At this time, Jiang Hu didn't know what was happening behind him, because he was competing with the black rat in front of him.
Not to mention, this half-meter-long big rat is quite powerful. Throwing the weapon aside, you can completely restrain it by holding the shield with both hands. If you hold the shield with one hand, it may escape.
"Brother! Are you okay over there? I've got this black rat under control!"
"Okay, okay! It's solved! It's here!"
An unnatural red color appeared on Chen Yao's face.
"Xiaohu, hold on tight!"
Jiang Hu responded yes.
Chen Yao knelt down, holding his sword with both hands, aiming at the black rat's eyes and stabbing it hard.
"Squeak!!!!" With a scream, the black rat began to struggle violently, and after a few moments, it became silent.
"Yao...Brother Yao, is it over?"
Qiu Yueli's soft voice came from behind Chen Yao.
Chen Yao shook off the blood on his dagger and put it in its sheath. Jiang Hu also stood up and began to check the shield.
Looking back, Chen Yao almost laughed. At this moment, Yue Li was hiding behind him, her eyes closed tightly, and her two small hands were still tightly holding the corners of Chen Yao's clothes, like a blind mouse biting its tail. , it’s a bit funny but also really heartbreaking.
Gently opening the girl's clenched hands, Chen Yao turned around and grabbed both sides of Qiu Yueli's face.
"Don't do this again! Being distracted during battle is taboo. What if you close your eyes and fall?"
Chen Yao seemed to reprimand him seriously.
"Well...but those two big rats are really scary! So big! They look very fierce at first sight!"
The girl opened her eyes and took one look at the dead body of the black rat before daring to look at it again. Then she playfully stuck out her tongue at Chen Yao.
"In short, it will not be allowed in the future..."
"ah!!"
Before Chen Yao finished speaking, he was interrupted by Jiang Hu's scream.
"What's wrong, little tiger! Are there any other strange beasts?!"
Chen Yao turned around, drew his sword with his right hand, and looked around nervously. Qiu Yunxi, who was originally on guard, also bowed slightly.
"No, come here and take a look." Jiang Hu scratched his head and said innocently.
Several people returned to normal and gathered around. They saw the shield placed on the ground face up. There were several clear teeth marks on the inlaid iron plate on the lower right side. One of the snakewood branches that weaved the shield into was chewed off.
"Hiss...this black rat is so cruel...if it bites you..."
Everyone shuddered.
"However, this shield is quite strong. It is made of three layers of snakewood branches. This damage will not have any impact on use."
Jiang Hu raised his shield and waved it twice to make sure that the shield could still be used normally.
"Just trying out the newly learned ritual...Which one of you is coming?"
Chen Yao glanced at the three people.
"Hey~ I don't want it, let Brother Tiger do it!"
"I don't want it either."
Apparently the sisters still have some resistance to this kind of creature.
"Okay, little tiger, one for each person."
"okay!"
The two brothers each pressed the head of a black rat and initiated the absorption ritual.
"absorb-orr'e..."
An extremely comfortable feeling flowed from the palm of his hand into Chen Yao's whole body, but this feeling only lasted for two seconds and ended. The two of them were obviously still unfinished.
"Well... that's it. Forget it, let's get rid of the body. The black rat meat is too dirty to eat. The skin can be used to make maps, but it is too difficult to process. In this case..."
Chen Yao rubbed his chin and pondered in a low voice.
Chen Yao picked up the dagger, used the tip of the sword to pry open the mouth of one of the black rats, and squatted down to observe.
The most conspicuous thing in the black rat's mouth is its four upper and lower incisors. They are not as unsightly as expected. Instead, they are smooth and clean, obviously the result of frequent polishing.
"Little Tiger, try if you can use your hammer to knock off their front teeth. Be careful not to break them."
"oh!"
Jiang Hu didn't ask any questions, picked up the hammer, carefully followed the angle that Chen Yao pried open, and struck near the roots of the black rat's front teeth from the inside out, with gradually increasing intensity.
With a soft click, a complete lower incisor of a black rat was held in Chen Yao's hand. The incisor was all milky white and the tip was slightly curved, about a finger long.
Next, Chen Yao and Jiang Hu followed the same method and knocked out the remaining seven incisors of the two black rats. Six of the eight teeth were intact, and the roots of two were broken, leaving only two-thirds.
