Luo felt she hadn't been this happy or relaxed in a long, long ti.
She took a very long vacation, sothing that hadn't happened in nearly a hundred years. While she temporarily set aside her research project, she also let go of the headache-inducing managent tasks, the mountain of troubles in comrcial routes, those difficult clients, and the ever-tense nerves.
In a daze, she felt as if she had distanced herself from those life-threatening "border relics" and forbidden knowledge, as if she had never even encountered them. She felt she had returned to her childhood days of studying, watching stars next to the old, dilapidated astronomical observatory on her remote ho planet. She rembered a Terra scholar passing by and giving her a seed collected from ira-IX's mountains. She planted it in the open space beside the observatory, and during the flowing cloud season, the exotic flower seeds would bloom brightly, shining like stars at night...
Mushrooms are really delicious, and grilled fish tastes great too.
This peculiar valley really has so strange and wonderful things.
She made a new friend, a human whom everyone here called "Big Golden Hair"—a friendly nickna—Big Golden Hair taught her how to catch fish in the river, find those mushrooms in the forest that show small people, and even steal fruit from a big snake's nest. Together, they built a fire with collected branches and cooked food using the most primitive thods...
There's no advanced nutritional managent system, nor are they the kind of near-identical "products" from automated farms. The fruit varies in size, the fish has a earthy taste, and the bonfire's heat is hard to control, so things easily end up either burnt or still raw, yet the mushrooms taste really good.
Luo rolled over in the grass, contentedly munching away, forgetting all her worries.
Yu Sheng stood beside, emotionlessly carrying Erin, watching as a dignified Black Spot Warlord imrsed herself in a sea of poisonous mushrooms, seemingly oblivious to the world around her.
Erin (blonde) tugged at Yu Sheng's hair: "What should we do?"
"What should we do? She's drooling already, there's no way we can send her to Black Stone Station," Yu Sheng sighed, "I'll tell Baili Qing, send her for a stomach cleanse... not even sure if elves can be treated this way."
As soon as he finished speaking, the long-haired princess lying in the grass cleared her head and sat up: "Ah, no need, no need, these mushrooms aren't that strong."
Yu Sheng eyed this big kid, who just monts ago was drooling with Luo, curiously. Before he could speak, she stood up, brushed off her pants, and grinned ingratiatingly: "Hey, hey."
Seeing her cheeky smile made Yu Sheng's anger soar, imdiately empathizing with the typical feelings of Little Red Riding Hood: "Hey hey! It's rare to get a weekend, you don't know you should finish your neglected howork, instead of bringing guests here to eat poisonous mushrooms?!"
"What poisonous mushrooms, just regular magic mushrooms from the Black Forest, I eat them raw all the ti without issue..."
Yu Sheng laughed in anger: "Do you think everyone has your constitution? You can twist off a Hell Guard's head with just a couple of buns—with a full stomach, the person next to you can only twist screws!"
He opened a door leading to the Special Service Bureau, opposite him sat Baili Qing at her desk, alongside a few bewildered departnt heads making reports across from her.
Baili Qing's expression remained calm as she stood up, quickly gazing upon Luo behind Yu Sheng, with a questioning look in her eyes.
Yu Sheng didn't explain in detail, just pointing: "Ate poisonous mushrooms, use your dical room for a stomach cleanse."
Baili Qing nodded knowingly, smoothly accepting this setup—then arranged for people to take Luo for a stomach wash.
"Bring her back after treatnt," Yu Sheng reminded Baili Qing as the dical personnel took Luo away, "I still need to arrange her return to manage Black Stone Station."
A comforting voice ca from the other side of the door: "Don't worry, I rember."
As the door closed, Yu Sheng turned back to the long-haired princess, who was lowering her head, mumbling: "Those mushrooms are really fine, magic mushrooms, don't they have them in fairy tales, they're not the sa as real poisonous mushrooms..."
Then she sneakily glanced at Yu Sheng and found he didn't seem upset, so she perked up imdiately, picked up an apple from the ground nearby and handed it over: "Bro, try this, got it from Snake Princess' nest."
Yu Sheng sighed and said while taking the apple: "Can you guys stop bullying Snake Princess, she's still a guest, and True Man Yuan He entrusted her care..."
"Who's bullying her, we really like her!" the long-haired princess defended imdiately, "We always share good food with her, Mr. Yun even gives her the pills he practices with, she usually just eats and sleeps..."
Yu Sheng thought about it, recalling Snake Princess' survival status in the valley, and realized it's indeed like this, so he waved to shoo the long-haired princess back to her howork.
Although Luo had a small mishap, the repair and reboot of Black Stone Station wasn't sothing that would be completed soon, so Yu Sheng wasn't too concerned—after all, there's still a lot he's currently doing.
