There was a border town at the west of Kaar called Valinah, it was one of the main towns of the Northern Continent.
The new channel discovered by the Zoogs was at the outskirts of Valinah. When they discovered it, it was already on the verge of collapse, so they had to depart immediately. This was because there were not always suitable passageways, and it was limited to the Northern Continent. If one was unlucky, it could take a year or two to find one.
Over the past week, Gu Jun and the rest did not show any symptoms, so they probably did not carry any germs with them.
The Elder Zoog also said that the House of Worm would not give them anything. The germs and parasites were the treasures of the House of Worm. They did not want them but for those who did, they would have to sacrifice to obtain them.
Of course, they did not want any of these treasures, it was best for them to leave this place as soon as possible.
It would take at least 2 days to travel from this Zoog village to Valinah. In fact, the channel might collapse by the time they arrived.
Therefore, the sooner they left, the better. The group packed all their belongings and prepared to depart.
Before they left, Gu Jun had another discussion with the Elder Zoogs. As greedy as the Zoogs were, there were good and bad humans, the same applied to the Zoogs. This time, the Zoogs had really helped humanity a lot. The generous reward he promised was not an empty promise, he only hoped that it would be a win-win situation.
Furthermore, he hoped to form a long-term strategic partnership with the Zoogs.
"Sir, to put it simply, you need to provide us with information on everything that has happened here, especially the House of Worm and the situation of the physical channel into the dream. You can split this into regular reports and urgent notifications. I can promise you that you will have the grouse and the ducks, we will try our best to fulfill your request. "
The Elder Zoog was tempted but this was a serious matter and he could not make the decision. He stated that he needed to consult the tribe leader of the Enchanted Forest.
There was another situation … He patted his stomach and sighed, "Mr. Nightmare Man, we are a family. There are some things that we Zoogs cannot decide ourselves, we have to consult the evil cats at Ulthar but they will most likely disagree. But most of them won't agree, so we never interact too much with the civilizations of any world. "
Gu Jun understood that the Dreamlands was a complicated world and there were things that could not be forced. He said, "Sir, please inform the Tribe Leader, we await his reply."
He had another secret weapon, the sweet dream of the Zoogs in his mind. As long as he did not let the sweet dream shatter, he would be able to maintain contact with the Zoogs.
He decided on a name for the Zoog, 'Lucky'. His real name could not be uttered by human beings because the Zoog's name contained the frequency and rhythm of the slapping, it was not something that could be expressed with a simple voice.
Lucky liked the name very much, because he said that it had the pop culture meaning of "great luck, eat grouse tonight," which suited him perfectly.
To be honest, Gu Jun had already established a friendship with the Zoogs. Whether or not the deal would work out, it would not affect the generous reward.
"You can think about what you want. I can even build a statue for you."
"Statue?" The Elder Zoog was not interested, he was afraid that the man would use these useless and inedible things as an excuse. "We'll have to discuss this with the Tribe Leader."
He felt like his intelligence was still limited. This was such a good promise, he should leave it to the Tribe Leader to see how to maximize its value.
Gu Jun expressed his wish to take away one or two golden aloe seedlings and some aloe materials to the Elder Zoog.
Like all plants, the golden aloe had a cycle of life and death. The withered leaves were the main ingredient of the Zoog's wine. It was not a problem for Gu Jun's group to take away about 8 kilograms of these materials. The Elder Zoog even gave them several jars of aloe wine.
But the golden aloe seedlings, the Elder Zoog realized this was another opportunity to take advantage of them.
"Mr. Nightmare Man, don't say I didn't warn you, the seedlings will not survive once they leave this place. If you can accept that, I'll give you two. "
The golden aloe did not have seeds, new stalks would grow around them. The seedlings were precious but giving away a few would not make much of a difference.
"I wish to give it a try." Gu Jun smiled. Without the pressure brought by the danger of his teammates, he did not have much of a temper. He said calmly, "Old sir, I just want to do my best to benefit my people. You should understand this feeling. I will not give up until I try."
"Fine." The Elder Zoog ignored him and stated his request, "Instead of 'generous reward', I want it to be 'extremely generous reward'."
