A Hospital in Another World? Chapter 1058: The Elven Forest Warden, Gone Berserk!

"Damn it, this cursed place!"

With a loud slap, Jill struck the back of his neck, leaving a hand wet with blood. This damn rainforest! This damn rainforest!

The mosquitoes here were enormous, with six legs spread wide, each one the size of a palm! One bite on a person would leave a huge, red bump, both painful and itchy!

Walking through the forest, one was drenched from head to toe, and even standing still or lying down, the sweat would cling to the body in sticky layers! After just one day, the clothes would stink, and by the third day, the shoes and socks on the feet would become unbearably foul!

"What a hellish place!"

A few steps behind, Jazz emerged from a small stream, cursing as well. Leeches were scattered all over his pant legs, ankles, back, and arms.

He barely had time to brush off the leeches, quickly lighting a bundle of grass to help the slaves driving the mules burn off the leeches on the animals.

Damn it, they had only crossed the stream for a short while, and already dozens of leeches had attached themselves to the mules, each one swollen with blood—if they didn’t burn them off quickly, and a mule collapsed, who would carry the hundreds of pounds of gold? Would they have to carry it themselves?

Even staying out of the water didn’t help! Bending over to pass under low-hanging branches would still result in a few leeches dropping onto one’s neck!

High in the mountains, the climate was dry and cool, with none of these awful nuisances!

No mosquitoes, no leeches, no poisonous insects, no stifling heat that made everything reek!

No wonder that after every escort mission, everyone received half a year's extra pay—this extra pay wasn’t easy to earn!

Compared to sitting in the city, feet up, whipping the local natives, and playing with their girls, this was no life for a man!

The soldiers grumbled nonstop, and even the squad leaders and company commanders were no better off. This team of 200 men had five company commanders, all at level 9, and twenty squad leaders, all newly promoted level 5 knights.

Their powerful physiques made them more adaptable to the harsh environment and less afraid of the nuisance of poisonous insects and leeches, but it didn’t make the terrible weather any more bearable.

On the contrary, their noble status as high-ranking warriors made them even more bitter as they trudged through the rainforest:

"Colonel, why did they send us out this time?"

"Yeah, the escort teams before us were led by level 9 knights at most! Why send so many high-ranking knights this time?"

"We’ve traveled this route dozens of times, and nothing has ever happened!"

"I had already planned a month’s vacation to meet my beloved Anna, and then suddenly I got reassigned! My vacation! My Anna!"

"Oh, stop it! Your Anna is about to marry the young son of Baron Brew!"

"That doesn’t mean I can’t still go on a date with her!"

One day, two days, three days, five days. At the start of their journey through the jungle, the knights had managed to keep their uniforms tidy and their military bearing intact;

After three days, their clothes were wrinkled and stank to high heaven;

After ten days, everyone was dirty and unkempt, with scraggly beards. At a glance, without considering height and build, you could hardly tell the difference between knights, soldiers, and slaves…

"This journey is too hard."

"Yeah, it’s too hard… miserable and boring… not only did no one try to rob us, but we haven’t even seen a single wild animal. What are we even escorting?"

"My main task has been dragging the slipping mules back onto the path..."

Sisoyin's face was grim. He had been tracking this team for ten days now. During these ten days, he had constantly leaped among the trees, communicating with the forest, warning the animals—

Powerful people are coming!

Fierce people are coming!

Avoid them! Avoid them! Stay out of their path!

Leopards, red monkeys, tapirs, capybaras. Ocelots, night monkeys, spider monkeys. Giant anteaters, crocodiles, anacondas…

One by one, they responded to his call. They either hid deep in the forest or temporarily migrated to the sides.

As a Forest Warden, he would never interfere with the natural hunting among animals or even between local natives and animals. But when it came to outsiders, those detestable destroyers of nature, the Forest Warden would always issue a warning to his animal friends.

Except for mosquitoes, centipedes, ants, and leeches—these slow-moving, numerous pests—every animal that could run away tried to flee as far as possible, neither attacking nor being attacked by the outsiders.

This made the gold-transporting team's journey unbearably dull. Ten days, and they hadn’t even encountered a decent wild animal, not even enough to catch a snack...

"Captain! I found a village!"

A scout who had gone ahead to explore returned excitedly. Although they were walking through the heart of the Governor's territory, in a place so safe that not even wild beasts were around, this team still maintained basic military discipline—

Scouting ahead, maintaining a divided guard in the middle, and bringing up the rear. As for covering their tracks, it wasn’t necessary. In this fast-growing tropical rainforest, even well-traveled roads would soon be swallowed by the jungle.

