11: Chapter 11 Wild Boar: That's right, I just love cooking myself in an iron pot; the original broth helps digest the original food.

Twilight descended, and the sky over Goldshire turned a deep purple.

When the three of them dragged their feet back to the Lions Pride Inn, the creaking of the door hinges sounded more energetic than they did.

"Alert first." Lin Rui bolted the door behind him, and although his arms were shaking so much he could barely lift them, he insisted on wedging two oak tables against the door.

"Again?" Su Wan slumped against the bar near the fireplace, her lyre leaning to one side, the dried boar blood on its body shimmering a dark brown in the firelight.

"I can't move anymore; just let me become part of the bar."

"It's useless to become part of the bar; watch out for wolves coming to snatch you away." Hu Jinsi leaned his long staff against the corner, the cracks in the wood glaring under the firelight.

"Listen to Lin Rui; the more tired you are in a dungeon, the less you can relax, especially when it's been less than 48 hours."

The three of them mustered their last bit of strength to reset the perimeter.

Three bell-ropes on the back door, an iron pot overturned in the kitchen, and rags stuffed into the front door cracks.

After finishing these, Hu Jinsi took three [Fresh Slippery Mackerel] from his backpack and tossed them near the iron pot by the fireplace.

"We're having a feast tonight: grilled fish with pan-fried boar meat, plus self-heating rice."

He pulled out a lighter and stirred up the fire in the fireplace.

"Who's going to gut the fish?"

"How do we gut it?" Su Wan leaned in to look.

"Just grill it directly?"

"Don't we need to remove the guts?" Lin Rui frowned.

"Don't all fish have guts?"

"Remove the guts?" Hu Jinsi held a slippery mackerel, the fish body cold and slimy.

"Maybe the fish in the dungeon don't have guts? Just swallow it whole, crunchy and crispy."

"Are you disgusting!" Su Wan looked repulsed.

"There's gall in the guts; if it breaks, the meat will be inedible."

"Then if we don't remove the guts, do we roast them and then cut them open to pour it out?"

Hu Jinsi actually had no clue.

In his past life, he always ordered takeout, and in this life, he became an orphan halfway, often mooching meals at Lin Rui's house; his own cooking was limited to instant noodles.

The three looked at each other, and finally, Lin Rui took the [Professional's Field Survival Manual] from his backpack—issued by the school, nearly new.

After flipping through it for five minutes, he pointed to a page: "...Must remove the guts and scrape the scales."

"Should've said so earlier." Hu Jinsi grinned, pulled out a throwing knife, and started scraping the scales.

"I'll gut the fish; you guys handle the boar meat."

The dining table by the fireplace became a makeshift kitchen.

Hu Jinsi used the throwing knife to slit the fish bellies, moving as clumsily as if he were dissecting an alien creature, and green fish entrails spilled onto a plate.

Su Wan cut the large chunks of boar meat into thick slices on the side and marinated them with seasoning.

Lin Rui was responsible for weaving a makeshift grill out of the wires used for sentry duty, placing it over the fireplace fire.

"This fishy smell..." Su Wan pinched her nose.

"It's much better than murlocs, but I still can't accept it."

"It's fresh, after all." Hu Jinsi threaded the three cleaned fish onto the wire and set them by the fire.

"Flip them later; crispy on the outside, tender on the inside."

While the fish sizzled, Lin Rui and Su Wan began to count today's consumption.

"My situation isn't looking good." Lin Rui took the bundle of standard spears from his backpack—originally fifteen, now only five lonely ones left.

"I used ten javelins, recovered four, and one flew off into who knows which pumpkin patch."

Su Wan checked her quiver: "I have a little over a hundred light crossbow bolts left. I brought five hundred before we set out, and I shot nearly three hundred today."

"Same here." Hu Jinsi spread the last ten throwing knives on the floor.

"Twenty throwing knives, now ten left. Used three to lure monsters in the morning, five to fight murlocs in the afternoon, and two are still stuck in a murloc's eye socket—that thing took the knives with it when it turned into light particles."

"The equipment is even worse." Lin Rui raised his round shield; the bear claw marks, murloc slime corrosion spots, and dents from boar tusks were layered on the shield's surface.

"This round shield has endured too much these past two days; it'll be good if it lasts until we leave the dungeon. We'll need to replace it once we get out."

Hu Jinsi touched his long staff; a crack had already appeared at the joint of the iron-wrapped end.

"My long staff only has one end without major issues; I don't dare use the other end to smash people anymore. I'm afraid the wood splinters after it breaks will become a tetanus weapon."

