The village chief looked at the dirty, filthy bag with puzzlement and asked, "This bag is..."

Hoenhem's face revealed a strange expression, and he slowly said, "I accidentally found this in the forest and have been carrying it all the way.

I originally thought the smell was from the bag itself,

but now, considering the shape of the bag, the contents should be what you're looking for...the treasure."

Hoenhem, indeed the most promising Transcendent of the Bell Tower, showed no change in expression when using the word 'treasure'.

Ding Zhensi felt a stirring in his heart, recalling previous events in the forest.

Claude had suggested tossing a coin for a bet, lost to Hoenhem, pointed out the road to the Sacred Mountain, and provided three bags.

According to Claude's statement, the first bag was to be opened when "attacked by foul objects",

and the second bag when "hearing an unreasonable request".

The attack by foul objects corresponded to the bloody mud creature in the Underground Palace,

and could the unreasonable request refer to the village chief's current proposal to cure the early aging syndrome?

Ding Zhensi felt he had vaguely grasped a clue, quickly manipulating the control panel in the cockpit, playing the footage captured by the sensors, analyzing frame by frame to find more information.

Hoenhem, with an unchanged expression, released multiple spells with a flick of the Mage's Hand.

[Isolate Air] - preventing the air in an area from flowing out to the outside world

[Soundproof Enchantment] - preventing the sound in an area from being heard externally

[Curse Barrier] - isolating curse effects for a short period

[Produce Mirror] - creating an ordinary mirror

...

After the preparations were complete, Hoenhem gently untied the rope tied around the bag with the Mage's Hand,

and at the moment of untying the rope, it seemed that thin black dust rose within the spherical barrier of isolated air.

Hoenhem's eye muscles twitched slightly; through the [Produce Mirror] spell, he saw clearly that at the bottom of the bag was a black-gray stone-like object,

its surface not smooth, rather rough, and upon close inspection, fibers resembling hair were mixed within.

Beside the object, scattered were some fragmented black-gray small particles.

This is shit, right? This must be shit, right?! This has to be shit!

Hoenhem's mouth twitched, thinking of having carried this bag all the way, a sudden surge of violent and destructive impulse rose within, wanting to rush into the forest immediately,

to hang that three-armed monster Claude up and bombard him with various spells.

Breathe, calm down.

Hoenhem cast the [Iron Will] spell on himself, quickly regaining composure, saying calmly to Li Ang, "See if the contents of this bag are usable."

"Okay."

Li Ang nodded subtly, retrieved a pile of metallic parts in various materials and types from the sodium ring, along with several massive medical instrument instruction manuals,

and began making and testing the instruments on-site following the manuals.

The principle of the centrifuge wasn't particularly complex; under the assistance of Intermediate Alchemy, he had completed a prototype in less than thirty minutes,

connected it to the village's power system,

then had Hoenhem throw the contents of the bag into the feed inlet, starting the machine.

Buzz—

The machine rapidly operated, crushing the stone-like object into fragments; the mixed solution began separating until it produced a clear, colorless liquid, injected into a glass bottle.

"This batch is very good."

Li Ang nodded while looking at the data on the machine panel, "Though it's been a while, the gut flora inside is exceedingly active, surpassing theoretical data of conventional life.

The proportion of beneficial microbes is also notably higher."

The village chief anxiously asked, "You mean it's usable?"

"By diluting with the machine and lowering the potency, yes."

Li Ang nodded, packed up the equipment, and returned to the home of the earlier aging syndrome patient with the group, instructing the family to administer the first small bottle to the patient.

The patient showed no initial change, but as time passed, his stomach began to emit rumbling noises,

his breathing became deep and strong, constantly releasing foul-smelling gas, his expression gradually becoming clearer and brighter,

within less than half an hour, his consciousness returned to the level where he could respond to family calls.

Forty minutes later, he was completely awake, with a stuttering request for meals due to immense hunger.

