Wang Shou was drunk, but the moment he heard the Village Chief's request, the drunkenness on his face vanished. A look of horror appeared in his eyes.
He repeatedly waved his hands.
"Village Chief, things are different now! The mountain forest is extremely chaotic and dangerous. I can't leave the village!"
The Village Chief's expression immediately darkened.
"Wang Shou!"
He reprimanded him sternly.
"You're also a member of Qingshan Village. Now that the village is facing a crisis, if we can't solve the ghoul problem, Qingshan Village might be finished!"
"How can you be so selfish? This time, you must go!"
After saying this, the Village Chief's tone softened.
"Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about your daughter. Aren't you worried that she might encounter danger?"
The moment he heard the word daughter, Wang Shou slowly lowered his head and clenched his fists tightly.
He then looked at Liang Zhichu, Zhao Mu, and the others standing behind the Village Chief before shaking his head.
"No, that's not it! The mountain forest is extremely dangerous. They won't be able to handle this situation alone."
"We need to get the Wubei Army here!"
The Village Chief completely ignored Wang Shou's objections.
Instead, he turned to Liang Zhichu and the others.
"He's nothing more than a drunkard, but he's the person most familiar with the depths of the mountain forest."
"Don't worry. He'll definitely lead the way for you."
As far as the Village Chief was concerned, Wang Shou's personal wishes were not important.
When the interests of the entire village were at stake, individual desires had to give way to the collective.
Just then, a melodious voice, as clear as a silver bell, suddenly came from outside the tavern.
"Village Chief, have guests arrived in the village?"
The autumn heat had yet to disappear.
It was midday, and the scorching sun hung high in the sky, making the air hot and oppressive.
Yet when that woman's voice reached the tavern, everyone somehow felt a refreshing coolness.
Everyone immediately turned toward the entrance.
Even Zhao Mu and the others looked over.
At first glance, Zhao Mu almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
On the flat, dry yellow earth outside, the scorching sunlight distorted the air.
Yet a woman in a white dress stood gracefully in the middle of it all.
She held a white lace parasol decorated with delicate tassels.
Her skin was as fair as snow, and her lips were painted a captivating red.
A gentle smile appeared on her face, and the hostility that had filled the tavern seemed to dissipate instantly.
Beside her stood a little girl who looked somewhat sickly.
The woman held the girl's hand while the child hugged a patched-up doll to her chest, timidly staring at everyone inside the tavern.
The woman walked into the tavern and closed her parasol.
The Village Chief immediately smiled and stepped forward.
"So it's Young Miss Shen Ningxue. What brings you here?"
From the conversations around him, Zhao Mu learned the identity of the beautiful woman.
She was Shen Ningxue, the village doctor of Qingshan Village.
Shen Ningxue gently squeezed the little girl's hand.
"It's because Tangtang said she wanted to see her father, so I brought her here."
She lowered her head and looked at the little girl with a warm smile, her eyes filled with tenderness.
Tangtang immediately rushed toward Wang Shou and hugged his legs.
"Daddy!"
Wang Shou quickly picked up his daughter, his expression filled with affection and heartache.
However, the Village Chief's earlier words continued to echo in his mind.
"Think carefully about what I said!"
"There are only a little over a thousand people in Qingshan Village. If we all die, how will the elderly, women, children, and other vulnerable people survive when the ghouls attack?"
Someone immediately echoed him.
"That's right. A house in the city costs two or three million Xuanfeng Coins. We can't afford that kind of money."
"We can only stay here until we die of old age."
"Wang Shou, you were once a deserter and caused so many people to die. You should atone for your sins!"
Tangtang suddenly shouted angrily at the villager.
"My daddy isn't a deserter! He's a hero!"
The villager sneered.
"Whether he's a deserter or not, everyone knows the truth!"
Wang Shou lowered his head.
After a long silence, he finally spoke heavily.
"Fine. I'll go and guide them."
The Village Chief immediately let out a long sigh of relief.
"That's more like it!"
Wang Shou looked at Liang Zhichu, Zhao Mu, and the others before sighing helplessly.
He handed Tangtang to Shen Ningxue.
Then he turned toward the group.
"Follow me."
"If you want to enter the depths of the mountain forest, there are some things you need to know first."
Zhao Mu and Liang Zhichu exchanged a glance before following Wang Shou.
The group soon left the tavern and arrived at Wang Shou's home.
His house was the most dilapidated one in the entire village.
The exterior walls were uneven and covered in pits, as though they had been damaged countless times.
There were even traces of excrement, rotten eggs, and spoiled vegetable leaves around the corners of the walls.
The Deserter King.
That was indeed an interesting nickname.
Shao Han looked at Wang Shou with undisguised disgust.
Zhao Mu, however, remained calm.
He did not rush to judge a person based solely on what others said about him.
Unexpectedly, although the outside of the house was in terrible condition, the interior was surprisingly clean and tidy.
The entire house was decorated primarily in pink.
It was obvious that Wang Shou doted on his daughter.
Wang Shou motioned for everyone to sit down.
Then his expression suddenly became serious.
The drunkenness from earlier had completely disappeared.
"I'll advise you one more time, and I'm being completely serious."
"Relying solely on you Cadet Soldiers, you won't be able to handle this incident."
"The situation is much more dangerous than you imagine."
"You must call in the Wubei Army!"
Shao Han couldn't help sneering.
"Do you know anything about our strength?"
"Don't blame me for being blunt, but even though we're only students of Qingfeng Camp, our strength is far beyond what someone from a small mountain village like you could imagine."
Shao Han looked at Wang Shou with obvious disdain.
He assumed that Wang Shou was underestimating them simply because they looked young.
Wang Shou shook his head.
"No. That's not what I mean."
"I'm telling you the truth."
"In this incident, I can sense a dangerous aura."
"Those aren't ordinary ghouls."
Liang Zhichu tilted his head slightly and asked with a smile.
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Where do you think the source of the danger lies?"
At these words, Wang Shou suddenly frowned and fell silent.
After a long pause, he slowly spoke.
"It's an intuition I've developed through many years on the battlefield."
Everyone was stunned.
Shao Han immediately burst out laughing.
"I heard your nickname is the Deserter King."
"And now you're telling me about an intuition you developed on the battlefield?"
"Did you only learn how to become a deserter while you were on the battlefield?"
Even Liang Zhichu clearly couldn't accept that explanation.
"You only need to lead the way for us."
"We'll handle everything else ourselves."
This was only a minor ghoul crisis. It couldn't be considered a particularly difficult mission.
The mutated beasts living deep in the mountains and ancient forests were far more troublesome than these half-rotted corpses.
Wang Shou seemed to have been deeply irritated by Shao Han's repeated mockery of his nickname, Deserter King.
He understood that no matter what he said, these elites from Qingfeng Camp would not listen to him.
After thinking for a long time, he finally sighed.
"I'll take you there tonight."
"You'll understand when you see it for yourselves."
Liang Zhichu nodded and stood up.
"Then we'll leave for now."
"See you tonight."
He and Shao Han walked toward the door.
However, just as they were about to leave, they realized that Zhao Mu and Mo Guanguan had not followed them.
Shao Han frowned.
"This guy… what on earth is he doing?"
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