Chapter 942: Chapter 1 Borneo Chapter 942: Chapter 1 Borneo The damp wooden planks creaked and groaned, the deteriorated tavern floor becoming a nightingale beneath the residence, ensnaring anyone who stepped inside within earshot of the boss.

A faint musty odor lingered in the air, but it was completely overpowered by a heavier, thicker mix of alcohol and sweat. This, combined with the scent of wet earth, created a rather distinct and unusual smell that was difficult to discern unless one had an exceptionally keen sense of smell.

“The weather’s getting more and more oppressive.”

“Damn weather.”

“The rainy season is like this, travelers to this place have decreased a lot, my boat’s been stopped on the river for nearly half a month now.”

“Who isn’t suffering?”

“The rain’s too heavy, you can’t go out either.”

“True enough.”

At a round table in the corner, a few locals chatted listlessly, while other tables were more or less occupied. However, the whole tavern didn’t seem too bustling, obviously tormented by the continuous rain and the humid heat.

Creak.

The sound of hard boot soles stepping on the moist wooden boards was accompanied by a shaking noise as they squeezed out some muddy water through the cracks.

The boss turned his head upon hearing the noise, put down the freshly wiped clean glass, and said with a smile, “Haha, we’ve got another big one today, Mr. Fang.”

The patrons turned their heads at the sound, all gazing at a tall man entering the tavern in a raincoat, shouldering a wild boar, their necks stretching out in curiosity.

“Yes, so can you make tonight’s dinner a bit more plentiful for me?”

“Of course, tonight’s dinner is braised beef, tomato sauce pasta, and oyster pancakes–rich Equatorial cuisine.”

“Sounds really good.”

Bi Fang took off his raincoat, shook off the rain, and placed the wild boar he was shouldering down where the boss had indicated.

The surrounding patrons all gathered around, circling the wild boar and giving out enthusiastic cheers, admiring the man’s bravery.

“I bet it weighs at least one hundred thirty pounds!”

“I think at least one hundred sixty pounds; last time I saw one just as big, it burst right out of the woods, flipped a man’s leg right off, and then got shot dead, turned out to be one hundred sixty pounds!”

“This guy is really strong; I’ve never seen such a tall Asian before, who is he?”

Clearly, not everyone in the tavern knew Bi Fang.

“I’m not sure, I only know he’s a Huaxia man who’s been here for half a month now, almost every two to three days he manages to catch a wild boar, and look, there’s just a small cut on the boar’s neck, it shows he didn’t rely on traps or bullets, he slaughtered so many boars with just a dagger, without exception.”

“How did he do it?”

“I don’t know, I heard…”

“Haha, don’t talk nonsense, Fei Zhen, he’s my guest, and he also happens to be the finest hunter I’ve ever seen…”

The patrons surrounded the wild boar and chatted casually, the scene drawing more onlookers, with the boss standing at the center talking eloquently, introducing Bi Fang’s background to those who didn’t know.

In fact, the boss had performed this act many times before.

Bi Fang didn’t care about these, pushing through the crowd, he sat down in a corner, poured a cup of hot milk and drank it down in one gulp, breathing out a long, slow breath of turbid air as if all fatigue flowed away with the exhalation.

A head of wild boar for three days of food and lodging.

This was the agreement Bi Fang had set with the tavern boss half a month ago.

Having been here for almost half a month, although he felt bewildered at first, by now Bi Fang had more or less figured out the situation.

This was an Earth completely different from his own, despite the identical technology and culture, the world map had subtle differences.

As a professional survivalist with a memory like a forest, Bi Fang was an able cartographer, immediately spotting even the addition of a mountain, let alone the slight changes in continental outlines.

Even the place where Bi Fang was currently, Borneo, had river distributions and contours somewhat different from his memories–minute, but undeniably real differences.

Moreover, a strong piece of evidence of the differences was that, on this Earth, no one knew of an explorer named “Bi Fang”!

Bi Fang wasn’t arrogant, thinking that every person in the world should know him, but the fact that an entire town in Borneo, including travelers from all over the world and several internet celebrities, didn’t recognize him, was certainly cause for suspicion.

