Archer's Adventure Manual

Chapter 177 The Unspeakable Secret

The wooden door opened, and a rather old-looking figure appeared. The old man was stunned for a moment when he saw Patton.

"Dad..." Barton panicked for a moment when he saw that familiar face.

The old man also looked astonished upon seeing Patton. "Patton?! You...you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the old man cautiously peeked out and saw Loran. "Who is this?"

Barton paused for a moment, then explained, "This is a friend I met on the road."

"Come in quickly."

And so, the old man pulled Loran and Brian into the house. The house was very dark, and the old man lit the candles after Loran and Brian entered.

"Old man, who did you bring to our house?" A Taoist woman's voice came from inside the house, sounding somewhat puzzled.

Then an elderly woman came out. She was stunned for a few seconds when she saw Patton. She walked up to Patton in disbelief and touched his face.

"Old man, am I dying? I'm hallucinating. I saw my son come to our house..." the woman said in disbelief.

The old man sighed after lighting the candle. "This is not a hallucination. He is our son, Barton, who has come to find us."

Barton grasped the woman's hand that was stroking her face and said earnestly, "Mom... I'm back. I heard there was trouble in Rockfall, so I was very worried about you."

Upon hearing this, the woman hugged Barton tightly, tears welling in her eyes. "Barton... Mom missed you so much."

What follows is a rather touching scene: even a tall and strong man like Patton shows a very sensitive and gentle side in front of his family, like a child who has never grown up.

Loran observed from the side and noticed that although Barton's parents were pleasantly surprised by Barton's appearance, their joy was tinged with bitterness.

He soon learned the reason for this bitterness.

"Mom and Dad, you can rest now. I'll fetch you some water." Barton fetched a few bowls of water from a stream behind the house and placed them on the table.

"Brother Garen, this is the spring water I've been drinking since I was a child. There's a stream flowing through our house, which is shared by many households. It's very clean and delicious! Come and try it."

After several bowls of water were placed on the table, under the dim light, Patton noticed that the color of the water was somewhat off; it appeared to be black.

Barton was puzzled and quickly moved the water away. "Something's not right. The color of this water is off."

Barton then bent down and sniffed the water again. It had a foul, rotten smell that made him frown. "Mom and Dad, this water..."

Barton's parents looked worried. "Barton...we're glad you're back, but now isn't a good time."

"There are some things... that we can't say outright. All we can say is that Rockfall Town is very good right now, even better than you can imagine."

The bitter smiles on Barton's parents' faces were almost overflowing, but the words they said were so...positive?

Barton was stunned by these words. Wasn't Rockfall supposed to be a nice place? Why did his parents look like that... and this water...?

"Mom and Dad, what kind of water do you usually drink? Is there any clean water source in town?" Barton looked at his parents, his eyes full of worry.

Then, to Barton's astonishment, his parents picked up the dark, murky water and drank it.

Barton was startled and tried to stop them, but it was too late; his parents had already drunk the putrid black water.

Loran was also taken aback when he saw this scene. Taking advantage of the fact that the others were not paying attention, he also took a bowl of rotten black water and handed it to Brian below, "Brian, see if this water is clean."

Brian sniffed the bowl of black water in front of him and frowned immediately. "Although... it contains some scents that I like, judging from my fairly sensitive nose, this water is absolutely undrinkable."

After swallowing several bowls of water, Patton's parents showed no change in expression.

"Why...?" Barton asked, his face full of confusion.

But his parents responded, "That's good...this water is good, and it's very healthy for us to drink."

"Mom and Dad, this water...where exactly is it healthy..." Barton felt powerless; he didn't understand why his parents were reacting this way.

What went wrong?

Loran, who was standing nearby, seemed to have noticed something was wrong. He patted Barton on the shoulder and said, "Barton, calm down. Maybe your parents have something they can't say about."

"Something hard to explain?" Barton suddenly realized, looking at his parents' complex expressions, he understood.

The town of Luoyan has now encountered an unknown change, and his parents may have been implicated as a result.

Oh, right, they just said there are some things they can't say...

"Mom and Dad, is there anything I can do to help you? What happened here?" Barton asked helplessly as he looked at his parents.

However, Barton's parents simply shook their heads. "Barton, we're fine. Everything's fine here. We're so happy you're back, but... I hope you don't come back."

As they spoke, tears welled up in the eyes of Barton's parents, gradually filling their eyes with moisture.

Barton hugged his parents tightly, "Mom and Dad, no matter what happens, I will save you!"

"Barton, you stay here with them for a while. I'm going to go find my friends," Loran said calmly.

"Okay, Garen, be careful."

"Hello sir! It's quite a surprise that you've come all the way from Plasson. I suppose you've heard about the troubles in Rockfall. Thank you for your concern, but Rockfall has now returned to normal."

An elegant nobleman arrived at the small square at the entrance to the Rockfall and greeted Lake warmly.

And this elegant nobleman was none other than Mark Warren.

Upon seeing the family crest on Mark's chest, Lake solemnly said, "The Warren nobility, a remarkable family, who once aided in the Pincoroch civil war. You deserve my respect."

"However, my original purpose in coming here was to help Rockfall Town, but now my purpose is to find out about the situation of the first advance team we dispatched. You know, their commander and I used to be very good friends."

Mark nodded, agreeing. "Yes, anyone in your situation would feel the same way. I understand how you feel." "But you don't need to worry. The first advance team is staying at our castle. They said they want to stay and help Rockfall Town with the repairs, so we're treating them very well."

, 7

Please come with me.