Chapter 55. Snowy Mountains and Rivers (Part 7): Lin Xiao...
The next morning, the team members all got up early and started packing their things.
After all, Xiao Weizhi and Chen Tianchi of Lulin had agreed yesterday that Xiao Weizhi would assist their team in obtaining the core of this secret realm.
The condition for the exchange is that 10% of the rewards from this secret realm must be given to the Dragon Fang Squad.
Xiao Weizhi also took away Lin Xiaoxiao's worries before bed (skill scrolls, alchemy equipment), saying that he would find a suitable time to talk to Cheng Cheng and Chen Yijin about it.
If they're not interested, then we'll put it up for auction.
[Dragon Fang's revenue sharing model: Earnings from defeating monsters and bosses are split equally; personal opportunities do not require splitting; when encountering suitable skills, equipment, or resources, priority is given to team members, and a discount may be offered out of consideration for teammates.]
As the saying goes: Even brothers should keep clear accounts; I won't let you suffer a loss, and you shouldn't take advantage of me!
Dragon Tooth's revenue-sharing model is quite rare in team-based cooperative modes.
The normal team profit-sharing system is as follows: as long as the team acts together, the profits must be distributed proportionally; regardless of whether it is obtained by an individual, all profits must be handed over.
The normal profit-sharing model has a significant drawback: over time, uneven distribution can easily lead to a loss of morale and staff morale.
If the team leader or vice-leader has personal motives and enriches themselves, capable team members will eventually leave because they can no longer tolerate it.
After setting up camp, the two teams stood in place and waited for the departure order.
Captain Chen Tianchi of Lulin looked somewhat troubled: "We came to this secret realm on our first expedition, but last time we only saw the general shape of the BOSS from afar. We may need to search for its exact location again."
From Chen Tianchi's description, we can roughly know that the BOSS of this secret realm is a huge bird with feathers and ice crystals all over its body and more than a dozen long tail feathers behind it.
Its appearance is somewhat like the legendary phoenix, but its pure black eyes and ferocious temperament make the BOSS look extremely sinister and terrifying.
Chen Tianchi had barely finished speaking when...
The entire Dragon Fang team looked at Lin Xiaoxiao, who was standing behind Xiao Weizhi, with expectant eyes.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Lin Xiaoxiao took two steps to the side while holding Hongwei, using Xiao Weizhi's body to block her companions' expectant eyes.
Huang Yuwei looked at the other members of the team with some confusion, not understanding why they couldn't find their way, while everyone looked at Lin Xiaoxiao with such expectation.
Xiao Weizhi coughed lightly twice, then turned his head and asked in a low voice, "Can we use the divination sticks container?"
Lin Xiaoxiao raised her chin to look at him and replied softly, "There's no guarantee of a result."
Xiao Weizhi knew, of course, that the lottery ticket wasn't a magic bullet, but it was still better than them wandering around like mindless flies: "Give it a try?"
Amid Xiao Weizhi's suggestion, the team members' expectations, the new member Huang Yuwei, and the puzzled looks of the entire Lulin team.
Lin Xiaoxiao took out a divination stick container from her spatial storage, held it with both hands, closed her eyes with a devout expression, and shook out a small, ominous stick:
[Minor ominous sign: The southeast direction holds hidden treasures, but also numerous dangers. It is advised to avoid this direction for now and explore it again at a more suitable time.]
The moment the fortune slip was drawn, several pairs of eyes in the team lit up.
This is an inauspicious divination slip, but the word "treasure" appears in the text, suggesting a great harvest is coming today!
Chen Tianchi also saw the contents of the divination slip and suggested in a deep voice, "Then let's avoid the southeast today and explore other places?"
"Let's head southeast!" The Dragon Fang Squad members exchanged glances and said in unison.
Huang Yuwei looked bewildered and didn't say anything.
Lin Xiaoxiao reached out and took the bamboo skewer that Xiao Weizhi bent down to pick up for her, and nodded firmly: "Yes, we'll go southeast."
With the harvest in sight and an SS-level squad around, what's there to be afraid of? Just go for it!
Chen Tianchi looked at Xiao Weizhi in confusion, and waited for Xiao Weizhi to give the final instructions.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Weizhi also gave the same answer: "Hmm, let's go southeast!"
The entire Lulin group was puzzled by Longya's choice. Why would he knowingly head in a dangerous direction?
Seeing that he couldn't persuade them, Chen Tianchi had no choice but to give up. He thought helplessly that once the people of Longya encountered danger and suffered losses, they would change their radical exploration methods.
Both teams still used snowmobiles to pull sleds.
When the Deer Forest team saw Lin Xiaoxiao take out the snowmobile and sled from her spatial storage, their envy was palpable.
