Closer to Revealing My True Self
Chapter 633 - 413: Evil Beast_1

Chapter 633: Chapter 413: Evil Beast_1

In the long river flowing through the rainforest.

A small boat advanced with the current.

There were four people on board, two dressed as natives and the other two as outsiders.

This was a team temporarily formed for a business collaboration.

Eja, one of the natives standing at the bow, was the guide for this operation.

Compared to Sulayem’s tribe, Eja’s tribe had more contact with the outside world, maintained more frequent business interactions, and had a linguistic advantage, making it a tribe with a stronger sense of modernity.

Oh, now it’s called a village.

Their village’s main source of income was completely different from that of Sulayem’s.

Sulayem’s village primarily relied on pig farming, complemented by planting or other activities.

But Eja’s village raised swallows.

Going back a generation, Eja’s parents were "bird’s nest hunters," specializing in searching for bird’s nests in the rainforest to sell to traders.

Every year, many far-traveling traders would pay a high price for the golden swiftlet nests here, as their tribe was skilled in collecting them.

Before the period of climate abnormalities, they mainly went into nature, into the rainforest’s caves to find nests.

After the period of climate abnormalities began, regulations became stricter and some villagers were unwilling to venture into the rainforest caves—it was literally risking their lives and the collection volume was not large. Due to various factors, the method of artificially raising them gradually emerged.

Now, the main occupation of the villagers was swallow farming. They enclosed land near the village to build swallow houses, to safely obtain a larger quantity of nests.

Factories would come to them to purchase the nests, and the business was always good.

Since there was a safer method that also made a good profit, the newly grown young people in the village were not very willing to risk their lives in the rainforest.

However, the reason for venturing into the rainforest this time was a large order from a big merchant, who specifically wanted wild ones, and from deep in the rainforest caves, offering to pay a large sum of money for them.

Eja recently had some financial needs, so he found another person from the village, and the two families took on the order together.

Thus, this temporary bird’s nest squad was formed—Eja and another villager, along with two adventurers sent by the merchants. This four-person team set off from the village by water to enter the rainforest.

"Legend has it that the gods especially favored this place because it is so beautiful, so they assigned a monster to guard it before departing!" Eja said, looking at the rainforest on both sides.

An adventurer chimed in, "The monster you’re talking about—are those lizards with giant claws like birds of prey, tails as flexible and long as steel whips, and a fierce and terrifying appearance? They really are strange creatures, aren’t picky at all, and will eat anything they can fit in their mouths! They are even poisonous!"

Eja shook his head and said, "I’m talking about Nabu!"

The adventurer asked curiously, "Who is Nabu?"

Eja’s gaze was distant, "Nabu is a terrifying giant snake, thirty meters long with seven nostrils!"

The two adventurers chuckled to themselves.

Good heavens, these natives can really exaggerate!

These people liked to blow up a six or seven-meter python into twenty or thirty meters. Back in the days when information was spread only through newspapers, there were many instances of data fabrication, and so-called researchers came here to take photographs and then falsified the data. Even in the era of the internet, a group of video producers living in tropical areas would use visual deception caused by shooting angles to exaggerate the size of five or six-meter pythons to over ten meters.

Let’s not even talk about the length.

One of the adventurers laughed and gave a light cough, "Is it possible that this exaggerated claim of seven nostrils actually includes its three pairs of labial pits?"

That’s hilarious, these brain-dead natives!

Such exaggerated myths were only believed by these natives! But it was unnecessary to continue arguing on this topic.

After all, they still needed the help of these natives to find what they were looking for, and the two adventurers quickly changed the subject.

The journey was somewhat dull, and the four members of the squad struck up conversations, but soon they could no longer afford to be so leisurely.

An afternoon downpour disrupted their laid-back pace, forcing them to pull ashore and wait for the rain to pass.

After securing the boat and assessing the distance between them and the nearby mountain, one of their objectives, they noted it looked deceptively close.

The mountain seemed nearby, but the actual distance was significant, and the weather was not suitable for travel; they had also brought climbing gear, which was not light. They could only wait for the rain to stop before setting off again.

However, during this period of waiting, they were not idle; instead, they discussed the upcoming itinerary. After harvesting the nests here, which route should they take to the next destination?

Should they continue by water or go overland?

The team was divided.

The second destination was not too far from the first one.

The natives wanted to take the water route, as it was faster and easier, and they had traveled it many times before.

But the merchants preferred to go overland, knowing that the land route was indeed uncomfortable with its wet and muddy environment, but it was solid ground! Moreover, the second destination required traveling along a wild river, home to ferocious saltwater crocodiles with large bodies! If one of those crocodiles went mad, could their little boat withstand it? A single misstep into the water could be fatal!

Unable to resolve the dispute, and with the rain having stopped, they decided to start with the first destination and take it from there.

Yet, because of the argument, the atmosphere within the team turned somewhat strange.

The natives felt, "You outsiders know nothing."

But the adventurers thought that this journey, tasked with a mission, wasn’t an average adventure trip. It had to be safety first. The employer had only paid a deposit, and the remainder would be paid upon completion of the mission. The journey had just begun, so they couldn’t afford to fail here.