99: Chapter 99: I own this mountain!

Gulp, gulp…

The moderately thick meat rolls tumbled in the pot, soaking up a lot of spicy juice. One bite sent a wave of heat, making sweat trickle down.

Paired with the perfectly mixed dipping sauce—fragrant sesame paste, refreshing minced garlic—the different flavors were truly unforgettable.

“…”

Brother Tian was silent for a moment, then finally couldn’t help but ask, “...Why are we eating hot pot here?”

“In such cold weather, of course, hot pot is the best!”

Cheng Zhen replied, his matter-of-fact tone as if he were explaining why the Hulk’s pants were the universe’s strongest armor.

“No…” Brother Tian’s language function was already in disarray. “We… we’re in a dungeon, how are we eating hot pot?”

Lizi silently used the serving chopsticks to pick out tripe and place it aside, then added more broth to the hot pot.

She seemed to have no questions, but in reality, her mind had gone blank; only instinctive actions remained.

After all, cooking hot pot in a five-star ascension dungeon was as normal as adding concrete when stirring spaghetti and conducting electricity at a 32-degree acute angle using the principle of mirror reflection.

Cheng Zhen scooped up a piece of duck intestine. “Otherwise? We’re going to be here for a long time. Even if this dungeon doesn’t have hunger/thirst values, just waiting around is pretty boring.”

“I even brought poker cards. Later, we’ll play a few rounds of Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord).”

As he spoke, Buster reminded him again, “Lord, the numbers!”

The Dog-Feeding Noodle Shop was open for business again.

The fed object howled, giving a dissatisfied bad review.

Cheng Zhen thought about it and concluded that the diner’s bad review was due to the monotonous food. The thought of ‘I have it, they don’t’ made eating hot pot even more enjoyable.

The Snow Giant Beast wanted to curse, but its speech, like 0.25x speed, had no destructive power.

On the other side, the survivors of [Endless Cold Day] were clanging and banging, busy as can be.

Brother Tian looked dazed, as if he had returned to his days working at a construction site.

He didn’t know why they could build a steel smelter just by cutting wood.

If you ask, the answer is: that’s how the advertisement was broadcast; the actual product is for reference only, and everything is subject to promotional materials.

Time slowly passed.

The Snow Giant Beast was almost stuffed.

“Pair of 3s!”

“Can’t beat it…”

“?”

Cheng Zhen looked puzzled, turning to Brother Tian: “It’s your turn.”

Brother Tian’s consciousness returned, he looked at his cards, and managed to squeeze out, “…I don’t have it either.”

“I’m telling you…” Cheng Zhen threw down his cards, exasperated, “I wouldn’t do anything to you two just because I lost a card game!”

Lizi stammered, holding the Jokers.

Brother Tian grabbed his four 2s and looked around, changing the subject.

Cheng Zhen swore that he was only frowning because of bad luck with cards, and absolutely not because losing a few rounds made those two start playing ‘business-style’ poker!

But he still collected the cards and didn't continue playing.

There was no way around it; those two weren't just going easy on him, they were practically unleashing a flood.

And their 'going easy' technique was so bad, it was hard not to notice. Plus, in the dungeon, they couldn't fully relax, which made the game even more pointless.

“Are you worried that these snowmen might also suddenly accelerate or ignore the count?”

Cheng Zhen calmly shook the remaining three boxes. “If that problem occurs, we can just use the rollback function. However, I think it’s safer not to use the rollback feature.”

Brother Tian was puzzled. “Why is that? Clearing the snowmen is clearly beneficial to us, isn’t it?”

Cheng Zhen countered, “Then do you think the dungeon would let us easily get four attempts?”

“Impossible!” Brother Tian replied reflexively, clearly, the nature of dog games was deeply ingrained in him.

“Exactly. Think about the several mutations that occurred when we got the welfare features in the lobby before.”

Cheng Zhen counted on his fingers: “The first time with ‘x2’, there was no reaction. But after subsequent ‘x2’ uses, enhancements like countdown action and breaking grid limits appeared on the snowmen.”

“If I’m not mistaken, if we continue to use the ‘rollback’ function, the snowmen will also gain enhancements.”

“There’s never been any sudden burst of conscience or welfare; only Pandora’s Box with traps hidden inside!”

Brother Tian and Lizi nodded in agreement.

A dog game suddenly becoming benevolent? Impossible. You might as well believe it’s Ma Huateng’s birthday today and forwarding this will give you 500 Qiu Coins!

“Then, Mr. Robinson…” Lizi timidly raised her hand. “How about you give me some tasks too?”

She had never encountered a situation where she just waited for the dungeon to end without doing anything; her teachers hadn’t taught her this!

Brother Tian also nodded along.

Indeed, this ‘salted fish’ approach to clearing a dungeon was truly unfamiliar…

Cheng Zhen immediately looked at them with respect.

He had originally thought, since they were paid, he would let them slack off in peace.

He never expected these two to be the type of top-tier workhorses who pay to work!

“Alright.” Cheng Zhen thought about it and decided there was no need to stop them. He simply assigned them to go chop wood with Buster.

Because Buster also had a curious aura, anyone chopping trees near him would have their wood counted towards Buster, so having the two follow Buster to chop trees could gather more resources.

The two took their axes and were about to jump into the tunnel when Cheng Zhen added one last remark, “No need to rush. Conserve your energy.”

“After all, we might be in this dungeon for over 20 days.”

“Huh?” The two froze.

They had heard of dungeons that required a long stay, like a certain survival dungeon requiring a month of deserted island survival.

But did this puzzle dungeon also need that long?

“Don’t forget, Ice Snow City isn’t just this castle.”

Cheng Zhen pulled out a top-spec laptop purchased with points, sat by the furnace, and began to ‘rub the black monkey’ (an idiom for working intensely on a computer).

“This entire snowy mountain range is within the demolition scope!”