Chapter 160 Finally, the first task is completed: "The box..."
“The box…” Sang Zhitao took a deep breath and called out to Douzi twice.
Douzi looked at her with surprise and delight: "You're awake!"
Douzi's exclamation made everyone turn to look at Sang Zhitao, their eyes filled with joy.
Sang Zhitao nodded and called out to the box in Ying Jun's arms, "Box."
Douzi then realized what was happening and quickly turned to Yingjun, calling out, "Brother Yingjun, Little Phoenix wants that box."
Yingjun looked down at the box in his arms in surprise, hesitated for a moment, and then placed the box on the ground in front of Douzi.
This box was the one he and Sang Zhitao brought up from Moon Lake.
As they ran away, he tripped over the box and instinctively picked it up. He had gotten used to carrying it all the way and didn't think to put it in his backpack.
Anya looked at the box suspiciously, then looked at Yingjun with a questioning gaze.
Without hesitation, Yingjun told her the origin of the box.
"Is this really something we're supposed to get? Could she have tampered with it? Could this be the so-called gift?" Anya looked at Sang Zhitao with some concern.
Sang Zhitao shook her head slightly and used her strength to jump onto the box.
She lowered her head and gently tapped the lock on the box. The seemingly sturdy brass lock fell softly to the ground with a muffled sound.
Douzi wanted to raise her hand to stop Sang Zhitao when she heard Anya's question, but the bird's nest that Sang Zhitao was lying on was too big, and both of her hands were occupied, so she could only watch helplessly as the box was opened.
After opening the box, Sang Zhitao looked at the box, then at her own size, sighed helplessly, turned to look at Douzi, and gently called out twice.
After hearing this, Douzi looked directly at her brother: "Phoenix asked me to help her open the box."
Dou Ge raised an eyebrow, and without hesitation, stepped forward and opened the lid of the box.
There was only a small flowerpot in the box, about the size of a palm, containing a flower that looked like crystal.
“So beautiful…” Douzi’s eyes sparkled with amazement.
"What is this?" Anya asked curiously upon seeing it.
Sang Zhitao flew up slightly, looked at the contents of the box, and nodded slightly: "This is one of the ingredients I need."
Douzi's eyes widened as she looked at the flower and then at Sang Zhitao: "Oh, this is it! What's the next ingredient?"
Sang Zhitao sighed softly, feeling a slight pain in her heart due to the punishment from the game rules.
However, considering that he had already accepted the punishment, completing the first task was the most important thing, so he simply said, "Dewdrop in the Wutong Forest".
After saying that, her legs went weak and she collapsed in front of the treasure chest.
"Little Phoenix!" Douzi quickly squatted down, no longer caring whether Sang Zhitao would be angry. She placed the bird's nest to the side and carefully held Sang Zhitao in her palm.
"Don't worry about me, just finish the task!" Sang Zhitao urged Douzi, panting heavily.
Douzi dared not delay any longer and looked pitifully at her brother and Anya.
Before Dou Ge could say anything, Anya pursed her lips and said, "We'll go with you."
Dou Ge initially wanted to refuse, but then he remembered that the mysterious Zhen was waiting for them in the shadows with his men, so he didn't refuse and silently nodded in agreement.
Seeing that he agreed, Anya silently breathed a sigh of relief. She was still a little worried that he would refuse, after all, at the beginning he had only said that he would escort her to the Youyue Forest.
The group didn't dare to linger and headed straight out of the forest.
At this point, everyone couldn't help but feel grateful for the domineering nature of the Bear Kingdom people, who were able to carve out a path through the Ghost Moon Forest, allowing them to leave much faster than before.
Even though it was close to noon when they set off, they arrived at the outskirts of the Ghost Moon Forest before dawn the next day, thanks to their overnight march.
Once you leave the Ghost Moon Forest, the teleportation scroll can also be used.
The group tacitly took out teleportation scrolls and teleported themselves to Bright Moon City, the city closest to the Wutong Forest.
"Can everyone hold on? If so, let's go into the forest first." Anya looked at Sang Zhitao, whose breath was growing weaker in Douzi's arms, with a worried expression.
Everyone had already noticed that Sang Zhitao was not in a good condition, so they didn't say anything and agreed to Anya's decision.
The group hurried towards the Wutong Forest, arriving while it was still early.
Seeing the dew still clinging to the sycamore grass under the sycamore tree, everyone's faces lit up with joy.
Luckily, I made it in time...
Douzi couldn't help but feel a little relieved. She quickly and carefully placed Sang Zhitao on the ground, took out a blood-replenishing potion and drank it down, then placed the empty bottle under the paulownia grass to carefully catch the dew.
Seeing this, the others also took out their own potions and drank them, placing the empty bottles under the dewy paulownia grass to catch the remaining potions.
About an hour later, it was bright daylight, and the dew disappeared after the sun came out. Only then did everyone put away the bottles and hand them over to Douzi.
Douzi looked at the dew in the bottle, then at the crystal flower in the box next to it, and hesitated for a moment.
"What... what should I do?"
Anya looked at Tangtang and thought for a moment: "Could it be that she uses her cooking skills to prepare the dishes?"
"So...should we make soup or a main dish?"
"Soup..." Anya frowned slightly, looking hesitant as she cautiously spoke.
"Let's be careful, otherwise we might not be able to find another ingredient if we waste it," Yingjun thought for a moment and reminded him.
