Chapter 212: Tracing The Source, The Search For Chameleon
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
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“Oh, my sleep was pretty satisfying. The weather in the early days of the wasteland was really good!”
The morning sun shone through the cracks in the wooden house, illuminating the walls and floor.
He inhaled the sweet scent of the morning air, which was full of oxygen, before stretching and sitting up in bed. He habitually opened the system panel.
For the first time since arriving at the wasteland, the eight o’clock timer did not herald the announcement of the system’s daily reminder.
This was bad news, but also good news.
“It seems that the system’s timeline follows that of the main world, and the time he spent in the ruins of time would not be counted.”
Rubbing the blue-gray stubble that had been growing on his chin, Su Mo nodded slowly.
The time spent in the ruins could not be used to obtain survival points.
Similarly, as long as he could obtain sufficient time currency, he could use it to offset the time flow penalty between the ruins and the main world.
“Today’s task is to…”
Su Mo closed the system panel. As usual, Su Mo opened the chat panel and was about to jot down his tasks for today in his diary. However, he suddenly slapped himself hard on the head.
“Why would there still be tasks to complete when I’m already in the ruins? I can just do whatever I want, hehe!”
Su Mo lifted the blanket and stretched his limbs in satisfaction. Opening the door, Su Mo stepped out lazily.
Oreo was not around to guard his temporary shelter so, before going to bed yesterday, Su Mo had to busy himself clearing the area around the wooden houses.
A neat row of wooden fencing had been erected around his and Zhong Qingshu’s wooden houses to ensure that mutant monsters would not find their way in at night.
While he had been busy with that, Zhong Qingshu, who remained vigilant at first, gradually eased up, even coming over to help Su Mo move things from time to time.
In this current setting, he did not possess the magical recovery abilities of the psychic energy water, so both of them were exhausted and had to return to their respective shelters to lay down and rest.
There was luxurious bedding on one side, with a st.u.r.dy and wide bed, and…
There was a bare wooden floor on the other side…
As soon as he exited the door of his wooden house, Su Mo ran into Zhong Qingshu, who was guarding her front door with two dark circles under her eyes. She seemed to be hesitating about something.
“Ah!”
Seeing Su Mo, Zhong Qingshu was taken aback, taking a small step back.
“Why are you nervous? I said that we are old friends. Didn’t I tell you last night?”
“You confessed to me, and you have been chasing after me, but I haven’t agreed to go out with you!”
Su Mo shrugged as he babbled nonsense in a serious manner, leaving Zhong Qingshu stunned momentarily.
After a few seconds, Zhong Qingshu realized that Su Mo was teasing her, and her smiling face immediately blushed in exasperation, “Rascal!”
“Hehe, do you want me to be a rascal?”
Putting on an intimidating expression, Su Mo made Zhong Qingshu take another step back and burst into laughter.
In the ruins of time, he did not need to worry about anything. He could act as he liked and, so long as he possessed sufficient strength, he could do whatever he wanted.
Ignoring Zhong Qingshu, who was lost in her own thoughts, Su Mo went straight to the trading market.
Spending only six or seven bottles of water, this time, he bought dozens of units of iron, as well as some basic food supplies.
With the materials in hand, it would not cost him any disaster points to create the items he wanted. Sitting on the stool he made, Su Mo picked out a number of things, and spontaneously started to make many different items.
After acquiring the materials, items that would be considered a luxury in the wasteland started appearing in front of Zhong Qingshu’s dumbfounded gaze, one by one.
Iron stove…
Iron pot…
Two large ceramic bowls, one iron grill, one iron table…
One after the other, these “useless” household items were manufactured and littered the ground of their small fenced courtyard.
Su Mo had not been able to enjoy many of these things yet in the main world, but he now had the opportunity to make use of these “luxuries”.
Su Mo took out the beef he bought and began to take out various bottles and cans of spices from the storage s.p.a.ce and season the meat.
“Hm, first I’ll cut the beef into small pieces, and then marinate it with cooking wine. I’ll add flavor using onion, ginger, and garlic, and then toss in some barbecue sauce…”
“For soup, let’s make seaweed egg soup today!”
The taste of food was mostly derived from seasoning used to make the meal. As long as the right type and quant.i.ty of seasoning was used, even if there were mistakes in the cooking process, it would still taste somewhat palatable.
For a gluttonous character such as Su Mo, the meals he made were naturally extremely delicious and appetizing. As the smell of seaweed egg soup started to spread, a handful of c.u.min was sprinkled on the golden beef skewers, and the fragrance it produced…
Growl!
Zhong Qingshu’s stomach growled just like Big Spark and Little Spark’s!
Although Su Mo’s focus was on cooking the food, Zhong Qingshu could not help but feel ashamed, wanting to find a hole to bury herself inside.
The delicious food was not the problem, the terrible thing was the process of sitting and waiting.
Watching the meal slowly take shape, and smelling the aroma as it slowly cooked…
That kind of feeling was both amazing and torturous!
However, Zhong Qingshu had forgotten that feeling since being transported over to the wasteland. Even before that, the people of Earth had been consumed by their preparations to deal with the incoming asteroid.
Everyone had been on tenterhooks for the past few months. How could they have tasted such delicious food? One could be regarded as wealthy in those days if they could eat fast food everyday.