Qi Miao, the deputy captain of Lulin, joked, "Miss Lin, would you be interested in working at Lulin? Our benefits are pretty good."
These words made the Dragon Tooth team members feel threatened, and they despised these people who were trying to poach their players again.
He silently used his body to separate Lin Xiaoxiao and Qi Miao, trying to block their view.
Lin Xiaoxiao smiled and refused: "No, I like Longya and I don't want to leave Longya!"
Despite being rejected, Qi Miao's smile remained unchanged as she shrugged: "If you ever get tired of Dragon Fang, you can consider our Deer Forest."
Lin Xiaoxiao chuckled awkwardly, didn't continue the conversation, and followed Xiao Wei onto the sled and took a seat.
The two teams set off against the swirling snow and headed straight southeast.
After traveling more than 100 kilometers, we first encountered a huge troop of snow monkeys in a vast forest.
After a two-hour battle, the two teams annihilated tens of thousands of snow monkeys and found hundreds of fruit trees laden with ice-type fruits - [Red Water Chestnut Fruit] in the snow monkeys' habitat.
The snow ape's body, fur, bones, and teeth; the gold coins and equipment it dropped; and the red water chestnuts found later; this harvest alone is worth millions of gold coins.
While it was still early, the two teams quickly packed up all their spoils and continued heading southeast.
After traveling another 200 kilometers, they stopped at the foot of a cliff. Looking up, they saw a large patch of Snow Spirit Flowers growing on a cliff more than 30 meters high.
[Snow Spirit Flower: It grows year-round in wind and snow, taking root on precipitous cliffs that are difficult to climb, and its location is always guarded by a large number of Smoky Birds; its medicinal properties are cold... It can be used to make tea, medicine...]
The Snow Spirit Flower is translucent with a faint bluish tinge. It is a small flower about the size of a fingernail, with dozens or even hundreds of flowers growing in a single cluster. It likes to grow in large patches and is the favorite food of the Smoky Bird.
Wherever this flower is present, there must be a colony of smokebirds living nearby.
The team members from Lulin couldn't help but swallow hard when they saw the vast expanse of Snow Spirit Flowers. Their occasional glances at Lin Xiaoxiao revealed a hint of doubt and a fleeting greed.
Wang Hao put his hands on his hips, looked at the smokebirds circling overhead, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Flying in the sky and turning into smoke, they're not easy to fight."
For archers, they are not afraid of long-range attacks or group attacks, but they are afraid of encountering monsters like the Smokebird, which have the ability to be targeted.
[Smokebird: Its plumage is entirely gray, and its maximum size can reach 40 centimeters; it is the companion beast of the Snow Spirit Flower. Wherever there is a Snow Spirit Flower, these special birds will definitely appear... Skills: Illusory Smoke Formation, Claw Strike...]
Li Junxuan crossed his arms and looked up to carefully observe the number of smokebirds circling in the air. He felt a bit of a headache: "This number is a bit stressful."
Not counting the smokebirds that hide in the shadows, there are probably tens of thousands of them that can be seen with the naked eye.
Xiao Weizhi held his staff in his right hand and pulled Lin Xiaoxiao, who was three body lengths away, over with his left: "Stand next to me and deal damage. Don't stray too far today."
Then he commanded in a deep voice: "Wang Hao, attack, engage the monster; Junxuan, activate shield; Huang Yuwei, give aura; Chen Feng, Huihui, and Jiang Tao, you three form a triangle; Yijin, watch Cheng Cheng and Huang Yuwei; Xiaoxiao, this time don't use weapons, just throw gold coins up."
"Received!" (Voiceover) *9
The Deer Forest squad next to them also issued combat commands and quickly formed a formation.
'Bang—' Wang Hao fired a burst of bullets into the center of the Snow Spirit Flower on the ice wall.
Almost at the same time, the flock of smokebirds circling in the sky spotted a group of uninvited guests below.
"Ah, ah, ah..." Accompanied by hoarse cries, a swarm of smokebirds descended from the sky.
Wang Hao switched to a pink-gold multi-barreled cannon, half-squatting on the ground with the muzzle pointing upwards. His hands gripped the cannon barrel, which emitted bursts of light, and he unleashed the skill "Continuous Fire" at the flock of birds in the sky.
Thousands of energy bullets shot into the sky like fireworks, but only a few of them actually hit the smokebirds.
This is because these smokebirds transform into wisps of smoke before the energy bullets arrive.
Wang Hao couldn't help but curse, "Ugh! These damn fogbirds (another name for smokebirds), they're such a nuisance."
Jiang Tao threw out over a hundred darts in succession, only hitting a few smokebirds. His tone was filled with indescribable frustration: "If I can't hit them with darts, am I supposed to take a dagger and stab them?"