Using the Origin of Life, Li Ang re-examined the patient with early aging syndrome; the gut flora from the bag demonstrated remarkable adaptability, already beginning to eliminate harmful bacteria entrenched in the patient's intestines,

promoting the growth of beneficial microbes,

the patient's digestive capacity, intestinal function, physical condition showed significant improvement compared to earlier.

Overjoyed, the village chief commissioned Li Ang to produce four more bottles of potion, having the guards deliver them to the four village members suffering most severely from early aging syndrome, nearing death.

The results were highly pleasing as well, none of the four villagers experienced any rejection reactions, according to Origin of Life's test results, they would be able to regain full physical function in less than a month,

and there's a substantial likelihood their apparent age would become younger.

The only peculiar thing was that the more severe the early aging syndrome in the patients, the stronger the gut flora adaptation...

"The production line for transplant containers, repair and manufacture considerations for the separation instrument, solutions for potential rejection reactions, are all detailed in this booklet."

Li Ang handed the village chief a book three fingers thick,

the latter solemnly accepted it, nodded in gratitude once again, "I...I really don't know how to express my gratitude, thank you, Hero..."

"No need for polite words."

Li Ang chuckled casually, the other person was just a skinny old man, not some otherworldly catgirl deserving 'never forgetting one's great kindness and only repaying with my body,'

Li Ang cleared his throat, "Regarding the reward..."

"Oh, oh, look at my brain."

The village chief realized, slapped his forehead, leading the player back to the storeroom door, having the guard open the door again.

"As we agreed earlier, Hero, you may freely choose forty items."

The village chief chuckled warmly, rubbing his hands, "Due to tribal rules, I'm not in a position to describe the possible value of those items,

but...big new items aren't necessarily good, small old items aren't necessarily bad..."

The village chief offered a kind reminder, blinked, and glanced towards a corner of the warehouse.

Li Ang understood, nodding, and turned to his companions, "Everyone, regarding the reward this time..." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I don't want this time's reward."

Liu Wu Dai interjected, "After all, I didn't really help at all. Your reward, you handle it as you please."

The group just randomly matched together this time, without any friendly fire blocking setting,

following the mindset of some players in kill-game environments, some might argue, "You did the task but wasted all our time,"

claiming "everyone present should get a share,"

It's not surprising for a fight to break out over wealth.

However, this time all the players matched together were prominent members of the first and second tiers, making it difficult for anyone to have an overwhelming advantage,

making it unlikely for any killing and looting to happen.

As a friend, Liu Wu Dai straightforwardly took the lead and voiced his stance, blocking others from speaking.

"Yes, exactly, we should only get what we earn."

Ding Zhensi also realized what was happening and helped with the conversation.

David chuckled silently, understanding and agreeing, "I have no objections."

Amber shrugged casually, "Same here."

"Alright."

Li Ang nodded and looked at Hoenhem, "So, Brother Ho, how does a forty-sixty split sound this time?"

"I'm not named Ho."

Hoenhem's eye muscle twitched, and he sighed, "Let's make it twenty-eighty, I'll take twenty percent and you eighty percent."

Li Ang raised an eyebrow, "So generous?"

"Just rational calculation."

Hoenhem smiled, "If it weren't for your insights, I wouldn't have thought that the bag emitting the foul smell contained... that thing.

Even if I knew, I wouldn't have thought of that item's specific use.

And even without the items I provided,

you probably could have resolved the premature aging condition, albeit with a little more trouble."

Hoenhem was quite open-minded, thinking that the three cloth bags provided by Claude might not be essential for passing but were auxiliary tools to ease the difficulty,

even without these tools, one could still pass normally.

Moreover...

A hint of worry flashed deep in Hoenhem's eyes; Claude's instruction was to open the bag upon "hearing an unreasonable request,"

yet considering the fact that the first bag could harm the bloody muck monster, it might also damage the Shadow Monster,

there's no certainty whether the second bag will have a more critical use later.

Whether using it now is a blessing or a curse is unknown.

