Good music can change a person's mood in various ways, whether it be happiness or something else.
After a few songs, York's mood had already returned to its usual calm. Having done what he needed to, he had moved on from the incident.
Just as a farewell really means goodbye, with nothing more to it.
And now, the only thing left to do was to leave.
The road through the dense forest was not easy to navigate.
Although the car was a type designed for off-roading and had been modified to enhance this capability, it still proved a rough ride.
"It seems I've gone a bit too far."
Allowing the music to continue playing, York glanced around at the surrounding forest, driving on a bumpy path littered with stones.
The air in the deep forest was exceptionally fresh and invigorating, cleansing his lungs with every breath.
Because of this, York drove leisurely, skillfully handling the rough terrain with his excellent driving skills and the capabilities of his vehicle.
That is until he came across the corpse of a moose lying in the brush beside the road.
York slowed down as he passed, intrigued by the moose's intact corpse and the peculiar wounds on its body.
"What kind of wounds are these?"
York's brows rose instinctively. To his experienced eye, these didn't seem like wounds inflicted by a wild predator.
If a predator had attacked the moose, the corpse wouldn't be this intact. In the wild, a carcass like this would be a great find for any predator, offering several days of sustenance.
"So, how were these blood holes made?"
But it was this analysis and slowing down that made York notice something else – human footprints near the moose.
"It looks like there's more than one set of footprints. An exploration team, perhaps?"
Considering the depth they had ventured into the forest, it seemed likely only an exploration team would venture so far.
"Tch."
York couldn't help but click his tongue as he drove past, but soon he came across more footprints further along the path.
These prints were erratic, suggesting their maker was in a panic.
York imagined a scene of someone running frantically through the forest.
"The direction they're heading... it's towards the exit."
York mumbled to himself. The exit was also the direction he needed to go.
"What a coincidence."
With this new development, a hint of suspicion arose in York's mind.
As he drove in the direction of the footprints, he came across a new clue – bloodstains on the footprints.
"What happened here? Is someone injured?"
York's brows furrowed as he followed the prints.
His speed increased slightly as he neared the forest road. The closer he got, the more clues he found.
Finally, as he was about to reach the road, York's real-time 3D map showed a woman stumbling towards him.
"Is she the owner of the footprints?" York eased up on the gas.
When he reached the flat forest road, he saw the woman clearly – disheveled, in standard exploration gear, and seemingly attacked by something. There were bloodstains on her face and hair.
York's eyes narrowed slightly, suspecting that this situation might escalate, especially considering his earlier assessment of the moose.
"Wait!"
Hearing the woman's frantic cry, York stopped the car on the side of the road.
But it seemed that just uttering those words exhausted all her strength. She collapsed on the spot, seemingly unable to move anymore.
"What's all this about?"
York had no choice but to drive over to the woman.
He couldn't just leave her there; it was not in his nature to ignore someone in need.
"What happened? Are you alright?" York asked as he stopped in front of her.
But the woman just glanced at him before passing out, her eyes rolling back. However, York caught her last words before she lost consciousness.
"There's a monster in the cave!"
"Monster?" Hearing this, York wasn't surprised. His analysis had already led him to suspect something unusual when he saw the moose's body.
"Just a guess, but there's really a monster here?" York shook his head and bent down to check the woman's condition.
"Blood on her hands, already bandaged, only a few scratches on her arm..."
"Condition isn't bad, no life-threatening injuries, just some symptoms of exhaustion..."
Using his past life's medical experience, York assessed that the woman was alright. He picked her up by her jacket with one hand as if she were a bag.
But when he did, he inadvertently triggered a random mission.
[...]
[Condition met: Random mission triggered]
[Mission requirement: Annihilate]
[Mission reward: +2 attribute points]
[Accept/Decline]
The sudden mission prompt caught York off guard. Glancing at the woman in his hand, who now resembled a bag, he walked towards his vehicle, contemplating.
A situation like this, combined with the mission requirements, surely indicated a monster, akin to the murderer he had encountered earlier.
Otherwise, the woman might not have survived.
"What kind of monster is this? Just needing the main character and confirmation of the monster's existence to trigger a random mission, and there's nothing within a fifty-meter radius,
The monster didn't follow her?"
York thought as he threw the unconscious woman into the back seat and silently accepted the mission.
With his current condition, a reward of two attribute points was quite substantial.
Even if it were just one point, he would still accept it.
Given the low difficulty implied by the reward, it would be no challenge for him at all.
"Why not take it?"
The only surprise for him was this: venturing out, even deep into the wilderness, he still encountered an event that triggered a random mission.
"Good luck, getting something out of a simple trip."
Listening to the successful acceptance in his ear, York looked in the direction the woman had come from, saw the footprints on the ground beside the road, locked the rear door, sat back in the driver's seat, and drove towards them.
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