Useless Search

"Bah, I never expected to end up in such a miserable state."

Walking amidst the crumbling ruins, Duan Qing let out a troubled and mournful sigh.

After discovering these ruins earlier, driven by gamer instinct, the group decided to thoroughly search the area. A place that practically screamed "there are treasures here" deserved nothing less than a blanket search; otherwise, it would be an insult to their many years of gaming experience.

Following a brief discussion, they reached a consensus and split into groups to explore the region separately. Before doing so, however, they first needed to obtain the permission of the two archmage sisters.

Without their approval, everything else would be a waste of time.

The two women, contrasting in appearance yet equally striking, exchanged a glance before nodding to grant the adventurers permission. They also agreed that division of labor was the best approach for the exploration at hand. Their only condition was that everyone would regroup later to exchange whatever information they gathered.

"We will continue forward to check the situation ahead. Let's meet at the small plaza near the ruins by dusk."

With those words, Christine left with her younger sister.

The group formation had been remarkably swift. Duan Shanling and Snow Spirit Mirage could not possibly be grouped together. Although they were teammates, they belonged to rival guilds and held mutual disdain for each other. Fortunately, both were high-level players and could guarantee basic safety by taking a newcomer with them. Thus, Duan Shanling chose Liu Qingniu—the two had shown a mutual affinity earlier—while Snow Spirit Mirage chose little Mengzhu. Despite some initial friction between the two women, they had since repaired their relationship and were now on good terms. Most importantly, both were female players.

This was the part Duan Qing understood the least. Why did female players naturally gravitate toward each other? In the past and present alike, Duan Qing had seen countless such cliques of female players, as if they only shared a common language when they were together...

Whatever the case, the final result was: Group Three consisted of a single member—Lone Mountain Qing.

Duan Qing had naturally protested, but to little avail. As a powerhouse among the players, Duan Shanling inexplicably expressed complete confidence in this arrangement, while Snow Spirit Mirage earnestly advised him that if he encountered danger, he should remember to hold out on his own for a while and yell loudly for help—the rest of them would come to his rescue.

He was merely a rookie player in his teens! And he was all alone! Alone! Setting aside how much he could accomplish in such a search mission, if he really ran into something bizarre, he would most likely die right here... And this was close to the center of the ruins!

Indignantly, Duan Qing yanked hard on a certain house's door. Accompanied by the snapping of wood, the door obediently collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Looking rather helplessly at the "deceased" wooden door, Duan Qing poked his head inside.

To call it a room was generous, as it was now practically indistinguishable from the outdoors. Due to the erosion of time, the roof had caved in, and with the aid of external light, the interior was clearly visible. After observing the room's layout for a moment, Duan Qing walked toward the corner—the remnants of some human-made wooden furniture still lingered there.

After rummaging through the area for a while, he found almost nothing except rubble left behind by the collapsed stone roof. Duan Qing stood up helplessly and surveyed his surroundings. This must have been a bedroom; a bed should have originally stood in the center, now reduced to traces outlined by wood splinters. The single remaining bedside table next to it was still standing, though in a precarious, wobbly state. Duan Qing had rummaged through similar wooden cabinets before; some contained fabric scraps, while others held fragments resembling paper and parchment. It seemed this ruin had existed for so long that even parchment could not endure the river of time.

Of course, not everything had been destroyed. Duan Qing also found some small iron tools, but they were minor items like scissors and sewing needles, holding little practical use. When picking them up, Duan Qing could still see simple system descriptions.

[Rusted Scissors]
[An ancient utility item from an unknown era, covered in rust and no longer usable.]

Most other items shared similar descriptions. Through his recent gaming experience, Duan Qing understood that these system descriptions were actually hinting at the item's status—they didn't even mention item quality.

They were all practically useless objects; trying to use them as weapons would likely cause them to snap from extreme decay.

Stepping through a large hole formed by a collapsed wall, Duan Qing entered another room. Aside from the ubiquitous rubble, there were also fallen wooden shelves and wooden boxes.

Hah, a treasure chest... Duan Qing sneered, resolving not to be fooled again.

When he first saw a chest like this, Duan Qing had felt a slight thrill. However, facts proved that in a game like World, it was completely unrealistic for a treasure chest to just be sitting out in the open somewhere. The moment Duan Qing lightly touched the box before him, it crumbled into a pile of weathered sand.

Inside, apart from a heap of unrecognizable trash, only a tattered piece of cloth resembling part of a garment bore some useful information.

