Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 194: Villain Ayun
Xiao Yun had never understood it before. The air in the underground world should be dull and depressing, and how could so many underground races survive? When he came here, he realized that he really didn't understand this fantasy world...
“…Is this where you lived before?”
Standing in front of a cave that looked like a small valley but where one couldn't see the sun, moon and stars overhead, or perhaps it should be said to be a big pit or a big depression, Xiao Yun said with a little amazement.
This cave, which seemed amazing to him, was at least the size of two football fields. It was covered with strange rocks and stalactites. The stone forest and the cave walls were covered with blocks of glowing mosses. On the relatively flat surface in the center, there were clumps of mushroom crops growing wildly.
At a sixty-degree angle to the direction they came from, there were traces of excavation on the stone wall. On the opposite side was a deep and dark passage with no end in sight.
Baron climbed down from Ashan's back and staggered to the front of the team. Looking at his former hometown, he sighed, "Well, my ancestors lived here for many years." He raised his hand and pointed at the moss on the surface of the stalactites. "That's light moss, the last emergency food for the underground race. When there are not enough mushrooms to eat, licking it can at least save your life... It's rare for us goblins to occupy such a dense area of light moss. I thought it would be occupied by other races. Maybe it's too close to the exit of the underground world, so no one is willing to come here."
Xiao Yun walked to a piece of light moss, opened his eyes wide and observed curiously... Suddenly he found something wrong, sniffed, and stared at the light moss with even more surprise: this thing is actually "alive"!
No, it should be said that this piece of glowing light moss seems to be some kind of extremely vital plant. When you get close, you can feel that they seem to be "breathing" vigorously, creating a light breeze that makes people feel refreshed after smelling it.
The oxygen in the surface world is provided by plants and marine algae, while the oxygen in the underground world is provided by this special moss?
Subconsciously, Xiao Yun stuck out his tongue and licked it... There seemed to be a layer of pollen-like substance on the surface of the light moss, but with larger particles, which he licked off.
"Pah, pah, pah! Why is it so bitter?!" Xiao Yun stuck out his tongue and spat.
"That's why you say it's the last emergency food. We goblins won't eat it unless it's absolutely necessary." Baron said embarrassedly.
"Is it really bitter?" Ah Shan came up curiously and licked it. "Wow, it's so bitter! It's even more bitter than the tree sap I accidentally drank before. Don't lick it!"
Xiao Yun, Yu, and Rosemary stared at him blankly.
After visiting the old residence of the goblins, the group continued to go deeper.
The passage is still a series of caves, and some areas also have large areas of light moss growing on them, which provide weak light and make the air in that section of the road particularly fresh, attracting many small creatures such as insects and lizards.
"We are almost at the underground river." Baron climbed back onto Ashan's back and said with a nostalgic tone, "Beyond the underground river is where the gray dwarves live. We have never been there before... The gray dwarves don't want us goblins to catch the silver fish in the underground river. Every time they see us approaching the underground river, they will drive us away."
Although it was not obvious, Baron did feel a bit nervous when he revisited the old place this time. He did feel a bit like returning home in glory... In the past, the gray dwarves would guard against the tiny silver fish in the underground river like thieves, but now Baron doesn't even care about those things that don't have much meat!
As one of the managers of the quarry and a person with longer working experience, Baron’s salary is at the same level as Ashan’s!
The naturally formed cave passages were not smooth, and some places took Baron half a day to climb through. But it didn't matter to the people in wolf form, who easily jumped over them.
After walking for a while, the sound of water could be heard in the distance.
Rosemary suddenly said "Huh", and trotted over to stand next to Xiao Yun: "Did you smell anything?"
"It seems to smell a bit like a stranger." Ashan, who was walking in the front, jumped briskly over a broken natural stone bridge and sniffed. "The smell of the underground world is too mixed, and there are many smells that I have never smelled before."
Yuye said: "Yeah, I smelled it faintly just now, it was too faint."
Xiao Yun: "..." Damn, is he a fake Snow Wolf Man? Why can't he smell it...
