The sky was gradually darkening, the setting sun casting an oblique glow. The layers of mountains lay like solemn, slumbering Giant Beasts, shrouded in the twilight hues.

The forest path was rugged. Perhaps due to the morning's rain, the dirt road had become quite muddy and was speckled with puddles.

The rhythmic sound of hooves echoed as the wheels of a spacious and luxurious carriage rolled over puddles, making its way along the mountain trail. Inside the carriage compartment, piles of various books and a thick stack of newspapers lay on a long wooden table.

Li Ang quickly flipped through the newspaper. The headlines were striking: "Tulip bulbs imported by Fema Kingdom cause prices to skyrocket!" "Donglain Company expands into colonial ventures, stock prices soar to forty times issue price, investors show great confidence!" "New Prime Minister forms cabinet, hires a goblin lady with a Master's degree as his secretary!"

The newspapers in this world used poor-quality paper, resulting in blurry text and shoddy printing, not to mention their problematic layouts. The front pages were filled with sensational headlines about bizarre events, such as: "Eighty-year-old woman living alone dragged from her home and caged!" "Viscountess Wapol caught cuddling with a man in a theater while the Viscount watches with a serene smile!" "Norfolk County man strangely becomes pregnant after using hair dye!"

Conversely, actual official news occupied only small sections, crammed into the corners like insignificant filler. And tucked between the pages were hand-drawn advertisements for underwear, featuring models (this section boasted the highest printing quality in the entire newspaper).

The aforementioned eighty-year-old woman supposedly caged was, in fact, an eighty-year-old, turtle-shaped Magical Beast taken in by the duchy's animal protection organization. The unidentified man Viscountess Wapol was embracing was actually her own two-year-old child. The man who used hair dye didn't get pregnant; he merely suffered from bloating after eating a certain plant's fruit and hadn't had a bowel movement in a week.

It must be said that even though this heavily modified Fairy World had been overtaken by the winds of political correctness, the newspaper industry was still like the British tabloids of modern times: eager to delve into scandals, fond of using absurd headlines, and fabricating content. They were far more unscrupulous and shameless than the clickbait titles like "You'll regret not reading this!" or "Photos that shocked all of humanity!"

Inside the carriage, Li Ang wasn't the only one perusing the newspapers; the others were also engrossed in various books and materials.

Player forums in the real world had long ago reached a consensus, dividing scenario worlds into two types. One type is "enclosed," placing players in a sealed, isolated space they cannot freely leave to explore—much like the Japan Islands campus scenario Li Ang had previously experienced. The other is "open," allowing players to freely explore within the scenario world, such as the current Fairy World.

Enclosed scenarios typically have shorter playthroughs and offer players less information, somewhat resembling escape rooms. Open scenarios, on the other hand, have longer playthroughs and offer more diverse completion methods, even allowing for free exploration within the mission's time limits.

The most important resource of a scenario world isn't the completion rewards or the corpses of quest bosses. Instead, it's the systems of supernatural power and knowledge contained within that world. These things are truly priceless.

Driven by interest, the other players were also eagerly perusing the materials. Julia idly questioned Frederick the lumberjack, inquiring about the supernatural powers once possessed by the Kingdom of Lipma.

Frederick's answers, however, were unsatisfying. According to him, about a dozen years ago, all kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Lipma, only possessed conventional armies like Gryphon Knights, heavy cavalry, and wolf-mounted riders. Spellcasters were few, and their traditions were obscure and scarce. Over the years, he had lived in the deep mountains and remote forests, almost entirely ignorant of why the extraordinary powers of the outside world had advanced so rapidly.

Well, this down-on-his-luck prince with his full beard and brutish, fleshy face... currently seems like nothing more than a useless freeloader.

The players sitting inside the carriage continued reading their books and materials when suddenly, a noisy din erupted from the forest ahead. Everyone's heads snapped up at once. Amidst the commotion were cries, shouts, the clash of metal, and the sound of explosions—a small-scale battle was underway up ahead.

The Coachman they had hired from a carriage service frantically cracked his whip and pulled on the reins, bringing the carriage to a halt. He turned around and whispered, "Revered Monk, it seems like there's a battle ahead. Shall we turn back?"

"No rush."

Li Ang's calm voice came from inside the carriage. He glanced at his teammates, nodded, then pushed open the door and stepped out.

The Coachman broke into a cold sweat. "Revered Monk, what are you doing?!"

"As an Eastern Monk who upholds the principles of pacifism, I cannot stand to see people fighting and killing before my very eyes," Li Ang said calmly. "I'll go scout ahead. You turn the carriage around and stop about a thousand paces back. Wait for us there. If we don't return, head back to Hamelin Town on your own."

The Coachman, unsure of these people's backgrounds, stared dumbfounded as the group of passengers stepped out of the carriage.

Are these people not afraid of death at all?

As the sounds of the skirmish ahead grew louder and the passengers showed no sign of leaving, the Coachman gritted his teeth, turned the carriage around, and departed on his own.

As the sound of hooves faded into the distance, Li Ang produced the Soul Reaping Bronze Scythe from the void. With a light tap of his foot, he sprang agilely into the woods. Bounding from one giant tree trunk to another, he dashed towards the source of the commotion.

The clash of weapons emanated from a clearing in the woods. There, two groups were brawling.

One group consisted of forty or fifty brawny men in uniform, each wielding wooden or metal clubs. Their uniforms all bore the insignia: "Hornburg Papermaking Company, Antimony Town."

The other group consisted of over a hundred individuals in bizarre attire. They had green and yellow paint on their faces and wore odd clothes—some made of cloth, others of woven vines or animal skins, and some even consisted of just two pieces of hardwood worn on their front and back. Each carried wooden clubs or sticks. Most of these oddly dressed individuals were lean young men and women, with some middle-aged and elderly people among them. Behind this crowd were children armed with rocks.

The two groups were fighting each other. The muscular men in the paper company uniforms clearly had the advantage in size and weaponry. However, during the actual fight, they seemed hesitant and restrained, unable to deliver deadly blows. They could only passively defend against the wooden club attacks from the bizarrely dressed faction. Occasionally, stones thrown by the children, also strangely dressed, would hit them from a distance, leaving them with bloody heads and forcing them to retreat.

"Protect our forests!"

"How dare you ignore the scientific conclusions about global warming and come to cut down trees?!"

"For environmental protection! You blasphemers of the earth and forests, go to hell!"

Just as this group, yelling incomprehensible slogans, was about to completely encircle the paper company employees, a ghostly figure suddenly leaped out from the trees.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.