Chapter 70: The Player Who Stole Timber

After reading the secret letter, Yeda unceremoniously stuffed it into the slightly open mouth of a statue.

"Pass on the message? That's impossible!"

Although... the goblin referred to the humans in the letter as cannibals, and Yeda considered himself different from that tribe. But who could guarantee the Goblin King thought the same? And what benefit was there in doing such a thing? Yeda ignored the abundant nonsense in the letter, focusing only on the mention of the secret treasure.

This treasure was called—the Psionic Bow.

Yeda reached into another glowing orb and obtained a green ring. The ring was entirely jade-green, cold to the touch, and resembled a jade band, but how was it meant to be used?

[Secret Treasure—Psionic Bow: Wear it on your finger and inject energy to activate.]

[PS: The operation for psionic arrows is the same, but be careful not to drain your mental energy, or you will feel nauseous and dizzy; in severe cases, you may faint!]

"Is it really that serious?"

Curious, Yeda followed the instructions from his analysis glasses, silently channeling energy into the ring.

Shua!

In the next second, a bow glowing with green light suddenly appeared in Yeda's hand. It seemed to materialize out of thin air—a true creation from nothing.

The astonishing thing was... in Yeda's hand, the bow felt solid—cold and hard, with a texture somewhere between metal and stone. The moment it appeared, Yeda could distinctly sense its presence, and gripping it, he felt its reality.

So... this treasure ring was meant to store such a bow?

Yeda recalled he also had a sapphire ring, a treasure that had dropped when he defeated the treasure chest monster. Yet to this day, he didn't know how to use it.

Could it be... the sapphire ring was also a secret treasure?

Unfortunately, Yeda didn't have the sapphire ring with him. He would have to wait until he set up his treehouse again to retrieve it and try it out.

"To condense an arrow, it seems you just inject energy into the treasure."

Yeda gripped the bow and drew the string. As he continued to send energy into the ring, a green-glowing arrow began to form on the string.

"Shall I try it?"

He was tempted to release the string and test the arrow's power, but he had a premonition—it would not be weak, and might very well blow up the cave!

If he collapsed the cave, that would be troublesome!

Yeda immediately withdrew his hand, deciding to find an open space outside for his experiment. Otherwise... if he buried himself here, it would be a ridiculous ending.

...

Banana Grove.

"Li Zhi, these are all top-quality timber! We're rich!!"

Lin Yamei stroked the fine wood as if it were a luxury item, her face full of joy, "Who do you suppose was foolish enough to stash so much excellent timber here?"

"I can't decide if it's because they're careless or just stupid."

"But with this, our treehouse can be upgraded to a premium one, right? When that happens, we'll move closer to the banana grove, guard the bananas as they ripen, then sell them. We won't have to worry about food or clothing anymore, and won't need to take risks!"

"That's true," Li Zhi replied, but he sounded concerned, "But whoever managed to gather so much high-quality wood can't be an ordinary player. If we just take their stuff..."

"If we just take what? Do you think this world has surveillance cameras?" Lin Yamei looked at her boyfriend's timid expression and snapped, "As long as you don't leave a note for them, who will know who took it? The timber isn't labeled—whoever finds it owns it!"

"But..."

Li Zhi actually wasn't trying to argue her point. He knew Lin Yamei misunderstood him. What he meant was: how were they supposed to move such a huge pile of timber?

But Lin Yamei gave him no chance to explain, "No buts!"

"You’re a grown man, how can you be so cowardly!"

"Useless!"

"Fine, I won't say anything." Stung by her rebuke, Li Zhi got annoyed and decided to stand aside, watching how she planned to transport the wood.

A hundred logs, weighing hundreds of pounds! There were no cars in this world, not even a cart—who could carry such a load for that distance?

"Ugh, so heavy!" After her excitement, Lin Yamei finally began to move the timber. But after picking up about ten logs, she was so bent under the weight she could barely stand. "Damn, why is this timber so heavy!"

"Li Zhi, why are you just standing there?"

"Aren’t you going to help?!"

"We’re just going to carry it back like this?" Li Zhi looked at Lin Yamei, bent double under the weight, confused, "It’s really far to our treehouse. If we haul this much each time, I doubt we’ll survive more than a few trips!"

"Are you stupid?!" Lin Yamei’s tone rose. "Do you think the original owner of this timber will wait for us to slowly move it? We have to carry as much as we can while we have the chance!"

"Uh, if that's your worry, we could just hide the timber somewhere else first," Li Zhi rolled his eyes. "That way, if the owner returns, they won’t know where it’s hidden, and we can move it bit by bit, like ants—wouldn’t that be smart?"

"I..."

Lin Yamei paused, her face flushing, but she wasn't about to concede. She put her hands on her hips and barked, "Of course I know that! Now hurry up and move it!"

"Alright..." Li Zhi shrugged helplessly, and joined Lin Yamei in carrying timber into the thickly overgrown forest, planning to hide it carefully.

With so much tall grass in the forest, he didn’t believe the owner could possibly find their timber among it!

Moreover... Li Zhi thought it best to store the timber in separate places. Even if the owner found some, they wouldn’t quickly locate the rest, giving him another chance.

Unfortunately... Li Zhi had no idea his efforts were utterly futile. Yeda had analysis glasses; a glance around the grove would reveal exactly where the timber was hidden—no need to search at all!

"Where to stash it?" Lin Yamei stepped into waist-high grass, surrounded by green blades, and didn't know where to put the logs.

"Over there—those grasses are greener and darker! The shape is special," Li Zhi pointed to a patch of sword grass, "We’ll put the timber there; it’ll be a hidden marker, so we can find it later."

"Alright!" Lin Yamei, inexperienced in such matters, surprisingly didn't argue.

Neither of these fools realized that the patch they chose was the infamous sword grass, named for its razor-sharp serrated edges.

Therefore...

"Ow! This grass is slicing me!" The moment Li Zhi stepped into the patch, he let out a cry of pain.

Lin Yamei, trailing behind, hadn’t realized the danger and mocked him, "Can you stop acting so delicate? It’s just a scratch—ah! It really hurts!"

She had just stepped in when she too began to scream, tossing her wood aside and trying to retreat from the grass.

But...

Dropping the timber threw her off balance, causing her to stumble forward, dragging Li Zhi with her into the heart of the sword grass.

"Ow!"

"Ah, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Li Zhi, get off me! I hurt, I want out!"

"I’m trying, but these grasses—ow, can you not push me?!"

While the two of them howled in pain, they didn't realize the owner of the timber had just left the cannibal tribe's cave and returned to the banana grove.

Originally...

Yeda intended to return to the treehouse, empty his storage pack, and then come back for the timber.

But as he passed through the banana grove, he noticed the ground littered with smashed and trampled bananas, his expression turning dark.

This proved outsiders had been here.

Because neither monkeys nor cannibal tribes would ever waste food like this.

Only players would.