Chapter 52. Snowy Mountains and Rivers ④: A New...

Lin Xiaoxiao turned her head and lowered her voice to ask, "Was Brother Huihui always this straightforward?"

Xiao Weizhi shook his head: "I don't know. He already had this kind of personality when I met him."

The same conversation took place among the other friends.

Everyone said that Liu Huihui already had this kind of personality when they met him, and no one really knew what he was like before.

Liu Huihui remained expressionless, her ear tips slightly red, and her tone was calm: "That was when I was young and impetuous."

Huang Yuwei glanced at him sideways, raised an eyebrow, then relaxed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her hands behind her head. As if recalling a past event, she revealed a shocking revelation: "So, this is your reason for asking me to a hotel after your graduation confession, and then standing me up?"

Hotel? Did they stand you up?

Lin Xiaoxiao, who was hiding in the tent and eavesdropping, was so shocked that her mouth was agape and her eyes widened.

Liu Huihui seemed to be provoked by these words, gritting his teeth and lowering his voice, "I stood you up? You were the one who stood me up. I waited for you all night at the entrance of the Roland Emperor Hotel."

Huang Yuwei scoffed and glanced at Liu Huihui: "You're talking nonsense. I waited for you all night in the lobby of the Roland Emperor Hotel, and that coward didn't even show up."

Liu Huihui laughed angrily: "I didn't go back then? I waited for you all night at the entrance of Roland Emperor Hotel."

Then, without prior arrangement, they both said the same thing in unison: "Impossible, I didn't see you." *2

The very next second, the two of them, in perfect unison, said:

Huang Yuwei: "I'll be waiting for you all night in the lobby of the Roland Emperor Hotel on Hongfeng East Street."

Liu Huihui: "I'll wait for you all night at the entrance of the Roland Emperor Hotel on Lvlan South Street."

The two turned to look at each other in surprise, so neither of them had stood the other up; it was simply that the hotel had gone to the wrong place.

Inside the tent, Lin Xiaoxiao, sitting by the door curtain, tilted her head and leaned towards Xiao Weizhi, asking in a low voice, "Are there many hotels with the name Roland Emperor?"

Xiao Weizhi put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her close, and lowered his voice to explain, "Roland Emperor is a chain hotel. There are more than a dozen in Beijing alone, not counting branches in other cities..."

From his analysis, Lin Xiaoxiao learned that Hongfeng East Street and Lvlan South Street in the South District were far apart, and coincidentally, the two Roland Emperor Hotels, one in the south and one in the north, corresponded exactly to the two back gates of [Imperial Capital Vocational and Martial Arts University].

[Imperial Capital Vocational University: Located in the southern district of the capital, covering an area of ​​5,000 acres, ranked third in the country, it is one of the universities that all professionals dream of attending.]

Lin Xiaoxiao nodded in understanding. So, the reason Liu Huihui and Huang Yuwei missed each other was because they didn't explain the address clearly, causing both of them to think they had been stood up.

Lin Xiaoxiao blinked her dry eyes, forced back a yawn, and pricked up her ears, trying to continue listening.

But Xiao Weizhi grabbed her waist, lifted her up, and carried her to the bedside: "It's time for you to rest!"

Lin Xiaoxiao struggled to sit back down on the chair by the door: "Wait a little longer, I'm going to sleep soon, I haven't finished listening yet."

Xiao Weizhi coldly refused: "There's no room for discussion, it's already past 12 o'clock."

He put Lin Xiaoxiao on the small bed, pressed her down to lie down, covered her with a quilt, and even stretched out his warm hand to cover her eyes.

Before long, her thoughts became muddled and she soon fell into darkness, her breathing becoming very even.

Xiao Weizhi noticed that Lin Xiaoxiao's breathing had slowed down. After a while, he withdrew his hand from her eyes, got up and went back to the door. He picked up the red-tailed rat, which was wagging its six tails, and the treasure-hunting rat, which was squatting in a round ball, and threw them back into their respective nests.

A soft warning: "Stop listening, everyone go to sleep!"

The night passed quickly.

The next morning, everyone in the team was yawning.

The gossip last night was so explosive that several of them discussed it until three or four in the morning before finally falling asleep.

Lin Xiaoxiao went to bed relatively early, but the energy-reducing buff she had left her feeling listless.

Cheng Cheng sat down next to Lin Xiaoxiao, rested his head on her shoulder, closed his eyes and said in a very low voice, "I never thought that Brother Huihui would have such a 'youthful and impetuous' time."

