Starting with watering the World Tree for otherworldly survival

Page 10

"That's right. This thing can be operated by the control panel even without using mental power. It's perfect for spying on those three."

Having no need for food, Qin He now needs to know his enemy and keep a close eye on the adventure team of knights, elves, and nuns.

"Om~"

Along with the light source, a small, magical sweeping device also automatically turned on inside the safe room.

This thing is similar to a robot vacuum cleaner; it's a dish-shaped object, like a pot lid.

It extended a brush and cleaned Qin He's leather boots, which were somewhat dusty from his arduous journey.

"There are these things too? That makes sense. The tree species mentioned that we should be careful of high-powered magical weapons like magic crystal cannons."

They found an armory, which contained magic crystals for charging, along with some rather primitive-looking firearms.

Pulling the trigger, Qin He discovered that the gunfire was like a magical beam of light. It felt like firing modern bullets from a Ming Dynasty firearm.

The power was quite good; although the shot fired at the floor did not cause widespread damage, it did create a small hole in the floor material.

Soon, the hole in the floor even repaired itself, restoring it to its original state.

This magical metal is impressive. Let's examine the weapon cabinets inside further.

"Oh? Good stuff."

Although Qin He was strong, he was too lazy to use some close-combat melee weapons, including swords and spears, as well as heavy swords and large blades.

The last item, a long spear polished from crystal, particularly interested him.

"Great, this is the one."

The original gun shaft was quite strong and tough; Qin He had to exert considerable force to pull it out. But if it was only strong and tough, it definitely wouldn't be enough for future use.

He retrieved the World Tree branch that Celestia had given him before his departure from his spatial scale; although it was merely a gun barrel, it possessed the strength of a high-grade artifact's main material, even without being forged.

It's far superior to the generic stuff in the safe house.

Wed the crystal-polished spearhead into the long shaft, and then spend a little time adjusting it. A fairly usable spear was thus initially completed.

Speaking of which, the World Tree in mythology is the ash tree. The poles she gave him felt the best Qin He had ever used.

With a deep shout, Qin He slightly flexed his waist. He swung his newly assembled and adjusted spear, creating quite a beautiful display of spear flourishes in the empty room.

He spun around, twirled his spear, and unleashed a counter-attack from a blind spot. These skills were basically Qin He's signature moves, honed in his spare time.

With a loud bang, the tip of the crystal spear received his explosive force, blasting a huge dent in the wall the size of a washbasin!

"Oh? This damage... it seems that the spearhead has the effect of amplifying and spreading the impact. Let's try making it stab like an ordinary spear."

With practice, the thrust can be freely converted into a powerful slam, which is quite good. There shouldn't be only one spearhead like this; I'll find some more in the safe house for backup.

After playing for a while, Qin He realized that Zhong Liuxiu was not inside the safe house.

Picking up his spear, Qin He hurried off to search. But just as he reached the door, he saw Zhong Liuxiu happily munching on a prepared roasted snow rabbit.

Not only that, her rattling tail, like a rattlesnake, was emitting a strange fragrance. Following behind her plump dragon tail was a large army of snow rabbits, all white and fluffy.

"Xiuxiu...did you bring all of these back?"

"Yes, of course! Bunnies are so cute. They'll be even cuter if we roast them and eat them together."

As she spoke, Zhong Liuxiu closed the hatch and unleashed her innate dragon might to intimidate everyone!

All of these plump, snowy rabbits were so shocked that they instantly returned to the underworld.

That's absolutely true. Bunnies are cute, but they're even cuter when they're roasted.

Chapter 15 The Fourth Member of the Three-Man Squad

The dragon's might pierced their brains directly, and these Snowy Rabbits died instantly. There was no room for resistance or struggle, and no pain whatsoever.

"Unfortunately, we didn't encounter any other prey along the way. Tonight, we'll have to eat rabbit... Come on, honey, open your mouth. Ah~ Ooh—"

Zhong Liuxiu skipped and hopped as she handed the roasted rabbit meat to Qin He. Having studied cooking since childhood, she was quite skilled at handling chickens and ducks.

Therefore, removing the internal organs of the Snowy Rabbit was not particularly troublesome or bloody for her.

—Zhong Liuxiu is such a wonderful girl, it's truly amazing. If it were a stranger, she probably wouldn't even have the skill to prepare the food, and would probably just keep the rabbit as a pet.

She's right, rabbits are cute... but they'll be even cuter and more nutritious when they're roasted.

