Su Fan hurried downstairs upon returning home.
He then took a taxi to Su Yutong's house.
"Xiao Su, where have you been? Why do you look like this?" Zhang Yuwei asked, quite puzzled.
Both her daughter and Su Fan seemed a bit strange today.
Su Fan, having traversed the mountains and forests for so long, inevitably had dirt on him, and quite a lot of it, especially on his shoes, which were caked with thick mud.
"Mom, you should go rest. Su Fan and I have something to discuss," Su Yutong said, knowing it would be difficult for Su Fan to explain, and preemptively came to his aid.
"So peculiar. Don't stay up too late, get some rest," Zhang Yuwei said with a knowing smile and went upstairs to rest.
"Dongsheng, Yutong and Xiao Su are downstairs," Zhang Yuwei said to Su Dongsheng with a smile as she entered the bedroom.
"Why is that kid here so late?" Su Dongsheng frowned.
"Young people are naturally talking about romance, not running around like you!" Zhang Yuwei said with displeasure.
"Don't bring me into this when you're talking about the kids. No, I have to go down and check. I can't let that kid take advantage of Yutong," Su Dongsheng said, feeling uneasy.
"Come back here! Do you want our daughter to be unmarried? If he takes advantage, so be it. I'm quite pleased with Su Fan. He even saved your life. I'm very satisfied with this son-in-law," Zhang Yuwei stopped Su Dongsheng, absolutely refusing to let him go downstairs.
"Saving my life is saving my life, I remember that. But I can't just give away my daughter," Su Dongsheng grumbled softly.
However, with Zhang Yuwei's obstruction, he didn't go down.
...
"Su Fan, the thing you gave me is in the backyard. I didn't dare to touch it," Su Yutong said softly.
"Mm."
Su Fan nodded and went to the backyard to pick up the Bagua Token.
"The money is enough now. The bank will be open tomorrow, and I'll transfer the money to you."
"Mm, how is your company doing now?"
"It's going well. It's almost on track. There's a jade exhibition coming up, and that's when we'll shine," Su Fan said with a smile.
"We?" Su Yutong looked confused.
"What's wrong? Don't think about reneging on the deal. We agreed that you'd help solve my company's problems, and I'd help you manage the company," Su Fan said, looking as if she couldn't back out.
"Oh, don't worry, I'll take a look after I sort out my company's affairs."
"Alright, you should go rest. I'm leaving."
Throughout their conversation, neither of them mentioned the Bagua Token, nor did Su Yutong ask Su Fan what kind of person he was, as if deliberately ignoring it.
Returning home, Su Fan entered the game again.
Last time, a dungeon quest had earned Su Fan a divine artifact. This time, Su Fan was going to tackle the main quest.
The main quest was to eliminate bandits in Willow Forest.
Killing ten bandits would complete the quest.
Su Fan immediately headed for Willow Forest.
This part of the storyline depicted the Tianlong Dynasty having just ended a war with an enemy nation, leading to rampant banditry, with various outlaws taking to the mountains.
Due to the sheer number of bandits, the government lacked sufficient manpower, hence the public announcement of the bandit-hunting mission.
Su Fan directly used a Guide Bee to teleport to the quest location. Without the Guide Bee, he would have had to travel by carriage, which would have wasted a considerable amount of time.
In the game, Willow Forest was teeming with bandits, and one could encounter dozens just by walking around. But here, it was different; Su Fan saw no one in sight.
Bandits were people, and Su Fan had to encounter them.
Su Fan could only wander aimlessly in Willow Forest. The reason it was called Willow Forest was naturally due to the abundance of willow trees. Willow trees were everywhere, their long, dense branches drooping down to block the sunlight, creating an environment perfect for bandits to ambush travelers, allowing them to hide among the branches.
"Halt and surrender!"
Just as Su Fan was thinking this, a loud shout came from behind him.
A burly man blocked Su Fan's path, and another appeared behind him.
"I'm a man, so call me 'Big Brother,' not 'Big Sister'."
"What Big Brother? Hand over anything valuable you have!" the two bandits said gruffly.
Su Fan shook his head. These two had no sense of humor.
"I have no money, only my life. Come and take it."
"You're seeking death!"
Seeing Su Fan's defiance, the bandit let out a roar and charged at him.
Su Fan leaped back, dodging the attack, and retaliated with a sword strike.
-38
A level five normal monster only had 200 HP. Su Fan's sword strike had dealt a fifth of its health.
The other bandit also charged forward. This time, Su Fan didn't dodge and took a hit from the opponent.
-3
A single-digit damage appeared above Su Fan's head, clearly indicating that it was difficult for a normal monster to penetrate Su Fan's defense.
Su Fan swung his sword again, still targeting the first bandit, dealing another forty points of damage. Then, Su Fan retreated a few steps to avoid being attacked from both sides.
Through this back-and-forth, Su Fan dodged whenever possible and endured when he couldn't. He focused on one opponent at a time, and soon, one of them was defeated by Su Fan.
The other one was even easier to handle, and Su Fan dispatched him without much effort.
"Whoa! Dropped equipment!"
Su Fan was surprised to find that these two bandits had dropped a blue-grade item.
Blue-grade items dropped by normal monsters were usually useless, mere trash equipment. Only unidentified blue-grade items dropped by boss-level monsters could be exceptional. However, any blue-grade item was better than a white-grade one.
Bright Silver Boots
Level: 5
Speed +4
Constitution +3
As expected, there were only two ordinary attributes.
But it was better than nothing. He would take it back and reinforce it before wearing it.
Su Fan continued to search for and kill bandits in Willow Forest. By the time dusk approached, he had finally killed the ten bandits.
He used a Flying Talisman to directly arrive before镖头 Li.
"镖头 Li, the bandits have been eliminated. Here are their heads," Su Fan handed the quest item, the bandit heads, to 镖头 Li.
"Indeed, you are a young hero. This is your reward, please accept it."
[Ding! Bandit Hunting quest completed. Received Refined Bracelet +1, 1500 experience points.]
[Ding! Congratulations on leveling up.]
"The owner of Yong'an Pawnshop has been troubled by some matters recently. Can you go and inquire about the situation?" 镖头 Li said to Su Fan.
Su Fan knew this was a procedural quest that required him to run back and forth between the escort agency and Yong'an Pawnshop a few times to complete.
"No problem," Su Fan accepted immediately. This was part of the main quest; if he refused, he wouldn't have any more quests.