Chapter 284 Botanist Escort Mission (3)

Chapter 284 Botanist Escort Mission (3)

noon.

Beside a stream near a mountain, five players from the Xinghai Guild were waiting here. Botanist Daniel was collecting some special plants that grew in water. They were like vines without roots, growing in the cracks of rocks under the stream.

"Why do I feel like this is just an ordinary vine that fell into the water and got stuck in the cracks of the rocks?"

Feng Shao couldn't quite understand Daniel's approach. After all, in his opinion, the plants Daniel was collecting were no different from ordinary vines.

"Except for its appearance, this plant has almost nothing to do with normal vines. For example, vines are generally parasitic plants that need a host to survive, but this thing is different. As long as there is water, it can grow. The quality of water can affect the growth cycle of this plant, as well as its size when mature. Moreover, this plant has seeds."

"What can it do? If it can survive only on water, it doesn't seem worth collecting samples, right?"

"Phew, I need to go back to the laboratory to figure this out. My financial foundation is not enough to support me coming so far often, and I may not meet good people like you again, so this time I have to collect as many plant samples as possible to avoid being unable to come for a long time in the future."

Dai Lin walked over and got close to Daniel. With the help of the system's prompts, Dai Lin was able to understand that the vine-like plants Daniel was collecting could be used as firewood after drying. In fact, they were not of much use. However, Dai Lin did not remind Daniel out loud because it would make the identities of the five people suspicious.

In a large number of copies, the Infinite City system will set up a force field in the copy to modify cognition. This force field can make the NPCs in the copy feel normal about the various strange abilities of the players. Therefore, even if the players use abilities that are incompatible with the copy background, the NPCs will automatically rationalize what they see.

But as mentioned before, there are a large number of copies, which means that some copies are deliberately not set up like this. If an ability is displayed that the NPC considers unreasonable, then some accidents will occur. Although Daniel is not too surprised at Zhu Long's great strength, Dai Lin is not sure yet whether it is because Daniel saw the power gloves on Zhu Long's arms. Therefore, in the current situation where there is nothing unusual, Dai Lin is not prepared to do this, which may be beyond Daniel's cognition, that is, to tell him that this vine is actually useless.

"Well, do you want to take a break? We've been walking all morning."

"It's okay. We go on adventures often, so you don't have to worry about your physical strength. Where are we going next?"

"Wait a minute, let me see... Hmm..."

Daniel took out a very old model personal terminal from his tattered researcher uniform. It could be seen that it had been used for a long time and the paint had peeled off in many places due to wear and tear.

"Clap!"

It seemed that this personal terminal was almost reaching the end of its service life and was not very easy to use. Daniel slapped his terminal twice and finally turned it on. However, the screen kept flickering and was not very clear.

"Option branch: help/don't help, Daniel fixed his personal terminal"

“The options will lead to route selection and changes in the difficulty of the main mission.”

The branch option prompts of the main task appeared on the system panels of the five people at the same time. While Daniel was fiddling with the malfunctioning terminal, the five people looked at each other and communicated with their eyes. Then Zhu Long pointed at Dai Lin, meaning to let her make the decision.

"Daniel?"

"Ah? What's wrong?"

"I thought about it and decided to take a break."

"Oh, no problem. I'll see if this terminal can be fixed. Maybe I should really get a new terminal..."

Sitting down in an open space beside the stream, Dai Lin began to study the descriptions of the two options.

If you choose to help Daniel repair his personal terminal, then with the accurate route and target, the speed of action will be greatly accelerated, and you will not encounter special events, and the possibility of a battle will be smaller.

If they choose not to help Daniel, then because they don't have an accurate target, their progress will slow down, and the possibility of encountering special events will greatly increase, and the possibility of a battle will also be greater.

But both options have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Choosing to help Daniel may help you complete the main quest faster, but you may miss other quests in the dungeon, such as side quests or hidden quests, and you may run into other guild teams. Now it seems that the main quests of each guild should be different, so it is inevitable that you will encounter them. The task of some teams may be to kill Daniel, and players with similar strength are more dangerous than ordinary hostile NPC units.