In such a dangerous world, it's really reassuring to know that the girl next to me has this kind of awareness.

Qin He noticed that the half-eaten roasted rabbit in Zhong Liuxiu's hand even had some green, spice-like bits on it. Combined with the enticing aroma of the meat, it made Qin He's already somewhat aroused appetite even stronger.

She not only brought back rabbits for dinner, but also found some seasonings.

"Ha, Xiuxiu, you're awesome. How about I go out hunting next time? I just found some usable weapons and drones in the safe house."

After briefly sharing his findings from the safe house, Qin He unceremoniously placed his food on the succulent, glistening roasted rabbit.

"Mmm, my wife's cooking is amazing!"

After praising him, Qin He and Zhong Liuxiu went to the kitchen of the safe house to process the rabbit meat.

"Is it delicious? Have another bite!"

Qin He was about to take a bite when Zhong Liuxiu pulled the rabbit meat back. Instead, she took a large, fragrant piece of rabbit meat from the other side, pouting her little mouth, wanting Qin He to take it from her mouth.

How could he let it go? Rabbit meat and rabbit snout, Qin He will eat them all today.

He carried Zhong Liuxiu to the rather spacious back kitchen. According to Qin He's calculations, this safe house could accommodate at least dozens of people for a considerable period of time.

Magic crystals do indeed bring considerable convenience; ice-type magic crystals are used for cooling in refrigerators, while water-type magic crystals provide a fairly long supply of water for safe houses.

Even if the magic crystals are exhausted, drones assembled from magic crystals can still be used to explore the outside world. The design incorporates grappling hooks and suction magic, allowing these magical drones to retrieve the magic crystals.

The two began to clean the rabbit's internal organs. Zhong Liuxiu put the rabbit liver (with tendons removed) and the small rabbit kidneys into a bowl.

The kitchen also has a good variety of seasonings and plenty of high-quality kitchen utensils.

"Ugh... that's true, this is a safe house. How could there be no seasonings?"

Just now, Zhong Liuxiu carefully selected many seasonings and spices outside, and also ground up several kinds of salt stones and brought them back.

She wanted Qin He to be able to eat fresh and delicious barbecue as soon as possible.

“It’s alright, Xiuxiu. At least you’ve learned about a lot of seasonings. This knowledge will be useful when we leave the safe house and go deeper into the Forsaken Land.”

While the tree species list does contain much basic information about continents, detailed records of everything in the world still need to be supplemented by Celesch.

Celestia truly lives up to her reputation as a silly goddess; she at least included this basic information properly!

However, things that grow in such remote areas should not be particularly toxic.

“I tested them one by one with the Snowy Rabbits that followed me, and these spices and rock salts should be fine.”

That's definitely a good idea. Although the Snow Rabbits living here aren't very bright, they do know what they can and can't eat. At least what they eat shouldn't be poisonous.

Even if it were possible, it wouldn't be enough to instantly kill a non-magical beast rabbit with poison; that amount of toxicity would be negligible to the two of them. The Nidhogg bloodline is immune to poisons.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that Zhong Liuxiu had brought back quite a lot of seasonings.

First, there's salt ground from certain salt rocks, which goes without saying. Even ordinary people can eat it; some deer will lick the salt rocks to taste the saltiness and obtain salt.

Zhong Liuxiu naturally grinds away the surface layer of solidified color, then grinds and processes the clean salt stone inside before using it.

There are also foods like sugarcane and sugar beets that provide sugar. The safe house has sugar-making equipment; we can find more of those later.

Onions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cilantro, sesame seeds, and a vinegar-like juice. These largely similar ingredients are all present.

Qin He had no doubt that if there were wild soy sauce in this jungle, Zhong Liuxiu could definitely bring him back a lot for cooking.

With such a caring and loving wife by my side, what more could a husband ask for?

Fortunately, the kitchen had bottles and jars similar to soy sauce. After tidying up, the two of them prepared a beautiful feast of whole rabbits.

Zhong Liuxiu removed her clothes, revealing an apron wrapped around her fair and delicate body. Just like the alluring sight of her making scrambled eggs and beef rice that morning.

But Qin He understood that times had changed.

Xiuxiu was already a bit tired from searching for seasonings, so she planned to wait until late at night or early in the morning to enjoy a nice meal with her and strengthen their marital bond.

It's cooking time, so I'll just turn the fire down a bit and call it a day.

