Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!

The deceased Spider Demon looked around seventeen or eighteen years old.

It was unclear whether his Transformation Technique had not been cultivated well, or he simply preferred the spider's body. Regardless, his image was human in both head and body, retaining six arms besides the normal two legs.

His somewhat naive face still bore patterns and lines, preserving an expression of fear of death, frozen in a fleeing stance, wrapped in dense spider webs.

For a moment, Jiang Yuan seemed to travel back in time to the clan annihilation battle thousands of years ago, watching helplessly as the young Spider Demon rushed toward the only route to survival.

However, he was just a bit away from reaching the teleportation array, his eyes filled with fear of death and hope for survival, one hand stretching forward wanting to dash a little faster...

"Huh? This isn't right!" He was just shocked, when he suddenly remembered Xiao Ba's account of the old stories from Spiders Valley, feeling odd, "Weren't the young generation sent away in haste? How did this young man die here? He looks more like he was trying to survive on his own, could he have been left behind in the panic?"

[Discover the clue, trigger Spiders Valley's legacy quest 1: Gather clues to identify the traitor in the Spider Race during the clan annihilation battle, and find the evidence. Reward: Acceleration Card +1]

"Good thing I didn't refine it immediately! Really close, almost missed the side quest." Jiang Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking thankfully that his curiosity made him want to see more.

If he had refined this young Spider Demon's body, he might have needed to discover the clues again to trigger the quest.

A traitor within the Spider Demon clan? He frowned slightly, unable to understand, could there be a Spider Demon who betrayed the entire clan for selfish reasons? Those innocent little demons caught in the crossfire must have been tragic!

[A worn-out wanted notice]

Just clearing the spider webs from the corpse, Jiang Yuan saw a corner of paper protruding from the lively-looking young man's chest. He reached out to take it, and the system appropriately popped up a prompt.

Unfolding the slightly yellowed paper, there was a simple portrait of an old man with a long beard drawn in ink. The accompanying text was twisted and crooked, but with the system's real-time translation it was understandable—"The Ghost-faced Spider Demon Jia Yi in North Mountain's thirteen layers sixth cave, cultivated Demon Technique to devour its kin, escaped from the valley dungeon yesterday. Any informant or discoverer will be richly rewarded!"

After he finished reading, the wanted notice transformed into a cluster of light points.

A line appeared below the side quest in his vision: [Clue 1: Wanted notice, Ghost-faced Spider Demon Jia Yi who cultivated Demon Technique escaped the dungeon.]

"Tsk tsk, the flavor of a mystery game is even stronger!" Jiang Yuan looked at the surrounding white spider webs and the tragically dead body, and the obtained clue felt like he was in a deliberately set up escape room.

After confirming there were no other clues on the figure, he clicked to choose refining.

[Life Origin +0.5]

Finally, after a while, the balance was rounded up to an integer, though he didn't know how much origin he had to collect to achieve the same effect as the clone and the original.

The deeper he went, the denser the spider webs became, and the more corpses there were.

The demon bees were mostly tightly wrapped in webs; while Spider Demons died in various ways, some were eviscerated, some strangled to death alive, and even dismembered into pieces.

Any damaged bodies could not submit origin, while those without obvious scars could extract some parts more or less. This got Jiang Yuan a little puzzled, why could the Evil Cultivator he previously encountered absorb lifespans but not extract life origin?

Could it be there were more interpretations of leftover origin?

Unable to make sense of it after much thought, he had to shuttle through the webs looking for clues as best he could.

[Clue 2: Years before the clan annihilation battle, Spider Demons occasionally went missing, missing person notices were posted but always remained untraceable]

A pile of missing person notices posted on a bulletin board transformed into light points, aggregating into words. There were at least dozens of these notices, involving Spider Demons of all ages and genders, uniformly described as normally fine but had not returned since leaving home.

"Could it be these were caught and eaten by the Spider Demon who cultivated Evil Technique?" Jiang Yuan's curiosity was piqued, as he searched for suspected clues.

The reward was secondary, he just wanted to know what happened that led to such a deadly catastrophe to such a large tribe.

Miss Xiao Ba was still young, aware only of details recounted by family in her childhood.

As for how many types of Spider Demons were in Spiders Valley and how they were governed, she knew nothing.

Based on the missing person notices, one Demon Cultivator went missing every two or three months, which was already serious. Who was in charge back then? Was the matter promptly investigated?

Was Jia Yi the only one who cultivated Evil Technique to devour kin? Where did he acquire the Evil Technique?

Zigzagging through many questions, Jiang Yuan didn't forget to collect goods while investigating.

[Broken Spirit Sword: a sword that's already severely damaged, can only reclaim materials at the Treasure Forging Workshop]

[Broken Storage Bag: a storage bag torn apart during battle, take it back to the Treasure Forging Workshop to attempt renovation, maybe some surviving items]

......

The bodies of Demon Cultivators were wrapped in spider silk and infiltrated with toxins, so that remaining unchanged thousands of years later as if still alive in their final moments.

But their Magical Treasures, Weapons, even Storage Bags and Storage Rings soaked in toxins became utterly damaged.

Taking them back for collective recovery, there's a high probability of refining some special materials, perhaps even assembling something.

After scavenging everything that could be taken, Jiang Yuan found a diary while looking through a set of wooden boxes.

"July 13, sunny

The day after tomorrow is Clan Leader's birthday, we all must prepare gifts.

Last month for Valley Master's wife's birthday, Ghost-faced Spider Demon Liu Liu fished out a Ruby Fish in the pond west of the Divine Statue, Clan Leader said that fish steamed tastes best. I plan to fish one to give it to him!"

"July 14, windy

Spent half the day fishing by the lake and caught nothing. Just when I wanted to go home, I saw Liu Liu mysteriously hurrying towards Mist Forest behind the pond, holding something. I quickly chased after but found no trace of him, so odd."

"July 15, little rain

Liu Liu disappeared.

I am very scared because everyone says an Evil Cultivator roaming near the valley that eats spiders, even the Valley Master can't catch them nor find missing tribe members.

The Clan Leader's birthday banquet hurriedly ended, should I tell Clan Leader what I saw yesterday? What if... that Evil Cultivator is in Mist Forest or even within the tribe, what if they target me after knowing I informed?"

"July 16, sunny

Clan Leader said Liu Liu likely stole Spiders Valley's most precious gem, betrayed the tribe, and left Spiders Valley.

So, was he sneaking around because of stealing the gem? Then why flee into Mist Forest? Could he have accomplices? Those previously missing tribe members, did they truly disappear..."

[Clue 3: Ruby Fish can be fished from the pond west of the Divine Statue; explore Mist Forest where Liu Liu headed before his disappearance]

"Interesting, the tribe's treasures lost, tribe members mysteriously vanished, this Spiders Valley seems to lack stringent management." After reading the clues Jiang Yuan turned back.

After previously clearing the surroundings of the Divine Statue without finding a trace of the pond, it might be at some distance. Now with the map highlighted, he must return to the outskirts to activate all scenes to avoid omissions.

It is unknown if the pond's fish have been affected after years of toxic fog in Spiders Valley, if they haven't mutated, fishing a few might be a good idea and wait for Fish Pond upgrades to increase kinds of fish bred!