Chapter 123: Four Strips of Wind-Dried Cured Meat

“Isn’t this a mirror?” Wu Xingyu frowned in thought. In this game, mirrors might not be as simple as they seem.

A mysterious smile flashed in Yun Qimu’s bright eyes. “Of course it’s not an ordinary mirror. I told you, it’s something good.”

She clearly had no intention of sharing more. Yun Qimu stuffed the double-sided treasure mirror into her inventory, then happily picked up her little golden axe, eager to get back to fighting.

Teaming up with Wu Xingyu, the loot from treasure chests was just a tiny bit worse—switching from rare items to more practical ones—but their monster-slaying speed together more than made up for it.

She did a quick calculation in her head. On her own, it took at least seven or eight swings to take down a Jingjing Beast. If she wasn’t precise or something unexpected happened, it could take several dozen seconds more.

But with Wu Xingyu, it was a different story. He’d shrink the Jingjing Beast, and she could finish one off in a second, popping out a treasure chest.

Comparing solo and team efficiency, Yun Qimu decided teaming up was definitely more profitable.

So she decisively chose to keep working with Wu Xingyu.

“Let’s pull the next mob.”

Wu Xingyu was momentarily stunned and turned to look at her.

Yun Qimu winked at him. “What’s wrong, surprised? No need to get emotional. I only came to the conclusion that teaming up with you is more efficient after crunching all the numbers.”

Wu Xingyu: …

He immediately wiped the expression off his face, glanced at her coolly, and said in a cold voice, “You’re overthinking it. Here come the mobs. Let’s fight.”

Tsk tsk, look at that poker face. Yun Qimu really couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, so she just hefted her little golden axe and continued being a heartless monster-slaying machine.

One swing per little Jingjing, not even blinking.

Once they finished off the Jingjing Beasts, they went to compete with Pei Yu’s group for the Mengji monsters.

Pei Yu and his two companions were full of complaints, practically fuming.

“Hey, you two! Village Chief Yun, you’ve eaten the meat, at least let us have some soup!”

“Yeah, yeah—hey, that’s the mob I almost finished off! Don’t steal it, Third Bro, have a little mercy!”

Yun Qimu and Wu Xingyu, the cold-blooded, ruthless duo, ignored them completely and kept snatching monsters.

Only Yun Xiaodi and Yun Dad’s little corner was a safe haven. Yun Qimu left three Mengji monsters for Dad to train Yun Xiaoyu, giving the kid a chance to build some skills and courage.

Before, the only monsters in the village were Danghu and Xueyu—both small, not even as big as Yun Xiaoyu. But Mengji and Jingjing were different; they were more than ten times Yun Xiaoyu’s size. Facing bigger foes was good training.

Besides, Yun Xiaoyu had awakened the Yun family’s Infinite Emperor Physique. Ordinary bumps and scrapes couldn’t hurt him, so Yun Qimu was at ease.

The whole cave was packed with little monsters, their scarlet eyes enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint. But under Yun Qimu and Wu Xingyu’s teamwork, they quickly turned into treasure chests.

In less than two hours, all the monsters inside were wiped out.

With the remaining time, Yun Qimu excitedly ran around the cave opening treasure chests, with Wu Xingyu sticking close by.

Every time Yun Qimu opened a chest, he’d come over to take a look, and she’d toss him one or two items. Bit by bit, Wu Xingyu ended up with quite a haul—much more than he’d gotten from all the treasure chests yesterday.

It’s great to ride the luck of a true “Euro King”!

Wu Xingyu thought sourly to himself.

By the time they finished opening all the chests, it was lunchtime.

Yun Qimu glanced regretfully at the second, green-glowing cave. Sigh, guess the Green Frozen Stones would have to wait until tomorrow.

She turned to Wu Xingyu. “We’re getting ready to head back. There’s one horse left—what about you guys? Want a ride, or are you heading out on your own?”

Yun Qimu clapped her hands and summoned the last thousand-mile horse she hadn’t used today.

Pei Yu quickly said, “We’ll take the ride! I’m out of anything that can fly.”

Wu Xingyu’s eyes dimmed slightly. He pressed his lips together. “Take us with you.”

He didn’t have a mech to use either; it had run out of power on their last trip back to Earth Village.

Yun Qimu nodded cheerfully. “Alright, let’s all go together.”

A few minutes later, in the dark, narrow tunnel, a white horse spread its wings and took flight, with four strips of wind-dried cured meat dangling beneath it, swaying in the breeze.

It wasn’t that the old, battered basket with two holes in it from before was broken—it was just too small. Three people barely fit; with four, it would’ve fallen apart completely.

So each of them had to tie a rope around their waist and hang from the horse like strips of cured meat.

Having already experienced being flown upside-down last time, Pei Yu was actually a bit happy this time.

Progress! Real progress! At least now he was hanging right-side up instead of upside down.

Wu Xingyu, the “cured meat”:

His icy eyes shot daggers at Pei Yu, who was swinging so close he nearly collided face-to-face. The murderous look in his eyes could practically kill.

Pei Yu blinked innocently. This wasn’t his fault—he was just along for the ride.

After another face-to-face collision and another round of Wu Xingyu’s icy glare, Pei Yu was thoroughly frustrated. Now he finally understood how luxurious the “princess cradle” ride from before had been. Compared to dangling like a piece of cured meat, that was truly first-class treatment.

So the four strips of wind-dried cured meat rode the thousand-mile horse, buffeted by the cold wind and snow, until they landed, frozen stiff like popsicles.

They landed not far from Lou Wai Lou. Looking up, they could see a crowd of colorful heads outside the building.

What was going on over there?

Yun Qimu jumped off the horse with Yun Xiaoyu in her arms, raising an eyebrow in that direction.

“Hiss—so cold, I’m freezing! Let’s go, let’s go, I need some hot, delicious fish soup to thaw out.”

Pei Yu hugged himself, shivering, and dove straight into the crowd.

“Hey, don’t push! Those in the back, stop pushing! You won’t get any if you keep shoving!”

The bustling crowd, noses twitching at the delicious aroma, was jostled from behind, and the scent was lost.

The group, who’d been blissfully inhaling the fragrance, immediately erupted in anger, glaring back at the people behind them.

One after another, they turned to glare, like dominoes, until the last glare landed on Pei Yu.

Pei Yu reflexively raised his hands, his frozen brain unable to process what was happening. Why was everyone looking at him? What did he do?"