Chapter 31. The Two Realms of Flame and Rock ①: Lava...
After Lin Xiaoxiao finished washing up, she pushed open the bathroom door and saw Xiao Weizhi holding the portable thermostat and adjusting the temperature.
Two or three minutes later, the thermostat was placed in a corner.
The temperature inside the tent was kept at 26 degrees Celsius, neither too hot nor too cold. A lit aromatherapy diffuser sat on the bedside table, emitting a subtle fragrance that made it easier to drift off to sleep.
Xiao Weizhi said to Lin Xiaoxiao, who had removed her prosthetic leg and was sitting on the small bed, "Go to sleep quickly after you wash up."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded and watched Xiao Weizhi's retreating figure as he went to wash up.
After Xiao Weizhi went into the bathroom to wash up, she sat for a few minutes without feeling sleepy. So she took out the luck treasure chest she had accumulated over the past four days, rubbed her hands together, and opened the chest.
First box: [A regular spoon (no level)]
The second box contains: [A delicate feather cat toy (special)]
The third box: [Another ordinary spoon (no level)]
The fourth chest contains: [A complete eight-piece set of pure silver cutlery (no level requirement)]
Lin Xiaoxiao skillfully placed the items in the corner of the space, picked up the cat toy that was about 1 meter long, looked like a small fishing rod, had a few colorful feathers hanging from it, and three small bells hanging from it.
She made sucking noises and flicked the cat toy in her hand at Red Tail.
Redtail lay in its bed, staring speechlessly at Lin Xiaoxiao, who was teasing it like a cat. It rolled over, tucked its head into the cat bed, and used its six tails as a blanket to cover itself, trying to avoid being seen.
Lin Xiaoxiao, puzzled, put away the cat toy and reached out to ruffle the feathers hanging above it. Doesn't Redtail like this toy?
When Xiao Weizhi came out after washing up, he saw Lin Xiaoxiao playing with a cat toy. He said gently, "You can play with it tomorrow. Go to sleep."
Lin Xiaoxiao shook the cat toy in her hand, looked up and asked, "Shall we open the box?"
The daily treasure chests had been piling up for several days, but he hadn't had time to open them, so they were all stored in her space.
Xiao Weizhi shook his head, gesturing for her to put the cat toy aside: "No rush, we'll open it another day. Let's rest first."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaoxiao put down the cat toy she was holding, pulled up the blanket on the bed, and obediently lay down.
Xiao Weizhi waited until Lin Xiaoxiao was settled before turning off the light and lying down on his side of the bed. Not long after, three steady breathing sounds were heard inside the tent.
It was late at night, 2:30 a.m.
"Beep—beep—" The sharp sound of a whistle echoed throughout the residential area.
Upon hearing the voice, Xiao Weizhi immediately opened her eyes, her sleepiness quickly fading, and she swiftly rolled over and got out of bed.
As he put on his robes, he gently urged Lin Xiaoxiao, who had just sat up, "Change your clothes. The monsters are attacking; we need to defend them."
Urged on by Xiao Weizhi, Lin Xiaoxiao groggily put on her coat, fastened her prosthetic leg, picked up the sleeping Red Tail, who was sprawled out, and followed Xiao Weizhi out, pulling on his belt.
Not only Dragon Fang, but the other teams have also put on their professional attire, picked up their weapons, and are ready to go.
When Xiao Weizhi led Lin Xiaoxiao out of the tent, they happened to run into Chen Zhuoran and Liu Duoxin, who were also leaving the tent on the right.
Chen Zhuoran subconsciously raised his head and gave Lin Xiaoxiao, who was in a daze behind Xiao Weizhi, a gentle and cheerful smile.
With a dark expression, Xiao Weizhi moved his body, shielding Lin Xiaoxiao completely behind him, not even revealing the hem of her clothes.
When Chen Zhuoran smiled, Liu Duoxin turned her head. After seeing which direction Chen Zhuoran was smiling in, her face instantly darkened. She glared angrily at Xiao Weizhi and then ran away without looking back.