Su Wan hugged her lyre, the body covered in dried blood mud and spider silk.

"My lyre... it needs major maintenance when we get back. The strings are sticky. I have to use this lyre until level 10; if it breaks this time, I'll suffer a huge loss."

The three looked at the pile of junk and fell silent for a moment.

"Is the money from selling the Awakening Stones... enough for repairs?" Su Wan asked softly.

"It's enough, but not much will be left. Fortunately, our harvest today was good; let's just say there's a small surplus." Lin Rui calculated.

"The round shield must be replaced, the long staff must be repaired, the lyre must be maintained, and the arrows, javelins, and throwing knives must be replenished. Plus the bicycle Jinsi wants to buy..."

"Stop." Hu Jinsi raised his hand with a pained expression.

"Don't say anymore; I'm going to have a heart attack."

Having lived two lives, he was all too familiar with this feeling.

In his past life, it was paying off mortgages, car loans, and credit card bills; in this life, it had become paying for weapon repairs, armor depreciation, and ammunition replenishment.

On the surface, they were mighty professionals; in reality, they were just working for the World Consciousness.

The key was that he was actually enjoying it—heaven help him!

But he couldn't say this.

Even if he did, no one would understand, and he'd be treated as delusional.

"Alright, alright, don't look so glum." Hu Jinsi flipped the golden-brown pork slices; oil splattered in the fireplace, sending up a burst of aroma.

"Look, the boar even dropped this today—"

He pulled the [Recipe: Pork Pie] from his backpack and waved it in the firelight.

"Know what this is called? This is called being stewed in your own iron pot; the original broth cooks the original meat. A boar cooking recipe dropped from a boar—this is too ironic.

We killed ninety-seven boars today, we're eating pan-fried pork tonight, and when we get out, we still have to rely on boar drops to survive so we can come back into the dungeon to kill them later.

These boars probably didn't expect that they would realize their 'boar value' in this form."

Su Wan burst into laughter: "Your mouth... if the boars heard you, they'd want to crawl out of their coffins to beat you up."

"Bring it on; they turned into light particles anyway, they can't crawl out." Hu Jinsi was smug.

"What's this called? This is called the offering of the pig. We must eat every piece of meat with gratitude."

Hu Jinsi, happy with himself, even mimicked the boar's movements and snorted comically.

"I've used my whole life to offer you up. Snort snort. Just hoping you'll stop your wandering gaze. Snort snort."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Su Wan laughed so hard she slapped her thigh.

"Can you be serious!"

The corners of Lin Rui's mouth also curled up; the heavy atmosphere finally loosened a bit.

Before long, three grilled fish, three plates of pan-fried pork chops, and three portions of self-heating rice were laid out on the floor.

The three of them sat cross-legged in front of the fireplace, the firelight roasting their faces red.

Hu Jinsi picked up a piece of grilled fish, his hand shaking so badly the fish almost fell to the ground.

He switched to his left hand, but it still shook.

"Damn it, I can't hold the chopsticks steady."

He simply threw the chopsticks aside and tore at it with his hands.

"These arms aren't mine anymore."

Lin Rui wasn't much better; his wrist twitched slightly when he tried to pick up a pork chop, so he could only stab the meat on his short sword and eat it like a skewer.

Su Wan was the most elegant—she tried to use chopsticks to feed herself rice, but half the grains spilled, so she finally gave up and hugged the self-heating rice box, shoveling it into her mouth directly.

"Embarrassing." Hu Jinsi's mouth was oily.

"Three combat professionals who can't hold chopsticks."

"You try killing nearly a hundred pigs." Su Wan retorted incoherently.

"My fingers are swollen from plucking strings."

The three of them wolfed down the food.

The grilled fish was crispy on the outside and raw on the inside—Hu Jinsi failed the fire control—but the fish meat was fresh and tender, and with the seasoning, it actually had a unique flavor.

The pan-fried pork chops were even more oily and fragrant; after all, it was their second time doing it, and it was delicious when chewed.

"After we get out, I'm going to have my mom make red-braised pork with this boar meat." Su Wan squinted.

"If it's delicious, I'm willing to kill pigs every day."

"Forget it, just wait until tomorrow when you can't lift your arms." Lin Rui took a sip of water.

"But today's tactic was indeed efficient."

"Speaking of tactics," Hu Jinsi tore off a piece of fish meat, "do you guys think our tripwire + fence + Thunderwave combo can be promoted to other teams in the class?"

"Promoted?" Su Wan raised an eyebrow.

