Chapter 10: Let's Have a Cup of Coffee First

The suddenly appearing schizonepeta made Mali fall into a daze again.

Is this... a coincidence?

Speaking of which, he had seen many familiar plants and animals along the way, but none of them brought him as much impact as the few schizonepeta in front of him, mainly because it was hard not to think too much when linked with the location on the atlas.

It was a pity that the intelligence he had mastered at the moment was still too little, and Mali didn't want to overreact.

He just silently pinched off their leaves and added a new flavor to the breakfast he was preparing.

By the time Mali finished making the salad, Xia'er had not only finished the yellow peaches but even drank the sugar water in the glass bottle clean, and was licking the bottle cap with lingering interest.

Seeing Mali carrying the plate out, the chestnut-haired girl's eyes lit up immediately, but she was greatly disappointed when she saw what was on the plate.

"All vegetables!"

"There is still meat." Mali pointed the ham in the plate to her.

The chestnut-haired girl immediately picked up a fork and picked out the red meat cubes one by one to eat, asking curiously while eating, "What animal meat is this? The texture is so strange."

"Just ordinary pork, but the processing method is a bit different."

"Amazing, can alchemy also be used to cook?" Xia'er muttered while finishing the ham on the plate, and then set her sights on the compressed biscuits Mali broke into pieces. She tasted one and nodded with satisfaction.

"This is also delicious~"

But she finished all the pre-made food on the plate and ate two roasted potatoes, but she was a bit uninterested in the rest, looking up at Mali opposite with eager eyes.

The latter was savoring his own salad, feeling a scorching gaze, and could only put down his chopsticks helplessly, returning to the car to get a can of lychees and a can of braised pork, placing them in front of Xia'er.

"Here, eat."

"Ehehehe~"

The chestnut-haired girl showed a somewhat embarrassed smile, but still quickly picked up the canned lychees, first tilted her head and took a big gulp of sugar water, and then couldn't help but praise.

"So sweet~ Alchemy is really too amazing!"

Mali wanted to correct her, but felt there was no way to start.

Just like the Indians once firmly believed that cameras would steal their souls, when the technological levels between civilizations are too different, industry looks no different from magic.

However, speaking of magic, Mali was also curious about the magic of this world.

This was clearly a "power" completely different from science, but it could tangibly influence the real world in another way.

Two people who couldn't speak the same language could communicate without hindrance with just a bottle of magic potion. Even in the world where he lived before, the most advanced AI translator couldn't do it.

Xia'er seemed to have been hungry for a long time. After finishing the canned lychees and canned braised pork alone, she also ate the remaining vegetables on the plate, and then she was happy and paralyzed on the chair, patting her stomach.

"I feel like I'm alive again."

Mali had also finished eating by this time. He glanced at his phone, and the time displayed was already past one o'clock in the morning.

He had been concentrating on driving before and didn't feel tired. Now that he was idle and had eaten, he immediately felt a sense of sleepiness.

But he didn't intend to rest immediately. For one thing, there were many questions that hadn't been figured out, and for another, he intended to take this opportunity to adjust his biological clock.

He had decided to stay outside for a while.

Everything in the red mist was good, except that it was too quiet. Besides him, there were no other creatures, and even the chirping of insects couldn't be heard.

Mali was a person who liked to be alone, but he also felt that staying inside all the time was a bit boring, and he also wanted to figure out where everyone else in the city had gone.

Since he had to come into contact with the outside world anyway, it was better to be early than late.

And adjusting his schedule as soon as possible could also facilitate subsequent actions.

Mali didn't intend to sleep during the day. For this, he needed a cup of coffee to refresh himself. However, just as he got up to go out, a knock on the door suddenly sounded outside.

………………

Mali opened the trunk and plugged the capsule coffee machine into the mobile power supply.

He pressed the button for a large cup.

On the way to waiting for the coffee to be injected into the thermos, he also found several children hiding behind the haystack, peeking toward this side.

Mali took out a few pieces of chocolate from his travel bag and waved at them.

However, those children didn't know if they had received the elders' instructions; although they were all curious and unbearable, no one came over.

So Mali put the chocolate on the wooden stake nearby, stepped back a few steps, and pretended to enjoy the scenery.

By the time he looked back again, the chocolate was gone.

From afar, he could still hear the cheers of those children.

Mali picked up the extracted coffee, added milk powder and pure water to it according to the old rules, stirred it evenly with a spoon, and by the way, charged his phone.

As of now, he no longer held any hope of connecting to the mobile network.

But even so, there were many things a phone could do: check the time, act as a compass, emergency flashlight, recorder, music player... and it could take photos and videos (although he might not be able to post to Moments anymore).

Therefore, Mali didn't have the idea of abandoning it for the time being.

The two visitors didn't stay for too long. By the time Mali finished half of his coffee, they came out of the house.

One of them was the old militiaman he met at the village entrance before, and the other was even older.

Seeing Mali, they bowed slightly and saluted with their heads down. Mali also returned the salute, and then he saw a look of surprise on the old militiaman's face.

Not long after they left, Xia'er also ran out. The chestnut-haired girl placed a small cloth bag tied with a rope in front of Mali.

"What is this?" Mali put the thermos on the trunk and untied the heavy little bag, finding that it was a bag full of copper coins, mixed with sporadic silver light.

"This is the reward for you. Village Chief Daimengde just collected it from house to house with Captain Laibutos. There are 14 silver shield coins and 116 copper Krun coins in total."

Xia'er explained, "Well... this money is not much, mainly because White Wood Village is almost at the southernmost tip of the Gongguo, even the nearest Yingzui City is five or six days away. In addition, besides some fur, there are no specialties in the village. Usually, no merchant caravan is willing to come, and everyone is not well-off."

"Then why collect money for me?" Mali asked suspiciously, "I just sent you back, and I didn't do anything for the village."

"Eh, you killed the chieftain of the Wolf Tooth Tribe, solved the crisis facing the village, and brought its corpse back as a trophy... isn't it to claim the reward?"

The chestnut-haired girl finally found something wrong, and her voice became smaller and smaller as she spoke.

Afterward, she and Mali went around to the front of the off-road vehicle and looked at the goblin corpse stuck in the bull bar. ===== CHAPTER 11 =====