"Mr. Mayor, are you sure this 'road' is right?" Annabella whispered to the mayor as she looked at the rainforest ahead. She put an accent on the word "road" - there was really no way to call it a road.

The mayor took good care of the lovely Annabella, and he smiled and replied, "I am old, but I can't go wrong in this kind of matter, and we will soon find their tribe by following this path." ”

As he spoke, the mayor pushed aside a bush and pulled out a short, thin spike from it, "You see, this is the blowgun of the tribesmen, and we have entered their hunting range. ”

The adventurous party had been trekking through the jungle for a day and a half, and it was already noon the next day. However, they were not on the nearest path to the ruins.

At Faust's request, the old mayor is leading them in search of the natives tribe in the vicinity. The mayor was initially reluctant, fearing the native leader, but Faust eventually persuaded him on the grounds that the man needed to end the curse.

Faust nodded, looked at the two Lucas who were carrying large bags, and asked, "What time is it?"

Lucas took out an hourglass with a scale, looked at it, and replied respectfully: "Your Excellency, it will be noon soon." ”

When Faust heard this, he thought for a moment and turned back to the mayor and asked, "Mr. Marula, can we find that tribe before dark?"

"There's absolutely no problem, and after a few decades, they haven't changed at all. The mayor's tone was both wistful and slightly contemptuous, "We must have been in their camp before dusk." ”

"That's good, find a dry place to eat and rest. Faust waved his hand and gave the order—he couldn't stand the intensity of the trek. Looking at the few people around him as if nothing had happened, Faust felt even more uncomfortable.

It's not that his physical strength is inferior to others, in this six-person team, Reinhardt is probably the only one who can surpass Faust in physical strength, but he is pampered and has never suffered this kind of hardship, and when he left the Toad Tribe before, he also sat on a cart all the way, and rarely walked with his feet.

Mayor Marula didn't say much when he heard this, but he led everyone around, and soon found a suitable place to rest. It was a huge rock, slightly sloping, but very smooth, surrounded by sparse trees, and a ray of sunlight shone diagonally through the branches and leaves, leaving the whole stone warm and dry, and there was no moisture in the jungle at all.

The duo of guards with their luggage in the back consciously laid out the tarps and cushions for everyone, and took out dry food and distributed it to everyone—Faust's was obviously more abundant, with some nuts and preserved fruit in addition to bread and dried meat.

They began to eat and drink without saying a word—Reinhardt did not need to say anything, he had become a stuffy gourd, Annabella and Reinhardt had an awkward quarrel and did not speak, Faust was so tired that he did not want to say a word, and the two guards sat a little further away from the others, chatting in a low voice in Avento, which no one could understand except Faust.

In this strange atmosphere, Mayor Mare was a little fidgeting - he had been the same for the previous meals. Just as he was about to open his mouth to liven up the atmosphere, something unexpected happened to him.

Reinhardt had spoken! This was the first time the mayor had heard Reinhardt speak since he had first seen him two days earlier.

"What's that?" Reinhardt asked, pointing to a patch of grass not far away—but his tone didn't rise or fall in a bit.

Faust craned his neck to look, but found nothing. Just as he was about to launch the remote sensing technique to take a closer look, the mayor of the town let out a startled exclamation, "Canopy wolf?" and he hurriedly ran to the grass and picked up a ball of hairy stuff, which seemed to be an animal.

It wasn't until the mayor turned back that Faust could see the animal's appearance. The animal was about the size of a domestic cat, but with a short, thick neck, slender limbs, and flexible knuckles, it looked like a hunter jumping between the canopies, and its long tail allowed it to keep its balance on its narrow branches. Its fur is a grayish-green color, and it appears to be mossy between its long light gray hairs, and its outline is barely visible in the jungle.

Why would a dead animal provoke such a reaction from the mayor? Faust's question was quickly answered—the mayor rummaged through the fur of the "canopy wolf" and soon found a blow arrow—most of which had already been submerged in the wolf's body, except that a little remained outside, and the amount of bleeding was so small that Faust could not tell how the animal had died if it had not been for the mayor.

The mayor pulled out the blow clippers, put them to the end of his nose and sniffed them, and then took out the lost blow arrow he had picked up earlier, and sniffed it too. Soon, his face became solemn, "It's not the right time for us to come, I'm afraid they're holding a 'big hunt'." ”

Faust curiously took the two blow arrows and sniffed them separately, the previous one had almost no taste, but there was a strong sour smell when it was just pulled out of the wolf's body.

"What does it smell like?" said Faust, fanning his hand as he tried to dispel the smell that lingered in his nose, "like vomit from the night." ”

Reinhardt also came over, and he was still very concerned about this kind of thing. Annabella wanted to step forward, but when she saw Reinhardt approaching, she sat there angrily, just pricking up her ears and listening.

Mayor Marew took a deep breath, "This tribe has always had this custom, but in recent decades they have not communicated with the outside world, and everyone has forgotten about it. ”

Reinhardt nodded, they had been hired by Professor Pacian into the jungle, and along the way they could only get supplies from the tribe, but they had no contact with the tribe. He once thought that this tribe was located relatively far away, and at that time their supplies were relatively abundant and did not need to be replenished, but now it seems that the other party is deliberately avoiding contact with outsiders.

"This kind of thing. Mayor Mare held up the canopy wolf corpse in his hand, "It's ferocious, but every few years, they become extraordinarily ferocious, as if ...... It's as if they've all gone crazy, and the numbers have become so large that they take a big toll on the Buraku people every time. Luckily, they never leave the jungle, so we don't have a problem as long as we don't go into the woods. ”

"Canopys can't eat meat, but the tribesmen need to control their numbers in advance in order to curb the tide – whenever the number of crested wolves increases and there are signs of a tide, they start a 'big hunt'. I also participated a few times when I was younger, and ......"

The mayor of the town was suddenly silent, and after a while, he sighed and gave up his memories, "Later, they even hated outsiders, and usually they just avoided us, but when it came time for the big hunt, they treated us as if we were the crown wolves, and they had to kill us." ”

"Usually blowing arrows is like this, and it should have been an anesthetic. "The mayor picked up the blown arrow, which had been in the bushes for a while, and the potion on it had long since disappeared.

"And this one, the quenching poison on it is a special medicine for the canopy wolf, as long as the skin is scratched, it can kill them. Having said that, if a human being gets a few at a time, it will inevitably be seriously ill, and it is estimated that those with a slightly weaker constitution will not be spared. The old mayor glanced at Annabella, and then at Faust.

"That's terrible. Faust sighed, "In that case, how are we going to find the native-leader?"

"Let's take a prisoner and ask first. Reinhardt spoke suddenly, interrupting Faust's words. His gaze was as sharp as that of an eagle, and he looked at a bush of ferns that did not show any shape.