Chapter 30 Capturing the Wind Spirit Stone + Death by Poisoning
Zhu Yu enjoyed the food while listening to Xue Wu, Lin Ji and others chatting.
From the conversation between several people, she learned that the two teams had cooperated once before.
No wonder the reactions of both parties just now didn't seem like they were meeting for the first time.
After confirming that the purpose of this trip was the same, both parties were obviously willing to reach cooperation again.
"Our team has information on the number and level of monsters there. What about you?"
Bai Qian'an was the first to throw out information, intending to exchange the clues they had.
"You should understand the special nature of the Wind Spirit Stone. The mine where it is located is also different from ordinary mines. The terrain inside is like a maze, and it is easy to get lost if you are not careful." Lin Ji said.
"But don't worry, our team has already collected the underground distribution map of the mineral source. This is also the main reason why I want to cooperate with you."
As he spoke, Lin Ji took out a crumpled piece of parchment from his backpack, spread it out and explained:
"Look, there are two main roads after entering the mine, and each road has three small roads extending out. The distribution map does not indicate which road contains the Wind Spirit Stone, so we need more people to fully explore. The number of people in one team is far from enough, but if you are included, it will be just right."
"That's indeed a good calculation. Next we need to allocate manpower reasonably."
“…”
It is quite difficult to capture the Wind Spirit Stone as the terrain inside the mine is complex and winding.
Zhu Yu watched Xue Wu, Lin Ji, Bai Qian and others discuss for nearly two hours and still hadn't finished.
As the last member of the team responsible for the night watch, she said hello to Xue Wu and returned to the camp to rest early.
The so-called camp is actually an area where players' shelters are stationed together.
In order to be less conspicuous, Zhu Yu changed the appearance of his shelter to a dark blue tent similar to that of his teammates. It had a plain appearance and almost blended into the surrounding night.
The interior layout has also been simplified to prevent accidental intrusion.
Zhu Yu looked around the tent at the inflatable mattress, folding tables and chairs, and the camping light hanging on the door curtain. Suddenly, a sense of familiarity came over him, as if he was not in this crappy survival game, but was still camping in a forest in reality, spending a quiet night.
She gently took off the camping light, leaned in to smell it, and the faint minty mosquito repellent smell from her nose made her close her eyes, as if she was back in the countless camping nights she had experienced before. Those carefree times seemed to isolate all dangers and bring a moment of peace.
However, she was quickly brought back to reality by the blinding white snow. She hung up the camping light and walked into the tent.
The indoor heating was always on - after all, the temperature outside was more than 100 degrees below zero. Zhu Yu was certainly not stupid, and the shelter's cold-resistant and defensive equipment were all well preserved.
After checking the income and expenditure of the hot pot restaurant and the fortress today and carefully verifying every account, she felt relieved. She washed up early, changed into comfortable clothes, lay on the mattress and closed her eyes.
******
[Extreme Cold Disaster: Day 19, Temperature: -116℃, Number of Players: 5310/10000]
Early in the morning, when it was still dark, the two teams packed up and prepared to set off.
After arriving at the Wind Spirit Stone Mine marked on the map, everyone got busy with their assigned tasks.
Since the highest level of the monster guarding the Wind Spirit Stone was C, Xue Wu only sent out Lu Xiaochi. The other team also sent out two combat players, a total of three people were responsible for luring away and killing the monsters.
The healers, alchemists and other life players who have almost no combat ability stay outside the cave, ready to provide support or rescue at any time. At the same time, Li Ge, an earth mage with strong defense, is arranged to stay behind to protect the life players outside the cave.
The two teams have a total of 13 members, so there are six combat players forming a team to go deep into the mine.
Zhu Yu followed Lin Ji and others into the Fengling Stone Mine.
The light at the entrance of the mine was dim, and the air was slightly damp and cold.
Occasionally, the sound of dripping water could be heard all around, echoing in the quiet space.
The ground is rugged and uneven, with sharp rocks protruding from time to time. If you are not careful when walking, you will easily trip.
Zhu Yu took his steps carefully, trying not to make any noise.
Soon after entering the mine, they came to the first fork in the road.
According to the arrangement discussed before, Zhu Yu, Tong Qiao and a player from Lin Ji's team went to the passage on the right, while Lin Ji led the rest to the left.
The deeper they went, the more humid the mine became. Zhu Yu even sensed a faint blue-green halo in the air.
Following the faint light, the three of them moved forward carefully and finally found their target in an empty cave.
Although he had been briefed on this in advance, Zhu Yu was still stunned for a moment when he actually saw the Wind Spirit Stone in its most original state.
The Wind Spirit Stone was not buried in the rock wall like other minerals, but floated in the air, as if held up by an invisible force, gently rotating in mid-air.
Each wind spirit stone emits a faint blue light, as dreamy and beautiful as the stars in the night sky.
Zhu Yu observed carefully and found that not all wind spirit stones were floating in the air. Some smaller wind spirit stones were attached to the moss on the wall of the cave, swaying slowly.
Looking at the scenes before her, she couldn't help but hold her breath, fearing that any big movement she made would disturb these elf-like creatures.