“That… can I have one of those?”
She observed as Su Mo took out the beef skewers and placed them over the chili noodles, the fragrant oil bursting out.
The impact of delicious food made it hard for Zhong Qingshu to hold back anymore!
“That’s right, you don’t need to be humble with me!”
There were ten skewers, and Su Mo generously handed them all over, gesturing for Zhong Qingshu to eat first, as he continued roasting more for himself.
This small kindness garnered Zhong Qingshu’s affection.
Su Mo had received his fair share of admiring gazes in the main world but, at this moment, Zhong Qingshu’s hidden gaze seemed to be filled with a different meaning…
“Could it be that I really chased after him?”
…
The two ate a full and satisfying meal.
Su Mo made the remaining chunk of beef into skewers as well, storing it away into the storage s.p.a.ce.
The seaweed egg soup was also devoured by these two people, despite the portion being sufficient for four to five people.
Rubbing his round belly, Su Mo simply sat on the ground with his back leaning against the chair, enjoying the gentle wind of the wasteland comfortably.
On the plains of the Candlelight Shelter, the gra.s.s grew taller and the warblers flew higher. Relaxing in such an environment, the fatigue and tension he felt over the past few days began to dissipate.
On the other hand, Zhong Qingshu did not take time off.
After she finished eating, she carefully tidied up the cooking stove and collected some of the leftover seasoning.
She then sc.r.a.ped off some remaining egg at the bottom of the pot, and put them aside to preserve them.
This behavior reminded Su Mo of the poverty-stricken and cautious behavior everyone had during the first few days after being transported to the wasteland.
“Hmm, what was I doing on the second day? Wasn’t it…”
“The chameleon!”
Recalling the past, he remembered the chameleon that brought him great fortune in the main world.
After experiencing life in the wasteland for a month, Su Mo understood the true value of the treasure chest he obtained from the chameleon back then.
Psychic energy crystal! Pet egg! Blueprint design!
In order to achieve a similar harvest to that one treasure chest, Su Mo had to destroy a kobold shelter with a population of over two thousand kobolds, which was something that was difficult even for Su Mo.
It was suspicious that a chameleon with a combat power of only 5 could drop such a treasure chest.
“According to the time, I should be upgrading the j.a.panese Oak Spear right about now, waiting for the opportunity to go hunting at noon!”
While trying to remember all the details, Su Mo stood up.
Since there was time now, it was better to go to the Underground Shelter to examine where the chameleon actually came from.
“Zhong Qingshu, I’m going out. Do you want to come along?”
“I don’t…no, I’ll go!”
Watching Su Mo take out the rifle and sling it over his shoulder, she observed the surroundings that seemed calm for now, but held the potential for danger. In the end, Zhong Qingshu’s decision was a straightforward one!
Staying with Su Mo, she did not need to worry about eating, drinking, or safety.
It was rea.s.suring having such a super “bodyguard” alongside her, despite his strange behavior and her questions about his background. At the moment, she could only act according to her instincts!
Feeling Zhong Qingshu straddling the back seat of the cross-country motorcycle and hesitantly holding on to the rear handle bar behind her, Su Mo twisted the accelerator mischievously, and the motorcycle rushed forward.
“Ah!”
Zhong Qingshu, who had not grasped the bar firmly, instinctively leaned forward and hugged Su Mo’s broad back in panic.
“Hehe, hold on tight. Don’t fall!”
Feeling the warmth of her body behind him, Su Mo’s heartbeat could not help but speed up a little. Squeezing the accelerator in his hand, the motorcycle continued speeding forward with a roar.
A trail of yellow dust was left in their wake.
His powerful dynamic vision, coupled with the improved sense of balance he acquired through training, meant that he could safely handle the motorcycle at high speeds.
Traveling this way, Su Mo easily avoided all the obstacles in his path while being observed by Zhong Qingshu’s attentive eyes.
“I have driven down this section of road many times. This spot here is the farmland that we are about to build!”
Slowing down, he looked at the great plains in front of him. Su Mo muttered those words to himself, regardless of whether Zhong Qingshu could understand the context and meaning behind his words.
His previous attempt to convince an inhabitant of the ruins of time, that the world that they lived in was fake, had already failed once.
This time, when communicating with Zhong Qingshu, who had a super high IQ, Su Mo did not intend to tell the truth directly, but rather tried to plant the seeds of “hope” in Zhong Qingshu’s heart in this timeline.
“Here there will be a large kobold castle in the future, but it will be destroyed later on as well!”
“This is a natural saltpeter mine. We can also find sulfur later. We can easily create black gunpowder and develop explosives…”
“This is Magoo’s shelter… By the way, his shelter is a level five one. He was a human being from Earth as well, and he was also a player who partic.i.p.ated in this game world before we did…”
“Here, this is my shelter, Su Mo’s shelter. Remember it well!”
Su Mo pointed at the open s.p.a.ce with pride on his face, ignoring Zhong Qingshu’s weird gaze. He made a mark on the location of the Underground Shelter.
For the mark, Su Mo drew a funny-looking dog head of Oreo.
As he retraced his steps from those days, using the location of the Underground Shelter as a guide, he found, in the bushes in the distance, the chameleon sitting naively on the tree branch.
It’s position had not changed even the slightest bit from his memory!
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