Chapter 20

Leo’s mental state was very poor.

Xia Xifeng racked his brains trying to think of words to comfort Leo, but it was Qin Lang who spoke first.

Qin Lang said, “If you’re worried that Sunflower Valley will immediately suffer a great disaster because of your negligence this time, you’re probably overthinking it.”

He took out a map from his backpack.

Just like in the game, the map would “break through the fog” and show detailed terrain for places Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had explored.

However, this map wasn’t one copied from the System; it was bought in the city.

Qin Lang peeled Xia Xifeng, who was still clinging to him like an octopus, off himself, walked to the large table, and spread out the map.

Perila pulled Leo, who was kneeling on the ground, up. The two Halflings jumped onto the chairs next to the table.

Damon vigorously pounded his trembling legs and shuffled over to the table.

“According to the recording, their initial ambush point was here, and the hillside Lana escaped from was here.” Qin Lang marked the two points.

There weren’t many oases in the desert capable of stationing large merchant caravans, and these supply points still existed after the Apocalypse.

Having played the game for so many years, Qin Lang had the game map firmly memorized in his mind. After obtaining the map in this world, he had used his rest time to take out the map from Green Sand City and meticulously compare it with his own memory.

The Dwarf Merchant Caravan’s trade route was fixed. By comparing the supply-point oases along the Dwarf Merchant Caravan’s route one by one, Qin Lang quickly found the site of their ambush.

“This location is outside Green Sand City’s sphere of influence.”

Qin Lang pointed to a red line on the map.

The reason the Wastelands were wastelands was because they were ancient battlefields and graveyards of the gods. All kinds of divine power resentment and curses lingered, and the energy fields were extremely unstable.

Green Sand City was like a stabilizing pillar driven into the front lines of the Wastelands, “erecting” a barrier to block the dangers of the Desolate Wastes from spreading into the heartlands where intelligent beings lived.

The barrier had a limited range.

“Pioneer Knights” took land from the Desolate Wastes and pushed the barrier outward.

“All schemes and conspiracies exist because they can’t win in a direct fight,” Qin Lang said. “They deliberately wore the skin of Dwarves precisely because they didn’t want to be discovered. That means the moment they showed their heads, Mr. Amuruo would have noticed immediately. Perhaps Sunflower Valley will suffer casualties, but it won’t reach the level of a catastrophe.”

Leo murmured, “But there would still be casualties…”

Qin Lang said, “Since it wouldn’t reach a catastrophe, they wouldn’t need to risk exposing themselves by massacring everyone in Sunflower Valley. Therefore, their goal wasn’t to slaughter Sunflower Valley, but some other conspiracy.”

Qin Lang looked at Xia Xifeng.

Xia Xifeng pounded his head hard.

In less than half a month since transmigrating, they had encountered too many things. They hadn’t even gotten used to life after transmigration before facing the threat of the Apocalypse.

Now, the trash mobs of the Apocalypse were right in front of them.

Xia Xifeng had tried very hard to make his brain work, but it still felt insufficient, like rusty gears.

“Sorry,” Xia Xifeng said dejectedly. He was clearly the Lore Player, yet he couldn’t keep up with Qin Lang’s thought process.

Qin Lang saw Xia Xifeng’s exhaustion and continued analyzing on his own: “Perila, do you trust us?”

Perila was puzzled. “Of course.”

Qin Lang said, “I’ll be bold and ask a very private question. Is the source of the power behind you a Lawful God with a confirmed origin?”

Perila nodded. “Yes.”

Leo chimed in to supplement, “You can rest assured, the teacher and Mr. Suer have both confirmed this. Perila is very powerful!”

Qin Lang asked, “Besides the God behind you, have you heard any other voices?”

Perila shook his head vigorously.

Qin Lang said, “Then there’s still hope.”

“What do you mean, still hope?!” Leo grabbed Perila’s hand, his expression filled with extreme tension.

Perila had also been frightened, but when Leo grabbed his hand, his panic subsided considerably.

He held Leo’s hand in return and said, “Those monsters are coming for me?!”

Qin Lang said, “It might not just be you. Wait a moment, Mr. Amuruo is contacting us.”

The moment they clarified the Dwarf ambush situation and obtained the recording, they had the strongest of the Half-Elf Guards escort the Ruby Brooch to Green Sand City.

By their calculation, Amuruo should have already received the Ruby Brooch.

Opening the Magitech Device, Amuruo’s projection appeared in the house.

His expression was relatively calm. “I went to the location where the Dwarf Merchant Caravan was attacked. Although they cleaned up well, it’s precisely because they cleaned up too well.”

Amuruo gave a cold laugh and said, “Where in the Wastelands is there a location with such a clean energy field? One look and you know something’s wrong. However, given the nature of the Wastelands, if it had been a few days later, I might not have been able to spot the problem. I’ve already invited the entire Dwarf Merchant Caravan to reside in the castle. You can rest easy, nothing will happen to Sunflower Valley.”

Seeing that Leo and Perila still looked worried, Amuruo said, “The strongest of the Dwarf Merchant Caravan is weaker than Leo. Even killing them took the monsters considerable time, and they still let a little Dwarf girl escape. Their strength isn’t that great; they just took advantage of the surprise. Now that I know their weakness, I can resolve this quickly.”

He nodded lightly towards Qin Lang in thanks.

Qin Lang had also sent Amuruo a report on the Shadow Fiends’ characteristics.

Even when the Doomsday Era arrived, Green Sand City still existed, surviving all the way to leading the players in a counterattack against the Outer Gods. Trash mobs that players could easily farm were utterly unworthy of appearing before a major figure like Amuruo once exposed to the sunlight.

