265: Chapter 266 Expedition

Lin Li had just finished delivering his New Year greetings to the entire crowd.

He symbolically clinked glasses with a few players squeezed into the front row and took a sip of wine.

Then... he skipped the polite pleasantries, greased his heels, and decisively slipped back to the underground base!

The reason he ran so fast was mainly because this group of The Fourth Calamity in the square was just too good at causing chaos!

There were burly orcs in pink maid outfits dancing to "Gokuraku Jodo," and hovercars painted with anime waifus drifting and racing around.

All sorts of abstract, chaotic behaviors were popping up in every corner.

As the direct superior of these lunatics, Lin Li really found it a bit of an eyesore, so it was better to be out of sight, out of mind.

During this grand food festival.

Besides the reveling players, many natives of the Warhammer World had also come.

After all, after such a long time of fighting side by side and interacting.

Most natives who understood the background of these clone soldiers knew that although these warriors from the Fire Seed Shelter were fearless, they mostly had serious mental issues, and their style of conduct could not be judged by conventional logic at all.

Yet, strangely, in daily interactions, as long as you didn't provoke them, these lunatics appeared quite gentle and even had their own set of behavioral logic.

Therefore, many high-ranking native officials, under heavy protection, boldly came to experience this unprecedented peaceful market.

At this moment, Kolom, the current Archon of Coastal City, had quietly arrived at the outskirts of the square with a group of aides and guards.

Due to the New Year holiday, even a high-ranking official like Kolom, who was usually busy with a thousand things, had obtained a few precious days of rest without needing to handle tedious government affairs.

As he stepped into the brilliantly lit plaza and saw the rising smoke and fire, and saw ordinary civilians and clone soldiers mingling together without any defenses, laughing loudly.

A look of heartfelt relief naturally appeared on Kolom's originally tense and serious face.

To be able to see such a peaceful and prosperous scene in this cruel universe filled with death and despair.

This was the scene a conscientious Archon would be most happy to see and dream of.

The surrounding players were busy setting up stalls to attract customers. Seeing a well-dressed NPC official arrive, they enthusiastically started to show off.

A fat player wearing a white chef's hat, waving a kitchen knife in his hand, shouted at Kolom:

"Hey! Buddy over there! Come to me! Come quickly! My stall definitely has some good fruit for you to eat!"

Kolom couldn't understand this convoluted Ancient Terra dialect of Chinese at all.

Seeing the fat man pointing at him with a knife, he thought it was a provocation.

He quickly turned to ask a friend beside him who had previously studied at Shelter and knew a little Chinese:

"He's shouting over there with a knife; is he threatening us?"

His friend carefully distinguished the player's tone and gestures, then smiled and explained with great certainty:

"My Lord, you've misunderstood. That Ancient Terra dialect means... he is telling you that if you go to his stall, he will definitely provide you with some very delicious food!"

After hearing this, Kolom let out a long sigh of relief, his heart full of joy.

"What a hospitable group of people," Kolom remarked.

Kolom exclaimed.

Surrounded by guards, he nodded and thanked the fat player, then continued walking deeper into the food area inside the square.

Soon, the group arrived at the fragrant cold dish and marinated food area.

At many stalls here, white porcelain plates were filled with various exquisitely prepared cold dishes of different styles.

Just then, Kolom's gaze was caught by a special food item at one of the stalls.

He saw rows of strange, long, red and white striped food hanging on the stall's iron rack.

Under the bright lights, the surface of those items shimmered with an enticing greasy luster and emitted a peculiar cured aroma, looking very appetizing.

Kolom's curiosity was piqued.

He walked up, pointed to order one of those long food items, and also pointed to some sliced vegetable platters nearby.

The stall owner player was swift in his movements.

With a quick chop, he sliced the sausage into thin, even pieces.

He added some chopped vegetables, then poured in a spoonful of bright red chili oil and various secret spices, mixing it all vigorously with a clanging sound in a metal basin.

Finally, he poured it into a disposable paper bowl and handed it to Kolom.

Kolom carried the paper bowl to a clean open-air dining spot nearby and sat down.

