Sure enough, there lay a shiny black ring quietly in the storage bag.
Jiang Yuan noticed the system prompt "Killed by Moon Pearl Bird attack and devoured." This meant that these seemingly cute, chubby little creatures actively attacked humans and were carnivorous. If an ordinary person encountered them without a strong weapon to defend themselves after being stunned, they could easily be killed and eaten.
He used a stick to part the grass covering the corpse, barely making out that it should be a man.
He was wearing a beige linen shirt and dark gray pants, his clothes were tattered and filthy; it was hard to tell if they were originally like this or torn by the Moon Pearl Birds. His bare feet were slightly swollen and decaying, suggesting thick skin at the soles—likely accustomed to walking barefoot.
His experience from watching many forensic dramas didn't yield many clues; it was Jiang Yuan's first time seeing a dead person firsthand, even if it was an NPC in a game, it made his scalp tingle; not to mention the assault from the rotting stench, making him nauseous and quickly retract from the corpse back to the lakeside.
"I'll take some time to visit Riverfront Village tomorrow and ask around; maybe I can find a clue." While fishing, he pondered over hastily completing the side quest, though the system hadn't given a time limit. Yet, a person dying silently in the wilderness, with their family not knowing, must cause great anxiety.
Thinking of this, he put away his fishing rod, took a hoe from the storage bag, and started digging a hole at a spot that seemed decent enough.
It's been a tradition since ancient times that the dead find peace in burial. Even though it's a randomly triggered NPC corpse, Jiang Yuan neither had the courage nor skills to help with a proper aftermath nor deliver the decomposed body to the family. However, he couldn't bear leaving it exposed in the wilderness to be pecked by Moon Pearl Birds, so he decided to dig a hole for burial, marking it with a simple gravestone, and then notify the family of its location when found to complete the cycle.
Huffing and puffing, he dug a large pit, ignoring his aches and pains, picked a few broad leaves from an unknown woodland tree to barely wrap the body for burial.
A broken ax couldn't chop trees in the wilderness, so he had to make do by dragging a large stone over as a gravestone marker.
[Hidden Achievement: A Good Deed a Day Achieved! Reward: Luck +1; Good Fortune Card +1]
"Huh? There's a hidden achievement?" Jiang Yuan was pleasantly surprised yet puzzled, "I saved so many miners yesterday, why didn't that count as a good deed?"
The system didn't explain either. He clicked to check the Good Fortune Card, discovering that once used, the good luck buff lasted only ten minutes, saying only it enhanced certain luck without specifying the effect.
What he needed most now was the "Moon in the Water"; the ten-minute Good Fortune Card meant he could fish twenty times, which should yield something, right?
Eager to build the Floating Market for trading, Jiang Yuan contemplated briefly before clicking to use and then cast his line for fishing.
[Jade Fish +1]
[Broken Beast Tooth Necklace, wearable]
[Millennium Driftwood +2]
[Jade Fish +1]
[Hundred-year-old Agarwood +4]
...
The large countdown clock displayed in the upper right of his vision gave Jiang Yuan a strong sense of urgency.
He dared not let his mind wander, not even glancing at the loot as it was automatically stowed in the storage bag before casting again. As the countdown reached the final two minutes and the "Moon in the Water" was still missing, he felt a bit anxious.
If he couldn't catch it even with the luck buff, would he have to spend every night fishing?
No way!
Jiang Yuan frowned slightly at the rippling lake surface, pondering over his work schedule.
During the day, he had to water the strawberries first, a time-consuming task without advanced irrigation tools. Then he needed to rush to chop wood, find a place to dig for stones since there was a shortage, and collect materials to upgrade his tools by checking nearby mines while it was safe during the day;
The evening was even busier, with Money Mountain near his home—a place to hunt for slime materials, gather stones, and occasionally find ore, the most reliable money base. Who could resist taking a few swings with every opportunity?
Moreover, the grasslands had herbs to collect; and the vast, unexplored map couldn't have all the time wasted here.
Thoughts in mind, he cast and caught a massive Jade Fish, at least half a meter long, weighing over ten pounds, the countdown at one and a half minutes, and sweat beaded on Jiang Yuan's nose as he eyed the fishing float.
"Splash!"
Without any significant disturbance in the lake, a light ripple surfaced, followed by a faint sound of water, and then he witnessed a miraculous scene—the once-reflected moon on the lake surface slowly transformed into two!
Jiang Yuan blinked hard and stared with wide eyes, realizing it wasn't the moon's reflection splitting, but rather a glowing object rising from the lake's depths, almost identical to the full moon's reflection.
Drifting without seeming weight, it floated toward the fishing float, causing him to subconsciously hold his breath, fearful of startling the luminous object away.
"Biu!"
Unlike any fish or item caught before, Jiang Yuan could even "hear" the fishing float dipping into the water with a slight plop, and it felt heavy!
He nearly lost his footing, stepping toward the lake edge to stabilize.
Even when catching the largest, over ten-pound Jade Fish before, it wasn't this strenuous. The makeshift fishing rod made from pale yellow bamboo bent like a bow; with a bright moon and starlit sky above and the glowing object below, the taut, gleaming fishing line was vividly visible.
"Damn! A fish net would be perfect..." He feared the broken rod would snap, clumsily and nervously swinging the rod back and forth trying to tire the fish.
This must be the much-needed "Moon in the Water," but catching it was too difficult!
Annoyingly, just quietly fishing by the lake without chasing small creatures, he found himself targeted by Moon Pearl Birds, likely because he hadn't drawn attention, now swooping down in flocks, wings flapping, trying to encircle him!
Hell, if he could swim, he'd jump in to grab the "Moon in the Water" directly into the storage bag and then take down the pesky little monsters in chaos.
"Coo! Coo!"
"Coo coo coo!"
The unique calls of the Moon Pearl Birds and sounds of them stepping across the grass toward him heightened Jiang Yuan's sense of crisis, thoughts flashing back to the body in its twisted death pose.
Stunned and pecked to death by the small-sized Moon Pearl Birds, the person surely struggled desperately before dying, but under consistent stunning, the conscious mind couldn't respond effectively, even losing the ability to escape, dying in conscious despair was terrifying!
What to do?
If he turned to fight the creatures now, he'd lose the "Moon in the Water." If he focused solely on fishing, once the Moon Pearl Birds unleashed their skills, the intense light reflected on the lake would encircle him 360°, and just closing his eyes wouldn't avoid the stun; even "seeing" light through closed eyelids would get him, complete darkness being a must, with their scratching and pecking, how long could he last?
With forty seconds left on the good luck buff countdown, this opportunity wouldn't come again once missed!
Determined, Jiang Yuan covered his face with his rough cloth shirt shielding against the camera flash-like dazzling remote lights, tightly shut his eyes, gripped the rod with both hands, setting himself in a tug-of-war stance and desperately pulling toward the shore.
The situation was urgent, no time for proper reeling technique. Either the "Moon in the Water" breaks the rod to escape; or it gets pulled up, anyway it was a race to settle the issue before the Moon Pearl Birds' claws reached him!