Chapter 65

He Boqiang broke off a leaf of the canna lily and drank the clear water from its core.

Heaving a long sigh, He Boqiang turned to look back at the not-so-high mountain ridge behind him. On the protruding boulder at the summit, the earth rage bear was poking its head out, looking down. With its body as the radius, all the small animals within a kilometer radius around the mountain ridge were fleeing in panic. Standing on the boulder, it looked like a ruler of the world.

Yes, it was the king here, and this was its territory.

Even if he returned to the camp, he doubted anyone would believe what had happened to him over the past two days. An earth rage bear had actually led him through several mountain ridges.

It had been guiding him all the way, stopping only when it had brought him to the mountain ridge by the river valley.

Standing on the mountain ridge by the river valley, He Boqiang couldn't help but wave vigorously to the earth rage bear on the opposite mountain ridge. He took two steps forward and then turned to wave goodbye to the bear. This earth rage bear was a magical beast with a sense of spirituality; it could understand some of his simple gestures.

He Boqiang, with four heavy demon heads hanging from his waist, walked toward the camp, thinking:

Should he tell Sulidak and the warriors of the second squad about these strange events?

Who would believe that a bear had saved him and led him out of the dense forest?

Alright, and how would he even say it?

Would he have to speak the native language to them?

Undoubtedly, if he started speaking the not-so-fluent native language, these soldiers would probably laugh themselves to death at the camp gate, and might even think he was a native of Handanar County.

What a troublesome thing this would be!

No, absolutely not. He wouldn't tell them the details of his return journey, and he wouldn't even talk to them. After all, they didn't know he had learned the native language.

He needed to practice his native language as soon as possible. Yes, just like how Moli taught the native language, he would study the pronunciation of each word carefully. This shouldn't be too difficult.

As for the four demon heads and five black magic crystals, he at least needed to explain their origin to Sulidak.

Perhaps he could tell the truth, saying he saw the bear fighting demons in the mountains again and picked up a big bargain.

Although these were all true, few people would probably believe it.

In any case, if he were the listener, he wouldn't believe it either. How could there be so many coincidences in the world...

Despite the vine tied around his waist cutting deeply into his belly, He Boqiang only adjusted its position and never thought of taking off the demon heads and throwing them away.

Come on, one demon head could be exchanged for a magic crystal, which was worth ten gold coins.

In the Green Empire, an apprentice in a normal leather shop or a tailor's shop would earn about thirty silver coins a month. This was the standard apprentice wage, meaning it would take an apprentice three months and ten days to earn one gold coin, and that was without any expenses.

For a junior leatherworker or a junior tailor, the monthly wage would be around fifty silver coins. In large cities like the capital, Qiyancheng, Haiyinsi, Shluoyite, and Shengkarlos, the wages for craftsmen would be about ten silver coins higher.

In other words, a junior craftsman would need to work hard for a whole year to earn enough to exchange for one magic crystal.

And this... was the value of the four demon heads on He Boqiang's waist.

He Boqiang had already walked this mountain ridge path three times.

Passing through here again, he had some impression of the plants and trees, at least he didn't need to worry about where to camp. The best places for camping were clearly marked by the warriors of the second squad, and there was even a pile of ashes from a campfire, so he didn't need to search for stones to build a stove.

However, the only thing He Boqiang had to boil water was a lead-tin alloy military water bottle. He had always thought that if he had money, he would definitely replace this water bottle with a purple copper one, and it seemed this wish was about to come true.

He Boqiang lay on a stone slab next to the campfire, gazing at the starry night sky, finding it hard to fall asleep. He clearly felt that the big bear had returned to the forest.

The first two nights, he couldn't sleep because he was always worried that the bear might sneak over and treat him as a midnight snack.

But this night, He Boqiang couldn't sleep because he lacked the sense of security.

The sense of security given by the earth rage bear...

The night wind was bleak, and the forest under the night sky was not silent.

The entire forest was making a rustling sound, like the wind blowing through the leaves, or countless caterpillars gnawing on cherry leaves, or some hedgehogs rolling on the ground with some sour fruits stuck to their spines. In fact, they preferred to eat insects. Some leopard cats also liked to climb trees at night to raid bird nests. For leopard cats, birds returning to their nests at night were like a plate of delicious fried chicken.

The campfire beside him was now just a pile of dark red ashes, and on the simple barbecue rack, there was still half a roasted otter rabbit.

The otter rabbit was probably the lowest on the food chain in this forest, but it had an extremely strong reproductive capacity and was numerous in the mountains, making it one of the easiest small animals to hunt. However, the warriors of the second squad didn't seem to like the earthy taste of the rabbit meat and preferred to eat guinea pigs.

The next morning, the four demon heads started to smell.

To prevent them from rotting and becoming smelly, He Boqiang had to cover them with wood ash. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right tools, otherwise, he could have made a simple wooden box. If he buried them in the wood ash, it would definitely be fine.

However, it was only about a day's journey to Camp 57. If He Boqiang walked faster, he could probably reach the camp by evening, so he didn't need to handle them too carefully.

He Boqiang continued walking along the mountain ridge. By noon, he met a patrol squad that had left Camp 57 that morning.

One of the warriors in the squad seemed to recognize He Boqiang. Seeing him coming from the opposite direction, he ran over to greet him warmly.

The warrior, knowing that He Boqiang couldn't speak, asked him kindly and then said familiarly:

"Hey, Dake, it's great to see you. When we left the camp, Sulidak specially asked our captain to pay extra attention on the way. He was a bit worried that you might have encountered some trouble on the road. The Fourth Squad's patrol area isn't here, or he would have come to find you himself. Seeing you return safely, I'm sure Captain Sulidak will be very happy!"

Then, the warrior, prompted by his companions, finally noticed the four demon heads hanging from He Boqiang's back. His face changed slightly, and he said somewhat awkwardly:

"...Uh! Are you a demon hunter? Sulidak didn't tell us that. Well, good job. We still have a mission, see you back at the camp..."

The warrior waved to He Boqiang and ran back to his squad.

His face showed more respect than envy.

He Boqiang knew that Sulidak would definitely be worried about him. It turned out that the second squad had recently been assigned tasks in the Moyun Ridge area.

It seemed that the plans Baijiale had mentioned before leaving were being carried out step by step.

Thinking about this, He Boqiang frowned and looked in the direction of the 57th Heavy Infantry Regiment, hoping that Duke Newman would send more construct knight squads this time...