Chapter 137 - 15: The Mysterious Fishing Village and the Salted Fish Merchant

Chapter 137: Chapter 15: The Mysterious Fishing Village and the Salted Fish MerchantSystem Alert: Triggered the riveting event "River God’s Guidance". Quest Description: While you and your companion were crossing the river, you accidentally dropped your axe into the water. Thankfully, the River God guided you, telling you that you could find what you wanted in a small fishing village downstream. However, her words were vague, and what awaits you there remains unknown. Only her piece of advice stayed in your heart, "Maintain honesty, and you shall receive the reward you deserve." Quest Objective: Proceed to the fishing village for further investigation. Quest Reward: ???? (Damn, I knew it wouldn’t be straightforward.) Xiao Jie looked at the calmed surface of the river, feeling a sense of helplessness in his heart. Although he had anticipated this, there was still some disappointment. It seemed the subsequent quest had to be completed before any reward could be obtained. What he didn’t know was whether this beautiful River God was a real deity or just a demon in disguise, like the Tree God he encountered before, or some other special entity. But it didn’t matter anymore whether she was real or fake; he couldn’t just go and report it to the village chief like he did back in the village. Right now, he actually missed those online games he had played before, where you could skip through the story quests and just randomly smack a few mission monsters instead of having to burn your brain thinking of strategies like in this game. Facing these high-intelligence NPCs, he even felt like his IQ was being suppressed. Their enigmatic behavior was truly frustrating. "Feng, should we go to that fishing village?" "Of course, we have to go. It’s not easy to come across a riveting quest. Such an event is bound to have a reward. Although the reward is unknown, it must be something valuable. Plus, we have probably passed the first test. These opportunities are hard to come by; how can we just give up? To complete this adventure will certainly not be as simple as the stories suggest, where speaking the truth is enough. However, that story should still be well worth considering. Remember this key word—honesty. I feel that this will be very important for the final task we need to complete." The two of them stopped leveling up through monster hunting for now. Seeking adventures was much more exhilarating than grinding levels. They followed the riverbank and headed south. I Want to Be Immortal,having lost his Giant Axe, had to pick up his old Battle Axe to use for the time being. Indeed, after walking for a while, a river fork appeared in front of the two. The main flow of the river rushed onwards, its destination unknown. To the side of the main river, there was a thin, small offshoot. They continued along the offshoot, the white riverbanks gradually disappeared, replaced by dense reeds. As they navigated to keep their view clear, winding around a few times and passing through a sparse woods, suddenly, the river ended, and a small lake appeared before them. Surrounding the lake was a quaint fishing village made up of thatched cottages and bamboo fences. Only, this fishing village didn’t look quite right; it had an air of decay and ruin. Wooden racks held tattered fishing nets, and near the riverbanks, several fishing boats were moored, all falling apart with some utterly decayed. The cottages had either collapsed or were leaking at the roof, appearing completely uninhabited. Only the deepest cottage in the village looked somewhat intact, with some Salted Fish hanging on the rack next to the door. Xiao Jie was already accustomed to such scenes, as this world seemed to be the same everywhere—desolate, ruined, and only in places like Newbie Village or Luoyang Town, where players stayed, could one feel a trace of peace and tranquility. Walking around the village by the lake, the two didn’t see a soul. Xiao Jie was very cautious. Whether there were people or not was secondary; the key concern was whether there would be monsters. I Want to Be Immortal, however, was constantly searching for his Giant Axe, occasionally glancing into the lake. But the lake water was pitch black, and he dared not enter the water to search. "What are you two looking for? Do you wish to buy Salted Fish?" The voice gave both a shock. They whirled around and saw an old granny sitting in front of the more intact cottage. She looked at them warily. Granny Li (Salted Fish Merchant): Level 24, Life Value 710. Xiao