Although the “Fourth Calamity” provided assistance, the fact that the Dream World could survive the “Doomsday Era” proved that the Outer Gods didn’t completely suppress the native Gods; they just had the first-mover advantage.

Leo and Perila finally breathed a sigh of relief and together thanked Amuruo.

Amuruo asked directly, “Xia Xifeng, Qin Lang, what speculations do you two have regarding their purpose?”

Qin Lang said, “The Shadows don’t want to reveal too much. They just wanted to wear Dwarven skin to do evil. Their goal relates to Leo and Perila. Specifically speaking…”

Qin Lang recalled the novice dungeon he had cleared many times. “Does Sunflower Valley perhaps have another name, or a true name, called Sun Valley?”

Leo and Perila’s eyes trembled violently. Only Damon was confused. “Is there? How come I’ve never heard of it?”

Amuruo admitted frankly and directly, “Yes. The Sunflower Family is the guardian family of the Twin Suns. This is a secret known only to very few people, like Suer. Most people in this world believe that the guardians of the Twin Suns should be Elves or Dragons.”

“Many Elves and Light Dragons themselves believe that.” He sneered. “Leo and Perila are this generation’s God’s Favored of the Twin Suns. Perila is even more special; he directly received the power of Hope’s Sun and became a ‘Sun Warlock’. His plant manipulation is just a disguise.”

After his sneer, Amuruo sighed deeply.

He stood up and half-bowed to Perila. “I’m sorry. Although I promised, I failed to protect you.”

Perila was utterly confused. “City Lord, what are you talking about? What do you mean you didn’t protect me? I’m perfectly fine! And even if something happened to me, how could I blame the City Lord?”

The panic and fear on Leo’s face had completely receded. His sapphire-blue eyes looked as if they had frozen over, covered with a faint layer of frost, like a frozen sea.

Leo released Perila’s hand and placed his hand on Perila’s shoulder instead. “Teacher, please tell us all the secrets. The responsibility of the family is ours to bear. You and Mr. Suer educate us, guide us, but cannot shoulder our responsibilities for us.”

Amuruo said, “Some things can only be told to you when the time comes. But you don’t need to worry too much. When you gave the Sunflower Pendants to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang, the future had already shifted towards a better direction. From now on, your guides are no longer me and Suer, but Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. Trust your friends.”

Amuruo didn’t hesitate at all to reveal the secrets of the Sunflower Family to Qin Lang, Xia Xifeng (and background decoration Damon). Leo and Perila’s heads were spinning.

They thought they already trusted their friends enough. Amuruo’s trust in Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had already surpassed common sense.

“Of course, I trust them.” Leo was the first to recover.

He gently patted Perila’s shoulder to soothe him. “Perila and I both trust them. If you can’t explain the reason, just directly tell us what we should do.”

“Perhaps there’s nothing for you to do for now.” Qin Lang glanced at the System quest notification.

When Amuruo revealed the truth about “Sunflower Valley,” the System had popped up a quest window.

【Acquired Key Item: Sunflower Pendant x2.】

【Rescued Key NPC: Dwarf Lana.】

【Obtained Important Intel: “Truth of the Dwarf Caravan Ambush”, “Secrets of the Sunflower Family”.】

【Main Quest “Mystery of the Falling Sun” initiated.】

【Quest Chapter 1: 《Chapter of the Lion and Perilla Flower》.】

【When players click “Initiate Quest,” they will be transported to the quest dungeon. Regardless of how much time passes within the dungeon, only 24 hours will pass in reality. For this dungeon, players will use character skill templates and item supplies provided by the System. If players die in the dungeon, they will not truly die, only failing the quest, which affects the story within the dungeon.】

【Please prepare yourselves, players, and enjoy the game with peace of mind.】

Xia Xifeng also saw the quest notification.

His gaze shifted to Perila’s hair accessory. “Perila, is your hair accessory made of Perilla Herb?”

Perila touched the accessory. “Yes.”

Leo shook his head vigorously. “No! It’s a Perilla Flower! My specially customized gift. It looks good, right? Perila is the Perilla Flower!”

Perila had a black line on his forehead. “Perilla is Perilla. Why does it absolutely have to be a Perilla Flower?”

The built-in translation that Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang used all followed the names designated by the game. Transliterated names wouldn’t show the meaning behind the “transliteration.”

But since all game names came from Latin-based languages, many were English words. Prompted by the System, Xia Xifeng’s Lore Player brain, with his decent foreign language skills, finally made the connection.

Xia Xifeng: “Perila’s name means Perilla Flower, and Leo’s name means Lion?”

Perila: “…It’s Perilla, no flower.”

Leo: “It’s Golden Lion!”

Perila: “No ‘Golden’.”

Leo: “It’s the Golden Lion and the Perilla Flower!”

Both Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang recalled the drops from the Evil God Inson.

【”Decayed Hair Accessory Fragment”: Was it a god’s crown? Or a keepsake from when he was still a Halfling? A fragment of a hair accessory so decayed its original shape is unrecognizable, only barely identifiable as perhaps having a few broken leaves on top.】

【”Broken Lion Heart”: To become a God, he once devoured a lion. But the Evil God’s heart has turned to ash; only the lion’s heart remained. He was never able to devour the lion.】

The past of the Evil God Inson, which even the most hardcore lore players could not find by scouring every corner of the game, was now lifting its veil for the “players.”

Please initiate Quest Chapter 1: 《Chapter of the Lion and Perilla Flower》.