"To earn favors?"

"Yeah." Hu Jinsi nodded.

"The three of us are jacks-of-all-trades and can use it, but other teams might be even more suitable. For example... Gunpowder Squad."

The three of them discussed it.

"Those three in Gunpowder Squad are simply the chosen team for this tactic." Hu Jinsi grew more excited as he spoke.

"Li Hao starts with explosive potions, maxing out AOE damage; Chen Yu throws grenades, which can speed up monster farming efficiency; Zhou Hao carries metal parts, so he doesn't have to tear down doors to make fences like us; he can hand-craft metal spikes and barbed wire directly.

As long as they aren't afraid of spending money, their efficiency in farming boars could be three times higher than ours, and their fatigue would be far lower than our level today."

"Indeed." Lin Rui nodded.

"They don't lack burst damage; what they lack is a means to gather the monsters and stop them. Our tactic just happens to fill that gap."

"It's a pity they went to Raccoon City." Su Wan sighed.

"Otherwise, in this Goldshire, they could kill the boars to extinction."

"Speaking of Nature Squad..." Hu Jinsi's expression was strange.

"If we give this tactic to them, they won't be able to run it."

"Why?"

"None of the three of them have AOE damage skills. Yi Chun's Druid and Sun Yao's summons are currently all melee." Hu Jinsi spread his hands.

"The tripwire and fence would block both the boars and Sun Yao's summons; we can't have them use Blazing Glue to take out the boars and Sun Yao's summons together."

"Unless..."

"Unless what?" Su Wan asked.

"Unless they get suitable skills at level 6." Hu Jinsi didn't keep them in suspense.

"Sun Yao is definitely out of hope; a Summoner's level 6 skill must be a summon enhancement. The earliest Yi Chun's Druid can get AOE damage is the level 16 Bear Form [Swipe], and the spell version of AOE skills is at level 26.

But Zhen Kai has a chance to get the Shaman's [Explosion Totem] at level 6."

[Swipe: Must be in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form. Instant cast. Deals physical damage to up to 3 enemies in a fan-shaped area (about 2 meters) in front.]

[Explosion Totem: Summons a totem (requires a physical carrier prepared in advance). After a 2-second charge-up, deals fire damage to all enemies within 5 meters.]

"It really is." Su Wan thought for a moment and couldn't help but laugh out loud. "The Nature Squad is just too miserable. The dungeon is hard-countered by Murlocs, their tactics are limited by the terrain, and their luck is just unbelievable."

"I don't even have the heart to complain anymore." Hu Jinsi shook his head. "After we get out, let's organize our tactics into a document and sell it to the Gunpowder Squad. Ah no, let's give it to them to earn a favor. As for Yi Chun, we're really powerless to help him."

After dinner, the fire in the fireplace gradually dimmed. The three of them entered their daily review session.

"There are two main issues today." Hu Jinsi pulled out his three-yuan-five notebook. "First, our hands-on skills are poor. Tearing down boards, making tripwires, and digging shallow pits—we fumbled around and wasted over an hour. If we were in a time-sensitive dungeon, one hour would be enough to die three times over."

"We'll train more when we go back." Lin Rui said. "At the very least, we need to learn how to tie knots quickly and dig cover."

"Second, weapon resource management." Hu Jinsi scribbled in the notebook. "Javelins, arrows, and throwing knives—the consumption rate is far beyond what we expected. We used to think ranged weapons had infinite ammo, but now we know that every arrow costs money."

"We'll restock after we get out." Su Wan rubbed her wrists. "We can buy cheap iron-tipped arrows; the Murlocs and boars don't have high defense anyway."

"Tomorrow's plan." Lin Rui looked out the window. "Tomorrow morning marks the final twenty-four hours. We've already exceeded our goals. Our inventory capacity is about full, so it's fine even if we don't fight monsters tomorrow. If nothing else, we can visit some places on the map we haven't been to yet. The north side of Crystal Lake is still uncleared, and we haven't explored the Jade Mine, the Tower of Azora, or Blackwell Farm."

"We'll see how we feel tomorrow morning." Hu Jinsi stretched his shoulders. "The muscle soreness might get worse. But I estimate that with our Awakened physiques, a good night's sleep should have us mostly recovered."

"That's settled then." Lin Rui made the final decision. "The night watch remains the same. I'll take the first half, Su Wan the middle, and Jinsi the second half."

"Received."

Hu Jinsi sat cross-legged on the [Meditation Cushion] and activated Deep Meditation. Qi circulated through his meridians, and the experience panel pulsed gently. Outside the window, the night was deep, and the night in Goldshire was as quiet as a dream.