Lin Xiaoxiao tilted her head and leaned against Cheng Cheng's head, pouting and saying in a slightly aggrieved tone, "Sister Cheng, I didn't hear what happened after that."

Cheng Cheng slightly raised his eyelids: "What time did the boss call you to go to sleep?"

The whole team knows that Lin Xiaoxiao has a [permanent -20% stamina buff], and in most cases, everyone will subconsciously let her do less work.

Given Xiao Weizhi's personality and habits, how could he possibly agree to Lin Xiaoxiao forcing herself to stay up all night for such a trivial matter!

Lin Xiaoxiao answered in a low voice, "A little after 12 o'clock."

Cheng Cheng opened his eyes and glanced around. Finding that Liu Huihui and Huang Yuwei were not there, he immediately closed his eyes, leaned his head back on Lin Xiaoxiao's shoulder, and quietly explained the rest of the plot that Lin Xiaoxiao hadn't heard.

After Liu Huihui and Huang Yuwei learned that the other party had mistakenly gotten the address wrong a few years ago and had not intentionally stood them up, their subsequent conversation was not so hostile. Instead, they chatted like long-lost friends about past events.

They also talked about how Huang Yuwei had switched between more than a dozen teams over the years, and was eventually abandoned by each team because of her skills. Fortunately, she was not too bad off and did not die in those secret realms.

Just as the two girls were whispering about what would happen next, Liu Huihui and Huang Yuwei walked to the dining table one after the other and sat down in silence.

Faced with the gossipy or curious looks from his companions, Liu Huihui felt utterly helpless and sighed inwardly. How could he have forgotten about these people with their perverse sense of humor? They probably overheard everything they talked about last night, and his brilliant image was completely shattered.

Chen Yijin carried a large tray filled with steaming hot food and warmly greeted, "Huihui, Miss Huang, come and have breakfast. We'll be packing up the campsite and getting ready to leave soon."

Today's destination is the one that Xiao Weizhi, Liu Huihui, and Chen Feng had previously discussed.

Since we've come all this way to this hidden paradise of ice and snow, we absolutely must visit its famous core resource point: [Ice Dream Lake].

Bingling Lake is composed of more than 30 lakes of varying sizes, arranged in a terraced pattern. The largest lake covers more than 500 acres, while the smallest is only half an acre. Some lakes are inhabited by mythical beasts, while others are not.

The color of the water varies significantly in each lake.

The most common colors are: turquoise, lake green, and turquoise; but there are also a few lakes with more unique colors, namely: light purple, light pink, and light yellow.

During the previous exploration of the secret realm, someone obtained a clue that said: a treasure of immense value lies hidden beneath one of the lakes.

The reason this news came to the public's attention was that a certain professional who had been pioneering the land last time was being chased and, under duress, chose to reveal this information in public in order to distract his pursuers and escape. His plan was well-thought-out, but unfortunately, it failed.

Therefore, every professional team that went on the second expedition would silently add the [Ice Dream Lake], which resembled a scenic spot, to their must-visit list.

With everything packed up at the campsite, five snowmobiles set off for their destination.

They had only traveled a little over 100 kilometers when the entire group encountered a group of monsters, the Frostrock Black Sheep, blocking their path.

[Frosty Rock Black Sheep: Normal size and height: 2.5 meters, normal weight between 400-500 jin (200-250 kg), coat is grayish-black, with a pair of round horns resembling plates. A gregarious beast, impulsive and aggressive in nature, with extremely strong jumping ability, capable of climbing 175-degree cliffs.]

The Cold Rock Black Sheep is a type of monster that roams the cliffs year-round. If you see them on the plains, there are only two possibilities: first, the ewes have come down to find a safe place to give birth; second, the species has migrated in large numbers to change their habitat.

If you encounter the first situation, you can avoid it by simply going around it. (The adult monster needs to protect the mother sheep and her newborn lambs and cannot stray far away.)

But if it's the second type, then there's only one option: a great battle until the last one of the monsters is completely wiped out.

Looking at the flock of Han Yan Black Sheep in front of them, panting heavily and already lowering their heads and kicking their legs, clearly they had encountered the second situation.

In the blink of an eye, the lead group of over a hundred Frostrock Black Sheep charged and rammed towards the location of the sled, giving the Dragon Tooth Squad no chance to dismount and fight back.

Xiao Weizhi and Li Junxuan raised their hands at the same time, and points of light flashed in their hands, forming a protective shield and an energy shield, blocking the Han Yan Black Sheep that were blindly charging.

