118: Chapter 118 Red Oil Rice Noodles

Early the next morning, the thin mist over Laoya Ridge slowly dissipated in the golden morning light.

Sunlight pierced through the dilapidated wooden lattice window sills of the stilted building, casting mottled patches of light onto the grease-stained concrete floor.

The sound of spatulas clashing could be heard early in the back kitchen on the first floor.

A strong aroma of lard mixed with red oil chili forcefully squeezed through the door cracks into the second-floor guest rooms, blatantly teasing human appetite.

Lin Ye pushed open the wooden door and stepped downstairs.

The dilapidated wooden stairs let out a dry "creak" sound beneath his feet.

He was wearing a black tactical work short-sleeve shirt, and on his lower body was a pair of loose multi-pocket cargo pants.

His military boots stepped onto the steps, his pace steady and powerful.

On the eight-immortals wooden table in front of the lobby, there were three large bowls of steaming hot red oil minced meat rice noodles.

Floating on top of the fiery red soup base was a thick layer of emerald-green chopped green onions and coriander.

Ayugu was burying her head and slurping the rice noodles without any image whatsoever.

The spiciness made her nose sweat, and she mumbled incoherently in her mouth that the pickled vegetables here were not spicy enough, falling short by a hundred thousand miles compared to the top-grade pickled bamboo shoots marinated in the Ten Thousand Mountains of the Miao region.

The silver collar around her neck jingled with her chewing movements, exuding an unmasked wildness.

Frost Star had monopolized another wide master chair.

The little girl was holding a stainless steel spoon in her hand, forcefully pressing an entire box of vanilla-flavored ice cream into the scalding red oil soup.

The red oil and white frost mixed together, turning into a sticky and weird paste.

She opened her small mouth, revealing two sharp little canine teeth, eating bite after bite until her face was covered in red oil.

She had a special fondness for this bizarre way of eating that combined ice and fire.

Lin Ye pulled out a chair and sat down, his gaze naturally sweeping toward the corner of the wooden stairs leading to the second floor.

The wooden door of the neighboring room 204 was half-closed.

It was completely empty inside, with only a lingering fishy stench of yellow mud and the smell of antiseptic medicine that had not yet dissipated in the air.

Those Mud and Water Travelers had already checked out before dawn and sneaked into the deep mountains in advance.

Lin Ye picked up the thick porcelain bowl, took a sip of the spicy red soup, and his expression remained calm:

"These four rats got up quite early indeed."

Ayugu wiped the red oil from the corner of her mouth and slapped her bamboo chopsticks onto the table.

"Head Manager, I just looked at the doorway. The mud scraped off the soles of the shoes of those four grave robbers is all soil from deep within the West Mountain."

"I could smell the earthy stench on them from three streets away. They are walking along the ridge line, which is the shortest route leading to the Ten Thousand Gu Demon Cave. If we do not set off soon, we will not even get to drink the leftover soup."

Lin Ye took a bite of the salty, fragrant, and crispy mustard greens, his expression steady.

"What is the rush? The mountain road has eighteen bends, and there are venomous insects and traps everywhere inside. Is it not good to let them clear the way and detect mines in front?"

"Our Big G has a high chassis and plenty of horsepower. Those four marmots running on two legs could not escape the palm of my hand even if they ran their skin raw."

Leng Yue sat beside Lin Ye, her long hair coiled high with a gloomy wood hairpin.

Her delicate hand held the pot, filling a cup of warm codonopsis tea for Lin Ye.

Reflected by the sunlight outside the window, the slight sharpness in her dark golden eyes was replaced by gentleness.

After breakfast, the heavy black off-road vehicle started up again.

The thick off-road tires crushed the gravel on the road, kicking up a sky full of yellow dust.

This steel behemoth let out a low roar and plunged headfirst into the deeper, wilder Ten Thousand Mountains.

At ten in the morning, the sunlight was completely blocked by the primitive tree canopy that blotted out the sun.

On both sides of the car windows, large patches of strangely shaped bushes rushed backward madly.

