Chapter 354: Xingqiu's Speculation
But... so what if there is something fishy, this is Liyue, my ahem, old man’s territory!
If you look up and shout loudly, even if a cart of bread men won't jump out, a very powerful demon-conquering great sage will definitely descend from the sky to teach you how to behave.
"It's time to eat. If you guys have anything else to say, we can talk later."
Xiangling and Guoba came over with dishes. "Captain, where have you been these days? We asked Keqing, but she didn't know where you went."
"Of course she didn't know where I was. I went to Mond."
Gu Sanqiu took out chopsticks and distributed them to everyone. When he came to Yaya, he paused obviously, then changed to knife, fork and spoon.
"Haha, thank you very much."
Yaya was surprised that Gu Sanqiu would carry these tableware with him, but having a knife and fork was still very convenient.
"Leilei~"
Guoba stretched out his two short hands and slapped Gu Sanqiu's waist fiercely.
"Well, what do you want, this?"
Gu Sanqiu took out the snacks he had opened from the golden finger.
"NeiNei——"
Guoba shook his head and pointed to the simple stove.
"Um……"
Gu Sanqiu glanced at the relatively "simple" six dishes and two soups in front of him.
"You feel like the food is not enough and you want to order one more dish?"
Guoba nodded with a smile, jumped up and touched Gu Sanqiu's shoulder, as if to say that the boy was very sensible.
"Okay, leave this to me."
Gu Sanqiu glanced at Xingqiu and said, "Come with me. You haven't told me what the ground vein explosion is all about yet."
"Okay, let me pick up some food."
Xingqiu hurriedly picked up a bowl for himself and looked at Chongyun who was standing beside him.
“Do you need to leave some for that guy?”
"No need. In order to make him recover as soon as possible, I used a medicine array. It's good enough that he doesn't feel like dying after waking up. How can he continue to eat?"
Gu Sanqiu snapped his fingers and flames began to rise. He heated oil in a pan and sautéed the condiments.
"Go on, I can hear you."
"Of course I know you can hear it. This matter is not as simple as you think. The eruption of the earth veins is different from ordinary siltation and migration. This is probably something that has reached the ground from deeper places."
Xingqiu gestured: "You know digging potatoes, right? In the past, dealing with earth vein phenomena was roughly similar to digging out potatoes. It's very simple and doesn't require digging deep."
"But this time the earth vein explosion is not like this. If I have to describe it, it is to dig deep into the mineral vein, which is completely different from digging potatoes."
"If that's the case, why do you have to drag them into this? Shouldn't this matter be left to the General Affairs Department?"
Gu Sanqiu chopped up the red and green peppers and cooked duck eggs, stir-fried them on the stove, and added seasonings.
"Although there are indeed some idlers these days, the General Affairs Department is not without people to use, and there must be good people, not to mention that the Qianyan Army will also be involved in this matter. Do you think that the thing that the Qianyan Army has been practicing recently is a joke?"
Xingqiu frowned. "I just noticed something was wrong. The people from the General Affairs Department didn't seem to care much about this matter. And there's another thing I feel is not right."
Gu Sanqiu passed the "ghost fire" to the side. Guoba, who had been waiting beside him, took the dish with shining eyes. Just as he was about to open his mouth and start eating, he saw Xiangling's angry face.
"Potato crust! This is what the squad leader fried for everyone!"
"NeiNei!"
Gu Sanqiu started to prepare the second dish, a simple scallion seafood porridge paired with a small pickled vegetable platter, which could help neutralize the hot chili smell that permeated the surrounding area.
"You want to know where these treasure-stealing groups got this information, right? The treasure-stealing groups shouldn't know about the academic term "earth vein explosion", and they shouldn't have gathered so many people to fight with you."
Gu Sanqiu looked at Xingqiu and said, "You and I both know the criteria for Wangsheng Hall to recruit people, and those are the only other parties who know about this matter. Do you suspect that someone in the General Affairs Department has leaked the news?"
Xingqiu shook his head: "Not only that, apart from the fact that the Treasure Stealing Group somehow knew about this, don't you think the Seven Stars were too slow in their actions this time, or even too lazy to care?"
Gu Sanqiu frowned: "Don't bother to care? Hasn't the Qianyan Army been mobilized?"
Xingqiu shrugged, "Of course not. On the surface, everyone is still harmonious and making huge sums of Mora every day. Even the Adventurer's Association has not made any moves, and even explained to the outside world that it is just a common leyline phenomenon."
"Besides Wangsheng Hall and us, the people who are handling this matter are some practitioners, or families that have passed down the family tradition for several generations. As for the official, I really can't see any action from them at the moment."
Xingqiu spread his hands and said, "I felt something was wrong, so I dragged everyone out to take a look. But I didn't expect this thing to be so powerful."
"The power deep in the earth veins formed a protective body. If our team was not strong enough, it would be difficult to deal with an earth vein outbreak point."
"The power deep in the earth veins..."
The word "deep" touched Gu Sanqiu's nerves.
"When the monsters attacked and came to compete with you for the silt core, did you notice anything wrong?"
"Something's wrong? Wait for me to think about it..."
Xingqiu thought about it seriously, and then he was stunned: "I got it. If there is anything wrong, then this thing should be counted."
"explain."
"Rock Helmet King, there is a Rock Helmet King that is particularly large and has a black body."
Gu Sanqiu frowned: "It's black, is the skin black or is there a black aura coming out of the whole body."
If it was the latter, in this world where one could distinguish elemental forces and their properties by color, he should have been wary of the true properties of that thing.
"Skin, to be more precise, it should be the armor on the Rock Helmet King. The elemental armor he condensed using elemental power is still of normal color."
"Black?"
Gu Sanqiu frowned: "Are there any different characteristics?"
"Yes, it was extremely hard. I couldn't cut it at all. Only Minglei and Manye used the wind and thunder properties to break through the Rock Helmet King's defense, and then it was left to Tartaglia to finish off the opponent."
Xingqiu explained: "This reminds me of forging. That guy probably forged his own body, or strengthened it to a point where it would be difficult for us to break it."
“Is there such a saying?”
Gu Sanqiu raised his eyebrows. He had never seen a Rock Armor King with dark armor before. Could it be a new species, or an advanced version of the Hillock King with even stronger strength?
However, according to Xingqiu's description, even Minglei and Wanye needed to cooperate to successfully break the defense, and finally let Yaya find an opportunity to make a final blow. The strength of that thing is definitely much higher than that of an ordinary Rock Armor King.
"So you want me to ask my sister?"
Xingqiu nodded. "There's nothing we can do. The eruption of the earth veins has brought together some of the silt cores. The sheer force alone is enough to cause a lot of trouble for ordinary people. Recently, some farmers have reported that the climate and geology are not right."
"I've read so many books but never seen any description of this thing. Then the treasure-stealing gang, a bunch of guys who disregard the law, showed up in large numbers. Their style is completely different from before."
Xingqiu patted Gu Sanqiu on the shoulder and said, "Be careful, I suspect it was man-made."