...

The next morning, sunlight filtered through the gaps in the wooden planks into the hall.

Hu Jinsi opened his eyes and moved his arms—the soreness was still there, but it was much better than last night. An Awakened's physique is truly incomparable to that of an ordinary person.

"I'm alive." Su Wan sat up from the sofa. Although her fingers were still a bit stiff, plucking the strings was no longer an issue.

Lin Rui checked his round shield and spear; his condition was acceptable. "Let's go. We'll have breakfast on the way."

The three of them casually gnawed on some beef jerky, packed up the warning items they had set up, and walked out of the inn with their gear on their backs. Goldshire in the morning light was quiet and peaceful, as if yesterday's slaughter had just been a hallucination.

"Route: Farm Murlocs on the north side of Crystal Lake, then head straight to the Jade Mine." Hu Jinsi looked at the map he had taken a photo of on his phone. "If the mine goes smoothly, we'll spend the night at the Tower of Azora, then explore the outskirts of Blackwell Farm tomorrow morning before leaving the dungeon."

The battle by Crystal Lake was easier than expected.

The Murlocs on the north bank apparently hadn't learned from the lesson of their kin on the west side yesterday—or rather, their walnut-sized brains couldn't remember the lesson at all. The three of them used the same campfire tactic, lighting three bonfires on the lakeside meadow. Su Wan stood in the center of the fire circle, screaming at the top of her lungs, creating ear-piercing noise.

"Wala wala!!!"

The Murlocs charged onto the shore in anger, then quickly became brittle under the roasting of the flames. Hu Jinsi's long staff, Lin Rui's one-handed hammer, and Su Wan's short sword were like three harvesters, cutting the Murlocs into pieces all over the ground.

"This is going even smoother than yesterday!" Hu Jinsi smashed a Murloc's head with his staff. "Are the Murlocs on the north bank not connected to the internet? Do they not know about the massacre on the west side of Crystal Lake?"

"Maybe they're in different sectors and don't communicate with each other." Lin Rui swung his one-handed hammer in a circle, [-17], and a Murloc turned into a speck of light.

The battle ended before noon. The Murlocs on the north side were cleared out, and the lakeshore was piled with loot.

"It dropped!" Su Wan picked up a small brown bag from the specks of light. "A 6-slot backpack!"

[Brown Small Bag] [Type: Backpack] [Capacity: 6 slots] [Note: Loot that a Murloc pilfered from some drowned adventurer; the waterproofing is unexpectedly good.]

"Lin Rui, you take it." Hu Jinsi tossed the bag over. "You have the most stuff, so it'll help relieve the pressure on your inventory slots."

Lin Rui accepted it with a smile and tucked the small brown bag at his waist. "Indeed, my backpack is almost full."

The three of them finished packing up and hurried toward the Jade Mine without delay.

The mine entrance was different from yesterday's Fargodeep Mine. The entrance here was narrower, and the rock walls were covered in grayish-white spiderwebs, layered one upon another like decades of accumulated dust.

"This place..." Su Wan looked up at the spiderwebs on the cave ceiling, her scalp tingling. "Are there more spiders than Kobolds?"

"Let's go in and try." Hu Jinsi held his long staff in his hand, but as soon as he entered the entrance, he discovered a problem—the passage was too narrow, and the long staff couldn't be used at all. He switched to [rixats elegy], and the ghostly blue sword light illuminated the path ahead.

The Kobolds were indeed easy to deal with. In the headlamp's strobe mode, isolated Kobolds were blinded before they could react and then focused down and killed instantly by the three of them. Multiple Kobold squads were also quickly dismantled under their increasingly tacit cooperation.

But the trouble was the spiders.

Deep in the mine, the walls, ground, and ceiling were covered in sticky spiderwebs. Just as Hu Jinsi wanted to accelerate and charge, his feet got stuck by spider silk, and he almost fell flat on his face. He switched to a short sword to hack and slash, but the blade was entangled by the highly resilient spider silk. When he pulled it out, it was sticky, and his movements were half a beat slower.

"These webs are so annoying!" Hu Jinsi shook his hand; the spider silk couldn't be broken, stretching like pulled noodles.

A spider hung down from the ceiling and spat venom. Su Wan wanted to cast Thunderwave, but stopped just as she raised her hand—the mine was enclosed, and the sound waves would reflect back and forth, injuring her teammates.

"Don't use Thunderwave!" Lin Rui shouted. "There's an echo!"

