Twilight Forest

"That's right."

Tang Qi climbed to his feet and encouragingly rubbed the little girl's ears—

Really, he just found them pleasant to rub.

At the same time, he explained to the contemplative Black Snake:

"You should have noticed it too. When people walk normally, most of us land on our heels first. At that moment, our weight is concentrated on the heel before rolling forward to the toes.

"But when walking backward, it's exactly the opposite. The point where the weight lands is on the toes.

"If you examine those footprints closely, you'll find that the toes sank deeper into the soil than the heels did."

"That means the thief was walking backward!"

Jackal suddenly understood and stated the fact everyone now knew, then asked curiously,

"Is walking forward that inconvenient? Why go through all that trouble?"

Tang Qi shook his head. He was not the thief, so naturally he could not explain that mystery.

"There's no way to guess why they did it. But we can guess what those footprints were meant to do—"

"The thief deliberately led our attention toward the town."

Black Snake understood as well. Rubbing his temples, he could not help but regard Tang Qi more highly.

"Damn it. I'm actually starting to look forward to you finding the thief."

"Clip his goat beard! You're a fucking Poet? You're practically as professional as that old ranger Markwen."

Gravel followed with praise.

"You'd better know your way around a bow too. Then you can switch careers and become a ranger—no, a bounty hunter."

Would anyone really switch to a profession only slightly better than a Four Symbols Monk?

"The thief deliberately drew our attention toward the town, which may instead suggest that they're outsiders—after all, the residents have no reasonable motive."

Tang Qi turned toward Twilight Forest.

"Perhaps we should investigate in that direction."

At the word "outsiders," Black Snake's gaze sharpened.

Jackal, meanwhile, spread what little wisdom he possessed.

"But there aren't any footprints there."

"Maybe they used some method to conceal them."

"We won't reach a conclusion by guessing here. Gravel, come with me to change equipment."

Not everyone was like Jackal, wearing chainmail and fully arming themselves beneath the blazing sun just to make others feel intimidated.

The town was small, and hardly anyone would provoke the lord.

In fact, if not for Star Plum being stolen, these mercenaries only needed to get blind drunk at the Golden Oak every day.

The two turned and left. Before long, they saw the returning One-Eyed Dwarf, Gravel, already clad in heavy half-plate armor, with a tower shield as tall as he was strapped to his back and a spiked mace at his side.

Even his footsteps on the earth seemed heavier.

By comparison, Black Snake looked much lighter.

He wore only an iron helmet and light chainmail.

Tang Qi noticed that he carried no shield. A single curved blade hung at his waist, its scabbard pitch-black and revealing nothing more.

Before he could study it further, Black Snake hurried over and handed him a light crossbow and a bag of twenty bolts.

"Know how to use it?"

"I'm going too?"

"You can analyze things so clearly, but you're scared when it comes time to act?"

"Of course I'm scared."

Tang Qi refused to back down as he took the crossbow and bolts.

"I'm afraid I'll kill too many and make you lose face. What then?"

He was bluffing.

No bard ever honestly kept their mouth shut.

Black Snake understood, so he merely sneered. "You've got some nerve."

Ignoring whatever Tang Qi might have been thinking, he gave several guards instructions to keep watch on the suspect, Anbi, then led the other three along the mountain toward Twilight Forest.

Three mercenaries and one useless bard hardly counted as a well-trained adventuring party.

Yet this was Tang Qi's first true "adventure."

He felt inexplicably excited, though fortunately, he still remembered his duty.

After walking for more than twenty minutes, they drew closer and closer to the forest.

The air gradually became damp. A thin white mist seemed to veil the view ahead, and the scent of earth grew stronger in his nostrils.

Tang Qi kept observing his surroundings. At last, he spotted a set of wheel ruts in the wet ground.

"They probably thought no one would discover their trail, so they let their guard down near the forest and failed to erase these marks—

"They have a carriage, and it was moving toward the forest."

"Follow the ruts. It'll keep us from getting lost."

Black Snake gave the order.

"If they've camped nearby, they'll probably only be staying around the outskirts.

"We'll advance another kilometer. If we find nothing, we'll return the way we came."

But when the four of them ventured deeper into the forest, everything before them abruptly darkened.

Night, black as ink, swept over the forest before them, as though they had entered another world in the span of a second.

"I'll light a torch."

The Dwarf possessed Darkvision, yet he still struck flint in the cold, desolate night, illuminating several feet around them.

The others drew close, and Black Snake reminded him,

"You can see farther. If you notice anything, remember to put out the torch and warn us in advance."

"Teaching me like I'm some rookie?" Gravel sneered and took the lead.

The mist in Twilight Forest was not particularly thick, but because day and night alternated frequently here, it was easy to lose one's bearings and sense of time.

Rumor had it that the terrain deep within the forest occasionally changed without warning, making it a moving labyrinth.

Once one ventured too far in without following the main road, getting lost was practically guaranteed.

And to avoid alerting the enemy, everyone fell silent as they entered.

It made Tang Qi nervous.

The mist pierced his tense face with icy coldness.

It felt as if a heartbeat pounding like a muffled drum lingered beside his ears, thumping without end.

"I see it!"

Gravel called out softly and suddenly pointed into the darkness ahead.

Tang Qi could not see a thing. He could only listen to Gravel's explanation.

"Heh, they covered it with leaves and thought I wouldn't spot it!"

"Anyone nearby?" Black Snake asked.

"Don't see anyone."

"Move closer and take a look. Watch for traps."

Every movement Black Snake and Gravel made carried the calm assurance of professional adventurers, and Tang Qi felt much more at ease because of it.

He obediently followed behind them as they carefully checked for traps—

Though calling it checking was generous. They merely watched the fallen leaves beneath their feet to avoid dropping into a pit or accidentally triggering an animal trap.

After confirming there was no ambush, they approached the foot of the mountain.

Tang Qi finally saw that what Gravel had pointed out seemed to be a camouflaged cart.

He reached out and touched the mud on its wheel, feeling the dampness against his fingertips.

"The leaves are dry, but there are still droplets of water on this freight cart. This should be the cart that transported Star Plum."

Brushing aside the fallen leaves and lifting the worn cloth, they found many empty crates still sitting on the cart.

It stood there all alone, and just happened to block a cave entrance at the foot of the mountain—

It was not narrow at all, wide enough for all four of them to walk abreast.

Yet it was rather low.

Tang Qi was of average height, but even he had to bend down to enter.

"If someone had camped inside the cave, there should be more traps around it. At the very least, there should be something to serve as a warning."

Gravel sounded somewhat hesitant.

"This doesn't seem like a place where anyone has stayed."