If you choose not to help Daniel, the speed of completing the main quest may be much slower, but you will encounter side quests during the period. If you are lucky, you may even find hidden quests. Because the route is uncertain, the possibility of encountering other player teams will be reduced. Even if you really encounter other player teams, as long as you get enough points in the competition, you can completely give up the main line and leave the dungeon directly. After all, in the guild competition, clearing the dungeon is not the only way to win. If you have enough points, it is also possible.

Dai Lin thought about it carefully and decided not to help Daniel repair his personal terminal. The reason for her choice was, on the one hand, to allow the guild to gain more competition points, and on the other hand, to hide the strength of her team, especially herself and Zhu Long, in front of other player teams.

Although the Xinghai Guild was well-known, especially himself and Zhu Long, in previous battles, except for the previous instance in the dungeon called the City of Sin, when facing the hidden boss Albert (Han Zu), they had used all their strength to fight, but the dungeon at that time limited Zhu Long's strength. What was strange was that the video of the game at that time was quickly deleted by the system, so even though it was famous, other people's understanding of Zhu Long's combat power was limited to speculation.

As for herself, Dai Lin, as the "Encyclopedia", is actually a player with equally high combat power, but she has hardly demonstrated her combat strength in any copy. Only a very few people know that Dai Lin is actually a hidden master, even the members of the Xinghai Guild are the same. Currently, only Zhu Long, the president who rarely appears, and her good friend Meng Rou know about this.

After making the decision, Dai Lin gave the other four a few glances, meaning to give up helping Daniel repair his personal terminal. The other four had no objection and voted on the line selection.

"Daniel, we have rested enough. Let's keep going."

"Okay, it happens that I can't use this terminal right now, but I remember when I looked at the map before, I should go to the left... No, was it the left or the right?"

"We can follow the stream. This stream is not small. If we want to get out of here, we can go downstream. Generally speaking, we should be able to find locals living nearby in this direction. If we want to go deeper into this area, then going in the direction of the source of the upstream stream may be a good choice."

"I've been so lost in my research that I even forgot this common sense. Thank you, Miss Dai Lin."

"It's a small matter. Shall we go?"

"it is good."

It was still early, and Daniel certainly would not leave at this time, so he began to move upstream of the stream. There was no danger along the way, except for some poisonous lizards occasionally, there were no major dangerous creatures or plants.

About an hour later, following the stream, they gradually walked out of the forest area. In front of them was a naturally formed cave. The cave was not big, and from the entrance of the cave, they could see the exit on the opposite side. The stream also flowed out from that end of the cave.

"Wow! This place is great!"

Although the cave was not big, it was still enough for two people to pass through side by side. Zhu Long, who was slightly larger in stature, also walked in front alone. It took him a few minutes to walk out of the cave. A huge freshwater lake appeared in front of everyone.

Compared with the deep forest, the environment here is much more peaceful and the scenery is beautiful. You can see many animals wandering on the plains beside the lake. The lake water is very clear and you can see many fish. The stream is one of the branches flowing out of this lake.

"It looks like someone lives over there, do you want to go over and take a look?"

Following the direction of Feng Shao's finger, everyone found a group of buildings in the distance by the lake. Smoke was rising from it. From a distance, it looked like a village.

"That's good. Daniel's investigation may take some time. It's a good idea to have a place to live. Although we can survive in the wild, it's always good to have a better place to live. What do you think, Daniel?"

"I'm fine. My motorcycle is broken. Carrying so many plant samples will make me move more and more slowly. It would be nice to have a place to put them."

The group walked along the lakeside towards the village in the distance. Feng Shao waved the short fishing rod in his hand at the reeds beside him. At this moment, the system popped up a prompt for him.

“You can go fishing here.”

"Fishing? How can I fish without a line or a hook?"

Although Feng Shao said this, he still swung the fishing rod in his hand towards the lake. As a result, his fishing rod suddenly became full length, and a fishing line and a fish hook appeared.

"Boom~"

"Wow! There is such a function! Let me try..."

"No bait detected, fishing success rate: 15%"

"We still need bait."

