Chapter 108: Chapter 108

For breakfast, that wasn’t cheap, but with meat, veggies, and eggs, it was a balanced and filling meal.

She unwrapped the burger and took a bite while it was hot. The fluffy bun, rich sauce, and crisp vegetables—""Delicious!""

The ingredients were much better than the fast food places before the apocalypse.

After the apocalypse, at least there was no more worry about fake meat or bad ingredients.

Everything now was pure and natural.

As she ate and wandered, Mu Ying found that Spirit Dragon Gorge Camp had a wide variety of shops: general stores, clothing shops, fabric shops, taverns, restaurants, equipment shops, pawn shops, blacksmiths, clinics, and more.

Most of what they sold was similar to what she had back home—some of it wasn’t even as good.

Behind the main street of shops were rows of identical small buildings.

Each one had a ""For Sale"" sign out front: 10 gold coins to buy, or 20 copper coins per day to rent.

Mu Ying figured not many people could afford to live here. Sure enough, after walking around, she saw that 99% of the houses were empty—only a few had been rented out.

No wonder so many people were living in tents on the square. Just the entry fee and rent added up to 30 copper coins a day, and the houses all had fixed layouts, making it inconvenient to share. It was easier and cheaper to buy a tent, have your own space, and save money.

Those who couldn’t even bear to pay the entry fee camped outside the camp gates, taking turns keeping watch and running inside if there was trouble.

Monsters rarely harassed the camp—unless it was the kind that ate people, they usually didn’t come out to attack."

"After spending half the day wandering around the Linglong Gorge camp, Mu Ying had more or less figured out the situation here.

Last time, most of the monsters that appeared in Linglong Gorge were goblins. They had already established a sizable tribe in the small forest to the west and would occasionally attack any humans who ventured near.

Some stronger teams would go there to hunt down stray goblin squads, while the weaker ones simply avoided the woods altogether.

Besides that, there was also a dungeon behind Linglong Gorge.

Every few days, Blood Ravens would fly out from it and attack the camp.

Individually, Blood Ravens weren’t very strong, but as a flock, they were deadly. Their bones could even be sold for money. They were both the greatest threat and the biggest source of income around the camp.

That’s why bows sold especially well in this territory. As long as you hid inside the camp when the Blood Ravens came, you could safely shoot them down with arrows and make a tidy profit.

However, no one dared to explore the Blood Raven dungeon anymore. When it was first discovered, quite a few people went in, but not a single one ever came back out—it was even worse than that dragon’s nest dungeon in Nihon.

After hearing about this dungeon, Mu Ying planned to go check out the back of Linglong Gorge that afternoon.

The dungeon’s location was obvious—the entrance was right on a high cliff face, with a rope ladder still hanging there, probably left by those who’d gone in before.

A thin layer of dust had already settled on the rope ladder, showing that no one had entered for some time. Scattered around were also quite a few black feathers.

The feathers reeked of rot and a heavy stench of blood.

Mu Ying had no intention of going inside—she knew her limits.

Every dungeon she’d encountered so far had the potential to trap people inside for good.

The Mushroom People dungeon had its poison, the Ghoul dungeon was cramped and packed with monsters, and the Blood Raven dungeon clearly had its own dangers.

The Blood Raven dungeon might be even more dangerous. Once you entered, the dungeon door would be right behind you—what kind of threat could keep people from even escaping?

Mu Ying didn’t think she was strong enough yet. Even a flock of Blood Ravens was dangerous to her; one careless move could cost her her life.

She’d always been cautious, and after becoming an elf and a Green Witch, her lifespan had increased greatly, giving her even more reason to play it safe.

Having decided to stick to her usual prudent approach, she turned and headed back without looking back.

She’d more or less finished scouting the Linglong Gorge camp, and had already chosen the route for the new road. Once the stone was ready, a road connecting the two places could be laid down in no time. Tonight, she’d have to hurry back to review everyone’s resumes and pick a quarry supervisor so work could start as soon as possible.

Flap flap!

Lost in thought about her next steps, Mu Ying was startled by a sudden noise behind her. She turned to see a dense, black mass squeezing out of the dungeon door.

No wonder there were so many feathers at the base of the cliff, with them squeezing out like that.

But hadn’t the Blood Ravens just come out two days ago? The chances of them appearing again so soon should’ve been low.

Mu Ying quickly cast a spell on herself, transforming into an unremarkable clump of shrubbery. She was glad she’d never slacked off in her magical studies—if she hadn’t learned Treeform in the past two days, she’d be in big trouble now.

This 2nd-circle spell was low on her list because, after turning herself into a tree or shrub, her agility would drop to zero and she wouldn’t be able to move.

It did add some defense, but since you couldn’t run or attack, it was really only useful for camouflage—not even that great for scouting.

Mu Ying had always thought that if she ran into danger, she’d just run for it, and if she couldn’t escape, turning into a tree wouldn’t help much. So she’d never paid much attention to Treeform.

Now, she had to admit—there’s no such thing as a useless spell.

She was some distance from the dungeon door, with trees to hide behind, so this spell was perfect for camouflage. Otherwise, she’d have to use every speed-boosting spell she had and flee in wolf form. Of course, the odds of outrunning a flock of ravens were slim—even a flying broom wouldn’t be safe.

Even as a shrub, Mu Ying’s mind was still active. Sure enough, the Blood Ravens didn’t notice her.

With a shrub’s 360-degree view, she watched as the Blood Ravens flew toward the Linglong Gorge camp.

The camp wasn’t far, but Mu Ying didn’t dare cancel her spell right away. She obediently stayed put as a little shrub, blending in perfectly with her leafy companions.

She was so bored she started counting her leaves. Over three hours passed, and she’d counted every single one, before the “wandering” Blood Ravens finally returned, just before her Treeform spell wore off.

There were fewer of them now, but they still squeezed back into the dungeon door in a frenzy.

Only after they’d all disappeared inside did Mu Ying cancel her spell. Even though her body didn’t feel stiff from standing as a shrub for so long, she still habitually stretched a bit.

The air still carried a lingering bloody stench, just like the smell on those black feathers.

She hadn’t had a chance to use Identify Creature on the Blood Ravens, but their eyes were vacant, their feathers ragged, their bodies bloody and reeking of rot—they didn’t look alive.

Most importantly, under her Eye of Nature, there wasn’t a trace of natural energy on them. Instead, they were shrouded in black mist—creatures abhorred by nature.

Even the air the Blood Ravens passed through still held faint traces of this black mist. If not for that, she might have overlooked it, since the flock was so dense and black to begin with.

When she hurried back to the Linglong Gorge camp, the ground was littered with Blood Raven corpses, and people were busy dividing up the loot.

“Sigh, what a pity. The Blood Ravens are getting smarter—they know not to butt heads with the camp shield anymore. Who knows what they went north for?”

Hearing this, Mu Ying stopped one of them and asked, “How long did the Blood Ravens stay at the camp this time?”

“About half an hour, I think.”

Half an hour? Then what were the Blood Ravens doing for the other two-plus hours?

Mu Ying was puzzled too. North… could they have gone to cause trouble for the goblins?