"Ms. Lutina, well, it may be a little rude to ask this, but this is related to our safety after all..."
The wife of the couple looked worried and questioning.
She said to the travel agency owner with golden twin ponytails:
"Excuse me, have you ever been into Coleridge Forest? You look only sixteen years old... Oh my God, this is crazy, an underage guide? Won't you lead us into the mouth of a wild beast?"
"Ma'am, I admit that my appearance is deceptive. I'll take your words just now as a compliment... But I declare here that I am twenty years old and grew up in this town. No one knows the situation in the forest better than me, okay?"
Rutina lifted her backpack and rolled her eyes.
She walked to the back of the counter, bent down and took out a double-barreled shotgun more than one meter long from a compartment. Then she opened the gun with a click and checked the ammunition supply.
Noticing two round red shotgun shells quietly stuck in the chamber, Lutina smiled slightly and pulled the gun back. She searched the counter for a while and took out two boxes of ammunition and threw them into her backpack.
"Okay, let's go. If you have any objections, you can leave now... But I won't refund the money I just paid."
Rutina carried the double-barreled shotgun on her shoulder, adjusted her beret, and walked ahead.
Among the five students, a boy named Oslo stepped forward and was about to say something, but Rutina pointed a gun at his head and froze him on the spot.
"I said, no refund."
Rutina said with a smile.
"Ah... No, you misunderstood, Ms. Lutina. I just want to ask, are there really cannibals in the forest? Are there strange animals and plants that will actively hunt humans? I heard the guests in the restaurant say so..."
Oslo was shocked and quickly swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and changed his words.
"Don't ask. If you ask, there will be no surprises."
Lutina retracted the gun and gave a meaningful look to the students.
Oslo was frustrated, but he didn't dare to get angry. He retreated back to the student group with a sullen look on his face.
Chen Lun said nothing, and silently took Noah and Anton to the end of the team, walking towards the entrance of the forest together.
Along the way, except for the three men who were silent, the couple talked about their wedding with great interest. This adventure in the forest was their honeymoon trip. Rutina joked that city people really knew how to have fun, and advised the couple not to do anything too intimate at night, in case of an accident and they would not have time to escape.
These words made the couple feel a little awkward, and the other five students also began to whisper to each other, looking uneasy.
Chen Lun calmly scanned everyone present with his life-reading device and found that they were all ordinary people. However, the leading guide, Lutina, was a little strange because there was a missing piece in her destiny.
The missing part seems like the starting point and the end point, making Chen Lun unable to see her past and future clearly.
This couldn't help but cause him to have some doubts in his heart and made him a little more alert.
"This Rutina must be hiding some secrets."
Chen Lun thought.
He turned his attention to the three serious men. Although they did not speak, they were communicating with their eyes, and their micro-expressions did not escape Chen Lun's eyes.
Some details show that they also have some unspeakable secrets.
Since they were just ordinary people, Chen Lun was too lazy to continue observing and directly used his mind stealing to explore what they were thinking.
You used the skill "Mind Steal" on target Yin Wen!
The judgment is in effect...
Your willpower is 82 points, the target's willpower is 9 points, the judgment is successful!
You used the skill "Mind Steal" on the target Dar'el...
After a few seconds, he raised his eyebrows and smiled.
The three men were unaware of this, but they didn't know that the secrets in their minds had been exposed and were thoroughly known by Chen Lun.
"It turned out to be three gang members... going into the forest to seek revenge? Someone embezzled their money and goods and fled into the forest. These three unlucky guys were pushed out by the gang to look for someone."
Chen Lun shook his head secretly and sighed that wherever there are people, there is the world of martial arts.
Soon, everyone followed Lutina to an uninhabited area. There were no commercial buildings like those in the small town. Only scattered abandoned farmhouses could be seen occasionally.
A huge barbed wire fence appeared in front of us, connected by an iron pipe every seven or eight meters, separating the Coleridge Forest from human society.
In addition, there are two sentry posts in the northeast corner. It seems that there are special personnel guarding here to prevent anyone from destroying the barbed wire and entering the forest.
“Attention! Ahead is the Imperial restricted area of Coleridge Forest! No matter who you are, stop immediately and turn back... I will only warn you twice here. Those who do not listen will be shot immediately!”