She simply embraced the petite Zhong Liuxiu, resting her chin on her delicate and adorable head. She also busied herself preparing the rabbit meat in the pot, adjusting the heat—

With a flick of the spatula, tender rabbit meat is stir-fried with fresh chili peppers in the pot, creating a unique and delicious flavor.

Qin He also helped knead the rabbit meat in the bowl to marinate it, then let it sit for later use. Afterwards, the two of them shamelessly started rubbing their weapons in the kitchen again.

……

Cold rabbit ears salad, stir-fried rabbit kidneys, spicy shredded rabbit, spicy rabbit head, fresh chili rabbit cubes...

Needless to say, they enjoyed dishes like braised rabbit with mushrooms, rabbit stew in sour soup, and whole roasted rabbit. After a hearty meal, Qin He took Zhong Liuxiu to familiarize herself with the layout of the safe house and teach her how to use the weapons.

The Ten Directions Shattered is of a very good quality, but good things are easy to attract thieves, especially other dragons or greedy monsters.

Those with limited vision might mistake this for a small gold brick. In the world of dragons, gold and silver are merely bedding; they wouldn't even care if it were flattened.

But if you really run into a knowledgeable old monster, you'll have nowhere to cry.

Zhong Liuxiu understood this principle, and she would only reveal this trump card in crucial situations such as when a single blow was fatal.

Next, Qin He taught Zhong Liuxiu how to use the magical guns in the safe house.

Although their designs are quite old, they are still functional.

The bullets are magical clusters, capable of causing extremely rapid damage, while the gunshots are also silent.

While this function is insignificant to powerful individuals who can sense killing intent and danger, it is more than enough to kill some low-level magical beasts.

I'm familiar with the facilities inside this safe house, including hydropower, farmland, and livestock breeding.

Now I'm basically just getting ready to wash up and go to sleep.

The safe house offers a variety of options, including a huge hot spring pool and separate bathrooms.

Needless to say, there are powerful cultivators here; these bathing facilities are basically for ordinary people. But taking a soak to relax your mind and body is always a good thing.

Qin He quickly rinsed off, and after bathing with Zhong Liuxiu in the pool for a while, he returned to the main control room of the safe house.

Upon arriving at the monitoring station, Qin He piloted several magic crystal drones out of the safe house, splitting up to search for the whereabouts of the trio from before.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. By knowing their location, you can track them even if they don't pass near the safe house.

……

With a campfire and tents, the three women created an atmosphere reminiscent of camping.

Beside the creek, a nun, an elf, and a knight—three beauties of different styles—laid their clothes on the bank and bathed and frolicked in the clear stream.

Thinking of this, Qin He felt fortunate that he was the only man in the world. Seresi had also said that he was the only male being compatible with this world, one who wouldn't be destroyed by divine power.

Because her divine sense swept across all life in the universe in an instant, and Qin He was the only one who existed there…

Of the three women, the female knight was the most dramatic and eventful.

It was slightly larger than Zhong Liuxiu's, and her plump breasts had a small mole on them.

Next came the Snow Fairy, whose alabaster skin was stained pure white with frost and snow. Her crescent-shaped reflection, like the moonlight, made the stream water sparkle.

The nun had beautiful blonde hair, and even from a distance, Qin He could feel her allure.

And... she didn't take off her veil.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed past. One of the drones was slashed and exploded on the spot?!

The other drone, which remained undetected, still managed to capture the dark figure, a sexy, masked woman wielding two daggers and dressed in a black outfit.

"Alright~ As expected, there's a fourth person lurking nearby. Is it for protection or surveillance? Let me see your true colors."

Chapter 16 Black Jade Dragon

Having learned his lesson, Qin He maneuvered the remaining drones away from the woman in black to avoid causing further damage.

Although I still have quite a few here, I can break one down and give it to Zhong Liuxiu for research, using her S-rank talent [Magic Reproduction] to mass-produce them.

However, at this stage, the magical drone is still a very valuable resource for the two of them.

Putting everything else aside, the woman in black was incredibly nimble. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed the energy-generating magic crystal and stuffed it into her pocket.

Although the woman in black, sensing something was amiss, kept pacing and investigating in the woods, Qin He's other drones were not yet in danger of being discovered.

Upon closer inspection, the girl was indeed a beautiful woman. The curves of her body swaying within the loose fabric spoke volumes.

Under the moonlight, the bodysuit peeking out from under the tight-fitting clothes was even more alluring.