"Someone is here." Ashan suddenly said, quickening his pace and jogging forward. The more than two tons of fans tied on his back did not affect his movements at all.
"Rosemary, come on my back." Xiao Yun shouted softly, and spread his legs to catch up... As a cub, he only carried one ton, which was much less than Ashan and Yu.
In just a few breaths, the three snow wolves rushed through the Daduan Passage and arrived at the underground river that spanned the passage... and then they were stunned.
The residents of the underground world who were fetching water were caught off guard and were also stunned.
The rock walls on both sides of the underground river, the rocks protruding from the water in the river, and the uneven rocks on the top are all covered with a large amount of light moss. Under the pale and soft light, the grayish white skin of the local residents holding water bags, pottery jars, and hollowing out tree roots to get water is particularly creepy...
These five or six half-naked, unkempt gray dwarves have arms and legs as thin as sticks, and no fat on their dirty faces and bodies. The leading gray dwarf with a rag wrapped around his waist and two "leather bags" hanging on his chest makes people instantly travel back to those old black and white photos of the Republic of China.
"...It turns out that when we met Baru, they were doing quite well among the gray dwarves and were all well-off?" Xiao Yun's eyelids twitched. "Oh, yes, Baru and his people were doing business with the Hall tribe. The Tauren would definitely not let them live like beggars..."
Thinking back to when he first arrived at the Fire Tribe, the Snow Wolves, apart from being able to eat more, were not much different from the Gray Dwarves in terms of their unrestrained appearance... Xiao Yun calmed down.
The two sides stared at each other for a few seconds. Without waiting for Xiao Yun to step forward and talk to them, the gray dwarves screamed, dropped their water-fetching tools, and ran wildly into the darkness with their short legs.
"Chase!" Xiao Yun did it immediately without hesitation.
Yu ran forward, crossed Ashan, jumped over the river which was more than ten meters wide, and quickly caught up.
Ashan took a half step back, exerted his strength to jump over the river, and followed nimbly.
Xiao Yun couldn't jump over, so he walked slowly on the rocks in the river...
Rosemary, who was sitting on Xiao Yun's back: "..."
The chase lasted for several minutes... Mainly because the terrain of the area where the gray dwarves lived was much more complicated than that of the goblins. There were many forked roads and the air was full of the scent left by the gray dwarves. The sense of smell was useless, so one had to rely on hearing to identify the direction in which the gray dwarves fled...
It seemed that these gray dwarves did not dare to bring the "pursuers" home, and they kept circling in the complicated passages. They ran desperately for a long time before they were blocked in a dead end by three big wolves.
The three giant wolves that blocked the entire passage were approaching step by step. The gray dwarves huddled together and trembled, with despair all over their dirty faces...
Then, the big wolves stopped and one of them lay prone on the ground. A goblin who was sitting among the dense wolf hair grabbed the wolf hair which was longer than his arm and climbed down swiftly.
Gray dwarves: “???”
"Hello!" Baron waved from a few meters away, "Don't be afraid, I'm the goblin who used to live next door to you."
The old gray dwarf, who had two "leather bags" hanging on his chest and was protecting the other gray dwarves behind him, looked at Baron, who was wearing a small and exquisite suncloth suit, with a puzzled look on his face. He said, "Are you kidding me?"
Baron did not explain. He had the simplest and most direct way to deal with the residents of the underground world. He took off the sheepskin backpack he was carrying, opened the seal swiftly, took out a can of cold rabbit, pried open the seal with a metal claw, poured the contents onto the lid, held up the lid, which was slightly larger than his palm, walked to the gray dwarf, put it down, and said with a smile: "Eat it, it's a gift."
The old gray dwarf swallowed his saliva, stared at Baron for several seconds before he reached out his hand tremblingly, picked up a piece of rabbit meat and put it into his mouth.
The original cold-eaten rabbit produced by the Fire Department is a hot commodity sold far and wide in the Western Continent and the Southern Continent. After eating just one piece, the old gray dwarf's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly picked up the lid and shared the rabbit meat on the lid with his fellow tribesmen...