Chen Feng and Liu Huihui stood on opposite sides, wildly swinging their greatswords, and annihilated quite a few Smokebirds.
Xiao Weizhi waved his staff rapidly, and countless fireballs appeared out of thin air, falling into the flock of birds above and exploding one after another. Scattered Smokebird crystal cores slowly fell down.
(After the Smoky Bird dies, its body will directly dissipate into elements, leaving only the crystal nucleus inside its body.)
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the level 66 Smokebird, gaining 57434 experience points]
...
Several boxes of gold coins were placed at Lin Xiaoxiao's feet, with Redtail perched on her shoulder guarding her, occasionally spitting out a fireball to block the Smokebirds that wanted to sneak up on her.
She looked up at the horde of Smokebird demons rushing towards her like moths to a flame, awaiting the order to attack.
After expending more than ten minutes of energy, realizing that the group of Smokebirds in front of him could not enter the smoke form for the time being, Xiao Weizhi immediately commanded in a deep voice: "Huang Yuwei, give the area attack aura; Wang Hao, Xiaoxiao, attack; Cheng Cheng, keep an eye on their mana!"
Upon receiving the attack order, Lin Xiaoxiao and Wang Hao immediately launched their attack.
Wang Hao assumed a horse stance, lifted the multi-barreled cannon that had been placed on the ground to waist height, and used the forbidden spell skill [Savage Bombardment] on the sky.
Lin Xiaoxiao's hands glowed with golden light as she tossed handfuls of gold coins into the air.
The moment Xiao Weizhi gave the order, Red Tail jumped off Lin Xiaoxiao's shoulder and grew to over two meters tall.
Using its six tails, it kept swinging, and without touching the gold coins, it used the inertia of the wind to throw the gold coins into the air, like hitting a baseball.
It would also occasionally spit out fireballs to knock away the smokebirds that came to ambush it.
In addition, Xiao Weizhi launched thousands of fireballs and lightning strikes upwards.
In an instant, the entire sky was enveloped in the explosion of skills, like a dense fireworks display, with thumb-sized crystal cores falling one after another into the snow like rain.
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the level 77 Smokebird, gaining 97434 experience points]
...
Cheng Cheng was pulling three people's loads at once, his mind highly focused, and sweat was uncontrollably pouring from his forehead.
The team members from the neighboring Deer Forest were quite surprised by Longya's overwhelming combat power. They never expected that an A-level team could produce such impressive combat damage.
The battle lasted for a full four hours, and it was not officially over until nightfall.
The moment the battle ended, Lin Xiaoxiao, Wang Hao, and Cheng Cheng collapsed from exhaustion onto the snow mixed with crystal cores.
Xiao Weizhi, slightly out of breath, reached out to Lin Xiaoxiao, who was lying on the ground: "It's too cold in the snow. You just finished fighting, don't lie down."
Lin Xiaoxiao lay stiffly on the snow, her hands aching so much she couldn't lift them at all, her voice a little hoarse: "My hands hurt, I can't lift them."
Xiao Weizhi bent down, put one arm around her waist and picked her up, then brushed the snowflakes off her body: "I'll upgrade your equipment when we get back."
Xiao Weizhi had noted down all the defects in Lin Xiaoxiao's weapon, and was just waiting to send it back to the master for updates and improvements.
Just then, the treasure-hunting mouse, which had been nestled in Lin Xiaoxiao's pocket and hadn't spoken all day, suddenly barked: "Master, there's something at four o'clock, about one kilometer away!"
Lin Xiaoxiao leaned against Xiao Weizhi's chest and tried to raise her hand. She gasped sharply, the intense cold causing her facial expression to contort.
She gritted her teeth and pointed shakily to the four o'clock direction: "Weizhi, let's go take a look over there."
After saying that, Xiao Weizhi carried Lin Xiaoxiao and walked towards the four o'clock direction, stopping in front of an ice wall.
Lin Xiaoxiao raised her tired eyelids, pointed shakily at the ice wall, and said weakly, "Let's try digging in this place."
Xiao Weizhi took out a chair from his spatial storage and placed Lin Xiaoxiao on it: "Sit here for a while."
Then, he took out a shovel and dug it in for more than a meter, where he saw the ice-blue, translucent, irregularly shaped ice-type energy ore.
When he turned around, he found that Lin Xiaoxiao had fallen asleep in the chair.
Red Tail's body grew larger, and it pressed itself against Lin Xiaoxiao, using its tail and body to build a fluffy, warm nest. It even raised one of its tails into the air to block the falling snow from above, tightly curling her up in the center.
Xiao Weizhi took out a blanket from his spatial storage, wrapped it around Lin Xiaoxiao, took off his gloves, reached out and touched her forehead, and straightened her hat which was askew.