"Fal... Fa..." Duan Qing squinted at the writing on the animal-fur-like remnant for a long time before finally giving up on something of such excessive difficulty for him: "Fa-something-or-other... Ah, whatever, let it be..."

From the layout before him, Duan Qing could roughly guess that this place was a storage room, but after such a long time, no storage room could preserve any items. Shaking his head, Duan Qing walked over to the scattered wooden shelves and picked up a spearhead... just the spearhead.

It seemed the shafts of these spears had also been made of wood in the past.

Duan Qing naturally couldn't tell what material the spearhead was made of, but he guessed it was likely some kind of metal. The spearhead was four-edged, though due to rain and rust, three of the edges had corroded together. This spearhead had also lost its original function; if he wanted to use it as an offensive weapon, he could probably only treat it as a throwable projectile.

"What a scam!" Duan Qing threw it onto the ground.

He raised his head to look at the clear sky, unobstructed by tree crowns due to the former village's clearing, silently questioning the heavens.

Having come to the Emerald Forest for so long, he finally found a place to loot thoroughly, only to realize in the end that they hadn't been defeated by the earliest pioneer players, but by time itself.

It seemed these ruins had been defeated by time, leaving behind nothing useful.

Duan Qing walked out of the ruins, kicked a wheel fragment away, and reached the path alongside the small river. The wooden piece dropped into the nearby river water with a plash. Across the riverbank, shifting sounds rang out simultaneously; the originally faint noises echoed through the quiet area, appearing exceptionally noticeable. Duan Qing understood, however, that these were likely the ambient noises made by the other two groups as they searched frantically.

For some reason, a wave of frustration suddenly welled up in Duan Qing's heart: there was probably nothing of value left to be found here.

No wonder those two archmages had left so decisively earlier...

Duan Qing sighed, sat down on a rock beside the riverbed, and gazed at the river flowing through the center of the ruins. The road in front of where he stood curved along the river, extending further into the unknown. It seemed this river bend had once been built alongside the waterway. Not far ahead, some stones filled the edge of the small river, and wood chips floated near the end of those stone extensions, looking like what might have once been a small dock built along the river, which had now lost its purpose, with no boats in sight.

Duan Qing pondered for a moment, stood up, dusted himself off, and walked toward that spot.

When he first found this river, a lingering thought had told him that the waterway must serve some purpose. Later, as they used it to find this ruined village, the river's utility was explained—if he were to choose a place for a human settlement, a location with a water source would be the best choice.

Yet, seeing the wood chips floating on the river path, this small river might have served even more functions. For instance, the stone-paved road ahead—if it had once been a dock, using it to transport goods would have been a great method. Based on Duan Qing's observations, this river eventually flowed toward the foot of that tall tower, meaning that as a village, this place could have accomplished much more...

Walking closer, Duan Qing realized those stones were not ordinary rocks, but stone pillars—the river water here seemed to have deepened, submerging the pillars until only a tiny portion peeked above the surface, though they barely managed to form a path. Duan Qing followed those pillars to the end and looked around.

He spotted some wood splinters, a square signpost supported by a man-taller iron post, and... the slowly flowing, clear river water.

The text on the signpost was no longer legible—such an iron sign, placed in a place with such heavy moisture, could not possibly withstand corrosion no matter how rust-resistant it was. Duan Qing tried to discern even the slightest clue related to this place from it, but it was truly just a rust-covered plate, revealing nothing no matter how hard he looked.

Duan Qing looked around. Aside from piles of broken wooden sticks, wood chips, or wooden boards, there were plenty of stone fragments, water weeds, rusted iron nails, and iron wires—some kind of structure had likely existed here before, but it was now destroyed. He looked into the small river again; the water was crystal clear, but nothing could be seen—and he hoped it stayed that way, for in this bizarre forest, any living creature was dangerous.

Perhaps wiping this sign with something would reveal a clue? Thinking of this, Duan Qing looked back. A well-preserved stone house still stood among the row of collapsed ruins. Duan Qing paused to observe that somewhat large building for a moment, then lifted his foot and walked toward it.

A loud crash echoed from afar, followed by Ah Niu's exclamation and Duan Shanling's continuous roar: "Be careful, kid! Do you want to get us all killed..."

