"Gandharva Ville?!"
Hearing such a familiar place name made Lin Feng jolt upright.
He hurriedly questioned the unlucky guy in front of him.
"You said your name is Falbert, and you're from a place called Gandharva Ville?"
Now that Falbert mentioned it, Lin Feng finally recalled who this guy was.
—Wasn't this the mushroom-addicted dude Tighnari had publicly scolded?
The one who managed to give himself food poisoning three times a month?
"Yes! I could tell, young man, that you must be from somewhere far away — didn't expect you to know Gandharva Ville!"
Hearing Lin Feng call his hometown by name, Falbert's excitement doubled.
"You absolutely must come back with me! Upon my honor as Falbert, I'll personally beg Forest Ranger Tighnari to award you a medal of bravery!"
"Ahem… A medal isn't necessary. I only let you out of the cage — I didn't really do much."
Lin Feng had difficulty enduring Falbert's blinding enthusiasm.
In his previous life, he had always struggled with overly friendly relatives during holidays.
"To be honest, I'm a wanderer from Liyue. I got lost in the rainforest. If you can tell me how to get to Gandharva Ville, that would help a lot."
Time to get to the point.
This direction was what Lin Feng cared about most — the entire reason for targeting the Treasure Hoarders in the first place. Even if the intel didn't come from interrogating them directly, having a local guide was even better.
"No problem at all!"
Falbert jumped to his feet, puffing up proudly.
"I, Falbert, am the best mushroom picker in Gandharva Ville. My strongest skill is finding my way in the forest!"
"Just follow me, benefactor. We can get out of the rainforest in half a day. Why don't we start right now?"
Falbert clearly didn't want to stay in the place of his trauma a second longer.
Seeing Lin Feng hesitate, Falbert explained:
"You see, the rainforest looks pitch-black at night, but it's actually safer than daytime! Most monsters and beasts are asleep. Unless you set the forest on fire, you won't encounter anything. Aside from poor visibility, there's no danger."
"And I happen to be the best tracker in all of Gandharva Ville!"
He lifted his chin with astonishing confidence — if one ignored the string of snot hanging under his nose.
Lin Feng was tempted. He had absolutely zero attachment to this humid, insect-filled rainforest, so he agreed readily.
After sweeping through the camp for supplies and dousing the campfire, Lin Feng tossed the three tied-up Treasure Hoarder idiots back into their own cage.
Then he and Falbert excitedly set off.
As they moved outward, signs of human activity gradually appeared.
—Leaf-built rain shelters, extinguished camp embers, trampled shrubs.
Lin Feng even spotted a Akademiya scholar's tent.
Walking and talking, he chatted with the chatterbox Falbert.
From Falbert's rambling explanations, Lin Feng learned that the three Treasure Hoarders who had kidnapped him mainly targeted scholars who couldn't afford hired guards.
Students from the Spantamad Darshan frequently came to the rainforest for ecology surveys required for their graduation thesis.
Gandharva Ville itself originally began as a temporary rest point built by scholars deep in the woods. Rangers were stationed later to protect these scholars and merchants.
But there were always reckless students who ventured far beyond the cleared safe zones to get more "distinctive" data for their papers.
Treasure Hoarders who kidnapped scholars for ransom had flourished because of this — Akademiya students usually carried a lot of wealth.
It was just that these three rookies were so pathetically inexperienced that they'd grabbed Falbert, a man whose only asset was mushrooms.
And so the two chatted their way through the night.
By the time the sky brightened, they had finally emerged from the dim rainforest.
Several hours later, Lin Feng stepped out into sunlight and gazed ahead—
A humble scattering of simple wooden huts.
Crude, small, plain.
Yet it was the most comforting sight he had seen in this world.
He rubbed the dozing Little White on his shoulder while Falbert bounced around him, shouting happily.
Seeing the brightening sky and rising sun, Lin Feng felt a sudden emotional wave surge through him — he could almost cry.
Standing on the path into Gandharva Ville, watching the merchants already shouting their morning sales and the busy rangers patrolling about, Lin Feng straightened up.
He declined Falbert's invitation to visit his home and instead asked to meet the person in charge: Forest Ranger Tighnari.
Falbert understood this was important and led him to Tighnari's treehouse.
Lin Feng relayed the incident of the Treasure Hoarders in the forest, while Falbert provided the precise location.
Before long, a group of rangers returned, dragging the three still-snoring Treasure Hoarders. After force-feeding them detox soup and verifying the situation, Tighnari ordered his subordinates to escort the trio to a temporary holding cell.
"Apologies — I was busy dealing with the Hoarders just now. I didn't mean to ignore you."
"Capturing Treasure Hoarders isn't exactly a ranger's main job, but thank you for helping remove a danger from the rainforest."
After giving instructions regarding the prisoners, Tighnari turned to the ragged-looking Lin Feng and expressed sincere gratitude.
"And also, thank you on behalf of that fool Falbert. This isn't his first time getting mushroom poisoning. No matter how much we scold him, he still manages one or two incidents every month."
"A shame—my specialty is botany. Growing a new brain for him is outside my field."
The composed, level-headed, and seemingly omniscient Tighnari let out a helpless sigh as soon as Falbert became the topic.
Finally safe, Lin Feng studied the first major "story character" he'd met.
Facing the familiar yet foreign Forest Watcher, he forced himself to drag his gaze away from Tighnari's ears and replied to the thanks:
"I didn't really do much. I just tied them up. The real hero was Falbert's poisonous mushrooms."
"Those three Treasure Hoarders were bottom-tier. Even if I'd ignored them, they'd probably poison themselves sooner or later…"
Thinking about the "rescue process" made Lin Feng's expression twitch.
"Don't say that. Lin Feng, right? You must be from Liyue. Even in such a dangerous and unfamiliar environment, you still helped someone in need. That alone is more than enough reason for me to thank you," Tighnari said earnestly.
"And you don't need to be wary of us. Gandharva Ville is a place merchants frequently pass through — we don't reject wanderers."
Seeing Lin Feng's exhaustion, Tighnari assumed he was being modest out of mistrust.
"Hmm…"
Tighnari thought for a moment and called a ranger standing nearby.
"Nasreen, same as before — let the others know that I'll be working from Amir's place for the next two days."
Then he looked back at Lin Feng — who was clearly young and visibly worn out — and smiled.
"How about this: you've probably been wandering the rainforest for quite a while.
You can stay here and rest for a few nights. I'll consider the proper compensation and give you an answer tomorrow. How does that sound?"
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