Chapter 479: A Camel
Chuan’s small boat soon stopped in a place where the vegetation was sparse, and the ground was a light yellow. Fisher glanced back and found that, in just this short time, they had been at least 180 miles away from the Ideal Nation, yet he felt no increase in speed; even the breeze brushing past his cheek was leisurely.
It was as if time and distance had suddenly become extremely blurry, and Fisher withdrew his gaze in slight surprise.
“What are we doing here? There’s nothing here.”
Mikhail was the first to ask. He was filled with resentment like a worker in the later Saint Nali financial private placement industry, burdened with overtime at night, revealing a hint of negativity from his very bones, eager to go back and rest immediately.
But obviously, Chuan did not know the specific reason; it was Margaret who calculated through the Loom that there were clues here, and he was not privy to the specifics. The Loom was a divine artifact used by his mother, the World Tree, but the elves, as her offspring, did not have such qualifications, which instead allowed the Trans, beings from outside the world, to take advantage of the situation.
“Let’s check it out. Margaret won’t make mistakes.”
Gouwen glanced at Chuan’s back but said nothing and descended slowly from the sky with his small boat, landing on the land that resembled a desolate geological area. Although the ground seemed somewhat dry, Fisher could even see some yellow sand. However, the land was not lonely; he could see many plants, about as tall as a person, completely unfamiliar to him, growing nearby.
Those plants looked like countless enlarged yellow grasses, with numerous bean-sized black fruits densely hanging from their crooked stems. Among the lean plants, Fisher and his group distinctly saw several paths formed by many people walking.
“There’s a path there; it looks like a trade route between tribes.”
Gouwen quickly realized what it was, walking towards the trade route, glancing at the tall plants on either side, and turned back to Chuan and the others.
“Chuan, this road doesn’t lead to your Ideal Nation, does it? Is the Kakafu snake people tribe doing business with other settlements besides you?”
“Mhm, because Margaret can’t leave the Loom, I handle a lot of the affairs of the Ideal Nation. There are not many places on Dragon Tail Island that produce salt and sugar; Kakafu is the largest among them, and they should have other business partners.”
Gouwen glanced at the sides of the road and analyzed, “The direction of this road leads toward the Dragon Heart Continent; they seem to be doing business far and wide. But why have I never heard of them on the Dragon Heart Continent before? Chuan, besides sugar and salt, what else do they sell?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t know?”
“Yeah, we only do that kind of business, and it wasn’t me who actively sought them out; they came to us.”
Fisher and Gouwen exchanged glances, both expressing surprise on their faces.
“You haven’t been to their tribe either?”
“No,” Chuan answered, pausing for a moment, then added, “They are very friendly, the prices are very favorable, and the quality of the goods is excellent. We’ve been cooperating for half a year with no issues. We are friends; otherwise, they wouldn’t have come to ask for our help this time.”
One wouldn’t mention it, but it’s hard to tell if this was a flaw of the mythical beings or Chuan’s. Fisher and Gouwen wisely decided not to pursue it further, while Mikhail, who had been crouching down observing the surroundings, finally spoke up.
“The ruts here are deep; a lot of heavy goods have been transported. Since Margaret said there might be clues here, is it possible that this place was also attacked by that gang of thieves? Perhaps they just didn’t tell us, as this is clearly not a route for trading with the Ideal Nation.”
“I’ll search the area.”
Chuan did not rashly express an opinion but just stretched out his hand toward the ground. As his mythical rank was invoked, a wave of resonance rules spread outwards, and dense branches quickly extended from under his feet, reaching out in all directions.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Chuan, who remained in that position without moving. The surroundings gradually quieted down, but there was no progress whatsoever.
After a moment of silence, Mikhail could not help but speak up.
“Since Margaret has that Loom, can’t she directly see the future to help us find the murderer?”
“The Loom is not omnipotent, and currently, most of its power is on death. Margaret has already done her best. Besides, the futures that can be seen are already established; such futures are meaningless. Chuan is the only one among us with the power over the future, but she has also said that the observed, concrete future is completely meaningless.”