A loudspeaker came from the sentry post, and it was the voice of a middle-aged man.
Everyone stopped immediately and looked at Rutina in surprise and doubt.
"You wait here and come back later when I signal you."
However, Lutina looked accustomed to it and turned to speak to everyone.
Immediately, she walked towards the sentry post carrying a double-barreled shotgun and a backpack.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on her along the way, fearing that the guards at the sentry post would suddenly shoot her to death.
"She didn't even put down the gun in her hand. Is she really not afraid of death?"
Stiller, the afro guy, said in surprise.
The short boy next to him, Arnel, shook his head, took out a candy and stuffed it into his mouth, eating it and saying:
"You didn't notice it was so obvious? The female boss of Baiou Travel Agency must know someone here, otherwise how could she bring people in..."
Just as Anel said, everyone saw Lutina walk safely to the sentry window, chat with the person inside, and hand over several gold pounds.
Then she turned around and looked at everyone, waved her hand, and signaled that everyone could come over.
Several students were still hesitant, but the couple took the lead and walked hand in hand. The three men in baseball caps followed closely behind, and Chen Lun also followed calmly with Noah and Anton.
Finally, the five students looked at each other, mustered up their courage and trotted forward.
"As usual, I'll just pretend I didn't see you... But no matter what you see or encounter in there, even if you die in there, it has nothing to do with me."
As they approached the sentry post, they saw a middle-aged man in military uniform and with half-gray hair opening the door and walking out.
As he spoke indifferently, he took out the key, led Lutina and everyone else around to the back of the sentry post, and unlocked a secret side door under the barbed wire.
Bang!
The wire door was pushed open with a creaky sound by the middle-aged guard, who then stood aside and lit a cigarette.
"Don't just stand there, follow me in."
Rutina thanked the guard and then took the lead and stepped into the narrow wire door.
Everyone glanced at the middle-aged guard and then filed in.
After everyone entered the barbed wire, there was another clanging sound behind them, and the wire door was locked.
"Don't worry, he'll open the door for us when he comes back... Of course, that's assuming you didn't die in there."
Rutina said calmly.
It was just her last sentence that made the five students somewhat nervous.
"Haha... Look how scared you are? How dare you come to Coleridge Forest to take risks if you are so cowardly? If you want to find treasure and make a fortune, you must be brave enough!"
Rutina giggled.
The five students' faces changed slightly. They didn't expect that their secrets were known to the other party.
"Don't think that's some rare treasure map. I've seen more than one or two of them..."
She pointed at the parchment in the hands of Messia, a girl with glasses and short hair, and said indifferently.
Seeing the students' faces change again, Rutina laughed as if she had succeeded in her teasing.
“Hehehe… you guys are so funny!”
"Ms. Rutina!"
The girl Gray frowned slightly.
Several boys looked unhappy, but the girl with glasses, Messia, asked:
"Have you seen anyone else come to the Great Forest with a treasure map?"
"Of course..."
Rutina shrugged, took out a kukri, and cut through the bushes to clear a path ahead.
"Things like 'golden tree', 'gem lake' and 'life fruit'... In short, many things like these that only exist in fairy tales were recorded on the so-called treasure map and spread out."
"You mean, then, that there is no such treasure in Coleridge Forest?"
The boy Arnel asked in a deep voice.
Rutina cut the wooden strip in half with one stroke, rubbed her arms tiredly, turned around with her golden twin ponytails swinging, and rolled her eyes at Anel.
"I didn't say that... Coleridge Forest is very vast. Even though I've lived here for so long, I still don't know how many secrets it has. Maybe those things really exist?"
"It seems that the treasure hunters you led before didn't find the treasure either... Otherwise you wouldn't say that."
Messiah said with some disappointment.
The other four students also realized this and sighed.
Instead, the three men in baseball caps looked at each other, exchanged glances, and then made subtle gestures, it was unknown what they were planning.
Everyone followed Rutina's footsteps and gradually went deeper into Coleridge Forest.
At first it was fine, just an ordinary forest scene.
But as they walked, everyone felt something strange.