She looked at Tong Qiao and the other players. The three of them looked at each other, made eye contact, and slowly approached with light steps.
Tong Qiao reminded quietly: "Don't forget to use the net bag tool. I heard that these stones will float away once they are frightened."
Zhu Yu nodded and took out a special net bag from his backpack. The mesh of this net bag was fine and soft, and it was a tool specially designed for catching wind spirit stones.
She stretched out her net bag and walked towards a wind spirit stone with the brightest blue light.
Just as she raised the net bag, the stone floated back a little, as if it was hiding mischievously.
Zhu Yu did not get discouraged and carefully put the net bag towards the wind spirit stone again.
Just when her tool was about to touch it, a slight breeze suddenly blew in from the cave - this breeze actually carried some spiritual power, pushing the wind spirit stone back a little bit.
"I've heard from other players that the Wind Spirit Stone is a toy of the Wind Elves, and that it moves by controlling the flow of wind. I didn't expect it to be true." A fellow player whispered.
Zhu Yu did not respond. She waited quietly for the wind to subside, stretched out her net bag again, and finally caught a wind spirit stone at the right time.
The stone was flashing in the net and was still struggling and jumping. Zhu Yu covered it with both hands. After a while, the Wind Spirit Stone calmed down. After being taken out of the net bag, it still emitted blue light.
Zhu Yu and his companions gradually mastered the rhythm of catching the blue stones. They cooperated well with each other and put them into their pockets.
As the number of wind spirit stones in the net bag gradually increased, the light in the cave began to dim.
Seeing that the number was about the same, the three of them continued to move forward.
After turning a few corners, a three-way intersection appeared in everyone's sight.
Zhu Yu chose the middle path.
There are not many wind spirit stones in this fork in the road.
After capturing two bags of wind spirit stones, Zhu Yu discovered that the light in the cave was gradually dimming. She opened her personal page to check the time and decided to return to the entrance to meet up with the others.
Just as she was about to leave, a faint strange sound suddenly came from deep in the cave, like the sound of some creature being disturbed.
Zhu Yu frowned and was about to switch out system 996 for lighting, but the lining of his pocket suddenly became hot.
Then Tong Qiao's voice rang out in the cave:
"996, I seem to have encountered an arctic ground spider here. How come it appears here? Ah! It hurts!"
Hearing Tong Qiao's sudden cry for help, Zhu Yu immediately reached into his pocket.
In the end, she only found a bag of ashes.
Oh no! Maybe it’s because everyone can contact each other through group chat or friends list. When going to the mine, everyone is given a one-time sound transmission talisman drawn by the talisman master player. After use, it will spontaneously combust and cannot be used a second time!
Listening to the rustling noises gradually coming from the depths of the cave, Zhu Yu cursed inwardly and quickly ran back the way he came, while opening his personal panel to contact Tong Qiao.
Tong Qiao did not reply, Zhu Yu's heart sank, and he quickly sent the news of "Extremely cold earth spiders appeared in the Fengling Stone Mine" to all team members, reminding them to be prepared.
She then used the sound transmission note to quickly contact the players at the next fork in the road.
Thank God, the player was fine for the time being and returned to the fork in the road faster than Zhu Yu.
After receiving Zhu Yu's message, he immediately set out to the cave where Tong Qiao was to rescue her.
Since the Wind Spirit Stone itself is not aggressive, in order to improve efficiency, only one player is arranged to act alone at each fork in the road.
Zhu Yu only hoped at this moment that there were not many players who encountered the spider, otherwise it would be extremely difficult to carry out a large-scale rescue in this complex mine.
When she rushed back to the fork in the road, she happened to meet the player walking out with Tong Qiao on his back.
Zhu Yu anxiously stepped forward, wanting to check on Tong Qiao, but unexpectedly, the other party took a step back and stopped him:
"Stay away from us and hold your breath! I have spider venom on me. It's very poisonous. If you get even a little bit of it on you, you'll be infected!"
Damn! The ability of the venom of the arctic spider to spread is so strong!
Hearing this, Zhu Yu quickly took two steps back and took out a mask and put it on.
The player carrying Tong Qiao was You Tiao who was holding mutton soup last night. Zhu Yu remembered that he was an assassin.
Zhu Yu lowered his eyes and noticed that the other two short knives on his waist were stained with emerald green liquid, and one of the blades even had a chip on it.
"Are you feeling okay? I have a healing potion here, try drinking one first."
Zhu Yu threw the potion to You Tiao, and felt a little relieved when he saw him unscrew the bottle cap and drink it all in one gulp.
The two did not dare to delay any longer - at this moment Tong Qiao's lips had turned purple and she was unconscious, obviously she had been severely poisoned.
This level of poisoning could not be cured by ordinary healing potions, so they could only speed up their pace and get her out of the cave as quickly as possible.
"Quick, save them!"
As soon as he reached the ground, Zhu Yu immediately called for the therapist from Lin Ji's team to come and rescue Tong Qiao.
Zhu Yu and the other two were the first to discover the abnormality and quickly evacuate the mine. The remaining three people who entered the mine together have not returned yet.