Su Wan forcibly stopped the spell and switched to shooting with her light crossbow. But the spiders moved extremely fast on the webs, and it was hard for the bolts to hit.

"Retreat!" Hu Jinsi decisively pulled back. "This environment is too unfavorable for us! The long staff can't be used, the short sword is getting stuck, Thunderwave can't be used, and there are spiderwebs everywhere slowing us down!"

The three of them fought as they retreated, not even looking at the loot, and pulled out of the mine.

Standing at the entrance, Hu Jinsi gasped for air. "Give up on the Jade Mine. Without preparing the appropriate equipment, going in is just asking to be slaughtered. The spiderwebs hard-counter us."

"It is a bit troublesome." Lin Rui nodded. "The simplest way to deal with spiderwebs is burning them, but none of us are proficient in fire-type skills. We did bring headlamps, but we didn't prepare magic torches. With the dampness in this cave, ordinary homemade torches won't last more than a few minutes before going out. The risk is too high."

"We've also encountered monsters and terrain that hard-counter us," Hu Jinsi concluded.

"Then what do we do?" Su Wan asked.

Hu Jinsi took out his phone and looked at the map he had photographed. "Go south. Pass through the Tower of Azora and go to Blackwell Farm first. Let's move tomorrow's schedule forward. The farm boars surely can't counter us."

"We're not stopping at the Tower of Azora?"

"No stop." Hu Jinsi shook his head. "We'll explore it when we come back tonight. For now, let's go to the farm and see the situation. If we waste time, it'll be dark soon."

The three of them pushed south along the forest path. On the way, they did encounter a few waves of forest gray wolves, but the numbers weren't high, and the three of them easily dealt with them, harvesting some wolf meat and wolf pelts. When passing by the Tower of Azora, the towering stone tower stood quietly on the edge of the forest, the magical glimmer at the top of the tower flickering in the sunlight.

"We'll come back tonight." Hu Jinsi took one last look at the tall tower and led the other two south.

In the afternoon, the three arrived at the outskirts of Blackwell Farm.

The farm was larger than the previous pumpkin field. Several wooden houses were scattered among the ridges, but in the fields, there were not only boars but also several moving human figures—wearing rough linen clothes, their faces covered with red masks, holding short swords and daggers, patrolling the fields.

"Humanoid monsters..." Su Wan stopped in her tracks, her voice tight.

The three stood behind the bushes at the edge of the farm, watching the patrolling figures in the field, no one speaking.

Killing beasts and killing Murlocs were one thing, and killing Kobolds was just killing monsters. But facing humanoid creatures—even knowing they were dungeon projections and "monsters"—the feeling of attacking them was completely different.

Lin Rui looked at Su Wan, opened his mouth, then closed it. Making her attack 'people,' even if they were just projections, he wasn't sure how she would react. The words came to his lips, but he swallowed them back.

But he was also afraid of hurting Su Wan's self-esteem, so the words came to his lips, and he swallowed them back.

Hu Jinsi pretended to be looking at the scenery, his gaze sweeping over the layout of the farm, and he understood everything in his heart—Blackwell Farm, a stronghold of the Defias Brotherhood. In the game from his previous life, the Defias Thief here would use Stealth, would sneak attack, and would shout "For the Defias!"

He was just about to remind Lin Rui to pay attention to the surrounding environment when he suddenly caught a glimpse of something unusual out of the corner of his eye—the air behind Lin Rui seemed to distort for a moment.

It was an almost transparent outline, slowly approaching, pressed against Lin Rui's spine. Sunlight shone on that outline, refracting a faint glimmer.

Stealth!

Alarm bells rang loudly in Hu Jinsi's mind. Scenes from his previous life's game flashed instantly—Defias Thief, Stealth, Backstab, Gouge!

He didn't hesitate at all; the long staff in his hand shot out like a viper, fiercely sweeping toward Lin Rui's waist!

"Get down!"

Lin Rui couldn't react in time; he was swept flying horizontally by the long staff and landed heavily on the grass.

And where Lin Rui had originally been standing, the air split open like water ripples, and a man wearing a red mask appeared out of thin air. He held a poisoned dagger in each hand, maintaining a downward Gouge posture—if Lin Rui were still there, that blade would have already pierced his neck.

"Defias Thief!" Hu Jinsi roared, holding his long staff horizontally to block in front of Su Wan. "Battle start!"

The red-masked man missed his attack, but without the slightest hesitation, he backhanded his daggers, aiming straight for Hu Jinsi's throat.