Winter Arrives

"Haah—"

On the swamp, Li Wei, having just cleared out another small outpost, stretched and patted the tattered Linen Cloak stained with blood.

As the blade passed through the Orc beneath his feet's throat, the azure glow on it gradually faded.

Boom—

The flames rising from the corpse dispersed some of the morning mist. Li Wei held out his hands to warm them, feeling a trace of heat.

The weather was getting colder and colder.

It had been a long time since he and Gandalf had split up.

At first, Li Wei had counted each sunrise and sunset, calculating the date and how many days had passed.

But as the fog on the map gradually cleared, as the distance covered by his feet grew longer, and as more and more Orcs fell beneath the sword in his hand, Li Wei gradually began to feel numb.

Every day, he was either traveling to uncover the map or searching for Orcs and refugees. Day after day, nothing changed.

He vaguely remembered that, about a month ago, he could still occasionally come across scattered refugees, exchange a few words with them, and direct them somewhere safe.

But perhaps the people of this region had finally all evacuated, or perhaps there was some other reason—Li Wei had not encountered another human in a long time.

Even animals were rarely seen.

Around here, aside from Orcs, it seemed that only Wargs moved or made sounds.

Of course, none of them moved anymore.

After sitting there blankly for a while, Li Wei took out two loaves of bread and finished them. Then he opened the map and examined the terrain of the region.

At this point, most of the fog over the area known as Anduin Valley had been dispelled, and its terrain had been recorded on the map.

As for the Orcs stationed there, every last one he could kill had already been killed by Li Wei.

Those he had not killed had either run too fast or gathered in groups of several hundred. In open terrain, Li Wei could not handle an army of that scale for the time being. Once their numbers grew, their tactics would change accordingly. If he got surrounded, escaping would become difficult.

Li Wei shook his head.

The remaining Orc armies were mostly tough nuts that had been forced by him to band together. They would not be easy to crack.

It was time to stop for now.

After being out for so long, even Li Wei was beginning to have trouble with his supplies.

His ready-made food had long since run out. For quite some time now, he had been living off bread made from several bundles of dried grass stored in his backpack.

Now, even the bread was nearly gone.

Li Wei rose to his feet. Just as he was about to look around for wild animals, a familiar voice suddenly came from the distance.

"Finally found you, Li Wei. Whew—this truly wasn't easy."

A grey-robed old man came racing over, crossing through the grass and avoiding the marshy ground until he reached Li Wei's side.

"I've been looking for you for nearly half a month. If I hadn't still been finding the burned corpses of Orcs and Wargs, I would have started wondering whether you'd already gone back."

"The Orcs in this region haven't been cleared out yet. How could I go back so early?" Li Wei shook his head.

Gasp—

Hearing that, Gandalf sucked in a breath and hurriedly said, "Oh, heavens, Li Wei, enough is enough. You've done more than enough. I've been traveling through here for a full half month and haven't seen even half a living Orc. Honestly, this is cleaner than what a Dwarf legion could manage. I'm starting to wonder whether you have some blood feud with these Orcs."

"A blood feud?"

Li Wei glanced at the reputation panel.

Misty Mountains Orcs: -1523 (Archenemy)

"I suppose I do now."

At this point, Li Wei estimated that the Orcs of this region hated him no less than they hated the Dwarf royal family.

To put it more concretely, if Li Wei and Thorin were being hunted by Orcs and split up to flee, the Orcs might very well chase Li Wei first—provided they could beat him.

"Well, no matter what, our objective has been achieved. The humans of the valley have begun moving north and gathering together. Once they truly unite, Orc raids will no longer be able to threaten them."

"Perhaps they can coalesce into a new people."

"Without your help, they would likely have suffered far more setbacks."

As Gandalf spoke, he found a broken piece of wood to sit on, took out his pipe, and lit it.

As he exhaled a ring of smoke, the tension on the wizard's face visibly eased.

Gandalf simply smoked, while Li Wei said nothing, seemingly lost in thought.

The sky over the swamp was utterly silent, with only a thin wisp of smoke drifting alone.

Gandalf stole a couple of glances at the silent Li Wei, looking thoughtful.

After a while, perhaps having rested enough, he put away his pipe and suddenly slapped his knee. "Oh, look at me, I nearly forgot..."

"What?"

"The New Year!"

"New Year?"

Li Wei was a little baffled. What did that mean? Was there anything special about the New Year?

"Yes, the new year is almost here. I once told the children of the Shire that when the New Year came, I would bring fireworks to them."

"Has it been that long already...?"

Li Wei felt dazed. This had definitely been his longest journey yet, even longer than his trip to the Nether.

"We should bring this journey to an end, Li Wei."

Gandalf patted Li Wei on the shoulder, declaring the adventure over.

A cool breeze swept past.

Tiny white flecks drifted onto Li Wei's face, cold and slightly damp.

It was snowing.

"The Orcs have temporarily ceased their activities. For certain reasons, they have withdrawn to the vicinity of the mountains and stopped expanding outward."

As they walked, Gandalf spoke of the intelligence he had gathered.

When he mentioned "certain reasons," he also glanced at Li Wei.

"To be honest, this is one of the few times I've felt that things have gone smoothly. My past adventures were always full of obstacles."

There was only so much one person could do. Not everyone could brute-force their way through things like Li Wei.

"Li Wei?" Gandalf suddenly called out.

"Ah, I'm here."

"I keep getting the feeling that you've been spacing out."

"No, it's just that I feel a little... um..."

"A little tired?"

"No, you should understand. I don't get tired."

"I think you're tired."

With the air of someone who had been through it all, Gandalf slowly said, "You know, Li Wei, elves have endless lifespans. They are naturally close to nature and magic, possess strong bodies, and never fall ill or grow old."

"But they can die from sorrow."

"The spirit is the best nourishment for life and the soul. You need to keep that in mind, Li Wei."

"Whether it's you, me, or anyone else, we all need rest. When it's time to sleep, I never stay awake."

"For people like you and me, the body has never been the most important thing, but the soul needs constant care."

It could not have been put more plainly. There was no way to say more.

Li Wei listened silently and nodded.

Was that so?

Come to think of it, he really had not slept even once in the past few months.

After all, he simply did not get tired, and his body could not feel fatigue either.

Perhaps Gandalf was right. The soul needed maintenance from time to time too. After all, you couldn't put Mending on the thing.

In the blink of an eye, many more days passed. The two retraced their route and left the Misty Mountains.

The journey back went quite smoothly. They saw almost no trace of Orcs, and even when they passed through the narrow path at the Misty Mountains' pass, no Orcs emerged to harass them.

After descending the mountains and entering the wilderness, Gandalf asked again:

"Like I said before, I plan to visit the Shire. What about you, Li Wei?"

"Me?"

Li Wei gently raised his hand and caught a snowflake.

"I won't be going. There are still some things waiting for me to do."

"While it's still winter."

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