Chen Yao felt a little distressed, but it was extremely difficult to achieve such results under such simple conditions.
Although black rat teeth look clean, they still emit an unpleasant smell. After all... black rats don't know how to clean their mouths.
Chen Yao wrapped these teeth with a rag and put them into the ring.
"We need to find a place to clean these teeth. It's not suitable to stay here for a long time. We're afraid that the blood will attract strange beasts. Why don't we throw the body..."
Chen Yao thought for a while, if he threw it aside casually, the smell after decay would not be good, and the villagers passing by would definitely feel uncomfortable.
"Forget it, Xiaohu, I'll excuse you and put them into your binding ring."
The ring-binding space increases based on the improvement of the wearer's physique. With Xiaohu's physique, it is no problem to accept the two black rat corpses. After all, even Chen Yao's ring-binding space is three cubic meters in size.
"oh."
After putting away the black rat, Chen Yao took out the map given by the village chief and started looking at it.
On the map, five kilometers further along the route chosen by Chen Yao, it turned out to be the place where Blacksmith Li had collected minerals, and the place where he was contaminated by the dark aura.
This location was marked with a big cross on the map, and the word "danger" was written below. Obviously this was done by the village chief to remind a few people.
"You want to find out the cause of the pollution incident? I advise you to give up this idea."
Qiu Yunxi's cold voice came from the side.
"Well... I know it's dangerous, but I still want to try. If the danger is eliminated, it will be a good thing for the village."
Chen Yao touched his nose, obviously feeling guilty.
"Hmph! It's up to you! If something happens then, I won't care about you!"
Qiu Yunxi threw his hands away angrily and turned around, saying coldly.
Chen Yao smiled coquettishly and had no words, but as if he thought of something, he called out to Qiu Yunxi again.
"Yun Xi, um, look...when will you help me awaken?"
"Wait until we find a safe, well-lit place."
Although Qiu Yunxi was angry at this time, he still paused and responded.
"Okay! Thank you." This thank you obviously made the atmosphere a little awkward.
"Don't say these useless things! I just hope you can think more about everyone! Protect Yueli at the critical moment, what else can I expect from you! Humph!"
Qiu Yunxi felt a sense of inexplicable irritation as he spoke, so he simply stamped his feet and turned away, ignoring Chen Yao.
"Everything I say is wrong...forget it."
Chen Yao is obviously innocent.
After taking a short rest, a few people quietly came to the right road they had chosen before. This time they did not disturb any strange beasts.
"Xiaohu, help me, let's clean up this entrance. It's not easy to walk here, for fear of getting scratched or tripped."
"Okay!" Jiang Hu put his shield back and held the hammer with one hand, obviously very motivated.
Chen Yao drew out his dagger and then turned around.
"Yun Xi, um...please look after the rear."
"I know."
Qiu Yunxi turned around and became alert, his face still cold.
"Brother Yao! What about me? What can I do?"
Yue Li is still very active when there is no danger.
"Well... look around to see if there are any herbs, spices, wild fruits, etc., but! Don't leave the ten-meter radius!"
Chen Yao opened his mouth and assigned Lili, the team's mascot, an easy but almost impossible task. Under the black abyss, there were very few herbs and fragrant plants, let alone wild fruits.
"I know! I will definitely do it well!"
Yueli took a rare moment of seriousness and ran to search nearby. However, Qiu Yunxi was not at ease and kept his eyes locked on his sister, occasionally glancing behind her.
Ahead, Jiang Hu, Chenyao and the other two men cleared the trail of cluttered plants and vines with swords and hammers. It took the two of them half a week to cover the short ten-meter road.
"Shua! Tsk! Tsk!"
Chen Yao swung his sword again, and large pieces of rattan were scattered on the ground, and were knocked aside by Jiang Hu's two hammers.
The road ahead became a little wider, and further ahead was a small open space. From here on, the road was no longer covered with rattan weeds.
"Phew! Finally cleaned up."
Chen Yao raised the back of his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"I have to prepare a sword next time. My hammer can't even smash these snakewood vines."
Jiang Hu said depressedly.
At this time, both of their bodies were covered with grass clippings and canes, and it would definitely take some time to clean them up.
"Call Yun Xiyueli over first, let's fix it up front."
Chen Yao dusted off the debris on his head.
"Yes! They are afraid of being spotted by strange beasts outside."
