CSMCDB - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Wen Yuncheng sat for a while but couldn't stay still. She lifted her hand and sniffed it—the one that had just held the braised bones. The savory aroma was absolutely divine. Even though her hand was now caked in mud, the lingering scent made Wen Yuncheng want to lick it.

It was just a thought, though. Wen Yuncheng took out some water and washed her hands thoroughly, scrubbing away the smell. Then, she retrieved the small branches she had gathered from her ring, piled them up, and ignited them with a Flame Exploder.

In truth, the tiger meat was sour and tough, not very tasty. Wen Yuncheng roasted a small piece, and after one bite, she had no desire for more. If she hadn't already seasoned it, she would have wasted it. Forcing herself to finish the piece, Wen Yuncheng took out a rabbit she hadn't eaten yet. She had already skinned and cleaned it, so it was ready to be skewered and roasted directly.

Wen Yuncheng deftly skewered the rabbit meat with two branches, brushed it with oil, and held it over the fire, turning it evenly. With one hand, she controlled the rotation of the meat to ensure it cooked through, while with the other, she occasionally sprinkled on various seasonings. This time, she didn't use much chili powder. When the skin turned a golden, crispy brown, she sprinkled sesame seeds evenly over it. Done!

"Lin Jinyu, time to eat!"

Lin Jinyu opened her eyes, looking a little helpless. Her Star Power hadn't even fully recovered… but Wen Yuncheng's cooking smelled truly incredible. She accepted the skewer, and a drop of oil trickled down the rabbit meat, falling into the fire and causing the flames to flare up. "Thank you."

"You saved me so many times, I should be the one thanking you." Wen Yuncheng grinned as she watched the pretty girl eat with such grace. She then took out some wild boar meat and had a Guardian use its Star Power sword to slice off a rack of ribs. Wen Yuncheng then got back to grilling the pork ribs.

After a simple meal, Wen Yuncheng extinguished the fire. She noticed, however, that Lin Jinyu showed no intention of leaving. "What's wrong?"

"I sent up a signal. My teacher might come looking for me." Lin Jinyu gazed at the forest and, after a few seconds of silence, continued, "I'm lost."

Wen Yuncheng: What a coincidence, so am I.

Wen Yuncheng and Lin Jinyu looked at each other, and both fell silent. Wen Yuncheng scanned her surroundings, but she couldn't for the life of her remember where she had dragged Lin Jinyu from. That winged tiger… where was that slope again?

"It's fine, I have a communication stone to contact my mentor!" Wen Yuncheng said reassuringly. She took out a blue stone and activated it.

-"What is it?"

"Teacher, I'm lost."

-"…Where are you?"

"I don't know."

-"What's near you?"

"Trees, just trees." Wen Yuncheng looked around but saw no landmarks. She gave a dry laugh. "I rolled down a slope, then kept running, and now I'm lost."

-"…Just take care of yourself. Don't die. If you run into another team, join them and have them lead you out."

The connection cut.

Wen Yuncheng stared at the stone in her hand, then looked up to meet Lin Jinyu's gaze. She could only manage an awkward laugh. "Well, that didn't seem to work."

"It's fine. There's no danger right now." Lin Jinyu took out her own communication stone to report her safety to Qiu Fei, also mentioning that she was temporarily lost. However, Lin Jinyu didn't plan on heading back just yet. She wanted to see if she could gain some enlightenment through constant battle here and advance to the Star Warrior rank.

Being lost wasn't a big deal, as long as they didn't run into any danger. As for not knowing the way back? With so many people in the Demonic Beast Great Forest, they were bound to run into schoolmates eventually. There was nothing to worry about.

While they rested, the Little Ice Mountain changed her clothes, with Wen Yuncheng dutifully standing guard. Afterward, they continued to wander aimlessly through the forest. Wen Yuncheng caught and killed a few rabbits, all at the Star Apostle level, which only amounted to fifty experience points in total. Lin Jinyu, on the other hand, had the misfortune of not encountering any suitable Star Warrior-level demonic beasts. It was as if her trip to the Demonic Beast Great Forest was just to accompany Wen Yuncheng on a picnic.

That evening, Wen Yuncheng compared the experience points she was earning in the forest to what she used to get at the academy and was filled with regret. Out here, she couldn't just kill demonic beasts at will, nor could she kill hundreds or thousands of Star Practitioner-level beasts a day. The experience gain was far less stable than it was from sparring at the academy. And… as delicious as barbecue was, Wen Yuncheng was getting a little tired of it. The problem was, she couldn't identify any of the wild vegetables or fruits in the forest; she had no idea which were edible and which weren't. What rotten luck. If she kept eating like this, she was probably going to break out in pimples.

[I can identify them.] 1947 chimed in at the perfect moment, hearing Wen Yuncheng's complaints.

Hmm? Are there conditions?

[No. Next time you encounter an edible plant, I'll notify you.]

Wen Yuncheng thanked it mentally. She took the finished parts from her crafting template and stored them in her ring, then tossed more Star Iron in to be forged. She then placed Star Steel into the crafting template to continue producing parts from the C-01 Guardian blueprint.

Wen Yuncheng arranged stones around the campfire to contain it for the night. As dusk settled, Lin Jinyu began to earnestly absorb Star Power and cultivate. Once Wen Yuncheng had the fire set up, she sat to one side and resumed assembling a C-01 Guardian.