First, the birds and insects stopped chirping, and there was a dead silence all around. Then, the trees gradually became taller, and even the sky could not be seen when looking up. Under the feet were thick piles of fallen leaves and mud, and no one knew whether the next step would encounter a poisonous snake.
This kind of environment made everyone feel very depressed, and no one was willing to speak for a long time.
However, the more Chen Lun looked, the more he felt that the environment in the forest was extremely similar to the natural forest in fairyland.
After walking for more than an hour, everyone felt very tired.
The view ahead became wider, and a small wooden house appeared in everyone's sight.
"Rest here for a while. This hunter's cabin is mine. After you have something to eat, I will take you to the first 'attraction'."
Rutina led the way into the wooden house, then took out some wooden bowls and handed them to everyone.
She picked up some dead branches and leaves, built a fire on the bonfire outside the cabin, and boiled a pot of water.
"You can walk around, but don't go too far, or you'll get lost."
Rutina sat on a stone pier, adding wood to the fire and speaking to everyone.
After hearing this, the five students became eager to take action, because the target location shown on the treasure map in their hands was not far from here.
"Then let's go for a walk, Miss Rutina."
The boy Oslo greeted Rutina, who waved her hand indifferently.
After several people left impatiently, a hint of disdain flashed in her eyes, which was caught by Chen Lun.
'It seems like she knows something...'
Chen Lun thought.
At this time, the three men in baseball caps simply drank some hot water and left the cabin. They said they wanted to look for prey around and eat some meat.
The couple stayed, perhaps because they were tired, and they strolled hand in hand behind the cabin, whispering to each other.
Noah walked aside, took out his easel and a small stool, and began to sketch the cabin. The cows ran into the woods, whether to play or to look for food.
Only Lutina and Chen Lun were left by the campfire.
"Is that your brother?"
Lutina looked up and asked Chen Lun, pointing the dead branch in her hand at Noah not far away.
"You could say that."
Chen Lun smiled faintly.
"He draws well and is very talented."
Rutina said with interest.
"Yes, I think so."
Chen Lun nodded.
However, Rutina stroked her chin and commented in a condescending manner:
"But he seems to be unfamiliar with static landscapes, and his technique is the same as that of portraits. His teacher must be a rigid old fellow, most likely a court painter."
"You seem to know a lot about painting?"
Chen Lun raised his eyebrows and put down the wooden bowl.
Rutina shrugged.
"Somewhat, but I haven't written for a long time."
She looked at Chen Lun and asked curiously:
"What on earth are you two brothers doing in the Augusta Mountains with a cow?"
Chen Lun originally planned to evade the question, but as he felt more and more that this girl had a secret, he took this opportunity to test her:
"Sending a letter."
"Sending a letter?"
Rutina was very surprised.
She immediately frowned slightly, as if she had thought of something, and a look of surprise flashed in her eyes.
The wings of Rutina's nose twitched slightly on her fair and delicate face. She looked at Chen Lun curiously and asked casually:
"Who are you sending the letter to? Are people still living in those mountains?"
"A friend's teacher."
Chen Lun answered ambiguously.
Now that I have collected all of Carmen's Notes, learned her magic, and am now helping her deliver letters... it's not an exaggeration to call us "friends I've never met."
The shock in Rutina's eyes became even more intense.
She coughed twice, nodded to show that she understood, and then her eyes sparkled slightly.
"Okay... Have you ever heard of 'Natural Cult'?"
"Um."
Chen Lun nodded naturally.
"A cult organization that was driven out of the Empire."
"Naturalism is not a cult."
Rutina's tone was slightly dissatisfied.
"They just don't please the Sun King."
She took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and then asked again:
"Have you heard of the 'Cat God Cult'?"
"No."
Chen Lun shook his head indifferently.
Lutina frowned even deeper. She stared at Chen Lun for several seconds, and finally gritted her teeth and said:
"You're lying!"
"Um?"
Chen Lun pretended to be surprised.
Lutina seemed not to want to talk to Chen Lun anymore. She rolled her eyes at him and fiddled with the campfire.
At this moment, exclamations and screams suddenly came from the woods.
Only four of the five students returned, one girl named Gray was missing. The remaining four were covered in blood and looked terrified.
"Help... Help! Gray has been captured by a monster!"