Jasmine picked the mushrooms with absolute seriousness and extreme care. Her hands moved deftly, uprooting each stalk one by one, before diligently shaking off the soil and sand clinging to the base of the mushrooms.
Whenever there was even the slightest uncertainty about the type of mushroom she was holding, she would discard it immediately; she would rather miss out on a few than risk making a mistake that could lead to poisoning.
This harvesting session continued in a single stretch until the afternoon. By this time, her back began to ache and feel incredibly sore, but the mushrooms sprouting after the rain were simply too abundant. Every time she finished picking one patch, another layer seemed to reveal itself before her eyes.
It was only when the two sacks, standing as high as half a person, were nearly filled to the brim and heavy in her hands that Jasmine felt satisfied enough to return. Although her face was smeared with mud and dirt, her smile was radiant and bright.
By this time, they had traveled quite a distance from the campsite area. Around them, aside from the bushes, the silhouettes of other trees could be seen. Perhaps because they were quite close to the Dry Forest, these trees grew very sparsely. Their branches and leaves were gnarled and spindly, and they were not as tall or grand as the Pinkkin Trees. Occasionally, a few bird nests could be spotted high up on the branches.
After obtaining permission from Jasmine, the Bull-headed Man climbed up the trees to hook a few bird eggs down. However, when they brought them back to the camp, boiled them, and peeled them open, they discovered that most of these bird eggs had already turned into fertilized eggs; the embryos inside had already taken shape.
Jasmine did not dare to eat them; merely looking at them made her shudder. In the end, she distributed all of them to the guards.
The guards, on the contrary, did not complain at all. They happily shared the eggs among themselves, eating them all up. They chewed noisily, and they did not even waste the eggshells, popping them into their mouths to crunch them up before swallowing them down into their bellies.
For them, these fertilized eggs were considered a rare meat dish, a source of precious nutritional supplementation.
The Dwarf brothers were even less satisfied and still craved more. They wanted to go and search to see if there were any other bird nests around. Their eyes looked up at the tree canopies with ravenous hunger, but they were stopped by Jasmine because the sky had already begun to darken.
The fresh Chanterelle mushrooms she had harvested would not keep for long; they were easily crushed and could spoil quickly in these humid conditions.
Jasmine intended to bring them to Ankera Town to find some small animal to test for toxicity, so right now, she needed to dry these two sacks of mushrooms first to preserve them.
The task of drying the mushrooms was naturally assigned to the guards. They needed to dry and pack all the mushrooms before setting off the next day.
Everyone spread the mushrooms out onto flat trays woven from bamboo, placing them near the fire to dry them out. The fragrant scent of mushrooms began to waft through the air.
At this moment, of course, everyone had to be busy; no one was allowed to rest their hands.
Contrary to predictions, it did not rain in the afternoon. The gloomy layers of clouds in the sky seemed to have been blown away by the wind, revealing patches of pale blue sky. It seemed that tomorrow would likely be a beautiful day, favorable for hitting the road.
However, while nothing unexpected happened during the day and everything proceeded smoothly, they encountered huge trouble when evening fell.
A pack of wild wolves, with pairs of green eyes flashing in the night, had quietly approached their campsite.
"Oh, it is the Deep Forest Wolves coming out to hunt. What a majestic scene," Elvius was the most excited among their group. Perhaps it had been too long since he had seen any other living creatures as powerful as these, so he poured out a stream of flowery praise for the pack of wild wolves that was secretly encircling them.
From their sleek, ash-gray fur mixed with streaks of black, to their strong limbs filled with rippling muscles, and even down to their bared, sharp teeth dripping with saliva—anything that could be praised was praised by him in turn, as if he were critiquing a work of art.
Jasmine's expression, however, was not very good. Her face went pale when she saw the sheer number of wolves.
The Bull-headed Man immediately stuffed Jasmine back into the carriage. The other guards grasped their weapons made of sharpened wood. Although they were terrified to the point that their legs were trembling and sweat was pouring off them like a bath, they still stood steadfastly to protect the perimeter around the carriage.
Once this wolf pack charged, they would use their own lives to hold the wolves back, sacrificing their bodies so that the carriage could whisk the Lord away to escape immediately.
"Why is this wolf pack targeting us?" Jasmine wondered aloud, her hands gripping the edge of the carriage door tightly.
The campsite they had chosen was very close to the Dry Forest. Usually, large carnivorous animals would not actively approach this position because they feared the aura of the Undead creatures; it was supposed to be a relatively safe place.
Therefore, Jasmine did not understand why this wolf pack would risk targeting them. Were they not worried that during the fight, they might accidentally charge into the interior of the Dry Forest?
Jasmine did not expect her slave guards to answer this question; they were still busy trying to suppress their own fear.
But Elvius, who was not far from them, heard her. He touched his smooth lower jawbone and speculated: "It is probably to feed their young. Maternal love is truly great."
"Feed their young?" Jasmine swept her eyes over the wolf pack. These wild wolves were all adults, massive and ferocious. There was no sign of any small wolf pups anywhere.
Elvius extended a bony finger, pointing at a few of the wolves leading the pack. Their bellies were sucked in, but their udders were swollen. He explained to Jasmine: "My dear Jasmine, look at those leading wolves. They are all mother wolves who have given birth not long ago. Their eyes contain the determination of mothers."
Reproduction consumed a vast amount of energy for mother wolves. At this time, the mother wolves needed a large amount of food to eat. Firstly, it was to replenish the energy they had consumed themselves. Secondly, it was to prepare plenty of milk for the young pups starving in their den.
Animals that could survive in the wilderness were all very cunning and sharp. Even for a wolf pack, finding suitable prey was not easy.
At this moment, they coincidentally encountered Jasmine's team. Although there were many people, their aura was weak. Even though the distance to the Dry Forest was a bit close, it was worth it for this wolf pack to take a risk and try once for the sake of their pups' survival.
After all, compared to other prey that had the ability to flee quickly or resist strongly, humans were considered easier to hunt.
The encircling ring of the wolf pack shrank a step further. Low growls resonated from all four directions. However, because they had built several large fires around the camp earlier to dry the mushrooms, the fire in the pits had not yet gone out and was burning fiercely.
Perhaps wary of these scorching flames, the wolf pack did not act immediately. For the moment, they paced back and forth impatiently.
Humans and wolves stood in a standoff, the atmosphere as tense as a guitar string about to snap.
After hearing Elvius's conjecture, the gravity on Jasmine's face did not decrease much; on the contrary, she became even more worried.
With their current strength, they could not confront this pack of wolves, which stood more than half a person tall, head-on. Just a small mistake would result in people losing their lives.
She swept her eyes toward the Dry Forest behind them. Because it was dark and there was no moonlight, she could not see the situation inside the Dry Forest clearly at all. She saw only a terrifying, pitch-black darkness.
But if she wanted everyone to survive, the only option laid out before them now was perhaps to lead the guards and risk venturing into the Dry Forest, a place where the wolf pack might not dare to chase after them.