That afternoon, the snowstorm was so heavy that even the officers of the Divine Arms Battalion found it hard to bear. The person in charge of clearing the snow had to pull his leg out of the snow before he could take another step.
Even though everyone took turns clearing the snow, it was still extremely strenuous to walk on flat ground in this terrible weather.
However, no one dared to faint again for the entire afternoon. They were afraid they would be dragged to their deaths in the snow by Ren Xiaosu.
"Let's set up camp." The Divine Arms officer said, "We'll continue after the snow stops."
This was not the time to care about their pride. If they carried on, all of them might end up dying in the snow.
At that point, they would still not be able to complete their mission. They might not even be able to make it to Mt. Shuanglong.
The Divine Arms officer felt he could still hold on, but the soldiers of the private army were too weak.
When they learned they could set up camp and rest, all the soldiers felt like they had been reborn. They trembled and wanted to sit down in the snow to rest. But Ren Xiaosu shouted, "All of you, get up and set up your tents! If you don't have a tent to take shelter from the wind and you want to rest, do you want to die in the snow?"
Actually, if they did not want to set up their tents, they could also rest in the snow. All they had to do was dig a snow pit and bury themselves in it. This was not meant to be sarcastic. It was just that this was the best way to trek in the snow without a tent.
Many people thought it would be even colder to bury themselves in a snow pit. But in fact, a snow pit could actually help keep the body warm, because the world outside the snow pit was even colder.
Ren Xiaosu had heard from Zhang Jinglin that some of the humans further north would build houses made of ice to keep warm in the winter.
Faced with the threat of death, everyone struggled to get up and used the last of their strength to set up their tents.
But some of the platoons were in a terrible state. In order to save energy, they had already thrown away their tents.
It would be better if they could squeeze into someone else's tent at this time. But if they were not allowed to use their tents, they would have no choice but to dig a snow pit and gamble on whether their bodies were tough enough.
Ren Xiaosu instructed Li Qingzheng and the others, "I'll set up the tent. You guys go pick up some firewood from the ground and bring it back. If there's no firewood, pick up some twigs. We have to start a fire to warm ourselves up. Everyone can have a bowl of hot porridge, or else no one will be able to withstand it."
"Alright." Li Qingzheng's face was flushed red from the cold. "Leave it to me. Brothers, follow me. We're going out to gather some firewood."
The branches that were broken off from the trees would emit a lot of smoke when they were ignited, which was very suffocating.
But compared to keeping warm, this was a small matter.
At this moment, the voice from the palace said in Ren Xiaosu's mind, "Quest complete. Rewarded Basic Skill Duplication Scroll."
At this moment, his quest was finally completed. This was probably the most difficult quest he had ever completed.
Currently, he had two Skill Duplication Scrolls on him, but Ren Xiaosu did not plan on using them because there were no targets nearby that he could learn from. If he encountered Nonsense again, he could give it a try. Although the Basic Skill Duplication Scrolls could not allow him to learn superpowers, Nonsense definitely had quite a few skills that Ren Xiaosu could use. Even if he were to try his luck, he would probably be able to get something good out of it.
However, the palace was not done speaking. It continued, "Side quest complete. Unlocked new product for the vending machine, seeds!"
Ren Xiaosu's eyes lit up. The time for this side quest had finally come. He kept feeling that it had been a long time, but when he thought about it carefully, it was only the second day of the Lunar New Year.
He looked into the palace and saw the vending machine standing there quietly. Next to the Explosive Poker slot, a new slot had appeared.
Seeds were scattered in that slot, but what surprised Ren Xiaosu was that the seeds looked a little different. Could it be that the plants that grew out of the different shapes of the seeds would be different?
The newly unlocked slot was like a candy box in a grocery store. The colorful wrappers represented different flavors, and the different colors of the seeds represented different uses.
He inserted a gratitude token into the slot and saw a crimson seed the size of a thumb fall out from the slot below. Ren Xiaosu held it in his hand, but the palace did not explain what it was.
"Do I have to plant it to find out?" Ren Xiaosu was puzzled. More importantly, shouldn't the palace at least tell him the environment in which it grew?
Products from the palace would definitely have magical properties, but this magical property had to be experimented on by oneself.
For example, the Explosive Poker was a bomb that Ren Xiaosu had developed himself. If he had not developed it, it would just be an ordinary poker card.
What should he do? Try burying it in the ground? What if the seed could germinate and bloom immediately? Wouldn't it be wonderful if the plants that grew from the seed could immediately bear fruit in this winter?
Ren Xiaosu always had great expectations for the side quest rewards given by the palace. He even had expectations that disregarded the laws of nature.
Ren Xiaosu said to Chen Wudi, "Stay here and guard the tent. When they come back, tell them that I saw a small wild boar and was going to catch it for dinner. If I come back late, you'll have to improvise."
"OK." Chen Wudi nodded.
Ren Xiaosu walked alone into the snow. As he walked, he felt that it might have been a little rash for him to ask Chen Wudi to improvise.
He headed further north to find a suitable place to experiment on how magical the seed was.
He kept heading north until he found a slightly leeward spot. Then he finally dug up the snow and soil on the ground and buried the scarlet seed inside.
Ren Xiaosu waited patiently. The seed that had just been buried suddenly sprouted, and thorn-like thorns grew outwards. Its thorny branches spread out from the snow and only stopped after spreading for dozens of meters.
If the snow was lifted, Ren Xiaosu would probably see the red thorny vines spread across the ground like a spider's web, waiting for its prey.
At this moment, the plant connected with Ren Xiaosu's consciousness like the Explosive Poker. Ren Xiaosu was shocked to discover that the plant was extremely aggressive. If it was not controlled by Ren Xiaosu, it would attack any living creature that passed by!
What was going on? Ren Xiaosu thought this thing could bear fruit and eat it, but it turned out to be an offensive plant.
No, rather than saying it was an offensive plant, it was more of a defensive plant.
If Ren Xiaosu and the others really lived in the deep mountains and forests in the future, they would not have to be afraid of any wild animals as long as they planted this plant around them.
Ren Xiaosu looked at the other colored seeds in the palace. He did not know what abilities they would have, but there had to be at least one that was edible, right?
He thought for a moment before inserting another five gratitude tokens and exchanging them for five seeds in one go. Then he buried them in the soil far away from each other.
Chen Wudi sat in the tent and waited. Li Qingzheng asked, "Wudi, where did your master go?"
Chen Wudi thought for a moment and said, "My master went to catch a wild boar for us to eat for dinner."
Li Qingzheng asked, "Then why isn't he back yet?"
Chen Wudi thought for a moment. "Maybe the wild boar didn't agree."
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