It sounded like something Hela would say.
Fisher silently thought about this, but a second later, he came back to his senses, wondering why he had just left Hela and was thinking of what that angel had once said.
“Cluck… Cluck.”
Mikhail was too lazy to concern himself with the elves’ unique “conception of fate”; instead, he was more focused on the current problem.
“The issue is that you searched here for so long but found nothing. What should we do next?”
“Margaret hardly ever makes mistakes; the clue should be nearby.”
“Cluck… Cluck.”
Mikhail glanced at Chuan, who was expressionless and staring at the ground, and said somewhat speechlessly, “Can’t we not mention that Margaret anymore?”
Chuan’s outstretched hand paused slightly, then his expression was taken aback as he looked up at Mikhail before lowering his head again, saying,
“It’s not related to her, but the fact is that because of the power of the Loom, she seldom makes mistakes.”
“Cluck… Cluck.”
Mikhail stopped speaking, but the subtle expression already gave away his current thoughts. Although Chuan was a mythical being, he appeared to be quite dull in human interactions and emotions, which made Mikhail somewhat amused, making his originally reluctant overtime feel a bit brighter.
“I say, you two, don’t you realize there’s been no sound here?”
It was Gouwen, who could no longer hold back, pointing to the side where Fisher was looking in that direction. They suddenly saw a camel’s face unexpectedly emerge from among the plants nearby.
“Cluck… Cluck.”
The camel stood there among the vegetation, continuously nibbling at the bean-sized black fruits growing on the nearby plants, chewing thoughtfully. It was unclear whether it had overheard Chuan and Mikhail’s conversation or if the berries were just too delicious, but Fisher felt that the camel always had a teasing and endearing smile.
“A camel?”
“That camel is strange; the power I extended just now didn’t detect it.”
Chuan squinted his eyes, but the moment he spoke, Fisher saw that playful smile on the camel’s face suddenly vanish. It gulped down the fruit it was chewing and turned to run away.
It was precisely its turning and running that swept aside the nearby plants, allowing Fisher to see that it was actually a tall, handsome camel, but whether it was a species unique to this area or not was uncertain. It had only one hump on its back and wore a set of leather saddles decorated with patterns resembling snake scales.
“Glug glug glug!”
“That’s the camel they use to transport goods.”
Fisher recognized the camel’s purpose, but as Gouwen was about to follow it to see where it was headed, he saw Chuan suddenly gesture with his hand. Immediately, visible branches grew from the ground, easily capturing the running camel with an irresistible force.
“Glug glug!”
The camel let out a loud cry and struggled desperately, but against the power of the mythical being, it was, of course, defenseless, rapidly dragged back to stand in front of the four men.
Chuan kept the camel firmly under control before the other three gathered closely around the still-looking-good camel. Fisher was curious about how this guy had evaded the mythical being’s attack. While observing it, he suddenly noticed it started to shake its head, and began to hum, producing a melodious tune.
“Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~”
While humming, it anthropomorphically rested its head on the ground, looking at Fisher and the others with an extremely pitiful expression, as if it were begging for mercy.
“Hey, this guy is smart; it can sing too; it’s quite nice.”
Gouwen patted the unique single hump on its back, smiling as he said this.
Mikhail checked its other areas and after several seconds raised his head to the others, saying, “It’s a female.”
“…”
“Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh!”
Seemingly understanding Mikhail’s words, the camel suddenly began to struggle violently again. Fortunately, the expressionless Chuan quickly held its abdomen.
“Don’t move.”
As he spoke softly, a faint purple light quickly seeped into the camel’s body. As the light spread little by little, a shape resembling a bell gradually began to reveal itself in its abdomen.
Upon seeing the bell, all present furrowed their brows, clearly recognizing what that thing was.
“This is… a holy artifact?”
Mikhail’s earlier lethargy vanished instantly. Having lived with Michael, the angel in charge of forging for a long time, and being an engineer before his transfer, he had learned quite a bit about such items.
