123: Chapter 123 Mundo

The journey to Mondo was far more perilous than Fu Hao had imagined.

Although it was located at the edge of the continent and easy to pinpoint, they frequently encountered natural disasters like lightning and storms along the way, which repeatedly blocked the flight path of the flight artifact.

If they had chosen the land route, they would have also had to contend with earthquakes, landslides, and blizzards—fortunately, they had chosen the aerial route.

They endured five full days and nights amidst the humming of the flight artifact.

When the outline of a city finally emerged in the center of the boundless wilderness plains outside the porthole, his tense nerves finally relaxed slightly.

"Is this... Mondo?"

"The coordinates are correct, so it should be."

There was no clear and loud area notification sound like in the Elf Kingdom, but the strange settlement rooted in the heart of the wilderness, with its desolate and rough atmosphere, matched the descriptions of the Land of Exile perfectly.

Loki's artifact navigation was unquestionable; what they saw before them could only be Mondo.

Fu Hao quickly took out his telescope reinforced to +10.

The blurry color patches in the distance were instantly zoomed in and resolved: figures of various alien races moved along the rudimentary streets, and a strange architectural style hit them in the face.

"...It really is mixed with various alien races, but... where are the elves?" He searched carefully, his gaze suddenly fixed, "And what race is that? Never seen it before..."

"What? Let me see too!" Yongyuan leaned in curiously.

"You'll be able to see clearly once we go down." Fu Hao remained unmoved.

"Tch! It won't kill you to let me look!" She muttered dissatisfiedly.

It wasn't that Fu Hao was stingy; it was actually that damned trading restriction that prevented him from lending the telescope to others.

He ignored Yongyuan's complaints and quickly activated his mystery-type transformation item.

As a faint light flowed, his physique, hair color, and pointed ear features were instantly reshaped, and the fresh aura unique to elves, as if originating from the forest, along with faint elemental fluctuations, naturally radiated from him.

Based solely on appearance and aura perception, it would be extremely difficult to see through his human core.

If he could summon the hero-grade elemental spirit he had obtained from that lottery, this disguise would be perfect.

Unfortunately, the World Tree was like a massive black hole that couldn't be closed, continuously occupying his summon slots. Apart from those few +10 main Summoned Beasts that had long broken through the rule restrictions, he couldn't summon any other units at the moment.

"As agreed, you must step forward first when we make contact with the elves," Fu Hao lowered his voice, speaking in the newly acquired Elvish tone. "In case my identity is exposed and causes a commotion, all our efforts will be in vain. I will hide my identity until the elves are willing to assist."

"Understood." Yongyuan nodded in agreement.

During the 5 days of flight, Fu Hao learned everything he could about elves from Yongyuan.

She shared her experiences in the Elf Kingdom incessantly, while Fu Hao took notes and absorbed the elves' thinking patterns, behavioral habits, and the overall situation of the Elf Kingdom.

However, he judged that this knowledge alone would not be enough to directly persuade the elves, so he decided to let Yongyuan act as bait first.

Although he speculated that the elves who participated in the Human-Demon War might harbor some "comradeship" toward humans, this was ultimately wishful thinking.

Because the elves' reaction to the World Tree's rampage was unknown, Fu Hao decided to observe first before formulating a strategy.

Yongyuan suggested directly showing the Elf King's token to issue orders, but considering it might backfire, he had to be cautious—after all, this concerned the survival of all humanity and the game.

However, this caution seemed completely unnecessary the moment they stepped onto the land of Mondo.

"Hm?" As soon as the two stepped onto the land of Mondo, the gazes of the surrounding alien races shot toward them in unison, mixed with shock and confusion.

"It's not like they've never seen an elf here, right? Why are they looking at us like that?"

"I'm just an elf, not a representative of alien races, don't ask me." Yongyuan also felt baffled.

"Ah... right, sorry."

He took a deep breath and walked toward a Rabbit-man who looked the most docile and harmless, trying to strike up a conversation in the newly learned common language: "Excuse me, may I ask why everyone..."

