Chapter 1 What Caused the Brawl?

The two camps looked at each other, unsure how to describe the situation.

After a moment of hesitation, Carpenter Hornburg, the owner of the paper mill, took a deep breath and said slowly, "Honorable monk, the thing is, our Hornburg Paper Company bought the woodland around Antimony Town to develop the local paper industry..."

Before he could finish, someone from the oddly dressed camp rudely interrupted him.

"Liars full of lies!"

A young woman with plain looks and black paint on her face stood under a tree and shouted at him, "What right do you have to buy this woodland?

All the resources on this land do not belong to the town, individuals, or companies, but to all living beings who live on the land!

You are using a decadent, old, domineering, and self-righteous attitude to conduct a transaction that you have no right to manage."

"Actually, we do."

The paper mill owner cleared his throat, as if he had been prepared for this, and took out a stack of paper documents from his pocket, holding them up one by one for everyone to see.

"We have the official stamped woodland purchase record from Antimony Town, a complete set of factory operation qualification certificates, and excellent operating records. We have also passed the factory pollution discharge review recently issued by the Rune Kingdom Environmental Protection Department.

This is enough to prove that our paper industry will not cause serious ecological damage that violates regulations, and will not affect the normal production, life, and health of the surrounding residents."

"So what?"

The girl said angrily, "Don't you know that countless experts admit that global warming is gradually becoming a serious problem that all living beings around the world urgently need to solve?

Don't you know that protecting forests and forest ecosystems is the greatest contribution we can make to future generations?

You only consider human residents, but you never think about the poor, lovely little lives that live in this forest.

They watch the rude and impolite lumberjacks, with tools they don't recognize, cut down the trees they depend on for survival as if they were beheading them.

The forest is wailing, the earth is crying, but you only care about the economic benefits in front of you!"

The paper mill owner glanced at her and said coldly, "Let's not talk about whether the global warming you mentioned is a real problem. Are the 'poor, lovely little lives' you are referring to

the forest dire wolves that have caused hundreds of injuries in the past twenty years?

Or the highly poisonous forest black-winged poison bees that have killed countless people?

Or the giant silver fox hares that reproduce too quickly, are frantically squeezing ecological niches, and have been included in the 'National Hunting Beast List'?

Respectable black-faced lady?"

The girl was speechless for a moment, but she immediately regarded this speechlessness as her own weakness. The next second, she regained her composure and prepared to teach the yin and yang paper mill owner a good lesson.

Seeing that the two sides were about to fall into inefficient verbal abuse again, Li Ang slammed his scythe, glanced at them coldly, and said indifferently, "I'm asking you what caused the fight. Just tell me that."

Faced with the gleaming blade of the scythe, both sides wisely chose to stop cursing each other.

The paper mill owner coughed, put away the documents, suppressed his anger, and continued, "Honorable monk, my father, Khalid Hornburg, was born in Antimony Town. He left home when he was young, worked alone in a foreign country, and established his own Hornburg Paper Company,

owning his own business.

As a respected entrepreneur, he always wanted to give back to his hometown and help his hometown get rid of poverty.

Inheriting his legacy and career, I brought the team to my homeland, Antimony Town. We spent two months finalizing the construction of the factory. It is expected to provide 270 jobs for the town in the future, and thousands of gold coins in taxes, making the Antimony Town Paper Company the largest paper supplier in the southern territory of the Rune Kingdom.

Everything was going perfectly until this group of people in strange costumes came."

He pointed to the oddly dressed people opposite him, pursed his lips, and said in a deep voice, "They call themselves the Children of the Forest, an extremely radical environmental protection group.

In the past few years, they have been wandering in several kingdoms in the name of protecting the forest, creating terror.

For example, smashing lumberjack camps, gathering in the forest to live, hammering tree spikes, releasing poisonous creatures on the edge of the forest, destroying factories, destroying mining and logging facilities, threatening and kidnapping the owners of forest development companies,

and even sneaking into the homes of some councilors who encourage the rational development and utilization of forest resources in poor areas, beheading the councilor's horse, and placing the horse's head next to the councilor's pillow as a threat.

A week ago, these Children of the Forest came to Antimony Town. They tried to bewitch the people to protest, but everyone knew the stakes and drove them out of town.

Of course, some teenagers were unfortunately bewitched by them.

This group of Children of the Forest occupied the woodland and used all kinds of sinister and vicious methods to hinder the opening of the paper mill."

(Tree spiking refers to driving objects such as nails into trees without affecting the healthy growth of the trees, in order to reduce the economic value of the trees and make people give up logging. Because tree spikes will explode and injure workers when trees are cut down, tree spiking is also listed as a felony in America)

"Slander, utter slander."

The girl from the Children of the Forest blushed, waving a wolf's tooth wooden club inlaid with dense barbs in her hand, and shouted, "We are a non-profit public welfare organization that adopts flat management.

Some protest events that seem more radical in the eyes of the world were not done by us, but by the radical members of the Children of the Forest.

The brothers and sisters of the Children of the Forest here now have a positive and upward purpose, are peaceful and kind, and will never do anything harmful.

On the contrary, you suddenly broke into our camp today without saying a word and disturbed our grand celebration!"

"The celebration they are talking about is actually a group of people wearing primitive costumes, standing in a circle around a bonfire hand in hand, singing and dancing to the music of the Xun and panpipes, and throwing mud on each other's faces."

The paper mill owner explained in a low voice. Li Ang nodded—he could see that there were slight mud smears on the painted faces of many Children of the Forest.

"You also know the reason why I brought people to break into the celebration, don't avoid it."

The paper mill owner took a deep breath, glared at the other party, and said sternly, "Last night, you abducted my son Hans and daughter Gretel!"

The appearance of these two names made Li Ang's eyes light up. These are the names of the protagonists in the famous "Hansel and Gretel" in the fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm.