The Female CEO's Personal Bodyguard

Chapter 474: Chapter 474: Why Do I Feel Like I’m Being Watched?_1

”Stop!”

Garrett Howell frowned and halted Josie Howell, speaking sternly, ”No matter the reason, we are all in the same boat now and should pull together. We haven’t even started exploring and if we start fighting amongst ourselves and both parties get hurt, wouldn’t that just give our opponents something to laugh about?”

After a pause, Garrett Howell stared at Josie Howell and said, ”It’s uncertain whether the object that prolongs life even exists. Is it worth fighting over?”

”Let’s move on!”

Carson Flores set out with a calm expression. Everything in the Underground City was unknown, and under these circumstances, sticking together was clearly the best strategy for the time being.

Before the Howell Family did anything excessive, Carson would adhere to the agreement proposed by Garrett Howell earlier. After all, Carson had been recommended by Jaiden Howell, and he did not want to cause him any trouble by having a conflict with the Howell family’s team.

After traveling a distance through the wilderness, they arrived at a small village. The group of five entered cautiously, looking around in surprise.

The houses were made of green bricks and tiles, and some were mud walls with thatched roofs. The architectural style was not much different from what the explorers were familiar with, except that some unique figures were visible in certain fine details of the buildings. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be carvings of fierce beasts, but the group could not identify what kind they were.

Ruben Howell surveyed the houses around him: ”It seems that even in The Unknown Land there is a gap between the rich and the poor. Some people have houses of green bricks and big courtyards, while others have mud and thatch huts. This village is not much different from the ones we usually see, except it has a bit more of an ancient flair and lacks modern elements like steel, concrete, and glass.”

Garrett Howell walked on, replying offhand, ”Where there are people, there is disparity in wealth, there are classes. It’s been inescapable from ancient times to the present.”

The group entered a large green-brick house nearby to begin searching from room to room.

”This furniture looks like it’s made from thousand-year-old Phoebe zhennan wood?”

Jeffrey Howell touched the dusty tables and chairs, his eyes reflecting his admiration: ”If this set were sold, it would fetch a nice sum...”

Jeffrey’s gaze fell on calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, his eyes growing brighter: ”Such excellent writing! Such excellent painting! To find someone in this humble village who can write and paint so well!”

Josie Howell casually asked, ”Are they worth a lot?”

Jeffrey smiled and said, ”If we’re speaking of value, there’s nothing here that isn’t valuable. Naturally, these calligraphy and paintings are valuable too. With this level of workmanship, even if their origins are unknown, selling one would probably get you a house in the capital city without much problem.”

Josie’s eyes lit up, ”Then should we take them with us?”

Jeffrey shook his head, ”We’re not here for calligraphy and furniture. Besides, I have a feeling that these items might be quite common in this city and not considered precious. Let the officials take care of these things slowly. We have limited time, so we should try to find items that are more valuable and related to cultivation.”

Everyone continued to search. The owner of the house clearly had good living conditions, with a living room, bedrooms, and a study, none missing.

”Nobody has sorted through the items in this house. It’s clear that the owner left in a hurry...”

Carson did not join the discussion but thought to himself.

Did these people leave in such a hurry because The Unknown Land was facing some catastrophe, on the verge of ”dying”?

”Is this a storeroom?”

Ruben Howell pushed open a small door and suddenly his eyes lit up, ”Come check this out.”

The group converged and found that the small room contained shelves with boxes on them and some empty boxes scattered on the floor.

”It seems the owner took some things before leaving, but due to the rush, didn’t take everything... Is this ginseng?”

Jeffrey picked up a box, opened it for a quick look, and his eyes sparkled with surprise: ”This is wild ginseng of excellent quality! Look at the shape, it must be at least five hundred years old, and it’s slightly different from the wild ginseng we’re used to outside...”

He leaned in to smell it, pinched a snippet of the ginseng’s root tip, chewed it a bit, assessed it, and his excitement grew: ”The potency is many times stronger than the wild ginseng we find outside...”

Excited by their find, they continued their search and discovered two more types of herbs and a box containing pills labeled ”Five Spirits Pill,” housing a pigeon egg-sized red pill. However, no one knew what the pill was for.

After completing the search, the group returned to the entrance. Garrett Howell looked at the scattered houses hidden in the darkness, glanced at Carson, and hesitated before saying, ”If we act together, it will take too much time. Let’s do this, the five of us will split up and search separately. If there’s danger, sound a long whistle to signal, and everyone else should come to the rescue as quickly as possible...”

Carson naturally had no objections. Even if Garrett hadn’t suggested it, Carson would have. Otherwise, there would be no share of any discoveries for Carson by moving with the Howell family.

Now that he had entered, he did not intend to be just an observer.

Garrett looked at his watch and said, ”We’ll search the entire village. Let’s meet back here in three hours.”

”Okay!”

The four Howells hurriedly headed towards the center of the village to another large green-brick and tiled house. Carson did not compete with them as he walked towards another house.

After walking for a while, Carson stopped, turned back with a puzzled look, shone his high-beam flashlight around but saw nothing unusual. Silence surrounded him.

Carson frowned, feeling as if he was being watched.

Was it just his imagination?