25 Suspicious Character

System: *Side Task Created: Discover Antonio's Problem and solve it!*

System: *Task: Find out about Antonio's specific dilemma and help him deal with it. More effort put towards this task along with a good resolution will lead to a greater amount of farming exp and other forms of rewards.*

Lian grinned. These notifications were like music to his ears. Since he wanted to master the farming skill as soon as possible, any ways to increase his speed of exp-gain would be welcomed with open arms.

On the other hand, he still had to deal with Francisco's problem; along with staying on track with his main tasks. Therefore, he left to the fields to continue shadowing the other farmers, whilst keeping Francisco's issue in the back of his mind.

After a few more days of focusing on his main task, Lian noticed that his fellow workers were becoming much more trusting of him. Every machine he tried, he could operate like a pro.

Due to his capabilities that went beyond comprehension, a disbelieving Simon reluctantly yielded and already gave him permission to drive the combine harvester, along with numerous types of tractors without needing any supervision. This might seem simple for someone who lived on a farm their whole lives, but to be given this responsibility within mere days was still significant.

On the sixth day of his task, Lian was required to operate a plow. Although this vehicle could be classified as a type of tractor, each one is operated differently. Therefore, he needed to find someone to shadow in order to gain their trust in using this vehicle.

On the fields, everyone was spaced out. They were either operating a vehicle or physically working whilst focusing on their separate jobs. Other than a supervisor who tended to walk by once in a blue moon, or group tasks, interactions were rare.

Seeing a plow not too far away, Lian approached. However, in an obscure area outside of the vehicle and behind one of the tires, he noticed that the driver was tinkering with something. This made Lian curious.

Within less than a few seconds, the driver mounted the plow with an empty bag in his hands. As Lian focused on that same tire from before, he could make out a large swarm of cricket-like insects that were jumping away from that same spot.

"Something is fishy here…"

Lian waited a few minutes to avoid suspicion from the driver. He then approached the man, before explaining his need to train his plow-maneuvering skills. To Lian's surprise, the driver easily agreed. Of all the workers Lian interacted with during this task, he met many different characters. Most of them were nice. But, even the kindest ones felt somewhat bothered by his presence. On the other hand, this man was too welcoming! The man then introduced himself as Martin.

Martin: "Alright! So, of course, like any other vehicle, you need to check to make sure that the tank is fueled up, the plow isn't clogged with soil and…."

This continued as the man was explaining the process of operating the machine step-by-step. However, Lian was still caught-up on the scene before-hand. Martin definitely poured some sort of insects onto the soil. What exactly, he wasn't sure. Lian only knew the basics and needed a higher farming level to understand more about each specific farm-related insect. However, he still knew that these types of insects definitely weren't beneficial to the soil or plants.

Furthermore, the more he stayed with Martin, the more unusual his demeanour seemed. The man's kindness was a bit too over the notch. It's like he was trying to feign being easy-going and care-free. To someone else, Martin would come off as kind-hearted. However, to Lian-who was always looking for the worst in others, this was practically an admittance of guilt.

As usual, Lian eventually operated the plow himself, with Martin finally commending him for his veteran-like skills. Afterwards, as it was getting dark, he returned to his room. Along the way, Lian was trying to put remember and put together any sort of suspicious encounters that he might have experienced since his stay at the farm.

"Well… I remember seeing someone sneaking around on the first night…but I'm not sure if that's even related…"

Racking his brain for a while, he still couldn't come up with any concrete ideas. On the other hand, he did manage to find a potential relationship between the abnormal amounts of dying plants across the farm, and Martin's sabotage-like actions. Perhaps, something even greater was going on. It was possible that there was someone with the intention of slowly ruining the farm.

However, Lian had no clue why anyone would waste their time and effort to do such a thing. Therefore, he'd most likely have to ask around and slowly investigate.

Before sleeping, Lian prepared a set of chores for his main body. This was done in order to train, plan, and prepare tools in consideration for the encounter with the thugs in a few days. Since the system perfectly split his consciousness into two bodies-albeit it being a hard concept to fathom, he experienced no burden when normally living out life through both bodies.

In fact, this even helped Lian to support his clone when it came to motivation. Since it was the same mind controlling both bodies, he could meditate and deal with any stress or worries in his main body, so that he could channel his productivity and focus while training as a clone.

An easier example to understand would be a person's two separate arms whilst working out. During a back exercise, the same mind is controlling one arm to hold to onto a support, while the other is in charge of lifting the weights. But, in this case, the gains would be applied directly to the system.

The next morning, Lian dropped by Senor Pablo's house. Due to his main tasks that regularly required permission from the old man, he might as well get used to going there. However, this time, Lian went for another reason.

Senor Pablo: "What's the problem young man?"

Lian: "Ehh… I was wondering if you could tell me a little about Antonio. He always works late shifts, and lately, he seems to be even more stressed and exhausted than usual."

The old man looked at him strangely.

Senor Pablo: "Sigh… I'm not really permitted to tell you about private matters… "

Senor Pablo: "But…. I know that you're asking with good intentions… so I'll give you a general idea…"