142: Chapter 141 The Person in the Bushes 142: Chapter 141 The Person in the Bushes “How’s it going?”

As soon as Mu Ying returned, the night watch hurriedly asked.

It had been so long without any news, they were worried to death.

“It’s all taken care of.

There shouldn’t be any problems tonight,” yawned Mu Ying, feeling somewhat drowsy.

“Then you should go get some rest right away.

It’s already the latter half of the night, and it won’t be long before daylight.”

Mu Ying nodded, went back to her tent, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

There shouldn’t be any more complications tonight.

She slept until dawn and finally regained some of her energy.

After eating something simple, they were on the road again.

Mu Ying sat on the horse-drawn carriage, her head nodding off little by little.

Suddenly, the procession came to a halt, and she quickly straightened up, “What’s the matter?”

“There’s a trap ahead on the road with a dead wild deer in it,” reported Guan Hai, returning from scouting ahead.

“A trap?” Mu Ying jumped down from the cart.

Who would set a trap in the middle of this wilderness?

On closer inspection, it definitely was a trap, and clearly man-made.

The undisturbed ground was covered in leaves and twigs, the trap wasn’t very deep, the bottom filled with sharp wooden stakes.

A deer lay inside, its belly impaled, long since dead.

“This place is far from both Chunan Camp and Qingshan Village.

Could it be that someone really didn’t go to the camp and has been staying in the wilderness all along?” Lu You exclaimed in surprise.

“Not necessarily a human,” Mu Ying looked toward a short thicket about a dozen meters to the right front, where there was the sound of crunching leaves underfoot.

Mu Ying used Summoning Animals to summon a wolf-formed Essence, “Go check it out.”

The wolf-formed Essence obeyed the command and dashed toward the thicket.

A Wooden Arrow shot out from within, passing through the wolf-formed Essence without causing any damage.

Essences are beings of energy, and such ordinary wooden arrows can’t harm them.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t come over here!”

A “child” jumped out from the brush, “Stop it quickly, I mean no harm!”

Mu Ying had not ordered the wolf-formed Essence to attack.

Without orders, the Essence would automatically attack enemy units with malicious intent toward her.

After forcing the person out, the wolf-formed Essence didn’t attack further but continued to delve into the thicket.

Another “child” popped out from the thicket as if it was boiling over.

“Hey!

Can’t you be a little more polite?

We already said we mean no harm!”

The first “child” to come out was cursing and swearing.

“That’s our prey.

We were hiding and watching because there are so many of you, and we were afraid you would steal it!”

“Could this be a dwarf?” Zheng Jing said, stunned.

“They are halflings.”

Mu Ying had just clarified with Biological Recognition.

Although these two were about the height of an elementary school student, their features were mature.

The male had long sideburns, and the female was well developed, with an impressive bust size, clearly not underage.

They were two level 3 halfling Wanderers.

They belong to an Intelligent Species just like Humans, naturally born Wanderers.

Mu Ying didn’t see the black aura on them that usually signified hostility but instead saw that, like humans, they were surrounded by a hint of natural power, so she knew they were not necessarily enemies and that a conversation was possible.

“We mean no harm either.

We only came to check because the trap you dug blocked our path, and we have no intention of stealing your prey,” Mu Ying still chose to avoid making enemies when possible.

Of course, she didn’t call back the wolf-formed Essence.

“Alright, then, misunderstanding resolved.

You all step back, and we’ll grab the prey and go,” said the male half-breed.

“Okay, but we’ll be filling in this trap later since we’ll be building a road here soon,” Mu Ying thought for a moment and then added, “Are you living out in the wild?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to take you to where we live,” the male half-breed said cautiously.

“Oh, I just wanted to tell you, once the road is built, if you follow it north you’ll reach my territory.

If you feel it’s too dangerous in the wild, you’re welcome to settle in my territory.

My territory does not discriminate against alien races; we even had a Mushroom Man group with their replica move into our camp!”

Mu Ying emphasized the word ‘replica,’ and the male half-breed showed no reaction, but the female half-breed seemed a bit nervous, suggesting that it was highly possible they were from a replica!

They are all potential money bags.

Mu Ying’s attitude improved, and she gestured for the others to step back further to give the two half-breeds enough safe space to retrieve their prey.

The two approached cautiously, glancing at them from time to time to ensure they weren’t moving before they continued with their work.

The half-breeds’ superior attribute was clearly agility, and they seemed relatively weak in strength, struggling to drag a not-so-large deer.

“We don’t need this trap, you can do whatever you want with it.

If your territory is as good as you say, we might come to check it out.

After all, half-breeds are friends with many races, including humans,” the male half-breed said sincerely before entering the underbrush.

Mu Ying recalled her Wolf Form Essence.

“Mu Ying, aren’t we going to follow them and see where their replica is?” Lu You asked.

“If we were to follow them, we’d probably become enemies,” Huo Shaobai said.

“He’s right.

Since we want them to go to our territory, let’s show some sincerity.

Our territory needs more residents to upgrade to town level.

Mushroom Men can be residents, and so can half-breeds.

As long as they are beings we can communicate with and are not the evil kind that revels in killing, they can be developed into friends,” Mu Ying felt that to make friends, it was best to trust more.

What use was finding the half-breeds’ replica when they hadn’t even sorted out the Ghoul replica near their territory?

Why make enemies for the sake of curiosity?

And according to the information she had collected, it was indeed mentioned that half-breeds always try to live harmoniously with everyone, and that they like to cohabit with other races, so there’s a good chance they could be absorbed as territory residents.

“Wow, does that mean our territory will soon be like an adventurer’s town with a mix of multiple races?” Lu You was quite excited at the prospect.

Some might look down on these outsiders, but it was undeniable that with them, the territory could develop better.

For example, without the Mushroom Men, the territory would likely have fewer inhabitants, and the upgrade to town level would be even further away, not to mention missing out on a lot of money.

These people depend on the territory for survival in these dangerous times of apocalypse; a better territory meant a secure haven for them.

As long as it brought benefits, any racial prejudice would be immediately suppressed.

Besides, the territory already had Mushroom Men and wolves, so a few half-breeds wouldn’t make much of a difference.

“Alright, let’s fill this hole,” Mu Ying commanded.

“Okay!” Being paid for the job, they had no objections, and some were even secretly pleased, hoping the journey might take a few extra days so they could enjoy a few more good meals!

Mu Ying, unable to help with the task, walked to the side and called over the nearby birds.

After feeding them some grains soaked in spring water, she began gathering information from them.

“Chirp chirp~”

“Tweet tweet~”

“East side, along the stream, inside the large rock by the puddle?”

“Chirp~”

“Okay, got it.”

Lu You tugged at his leader’s sleeve, “Didn’t you say we weren’t going to follow them?

Isn’t this asking the birds?”

“Not following doesn’t mean we can’t gather information.

It’s good to be cautious even with friends.

As long as we don’t go there, they won’t know,” Huo Shaobai said as if it were obvious.