Chapter 240: The Trail of the Lost Travelers
At this moment, the Northlander sailor hadn't recognized Zhou Ning yet. He was toying with a black sailor's cap in his hands while checking the bounty board at the counter.
Noticing Zhou Ning's gaze, he looked up and locked eyes with him. After a brief moment, he bared his teeth in a chilling, bloodthirsty grin—seemingly warning Zhou Ning: Don't mess with me.
A desperate outlaw… that was Zhou Ning's assessment of him.
After the Northland Kingdom had fallen and become a colony contested by the Bryston Kingdom and the Sepharic Kingdom, a small number of Northlanders had gone back to piracy. But a much larger number had entered Bryston or Sepharic, turning into outlaws who dared to fight and kill for nothing but money.
Zhou Ning had no interest in provoking a fight with him, but he also had no intention of humoring him. Gathering his own aura, he swept the man a faint glance.
The other man instantly froze. He felt as if he had been locked onto by an overwhelming presence, and an explosive sense of danger surged through him. He hurriedly averted his eyes and lowered his gaze.
In barely five or six seconds, beads of cold sweat were already streaming down his forehead.
This guy can't be messed with!
The Northlander sailor silently made up his mind. Northlanders had a saying: "Bend or stand as the moment requires." When necessary, one should be both wary and cautious. So he dared not linger any longer, hastily making his exit.
Zhou Ning shook his head with a faint smile, then sat down in the spot the Northlander had vacated and began checking the Adventurers' Guild task list.
As the capital of all capitals, Darkland was full of opportunities, and the Adventurers' Guild in particular offered many missions with rich rewards. Zhou Ning had the advantage of knowing the storyline, which allowed him to pick out relatively familiar quests.
However, he quickly discovered that there were still many missions he couldn't take. Most bounty quests had reputation and guild-rank requirements—and not low ones, either. Some combat contracts looked quite promising, often offering to unlock faction reputation. The best ones even rewarded rare blueprints or skills.
Some were simple enough, but others were nothing short of suicide missions. For example, one quest called for the assassination of the Northlander pirate general Hank Lewis. Its mortality rate was 100%. The promised reward of seventy thousand Veckta was tempting, but no one in their right mind would take a job that offered no return trip.
Zhou Ning then searched for a task that would take him to Allsop Swamp in Southwells County. In his previous life, this mission had required him to find the trail of a pair of lost travelers deep in Allsop Swamp—and the reward had been very generous.
Looking through the guild's postings, he quickly found the quest [Trail of the Lost Travelers] and let out a small sigh of relief.
Just like in his past life, it was classified as a B-rank mission, yet had no acceptance restrictions.
"Hello, I'd like to take this task," Zhou Ning told the staff, submitting his request. A reply came quickly—approved without issue.
[Guild Mission — Trail of the Lost Travelers]
[Mission Description: Two followers of the Goddess of Life went hiking in Allsop Swamp, Southwells County, and have gone missing. Your task is to find their trail—alive or dead. If they are dead, bring back their identification tags.]
[Mission Requirement: Find the trail of the lost travelers.]
[Reward: 320,000 EXP, 600 Vecktas, Guild Points +46, Guild Fame +5]
"This mission is very dangerous. Please be careful when carrying it out," the staff member said, handing Zhou Ning the mission tag.
"Alright, thank you for the reminder," Zhou Ning replied with a smile.
After that, he stopped by the Darkland Metropolitan Fair Housing Association to handle some property matters. He paid an 800 Vecktas deposit and arranged for them to renovate his house, then returned to his school dormitory.
John wasn't there—only his dog, Polly, who was still snoring away. Zhou Ning hadn't seen it for a while, and the dog had grown so fat it was practically a pig now, snoring loud enough to shake the room.
Zhou Ning twitched his mouth and headed into his own room.
After resting for half an hour, a notification suddenly popped up on his interface.
It turned out XB and Jinse had completed their mission ahead of everyone else. Among all the players who had taken on the [Undead's Trail] series, they were the first to finish.
"Not bad—exactly why I picked them," Zhou Ning's eyes lit up. They had completed the job in just three days. Zhou Ning could see the progress of each party; the fastest of the others hadn't even reached 70%.
XB and Jinse's quest had been [The Hidden Truth], which required them to find a tattered diary in an abandoned mansion on Canary Street.
When Zhou Ning checked his mission panel, he saw that one of the five related tasks was now marked [Completed].
[You have obtained Jeremy Wayne Aiden's Diary, filled with obscure and indecipherable demonic script.]
[The diary records how Jeremy Wayne Aiden, during a chance religious ritual, received the will of an evil god and began a path of brutal slaughter. Even the cover reeks of blood.]
[Deliver the diary to the Sunwatcher; they can decipher its demonic writing.]
"Nice." Zhou Ning was satisfied. All that remained was to hand the diary over to the Sunwatcher. By now, the whole thing was starting to feel more and more like a main storyline quest.
He processed their rewards and posted the follow-up task.
For the upcoming trip to Southwells County, Zhou Ning decided to bring them along.
…
Jinse, XB, and the others stood inside the abandoned Canary Street mansion, looking at the feedback from Wayne Sturwell on their mission panel.
The quest had been complex, even including puzzle-solving elements. There were three undead creatures inside the mansion, each presenting a difficult riddle. They also had to complete numerous errands. The undead only retained partial memories from before their deaths, so the team had to run all over the place, piece together clues from all three riddles, and finally reconstruct the full memory to obtain the diary.
Jinse, who in her previous life had maxed out her reputation grind with Leandro and was renowned as a tireless grind queen, took the lead. Through their relentless effort, they had finally cleared the mission.
When Zhou Ning's confirmation came through on the task panel, the players checked their rewards: a hefty 160,000 EXP—and, to their surprise, a combat skill: [Sword Conceals Gun]. Well worth the effort.
Even better, there was a follow-up!
The next step was to bring the diary to the main character at Darkland Station before 6:00 and then accompany him on his next mission.