Chapter 113
Fu Le's behavior was really strange. The young man frowned, and his eyes began to show defensiveness and distance. "What do you want to exchange?"
"What do you want?" She had everything, so she just looked at him and asked what he wanted.
The young man looked at Fu Le with a troubled expression, as if he were looking at a fool.
Fu Le sighed and took out a fist-sized rice ball from his pocket. The rice ball, filled with shredded carrots, shredded meat, and chopped egg, was so beautiful with its red, white, and yellow colors.
The young man stared blankly at the rice ball in Fu Le's hand, not knowing what it was, but unconsciously swallowed. "What is this?"
“Rice balls, have a taste. If you like them, I’ll trade ten of these for this bucket of beast milk, okay? And this beast blood, can I use a cloth instead?” Fu Le said with a smile.
An Yi took it and was about to bite it when Fu Le grabbed his hand and looked at him unhappily, "Aren't you going to hurt me?"
"No, you need to peel off the outer layer of film first." Fu Le said, helping to pull off the plastic film, and the young man understood.
When An Yi took his first bite of the rice ball, the unprecedented texture surprised him. Then, he quickly took another bite, two bites, three bites, and it was gone.
An Yi: ...
That's it?
"Is there any more?" With his mouth stuffed full, An Yi's eyes sparkled, becoming bright and clear.
The vendor next to him saw how much An Yi was enjoying his food and secretly swallowed. He smelled the aroma of the rice ball and wanted some too, but he was selling animal skin boots.
"Little sister, I have some animal skin boots here. They're all handmade, very warm and durable. Do you want some?"
“No need.” Fu Le refused. She would naturally want the animal hide boots, but not now. Right now, she was only interested in animal blood and animal milk.
Not only the vendors next to An Yi noticed this place, but other vendors also kept casting their gazes over.
An Yi noticed the reactions around him and stiffened. "Let's find another place to trade. You like beast blood and beast milk, and I have more at home." As he spoke, he cautiously moved closer to Fu Le. "Do you want to come to my house? It's in that cave over there."
Fu Le nodded. She was already planning to find a place to stay there anyway, and now she had a free guide, which was not bad.
"Let's go. My name is An Yi. What's yours?" An Yi easily picked up two iron buckets, each about ten liters in size, and then beckoned Fu Le to follow. He glanced around, his eyes conveying a strong sense of warning.
"Fu Le".
To Fu Le's surprise, after An Yi's warning, everyone around him turned their attention away, and the merchants seemed to be quite wary of him.
When Fu Le arrived at the grotto with An Yi, he was stunned by what he saw. Was this a place where people lived?
This is a city deep underground. Looking down from where she was, there was a sheer cliff. As far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of meters below the ground. The way people went up and down was by using a series of pulleys, about the size of truck steering wheels, embedded in the top of the rock wall. Strong steel cables were wound around them, and hanging from them were iron benches that could accommodate five people in a row. In front of the benches was a crossbeam for passengers to hold onto, somewhat similar to the seats on a modern amusement park ride like a pendulum ride.
There was a man guarding each pair of pulleys. "This is the cableway down. One brown fluorite per person." An Yi saw that Fu Le looked bewildered. Although he was puzzled, he still explained, "You gave me a rice ball just now, so I'll give you this fluorite." His brothers said that he couldn't take advantage of others.
After saying that, he went to pay for the fluorite, and was given three. He also had to pay for the shipping of his milk and beast blood.
Let's go.
Fu Le sat on the iron stool, and before she could get used to it, she heard the sound of iron chains sliding by her ears, and then a feeling of weightlessness rushed over her, just like the feeling of weightlessness on a roller coaster!
Fu Le: Holy crap!! I hate roller coasters!!
After finally landing, Fu Le's legs went weak, and he almost tripped and fell, stepping on his right foot with his left.
"Fu Le, are you alright?"
Fu Le shook his head, took a deep breath somewhat pathetically to steady himself. Such a high grotto, he wondered how their ancestors had managed to get up there, and how these caves had been carved out. Did they have modern tower cranes here? But there weren't any tower cranes this high, were they? Were they carved out while suspended on a zipline?
The so-called grottoes are holes carved into the walls. The fixed triangular iron supports embedded in the cliff face serve as stairs for everyone to go up and down, and also as steps for neighbors to visit each other. At a glance, the stone walls are densely covered with iron supports and holes. Everyone lives in a stone cave, just like bees in a beehive.
So, the grottoes were actually caves where people lived, like beehives!
When Fu Le followed An Yi and stopped at the entrance of his cave, she felt a little restless. Just getting down there made her feel suffocated and uncomfortable.
If she goes up and down like this every day, she'll go crazy in three days at most. Is this a place fit for a human being?!
The opening is more than three meters wide and about three meters high. Once inside, there is a hidden world, extending to the left and right, all hollowed out to become inner chambers.
"Wait here for me, I'll go in and call someone." An Yi placed the beast blood and milk bucket in the hall, then went into the inner room on the right.
Fu Le surveyed the cave from his own perspective. The walls and floor were all made of stone, polished smooth, and felt icy cold to the touch.
This is Grotto No. 17, with a number carved out of the cliff face and dyed red.
Many caves have their own pulleys and iron chains next to them, but no stools, and it's unclear what they're for. When they came down, An Yi had to manually control his speed, otherwise he could easily slip. Looking down from the cave entrance, it was still a deep abyss, with no bottom in sight.
Why do people live on cliffs instead of on the ground?
As Fu Le was lost in thought, the footsteps behind her brought her back to her senses.
Turning around, there were five tall and strong men. Unlike the others, they were not skin and bones like Guan Ya's group. They had flesh on their bodies, and their black rags could not hide their imposing aura. They were all people who had tasted blood on the front lines!
Thinking of the blood An Yi took, these people, needless to say, were hunters who hunted in groups.
“Fu Le, these are my teammates. A few others went hunting and haven’t returned yet.” An Yi, acting as the introducer, worried that Fu Le might be scared, so he walked towards Fu Le alone, while the others stood at the innermost side, keeping their distance.
Fu Le nodded to those people. She didn't sense any malice from them, so she wasn't afraid. "I have this. You can cook it into porridge or rice. I want to exchange it for your beast blood and beast milk." In Fu Le's outstretched palm was some old rice of average quality, but the taste wasn't too bad.
An Yi picked up a grain of rice from Fu Le's palm, put it in his mouth and chewed it. "Is this the rice ball you gave me?"
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