He couldn't wait to fork a slice of the red-oil-coated sausage and put it in his mouth.

The moment it entered his mouth!

A rich, numbing, and fragrant flavor exploded on his taste buds!

That wonderful texture, with its mix of fat and lean meat and the special aroma of air-dried meat, was simply a hundred times more delicious than anything he had ever eaten!

Kolom finished half the bowl in just a few bites.

He was truly curious about this method of preserving meat so deliciously.

So he hurriedly asked his friend who understood Chinese to go and ask the stall owner how this thing was made.

Not long after.

His friend came jogging back to the dining table.

But! His friend's face looked a bit pale at this moment, and his eyes even showed a hint of undisguised nausea.

Kolom, holding his fork, asked curiously:

"What's wrong with you? Your face looks so pale. This delicious thing... it isn't poisonous, is it?"

His friend shook his head with difficulty, glanced at the sausage in the bowl, and his voice trembled:

"It's not poisonous... My Lord, it's the way this thing is made; it's really... it's really beyond our comprehension!"

"Beyond what?" Kolom pressed.

His friend swallowed, lowered his voice, and described in horror:

"That chef said! To make this thing, they first have to disembowel a creature.

Then they pull out their intestines filled with excrement, clean them thoroughly, and only keep the toughest layer of the membrane casing!"

"Then! They chop up the fat and lean meat from the creature's carcass with a knife! Finally, they stuff the minced meat back into the intestines and hang it in the wind to dry and cure!"

After hearing this description.

Kolom's hand froze in mid-air. He looked at the fatty and lean meat slices in the bowl, and his stomach suddenly churned violently. He no longer had the mood to enjoy the delicacy he had just been savoring.

In the eyes of the natives of the Warhammer Universe.

Taking out intestines, cleaning them, and then stuffing them with minced meat to dry.

This practice sounded as cruel and perverted as those Slaanesh cultists who worship Chaos and love to torture flesh, or the Flayed Ones!

Kolom was silent for a long time.

He put down his fork, sighed, and comforted himself in a tone of worldly resignation:

"Forget it... after all, we've long known that these clones suffer from severe mental illnesses.

It's normal for mentally ill people to use slightly cruel or perverted methods when preparing food.

As long as this thing doesn't grow tentacles, it's fine."

After being so frightened, the group completely lost the desire to continue eating.

But out of respect for food, they didn't dare to waste it. Holding their noses, they forced themselves to finish what was in the bowl before hurriedly leaving this creepy stall.

And next to the dining spot where Kolom had just sat.

At another table, several players were drinking beer, loudly bragging about their glorious deeds in the game, not noticing the abnormality of the NPC at all.

Yebidiao took a big gulp of beer and lowered his voice to show off:

"Let me tell you! That ancient ruin from the War in Heaven we went to explore before. Hehe! In a few days, I guarantee you'll see a major breakthrough that will shake the forums!"

"Our guild's scouting team has already discovered a secret room hidden using space-folding technology in the deepest part of the ruins! There must be a big harvest hidden in there!"

Sitting opposite him, several merchant-dressed players who were running trade routes became interested upon hearing this.

Heisi stroked his chin and recalled:

"I remember, didn't you post on the forum last time saying that the ruins were affected by some kind of radiation, and most of the equipment and corpses had turned into useless crystals? Even that legendary spear that killed the Krork is carbonized and unusable. What kind of treasure could still be there?"

Yebidiao waved his hand dismissively:

"You don't know anything! Besides us players, other high-level NPCs must have secretly explored that place before. We found quite a few corpses wearing armor from different factions on the outskirts. Our analysis suggests that the hidden space was likely constructed intentionally by those later explorers to hide some heaven-defying artifacts!"

Heisi listened and curled his lips:

"Tch, so it's all just your speculation, it's nothing!"

"Hehe, I say, how tiring it is for you to go exploring."

Heisi threw out his business philosophy,

"Why not join our merchant guild to run trade routes! We plan to pool some money this time and smuggle a batch of arms directly to the Black Port! The war is raging there now, military supplies are in short supply, and prices have directly increased tenfold! Going there for a round trip will definitely make a huge profit!"

