Chapter 95 - 91 Blood Rice

Chapter 95: Chapter 91 Blood Rice[System Alert: You have been poisoned.] Xiao Jie hurriedly looked up and indeed, there was a DEBUFF hanging over his head. [Corrosive Corpse Poison: Accumulated within the Corpse-eating Dog from years of ingesting decayed corpses, losing 1-3 Life Values every 10 seconds, lasting for 24 hours.] Wait a second—24 hours? Xiao Jie gasped, thinking he had read it wrong. Upon a closer look, no mistake, it was 24 hours. He suddenly felt numb, although the damage from the poison was not high, only 6-18 points per minute, over 24 hours, even someone with a lot of blood was bound to die. Exorcism! He tried using the Divine Wood Talisman on himself, a flash of white light passed, but his body was still dark green. Well, it seems that this doesn’t fall under ghost curse DEBUFF, and exorcism doesn’t work on it. He must return to the village to find someone to cure the poison. He looked around and found that both of them had been poisoned, and even the two Hunting Dogs were not spared. Hunting Dogs could recover blood by eating meat. But that didn’t work for humans; they relied on blood bottles for recovery. Fortunately, he had brought plenty of blood bottles this time, so surviving until they got back to the village shouldn’t be a problem. However, he couldn’t delay any longer. If something happened on the way to slow them down, they would be done for. "Cheng Xian, hurry back to the village to find a cure! Run!" Xiao Jie shouted loudly, not even bothering to check the Corpse-eating Dog’s body, he turned and left. I Want to Be Immortal realized the severity of the situation as well. Both were racing back, with their Blood Volume slowly decreasing. Every so often on their run, they needed to drink a blood bottle. They continued popping Power Pills to maintain their running speed, just to get back quickly. After running non-stop for over half an hour and consuming seven or eight blood bottles, the two finally made it back to the village. "Hurry, don’t stop!" Xiao Jie yelled as he dashed through the village gates. Checking his bag and only finding three blood bottles remaining, Xiao Jie thought to himself that this trip had been a huge loss, having nearly spent several hundred cents on blood bottles alone. He hoped the reward for this investigation quest would be worth it to recoup the losses. The two made straight for the drugstore and requested detoxication from the doctor immediately upon arriving. "What seems to be the problem?" The elderly doctor was clearly unaware of their situation. "We went to investigate the mysterious ancient tomb and got struck by corpse poison. Please, doctor, we need you to cure us quickly." The old doctor slapped his thigh upon realizing, "Ah, this poison is corpse poison, it can’t be cured with ordinary herbs, you need a glutinous rice cake made from Blood Rice to detoxify, and I don’t have that here. You might want to check the food shops." What? Glutinous rice cake? Xiao Jie was a bit speechless. How could glutinous rice cake cure corpse poison? What’s the logic here? But there was no time to question it, he bought a few more blood bottles just in case, then both rushed to the food shop. Upon hearing they wanted to buy glutinous rice cakes, the food shop owner also wore an innocent look. "Glutinous rice cake? Sorry, I don’t have that here. It’s not something people buy on a regular basis, so I don’t prepare it either. Plus, Blood Rice isn’t available for purchase anywhere, where do you expect me to get it from for you? However, I do have a recipe for glutinous rice cake. If you want, I can sell it to you at a discount." Xiao Jie was momentarily dumbfounded; he couldn’t end up dead from the corpse poison, could he? Of course, there was another solution: continually drink blood bottles to prolong life for a full 24 hours. But that would cost a fortune. That was only a last resort. Xiao Jie believed it wouldn’t come to that. The game wouldn’t present an insolvable problem to the players; there must be a way to make the glutinous rice cake. "Feng, what do we do now?" "Let’s go, off to the fields to buy Blood Rice." The fields were full of farmers. It seemed that Blood Rice would have to start from there. Xiao Jie spent three hundred cents to acquire the recipe and learned it directly. [Glutinous Rice Cake (Recipe)] Ingredients needed: Glutinous Rice/Blood Rice, Water, Cooking Fire. Food Effect: Restores 20 points of Satiety. Food Introduction: A cake made of glutinous rice, sticky, sweet, and suitable for all ages. It is said that specially made glutinous rice cakes using Blood Rice have the unique ability to remove corpse poison.] The two then hurried to Tian Bao’s place. "Tian Bao, do you have any Blood Rice for sale? We need some." Tian Bao was busy turning the soil when he saw their plight, which even startled him, "This—Sorry, gentlemen, I don’t grow Blood Rice. It requires Expert Level farming skills to grow, and my skills are only at Master Level." I Want to Be Immortal expressed his frustration, "Damn, you’ve been a farmer for so many years and you’re still only at Master Level?" Tian Bao looked innocent, "I don’t intend to be a farmer forever. When I take back my family’s ancestral lands, I can naturally become a landlord and collect rent. Why bother with this trouble? Just growing crops casually is enough for me." Damn! Maybe they should ask other farmers. "Gentlemen, I can help you grow it," a voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. Xiao Jie turned his head and was surprised, "Isn’t that Dongfang Sheng?" Dongfang Sheng said, "I’ve been farming for the past couple of days and I’ve already leveled up my farming skill to Expert Level." Xiao Jie thought to himself, that’s incredible? He had been chopping wood for two days and only