Baron turned around and picked up the can of cold rabbit food, and brought the whole can over to her. After the old gray dwarf had distributed the food, he put more food on the lid, and added more food after she finished eating. By the time the gray dwarves had laid out the four-pound can of cold rabbit food, Baron had already become friends with the gray dwarves and sat among them to chat.
"My name is Baron. Our tribe originally lived on the other side of the underground river. We moved to the surface world about ten years ago." Baron smiled. "I was still young at that time. I only remember that the dark elf inspectors suddenly stopped coming... It's very strange. Do the dark elves no longer care about marginal races like us?"
"It's not that we don't care. It's because the Dwarf Kingdom has invaded the underground world." The old gray dwarf licked his fingers and said, "The dark elf supervisor living in our village recalled the underground city. It took more than half a year for them to return."
Xiao Yun, who was standing quietly not far away, exchanged glances with Yu.
"The dark elves are here again, and are they in your village now?" Baron shuddered uncomfortably.
The old gray dwarf nodded and said, "Their supervisor no longer lives in our village. He comes to collect ore every one or two months."
Baron breathed a sigh of relief and continued to inquire: "How long ago was the last time you came to pull ore?"
The old gray dwarf thought for a moment and said, "It should be more than ten days."
Baron immediately turned around and looked at Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun blinked at him.
Baron understood what he meant, and controlling his excitement, he said to the old gray dwarf eagerly: "Do you want to live with us? We goblins have found a place to settle down in the upper world. There is also a gray dwarf tribe with us, and their chief is called Baru."
"Baru? Never heard of him." The old gray dwarf shook his head, hesitated, and said, "Isn't the exit from this side a cursed land? It is said that the tiger king's tent there has captured many of our people..."
"The tiger tribe is no longer in the cursed land. They are fighting with the dwarf kingdom in the dungeon." Baron said confidently, "The place where we live is very safe. It is in the most remote place in the cursed land. We have a lot of food. As long as we work hard, we can eat well every day. We can also wear warm clothes and live in a warm house..."
Several gray dwarves were filled with longing after hearing this, and gradually surrounded Baron. Some even rubbed their hands hard on their bodies and touched the clothes Baron was wearing with curiosity and envy...
"Come and live with us!" Baron said enthusiastically.
"Come!" The old gray dwarf slapped his thigh hard, his eyes shining.
Where goblins can find a place to stand, dress neatly and beautifully, and give food as gifts, then of course the gray dwarves can live well too~!
Baron looked back at Xiao Yun happily. Xiao Yun shook his head, and Rosemary silently jumped off his back.
"This is a cat warrior who lives with us. Her name is Rosemary." Baron stood up and introduced her to the gray dwarves. "There are also centaurs, humans, and others with us. We all live together, work every day, and produce goods to sell to humans and forest elves... Forest elves are much better than dark elves. They don't think of capturing us as slaves. They trade with us fairly and protect us..."
The old gray dwarf led a group of people to their village. On the way, Baron kept chattering...
Goblins are a pretty good signboard. The fact that the Centaurs can come for surrender and the Snakes are willing to attach themselves to them has a lot to do with the Fire Tribe's kindness to the goblins - after all, in other places, goblins are a weak, dirty race with a bad image and are the cheapest slaves even if they are slaves. The Fire Tribe even values the labor of the goblins and treats them fairly, which naturally gives other races great confidence.
As for why Rosemary was allowed to come forward instead of the Snow Wolf people themselves, it was because without sufficient understanding, the Snow Wolf Tribe was indeed not as friendly as the Cat Tribe looked... It would be strange to feel at ease with a group of muscular brothers, the smallest of whom was at the level of a heavyweight wrestler.
The gray dwarf village is a cave larger than the goblin cave. Except for the surface, the rock walls are covered with light moss. The gray dwarves have deliberately planted many underground vines at the entrances and exits of several passages to block out the light. If there is no one to lead the way, people passing by here will never know that there is a large group of people hiding in this place.
Baron and Rosemary took out a dozen cans of cold rabbit and more than 100 kilograms of vermicelli from the huge leather bag carried by and gave them to the gray dwarves as gifts. They introduced the gray dwarves' free and easy life in the hilly new district, which made the gray dwarves fascinated and dizzy. They immediately asked when they could go with Baron.