There was a difference between generous and extremely generous, he emphasized this point. If 10 grouse were generous, then 100 grouse were extremely generous.
"We're family." Gu Jun said, "I can't give you extremely generous, but how about extremely generous?"
Just like that, the homo sapiens from Earth, with him as the representative, owed the Zoog a 'very generous reward'.
The Zoog tribe gave away two golden aloe seedlings. According to the Elder Zoog, this would cause the production of their aloe wine to drop by ten percent in the next few years. When they gathered in the forest at night to gossip, each Zoog would have to drink one less cup of wine, the loss was huge.
Gu Jun not only took away the seedlings but also some soil and lake water. He used the med kit to store the seedlings.
Why could the golden aloe not be transplanted elsewhere? What was so special about this place? Soil? Water? Climate? He could only take as much as he could.
However, the Elder Zoog did not lie to them. Even though the team took good care of the two seedlings along the way, when they reached the outskirts of Valinae two days later, the two seedlings had wilted.
Looking at the lifeless seedlings inside the med kit, Gu Jun sighed silently.
"Ah Jun, we've tried our best." Uncle Dan was also disappointed. Everyone's dream had been shattered but they could only accept this reality.
Even so, they had to take these things back to the lab to study.
Naturally, the Zoogs were worried that the Nightmare Man would be angry but Gu Jun did not vent his anger on any of the Zoogs.
They did not enter Valinae for three reasons: one, they were in a hurry; two, if anything happened, they would not be able to leave; three, Atal did say that the more they knew about Dreamlands, the more connected they would be to this place and the harder it would be for them to leave through the channel.
The channel was located in a secluded area outside the city. When they arrived, thankfully the entrance was still there but the light was weak.
"Respected guests, you have to leave now." Lucky studied the entrance. "Looks like this channel can only be used once so we mustn't hesitate."
"Then we'll be in touch." Gu Jun told Lucky and then bade farewell to the other Zoogs before leading the way to the entrance.
He, Peacock, Uncle Dan and the rest used ropes to tie each other's waists. The group followed behind Gu Jun, carrying their belongings as they walked into the strange world.
This time, Gu Jun did not see anything strange, he did not see the mysterious shadow either, there was only light and shadows that were difficult to distinguish.
But his mood was no lighter than the last time he returned. He was filled with anxiety about the unknown.
They had no idea what was happening on Earth. Ever since that night, in the past 10 days, the best and the worst could happen.
On the way here, the team had already come up with all sorts of scenarios, because they had to be mentally prepared to deal with all sorts of situations.
The air over there could be deadly poison, and they might end up in the ruins of a city. Even if the world was still fine, the global political environment must have changed after the plague. Therefore, if they were not in their own country, they must not reveal their identity and origin.
"Come." Gu Jun held a syringe and strode towards the end of the light.
'Beep, beep …' He thought he heard a car horn, 'Are there still cars on the road?'
The image of the bus at the House of Worm and the citizens panicking at the sight of the white figure flashed across his mind …
In his nervousness, Gu Jun walked past the light and felt his body sink. A familiar sense of gravity returned, it was Earth's gravity.
There was no stench in the air, only the exhaust from the vehicles.
The honking became louder and the scene before his eyes became clearer. He looked around and realized he was on the street of an unknown city. He had walked out from a green fence. He saw the Chinese signboards of the nearby shops, Central Plains Tea, Century Real Estate, Delicious Lobster …
He saw the skyscrapers around him and the pedestrians on the street. There were people waiting for the traffic light to cross the road.
"I'm back …" He mumbled and then he laughed into the sky, "I'm back!"
Even though most of the pedestrians were wearing medical masks, some did not.
The streets of this city were still orderly, the traffic was still moving and the shops were open for business.
An auntie who was passing by still had the leisure to look at them. She frowned with a look of disgust, as if saying, "What are these people doing? They're even wearing strange and tattered linen clothes. It's fine if they're young, but don't they have any sense of shame for those old men?"
"Haha!" Uncle Dan glared back. Peacock and Ma Feng cheered. Lou Xiaoning even screamed in excitement, "Ah!!"
Everyone understood what the scene before them meant.
The new legionella pneumonia did not destroy everything, this beautiful yet ruined world was still there.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