The leaves of these bushes showed a sickly ink-black color, and their branches were covered with sharp barbs.

The air was filled with a strong, sour, and decaying odor.

That was the moldy, dead aura emitted by rotting dead leaves that never saw the sunlight all year round.

Mobile navigation and satellite positioning systems completely lost their function here.

On the center console screen, there was only a large red cross representing no signal.

This was a forbidden zone for the living, a primitive dead land completely abandoned by modern civilization.

Half an hour later, the off-road vehicle came to an abrupt stop in front of a steep cliff.

Lin Ye pulled up the handbrake, pushed open the car door, and stepped out.

In the valley ahead lay a boundless black swamp.

This mud pool was as viscous as boiling asphalt.

On the surface of the muddy water, basin-sized dark red mud bubbles continuously emerged.

After expanding to their limit, the bubbles burst with a bang, releasing a ghastly green highly toxic miasma.

The miasma hovered above the mud pool without dispersing, completely obscuring the vision ahead.

Hundreds and thousands of skeletons of beasts and humans floated haphazardly in the mud pool.

These bones were soaked black and green by the muddy water, firmly stuck between the withered tree trunks.

Some skulls still retained the distorted shapes of painful struggle.

Not a shred of wind could be heard here.

That silent stillness was as heavy as a slab of pig iron steel, pressing heavily on the chest of a person, suffocating one to the point of being unable to breathe.

Ayugu pointed a withered tree branch at the black mud pool ahead, her face turning pale.

She swallowed a mouthful of saliva, her voice carrying obvious apprehension:

"The black mud at the bottom is all fermented from dead human flesh and bone fragments, mixed with highly toxic miasma and grievances that have not dispersed for a thousand years."

"Any living creature that falls in will be completely dissolved into a pool of yellow water by this pool of muddy water in three seconds. There is no solid foothold here. Unless you can fly, you simply cannot cross."

Lin Ye stood at the edge of the cliff and took out the Sanyuan Fengshui compass from his tactical backpack.

The magnetic needle in the compass was spinning wildly, completely unable to lock onto the correct direction.

The geomagnetic field here was completely distorted by this huge Yin-malice mud swamp.

At this moment, the translucent light screen in front of his retina shook once more.

"Ding! "My Lord, Please Behave Yourself" System prompt: Detected that the host has encountered the major earth vein malice [Ten Thousand People Mud Swamp], and four path-finding gray rats are hidden in the thick fog ahead."

"Please have the host finalize the river-crossing plan within three minutes, showcasing the dual demeanor of a capitalist and a mystical arts expert!"

The light screen popped open, and three highly spoof-themed options jumped into view:

[Option A: Human Flesh Great Pontoon Bridge — Grab Frost Star who is sleeping in the back seat, throw her into the mud pool, command her to freeze the entire thirty-meter-wide mud pool into solid ice with Nether Corpse Qi, and then you walk across stepping on the ice.]

[Reward: Obtain the [Ruthless Brother-in-law] title.]

[Consequence: The extreme Yin mud malice will severely pollute the Corpse King origin of Frost Star, causing the little girl to strike on the spot and cut your underwear to pieces with a bone knife.]

[Option B: Subdue movement with stillness, follow the vine to find the melon — Do not rush to cross the river. Set up a lounge chair by the mud pool, take out iced watermelon, start a pleasant picnic time, and quietly wait for those four trailing Mud and Water Travelers who possess the 《Mud-Digging Technique》 to voluntarily appear and seek peace.]

[Reward: Husband Points +300, obtain one magic artifact [Golden Silkworm Poison-Avoiding Armor], the awe degree of the opponent doubles.]

[Option C: Physical Body Mine-Sweeping — Bite your finger, shout "What can mere silt and sand do to me", smear your legs with Pure Yang True Blood, and force your way across the river.]

[Reward: Physique attribute +5. Consequence: Your Pure Yang True Blood will be instantly sucked dry by the thousands of grievances at the bottom of the mud pool, and you will turn into a shriveled mud sculpture and remain here forever.]