He solemnly observed the holy artifact, and after a second or two shook his head, saying, “Indeed it is a holy artifact, but not a complete one; it resembles some kind of semi-finished product. The gospel has been affixed, but it’s very unstable, which may lead to the artifact’s effects not being what the forger intended, or that it fails to reach the desired degree. If this was crafted by an angel, it’s likely a defective product. But the question is, how did this thing end up in this camel’s belly, and was it grown together with it?”
A flash of ambiguous light passed through Gouwen’s eyes, but just as he narrowed them to observe the bell’s outline in the camel’s belly, the camel suddenly raised its head toward Fisher.
“Glug glug glug!”
“It seems this guy is pointing us in a direction.”
Chuan nodded slightly, then gently released the seemingly clever single-humped camel. Though it appeared a bit silly, he still addressed the camel.
“Where did you eat this? Tell me.”
“Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~”
The camel quickly nodded, not forgetting to hum a pleasant tune as if expressing its gratitude.
Then it shook its tail and leisurely walked towards a direction covered in plants, occasionally looking back at Chuan and the others to confirm if they were following.
Fisher watched the camel that was humming a song and leading them, suddenly thinking that this creature would likely be very much to Hela’s liking. She not only enjoyed singing but also seemed to like playing around; thus, she felt quite out of place compared to the other angels of the Holy Realm.
But soon he realized that he had just left her less than half an hour ago and had thought of that girl for the second time.
This made the smile Fisher had just raised fade little by little, and he even began to wonder if this girl had placed some kind of curse on him. Normally, he wanted nothing more than to stay far away from her, only recalling her when he had desires to fulfill.
Perhaps it was due to her talk of unrestrained psychological possession? Or perhaps it was because the seventh day of their agreement was approaching, making him feel somewhat impatient? Or perhaps it was that this angel was indeed a bit infuriatingly sweet?
“Glug glug glug!”
Just when Fisher subconsciously covered the mark left by Renee on his waist, making an odd confession, the tall camel soon led them through layers of plants, getting closer and closer to the coast. It quickly stopped, turning back and softly calling to Fisher and the others.
They arrived behind the camel and soon discovered a snake person dressed in leather armor, long dead among the thick foliage, a weapon lodged in his body, and his form was deformed as if crushed by some immense force, indicating a life-and-death struggle; it seemed he had encountered an attack.
But evidently, this was not the place where he was initially ambushed.
“He was killed while fleeing; he was on the ground when he got hit in the back. The attack on the caravan occurred at the trade route where we just stood. This snake person abandoned his goods and rode the camel to escape for his life but was ultimately caught up. Because he had fled too far, the people from the Kakafu tribe who later came here did not discover his body.”
Fisher crouched down, examining the tragically dead male snake person. Upon inspecting the corpse, he found it stripped clean, with nothing left except the weapon that had killed him.
“That’s it? No clues left?”
Mikhail scratched his chin curiously.
But Fisher, still crouched on the ground, shook his head. The camel beside him was persistently nudging him with its head, trying to convey something, but Fisher had already gathered a rough idea.
“No, this camel ate that bell beside it. This deceased person had a low position, which is why no one noticed he had fled and got killed. But he still possessed such a precious item as a holy artifact. This item is not his own; it was stolen from the goods he was transporting. The Kakafu settlement is not just selling sugar and salt; they are also selling angels’ holy artifacts.”
Fisher turned to Chuan, and his expression showed some bewilderment.
“Does this have anything to do with your Holy Realm?”
“Who knows? Anyway, it has nothing to do with us.”
Mikhail shook his head, just as he was about to say something, but Gouwen beside him reached out and patted him, signaling him not to speak.
He simply looked ahead, pointed in that direction, and observed the horizon, where the unending desert hint revealed a vast stretch of blue. Under the slightly slanted western sun, it shimmered, and voices filled with human presence also drifted from that distant direction.
That was the Kakafu snake people settlement.
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(End of Chapter)
