Liu Shifu rubbed his eyes, unconsciously wiping away the dampness on his face.
He stood up, quietly placed the Lianxin Crossbow in front of Chen Bugu, turned to throw two branches into the fire, and then subtly sat down opposite Chen Bugu.
“If only we had beer,” Liu Shifu’s sigh came through the fire, the flames dancing in front of Chen Bugu, scorching and subtly distorting the air.
Chen Bugu couldn’t see Liu Shifu’s expression clearly.
“Liu Shifu, once we leave this forest, there will be wine.”
Chen Bugu couldn’t say anything about tobacco, but alcohol was extremely popular among all races, and at least the major cities had highly renowned taverns.
“That’s good. When the time comes, we must have a good drink together.”
Since the incident five years ago, Liu Shifu had fallen in love with drinking.
Although he would never touch alcohol when driving, every time he finished work and returned home, after taking off his blue work uniform, he liked to watch TV with the fan blowing, waiting for his wife to open a bottle of ice-cold beer for him. That was the happiest time of his day.
“Chen Bugu, do you think I can find my wife and daughter?”
The firelight pulled Liu Shifu’s thoughts back to reality, and his face showed worry.
Chen Bugu didn’t answer Liu Shifu’s question immediately. He silently threw two more branches into the fire, thinking about how to speak.
The exit of Soaring Sky Tree connecting to the Zero World was the only one. Logically speaking, as long as one waited at that exit, if Liu Shifu’s family was still alive, they would eventually head there to leave the forest.
Just like Chen Bugu in his previous life, he had also waited for his parents at that exit for half a month.
But Chen Bugu ultimately didn’t wait…
Although some people did reunite with their families after leaving the Starting Forest, the probability was not high.
Moreover, it was unknown whether Liu Shifu’s wife and daughter were Awakeneds of this round of the Great Disaster, and even if they were, it was unknown if they could leave this forest alive.
“Liu Shifu, is your daughter also in Yutan?”
Chen Bugu poked the fire with a branch. He couldn’t answer Liu Shifu’s question, so he could only change the subject.
Chen Bugu’s sudden counter-question made Liu Shifu pause, but adult conversations were sometimes like this—saying nothing yet seeming to say everything.
“My daughter, she went to Haicheng for university. That incident back then had a big impact on her. The young girl was afraid of being gossiped about, so she studied hard to go far away.”
“I see…”
Chen Bugu had only intended to change the subject, but he suddenly found himself at a loss for words, not knowing what to say.
“My daughter is very beautiful, a great beauty, not at all inferior to those two girls named Lin. If there’s a chance in the future, I’ll introduce my daughter to you.”
Liu Shifu seemed to see Chen Bugu’s predicament and joked.
“Liu Shifu, I consider you a friend, but you want to be my father-in-law…”
Chen Bugu and Liu Shifu both laughed, and it seemed that the previous heavy topics were thus dismissed with laughter.
The two continued to chat on and off until Yan Kuan and Wang Bin got up to change shifts. Only then did they both lie down, temporarily putting the night’s conversation out of their minds.
…
The next morning, at dawn, Liu Shifu opened his eyes and saw the Lianxin Crossbow quietly placed in front of him again.
He looked at Chen Bugu, who was packing the Luo Beast hide, curled his lips, and picked up the Lianxin Crossbow again.
That’s right, boring adults are always like this; they say nothing yet seem to say everything.
After resuming their journey, everyone headed straight north. Thanks to the thermal imaging drone and Han Badou’s Energy Monitoring, they were always able to avoid dangers in advance along the way.
The luckiest instance was avoiding a nest of Sword Ants in advance.
The individual strength of Sword Ants is generally around Black Iron Two Star. They have two wings on their backs, and the sharp part of their mouthparts resembles a sword. They can also secrete paralyzing venom. Although their individual strength is not strong, these demonic beasts always act in groups.
The royal family among Sword Ants, the Sword Ant King, despite being only Black Iron Three Stars, ranks seventh among the Ten Great Exotic Beasts of the Starting Forest, two positions higher than Vine Dream.
Each Sword Ant King is accompanied by at least a thousand Sword Ants, and at least one King and one Queen will appear simultaneously in a nest of Sword Ants. Although the Ant Queen has no combat ability, as long as the Ant Queen is alive, the number of Sword Ants will continue to be replenished.
A single Sword Ant King naturally doesn’t qualify for the top ten exotic beasts, but no one has ever seen an Ant King alone, so this list implicitly assumes that the Sword Ant King represents the combat power of an entire nest of Sword Ants.
If it weren’t for the Sword Ants’ fear of large-scale elemental damage, their ranking on the list might even go higher.
After Wang Bin learned of the Sword Ants’ weakness, he clamored about wanting to gain some experience, but when he saw hundreds of thousands of densely packed Sword Ants through the drone, he immediately declared himself an insect enthusiast and decided to spare these ants.
Chen Bugu was too lazy to expose him. Sword Ants were indeed suitable monsters for gaining energy, but only for exceptionally powerful elemental Awakeneds.
The nest of Sword Ants they discovered was estimated to number no less than two thousand. Even if he, Wang Bin, Bai Ting, and Yan Kuan were to clear them out with elemental attacks, they would likely only end up with exhausted mental energy and be devoured clean.
After avoiding the Sword Ants from a distance, everyone continued north.
Along the way, the level of demonic beasts they encountered also became higher and higher, generally Black Iron Three Stars, with occasional Black Iron Four Star and Black Iron Five-Star ones appearing.
Chen Bugu took the rear, selecting a few Black Iron Four Star demonic beasts for the others to kill, thereby helping everyone break through their levels.
As for himself, he only acted when Black Iron Five-Star monsters appeared. For most of the other time, he poured his mental energy into the crocodile turtle egg.
After this egg was purified by Lin Lin, the black mist on its surface completely disappeared, but the two large cracks on the eggshell surface remained.
If Lin Lin hadn’t confirmed that there was still life energy in this egg, Chen Bugu would have suspected that it had already become a dead egg. Since the Decipher of the gene lock had encountered a bottleneck, he simply focused his mental energy on the incubation of the egg.
After three days, Chen Bugu was only one step away from Black Iron Six Stars, and Bai Ting had also broken through to Black Iron Five-Star. Except for Han Badou and Lin Lin, everyone else had successfully broken through to Black Iron Four Star.
As they got closer to the Soaring Sky Tree, the morning and evening light began to be blocked by the huge trunk, causing the sunrise to be later and the sunset earlier.
At noon that day, they happened upon a small clearing. Through the gaps in the surrounding tree canopy, everyone could already see the towering giant tree that Liu Shifu and Chen Bugu had spoken of.
The massive trunk stood before them like a dark brown “high wall,” majestic and magnificent. The high wall connected directly to the clouds, its top out of sight.
There were no branches or leaves on the trunk, only countless lush vines clinging to it, intertwined and entangled.
These vines varied in color; some were emerald green, some deep purple, and some light yellow. Their surfaces looked like metal yet also like glass, shimmering in the sunlight.
This scene was filled with the majesty and mystery of nature, making one unconsciously lament their own fragility and insignificance.
Except for Chen Bugu, everyone stood still, shocked by the wondrous sight before them, unable to recover for a long time, until they heard a strange sound from Chen Bugu’s embrace.
“Crack~”