteworthy is that among the women is a very young child.

"A child? Only 3 or 4 years old?"

Linsey continued to guide the clues to be pieced together.

The four new people who appeared seemed to be looking for something in the camp, and they started talking after encountering the previous six people.

Finally, they reached an agreement, and the group headed west.

In an instant.

Linsey conjured up a very rich array of scenarios in her mind.

One drama after another emerged, depicting love, hate, resource struggles, and encounters in the wild.

However, Linsey has no plans to get involved in other matters at the moment.

"After all, it's Wasteland; anything can happen..."

"Ah?"

Linsey had just begun to consider leaving when a new quest popped up on her Task Bar, which dissuaded her from the idea.

[The Fallen Kindness]

A rare act of kindness in this Wasteland is betrayed. A ravenous wolf, long plotting, sharpens its blade against the shepherd. The traveler will lend a helping hand, protecting those with kind hearts in this Wasteland!

[Task Rewards: A small amount of money, a small amount of attribute/ Skill Experience Points.]

"..."

"The reward is so small?"

Linsey frowned.

What he cared about wasn't that the reward for the task was too small.

The difficulty and rewards of the tasks given in the Task Bar are always proportional, and more importantly, they are always closely related to Linsey herself!

Such a 'weak' task suddenly appeared; it would never normally happen.

There must be something fishy about this.

"The beginning of a new quest chain?"

"But right now, I don't have time to linger in this world any longer."

After a moment's hesitation, Linsey took action.

He thought about it carefully, since this mission could save good people on one hand, and dispel his doubts on the other.

"Anyway, let's chase after them and see what happens."

"Anyway, they were only gone for two hours, it won't take much effort."

Linsey made her decision and immediately took action.

He first expanded the map's reconnaissance area to confirm there was no danger nearby before running over to the refugees and shouting loudly:

"Hammer, I have something on my mind that I need to check on in the west."

"You've collected the water, so you can stay put and wait, or you can set off ahead—it's all fine!"

Hammer didn't dare offer any opinions, and shouted back from a distance:

"OK!"

"Lord Linsey, you can go in peace!"

"With me watching over everyone, nothing will happen!"