Chapter 401: Hidden Area: Rotten Meat Cellar

"Cheers!!"

"Hahaha, finally finished setting up camp, I'm absolutely exhausted."

After Laidun finished explaining to Yun Mu the location they were heading to next.

About half an hour later, having just finished their work, the Dwarves in the camp began pulling all sorts of beer from their personal supplies, tilting their heads back and making "glug, glug, glug" sounds.

Well, Yun Mu took back what she said earlier about her stereotypes of Dwarves; the scene before her was exactly as she had imagined! What, you say this is a dangerous wilderness, and there are even contaminated monsters nearby?

But the Dwarves don't care.

You say drinking might lead to a hangover, or even affect combat effectiveness and lower vigilance? But the Dwarves don't care.

Although there were Dwarves responsible for keeping watch outside the camp, she had clearly seen those guys holding something in their hands just now!

Can't even forget to drink while out on patrol, huh! What about Laidun, Laidun, do something! What, he's drinking too?

Never mind then.

"Is this what Dwarves are like?" Brenna sat beside Yun Mu, looking at the scene before her with quite a bit of novelty.

By the way, Lucy was also sitting beside her, though on the other side.

It meant nothing; she was just stating a simple fact, and she definitely didn't have any thoughts about being distressed over which side she should lean against.

*Ahem. *

"Is this your first time seeing Dwarves, Brenna?" Yun Mu asked, looking at Brenna with some curiosity.

Logically speaking, the Frost Kingdom borders Liedisi (Dwarf Empire), so it would be hard for the two sides not to interact.

When Brenna lived in the Winter Capital back then, she should have been able to encounter Dwarves quite often.

Sure enough, upon hearing Yun Mu's words, Brenna shook her head: "It's not the first time I've encountered them, just never interacted with them."

"Just encountered them, that's all."

"I see." Yun Mu nodded in understanding.

At the same time, seemingly noticing that the atmosphere around them was out of place with the surroundings, Laien, after saying something to the Dwarves nearby, walked over holding six beer mugs.

"Want a drink?" He sat opposite Yun Mu and grinned at the three of them.

When this guy smiled, the expression on his face was obscured by his beard; if not for his raised eyebrows and the tone of his voice, it would probably be hard to tell he was smiling.

It looked quite funny, and Yun Mu couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"Sure." She nodded readily and took the beer mug from his hand.

A very classic wooden cylindrical mug, with golden ale and bubbles that were almost overflowing flowing inside.

Come to think of it, Yun Mu had curiously searched before why beer, like carbonated drinks, could produce bubbles.

As for the result... nothing much to say.

You only need to know that carbon dioxide is produced during the brewing and fermentation process of alcohol.

"Glug, glug, glug." While Yun Mu was still observing the mug, Laien had already raised his arm and finished one of them in one go.

"Refreshing!" After casually wiping the foam stuck to his beard, he looked at Yun Mu and said: "Drinking while the bubbles are still there is the most refreshing."

It seemed he thought Yun Mu was waiting for the bubbles to disappear.

"That's true." Yun Mu didn't intend to explain; she just smiled and drank this special Dwarf brew from several thousand years ago.

Hmm... it wasn't as bad as she had imagined; the alcohol content didn't seem very high, there wasn't much of a spicy sensation, and instead, it had a sweet taste.

Yun Mu smacked her lips, savoring the aftertaste, and suddenly felt like having some "fatty happy water."

Unfortunately, neither in the world of the game Dungeon nor in reality was there that mysterious black drink from Earth.

Even sparkling water hadn't become popular yet.

Thinking about it really makes one feel regretful.

"A familiar taste." Lucy also picked up a mug and took a sip, a look of nostalgia appearing on her face.

It seems she had drunk this kind of alcohol before.

And seeing that both of them had drunk it, Brenna picked up a mug to taste it as well.

"Ugh... that really is a strange taste." She stuck out her tongue, looking like she didn't like it very much.

"Hahaha, it's like that the first time you try it, you'll get used to it!" Seeing this, Laien patted her on the shoulder: "You'll like it!"

After saying that, without waiting for Brenna to reply, he looked at Yun Mu, pointed to a gray-white tent not far away, and said: "I've already had people set up your tent; you can rest there tonight."

"The one next to it is my tent; if you need anything, feel free to come find me."

After finishing his words, he squeezed the muscles on his face again and gave Yun Mu a teasing smile: "I won't disturb you all."

