Patrol

After dealing with the Ogre problem, most of the morning had already passed. Chen Jinyang washed off the stench with another rinse of icy well water, wolfed down a little food to fill his stomach, and got ready to head out hunting.

His old portable backpack was already in tatters, so Chen Jinyang had made a crude replacement from a hemp sack. He packed hardtack and cold cooked venison for provisions, then made sure to bring all his hunting gear: hemp rope, javelins, an iron sword, and more.

Chen Jinyang told Phinia, "Phinia! Take good care of Alos and Mishaer for me. Don't let them out of your sight."

"I'll protect this place!" Phinia smiled, more naturally than before. A month of living together had changed her a lot, and her expressions had grown more animated.

Chen Jinyang casually ruffled Mishaer's curls and reminded them, "You two stay home and stick with Phinia. Don't go running off, got it? And don't cause any trouble!"

That morning's Troll attack had left Chen Jinyang with a sense of danger. He had been in this world for over three months, and had fought all sorts of monsters several times. Most of them relied on brute strength alone, but some had strange abilities. Take that Winter Wolf, for instance. It could think and speak like a human, use tricks, and knew how to scheme. Today's Troll had been the same. Even during the three years he'd spent being hunted in his previous life, when he'd narrowly escaped death countless times, Chen Jinyang had never felt as desperate as he had today. The Troll's terrifying regenerative ability had nearly shattered his confidence. Now that he knew its weakness, killing one would be as easy as lifting a finger. But the shadow it had left on him was too deep. The damage to his warrior's heart was beyond repair.

Who could guarantee that he wouldn't encounter an even stronger monster in the future, one with stranger abilities and no obvious weakness? That was why, even though Alos and Mishaer were both well-behaved and had never caused him trouble, Chen Jinyang still worried about their safety and kept reminding them over and over.

Chen Jinyang had always wondered how the three William siblings had survived until now. This world was just too dangerous. He hadn't yet realized that the weak had their own unique ways of surviving, and that most of the dangers he'd faced had actually been brought on by his own actions.

In past winters, the whole of Gnome Village would have been stripped bare and fortified. Anything monsters could use to get through the winter would be cleared away, and the Winter Keepers would hide deep in their cellars, enduring the cold nights on food they'd stockpiled in advance. The monsters knew there was nothing worth taking here, so usually only a few starving Goblins would show up now and then to scavenge. Even William, who'd once been a fool, could easily handle those few intruders. Even if a powerful monster appeared, they only had to hide deep in the cellar. With nothing to gain, it wouldn't take long for the monster to leave.

But Chen Jinyang made a big show of hunting in the wilderness and kept a herd of livestock in the village. In a season when food was scarce and everyone was hungry and cold, it would have been strange if he hadn't attracted the attention of hordes of monsters. What was more, Chen Jinyang had beaten up every Goblin and Ogre in the vicinity. The monsters knew he was no easy target, which was why monsters from several different tribes had joined forces to attack. Six Ogres and more than a hundred Goblins formed a warband that was already powerful enough to raze villages in this region. And because Chen Jinyang had killed so brutally and simply tossed the monsters' corpses into the forest, he had finally attracted the attention of even stronger monsters like Winter Wolves and Trolls.

After what had happened that morning, Chen Jinyang didn't take Alos along with him. He planned to patrol the area around the village over the next few days, find out what monsters lived nearby, and eliminate the dangerous ones. As he was about to leave, Mishaer pouted, looking dejected. He squatted down with a grin and asked,

"My adorable little princess, why aren't you happy that your big brother's heading out? Come on, give me a smile!" Chen Jinyang felt his grin was just a little lecherous.

The little girl didn't humor him. "William promised me something yesterday, but he didn't do it today!"

"Did I promise you something yesterday?" Chen Jinyang rubbed his head in confusion. Ever since being reincarnated as William, he'd developed a habit of rubbing people's heads—both other people's and his own.

"Big brother's so lame! You promised me something just yesterday, and you've already forgotten." The words "I'm so disappointed" were practically written all over the little girl's face.

Alos reminded him, "You promised to teach Mishaer 'clapping' or something yesterday." The little girl must have talked about it with him a lot the day before.

Chen Jinyang finally remembered. "Oh! Right, I remember now. I still remembered last night, but the Troll attack this morning made me forget. I'm really sorry, Mishaer. How about tomorrow? I'll teach you and Alos together."

The clouds immediately cleared from Mishaer's little face. Smiling brightly, she said, "You have to teach us tomorrow! Don't forget again!" Alos was just as excited. After watching Chen Jinyang beat and torment the Troll in all sorts of ways that morning, he worshipped his big brother's strength.

