Chapter 100 The Taste of Silver Moon Forest (The Suicide Chapter) Lin Yue...
Lin Yue and his entourage emerged from the Moon Goddess Temple in a daze, much like a delegation that had just attended a high-level diplomatic press conference. Even the daylight outside seemed somewhat unreal.
Ilandir personally escorted them back to the treehouse at the outpost camp. Along the way, he discussed in detail with Lin Yue the arrangements for the elderly and children's food and lodging, as well as the details of the Queen's promised weapons and equipment support and the dispatch of military instructors. He even thoughtfully inquired about the most urgently needed supplies in Hope Town, indicating that, in addition to trade, they could provide them with a batch of basic herbs and cloth under the guise of allied aid.
"Lord Ilandil, you're too kind." Lin Yue said politely while frantically calculating in his mind, "Herbs and cloth are certainly good, but what we actually lack more is... um... like those self-illuminating moonstones or calming flowers, and preferably some moon rice seeds, the more the better..."
After seeing Ilandil off, when only Lin Yue, Elder Farador, and a few of their own remained in the treehouse, the two Silent youths, who had been on edge and barely daring to breathe, finally collapsed onto the ground.
“Oh my god…” A young man clutched his still-pounding heart, his face filled with lingering fear and admiration. “Mayor Lin…you…you’re amazing! You actually…you actually dared to negotiate with the Elf Queen, and…and you even succeeded. I was standing there just now, and my legs were about to give way from fear.”
“Yes,” another chimed in, their eyes gleaming with the relief of surviving a close call, “but…it’s so wonderful. Her Majesty the Queen has really decided to help us. We…we’re saved…”
Only Elder Farador, though showing a hint of relief, wore a deep sense of worry on his face.
"Don't be too happy yet." He sighed and shook his head. "Although Her Majesty the Queen agreed to provide support, you heard what she said. She only agreed to provide a batch of equipment and instructors. The real battle still depends on us. The Red Scorpion Army... that's Duke Caslan's elite force, three thousand men... can we really hold them off?"
“Elder, please don’t worry,” Lin Yue stepped forward to comfort him. “We have done everything we could and achieved the best possible outcome. The elves are willing to help, and that is enough. The rest is up to us. We can’t rely on others for everything, can we? That’s not an ally, that’s a vassal.”
The path we choose is our own, and we must protect our homeland ourselves.
When Lin Yue returned to the treehouse area where the elderly and children were housed, he was immediately surrounded by a flock of chirping sparrows.
"Brother Lin Yue, Brother Lin Yue, have you seen the Elf Queen?"
"Isn't the Queen prettier than Ella?"
"I heard from my brother Elendil that the Queen is the most powerful of all the elves, which is why she was able to become Queen. Is that true?"
The children chattered amongst themselves, their eyes filled with curiosity about the Elf Queen.
Lin Yue patiently squatted down, rubbed their little heads, and answered their innocent questions one by one.
Just then, Xiao Fen, who had been following him, was also discovered by several bolder children.
"Wow, it's Xiaofen!"
"Xiao Fen, Xiao Fen, you've grown so big."
The children excitedly pounced on her, some climbing onto Xiao Fen's broad back, others hugging her fluffy neck, rubbing and pinching it. Xiao Fen was happy to play with them, obediently lying on the ground, letting them do whatever they wanted to her.
Just then, a sharp-eyed little girl suddenly pointed at Xiaofen's back and let out a delighted scream: "Hey? There's a little kitten on Xiaofen's back!"
All the children's eyes instantly focused on the black furball who had been sitting on the wolf's back watching the show with its hands tucked in.
"Wow, it's true! What an adorable little black cat!"
Can I touch it?
A group of children swarmed around again, reaching out their little hands, all wanting to touch the soft and cute little black dog.
"Don't rush, don't rush, one at a time." Lin Yue quickly maintained order and then recounted Xiao Hei's glorious deeds—how he appeared at a crucial moment and saved him and the elders from getting lost—with added embellishments.
Little Black was clearly annoyed. It lazily opened its eyes, glanced at the human cubs around it, then with a swift movement, it silently jumped off the wolf's back, transforming into a black lightning bolt, and ran towards the distant forest.
"Huh? The cat ran away."
"Little Black, don't run away!"
When Xiao Fen saw Xiao Hei run away, she panicked and immediately took off after him. A group of children, seeing this, also screamed, laughed, and joked as they chased after him.