He stared at her with a complicated look for a while before saying to Redtail, "Guard her well."
Hongwei snorted coldly at Xiao Weizhi, then leaned her head against Lin Xiaoxiao's chest and closed her eyes.
Xiao Weizhi took out a walkie-talkie and calmly said to his companions on the other end, "Hurry up and clean up over there. We've found an ice-type energy mine here. Tell Lu Lin to hurry up as well."
This energy mine looks quite substantial; it'll probably take the two teams three to five days to mine it.
Upon hearing the message from the walkie-talkie, the Dragon Fang companions on the other side, despite their exhaustion, quickened their pace.
Chen Feng thought for a moment and said to Chen Tianchi, who was not far away, "Senior brother, hurry up and pack up. An ice-type energy mine has been discovered over there."
An hour and a half later, the snow spirit flowers on the cliff ice wall and the crystal cores that had fallen on the snow were all packed up and successfully transported to the location where Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi were.
While waiting for them to arrive, Xiao Weizhi had already dug up a small mountain of ice-type energy stones, more than a meter high, next to him.
Wang Hao, carrying a huge bag on his shoulder, waved cheerfully and said, "Boss, we're here!"
Just as Wang Hao was about to continue howling, Cheng Cheng patted him on the shoulder and whispered a reminder: "Stop yelling, or you'll attract all the monsters."
When Xiao Weizhi saw that they had all come over, he immediately put down his pickaxe, stood up, and patted the energy stone fragments off his body.
He secretly made a mental note that he would prepare a small mining machine and put it in Lin Xiaoxiao's space when he got back.
The days of struggling to mine last time are still fresh in my mind. I never expected that in this secret realm, Lin Xiaoxiao would find another energy mine. Moreover, this time she pointed out the exact location without any hints.
Thinking of this, Xiao Weizhi's eyes became complicated again.
After a moment, he composed himself, his eyes returned to normal, and he stepped forward.
Finding a suitable and unobtrusive excuse, I briefly explained to Chen Tianchi and the others how the mine was found and how much ore was estimated in the vein...
Next, Lin Xiaoxiao was gently woken up by Xiao Weizhi, who asked her to take out the camp equipment from her space.
She woke up groggily, took out her camp equipment, and was about to go mining with everyone when Xiao Weizhi carried her back to her tent and coaxed her to sleep.
Late at night, Cheng Cheng and Huang Yuwei sat on guard in the camp, while all the men in the team went to mine.
With a blanket draped over his shoulders and a cup of hot tea in his hand, Cheng Cheng's gaze fell on several busy figures mining in the distance. He said with a hint of regret, "It's a pity that Xiaoxiao's energy can't keep up, otherwise she would definitely be happy to come and supervise the work."
Huang Yuwei had only been in the team for a short time, but she knew Lin Xiaoxiao's penchant for having fun and that she had less energy than the average life-oriented professional.
Huang Yuwei nodded in agreement and silently took a sip of hot ginger tea.
The two teams worked for seven days straight to empty the small ice-type energy stone vein, which was worth approximately 30 million gold coins.
After a two-day rest, the two teams set off again.
Before setting off, Lin Xiaoxiao shook the divination sticks to determine the direction.
The next two weeks.
The Deer Forest team witnessed the power of Lin Xiaoxiao, their 'mascot,' and their gazes towards her shifted from confusion to eager anticipation.
The captain and vice-captain of Lulin often raised their voices and talked at length about how good their team's benefits were, how strong their combat power was, and how warm the relationships between the team members were.
Unfortunately, all those flirtatious glances were directed at the blind.
One night, Lin Xiaoxiao, unable to bear it any longer, complained to Xiao Weizhi, "Are the people in the Deer Forest Squad all hard of hearing? They always speak so loudly that my ears are almost deafened when I pass by."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Weizhi couldn't help but burst into laughter.
After laughing, he hugged her, who looked aggrieved, and comforted her gently: "That's right, they may have been fighting for a long time and heard too many explosions, so their hearing isn't very good and they have a habit of speaking very loudly."
Days passed by, and on the one-year anniversary of Lin Xiaoxiao's arrival in this world, the long-awaited ominous fortune slip appeared:
[Great Misfortune: Do not linger, leave this place immediately; disaster strikes, life hangs by a thread; head south, there may be a chance; survival depends entirely on your will.]
When Lin Xiaoxiao saw the interpretation of the divination, her heart pounded uncontrollably, and her mind was suddenly filled with a buzzing sound.
This feeling was as if a buzzing voice in my mind was warning me that danger was imminent.
She felt a little dizzy, her lips were pale as she gripped Xiao Weizhi's sleeve, her body felt inexplicably weak, and her voice was urgent: "Weizhi, let's go, pack our things, and head south."
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