Upon seeing this, Chen Zhuoran quickly chased after him, explaining in a low voice as he walked.
Lin Xiaoxiao, whose head bumped into Xiao Weizhi's strong back, regained consciousness due to the slight pain in her forehead.
Not seeing Chen Zhuoran, she reached out and poked his waist, asking in confusion, "Didn't you say you were in a hurry? Why did you stop?"
Xiao Weizhi remained expressionless, his eyes like sharp blades, staring directly in the direction Chen Zhuoran and Liu Duoxin had left. His voice sounded calm and gentle: "Think about something. Let's go now."
Lin Xiaoxiao had no idea what had happened and thought that Xiao Weizhi had remembered something important, which was why he stopped.
She nodded and yawned: "Okay, let's go."
Upon arriving at the entrance to the residential area, looking down from the mountainside, one could only vaguely see a large expanse of red, glowing dots, about the size of sesame seeds, moving rapidly towards the mountainside.
The night was very dark, and it was impossible to see the details. When we got to the foot of the mountain, we found that there was a huge, endless swarm of lava black ant monsters, as tall as our calves, surging in.
These lava ants are entirely black, resembling mechanical ants made of metal, except for their eyes, which are scarlet like rubies, gleaming in the darkness.
Xiao Weizhi frowned slightly and calmly began to deploy the battle plan: "Junxuan, switch to an ice-attribute large shield to hold the line; Wang Hao, use an ice-attribute elemental gun, [Crazy Bombardment] at the three o'clock position; Yijin, use ice and water-attribute alchemical elemental bombs, throw one every few seconds in a circular pattern."
"Huihui, Chen Feng, and Jiang Tao form a defensive circle; Cheng Cheng, [Light Shines] illuminates the surrounding area for a few meters."
He paused for a second, then turned to Lin Xiaoxiao and said, "Redtail can't output damage, so keep an eye on it."
Lin Xiaoxiao hugged the restless red tail tightly, pinched its muzzle, and nodded to assure it, "No problem, I'll keep an eye on it."
[Lava Black Ants: They feed on all fire-type energy (including lava, fire, skills, etc.). Attacking them with fire-type skills is equivalent to replenishing their energy. When their energy reaches a certain level, they will enter a self-destruct mode. Conversely, they are almost helpless against ice and water-type skills.]
Before long, a dozen or so orbs of light, which had no offensive power and could only serve as illumination, began to rotate very slowly around the Dragon Fang Squad, illuminating a radius of five or six meters around Dragon Fang.
Xiao Weizhi took out his staff from his spatial storage and waved it toward eleven o'clock. Dozens of ice blades appeared out of thin air and flew toward the designated spot. Each ice blade cut through the bodies of the lava black ants as easily as cutting tofu, slicing them into several pieces.
With a flick of his wrist, a wave about 2 meters high appeared out of thin air, sending the lava ants that were about to rush towards the group more than ten meters away.
He then quickly followed up with a lightning-type skill, unleashing a combo attack that shattered the group of monsters covered in water droplets.
Wang Hao held up a 1.3-meter-long gun with a muzzle diameter of 35 centimeters, its entire body resembling ice crystals, looking like a toy, and frequently pulled the trigger.
.
Each time the trigger is pulled, a beam of blue elemental light shoots out, which, upon hitting the monster horde, transforms into a large patch of cold air, freezing all the lava black ants it touches into ice sculptures.
Chen Yijin held a dozen or so alchemical bombs, each slightly larger than a thumb, in each hand. Every three seconds, he would throw one out in a suitable manner. Once he ran out of bombs, he would immediately pull out new ones from his spatial storage, as if his space contained an infinite supply of alchemical bombs.
When the bomb exploded, there were only the crackling sounds of ice forming and the popping sounds of lava ants bursting open.
Chen Feng, Liu Huihui, and Jiang Tao positioned themselves cleverly, blocking any gaps in the team's defenses and using their weapons to eliminate any stragglers who managed to get through.
Cheng Cheng's focus this time has been on Xiao Weizhi and Wang Hao's mana and Li Junxuan's health; he only checks Chen Feng's and the others' health and mana when he has a spare moment.