Lin Yue looked at the chaotic scene and shook his head, both amused and exasperated. He called out in the direction Xiao Hei had gone, "Xiao Hei, don't go too far. Just wander around here and remember to bring Xiao Fen and the children back to me safely."
The children's noise gradually faded away.
Under the treehouse, only some elderly people and a few older, more composed young people remained. They looked at Lin Yue with worry in their eyes.
“Mayor,” an elderly woman with white hair asked shakily, leaning on her cane, “the elves…have they really promised to protect us? Are we…are we really saved?”
“Don’t worry, Auntie,” Lin Yue said gently, helping her sit down on a wooden stool. “Her Majesty the Queen has already agreed. Silvermoon Forest is our strongest support. Everyone, please rest well here and take good care of yourselves. Take the children to walk around and see more of the forest. Not everyone gets such a good opportunity. The air and water here are good for your health.”
"Once we've resolved the problems in Hope Town, I promise I'll come back personally and bring everyone back to our own homes without exception."
...
The next morning, Lin Yue did not rush to leave. He planned to hold a farewell banquet at noon before officially returning home.
So, seizing the rare opportunity, and while there was still time, he took Xiao Fen and Xiao Hei, who were equally curious about the forest, and began his first formal field trip to the Silver Moon Forest.
After Xiao Hei's upgrade, the system's scanning and identification functions received an epic boost. Previously, it could only identify some basic attributes, but now it can analyze the energy composition, medicinal value, and even the best cooking methods for almost every plant in great detail.
"Little Black, look at the fruit growing on that tree. It's bright red and looks delicious."
[Warning: That's the Hallucinogenic Fruit. The pulp contains potent hallucinogenic toxins; consuming it can make you see your great-great-grandmother dancing disco in the sky. Stay away from it.]
"What about... that glowing mushroom? It looks very nutritious."
That's a Soul-Eating Mushroom. Its glow is used to lure prey. If you get too close, it will instantly drain you dry like a mummy with its mycelium. However, its dried cap, ground into powder, can be used to make quite effective poison.
Lin Yue: "..."
Before they knew it, they had wandered back to the vicinity of the Temple of the Moon.
Just then, Little Black, who was perched on Lin Yue's shoulder, suddenly poked his neck with the tip of its tail.
Hey, you idiot.
"what?"
See that big tree?
"I see it! What's wrong? It's magnificent and a masterpiece. Do you want me to carve 'I was here' on it?"
[See those tender, golden buds beneath its leaves, so delicate they look like they could be squeezed for moisture?]
"I see it, what's wrong? It looks...it looks delicious." Lin Yue subconsciously swallowed.
That thing is called the tender shoot of the World Tree. It contains the purest life essence of the entire Silvermoon Forest. A single leaf can keep a dying person alive. If you could get some, you could boil it into porridge, or... stew it in vermicelli...
"Really?!" Lin Yue's eyes lit up instantly, like two 1,000-watt light bulbs.
【real. 】
"Isn't this... not a good idea? These are people's... ah. If I go and pluck their... tender shoots to cook, and they find out, won't I be considered a heretic and tied to a tree and burned to death?"
But it really tastes delicious. And it's very good for your health. It can greatly repair the life essence that you and Gray and the others have suffered from due to prolonged exposure to impure energy.
"Won't I get beaten to death?"
[If you miss this chance, you'll never have another. Didn't you see? Those tender buds only briefly unfurl in the morning dew. Once the sun has fully risen, they close again, locking the essence of life within.]
"Aaaaaah! What if the Queen finds out? Our hard-won cooperation will be ruined!"
"Sigh, what a pity. That pure life energy, if only it could be used to make chicken soup, tsk tsk..."
"Aaaaaaah! Let's do it!"
Xiao Fen, standing to the side, tilted her huge wolf head and looked at her boss with a bewildered expression.
It saw Lin Yue standing there alone, scratching his ears and cheeks, looking ferocious, and then showing a tragic expression of facing death, while muttering incantations, as if he were performing some kind of mysterious and painful initiation ritual.
...
Around noon, Lin Yue sneaked back to the treehouse, clutching a package tightly wrapped in an unknown giant leaf, looking guilty.
"Come here, everyone," he said, gathering all the young people who had come with him and a few elderly people who were still able to move around in the kitchen. "Today at noon, I will cook for ourselves. We'll have a good meal for our own people, and for our elf friends who have taken care of us for the past few days. Consider it... our farewell meal."