"Eek—!" Before he could finish, the Rabbit-man seemed to have been scorched by a hot iron, letting out a short, sharp scream. His fur stood on end, and he dashed into the low stone house nearby without looking back, slamming the door shut!

"What the hell?!" Fu Hao, unwilling to give up, turned to a Lizardman-looking vendor nearby.

What greeted him, however, was a pair of cold, vertical pupils and a threatening low growl from its throat.

No matter who he tried to communicate with, the response he got was either a panicked escape or blatant hostility; normal communication was completely severed.

Just then, a suffocating, strange atmosphere enveloped the entire area!

Fu Hao and Yongyuan felt the hair on the back of their necks stand up almost simultaneously—it was too late! Just as they had inadvertently triggered this little commotion while searching for the elves, a new disaster had descended.

"Mei, Lord Mei! Spare me! That, over there... two elves really appeared suddenly, they look like newcomers! We absolutely have not hidden anything! Please, have mercy..."

And opposite him stood a little girl wearing an exquisite little dress, looking as delicate as if carved from jade.

However, the little girl wore an expression of nearly cruel arrogance that was completely opposite to her cute appearance.

"So noisy, you idiot. Whether they are newcomers or not, I will naturally know after I investigate." The little girl's voice was crisp but carried a condescending impatience.

Although they couldn't hear the specific conversation, all the surrounding alien races suddenly went dead silent, then, as if whipped by an invisible lash, collectively turned toward the direction of the Bear-man and the little girl, and began to tremble violently and uncontrollably. Fu Hao and Yongyuan's gazes were also instinctively drawn over.

"What's going on?" Fu Hao whispered, his muscles instantly tensed.

"I don't know... but it feels very bad."

Mysteries followed one after another, yet their knowledge of Mondo was almost a blank slate; at this moment, they had no choice but to wait and see.

They saw the little girl glance in their direction seemingly casually, and the next second—

No chanting, no magic circle light, not even a ripple in space! That tiny figure appeared directly in front of Fu Hao without warning and without delay!

"A mage?!" Fu Hao was shocked by the instant Blink magic she cast; this was even harder than Xiao Jin's transformation version.

In this fantasy world, a youthful appearance definitely did not mean weakness; being able to cast high-level magic was not surprising.

What terrified Fu Hao was not the magic itself, but the way she cast it—no staff, no magic book, no medium whatsoever!

As far as he knew, even an existence as powerful as Emperor Endel could not achieve completely medium-less instant magic!

Even more hair-raising was that she possessed the form of a human child! And this place was supposed to be a Land of Exile for alien races who hated humans!

"Could it be another player?" If the Elf Kingdom could produce a Yongyuan, it seemed plausible that Mondo could produce another special player... Fortunately, he guessed wrong.

"Hmph, so it really is an elf." The little girl tilted her exquisite little face up, the corners of her mouth curling into a sinister smile that made one's heart run cold, forming an extreme contrast with her innocent appearance.

Fu Hao suppressed his physiological discomfort and forced himself to pull off a smile that was as friendly as possible: "Yes, respected Miss. We heard that there are kin of ours stranded here in Mondo; do you know where they are?"

"Looking for elves?" The little girl tilted her head, her eyes playful.

"Indeed, we came here specifically for that." Fu Hao lowered his posture even further.

"Hehehe..." A series of silver-bell-like but completely temperatureless laughter rang out, "Consider yourselves lucky; I happen to know where they are."

"Really?!" Fu Hao was secretly delighted, and his previous worries (whether the elves had already left) instantly vanished.

"Of course," the little girl's smile became increasingly eerie, "Follow me, I'll take you there."

"That's really kind of you! However..." Things were going suspiciously smoothly; Fu Hao looked at that smiling face, and alarm bells rang in his heart.

Sure enough, the little girl no longer pretended, and that sweet childish voice was instantly filled with malice: "Save it, you idiots. Two elf slaves actually delivered themselves to my doorstep; today is truly my lucky day!"

"What...?!" Fu Hao was completely stunned, and amidst his confusion, an even more baffling notification popped up:

[Attacked by "Dragons Fear".]

[Resistance failed.]

[Will be in a state of immobility for 30 minutes.]