Baron pointed out the way with a beaming face: this village is only two or three days' journey away from the exit of the underground world. The gray dwarves should pack up their things and move out before the dark elf inspectors arrive. After going out of the exit and walking about ten miles southwest, they will see the new hilly area; there are more than forty gray dwarves living there, and one of them named Baru will settle their fellow dwarves.
Such an answer undoubtedly boosted the confidence of the gray dwarves. Who could be more trustworthy than their own people? Baron and his companions, who could not wait to get going, hurriedly packed up their belongings...
The three Snow Werewolves dressed up as "vehicles" throughout the show, sitting quietly as chickens and watching Baron's performance...
After leaving the gray dwarf village, Ashan smiled and said, "It's so easy. If I had known it was so easy, I would have come earlier. Balusali and the others wouldn't have to work so hard."
Xiao Yun nodded, then shook his head: "This place is close to the exit of the underground world, and the dark elves' supervision is not as strict as before. This gray dwarf village must have planned to escape a long time ago. It's just that they are afraid of the outside world and have heard about the tiger tribe capturing gray dwarves, so they have been hesitant. Our arrival has only added fuel to their fire. If they were in other places, I guess it would not be so easy to convince them."
"Ayun is right." Baron nodded. "They were planning to escape so it was easier to convince them. The old gray dwarf even took the initiative to ask me about the tiger tribe at the beginning."
Xiao Yun chuckled, "But it doesn't matter. I've observed that the gray dwarves seem to like living in relatively closed places, and they live quite concentratedly. Let's return to the team and take a few more people with us. If it's easy to persuade the next village, then that's fine. If not, we can block the entrance and force them to leave even if they don't want to."
Yu, Baron, and Rosemary: "..."
Rosemary stared with dead fish eyes: "Ayun... sometimes I feel that you are more like the villain in the story."
"What do you know? A cat is a good cat, whether it's black or white, as long as it catches mice. As long as it works, it's a reasonable method." Xiao Yun said indifferently, "Baron came out to fool those gray dwarves, but didn't he clearly say that there are also snow wolf tribes and dragon tribes in our tribe? Bringing the people back is a success. There's no need to worry about the details."
After walking for a while, Ah Shan suddenly turned around and glared at the snow leopard sitting on Xiao Yun's back seriously: "Rosemary, were you scolding Ah Yun just now?"
Rosemary & Xiao Yun & Yu & Baron: "..."
Two days later, the large team transporting vermicelli discovered traces of gray dwarf activities. Xiao Yun immediately selected more than 20 soldiers to search for them all the way. After searching for most of the day, they finally found a new gray dwarf village.
After carefully searching several passages near the village and confirming that the scent left by the dark elves was very faint, they sent Baron and Rosemary to visit.
After a while, Baron and Rosemary were politely escorted out by the gray dwarves...
The Snow Wolf warriors immediately blocked the entrance, quickly attacked the village and controlled the gray dwarves...
After feeding them a meal of vermicelli, ten warriors were assigned to escort the two hundred or so gray dwarves in the village back home...
Under the watchful eyes of a group of giant white wolves, the gray dwarves dared not even cry loudly...
"Be careful. All the places we pass must be wiped with slime monsters. Don't leave any smell." Xiao Yun grabbed the stinking slime monsters from the nearby ditch and rubbed them hard on the ground. "Use a torch to roast the places with wolf hair and then wipe them with slime monsters. Don't leave any evidence!"
"Okay!" The Snow Wolves worked hard without any doubt.
"Rosemary, go and destroy the tents and wooden houses in the dwarf village that we damaged. Scratch the scratches hard!" Xiao Yun ordered again.
"..."Rosemary turned into a snow leopard, staring with dead fish eyes and helping to destroy the evidence.
After removing the "evidence", Xiao Yun carefully checked again to make sure nothing was missed, and then he led his men back to the team and continued to wander around and search for the next gray dwarf tribe...