He could prioritize increasing production capacity for the mass-produced Erins, while arranging a more suitable residence for the growing number of mass-produced puppets. Right now, they're mainly living in the Hub Pyramid warehouse and temporary stay points around town. While these little ones have low requirents for living environnts, they can't always squeeze in boxes... The "developnt" work of three evil cultivators on Shuji's side also requires constant attention. Last ti, their diffusion device turned out to be very useful, it should be prioritized... The Crystal Tree in Soul Wilderness is best "watered" again; it's growing fast and must be ensured sufficient "nutrition"...
Yu Sheng took a grilled fish from beside the extinguished riverbank bonfire, gnawing as he slowly walked toward the town, ntally calculating recent tasks. After listing a bunch of tasks, he suddenly realized one important thing—
These matters... seem to all require blood.
Mass-producing Erin needs blood as an "alchemy catalyst," and the weapons developnt over at Shuji also requires blood as a raw material. The growth of the Crystal Tree even more so needs his fresh blood, and in large quantities.
Yu Sheng pondered silently for a mont and then added to his ntal checklist: In the near future, ask Xuan Che if there are any pills to replenish vital energy and blood at Qianfeng Ling Mountain...
"How about trying to dilute the blood with water?" Erin suddenly piped up out of nowhere, sitting on his shoulder.
Yu Sheng was taken aback: "That would still need saline... Hey, no, how do you know what I'm thinking?"
The little puppet was ssing with his hair: "Nonsense! You're muttering so loudly in your heart that it's almost killing . It's all mixed up, you know."
"Um, I almost forgot about that."
Yu Sheng scratched his head, and just then, another set of footsteps suddenly echoed nearby.
He looked toward the sound and saw a large Shadow Wolf erging from the grove—a red-clad girl deep in thought sat upon its back.
Little Red Riding Hood also looked up and saw Yu Sheng, quickly commanding the Shadow Wolf to trot over, her expression clearly indicating sothing was up: "Great, I was just looking for you."
"Looking for ?" Yu Sheng was stunned. "What's up?"
Little Red Riding Hood didn't mince words: "Rember the 'Dark Alley'?"
Yu Sheng imdiately nodded: "Of course I rember. What's going on with Dark Alley?"
"I just got a commission to go to Dark Alley—but sothing seems off over there. Soone posted a warning on the border communication, saying that strange changes have occurred in Dark Alley, with extra entities appearing in the deeper layers of the alley. The Special Service Bureau has already raised the danger level over there... I figured you might be interested in this."
Yu Sheng frowned, pulled out his phone, and began searching for the latest news related to "Dark Alley" on the border communication.
Soon, a slew of newly published posts appeared before him, one with an especially striking title—
"Simultaneous opening of many 'shops' in the deep layers of Dark Alley, beware of humanoid entities!"
At the sight of this title, Yu Sheng's expression slightly changed.
"Could such changes happen in the Exotic Realm?" He raised his head and looked at the red-clad girl on the wolf's back.
"Extrely rare, but indeed so Exotic Realms suddenly undergo changes, such as new areas appearing, or changes in the frequency and range of activity of internal entities," Little Red Riding Hood nodded. "But the changes happening in Dark Alley seem even more out of the ordinary... The simultaneous opening of many shops indicates that the operational 'rules' of the deep layers of the Exotic Realm have changed, with new entities appearing, so the original danger level ratings are no longer reliable. I've never heard of such a thing—I'm guessing it won't be long before the Special Service Bureau might even temporarily seal off that area."
Hearing Little Red Riding Hood's speculation, Yu Sheng was montarily silent, frowning but his eyes rapidly changing.
He quickly understood why Little Red Riding Hood said he might be interested in this matter.
Dark Alley was where the first "mutations" occurred on the eve of the World Bridge Crisis, where the power of the On Goddess initially appeared and then gradually spread to other Exotic Realms, ultimately reaching the entire "Mist City."
Those spreading black cobwebs indeed once caused changes in the operational rules of Dark Alley, even trapping the "indigenous entity" in Dark Alley, breaching the Exotic Realm barrier behind the "Old Bookstore."
But after the World Bridge Crisis ended, those cobwebs had clearly disappeared... The order in Dark Alley should have been restored.
Yu Sheng raised his head, looking at the little puppet on his shoulder.
Erin also happened to turn her gaze, her blue eyes full of confusion.
"I don't know anything."
"I know you don't know," Yu Sheng said casually, "but this matter is indeed suspicious... Let's go back and call Hu Li and Luna, we'll go check it out."
Reviews
All reviews (0)