Chapter 987: Mutual Restrain (1/2)

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The stone residences of the four-armed people were tall, square, and had a hint of primitive charm to them. Different materials were used in the wall, but they were meticulously polished until the wall-surface was fairly even.

Qianye walked into one of them and found, to his surprise, that the interior was quite tidy. There were large, neatly-cut stone slabs on the walls, and the room came with a bed, table, and storage cabinets of items and weapons. There were two giant lion heads hanging over the entrance to the room, trophies to commemorate heroic accomplishments.

There was nothing to write home about the armor and weapons in the house. Of course, they would still hold a fair bit of value if brought out of the Great Maelstrom.

Qianye entered the next stone house, but the interior was exactly the same—down to the weapons and armor. It was the same for the others as well. It would seem these stone houses were more barracks than residences. It was just that they were reserved for higher-ranking officers.

Among the dozens of stone houses, two were especially big and divided into two rooms. There was a pile of leather paper in the outer room with scribbles and diagrams upon them—who knew what sort of accursed things were recorded upon them? The inner room was filled with stored food in addition to daily use items and weapons. The innards and claws of different animals might be extremely delectable to the natives, but it only filled Qianye with disgust.

There were a couple of sealed jars within the larger stone houses. Qianye held his breath and surrounded his body in sanguine flames as he opened the lid, immediately filling the room with an indescribable fishy odor. Just a whiff of it sent Qianye’s blood into an accelerated flow—his desires surged and he wanted nothing more than to grab the two ladies.

He quickly sealed the jar and used the sanguine flames to burn the odor away before he dared to breathe normally. Fortunately, only Qianye was able to do such exploration work, so Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan were left to watch the exterior. Otherwise, it would be even more trouble if they were to smell it.

After a moment, Qianye called them in, “The things sealed inside are probably related to the white fruit. They can accelerate the blood-flow, but using them will be a bit troublesome. Just a whiff of it and I almost lost control of my urges.”

Ji Tianqing produced a long needle and poked it into the sealed jar. She then observed the color of the drawn material and sniffed at it. “It definitely contains the white fruit and a number of other ingredients. If my guess is correct, this is probably their aphrodisiac wine.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Destroy it,” Li Kuanglan said. She was full of hatred for these things.

However, Qianye and Ji Tianqing objected to this course of action. Qianye carefully picked up the jars and put them into Andruil’s Mysterious Realm. Ji Tianqing’s storage space was much smaller, but she also stored two jars. These things might be able to save their lives if worse comes to worst, and in their current situation, the price was fairly acceptable.

At the thought of it, Li Kuanglan had a sudden thought. She went to pick up one of the jars and realized, to her embarrassment, that she didn’t have any spatial equipment.

When Qianye saw this, he quietly picked up the jar from her grasp and put it in Andruil’s Space.

In addition to the wine, Ji Tianqing also studied the innards, bones, and claws for a fairly long time. There were treasures everywhere in the Great Maelstrom—since the natives had carefully collected these things, there was no telling if there were priceless objects among them. After a good while, though, Ji Tianqing still couldn’t figure anything out. Storage space was highly valuable, so she couldn’t just fill it with objects of unknown significance.

Qianye, on the other hand, found a bowl-sized bone that contained an explosive amount of origin power. He put it away in passing, hoping to observe it slowly later on.

After sweeping through the stone houses, only the small clearing remained to be explored. There was a small circular space at the center of the stone houses, populated with all sorts of fruits and vegetable plants. There was also a muddy well standing beside it.

A small tree had been fenced off independently in the opening, indicating its importance to the natives. According to Ji Tianqing, this was the white fruit tree, but only half a trunk remained now—it was her work, naturally.

With how miraculous the white fruit’s effects were, the tree would probably be a treasure if brought back to the empire. However, transplanting it would be a fairly difficult endeavor, so Qianye wasn’t too regretful about the situation. The real problem was how they would get through the night.

Qianye didn’t take the fruits and vegetables in the garden, nor did he touch the cut white fruit tree. None of them knew how to raise or use them. The natives would probably return to the castle after their departure—only then would they be able to learn how to care for, or even save the white fruit tree.

Sweeping through the castle did bring about some benefits. For one, they had cleared out the native warriors and removed the threat of the four-armed people. Additionally, they had also obtained that batch of alcohol. The white fruit’s vitality-boosting effect was reduced after being made into wine, but its aphrodisiac effects were increased exponentially. However, the most important thing under the present circumstances was to survive. The alcohol would serve as an extra option when there was no other choice.

They still had some time, so Qianye brought the two girls into the depths of the forest to continue their exploration. It would seem that the natives had their own territory, but after a wide search, they found that all traces led back to the stone keep. After a long while of exploration, the sky had started to turn dark.

Feeling quite helpless, the three returned to camp. The next day, they would have to decide whether to explore a different direction or to abandon the camp and expand their search radius.