The doubts quickly faded as Hoenhem smiled at Li Ang, "There's another reason; let's just say I want to make a friend.

I heard you haven't joined a guild yet?

Perhaps you could consider our Bell Tower, the benefits are good, the conditions offered are no worse than the Special Affairs Bureau."

The recruitment demand by major guilds for strong players has never ceased, especially for someone like Li Rising who possesses powerful strength and diverse power systems along with logistical capabilities,

not to mention that he hasn't joined the Special Affairs Bureau; even if he had, the Bell Tower is confident in offering appropriate and irresistible terms.

Of course, this assumes Li Ang's current strength is all he has,

anything beyond that might not be simply acquired with terms.

Forty items, calculated at a twenty-eighty split,

Hoenhem takes eight pieces, and Li Ang takes thirty-two pieces; despite the quantity, it's essential to choose carefully.

Li Ang used divine sight to select over twenty seemingly valuable items (all items here lacked system item descriptions),

and upon Ding Zhensi and Liu Wu Dai's suggestions, he chose a few more—

Ding Zhensi works in the equipment R&D department of the Special Affairs Bureau, primarily for research,

and usually is in contact with many confidential tools of the Special Affairs Bureau,

while Liu Wu Dai often purchases from the game's marketplace and auctions, handling numerous high-quality items, so his judgment wouldn't be subpar.

Once the players finished selecting, the village chief instructed the guards to shut the warehouses again and led the players away from the village, heading eastwards towards the Holy Mountain Gate.

En route, Li Ang marveled at the village being cloaked by an optical camouflage curtain, quite wanting this technology for himself,

however, unfortunately, the large-scale optical camouflage generation equipment is a vital village survival secret, not part of trade.

"By the way,"

Li Ang recalled something and had Ding Zhensi take out the mural photos from the Underground Palace, handing them to the village chief, "Village chief, do you recognize these drawings?"

"Are these the murals of the Underground Palace Hall?"

The village chief nodded, "I saw it in a book left by my father, who got it from my grandfather."

"Do these patterns have any special meanings?"

Li Ang pointed at the Hero Team in the photo, "For instance, are these people a symbol of collective heroes or do they exist in reality?"

"You mean them?"

The village chief furrowed his brow and pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "They probably existed in reality...

Our Guardian Clan has a habit of recording all heroes,

with significant emphasis on those with great achievements, who passed all trials and ultimately fulfilled their wishes.

The records from recent times are better, but the older ones are not very detailed.

But I remember seeing similar images,

the warrior in red armor appears repeatedly in the book, marked as the first hero to conquer all the underground palaces."

"The first hero to conquer all the underground palaces?"

Li Ang's eyebrow arched, "Are you saying he once led a team and conquered all the underground palaces around the village in one go, and was immortalized in murals because of this feat?"

"Yes."

The village chief nodded, "However, I don't know what he actually looked like—none of the picture records depicted his face under the armor, nor mentioned his or his teammates' names...

Wait, let me think.

Right, one of his Necromancer teammates was also notable for some special event, leading to a statue being erected in our village.

It should be the one on the third street to the west of the village—that stone statue's basic shape was recognizable before it was fully destroyed."

Li Ang furrowed his brows, recalling a stone statue he had seen before, which now only had two legs, "The Necromancer has a statue in your village? Why don't the other team members?"

"That I'm not sure about."

The village chief shook his head honestly, "After all, it's been so long, it's possible that every member of that Hero Team had a statue, but they were accidentally lost,

I only recalled this from seeing the painting and relating it to that book."

Li Ang exchanged glanced with his teammates, then turned to the village chief and continued to ask, "So do you have that book with you?"

"Uh? No."

The village chief shook his head apologetically, "I'm sorry, that's a text only a village chief can read, I can't let outsiders see it—but I can assure you that the record in the book regarding these murals is as much as I remember."

"I see..."

Li Ang nodded thoughtfully, gesturing to Ding Zhensi to take out Claude's photo and show it to the village chief, "So, do you know this person then?"