"What about the others?"
While reminding everyone to wear masks, Zhu Yu glanced around and found that only Bai Qian, Xue Wu, Li Ge and a therapist were present.
Xue Wu explained: "After Lu Xiaochi and the others cleared the monsters near the cave entrance, I was worried that you didn't have enough manpower, so I asked them to go down to provide support."
Since the other captain was still in the mine, when Xue Wu received Zhu Yu's message, he quickly stepped forward to take command and make various arrangements.
"That's good--"
On the other side, You Tiao heard that Xue Wu had sent people to rescue his teammates, and just when he breathed a sigh of relief, his vision suddenly went dark.
Li Ge, who was standing next to him, was startled when he saw the person next to him suddenly fall down. He quickly reached out to help him, but Zhu Yu quickly held him down.
"You Tiao wasn't even directly injured by the ground spider, it's just that his clothes and weapons were stained with venom and became like this. You must not touch it impulsively, what if this kind of poison can poison you with just a little contact!"
Zhu Yu frowned and muttered, "But he has clearly drunk the healing potion. Could it be that the toxicity of the Arctic Earth Spider is so strong that even mild poisoning cannot be alleviated by the healing potion?"
As she spoke, as if she had thought of something, she quickly walked towards Tong Qiao's direction.
Before she could ask, the healer stood up and shook his head at her with an embarrassed look on his face: "My skills can only heal her external injuries, and are completely ineffective against this kind of poison."
"How could this happen?" Lu Xiaochi's voice came from behind.
Zhu Yu looked back and saw that the remaining players had also withdrawn from the cave - but two of them were carried out.
As soon as Lu Xiaochi and his teammates came out of the cave, they heard the therapist's diagnosis and their faces suddenly became anxious.
"Brother Qi'an, do you have any antidote? Can you try giving it to Tong Qiao?"
Lu Xiaochi squatted beside Tong Qiao, looking at his former partner who was now in an uncertain state of life or death, and his eyes couldn't help but well up slightly.
Bai Qian shook his head and said, "I've tried it, it doesn't work."
He met everyone's expectant gazes and said in a low voice, "I have also checked the trading hall, and no pharmacist has yet developed a relevant antidote."
The therapist walked towards the two injured people who had just been carried out, and sighed helplessly after checking them:
"This one is too deeply poisoned and can't be saved."
As he said this, he put on his gloves and gently closed his teammate's eyes.
"The remaining patients have at most one hour left. If we can't find the antidote, then—"
Before the therapist finished speaking, everyone was silent for a moment, and it seemed that even the sound of the wind in their ears slowed down.
Lin Ji looked at his fallen teammates and felt the coolness from the air seeping into his internal organs.
Her fists were clenched tightly, her knuckles slightly white, as if she was trying hard to suppress the anxiety and self-blame in her heart.
Zhu Yu looked towards the cave entrance not far away. The light seemed dim due to the gloomy weather.
The team member's personal panel gradually turned gray.
Previously, her understanding of death in the game was limited to the number of people decreasing on the panel, but the scene before her made her chest feel a little tight.
The teammate who drank mutton soup and shared roasted lamb legs with her yesterday now died in front of her - this was the first time she felt so truly powerless and painful in the game after becoming an NPC in the game.
"In fact, it is not impossible to completely detoxify."
Bai Qian'an's sudden words attracted everyone's attention.
He had a solemn expression, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the medicine bottle at his waist. His gaze lingered on the unconscious Tong Qiao and other teammates on the ground for a moment, as if he was thinking about something.
"Based on some daily experience, most poisonous substances have an antidote within five steps."
"If I can find herbs containing antidote ingredients nearby, I can prepare an antidote for ground spiders on the spot."
"It's just that," he looked around, frowned, and added hesitantly, "there are no herbalists in either of our teams. I can try to extract the essence of the medicine myself, but I can't identify the efficacy of new varieties of herbs."
After hearing Bai Qian'an's words, everyone's faces brightened at first, then dimmed again.
Lin Ji quickly typed something on her personal panel. After a few minutes, she pursed her lips and said in despair, "I contacted the team closest to us. They have a D-level herbalist, but it will take at least half an hour to arrive."
Half an hour. The process of extracting and making the antidote takes at least half an hour.
In other words, even if the herbalist arrived, he could only save the players with the mildest symptoms.
Lu Xiaochi's gaze fell on Tong Qiao who was lying quietly on the grass, and tears from his eyes fell "plop".
In the distance, the wind blew the dead leaves, making a rustling sound, like a low whine.
"etc!"
Zhu Yu spoke up, breaking the suffocating silence.
She lowered her eyelashes and narrowed her deep black eyes slightly.
After a while, she said slowly:
"Perhaps, we don't have to wait for the herbalist to arrive."
Zhu Yu took a deep breath, stabilized his rapid breathing, and his fingertips trembled slightly.
Lu Xiaochi raised his head and stared blankly at her as she raised her hand to summon a soft ball of light.
"I know... No, it knows how to find the right antidote herbs."
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