Volume One: The World of the Infernal Lord Chapter Six: Target Discovered

[Battlefield searched. You have obtained 9 gold coins.]
[You have obtained 1 unit of intact white bone.]
[You have obtained 6 units of bone fragments.]
[You have obtained 1 Wooden Bow (Common).]
[You have obtained 7 Arrows (Common).]
[You have obtained 9 pieces of Rotten Wolf Hide (Common).]
[You have obtained 7 Wolf Skulls (Common).]
[You have obtained 31 Wolf Fangs (Common).]
[You have obtained 1 Wolf Heart (Uncommon).]

[Wooden Bow (Common): Attack +3, ranged weapon, requires arrows.]
[Arrows (Common): For use with bows, grants +2 attack when used.]
[Rotten Wolf Hide (Common): Decayed wolf hide, can be used as leatherworking material or as a component in crafting.]
[Wolf Skull (Common): Intact wolf skull, can be used as a crafting component.]
[Wolf Fang (Common): Sharp wolf fang, can be used to make arrows or as a crafting component.]
[Wolf Heart (Uncommon): A wolf’s heart imbued with mysterious power, a superior crafting material.]

The battle had ended five or six minutes ago. Only then did the corpse vine, dragging the corpse of the Rotting Hide Wolf underground, spit out what it couldn’t digest onto the ground.

Looking at the pile of remains and the string of notifications before his eyes, Chen Gu couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.

He had never expected that the corpse vine would come with such a hidden benefit.

From now on, whenever he killed an enemy, he no longer needed to process or disassemble the bodies; just toss them to the corpse vine, and whatever remained would always be useful.

After gathering everything up, Chen Gu realized that he needed something like a backpack—there was now too much for him to carry in his arms. In the end, he could only bundle everything together in a rotten wolf hide and sling it over his back.

Once he was sure there were no other enemies nearby, Chen Gu set off again.

This time, he had a clear direction.

The skeletal archers from earlier had hurried over from a certain direction, so Chen Gu headed that way.

He was curious where those three archers had originally been hiding.

Following the tracks on the ground in reverse, Chen Gu and his party soon discovered a half-collapsed wooden hut.

The hut was wedged between three large trees, its roof entirely caved in, fallen tiles blocking its entrance.

Outside the hut lay four skeletons, clad in scale armor and wearing helmets made of woven leaves, just like the skeletal archers that had attacked him earlier.

However, Chen Gu noted that the bows in their hands were incomplete.

He suspected that, having lost their bows, they hadn’t revived as skeletal archers.

Circling the hut from a distance, Chen Gu studied its structure and deduced that this must have once been an elven outpost.

It resembled a signal tower or a watchtower in function.

Normally, a few guards would be stationed here, keeping watch over the forest, ready to send word at the first sign of trouble.

Sadly, all the elves and humans of this lord’s world had perished in war, leaving the entire realm to the undead.

Those once-vigilant elven archers now lay as bones on the ground.

Yet this outpost at least allowed Chen Gu to confirm his location.

He was in what used to be elven territory.

That knowledge eased his mind somewhat—at least he knew where he was.

Feeling lighter, Chen Gu nimbly climbed up a tree, leaped onto the collapsed rooftop, and from there into the hut.

Perhaps because the catastrophe had struck so suddenly, and so many years had passed since anyone had visited, the hut’s interior remained largely unchanged.

Chen Gu even saw a grain bin in the corner and a pot of old food, now reduced to sludge.

At the end of the hut crushed by the roof stood six bunk beds, all overturned, their leafy bedding buried in the soil beneath.

After a quick inspection of the hut, Chen Gu found what he’d been searching for.

Typically, outposts like this were responsible for monitoring the forest, to prevent enemies from using it as cover to invade elven lands.

So they usually had means of communicating with nearby outposts, to send word if anything seemed wrong.

Chen Gu guessed that the elves wouldn’t have used signal fires—setting a fire in the forest would burn it down before the enemy even arrived.

Nor would they have relied on carrier birds or small animals—too many dangers lurked in the woods, and even hawks could not escape an elven arrow.

Therefore, there must be some other means of external communication—most likely magical.

That was exactly what Chen Gu was hoping to find.

He bet that, because the catastrophe had been sudden, much of the network was merely interrupted, not destroyed.

And indeed, he found what he was looking for.

It was a washbasin, lying on its side in the far corner of the hut.

At first, Chen Gu paid it little mind.

But as soon as he touched it, he sensed something unusual.

When he set the basin upright, water—though it had long since dried up—miraculously refilled itself, and through its surface he could see scenes from the surrounding forest.

It felt just like unlocking a map in a game.

He could even see the positions of several nearby outposts.

Upon investigation, Chen Gu discovered that the basin allowed him to observe everything within at least fifty kilometers, and establish contact with four outposts within a radius of a hundred kilometers.

This was excellent news.

With the basin, he could see where to find materials he needed and which places were dangerous or best avoided for now.

“This is truly a treasure. Coming here was worth it,” Chen Gu murmured, “It’s just a pity it’s so heavy and needs to be fixed in place to use. Otherwise, if I could carry it with me, it’d be like having a personal map at all times.”

He muttered a few words, then took out a piece of rotten wolf hide, found a few branches nearby, charred them with fire, and began sketching a map on the hide.

Of course, the map mainly consisted of forested areas—there wasn’t much else to draw.

Chen Gu focused on marking the dangerous locations.

For instance, about thirty li to the east from here lay a horde of walking corpses.

Roughly twenty-five kilometers north, there was a small abandoned elven village.

Through the basin, Chen Gu could sometimes glimpse ghostly blue figures flickering in the village.

Though he couldn’t see clearly, he was certain the village was now haunted.

And in the direction from which he’d arrived, there was a Wolf Mountain—the Rotting Hide Wolf had come from there. It was now deserted, and he could go deal with it.