"Oi! Master Feng! What are you playing?"

When Feng Shao was trying to fish, the others had already walked some distance away. Meng Rou found Feng Shao who had fallen behind and called out to him.

"coming!"

I gave up fishing and took back the fishing rod, and it returned to its original state.

"If this fishing rod were given to a professional angler, it would be a treasure."

Indeed, a fishing rod that is extremely strong, flexible, and can be shrunk to make it easy to carry is indeed the dream rod of many anglers.

After taking two quick steps to catch up with the main group, they soon reached the location of the village they had discovered. When they walked into the village, although the surrounding environment looked like a peaceful and tranquil place, there was always an indescribable strange feeling.

"Strange, why is there no one on the road?"

"Maybe they are cooking or resting? The troughs of the cows in the surrounding pens seem to have just been filled. These cows are also normal and are not afraid of people."

Yang Jin approached the fence of a cattle pen, where several cows were grazing. He reached out and touched them a few times, but the cattle did not resist. It seemed that they often came into contact with humans.

"Knock on the door and ask."

After choosing a house with smoke coming out of its chimney, Meng Rou and Dai Lin knocked on the door. As girls with better looks, they would be more approachable than Zhu Long and others, as well as the dirty Daniel.

"coming!"

A teenager's voice was heard from the bungalow in the farmyard, followed by footsteps.

"Squeak..."

A young man who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old opened the gate.

"What's wrong with you?"

"We are backpackers and would like to ask if there is any ..."

Just as Meng Rou was talking to the boy, she suddenly discovered that the boy's ears were a little different. They were long and pointed, and he was relatively tall. Among the people traveling with him, only Zhu Long was taller than him, and the others were all shorter than him.

"You are tourists, are you looking for a temporary place to stay?"

“Yeah, that’s right!”

"That's easy. Do you see that four-story building in the middle of the road? That's the village hotel. You can stay there."

Following the direction the boy pointed, they saw a four-story... tree house.

"Can I ask how much it costs to stay in a hotel for one night? The money we brought may not be enough, maybe..."

"Well, don't worry. You can stay here even if you don't have money. The owner of the hotel is a collector. He likes to collect those strange things that no one wants. Oh, and he also likes to eat fish in the lake, but he is a terrible fisherman and has never caught a fish. It would be best if you could give him a few fish. If you tell him that you are going to fish, he will give you bait for free, but you have to give him half of the fish you catch."

"Thank you very much. By the way, can I ask you something? Although it is only noon now, why are all the villagers staying in their houses? Of course, if it is inconvenient to ask, just pretend I didn't ask."

"Well, there's nothing special about this. I believe you should have discovered that we are elves, not humans. In our tribe, we have the habit of taking a lunch break, and it is written in our clan rules."

"That's it."

"Actually, I can't understand why you would do this. You could make use of this time. Do you have anything else to do?"

"No, thank you, sorry for bothering you."

"You're welcome."

The elf boy waved goodbye, closed the gate, and returned to his house.

The five players were not surprised to meet other races in the dungeon, but what surprised them was Daniel's attitude. He seemed not surprised at all by the existence of elves.

"Daniel, have you... seen an elf before?"

"Ah? Of course! My father is an elf. What's so special about elves? Are you from a place where elves have never been seen?"

"So you're a half-elf? We always thought that half-elves should have pointy ears."

"That may be due to the different types of elves. Anyway, I don't have pointy ears."

"Do the elves here know magic?"

"Of course it will happen, but I don't know exactly what it will be. The place that young man mentioned should be here."

Daniel's tone did not show any surprise from beginning to end, as if the appearance of elves and the coexistence of magic and technology in this copy were common things.

Walking into the hotel, the furnishings inside were not much different from those of today's hotels. A fat elf was lying on a chair behind the computer at the counter, sleeping soundly. His pet, a creature that should be a cat, was lying on his belly, also snoring.

"This... is really not the elf we imagined..." Feng Shao scratched his temple with the fishing rod.

“As for diversity, we must learn to tolerate and understand it.”

Zhu Long shrugged.