The two walked back a few steps, and before they reached the place, they saw Yue Li running over in a hurry, followed by Qiu Yunxi. Judging from their expressions, it was not an emergency.
After trotting up to Chen Yao and the others, Qiu Yueli raised her small hands.
"Brother Xiaohu, Brother Yao, look!"
At this time, Qiu Yueli also had some grass clippings on her body, but it couldn't hide the happiness on her face.
The two of them turned to look at the girl's palm. Inside, there were dozens of small wild fruits with dark red skin and black spots.
"This is... wild fruit?! Where did you find it?"
Chen Yao picked one up and looked at it. He couldn't tell whether it was good or bad based on the color. He smelled it and found a light earthy smell with a special fragrance.
"It's right over there. I found the place Brother Yao just mentioned by chance!"
"I wanted to see if I could find the potatoes that the old newspapers were talking about, so I pulled up the plants and looked at their roots."
"Then, I pulled up a plant that looked like a weed and discovered that this wild fruit grows in the soil, but it was buried very shallow, hehe."
Qiu Yueli's little face was raised, with a slight smile on her lips. Now she looked a bit like...a puppy asking for rewards.
Villagers occasionally bring back some old newspapers from the Heiyuan garbage dump to let everyone know about the outside world. This is also the only way for Heiyuan Village to understand the outside world.
"Lili is great! She successfully completed the mission I sent! Great achievement!"
Chen Yao rubbed the girl's hair lovingly, which made Lili dissatisfied for a while. When he took his hand back, he started to wonder again, whether this thing can be eaten?
If the wild fruit has dark power, then those who eat it will definitely be contaminated. If it is just toxic, it would be better to solve it. The old village chief said that power has the property of restraint, so...
"Lili, try to purify it with the light of life."
"Eh? Do you want to purify these wild fruits? Is there anything wrong with these wild fruits?"
"I'm not sure...but if it has a dark smell, people who eat it will definitely be contaminated. If it's just toxic, it will cause diarrhea..."
"Oh~ That's it, I didn't even expect it! Brother Yao is so awesome!"
"Chen Yao is right, it's better to be cautious."
Qiu Yunxi rarely agreed with Chen Yao once.
Qiu Yueli closed her eyes, and a few seconds later a light green light lit up between her cupped hands.
At this moment, the people around them felt refreshed and all the previous fatigue was gone.
At the same time, Chen Yao's eyes were fixed on Yue Li's palm. After a few seconds, the wild fruits in the light only became more colorful and attractive, and the black energy did not escape.
"Okay, Lili, stop." Chen Yao said softly.
"What's wrong, Brother Yao, has the purification been completed?"
"No, these wild fruits should not be contaminated by the dark aura, so I'll try them first."
Chen Yao wiped the wild fruit he was holding with his hand, and then threw it into his mouth.
"Although this fruit grows underground, it is plump, juicy, sweet and delicious...this taste! this feeling! Wow..."
After chewing twice, Chen Yao was suddenly shocked, and then he actually cried!
"Brother..."
"Brother Yao? What's wrong with you..."
Chen Yao swallowed the wild fruit in his mouth with a gulp and wiped away the tears of happiness.
"It's okay... I've just never eaten anything so delicious... I've only learned about fruits in ancient books before."
"This is probably the first thing that can be called a fruit that has been discovered in Black Abyss Village."
Holding a wild fruit between her two jade fingers, Qiu Yunxi murmured, then put it into her mouth. After chewing it for a few times, her face showed an expression of enjoyment.
"No wonder Chen Yao is so rude... Lili, you have really made a great contribution!"
Qiu Yunxi opened his eyes, with a rare expression of excitement on his face.
"Hehe! No! Brother Yao asked me to go!"
"Okay Lili, put away the wild fruits first."
Chen Yao touched his nose awkwardly, then turned around and said.
"Yun Xi, you should wait. I'm here to test whether it's poisonous, just in case..."
"Then let's go there to rest first."
Qiu Yunxi didn't respond to him, pointed to the small open space the two of them had discovered before, and then walked away.
The group of people began to work in the open space. Jiang Huchenyao first took out rags and water to wipe the blood on the weapons, and then several people began to help each other clean up the debris on their bodies...
Qiu Yunxi had nothing to do, so he left the camp to investigate the surrounding area.
[Everyday, please collect and vote! Thank you very much to all book friends for your reading and support! 】