Occasionally, the fire would crackle loudly as it consumed a piece of wood. When that happened, Wen Yuncheng would look up, add more logs as needed, then stand to stretch her muscles before sitting down to continue her work.

Of course, she would much rather be assembling these things on her bed. But out in the wilderness, she had to make do with sitting on the ground. Once she finished one, she had 1947 activate it. She then had 1947 act as a conduit to fully recharge the energy of the other four Guardians before finally relaxing and glancing over at Lin Jinyu.

The Little Ice Mountain was still in the same posture, sitting perfectly upright. Moonlight spilled over her, making her look exceptionally beautiful.

Wen Yuncheng took out a sleeping bag and spread it on the ground. She figured Lin Jinyu probably wouldn't sleep. For people like them, who cultivated with such desperation, absorbing Star Power at night was likely their equivalent of sleep. After a moment's hesitation, Wen Yuncheng took a jacket from her ring and carefully draped it over Lin Jinyu's shoulders. Then, she positioned a C-01 Guardian to stand watch by the fire, crawled into her sleeping bag, found a comfortable position, zipped it up, and went to sleep.

When Wen Yuncheng woke the next day, she found that the jacket she had placed on Lin Jinyu was now covering her own sleeping bag. The stone-ringed campfire hadn't gone out; someone had clearly added fresh firewood or relit it.

But… where was Lin Jinyu?

Wen Yuncheng climbed out of her sleeping bag and stored it, along with the Guardian, in her ring. She then took out water and toiletries, squatted to one side to brush her teeth and wash her face, and used the still-burning fire to make more barbecue for breakfast.

Wen: I'm so sick of this.

She listlessly drank cold water and gnawed on the roast meat. Although it still tasted great, the thought of potentially eating barbecue for every meal, every single day, gave her a headache.

[I could procure some fresh vegetables from other planes?]

But everything you sell is so expensive!

[Then I'll smuggle in some defective goods?] 1947 fell silent after saying this. What had driven it to abandon its golden motto of "System-produced, guaranteed quality"?!

Forget it. You even used the word 'smuggle,' so don't make things hard on yourself, Wen Yuncheng said mentally. I'm just a little tired of it. Speaking of which, I'm being picky. I used to survive on steamed buns while starving every day, and now I have meat for every meal and I'm complaining.

She finished the meat in a few quick bites, drank some water, wiped her mouth clean, and took out more parts from her ring to continue assembling.

She didn't know where the Little Ice Mountain had gone, so all she could do was wait here. After all, she didn't know the way. Getting lost while wandering aimlessly was a small matter; accidentally stumbling into the depths of the great forest and running into some Star Lord or even Star Spirit-level demonic beast would be a true disaster.

[What if she abandoned you and ran off?]

Wen Yuncheng paused. "That's… unlikely, right? Lin Jinyu doesn't seem like that kind of person…"

But, I do seem to be dragging her down.

Wen Yuncheng lowered her head and continued to assemble the parts, but her mind couldn't help but drift to 1947's words as she calculated the probability of Lin Jinyu abandoning her…

She felt that Lin Jinyu wasn't the type to abandon a teammate, but she herself seemed to be a useless teammate…

Wen Yuncheng put herself in Lin Jinyu's shoes, imagining Zhou Xuan as the useless teammate. Thinking about it that way, she suddenly felt that Lin Jinyu not running off last night was already an act of profound kindness!

"But I'm clearly better looking than Zhou Xuan," Wen Yuncheng sighed, looking sorrowfully at the parts in her hand as she slowly pieced together the prototype of a Guardian.

[…Just pretend I didn't say anything. She definitely didn't abandon you. After all, she came back to save you from the winged tiger yesterday.]

"But that was a life-or-death situation. She's only fifteen, she couldn't bear to let me die, right? There's no danger now," Wen Yuncheng muttered, sighing as she assembled the Guardian. From 1947's perspective, she seemed full of resentment.

1947 was speechless for a moment. It switched its perspective to scan the surroundings but saw no sign of Lin Jinyu. Just as the dad-like system began to regret its big mouth, Wen Yuncheng suddenly snapped out of it.

"Ah, well. If I'm alone, I'm alone. It's just that after looking at a pretty girl for so long, it's weird now that she's suddenly gone."

[? Weren't you sad about being abandoned?]

"Ah, I wasn't that sad about it. We don't know each other well, after all. Just strangers who met by chance. The main thing is, without the pretty girl's face, waist, and legs to look at, even the barbecue doesn't taste as good."

[My apologies for interrupting.] 1947 was having an existential crisis. Still, it was good that Wen Yuncheng had recovered. It watched her continue to quietly assemble the Guardian, guessing that its cub probably planned to wait while she worked. After all… it pretty much understood its cub's personality. It had been the same when she left the Wen family. She didn't need to care about family members who had never fulfilled their parental duties, but she had still waited in the courtyard until nightfall before leaving, just to see if her so-called parents would come to see her.

At that thought, 1947's heart ached for her again.

Just then, it sensed someone approaching. It shifted its perspective and saw… Lin Jinyu was back?! Just as 1947 was about to share the good news with Wen Yuncheng, it heard her humming a song:

"My girl's legs aren't legs, they're the spring waters of the Seine~

My girl's back isn't a back, it's a Bulgarian rose~

My girl's waist isn't a waist, it's a deadly assassin's curved blade~

My girl's lips aren't lips, they're the clear water under Anhe Bridge~"

1947 crashed on the spot. The dignified Long Aotian Growth System actually felt a trace of second-hand embarrassment for its cub.

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