Early morning on the tenth day.
Lin Ze had just finished a round of morning training and was about to return to the oasis for a short rest when he sensed something.
One of the communication formulas he had left near the Bounty Station sent back a signal that it had been triggered.
News?
Lin Ze perked up and immediately set off, putting on his Suzaku mask again and slipping silently toward the Bounty Station.
At the Bounty Station, the fat man behind the counter saw Lin Ze appear and hurriedly took a thin scroll from beneath the counter, pushing it toward him.
"Your luck is good, sir. There's a lead on the 'Find Rōran' mission."
Lin Ze accepted the scroll without betraying any reaction and quickly unrolled it.
The information in the scroll was not particularly detailed, but the key points were clear:
Deep within a vast expanse of wind-eroded rock formations in the southeastern Land of Wind, near the border with the Land of Rivers, a group of roughly three hundred exiles had been discovered. They called themselves the "survivors of Rōran" and lived in hardship, surviving by gathering small quantities of drought-resistant plants from cracks in the rocks and catching small creatures such as sand scorpions. They were frequently subjected to extortion by nearby Sunagakure patrols.
At the end of the intelligence report, a note had been written in bold:
Indirect inquiries confirmed that there was indeed a young woman named "Sara" among the group, approximately eighteen years old. Some of the elders addressed her respectfully as "Your Majesty," but she held no actual power and was more of a spiritual symbol.
"The coordinates and the main areas they've been active in recently are all marked on there."
The fat man tapped the counter. "As agreed,