"I definitely won't forget again. All right! Stay home, and Alos, keep an eye on your sister. I'm off." Chen Jinyang turned and left the village, heading south along the long road in front of it.

Gnome Village lay on the outer northwestern edge of the Hidden Forest, backed by the easternmost hills of Cliff Ridge. There weren't many particularly dangerous monsters nearby. Occasionally, a powerful creature would wander out from the depths of the forest, but it would soon move on elsewhere. The area wasn't especially remarkable, and its mineral deposits were of no use to monsters. On top of that, adventurers regularly cleared and patrolled the road, making it unsuitable for large monsters to gather.

Chen Jinyang followed the long road south for more than ten li. The snow nearly reached halfway up his thighs, and even with his homemade snowshoes, walking was extremely difficult. Other than a few small animal tracks, he didn't find any sign of large monsters.

It was already past noon. He found a sheltered spot, sat down, and ate a piece of venison, then rested against a tree for a while. The snow made the going so difficult that it had taken him more than three hours to cover ten li. Chen Jinyang figured he wasn't likely to find anything worthwhile that day.

Chen Jinyang entered the forest and headed east. The woods after the snowfall were filled with a desolate stillness. Bare branches of deciduous trees bore glittering ice like crystal carvings, while the snowy, curved crowns of towering conifers seemed ready to bow under their weight. A few small squirrel-like animals darted past, sending little clouds of snow tumbling down with a soft poof. The occasional birdcall only made the world seem even lonelier, cold to the very heart.

Chen Jinyang breathed out a long plume of white vapor and tightened his deerskin robe as he trudged on. He carefully searched the snow for tracks, looking for signs that large creatures or groups of animals had been active nearby.

A few fox-wolves followed Chen Jinyang for a while, but he paid them no mind. Before long, the trackers fell distracted by a flock of Snow Pearl Chickens they happened upon along the way. Snow Pearl Chickens were unquestionably the most active creatures in the North during winter. Chen Jinyang had encountered at least four flocks on the way. These wild birds could neither fly very high nor travel very far, and in winter they provided plenty of food for predators that didn't hibernate. Snow Pearl Chickens mainly fed on berries, grass and plant seeds, nuts, and insects. After gorging themselves all autumn, they were now at their plumpest and most tender. They were just hard to catch. Chen Jinyang could only hurl javelins at random and, by luck, hit a few unlucky birds. He tied them together with thin hemp rope and hung them from himself, saving them as side dishes for dinner and the next day.

After walking about four or five li, Chen Jinyang turned north again. Along the way, he found two Goblin settlements, but they'd long since been abandoned. Only heaps of discarded filth remained, along with the lingering stench common to wild Goblins.

A dark-gray Wolverine, taller than a man, set its sights on Chen Jinyang. When it finally attacked, he pinned it in the snow and beat it soundly. After taking a heavy beating, the Wolverine fled with a howl. Chen Jinyang had also coveted its thick, long fur, but he'd let his guard down and allowed it to escape.

In the past, whenever Chen Jinyang entered the forest, he was either busy practicing his skills or chasing prey. This time, he took things slowly and explored as he patrolled, and he found quite a few good things. There were huge dried wood ear mushrooms, straw mushrooms, nuts, and even a purplish-red two-lobed fungus as large as a fan, similar to the lingzhi mushrooms of his previous life. Following a squirrel's tracks, he also found half a sack of pine nuts. The little animal anxiously scampered up and down its tree, squeaking wildly. In the end, the "bandit," moved by his conscience, left the poor little thing half its winter stores instead of committing the heinous crime of "stripping it bare."

By evening, Chen Jinyang had made his way back to where he'd previously dumped the Goblin and Ogre corpses. In barely more than a month, the nearly hundred monster corpses that had once been piled into a small hill had vanished, leaving behind only a few scattered bones, silently bearing witness to the tragedy that had unfolded there.

There wasn't much left, but plenty of hungry scavengers still lingered nearby, unwilling to leave. Some of them became Chen Jinyang's spoils. Draped in a garland of Snow Pearl Chickens, carrying a Black Wolf carcass, and having driven off a Brown Bear and kicked six Forest Wolves into flight along the way, Chen Jinyang was like the forest's little tyrant, charging around and beating up anything that crossed his path.

By nightfall, Chen Jinyang returned to the warmth of home and showed his spoils to his family one by one. A pot of fatty chicken stew with straw mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms simmered over the fire. Warm by the fireplace, he regaled the little ones with tales of his day's adventures.