Xiao Weizhi exerted force with both arms, turned the snowmobile around, and slid in a semi-circle on the spot. Behind him, a large cloud of snow dust was kicked up by the snowmobile. He accelerated forward to avoid the Frost Rock Black Sheep chasing behind the flying car, which continued to use its large horns on its head to try to knock the team away.

He twisted the snowmobile throttle hard and commanded in a deep voice: "Go, find a safe position, land and counterattack. Wang Hao, Xiao Xiao, Yi Jin, you guys counterattack now, maximize your output."

Suddenly, several illusory halos appeared out of thin air and precisely landed on the three people (Lin Xiaoxiao, Wang Hao, and Chen Yijin) sitting in the back of the sled motorcycle:

[Violence Aura: Increases critical strike chance by 15%, duration is t: 30 minutes.]

[Powerful Output Aura: Increases attack power by 20%, duration: 1 hour.]

[Bombing Aura: When using area-of-effect attacks, it grants an additional 8% attack power. Duration: 30 minutes.]

[Crazy Aura: Grants an additional 1% attack power for every 100 attacks dealt, up to a maximum of 15%. Duration: 15 minutes.]

Lin Xiaoxiao turned her head in surprise to look at the sled on the right.

The driver of the flying car was Liu Huihui, and behind him was Huang Yuwei, who was holding a small magic wand that was about the length of a forearm and looked like a withered tree root.

When Huang Yuwei saw Lin Xiaoxiao looking at her, she waved her magic wand in response.

A huge explosion rang out behind them.

"Hahahaha, this halo is so awesome, it's amazing!" Wang Hao's excited laughter could be clearly heard by all his friends.

It was the presence of these four output halos that made Chen Yijin's hand move faster as he threw the alchemical bombs backward.

Lin Xiaoxiao gave up on the idea of ​​taking a weapon and instead kept taking out gold coins from her spatial storage and throwing them behind her, scattering them back in handfuls.

Sunlight shone on the gold coins, shimmering with golden light, which fell into the horde of Frostrock Black Sheep monsters behind them, causing explosions and converting into effective damage.

Lin Xiaoxiao scattered gold coins one handful at a time. In just over ten minutes, she had scattered more than 200,000 gold coins. The damage data on the team panel dropped dramatically, firmly ranking first.

He out-damaged Wang Hao, who was in second place, by more than 100,000 damage.

Cheng Cheng put one arm around Chen Feng's waist and gave Lin Xiaoxiao a thumbs-up with the other: "Xiaoxiao, awesome."

Jiang Tao laughed heartily, threw a handful of darts behind him, and said sarcastically, "Wang Hao, with Xiaoxiao, who has such a wide-range AoE attack, you're definitely going to be the team's top damage dealer."

Wang Hao turned around and unleashed several attack skills, grinning to reveal a set of pearly white teeth: "That's right, losing to Xiaoxiao isn't shameful, but losing to you is unacceptable!"

Upon hearing this, the entire team burst into laughter.

The snowmobiles speeding ahead, the thousands of frantically chasing the Frostrock Black Sheep monsters behind, and the explosions bursting in the rolling snow dust—from a distance, they formed a truly breathtaking scene.

A figure standing on a distant snow-capped mountain kept a close eye on Longya and his companions' movements.

An hour later, the Dragon Tooth sled team came to a successful stop.

Under Xiao Weizhi's command, the team members cooperated tacitly, and with Huang Yuwei's charisma, they were able to further enhance their performance.

Within two minutes, they dealt with the dozens of Frost Rock Black Sheep that were still stubbornly chasing them.

Lin Xiaoxiao stood behind Xiao Weizhi and sighed softly. She felt a little regretful about the spoils of war (monster bodies, gold coins, equipment, etc.) she had lost along the way, and she also felt a little heartache about the millions of gold coins she had spent.

Hearing her sigh, Xiao Weizhi guessed the reason for it. He turned around, reached out and touched the hat on her head, and comforted her gently, "It's okay, we can earn more gold coins. Safety is more important."

Lin Xiaoxiao pursed her lips and nodded: "Mm."

Lin Xiaoxiao used to think that it was normal for adventurers to spend a lot of money. She understood and respected Wang Hao and his friends' obsession with big harvests, but she didn't force them to.

After all, weapons, medicines, and consumables (ammunition, armor, etc.) are all for survival, and the more the better.

It was all because she didn't have the [Money Crit] damage skill back then, so she felt that as long as she had enough money to spend, that was fine.