After he left, Yun Mu realized what that guy meant just now.

Was that guy actually thinking that? But unfortunately, he guessed wrong.

Although she admitted that she did have a little bit, really just a little bit, of that kind of thought.

But considering a certain unknown great existence, let's just forget it.

"Speaking of which..." The three chatted, and the topic gradually shifted to the Dwarves, among which Yun Mu suddenly thought of something and asked curiously: "Do Dwarves all live underground?"

Ever since entering the game Dungeon, they had been underground and hadn't left.

Looking up, she couldn't see the familiar sun; the Fungal Path they walked, the Beast Cave that followed, and the Di Xia Cong Lin they entered when they triggered the illusion by pushing over the statue were all underground.

It's hard not to think of the Dwarves in certain works who only live in the Dixia Shijie.

"Dwarves just like digging holes." Lucy explained to Yun Mu at this time: "It is very difficult to build cities and buildings on mountain ranges."

"Instead of starting from scratch, it's better to dig holes directly into the mountain, and it is precisely because of this that Dwarves have discovered many natural underground structures."

"These structures are naturally classified as the territory of the Dwarf Empire; the Fungal Path we walked earlier, the Beast Cave behind it, and even the place where the Portal is located, are just some super-large underground structures."

"Dwarves will build houses and villages within these structures, so it is true that some Dwarves live in the Dixia Shijie their whole lives, but this does not mean that all Dwarves live underground..."

"Building along the mountains and adapting to local conditions, this is the reason why Dwarves can conquer treacherous mountain ranges."

"The original Dwarves had nothing, relying entirely on the tools in their hands to transform the mountain ranges into what they look like today, bit by bit."

Yun Mu noticed Lucy's expression was somewhat melancholy, so she guessed that she might be thinking about the Blood Clan, and thus she gently patted her shoulder.

Opening her mouth, Yun Mu wanted to say some words of comfort but did not know how to begin, so in the end, she simply remained silent.

However, Lucy was not actually that sad; she had only suddenly thought of this matter, and when Yun Mu patted her shoulder, she had already recovered. Still, she sometimes could not help but think: if she had not accepted the Scarlet Pumelas back then, but instead chose to walk the Blood Clan's own path, would the ending be any different from now? Night fell.

Sky. Sorry, I cannot see it.

The three of them, Yun Mu, crawled into the tent; the Dwarves outside had by now all become quiet.

Clearly, when out and about, even Dwarves could not carry too much ale.

One always had to drink sparingly.

Of course, the quietness here was only in comparison to before; it appeared somewhat quieter.

At this moment, Yun Mu could still clearly hear the snoring of some Dwarves coming from outside the tent.

However, her resistance to this kind of sound was quite high; even if the volume were amplified three or four times, it would not disturb her.

Not to mention that they actually did not need to sleep at all.

【Choose to rest? Yes/No】 (Resting will skip the night and restore full HP) "Of course."

Yun Mu chose 【Yes】 without hesitation, and Brenna and Lucy's thoughts were much the same as hers.

The environment inside the tent could not be called poor, but it definitely did not fit the word comfortable; if one could skip the night directly, no one wanted to actually sleep here.

And after she made her choice, everything around her, even the snoring of the Dwarves in her ears, became extremely bizarre.

To put it in human terms, time became several hundred times faster than before; in the time it took for the three of them to breathe, the snoring of the Dwarves outside vanished, and at the same time, the flow of time returned to normal, and Laidun's voice came from outside the tent.

"Yun Mu, Brenna, and Lucy, are you awake?" The Dwarf addressed the three by their names directly.

"We're awake!" Yun Mu responded casually, and taking Brenna and the others with her, she walked out of the tent.

Yesterday, after Laidun said his name, Yun Mu and the others had also given their own names.

With the personality of Dwarves, they naturally would not add titles like "Miss" after a name, but then again, before Yun Mu transmigrated, she had never seen anyone call her Miss Yun either.

At this moment, hearing someone call her name directly, she felt inexplicably close to them.

After walking out of the tent, Yun Mu smelled the scent of barley being stewed; she looked at Laidun and discovered he was holding a wooden bowl in his hand.

The bowl was filled with a mush stewed from various grains, and it seemed to have some broken crackers and pickled meat stuffed in it; it looked quite delicious.

"This bowl is mine; if you want to eat, go over there and get some." Noticing Yun Mu's gaze, Laidun pointed with his hand toward a temporary stove not far away.