Upon hearing Yingjun say this, Douzi paused involuntarily as he reached for the box.
Just as she was still hesitating, Brother Dou picked up the flowerpot and shoved it into her hands: "Try cutting a little bit first."
But Douzi took the flowerpot without making a move, just staring blankly into the void.
Dou Ge was worried and wanted to wake her up, but Anya stopped him, saying, "It should be a system task, don't disturb her."
When Dou Ge heard Anya say that, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, but he still looked at his sister with concern in his eyes.
As Anya said, the bean received a system notification after it came into contact with the crystal flower.
"Congratulations to player Bean for obtaining the divine ingredients Wutong Dew and Illusionary Crystal Grass, and for the divine recipe 'Phoenix Cub Recipe 1'."
"Congratulations to players Douzi and Douge for completing the first stage of the divine-level quest, 'Divine Beast Breeder.' Please prepare a delicious meal for your divine beast as soon as possible."
After looking through the Phoenix Cub recipe for a while, Douzi was then dragged into a virtual space to practice before being released.
"Are you alright?" Brother Dou breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his sister come to her senses and quickly asked.
Bean shook his head: "The system gave me the recipe, and now I'm making food for the phoenix."
Hearing her say that, the people standing around quickly made way for her.
Contrary to their expectations, Douzi did not bring out a full set of kitchen utensils and begin a spectacular culinary demonstration.
So he took out a stone-carved garlic mortar, dripped a few drops of dew into it, tore off some petals from a crystal flower, and then pounded it vigorously.
After it turned into a viscous liquid, she dripped dew into it, added flower petals, and pounded it again.
This process was repeated several times until all the dew and the entire crystal flower were pounded into a viscous sap before the process finally ended.
She carefully poured the liquid from the mortar and pestle onto a prepared cutting board, kneaded it a few times, and then rolled it little by little into small balls the size of beans.
This lump of juice may not seem like much, but when rolled into balls, it yields nearly a thousand.
Only after she had finished rolling all the pills and carefully wiped the empty bottle clean did she put the pills back into the bottle.
Douzi frowned as she looked at the jar, which was already full but still had some meatballs left.
"...Is it over?" Brother Dou asked cautiously in a low voice when he saw her stop moving.
Upon hearing his voice, Douzi suddenly let out a heavy sigh, her face turning deathly pale, and she looked extremely exhausted: "Yeah, not enough bottles."
Brother Dou rushed forward to support her with concern: "What happened?"
Douzi sighed softly: "Doing this is terrifying, I'm only holding on by my mental strength."
Anya had already neatly poured out the blood medicine all over the ground, wiped the bottles one by one, and handed them to Douzi, her eyes still filled with worry for Douzi: "How is she so amazing?"
Douzi took the bottle and carefully packed the dumplings one by one before sighing and saying, "Each movement requires a lot of mental energy to maintain, and each addition and pounding requires mental energy to probe until it reaches the optimal level. Even if my mental energy is high, I am still a low-level newbie. Fortunately, it is the most basic recipe, otherwise it would have drained me dry."
After helping her put the bottle back into her backpack, Dou Ge looked at her with a furrowed brow: "We need to level up as soon as possible before the next mission begins."
Anya glanced at Sang Zhitao, who was being fed beans, and thought for a moment before saying, "Why don't you ask one of my people to help you level up? That would be faster."
Dou Ge originally planned to level up in the Ghost Moon Forest while doing the quest, but unexpectedly, apart from the giant beast he just encountered, he didn't encounter any monsters in the Ghost Moon Forest.
I was initially disappointed that I couldn't get a piece of Anya Winery's strength, but I never expected Anya to make this decision. Without hesitation, I nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Anya's smile became even more genuine, and her gaze turned to Sang Zhitao, who was much more awake.
"It seems this recipe really works."
Sang Zhitao breathed a sigh of relief as she watched her satiety level on the panel approach 100% after swallowing three dumplings. She then pressed down on the beans that were being fed to her and shook her head in refusal.
Seeing this, Douzi didn't force her anymore and simply put the items back into her backpack.
"Strange?" Douzi flipped through the task panel and murmured softly.
"What's wrong?" Because his younger sister's complexion hadn't fully recovered, Dou Ge, who had been keeping a close eye on her, immediately noticed that something was wrong with her.
Douzi looked at her brother and immediately selected to share the task panel: "Brother, the second task hasn't been released yet."
Dou Ge frowned and looked at Sang Zhitao: "There are no more tasks?"
Sang Zhitao looked at Douzi and chirped a few times.
Douzi nodded with a look of sudden realization and explained to her brother and Anya, who was looking over curiously, "Phoenix said the time is not yet right."
"It's probably because the triggering conditions are insufficient." Anya nodded thoughtfully.
Dou Ge thought for a moment and looked at Anya: "Perhaps it's a problem with our levels. Let's go level up first."
Anya nodded in agreement, and the matter was settled. The group returned to Brightmoon City.
"I'll bring some people to see you tomorrow," Anya said simply before leaving with her entourage.
The brother and sister checked into a room at the inn and, too tired to go out, slept in the room until night.
Therefore, they did not notice the faint green light under Sang Zhitao's scarf at all.
Sang Zhitao woke up amidst the commotion, wanting to see what had happened, but upon opening her eyes, she saw the familiar ceiling of the monitoring room...
-----------------------
Author's Note: I only have three more days to finish that nearly 500-page PPT!! [Fireworks]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com