Congratulations on defeating the level 62 Lava Black Ant! Experience gained: 45t6121
Congratulations on defeating...
...
Every few seconds, a message would come out that a monster had been eliminated, but no one in the team paid any attention to this trivial matter. Instead, they were all focused on the monsters in front of them.
'Bang—', 'Bang—'... Several loud explosions rang out in succession.
The sound seemed to provoke the swarm of lava ants in front of them, causing them to riot and stop their harmless attacks, such as spitting fireballs. Instead, they began to self-destruct one after another.
Li Junxuan withstood more than a dozen explosions while holding a large shield made of ice elements. He groaned and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Cheng Cheng immediately cast [Rejuvenation] and [Recovery] consecutively to restore Li Junxuan's declining health and heal his internal injuries.
The most unique thing about the Lava Black Ant swarm is that if one of them doesn't self-destruct during combat, it won't self-destruct. But once one of them takes the lead and self-destructs, the others follow suit like firecrackers, entering self-destruct mode in a flash.
"Damn it, which idiot used a fire-type move to feed the lava ants?"
"Damn it, quick, quick, pull up the shield, it's about to self-destruct."
"Priest, quickly heal my health, I'm dying, hurry, hurry, hurry!"
...
For a moment, angry shouts came from all directions. All the teams were positioned at a certain distance, so no one knew who had used the fire skill.
Lin Xiaoxiao peeked out from behind Xiao Weizhi and looked at Li Junxuan with concern.
In just two minutes, Li Junxuan had withstood the damage from the self-destruction of dozens of lava black ants while holding onto the ice shield.
Even though Cheng Cheng is desperately trying to restore his skills, his current condition is not very good.
Xiao Weizhi narrowed his eyes, glanced at Li Junxuan who was two meters in front of him, and quickly abandoned his original attack plan. He took out several silver-level ice-type forbidden spell scrolls from his space.
After being torn open, three blue and white magic circles, each about 15 meters wide, appeared side by side in the dark night sky.
As the forbidden spell was activated, snowflakes began to fall slowly from the magic circle. Within minutes, the snowflakes turned into a blizzard, quickly covering all the lava black ants on the ground.
As the environment turned cold, all the lava black ants quickly tucked their thin legs under their bodies, curled up into a ball, and transformed into black stones to enter hibernation.
Perhaps because Xiao Weizhi took the lead in using the forbidden spell scroll, many other teams followed suit and used the scroll as well.
"Achoo—" Lin Xiaoxiao sneezed while holding Redtail in her arms, and her whole body shivered.
Xiao Weizhi took out a cloak from his spatial storage, draped it over her shoulders, and said in a low voice, "Wear this for now. After the battle is over and we've collected everything, we'll head back immediately."
After doing all this, he entered combat mode again, only this time his spellcasting speed was much faster.
Dozens of forbidden spells altered the environment, forcing the raging army of lava ants into a state of hibernation, allowing the team present to easily resolve the battle.
Longya and his group quickly gathered the lava black ants they had killed, packed them into many large bags, and threw them into Lin Xiaoxiao's space, planning to deal with them the next day when they returned to the camp.
They had just landed and were immediately engaged in a battle; even an iron man couldn't withstand such a dense schedule.
Back at the camp, after passing through the (bronze-level) protective barrier, everyone tidied up and went to rest.
[Protective Barrier: Once activated, it forms an inverted semi-circular transparent protective shield. It does not block sound; those who do not enter will be kept outside the barrier, ensuring the safety of people and belongings.]
The following day at noon, in an open area of the camp.
Lin Xiaoxiao, Cheng Cheng, Chen Yijin, Jiang Tao, Wang Hao, and Liu Huihui sat on small stools in a circle, each holding a small knife, cutting up the bodies of the lava black ants that they had packed up yesterday.
Li Junxuan rested in the tent, while Xiao Weizhi took Chen Feng out to attend a combat meeting.
Wang Hao skillfully used a knife to dig out the crystal core from the lava black ant's head, threw it into the wooden bucket next to him, and said with a gossipy expression, "I heard they found out who used fire-type skills last night."