But things are different now. Each battle costs at least tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of gold coins, and sometimes even millions of gold coins. Lin Xiaoxiao now has a very strong desire to make money.

Although Xiao Weizhi had assured her that she wouldn't lack 'ammunition' (gold coins), who would complain about having too many gold coins?

After cleaning up their spoils, Longya and his group boarded the sled again and continued on their way to their destination.

They encountered several waves of monsters during the battle. With Huang Yuwei's aura providing support, the damage output was noticeably increased, which also accelerated the pace of the battle.

Xiao Weizhi transformed into a human-shaped magic turret, unleashing skills that dealt massive damage with each attack.

Wang Hao continued to praise while unleashing his skills, bombarding the monster horde and repeatedly landing critical hits.

Even melee-focused professionals like Chen Feng and Liu Huihui experienced the joy of doubled damage.

The only two players on the team who didn't feel the support aura were Cheng Cheng and Li Junxuan, both of whom didn't have many opportunities to attack.

For the next two days, thanks to Huang Yuwei's support aura, the entire Dragon Fang team became exceptionally brave whenever they faced groups of monsters.

Huang Yuwei herself also felt that Longya was the team she had been with for many years, and the team with the most comfortable cooperation and the best teamwork. She didn't have to worry about her own safety, no one would complain about the lack of other types of aura, and she could even receive praise from the team members from time to time.

Both of them had a subtle thought in their hearts: They really clicked; it would be great if they could become teammates.

Xiao Weizhi is also considering whether to recruit Huang Yuwei, the [Crazy Aura Master], into the team. He is not worried about the team's coordination, but he is more worried about Liu Huihui's feelings.

Since Liu Huihui is an old acquaintance, Huang Yuwei would need his approval before she could possibly receive an invitation to join the Longya team.

It was late at night, past midnight, at the Dragon Fang Camp.

Lin Xiaoxiao, dressed in heavy cotton pajamas, sat on the small sofa, staring intently at Xiao Weizhi, who was sitting at the desk writing and taking notes. She yawned repeatedly, stubbornly waiting for Xiao Weizhi's reply.

Xiao Weizhi put down his pen and sighed helplessly, "Go to sleep. I can't give you an answer right now."

Lin Xiaoxiao instinctively wanted to nod, but suddenly remembered Wang Hao and the others' request during the day, asking her to find out if Xiao Weizhi had agreed to let Huang Yuwei, the [Crazy Aura Master], join the team.

She yawned again, her voice tinged with weariness: "The reason?"

Xiao Weizhi placed the secret realm details registration form on the table, walked around the desk, came to Lin Xiaoxiao, bent down and picked her up, and walked steadily towards the small bed: "We need to ask Huihui's opinion first. If he agrees, I can consider giving Huang Yuwei a one-month trial and adjustment period."

Xiao Weizhi also knew the other members of the team and was very much looking forward to Huang Yuwei, the 'outgoing' support aura master, joining the team.

But as the team leader, he has many issues to consider.

An important factor is: this person's character and integrity, and whether their joining the team will cause the team to become demoralized.

Lin Xiaoxiao leaned against Xiao Weizhi's chest, her thoughts a little hazy, but she still kept Xiao Weizhi's words in mind: "Mm."

With the thought of being able to finish her task tomorrow, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The first thing Lin Xiaoxiao did after waking up the next day was to go and whisper to her friends that Huang Yuwei needed Liu Huihui's permission to join the team.

Upon hearing this, the friends suddenly realized that they had almost forgotten about the slightly complicated relationship between Liu Huihui and Huang Yuwei.

Following that, each of the friends found a 'suitable' opportunity (e.g., going to the toilet, smoking, being alone, etc.) to subtly probe Liu Huihui's opinion of Huang Yuwei, his 'old classmate'.

At first, Liu Huihui was a little confused, but after being tested one after another, he was no fool and quickly guessed his companions' intentions.

Before Xiao Weizhi came to find him, Liu Huihui also found a suitable opportunity to have a detailed talk with Huang Yuwei.

The process was a bit tortuous, but the final result was good: Huang Yuwei was granted a one-month trial period to integrate with the team. As long as no special changes occur, her entry into the Dragon Tooth team is 80% certain.

After sixteen days of travel, the team finally arrived at the [Ice Dream Lake], located at the northernmost edge of the secret realm.

From the vicinity of the Ice Dream Lake, the treasure-hunting mouse that had been sleeping in Lin Xiaoxiao's pocket emitted a sharp, urging voice in her mind: "Quick! That's right, this is the direction, there's something good, something good..."