reached Master Level, how did this guy do it? But there were more pressing matters at hand, and this was not the time to inquire in-depth. "Alright, let’s get to it, buddy. I’m counting on you." Without saying another word, Dongfang Sheng immediately began to work the land. Both of them drank blood bottles to keep their Life Values up while waiting by the side. Fortunately, this was a game, so farming didn’t require waiting through spring and autumn. With Tian Bao’s help in turning the soil, Dongfang Sheng scattered the seeds and watered them. In no time, a dense growth of rice sprouted up. Then came the harvesting. Xiao Jie helped with that too, since he also possessed the Harvesting Skill. Soon, they had harvested all the glutinous rice. "How much do I owe you?" Xiao Jie asked while preparing to cook. Dongfang Sheng sincerely replied, "No charge. Consider it my way of saying thanks. If it weren’t for your reminder about Ximen Wuhen, I could have been dead out there by now." "Ha, thanks then, buddy," Xiao Jie wasn’t shy about it. The Corpse Poison might not take lives, but it certainly took money. He quickly took some firewood from his bag, made a fire, and began to make glutinous rice cakes. As he was busy making them, I Want to Be Immortal wasn’t slacking off either, boasting, "No need to worry about Ximen Wuhen anymore, that bastard’s been taken care of by us." Dongfang Sheng was somewhat surprised, "Taken care of? What do you mean?" "The bastard got killed by me, Feng, and Ye Luo together." "Killed!" Dongfang Sheng was visibly shaken. "You mean you killed him in the game? Does that mean in real life he is also..." "Dead as a doornail, right. That idiot even thought about coming to the Newbie Village to blow things up, not considering his own strength at all. Daring to mess with Feng, he was simply asking for it. Let me tell you, Feng’s skills are absolutely incredible, a Level 6 taking on a Level 14. Ha ha, and I’m pretty awesome myself. That fool chopped at me several times but couldn’t even make a dent. It’s just a shame about my dog—dammit, Scar!" Woof! Scar, who was lying nearby on his last breath, barked urgently. "Hurry up, eat some meat, don’t you dare die on me again," said I Want to Be Immortal as he promptly fed Scar several pieces of meat until Scar’s Blood Volume gradually filled back up, and he finally relaxed. If Scar died again, his ’every dog that follows him dies, the Innate Holy Body’ reputation would have been set in stone. Meanwhile, Xiao Jie finally finished making the glutinous rice cakes. The blood-red Blood Rice Cakes looked like blocks of firm flesh. Xiao Jie didn’t waste words and ate one right away. Feeling the Corpse Poison Buff disappear from above his head, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He hastily fed one to both I Want to Be Immortal and the two dogs. Seeing the Corpse Poison was cleared from both individuals and both dogs, Xiao Jie finally relaxed. Though the Corpse-eating Dogs were only slightly stronger than wild dogs in combat, the Corpse Poison was truly disgusting. It seemed he would have to keep a stock of these now. Xiao Jie made another six in one go, using up all the Blood Rice in his bag before he called it quits. After giving I Want to Be Immortal three more, he considered how the cakes could cure Corpse Poison and sustain satiety. Carrying a few in one’s bag was definitely beneficial. With the trouble of Corpse Poison out of the way, Xiao Jie finally took the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. "You’re doing well, kiddo; you’ve leveled up your farming skill pretty fast. Got any tricks?" Dongfang Sheng smiled, "Tricks, eh? Does spending money count? I bought the best seeds so I could gain more farming experience, and I found out you only get experience when planting. So, I hired these farmers to help turn the soil for me, and I just handle the planting, which allows me to quickly gain experience." "How much did you spend?" "Not much, just a hundred thousand yuan." Xiao Jie thought to himself, rich people indeed. But Dongfang Sheng explained, "I’ve quit my job and sold my house. I also took out year-long loans from several different platforms. Either I make it big in a year or I’m as good as dead, so a hundred thousand yuan isn’t much to me right now." Damn, this guy’s hardcore. "But those farming skills won’t be of much use in real life unless you plan on becoming a farmer..." "Not entirely useless. At least it fully demonstrates the effects of the game’s skills. Plus, donating crops to the village granary can earn village reputation. I plan to farm for a month to elevate my reputation in Ginkgo Village to Revered, then I can learn various hidden skills from the villagers. Once I’ve learned a full set of skills, leveling up outside will naturally be much easier." Xiao Jie thought to himself that this one sure had patience. If it wasn’t for having Liu Qiang as an enemy, perhaps he would do the same. But now, he had grown accustomed to the constant fighting and leveling up. Asking him to stay in the village and farm would probably make him feel a bit out of place now. "Well then, good luck to you. Just a tip, if you visit the Newbie Village to level up, start with the soulless zombies. Head north, but don’t go past that broken-down carriage, or you’ll easily run into a Corpse Group. Also, be careful of wild dogs and Corpse-eating Dogs early on. They’re fast, and if you attract too many, you’ll be easily overwhelmed. Most other wild creatures you can run from if you can’t beat them." In gaming, it’s all about giving and taking; friends may pave the way. Xiao Jie shared some simple experiences, and Dongfang Sheng listened intently, expressing his gratitude. Xiao Jie said no problem and prepared to leave with I Want to Be Immortal to turn in their quest.