Standing beside the stove was a bald Dwarf wearing gray-black scale armor, holding a ladle, and wearing an eyepatch over one eye, with a scar on his eye.

The Dwarves who had woken up around them were all honestly lining up, receiving wooden bowls filled with food from his hands.

Yun Mu herself was naturally not hungry, but smelling the fragrance in the air, the gluttonous worm in her stomach was drawn out.

Forget whether it tastes good or not, try a bite first! Thinking this, Yun Mu went behind the Dwarves and honestly waited in line.

Lucy was with her; as for Brenna, Yun Mu had invited her, but she was not interested.

The two humans were very conspicuous in the line of Dwarves, and the Dwarf in front could not help but turn his head to look at her.

"Oh, you are really tall."

"This is my first time seeing humans up close."

"First time?" Yun Mu was a bit curious: "Weren't there Experts hired by you guys in front?"

"I'm a rookie; I only just joined here not long ago." Hearing Yun Mu's words, the Dwarf walking in front replied: "I heard the Captain and the old guys all say you are different from those previous Experts; you don't know, but yesterday when you pushed over the statue, I was watching right there."

The Dwarf was very talkative, and it was clear he was a bit excited: "Pushing over a statue is a very dangerous thing; I really admire that you dared to do such a thing."

At this time, a Dwarf walking further ahead could not help but speak up: "Hey rookie, we also dared to do that kind of thing; don't forget it was the Captain who said to destroy the statue in the first place."

"But, as humans, the things you did were quite bold." He looked at Yun Mu and praised: "At least better than the recruits over there."

"Hahaha." The old-timers in the line laughed one after another.

【Dwarf Trust +5, current Trust is: 65 (Respect)】 Huh? Can trust be increased this way too?

Looking at the message that suddenly popped up in her mind, Yun Mu was slightly stunned.

At the same time.

"Hey, humans, come over here." A Dwarf further up in the line waved at Yun Mu and Lucy.

"Seeing you grow so tall, you must eat a lot; I'll swap places with you."

"No, there's no need." Yun Mu hurriedly refused, but unexpectedly, the surrounding Dwarves suddenly became quite enthusiastic.

Before long, she and Lucy were moved from the very back to the very front.

"Hahaha, eat more; look at how thin you are, you don't even have any muscle." The one-eyed Dwarf holding the ladle laughed as he served Yun Mu and Lucy a full bowl.

She only wanted to taste it. Receiving the wooden bowl from the one-eyed Dwarf, Yun Mu was speechless, yet also somewhat touched.

These Dwarves were actually quite easy to get along with.

She thought.

After eating breakfast, everyone began to pack up the camp, then left this abandoned mine and walked in the direction of the Beast Cave.

Before long, a new option appeared before Yun Mu's eyes.

【Battle Area lv64 (Master)】 and... 【Suiji Shijian】

Without too much hesitation, Yun Mu decisively chose to go to the right.

Must choose Suiji Shijian, must choose Suiji Shijian; encountering a good event earns much more than a Battle Area.

Yun Mu chose to trust her luck! 【Ah—passing through the damp and muddy Fungal Path, what will greet you next is the incomparably dangerous Beast Cave. Terrifying howls and corpse birds circle overhead, the shadows of certain predators can occasionally be glimpsed within the wrinkled tree bark, and there are unknown butchers wandering about; be extremely careful of the Grass there】 "Ah!"

A scream suddenly came to everyone's ears; Yun Mu turned her head to look without hesitation and saw the aforementioned recruit Dwarf step on an iron animal trap, its sharp spikes biting firmly into his leg, blood flowing from within.

"Are you okay!" Laidun wanted to disarm the trap at the first moment, but the next second, a large net flew out from the Darkness and directly captured the recruit Dwarf.

Subsequently, two humanoid creatures with small horns on their heads and two wings on their backs giggled cunningly, dragging the large net as they escaped into the depths of the Darkness.

"Damn it!"

Laidun cursed angrily and immediately wanted to chase after them, but thinking of the traps that might exist ahead and that it was difficult for so many people to move, he stopped his steps again.

She had to find a way. Just then, Yun Mu finished reading the event and options that had popped up on the Game Panel, and without a moment's hesitation, she stepped forward and said, "Let's go after them!"

"We have few people, and we are Experts in magic, so those traps cannot do anything to us!" she said.

(End of chapter)