This area is located below the Elf Forest. Although the mineral veins are not as rich as those around the dungeon, they are also relatively dense. Within a day, Xiao Yun discovered traces of the activities of the gray dwarves again. He immediately pointed out the people and went over happily with his tongue wagging.
Carefully search for the scent left by the dark elves, block the passage, attack with brute force after failed negotiations, destroy other people's villages, smash other people's blast furnaces, escort the gray dwarves who dare not speak out back, and then destroy the evidence of the crime... The whole process is extremely skilled.
Rosemary, who was in a bad mood, said: "I really think you are a villain, and I helped you destroy the evidence..."
Xiao Yun glared: "Stop talking so much nonsense, get to work!"
In the inland sea, the fleet was drifting towards the southern continent with the help of the north wind.
The crew of the Adventurer's Association's Transportation Department nervously ran to the Grassroots Chieftain and took the confused Grassroots Chieftain and the Snake Walker Harris who was chatting with her to the cargo hold on the lowest level.
In the narrow passage left by the cargo that extended all the way to the top of the cargo hold, a little snow-white wolf... about the size of an adult Alaskan wolf was lying in the middle, sleeping soundly with a can of cold rabbit that had its lid bitten open.
Under the butt of the little wolf facing outwards, there were some tattered cloth and wood chips that had been scratched and bitten into pieces and could not be recognized, as well as reed fluff and wool that were suspected to be pillow fillings.
Grassroots Patriarch & Harris: "..."
The crew member of the Transportation Department said in embarrassment: "We checked the cargo hold before sailing, and did not find... uh... this white wolf." He swallowed and said, "It is impossible for an ordinary wolf to sneak into the Elf Port, so I wonder... is this a Snow Wolf?"
The Grassroots Chief looked at Harris, who said blankly, "...We thought Qingcao had brought Ruhua back to the Fire Tribe."
The grassroots chief's mouth twitched, he squeezed in sideways, grabbed the little white wolf's tail and pulled her out.
"Ahhh——" Xiao Ruhua was woken up. She dug in the air a few times with her four paws, then raised her head to meet the stern face of the grassroots chief. A pause appeared on the wolf's face.
"Woo... grass, grass." Ruhua was only two years old. She couldn't turn into a human yet and could only utter single words. The wolf forced a flattering smile on his face.
Hearing the human voice coming from the white wolf, the crew member of the Transportation Department wiped his sweat silently... Fortunately, he had a better understanding of the Orcs, otherwise it would be a big trouble if he really caught the white wolf.
The grassroots chief held Ruhua upside down, pondered for two seconds, and handed it to Harris.
Harris reached out and hugged the little white wolf. Ruhua immediately put her paw on Harris' neck and said flatteringly, "Ha, Li."
"...Qingcao's cub is now in your hands." The Grassroots Chief said emotionlessly.
Harris: "Uh..." Turning to look at the crew, "Are there any iron cages?"
crew:"??"
Ruhua struggled: "I won't tear up my home!"
"They should be locked up. They should pay for damaging things." The Grassroots Chief also looked at the crew, "There are cages on the boat, right?"
crew:"……"
Qingcao, who was presiding over the winter budget meeting and winter study plan at the Snake Department, had not discovered that her child had crossed the ocean and was trying to run to freedom in the distance...
Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and the outdoor work of the snake tribe stopped. Most of the tribe members stayed in their houses for the winter, learning arithmetic and literacy with great difficulty and pain. Only those with outstanding academic performance could be assigned to the greenhouse agricultural group, where they could occasionally do farm work and relax...
Qingcao saw that the time was almost up, so he got up and went out to the canal to look upstream. In winter, the water level dropped and the speed of ships decreased. Before the river was frozen and ice sleds could be used, the frequency of exchanges between the Snake Division and the Fire Division decreased significantly.
After waiting for a while, Qingcao saw the canal boat floating down with the water level lowered by at least half.
"You can't wait any longer?" Chief Ali jumped off the boat and looked at the green grass in surprise.
"If you don't come, I will go to the tribe to urge them." Qingcao said with a wry smile.
