Ch. 12 - Dawnmist Forest
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"Exactly."
Tang Qi climbed to his feet and encouragingly rubbed the little girl's ears—
Though truthfully, he just found it comfortable to touch.
At the same time, he explained to the pensive Black Snake:
"You should have noticed this too. When we walk naturally, we mostly land heel-first, which means our center of gravity concentrates on the heel before extending to the toes.
When walking backwards, it's exactly the opposite—the center of gravity falls on the toes.
If you carefully observe that set of footprints, you'll see that the toes are actually pressed deeper into the soil than the heels."
"This means the thief was walking backwards!"
Jackal had a sudden realization, stating what everyone now understood as fact, then asked somewhat puzzled,
"Is walking forward really that inconvenient? Why go to such great trouble?"
Tang Qi shook his head. He wasn't a thief, so naturally he couldn't explain this doubt.
"There's no way to guess the reason for doing this. But we can guess the purpose of this set of footprints—"
"The thief deliberately guided our attention toward the direction of town."
Black Snake also understood, massaging his temples. He couldn't help but regard Tang Qi more highly,
"Damn it, I'm actually starting to hope you can find this thief now."
"Cut off his goat beard! You're a fucking poet? You're practically as professional as that old ranger Mark Twain."
Stonecrusher immediately praised him,
"You'd better have some archery skills too, then you could switch careers to become a ranger—no wait, a bounty hunter."
The only profession slightly better than a Four Symbols monk—would anyone really switch to that?
"The thief deliberately drew attention toward the town, which might actually indicate they're outsiders—after all, residents would have no reasonable motive."
Tang Qi turned to look in the direction of Dawnmist Forest,
"Perhaps we should investigate over there."
Hearing the word 'outsiders,' Black Snake's eyes flashed sharply.
Jackal, meanwhile, applied what little intelligence he had:
"But there are no footprints there?"
"Perhaps they used some method to conceal them."
"We won't reach any conclusions standing here guessing. Stonecrusher, come with me to get our equipment."
Not everyone was like Jackal, who wore chain mail even under the scorching sun to inspire fear, going fully armed at all times.
The town was small, and hardly anyone would provoke the lord anyway.
In fact, if it weren't for this business with the stolen starberries, all these mercenaries had to do each day was get blind drunk at the Golden Oak.
The two men turned and left. Before long, the one-eyed dwarf Stonecrusher returned, already wearing heavy half-plate armor, with a tower shield as tall as himself on his back along with a war hammer.
This made even his footsteps seem heavier as he walked across the ground.
By comparison, Black Snake appeared much lighter.
He only wore an iron helm and light chain mail.
Tang Qi noticed he carried no shield, with only a curved sword at his waist. The scabbard was pitch black, revealing nothing more.
Without much further observation, he saw Black Snake hurrying over, handing him a light crossbow and a quiver of twenty bolts:
"Know how to use it?"
"I have to go too?"
"You analyzed everything so thoroughly, but now you're afraid when it comes to action?"
"Of course I'm afraid."
Tang Qi accepted the crossbow and arrows without backing down,
"I'm afraid I'll kill too many and make you lose face. What then?"
He was bluffing.
No bard would ever keep their mouth honestly shut.
Black Snake understood this, so he merely sneered: "Quite the nerve."
He paid no mind to what Tang Qi thought. After instructing several guards to keep a close eye on the suspect Anbi, he led the other three along the mountain toward Dawnmist Forest.
Three mercenaries plus a useless bard hardly qualified as a well-trained adventuring party.
But this was Tang Qi's first real 'adventure' in any genuine sense.
He felt inexplicably excited, though fortunately, he still remembered his responsibilities.
After walking for over twenty minutes, they drew closer and closer to the forest.
The air gradually became more humid, as if a thin layer of white mist shrouded everything before their eyes, and the scent of earth in the air grew heavier.
Tang Qi constantly observed his surroundings, and finally discovered cart tracks in the damp soil.
"They probably thought no one would discover their tracks, so they got careless as they approached the forest and failed to deal with these marks—
They had a wagon, moving in the direction of the forest."
"Follow the cart tracks so we don't get lost."
Black Snake ordered,
"If they're camping nearby, they'd probably only stop at the outskirts.
We’ll advance one more kilometer. If we find nothing, we’ll turn back."
But when the four entered deeper into the forest, darkness suddenly descended before their eyes.
Night fell like ink, engulfing the forest ahead, as if they'd been transported to a completely different world from just a moment ago.
"I'll light a torch."
Dwarves possessed darkvision. In the cold, quiet night, he struck his flint and illuminated a few feet around them.
Everyone drew close, and Black Snake reminded him:
"You can see farther. If you spot anything, remember to extinguish the torch and give us advance warning."
"You’re treating me like a rookie or something?" Stonecrusher chuckled and took the lead at the front.
The mist in Dawnmist Forest wasn't particularly thick, but because of the frequent alternation between day and night here, it was easy to lose reference points and sense of time.
Legend had it that deep within the forest, the terrain would occasionally shift without warning, making it practically a moving labyrinth.
Once you went deep inside without following the main paths, getting lost was almost inevitable.
And to avoid alerting their quarry, everyone tacitly maintained complete silence as they advanced.
This made Tang Qi somewhat nervous.
The mist brushed against his tense face, stinging with cold.
His heartbeat seemed to pound in his ears like a muffled drum, thumping incessantly.
"I see it!"
Stonecrusher called out softly, suddenly pointing into the distant darkness.
Tang Qi couldn't see anything and could only listen to Stonecrusher's explanation:
"Hey, they covered it with leaves, thought that would keep me from seeing it!"
"Anyone nearby?" Black Snake asked.
"Don't see anyone."
"Move in closer and watch for traps."
Black Snake and Stonecrusher's every move and gesture carried the composure of professional adventurers, which helped Tang Qi relax considerably.
He obediently followed behind them, watching as they carefully checked for traps—
Though they called it checking, they really just watched the fallen leaves underfoot to avoid falling into some pit or triggering a bear trap.
After confirming there was no ambush, they approached the foot of the mountain.
Tang Qi finally discovered what Stonecrusher had been pointing at—it appeared to be a camouflaged wagon.
He reached out to touch the mud and sand on the wheels, feeling the moisture transmitted through his fingertips:
"The leaves are dry, but the wagon still has water droplets on it. This must be what they used to transport the starberries."
Sweeping away the broken leaves and lifting the worn cloth, they could see many empty crates still placed on the cart.
It sat there all alone, happening to block a cave entrance at the mountain's foot—
Not exactly narrow; all four of them could easily walk in side by side.
But it appeared low.
Tang Qi's height was fairly standard, yet he still needed to bend over to enter.
"If someone were camping in the cave, they should have set up more traps around here, or at least something to serve as an alarm."
Stonecrusher's words carried some hesitation,
"This place doesn't look like anyone's been staying here."