It was probably the impatient Ah Niu who brought something down. It seemed they hadn't found anything of value either... Or had they encountered some monsters? No, that didn't seem right... Ever since entering this basin, they hadn't encountered any wild monsters at all. Had they migrated collectively? Or did this place possess some warding mechanism that kept monsters out? Or perhaps some demon boss was lurking here, scaring away all other wild creatures?

Lacking any clues, Duan Qing could only engage in wild guesswork. Though even he had no idea what kind of clue would count as useful, he had no other option aside from finding some information to support a logical starting point.

Right, if it was the system...

Duan Qing opened the system menu, skillfully located his adventure notes, and found the following content under the map: "Emerald Forest—Periphery of the Emerald Tower, Ruin Zone."

Though it had four more words, this still didn't tell him where he was. Even the Veil Treehouse had the name Veil in it... Duan Qing shook his head, then pushed open the decayed wooden door.

This place was indeed much larger than the crumbling ruins he had visited earlier—that was the feeling that welled up in Duan Qing's heart the moment he stepped into the opposite room. Then, he was immediately drawn to the counter before him.

It looked rather like a bank counter in the real world...

Despite heavy decay, the structure of this place had still preserved its original framework. Although missing the blocking glass and panels, Duan Qing could still distinguish from the remaining skeletal remains that this place had once been divided into several service windows, presumably used for separate administrative duties and handling affairs.

Finally, he had found a relatively important location...

Kicking open a half-hanging railing door, Duan Qing went behind the counter. It remained utterly decayed, and nothing useful could be found. After searching carefully for a while, Duan Qing finally unearthed an iron badge from beneath the fallen wall rubble behind the counter.

It should have been a signpost, or rather, an emblem.

The emblem was circular, about the size of a palm, with a border of carved lacework. Duan Qing could tell from these patterns that the insignia must have been exquisitely designed originally. However, the pattern in the center was extremely simple—it consisted of several large blank spaces, resembling piles of stones stacked together, or white logs placed randomly.

Due to its age, the iron badge was heavily rusted, but Duan Qing could still distinguish the original composition style of the pattern against the yellowish-brown background. Precisely because of this, Duan Qing found it even harder to understand what meaning this simple pattern represented.

Were those stones carved on it? Or wood? Because they lived among giant trees, did they use such a concise and bold pattern as their symbol?

With the current clues, these deductions were mere random guesses. Duan Qing shook his head, tucked the iron badge away, and prepared to show it to Christine later. Perhaps with an archmage's erudition, she could explain the meaning behind the emblem's pattern.

Another muffled thud echoed from the other side of the river, accompanied by a collapsing sound. Duan Qing assumed it was someone from another group clumsily bringing down another house, but the next moment, Mengzhu's piercing scream rang out.

Duan Qing bolted outside and immediately saw the situation unfolding over there.

Across the riverbank lay the direction Mengzhu and Snow Spirit Mirage had headed earlier. At this moment, the young girl was standing by the riverbank, her back facing him, staring at a building behind her. The gentle twitching of her ponytail tip revealed her inner anxiety. Just as Duan Qing was about to shout to ask what accident had occurred, a figure suddenly flashed out from the building ahead of the girl.

To be precise, that figure rolled out.

Though far away, Duan Qing couldn't see the person's appearance clearly, but from the black cloak, he could confirm that the person was undoubtedly Snow Spirit Mirage. She scrambled up from the ground in a disheveled state, holding her longsword horizontally across her chest once more as if guarding against something. Yet her head kept swaying slightly from side to side, showing uncertainty about the direction from which the enemy might appear.

Were the opponents that tricky? Duan Qing refrained from shouting out loud to avoid distracting his teammates, opting instead to find a way across first. Given Snow Spirit Mirage's strength, holding out for a while shouldn't be a problem, and Ah Niu and the other guy on the other side should arrive in time upon hearing the commotion...

Only, this instantly overturned his previous guess. There actually were monsters here after all...

The rat-tat-tat sound of piercing arrows rang out, and Duan Qing abruptly turned his head as the situation on the other side finally changed.

The black cloak rolled across the ground once more. Where she had been standing just moments before, several slender objects were stuck in the ground, as if someone was attacking with legendary crossbow bolts.

"It's vines!" Before Duan Qing could figure out the implications of that scene, Duan Shanling's roar rang out from the riverbank on the other side.

As the words fell, one of the houses ahead of Mengzhu and Snow Spirit Mirage suddenly collapsed. Under the sunlight, a patch of abrupt green stood out incongruously amidst the chaotic rubble.

It was a section of a vine.