Upon entering the kitchen, Madeline soon found the two packs of drinks beneath the shelf, expecting them to be the small six-bottle packs from before, given how readily Dong Tianyu had offered them.

But upon seeing the drinks, Madeline realized happiness could come so unexpectedly, for although there were still six bottles to a pack, each bottle was not the small kind, but rather 2L large ones.

Considering the two colors, black and orange, Madeline didn’t hesitate to take the black pack of drinks.

After leaving the kitchen, Madeline didn’t linger at home. After saying goodbye to Dong Tianyu, she hurriedly departed.

After Madeline left, Dong Tianyu didn’t stay home either. Having found something extraordinary during his last exploration to the west side of the camp, this time he decided to explore the south side instead.

Perhaps it was because he had recently learned the Sword Control Technique that lately, Dong Tianyu increasingly disliked staying at home, always wanting to venture outside the camp.

However, flying on a sword through the air, though it significantly increased his speed, made it difficult to appreciate the scenery along the way or to identify nearby items worth collecting.

Because artifacts are impossible to detect with Divine Sense, Dong Tianyu could never find them using only Divine Sense, and he had to see or touch the artifacts himself.

After moving away from the camp, Dong Tianyu lowered the altitude of his Sword Flight, and the distance between the flying sword and the ground was less than half a meter.

The reason why Dong Tianyu didn’t come down to walk was actually to avoid being harassed by aggressive plants.

Most plants in the wild with the ability to attack actively rely on the vibrations produced by their prey moving on the ground to hunt.

So by flying low to the ground on his sword, Dong Tianyu could easily avoid harassment from such plants.

In fact, if Dong Tianyu knew alchemy, most of these hunting plants could become ingredients for his concoctions. Unfortunately, he currently had no interest in alchemy, and thus he simply ignored these plants encountered on his journey.

This time, Dong Tianyu’s goal was simple: to find artifacts. He knew that most artifacts were unearthed during earthquakes when Earth Dragons turned over, pushing them up from the ground.

There is no fixed location for these items to appear; they could be found anywhere. Hence, in areas frequented by other survivors, if any artifacts did appear, they likely would have already been taken.

Now, to find artifacts, one had to venture into rarely trodden areas that were largely unexplored, and the unknown dangers of such areas were self-evident.

However, for Dong Tianyu, the biggest challenge in finding artifacts in the wilderness was actually discovering them. As for danger, if he really faced any threats, it wasn’t yet clear who would prevail over whom.

Although he knew that Divine Sense couldn’t detect artifacts, Dong Tianyu still continuously used it to scan his surroundings, as ensuring his own safety was crucial when alone in the wilderness, regardless of whether he found anything.

Of course, even though his primary goal was to find artifacts, Dong Tianyu understood that they weren’t easy to come by, otherwise Madeline would have already received plenty of genuine ones by now.

So in addition to looking for artifacts, Dong Tianyu’s trip was also about finding an open-pit mine similar to the one Mr. Thompson had tasked him to search for.

However, without professional exploration equipment, unless Dong Tianyu was incredibly lucky, finding a new ore deposit was extremely challenging.

But Dong Tianyu remained in good spirits, accepting that even if he found nothing, he could still enjoy the trip as a form of travel and relaxation.

While Sword Flight at a low altitude allowed Dong Tianyu to evade stealth attacks from plants, to the ancient creatures that hunted with vision, Dong Tianyu floating mid-air made him an even more conspicuous target for those prehistoric hunters.

However, the ancient creatures that overestimated themselves and came to hunt Dong Tianyu were mostly small-sized. Thus, whether they tried a stealth attack or a direct one, they couldn’t escape being dismembered by Dong Tianyu.

Since he wasn’t lacking food, after killing the small-sized ancient creatures that attacked him, Dong Tianyu directly sent them to the Cave to be decomposed.

Traveling with frequent stops along the way, Dong Tianyu didn’t know how far he was from the camp. Besides the small-sized creatures he encountered often, he met only a few medium-sized ones, and as for the giant creatures, he hadn’t even seen a single hair of the large ones.

Just when Dong Tianyu thought he was going to have another fruitless day, suddenly, some survivors appeared within the range of his Divine Sense.

After confirming they were humans, Dong Tianyu didn’t approach them directly but instead increased the altitude of his Flying Sword and quickly closed the distance to the group.

When Dong Tianyu hovered above them with his Sword Control, those people didn’t notice there was an extra person above their heads.

Observing their clothes, neat but patched in many places, Dong Tianyu realized these people didn’t belong to his camp; they were probably survivors from another camp.

However, what could they possibly be doing here, so far from home? Hunting or searching for treasures? At this moment, Dong Tianyu suddenly felt this journey might bring not inconsiderable rewards.

Just as Dong Tianyu suspected, they were not lost in the forest, but rather, like taking many detours on a mountain path, they would stop frequently to confirm their direction.

It was also for this reason that Dong Tianyu was sure their presence here was not due to being lost or wandering here by chance.

"Brother, whether the thing you talked about is really here or not, we haven’t reached our destination yet, and we’ve already lost three people. If we continue like this, I’m afraid some will take the opportunity to cause trouble," said one of them.

The leader, unbothered by his brother’s concern, continued to lead the group forward without pause.

Watching his brother seemingly evade the question, Dong Tianyu just smiled, as if he knew what the leader was thinking.

Despite his brother’s warning, the leader had no intention of giving up. After all, even if they turned back now, the other members wouldn’t be satisfied. They had come all this way, and without achieving something significant, even if they went back, there would likely be trouble.

It was better to keep moving forward grimly. As long as they reached their destination, whatever the result, they would at least have something to report.

Dong Tianyu followed the group of over ten people from midair. Ever since the leader’s brother spoke up, whenever the group was attacked by small-sized ancient creatures, there were those who urged the leader to return.

But no matter how much the others persuaded, the leader replied with the same line, "Like I said before, those who want to go back can go back on their own; I won’t stop you.

But even if I’m the only one left in the group, I will continue to move forward as per the mission’s requirements."

Hearing the leader say this, many people hesitantly stepped forward, indicating they wanted to leave. Although they expected the leader to persuade them to stay, the leader simply ignored them and continued to hasten forward.

Despite their dissatisfaction with the leader’s action, they had no choice but to continue following him.

Just when Dong Tianyu was yawning, thinking they wouldn’t reach their destination today, the group had already arrived at the endpoint of their mission.

Looking at the somewhat dilapidated buildings on the ground ahead, when Dong Tianyu saw the buildings, he felt an indescribable sense of eeriness.

There was a feeling that something was wrong with those dilapidated buildings, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.