Chapter 118 - 115: Camping, Pitcher Plant, Professional Badge

Chapter 118: Chapter 115: Camping, Pitcher Plant, Professional Badge

The afternoon’s journey was much easier than they’d imagined.

They had reached what could truly be called the "depths of the forest," where paths had long since vanished and even animal trails were scarce.

However, thanks to the experience they’d gained over the past few days, Lu Wei and his three companions were making much better time.

Furen, who had the most stamina, took the lead, using his sharp longsword to hack away the occasional vines and branches blocking their path. He also served as their "onboard radio," telling stories to keep everyone from getting bored.

Mirana followed close behind, taking turns with him every so often.

Bai Ya was third in line, responsible for finding ingredients for their next meal as they traveled.

Bringing up the rear was Lu Wei, temporarily acting as the group’s "GPS."

With their roles clearly defined, the four of them only stopped to rest once all afternoon. Since they didn’t run into any monsters, they actually managed to reach their destination before sunset—

A small hill, only a few dozen meters high.

’Hmm... If I were to classify it based on my past life, the Gelan Forest would probably be a "subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest" combined with a "plains forest."’

Aside from the clearly sunken "Lost Basin" at its very center, the rest of the region was almost completely flat, with no particularly high mountains to speak of.

Therefore, a small earthen mound a few dozen meters high already counted as a vantage point with a great view.

"This should be good enough. Let’s make camp here."

After climbing to the top of the hill, the four of them chose a flat patch of grass backed by a small cliff as their campsite for the night.

It wasn’t exactly spacious, with woods and thickets just a few meters away, but you couldn’t expect to find a perfect campsite every day while adventuring.

Sometimes, you even had to sleep in trees.

Er, Furen was actually a little excited by the idea, thinking it would be a very interesting experience.

Lu Wei, however, would absolutely refuse to sleep in a tree unless he had no other choice.

He was mostly afraid of accidentally falling out while he was asleep.

"Same as before. Furen, clear the area and set up the warning bells. Mirana, gather firewood and start the fire. Bai Ya, get ready to cook. I’m going to scout the immediate vicinity."

Now that they had decided on a campsite, the next step was naturally to set up camp quickly before the sun went down.

The four of them were already quite familiar with this routine, so they quickly got to work.

Furen bent down to clear the surrounding weeds and shrubs, Mirana looked for stones to build a fire pit, and Bai Ya activated [Skillful Hand], preparing to deal with the creek crabs she had caught in a stream during their afternoon break.

There were five or six of them in total, each about the size of her palm, tied together in a string with a thin vine.

Most of them were already dead. Only two, with a more tenacious Life Force, were still feebly waving their pincers.

"You despicable goblins, daring to disguise yourselves as crabs!"

Raising her dagger, Bai Ya’s eyes were firm as she prepared to end the lives of these two "goblin-disguised crabs."

But just then, Lu Wei’s shout came from the nearby woods:

"Bai Ya, come over here a second!"

"Come see what the hell this thing is!"

...

...

"Oh, this is a Demon Vine Pitcher Plant."

"This big part at the bottom is the pitcher, and the open part on top is its lid."

"If prey falls inside, the lid will close to prevent it from escaping..."

A few minutes later, Bai Ya was standing before a deep green "potbelly," earnestly explaining the various characteristics of the Demon Vine Pitcher Plant.

’So it’s a pitcher plant.’

Standing beside it, Lu Wei had a moment of realization.

He knew what a pitcher plant was, of course. The only reason he hadn’t recognized it was because he’d never seen one this big.

’Good heavens, it feels like you could stuff a person inside.’

"Alright, this thing doesn’t move, right?"

"Nope. Plants that can move around like Puji are very rare."

"Got it. You can go back now."

"Um... wait a second."

Bai Ya suddenly took a step closer, lowering her head as if looking for something.

Soon, she spotted a patch of soil that was slightly darker than the surrounding area.

"Found it! There might be something good under here!"

"Something good?"

Lu Wei’s eyes instantly lit up, and he walked over. "How do you know?"

"Because this is where a fallen pitcher has rotted."

As she knelt and started digging with her dagger, Bai Ya explained, "The digestive fluid of a Demon Vine Pitcher Plant can’t break down everything. So, once too many indigestible things accumulate inside a pitcher, it will automatically fall off, and a new one will grow in its place."

"And those indigestible things get buried in the soil along with the pitcher."

"There might be some coins or things like that inside."

Bai Ya’s explanation was simple and easy to understand as she dug furiously at the soil.

But Lu Wei instantly lost interest.

’Damn, and here I thought it was something special.’

’Isn’t this just grave robbing?’

’What kind of good stuff could there be?’

Pursing his lips, Lu Wei was just about to tell Bai Ya not to waste her energy and to go back to cook dinner.

But just then, Bai Ya suddenly let out a small "Huh?" and actually dug a silver coin out of the dirt!

Although it was dented, covered in mud, and a bit tarnished, it was definitely a silver coin!

"Look! I found one!"

Turning her head, Bai Ya held up the silver coin, showing it off excitedly.

Lu Wei’s eyes went wide. He was completely dumbfounded.

"Wait, why would there be a silver coin? Don’t tell me someone was dumb enough to get lured in and eaten by a pitcher plant??"

"Er, that’s probably not it."

Bai Ya blinked. "But you know, anything can happen in the forest."

"For example, maybe an Adventurer unfortunately fell to his death, then his coin pouch was picked up by a monkey, and the monkey accidentally fell in here..."

Pointing at the giant pitcher above their heads, Bai Ya’s logic was certainly... creative.