The river-crossing point chosen by the black-robed wizard lay in a "marginal area" at the edge of the North District—an especially interesting trait of human society. No matter how miserable their circumstances, they could always carve finer distinctions of class within an established social structure, using mutual discrimination, attacks, and compromises to forget most of the suffering before their eyes.
As an area marginal even by North District standards, one could imagine just how dreadful the environment was.
Among the mudflats beside the river, corpses could be seen every few days, sprawled where water met land: goblins with their fingers chopped off, trolls stripped of their scalps, kappas with the moon discs removed from their heads—once their most valuable magic materials had been taken, even the lowest-ranking wizards in the North District could find no further use for their bodies. There were also white rats and rabbits that had died from infection or magical experiments.
The strange curses and potion residue clinging to the corpses kept even Corpse Beetles away, leaving the bodies to rot slowly in the mud. Across all of Puji Island, perhaps only mana-drinking mosquitoes and indiscriminate river flies were willing to contribute a little to nature's cycle here.
But in the cold winter season, flies and insects greatly reduced their activity, causing the corpses piled in this marginal area to grow more numerous and gradually produce a miasma thick with sinister taint.
This miasma severely interfered with the You Zui Hunting Team's tracking.
"Can't you determine which direction he disappeared in?"
The black cat leaped onto the branch of a stunted pine Tree for a higher, broader view. Squinting, he slowly turned his ears, trying to pierce the dense night.
But apart from the pitch-black Silent Forest and the murmuring waters of the Silent River, he