Fortunately, the System still displayed the option to return, so Bi Fang wasn’t too anxious about it.

Although he didn’t know why the System had brought him here, whether he still needed to live stream, and what form this streaming ought to take, but adapting to the situation, Bi Fang, relying on his solid “Skill”, quickly found his footing and even made a certain reputation for himself in the town.

Many people knew that a guy who was very good at traditional hunting had come to the area, taking only a dagger into the rainforest every day and emerging by midday bearing enough game to feed a family for a month.

In the tavern, many patrons crowded around after listening to the boss’s narration, chattering excitedly.

“Mr. Fang, Mr. Fang, how on earth do you do it?”

“Do you know some kind of Chinese Kung Fu?”

“That’s so cool, have you been in the service before, are you a veteran?”

“How do you do it? Hmm…” Bi Fang didn’t keep people at arm’s length; instead, he was quite talkative, “Actually, it’s quite simple, just wait until the wild boar charges at you, and then stick the knife into its neck.”

Everyone: “…”

“Ha-ha-ha, just kidding. You really need to be well-practiced for this; the crucial part is to hit the artery. Otherwise, you can’t take out its strength at once and the beast will fight back.”

“Beasts are just beasts; they are not as clever as you might think. As long as you’re familiar with their anatomy, many things can be done easily.”

Bi Fang chatted with everyone, and all listened intently, forgetting the oppressive heat of the weather.

After Bi Fang finished talking, everyone was still eager for more, gathering in groups to sit nearby and share their own recent experiences and encounters, just like a story club.

The tavern had a dense population and high turnover; it was perfect for gathering information, which was why Bi Fang decided to stay there. Moreover, the boss was a really nice person and cooked great Southeast Asian dishes.

Bi Fang listened carefully, committing to memory.

Borneo is a forbidden zone comparable to the Amazon rainforest.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, a legendary place with only entrance but no exit; within, there are thousands of strange animals and plants and countless eerie legends–many beyond human comprehension and soul-stirring.

Borneo is the same, known to some as “the inferno on earth.”

As the world’s third-largest island, Borneo spans about 740,000 square kilometers and has the largest tropical rainforest outside of the tropical rainforest around the Amazon River basin in South America.

These days Bi Fang went into the rainforest every other day to observe species and distributions,
but as of today, he had not found any differences between this and the original world’s Borneo; it all seemed like a very normal, common rainforest.

While everyone was deep in conversation, the floor near the tavern’s entrance resounded again. Bi Fang glanced over and saw two men and two women walk in, one of the men being black while the other three were white.

Tourists?

Why do they look so familiar?

An inexplicable sense of familiarity made Bi Fang feel a bit astonished; he immediately scanned the room and noticed that several people beside him also had “I recognize them” expressions on their faces.

“Suharto, do you know them?”

Suharto was a local boat captain whose constant work on the river had toughened his skin. He liked to drink a few glasses in the tavern when idle, and just today, he had happened to be sitting next to Bi Fang, listening to stories.

When asked, Suharto paused, then shook his head: “I don’t know them, but they came to me today asking if I could take them upstream by boat. Come on, it’s the rainy season now, if we encounter a flood upstream, it’s all over, not to mention the fog on the river; God knows where I would end up. These tourists are crazy, even mentioned looking for some flower.”

“Yeah, they also approached me.”

“I met them too; it’s weird, who would come here at this time?”

After Suharto spoke, the other captains seated around also nodded unconsciously, apparently, they too had been approached by the group of “tourists” who had just entered.

“Maybe they should ask Jin Song? Didn’t he say he would go anywhere as long as the money was right?”

“That’s right, where is Jin Song? I thought I saw him just now.”

“Aren’t these people here to find Jin Song?”

Listening to the conversation, Bi Fang caught the key phrase in Suharto’s words: “Looking for a flower, Suharto, do you remember what flower they mentioned they were searching for?”

“What flower?” Suharto was stumped, his brow furrowed as he held his chin in thought, “Seems like it was some orchid?”

“You dummy, it’s the Blood Orchid,” another captain mocked.

“Nonsense, I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Blood Orchid, Borneo, rainy season…

Bi Fang was suddenly alarmed.

He felt like he knew what was different about this world.