A wooden plank was half-buried in the soil.

He rushed over and carefully cleared the surrounding mud. The wood was decayed, but its edges had neat cut marks—cross-sections left by tools, not natural fractures.

Traces of human tool processing!

Lin Feng observed the plank closely: the material was pine, the cut surface was relatively flat, and a metal axe-like tool had been used.

The degree of decay was moderate; the surface was cracked but not completely pulverized, and the part buried underground was better preserved.

"At least six months, no more than a year," he judged. "Someone has been here, and they came from a settlement either upstream or downstream."

He immediately checked the surrounding ground. About ten meters downstream, he found a faint trampling mark; several stalks of grass were flattened, pointing downstream.

"Going downstream." Lin Feng made his decision and quickened his pace.

The sky grew darker and darker, the dark red sky gradually turning deep purple, finally tending toward ink black.

There were no stars, no moon—only occasional eerie green spots of light, like phosphorus fires, drifting over the silhouettes of distant mountains.

After walking about another two kilometers, the stream suddenly widened and ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) merged into a broader river. On the opposite bank, there was a glimmer of light.

It wasn't natural light, but... firelight.

Lin Feng held his breath and lowered his body, using the grass along the riverbank as cover to cautiously peek out.

About three hundred meters away on the opposite bank, there was a village.

A wooden perimeter wall, estimated to be about three meters high, enclosed an area roughly the size of a football field.

There were several watchtowers on the wall, one of which had a lantern hanging from it, its dim yellow light swaying in the darkness.

Inside the wall, the outlines of several buildings could be seen, the tallest being a small two-story building. There seemed to be a small square in the center of the village with a bonfire and figures moving about.

But Lin Feng's heart sank.

Because the flag planted on the village wall was not the red flag of Great Xia.

It was a black flag embroidered with a pattern of crossed bone knives.

He had learned about this symbol in his "Nightmare World Power Identification" class—the Black Bone Flag, a common symbol for Bandit Camps.

It wasn't a formal territory, but an illegal settlement spontaneously established by fugitives, criminals, and exiled Awakened.

Unrecognized by any nation, the internal rule was the law of the jungle, and plundering passing travelers was the norm.

More dangerously, Bandit Camps usually did not welcome strangers, especially those without a "Tribute" (property, resources, or proof of a kill).

Cases in textbooks showed that over seventy percent of newcomers who blundered into Bandit Camps were enslaved or killed.

"I can't go in directly," Lin Feng judged immediately.

But what other options were there? It was pitch black now, and the wilderness at night was fraught with danger.

Lin Feng only had thirty percent of his physical strength left, and he had nothing on him but a wooden stick. Go back upstream?

There was only a vaster wilderness there, and according to previous observations, there were fewer signs of human activity in the upstream direction. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Just as he was weighing the pros and cons, the sound of a dry branch snapping suddenly came from behind him.

Lin Feng whipped his head around, his muscles tensing up.

In the darkness, two points of eerie green light were slowly approaching. Then a second pair, a third... at least five or six pairs of green dots.

A low growl, accompanied by the rustling sound of claws scraping the ground.

Lin Feng retreated slowly, his hand gripping the wooden stick tightly. By the faint firelight of the camp in the distance, he could barely make out the silhouettes of the newcomers: nearly two meters long, fur festering to reveal parts of the skeleton, fangs exposed, and saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths.

"Rotten Wolf, nocturnal variant." Information flashed through his mind. "Pack-dwellers, keen sense of smell, fear fire but bloodthirsty, will actively attack humans when hungry... This is trouble."

The Rotten Wolves had already spread out, surrounding him in a semi-circle. They were smart; they didn't pounce immediately but were slowly tightening the circle.

Lin Feng's back hit the edge of the riverbank; there was no further retreat.

He quickly assessed the situation: in a direct confrontation, one wooden stick against at least three Rotten Wolves meant zero chance of winning.

Jump into the river? The river was thirty meters wide, the current conditions were unknown, and the Rotten Wolves might pursue him into the water—textbooks recorded that Rotten Wolves were average swimmers, but they would take risks when hungry.

"Make noise to attract the camp's attention?" The moment this thought flashed by, he dismissed it. If people from the Bandit Camp came over, they wouldn't necessarily save him; they'd more likely finish him off and plunder him.

In the few seconds he spent thinking, the largest Rotten Wolf in the lead lost its patience, kicked off with its hind legs, and suddenly pounced!

Lin Feng rolled to the side almost instinctively, swinging the wooden stick with all his might, hitting the Rotten Wolf's ribs.

The Rotten Wolf howled in pain, but another one had already pounced from the side, its sharp claws reaching straight for his neck.

A foul wind hit his face.

Lin Feng barely lowered his head; the claws grazed his scalp, causing a stinging pain.

He took the momentum to lunge forward and roll aside, but a third Rotten Wolf had already blocked his path.

Beset on three sides, his physical strength was about to be exhausted.

A life-or-death moment—(PS: Some readers say this is a certain-death situation, but it's actually not. The protagonist can jump into the river, and there's a more normal village downstream. Also, the person who saves him from the other side does so for certain reasons that will be written later; they will protect the protagonist at least so he doesn't die. If you feel there's a problem anywhere, you can leave a paragraph comment, and I will explain everything.)

Swoosh!

The sound of something breaking through the air came from the opposite bank.

An arrow accurately pierced the eye socket of the Rotten Wolf that was about to pounce on Lin Feng, penetrating its skull. The Rotten Wolf wailed as it fell to the ground, twitching.

Immediately after, a second and third arrow were fired; the other two Rotten Wolves nimbly jumped away, and the arrows thudded into the ground where they had just been standing.

On the riverbank of the opposite side, a figure holding a longbow shouted toward him, "Hey! You kid over there! Still alive?"

Lin Feng panted heavily and looked toward the opposite bank. The firelight outlined the person's silhouette: tall, bald, and seemingly with tattoos on his face.

The figure holding the bow continued to shout, his voice hoarse, "If you want to live, swim over!

The river isn't deep; at the deepest in the middle, it's only chest-high! But be quick, the smell of blood on you has already drifted out, and more Rotten Wolves will be here soon!"

As if to confirm his words, wolf howls rose and fell from deep in the wilderness, and green dots were converging from all directions.

Lin Feng looked quickly at the river. It was about thirty meters wide, the current wasn't fast, but the water temperature at night was very low.

He looked back at the increasing number of green dots in the darkness; at least a dozen Rotten Wolves were gathering.

Finally, he looked at the Black Bone Flag swaying in the firelight on the opposite bank.

There was no choice.

Swim across and face the unknown Bandit Camp.

Bandit Camps didn't keep idle people; if the other party saved him, he must be of use.

This meant there was still room for negotiation after crossing the river.

Stay here, and he would immediately become the Rotten Wolves' dinner.

Lin Feng took a deep breath, threw away the wooden stick, and plunged into the icy river water.

A bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped his body. He gritted his teeth and swam toward the opposite bank with all his might.

Behind him, the howling of the Rotten Wolves grew closer; he could already hear the sound of them splashing as they rushed to the riverbank.

On the opposite bank, the bald man with the bow fired a few more arrows, temporarily suppressing the Rotten Wolves that attempted to enter the water.

"Swim faster! They aren't afraid of the water!" the bald man shouted.

Lin Feng used all his strength to paddle. The river was swifter than imagined, and there was indeed a deep-water area in the middle where he couldn't touch the bottom, so he could only swim across with everything he had.

Finally, his hand touched the mud on the opposite bank.

A rough, large hand reached out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him onto the shore with force.