Jie thought, damn, a Salted Fish Merchant is Level 24? What a joke. This Granny Li is definitely not simple. Anxious that Cheng Xian might blow their cover, he quickly said, "Elder, we are Returning Villagers, wandering about to suppress demons and fight evil. We’ve heard that merfolk and Water Ghosts often appear by the river, harming people, so we came to see if we could find some to eliminate. By chance, we’ve come here. If we have caused any disturbance, please forgive us." "Returning Villagers? I’ve heard about you, slaying demons and exorcising ghosts, huh? Hahaha, that’s quite a coincidence. Recently, we do have merfolk causing trouble around here. This old granny living here all by myself, I’ve been living in fear for quite some time now. You’ve come at just the right time. If you can get rid of this disaster for me, this old granny would be forever grateful." Huh, are there really merfolk? "So, how much are we talking about for the reward? We Returning Villagers spend money to slay demons and exorcise ghosts too, you know—repair costs, potion expenses, food—it all costs money, so you understand..." "Hahahaha, I understand, I understand. Although I don’t have much property, I do have some savings for my coffin. I certainly won’t let you work for nothing. For every merfolk you kill, I’ll give you 100 Wen as a reward—the more you kill, the more I’ll pay." [System Prompt: You have triggered the quest [Hunt the Merfolk], which is a linked event to [River God’s Guidance]. It may impact the final outcome of this curious event. Players may choose whether to accept it.] Accept, of course, we must accept. There are no monsters for leveling up at the moment, why not take the chance to level up, make some money, and push the plot forward? The two of them decisively accepted the quest. "Granny Li, where do these merfolk usually appear? Please tell us." "Right over there on the lakeshore. They come ashore from time to time to cause trouble. By my calculations, they should be arriving soon. You two better be prepared." Xiao Jie followed the direction Granny Li pointed in and saw at the shallow shore of the lake, there lay two strange merfolk corpses. The bodies looked as if the lower half was fish and the upper half was human, but completely lacking the beauty of mermaids. The upper half looked human, but only seven or eight parts so. Their bodies were covered in fish scales, and their facial features were entirely different from humans, with gills and fins behind their ears. Merfolk Pearl Seeker (deceased), Level 12, Life Value 0/260. Only Level 12, they shouldn’t be too hard to handle. Wait a second, who killed these two bodies? He looked toward Granny Li, thinking it couldn’t have been done by this old lady, could it? It must be her. Level 24 taking on Level 12, pure level crushing. Xiao Jie grew even more curious about the identity of this old woman. Why did the River God guide them here, and for what purpose? While there were no monsters in sight for leveling up, Xiao Jie decided to strike up a conversation with Granny Li. "Granny Li, do you still sell Salted Fish here? Let me have a look." "Hehe, of course you can, though they’re not anything special." An item list popped up in front of Xiao Jie, containing only two items. [Salted Fish (Food) Usage: Restores 20 points of satiety and gives you a ’Thirsty’ DEBUFF. Item Introduction: A Salted Fish cured with a large amount of salt, able to be preserved for a long time, with a very intense flavor.] [Mysterious Dried Fish Meat (Food) Usage: Restores 30 points of satiety, increases your swimming speed by 50%. Item Introduction: Dried fish meat made from an unknown type of fish, processed by a secret method, very chewy when eaten.] Huh, this Mysterious Dried Fish Meat sounds interesting. Normally, the introduction of food wouldn’t be so secretive. For example, pork, mutton, deer meat, and so forth, are all very clear. But when it comes to mysterious meat, there must be something up with it. The same goes for this Mysterious Dried Fish Meat. Since it’s written like this, it must not be ordinary fish meat. Xiao Jie glanced at the merfolk corpses not far away—could it be made from merfolk flesh? No wonder he made such a connection. The dilapidated fishing village, the dead merfolk, the mysterious old granny, and the inexplicable guidance of the River God—all converged to guide the story toward a bizarre and curious art style. You wouldn’t be surprised if the merfolk turned out to be dried fish meat, and it wouldn’t be odd if this old granny turned out to be running a murderous man-eating bun shop.