Chapter 48

As such, very few people were willing to come to Pawo Marsh to farm monsters.

If everyone knew that the Pawo Marsh had a group of Dark Dryads, they definitely would not be willing to be hunted down by the Dryad Legion. No terrain would be able to stop the players.

Of course, if that was the case, Orange Tree Hearts would not be as valuable.

Before entering the marsh, Su Mo first needed to accept the quest.

It was not a hidden quest or a secret quest. At most, it was a region’s side quest.

Zuma Wastelands was one of the most barren regions in the Eastern Continent. Just like how even the most barren valleys had people living in them, there were people living in Zuma Wastelands.

From the map, it could be seen that Zuma Wastelands was within the territory of the Long Island Federation, but it had never been acknowledged before.

This kind of remote and barren place would not bring a single copper coin in taxes for any leader, and because of this, this place became a place for runaways to survive at death’s door.

These runaways had formed small villages together.

In the recent months, six villages had already been slaughtered, and Rainbow Devil City’s City Lord gave a bounty to find the perpetrator.

Adventurers who could find the perpetrator would receive a large amount of EXP as well as the goodwill of the entire Zuma Wastelands. As for gold coins and equipment, forget about that. The so-called Rainbow Devil City was actually just a large village, a city of dirt made from broken rocks. They were so poor that they could not even spare a single goat.

Su Mo was not interested in the money, he just wanted to do a good thing and help these poor people find the real perpetrator (serious face~).

Su Mo rode on the Snow Mountain Warg and came to Rainbow Devil City, which could not even afford a teleportation channel. Su Mo patted the Snow Mountain Warg’s head, and the Warg jumped over the ‘city wall’ that could only trip people.

“Wahh, it’s a wolf! It’s a wolf!” A few children were scared into tears, and even some adults backed away.

Could this be the city that supposedly housed criminals who had all killed many people?

“I’m looking for the City Lord, please take me there!” Su Mo tossed out a few copper coins, which accurately fell into an adult’s skinny palm.

It was not that he did not want the weak and skinny children to earn this money; rather, if a child got this money, he most likely would not be able to live to see tomorrow.

The villager who had received Su Mo’s money brought him to see the City Lord, while some other villagers appeared in the surroundings. However, none of them dared to do anything; Su Mo’s equipped arm cannon was very threatening.

The so-called City Lord was an old man wearing tattered clothes. He lived in the only decent-looking house in this city.

“I’m an adventurer; I heard that you need help?”

“Help? Haha, we indeed need help. If you can find us some food, give us some money, or introduce some work to us, that would be great,” the City Lord said as he grinned, showing a few golden teeth.

“I heard six of your villages were slaughtered,” Su Mo said. Poor people trying to bring other poor people out of poverty would only result in them all becoming poorer.

“That did happen, but we can’t give any rewards and living isn’t necessarily better than dying. If you want to take that request, then take it; if you don’t want to, please leave,” the old man said uncaringly.

“Many villages have already been slaughtered; it will be Rainbow Devil City’s turn someday.” Could it be that these people did not have anything good? Su Mo did not believe it.

“Young fellow, did you know that in the past ten years, Rainbow Devil City has already been invaded by Sand Scorpions at least eight times? Each time, not many people survive. Rainbow Devil City’s people don’t care much about this.”

“You… that’s very unfortunate. Isn’t the Papacy always clamoring about saving people? Why don’t they save you guys?”

“We are criminals; those Sand Scorpions are our punishment.”

“I’ll help you find the perpetrator of those slaughters. Also, do you want me to help you get rid of those Sand Scorpions?”

“We don’t have money.”

“I don’t need money; I don’t care much for it. I just hope that you can give me some EXP,” Su Mo said. In the end, he felt that it didn’t matter what monsters he killed for EXP. He wasn’t helping them just because he pitied them.

“Deal.”

“Also, I’m very curious—how come no one stole the gold teeth in your mouth?”

“That’s a secret, young fellow. Perhaps if one day if I’m in the mood I’ll tell you the reason.”

The old City Lord blinked and said, “But don’t you think about it.”

“I’m looking forward to your story. That’s right, I have some bread; please give it to the children. I hope that everyone will get some,” Su Mo said as he handed over two stacks of bread.

Each stack had 20 pieces, and Su Mo had brought three stacks with him, keeping one stack.

He had seen many people even worse off. Some deserved pity, but some were very dangerous.

Sometimes, behind their pitiful eyes hid viciousness that could devour people. Su Mo had a comrade who had had his throat slit by a child from a warzone.

All creatures endured suffering; only people could help themselves.

Su Mo had received the location for the Dark Dryads from the Boss monster chat group. As for how to cross the treacherous marsh to find them, that was up to Su Mo.

Su Mo looked at Lafu, who was squatting beside him and also looking into the depths of the marsh.

Lafu pitifully retreated a few steps.

The marsh was a large mouth that might devour it at any moment.

Perhaps only pigs would like this kind of environment.

“Let’s go together this time,” Su Mo said before pausing and adding, “I’ll be right behind you.”

Hearing this, Lafu felt a bit more confident.

The human and wolf both looked quite disgusted as they stepped into the wet marsh. At first, it was just a bit damp, but then the dirty water flowed over Su Mo’s shoes and then his ankles.

There were occasionally some deep holes, and Su Mo almost fell into many quagmires.

Fortunately, Lafu would quickly grab onto Su Mo’s arm and slowly pull him out of danger. As such, Su Mo tied one end of his rope to himself and the other end to Lafu.

Just like that, the human and wolf moved forward together. Half an hour, they finally reached the real marsh and encountered the monsters in the marsh.

The monsters in the marsh were very difficult to deal with.

The first wave was composed of some lizards. There were two big ones and three small ones; they seemed to be a family.

This was most likely another reason why players did not like Pawo Marsh. The monsters were scattered and difficult to deal with. With Su Mo and Lafu’s strength, dealing with this family was not easy at all.

Even though it was not easy, they still had to kill them. Fortunately, Su Mo had brought many traps.

Hunters were proficient at using traps, but because Su Mo had not learned how to make traps, he could only buy them from NPCs.

Traps were not very useful in PVP; after all, who would give you the time to set up traps? Moreover, only idiots would walk into traps.

However, when fighting monsters, traps would be quite important sometimes.