Qi Family Gang (5)

It was the best strategy to reach Fish Fry Village as quickly as possible, unload the goods, get the receipt, and leave.

He rode up to Headman Qi and spoke of this.

Headman Qi hesitated for a moment before shouting, "Hey boys, pick up the pace!"

Hearing this, the drivers urged their horses in unison, and the entire train accelerated.

Nan Yue sat on her horse, looking up at the dense jungle.

They had encountered various types of simulation missions at the Scavenger Training Academy, and she didn't particularly like the jungle.

The jungle was too dangerous and too mysterious.

Often, it wasn't even the mission itself; the jungle itself posed a threat.

Like the mosquitoes and insects, or the plants...

Nan Yue's gaze sharpened as she spotted a massive strangler fig.

Strangler figs were common in tropical regions, a phenomenon where one plant deprived others of nutrients to usurp their place.

But what was strange wasn't the tree itself, but the fact that the top roots of the strangler fig seemed wet.

It was very odd; according to Dazhi, they had entered the jungle's perimeter two days ago and were now deep within the mountain path.

But it hadn't rained once.

The weather was a stifling humidity that bred irritation, yet there was no rain.

So why was the trunk wet?

The dark brown water stains indicated it had been soaked for some time, rather than being traces of recent rain.

After noticing this, Nan Yue observed more closely and found water marks on many plants.

They didn't look like morning dew; they looked more like the moisture left behind after a torrential downpour that hadn't yet evaporated.

As Nan Yue's horse passed a plant with giant leaves, she used her silver blade to pick up some water and brought it to her nose to sniff.

...It smelled a bit fishy.

Shaking the water off the silver blade, Nan Yue sheathed her weapon, wondering if she was being overly paranoid.

She unconsciously scratched her arm; she really didn't like the tropical rainforest.

Although the horse gang was picking up speed, both horses and men needed rest.

They could eat some dry rations on horseback at noon, but they had to stop and rest by evening.

Traveling through the jungle at night was a last resort.

Unless there was a life-threatening emergency, an experienced horse gang would never do such a thing.

A driver acting as a scout found a small stream; the water was shallow, perhaps reaching only a person's calves, and no wider than an arm's length.

The horse gang set up camp not far from this stream for the night.

They didn't stay directly by the water for two reasons: first, other animals needed to drink from the stream and might be scared off by the gang.

Those who traveled the world for years had a strong sense of causality; all living things were equal, and in this rainforest, they were the outsiders.

Second, they feared that camping right by the water might invite attacks from large beasts coming to drink.

Gu Xiang Kai and the others took sheepskin bags to fetch water; while water wasn't scarce in the rainforest, drinking from a stream was better than squeezing it from plant roots.

Gu Xiang Kai submerged a sheepskin bag into the shallow stream, bubbles gurgling from the opening, but as he watched the water, he felt something was wrong.

Tropical rainforests were places of immense ecological diversity, and their streams were no exception.

There should have been an abundance of aquatic life, yet this stream was very clean.

Too clean; there were no fish or shrimp at all.

Not even any aquatic plants.

Gu Xiang Kai tightened the cap on the water-filled bag and hung it at his waist.

This jungle was eerie in every way.

Since the stream was right there, they could afford to be a bit luxurious with water tonight, boiling wild vegetable soup, toasting some naan, and eating some dried beef.

The group sat in small clusters; after the weird events earlier today, everyone had been on edge for the latter half of the journey and was now exhausted.

Fortunately, no other problems had arisen.

Nan Yue and her companions sat around their own fire; the drivers here were on good terms, so chatting with anyone was normal.

Yin Qian threw a piece of withered wood into the fire and said, "Manager Wu used to work in a mortuary doing funeral rites."

That explained it; his strange chant from earlier had a source; it was likely a melody sung in certain regions during funeral processions.

It was meant to ensure the deceased had no lingering attachments and wouldn't look back, while also driving away wandering ghosts.

Manager Wu clearly had some skills, especially when it came to dealing with the occult.

"So generally speaking, while accidents often happen during transport, they can usually be resolved with Manager Wu and Headman Qi around."

"And that horse of Headman Qi's is no ordinary steed; or rather, the bridle and Bagua mirror on it are special."

"Those are heirlooms passed down through Headman Qi's family for generations, over a hundred years old; they really can ward off evil."

Yin Qian lowered his voice and glanced around. "But I heard the most precious thing in the Qi Family Gang is a small copper coin, supposedly passed down from the imperial family a thousand years ago. It carries dragon qi, which can suppress all occult entities."

The listeners blinked, and seeing that Yin Qian had no intention of continuing, Zhu Xi Ning asked, "Where is it?"

Yin Qian shrugged. "I don't know."

"Only Headman Qi knows where it is."

Nan Yue grew thoughtful. "So Headman Qi being the ‘Breaker of Three Omina’ probably isn't just about luck."

When it came to evil-warding items, they had many tools, and their respective awakened abilities could help to some extent.

But they could only delay, not suppress.

To put it simply, a pollution world was a world twisted from past events or someone's deepest fears.

Their internal logic was unbreakable; a scavenger's abilities could delay or avoid death to a certain degree, but they could never completely eliminate ghosts.

Even for Nan Yue, who possessed power granted by pollution, she couldn't break through by pure force without fully understanding the logic of the pollution world and finding the turning point.

Therefore, there were only two types of ghosts in a pollution world: one was unsolvable, where scavengers and natives could only avoid triggering death rules.

The other could be suppressed or even killed.

But they were never killed by a scavenger's awakened ability or tools, but by something inherent to the pollution world that was governed by causality.

Whether or not a scavenger intervened, that thing would be there; the only difference was whether it was discovered.

Nan Yue and the others were highly experienced scavengers, which was why they were particularly interested in this so-called small copper coin with dragon qi.

This item might be the key to them leaving this pollution world alive.

There was no need to rush; if the situation became dire, Headman Qi would bring it out himself.

Nan Yue ate her bun while the others tore into the dried beef.

"This stuff is actually quite tasty; I assume it's just air-dried meat?"

Zhu Xi Ning murmured to herself, and Jiang Yuhao whispered from the side, "Yes, it's beef that's been marinated and then air-dried... If we weren't lacking a food source, I could make some once we're out."

The others looked over, and Jiang Yuhao looked a bit nervous, yet he still gazed at Zhu Xi Ning with a touch of admiration.