The main dish this time was the simple potato noodles they brought from Hope Town.
He soaked the vermicelli in warm water until soft, then simmered a large pot of rich broth with plenty of animal bones and mushrooms. He also stir-fried the smoked minced meat, fire crystal peppers, and numbing grass seeds he had brought with him into a large bowl of fragrant and spicy minced meat sauce.
Just as the potato noodles were about to be ready, he mysteriously chased everyone out of the kitchen.
After a while, he reopened the door and let everyone in to help, serving out bowls of steaming hot and sour potato noodles.
"Quickly, eat it while it's hot, and send the rest to the elves as well."
Everyone looked at the familiar bowl of hot and sour noodles in front of them, which was full of the taste of their hometown, and their eyes were red with emotion.
However, when they took their first bite, they felt, perhaps it was just their imagination, that the potato noodles tasted a little different from the ones they had eaten in Hope Town before.
Besides the familiar spicy and savory flavor, there seems to be an indescribable freshness, like grass after rain, and a warm and pure vitality that can relax every pore of your body.
A sharp-eyed young man curiously picked up an unidentified, bright green leaf from the bowl with his chopsticks.
"Mayor, what is this? Is it a new spice? It tastes so unique."
Lin Yue, who was guiltily snorting in his cigarette, nearly choked when he heard this. He stammered, "Cough cough...yes...yes. A new...new variety of wild vegetables, wild vegetables..."
Meanwhile, the elves who were given a large bowl of hot and sour noodles reacted even more directly.
Those elves who had already tasted the harsh realities of Hope Town, such as Lorian and Kael, were eagerly anticipating this bowl of hearty, rustic food. They picked up their chopsticks, grabbed a large mouthful of noodles, and shoved it into their mouths.
The moment the rice noodles entered their mouths, their elegant faces revealed expressions of utter shock, as if struck by lightning.
They could clearly feel an incredibly pure and warm life energy sliding down their throats into their stomachs, then spreading instantly throughout their bodies like the warm spring sun. The feeling was even better than meditating by the Moon Well all day.
They subconsciously sped up the process of gaining followers.
Some of the young people who were trying it for the first time were so overwhelmed by the intense spiciness that their eyes watered, yet they couldn't bear to put down their chopsticks.
Soon they also noticed the overly bright green leaves in the soup. Curious, they picked them up with their chopsticks and examined them closely, their minds racing through all the known plant illustrations.
The more I looked at their expressions, the stranger they seemed.
Meanwhile, at the Temple of the Moon.
A bowl of equally steaming hot and sour noodles was respectfully presented to the Elf Queen by a maid.
The Queen glanced indifferently at the bowl of bright red, oily, and mundane food before her. But when she saw the few familiar leaves floating in the soup, radiating a soft green light, her usually calm silver eyes twitched slightly.
She shook her head helplessly and sighed softly in a voice only she could hear: "Lin Yue... you really are... bolder than the sky."
Meanwhile, in another elder's treehouse.
Elder Ofilar frowned as he watched his two young disciples sweat profusely and act completely unrefined while eating a bowl of hot and sour noodles.
“What kind of behavior is this?” he couldn’t help but scold. “This kind of coarse human food, full of spice and oil, will only pollute the pure constitution of us elves. I have told you before that you should maintain a light diet.”
"But... Master..." a young disciple mumbled between slurping up noodles, "Didn't you always say that we elves are incredibly strong and immune to all poisons? How could... eating something with a strong flavor affect our bodies? And... I feel like I'm even more energetic after eating it..."
After finishing a bowl of noodles, another young disciple wiped his mouth and said to Elder Ofilar with a serious expression, "Teacher, you are right. This kind of food does indeed have an extremely serious impact on our physical and mental health."
Elder Ofilar nodded in satisfaction: "I knew it. After all, I'm older than you and know more."
The young disciple sighed deeply, and continued in a sorrowful tone, "Yes. I used to be able to skip lunch. Now, after eating one bowl, I actually want a second. If possible… I hope I can eat again tomorrow…"
Elder Ofilar: "..."
Meanwhile, Lin Yue, the instigator, was contentedly sipping his post-meal corn silk tea, secretly gloating to himself: "Hehe, don't let the sacred tree's handsome and ethereal appearance fool you. Who would have thought its leaves are both numbing and spicy!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