Liu Huihui removed the carapace of a lava black ant and tossed it onto the open ground nearby, asking curiously, "Who?"
Jiang Tao twisted the foot joint of one of the black ants and smiled maliciously: "I heard it was a guy from an E-level team. Apparently, he was angry and wanted to use a fireball on his teammates, but his aim was bad and he ended up feeding the monsters."
Chen Yijin carefully dug out a piece of black ant meat, his eyes filled with love for the food. He placed it in the bucket next to him. The meat was crystal clear and looked very much like shrimp meat.
Cheng Cheng asked curiously, "Has the punishment been announced yet?"
Wang Hao's smile was malicious: "That E-level team will be fined 500,000 gold coins and must hand over all their loot within three months; the team that sponsored them will be fined 1.5 million gold coins, forced to clean up wild monsters for half a month, and must hand over all their loot. If there's a next time, they'll be sent to labor camp, hehe."
The rewards from this S-level mission will be distributed equally: 50% will be handed over to the team, and 50% will be kept by the team.
Lin Xiaoxiao, wearing gloves, cleaned the monster crystal cores in the bucket, her ears perked up as she listened to gossip while she worked.
Liu Huihui knew his two little rascals' personalities well. The reason they were so gloating was probably because they had a grudge against a team. The E-level team was too low-level, so it was unlikely. It could only be a team that had provided guarantees.
His hands continued moving, and he asked in a deep voice, "Which team is providing the guarantee?"
Jiang Tao chuckled and replied, "It's Team B - Fengran."
Upon hearing this name, everyone present, except Lin Xiaoxiao, instantly understood why Jiang Tao and Wang Hao were laughing so happily, and they all smiled with schadenfreude.
Lin Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled, "Feng Ran? What happened to that team?"
Cheng Cheng smiled and moved his small stool closer to Lin Xiaoxiao, lowering his voice to explain to her the history of conflict between Longya and Fengran over the years...
In summary: Feng Ran and Long Ya have a grudge, and this grudge was formed in the early days of Long Ya. They will fight every time they meet, similar to Wang Xudong's No. 1 Squad.
Chatting and working at the same time, thousands of lava black ants were quickly broken down into: monster cores (50% of which need to be handed over), chest armor (which can be used to craft items), legs (which can be ground into powder and used to draw inscriptions), and ant meat (which can be eaten)...
Suddenly, Wang Xudong's mocking voice came from the side: "Did Longya go bankrupt recently? It even needs these things."
Normally, most teams would collect the gold coins, items, etc. dropped by monsters, and harvest crystal cores, discarding everything else (actually, it's because there's not enough space to bring them back).
Wang Hao rolled his eyes at Wang Xudong, his tone impatient: "Oh right, you're rich, you're so generous."
Jiang Tao said sarcastically, "Young Master Wang is so wealthy and powerful, how could he understand the mentality of us poor professionals who are unwilling to waste even a single thing? If it weren't for our teammate having an extraordinary spatial ability, we wouldn't have been able to bring the items back."
Liu Huihui coldly rebuked, "Shut up! You're making Young Master Wang lose face..."
They spoke in unison, their words sarcastic and mocking, almost driving Wang Xudong to the brink of a heart attack.
Wang Xudong's face was ashen. He pointed a trembling index finger at Wang Hao, Jiang Tao, Liu Huihui, and the others, so angry that he couldn't utter a single word.
Lin Xiaoxiao asked worriedly, "Are they sure this is okay?"
Cheng Cheng rested his hands on his cheeks, watching the show with a smile, his tone completely unconcerned: "It's alright, Wang Xudong wouldn't dare to make a move here; once they're outside, they can't beat us."
The incident ended with Wang Xudong getting so angry that he turned around and went back to his tent.
Liu Huihui, along with Wang Hao and Jiang Tao, carried the dug-up and cleaned monster cores to hand in in exchange for points.
Chen Yijin took the freshly dug ant meat to the kitchen to study the evening's menu.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Cheng Cheng huddled together, chatting and laughing.
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