Scenes like this, where people were bragging or arguing about their respective development paths, were everywhere in the food festival square.

This grand cyberpunk food festival lasted for a full ten days or so.

Until ten days later.

The players, having eaten and played to their fill, finally started to refocus.

They shouldered their gear and weapons, left Shelter one after another, and threw themselves back into the heated interstellar infrastructure construction and pioneering expeditions.

...

On the spaceport of City 233 on Mobius Prime.

Heavy cargo shuttles were spitting exhaust flames, busily loading mountains of strategic supplies on the tarmac.

Among the members of the Baby Bus guild, nearly a third of the players began to queue up to board the shuttles.

The remaining two-thirds of the members were pure "salted fish" life-skill players who had absolutely no interest in fighting or interstellar exploration.

They only enjoyed farming and breeding quietly on the planet.

But even if they didn't join the expedition, they had contributed a lot this time.

The compressed military rations and special crop medical kits all over the ground were supplies provided free of charge by these logistical players.

Because they knew in their hearts that the new maps conquered by the frontline pioneering players would eventually have to be handed over to them for farming.

At this moment.

Penny Is My Wife was standing in front of the belly hatch of a heavy shuttle.

He was sweating profusely, directing several machines to slowly drag his newly modified giant war vehicle onto the spaceship.

"Slow down, slow down! Watch the cannon barrel! Be careful not to bump the chassis!" Penny shouted.

This Dumpling Is Also Delicious happened to pass by and stopped in surprise when he saw this scene.

"Yo, Penny."

Dumpling teased,

"Are you really planning to go to the front line to pioneer with us? Don't you only love farming and fishing?"

Penny wiped his sweat and sighed:

"Sigh! I've figured it out. Just farming at home, when the aliens and bugs from outside break in, the land will still be ruined, so it's all for nothing! Only by fighting out, burning the flames of war outside, and carving out an absolutely safe living space for ourselves—that is the hard truth of the farming playstyle!"

Dumpling listened, patted his shoulder in appreciation, and was about to say a few words of praise.

Suddenly!

In the distance, a solo player wearing a courier's yellow vest, having modified his Power Armor for external load-bearing, came running over panting, carrying a huge alloy box on his back, and shouted:

"Who is Penny Is My Wife? Here is an express delivery for you!"

Dumpling and Penny quickly walked over.

Penny waved: "That's me!"

The courier player checked the PV to confirm the ID, unslung the large suitcase that looked like a single-person cryo-pod from his back, placed it heavily on the ground, and handed over an electronic tablet:

"Please sign for it."

However.

When Dumpling looked down and saw the huge suitcase clearly, he couldn't help but snort with laughter!

And Penny's face instantly turned bright red, his old face flushing with embarrassment.

On the outside of the silver metal box, a huge seal was pasted diagonally.

The seal was clearly printed with a few large and conspicuous bold characters:

Private Shipment.

Dumpling laughed so hard he couldn't straighten his back, patted Penny's back hard, and teased:

"Not bad, buddy! Others bring bullets when going to war, but you, damn it, bring your wife along on the expedition! Is the simulation high?"

"Get lost! Stop talking nonsense here, okay!"

Penny pushed Dumpling away in shame and anger, quickly signed his name, shouldered the heavy box, and ran into the shuttle.

Not long after, all equipment and cargo were loaded.

The shuttle hatch closed, and the engines roared with a deafening sound.

The hull began to vibrate violently, breaking free from the gravity of Mobius Prime, and turned into a stream of light, flying towards the dark starry sky.

Penny looked through the porthole glass, watching the vast surface of the planet constantly shrink in his view as he flew towards the boundless deep space.

Although this wasn't his first time in the sky in the game, every time he saw this magnificent cosmic scale, he still felt very shocked.

In a little while.

They saw the huge void ship quietly docked in high orbit.

This was an armed spaceship whose appearance was very close to the standard of the Imperium of Man in Warhammer.