Their task was actually to maintain the road, particularly reinforcing any collapsed paths, replacing divine markers at each crossroads;

Rebuilding bridges on the verge of collapse by cutting down new trees;

Re-clearing campsites swallowed by bushes and young trees…

Such work was exhausting and incredibly dull. So, when the scout reported finding a native village, everyone got excited:

"Colonel, let's stay in the village!"

"Yeah, let’s rest in the village!"

"At least we can sleep under a roof!—even if it’s just a mud hut, it’s still a roof!"

The chorus of voices almost turned into a riot. The colonel leading the team, though a level 13 knight, could hardly suppress the demands of so many men. After a while, he followed the scout’s lead and looked down:

"It doesn’t seem far off the main road... Fine, we’ll rest for one night! Only one night, though, and we leave at dawn tomorrow!"

Calling it a village was generous—it was merely a cluster of a dozen or so houses, all shabby and run-down. Some were made of mud, while others didn’t even have mud walls, just haphazardly cut tree trunks tied together with branches stuffed between them.

The better ones might have a mat of grass tied to the branches and smeared with a bit of mud—barely a wall...

"What the hell! This place is so shabby!"

"There’s not a soul in the village!"

"Not only are there no people, but there aren’t any chickens, ducks, or rabbits—no livestock at all!"

"We found an animal pen... but it’s been emptied..."

The knights and soldiers grumbled. Honestly, who really wanted to stay in these huts?

Who would actually want to live in these grass-roofed, mud-walled, or even wall-less shacks, with centipedes and scorpions dropping from the roof, rats scurrying in and out of the walls, stifling heat, filth, and a stench?

The only reason they wanted to find a village was that they were too tired, too frustrated, and wanted a place to rest, maybe find some chickens or ducks raised by the locals to spice up their meals, or maybe even have some fun with the local girls.

"They got wind of us!"

"They’re wary of us!"

"These natives must have been tipped off!—the livestock, the grain, everything is gone!"

The knights were bitterly disappointed. The scout who had led them here bore the brunt of their angry glares, stamping his foot and quickly circling the village:

"There are no experts in this village. Judging by the tracks, they left a day or two ago—they can’t have gone far."

"Should we chase them?"

"Chase! After all, what else do we have to do? It’ll be a good way to stretch our legs!"

In fact, it took less than two hours before they found the native villagers hiding in a mountain cave, along with their families. Then, three knight captains each carried back a struggling, screaming native girl.

"This village is really too poor..." The leading knight captain tossed one of the native girls lightly to the ground:

"There were only a few decent ones! Colonel, we didn’t touch them; we brought them straight to you!"

Sisoyin wiped the sweat from his forehead. Helping that doe give birth was exhausting, taking him nearly half the night. Without his assistance, the doe would have certainly died in childbirth!

"Help! Help!—Help!"

A bright green parrot flapped its wings and landed on his shoulder. Sisoyin was startled:

What happened?

Where was the problem?

He had already followed the route of those outsiders transporting goods, warning all the animals! He had even gone to every native village within sight of the road and told them to evacuate!

How could something still go wrong?

The Forest Warden patted the doe who had just given birth, gathering a bit of natural energy to soothe her body. Then, he walked up to a large tree, knelt down on one knee, and placed his hand on the roots:

The leaves rust

led, the mountain winds blew, and the undergrowth and trees quivered. The entire rainforest responded to him, guiding him:

There!

There!

The outsiders are there!

Sisoyin silently melted into the forest. After a few leaps, he stood outside the village, listening to the cries of the native girls, the increasingly weak screams, his face cold as he drove his wooden staff into the ground.

Beasts! Beasts!

—Even if I can’t defeat you, I, Sisoyin, the guardian of this forest, will never let you go!

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Garrett was standing in front of a giant tree, straining to lift his head:

"Wow—"

Is this... a tree?

Wait, is this really a tree?

He took a step back, then another, then another. After retreating thirty-four steps, the uneven wooden wall still loomed before him—

If not for the unmistakable, wrinkled bark, Garrett would almost have thought he was standing in front of a small mountain!

This tree's diameter must be at least 10 meters... 20 meters... probably more than 30 meters!

Even with his arms spread wide, it would take dozens, hundreds of people like him to encircle this massive tree; he strained his neck to look up as its branches spread out in every direction.

The dense canopy blocked out the sky, ancient yet full of vitality...

"We’ll rest here tonight." Aishe Moon Song took command without hesitation:

"Garrett, Jasmine, you two, go meditate by the tree—try to stay as close to it as possible. Listening to the voice of such an ancient tree is very beneficial for nature’s servants... go on!"

Garrett was eager to comply. Clutching his oak staff, he leaned against the tree’s trunk, even resting the top of his staff against the tree. Just before closing his eyes, he turned his head...

???

Appa, why are you here too?

Why are you curled up, kneeling at the base of the tree, with your head resting on it?

Are you trying to learn to meditate too?