Chapter : 74

Yan Yunqing had no idea he had been labeled a soft-hearted and moderately strong sitting duck. He walked into this restaurant and discovered it was actually a noodle soup shop.

How strange.

It had to be said that many of the habits of this other world were quite similar to those of Western countries on Blue Star, especially the eating habits.

They mostly preferred fried or roasted meat chops, as well as thick soups stewed with various ingredients.

They also ate pasta, but it was mostly the kind that was dry-tossed, similar to Blue Star's spaghetti.

Very few people ate noodle soup made from flour. To think that he would see a restaurant selling noodle soup in this Free City.

Yan Yunqing casually found a seat. It wasn't mealtime, so there weren't many people in the restaurant. It seemed deserted and empty.

"Boss? Is anyone here?" Yan Yunqing called out.

Some movement came from the kitchen. After a short while, a dusty-looking uncle walked out. He had a full beard, a towel draped around his neck, and his hair was neatly wrapped in a cloth.

He lifted the curtain and glanced out. Seeing Yan Yunqing's unfamiliar face, he was not surprised, just casually asked.

"Right now, there's only vegetarian noodle soup, nothing else."

Yan Yunqing glanced at the level above his head. He was actually a level thirty-nine NPC.

What was the situation in this Free City? Even the chef in a small restaurant had a high level.

Yan Yunqing thought that this shop looked like it had been open for a long time, so it probably wouldn't be too bad. He simply agreed, "Okay."

The bearded uncle nodded, lifted the curtain again, and walked back in. Immediately, Yan Yunqing heard the sound of a fire being lit.

He was a little bored. Seeing that there was no door blocking the kitchen curtain, he simply walked to the side of the door, gently lifted a corner of the curtain, and poked his head in.

The bearded uncle was kneading the dough in his hands. He pinched both ends of the dough, casually swung it a couple of times, and the dough in the middle turned into long, thin noodles.

He joined the two ends, swung it a few more times, and the noodles became even longer and thinner.

After repeating the action a few times, a ball of noodles was pulled. The bearded uncle decisively tore off the head of the dough and threw the noodles into the steaming soup pot.

The clear soup that was being boiled had already released a slight meaty aroma. Yan Yunqing was sure that the soup base was boiled from meat bones.

To think that there was a master who was skilled in making ramen in another world. Yan Yunqing was filled with mixed emotions for a moment.

Ever since he came to this world, everything on Blue Star was far away from him. A strange world, strange habits, strange people, everything was strange.

And this bearded uncle's ramen-pulling technique suddenly made him feel a little homesick.

"Not waiting outside, but running in here to supervise me. Are you afraid I'll poison you?"

The bearded uncle didn't even have to turn his head as he spoke bluntly.

Yan Yunqing was not surprised. After all, this bearded uncle was also level thirty-nine. How could he not know that someone had suddenly appeared behind him?

"I'm just a little bored, so I came to take a look." Yan Yunqing said, "Uncle, your noodle-making technique is very skilled. Did you figure it out yourself?"

The bearded uncle turned his head and glanced at Yan Yunqing. He seemed surprised that Yan Yunqing would actually chat with him about the art of noodle making.

He replied faintly: "Not really, this is a family craft. My ancestors were noodle makers."

Yan Yunqing was surprised: "A family craft?"

"Can't it be?" The bearded uncle retorted.

Yan Yunqing shook his head, "Not at all, I just find it very novel. It seems that there are very few places that eat noodles this way."

The bearded uncle glanced at Yan Yunqing's clothes again and snorted lightly, "Making a fuss over nothing. The food here is all like this. Outsiders will get used to it after a few days."

Yan Yunqing rubbed his chin, but felt that the bearded uncle's statement was a bit strange.

Generally speaking, the dietary habits of a region will vary due to the environment. Judging from the local customs and practices of this place, they should be more accustomed to eating large mouthfuls of meat and drinking large mouthfuls of wine.

Instead of eating this kind of exquisite carbohydrate-rich noodle soup. This kind of noodle soup seemed more like something that would be eaten in places with a mild climate like Bartovita.

But the bearded uncle said that the food here was all like this, which was completely opposite to Yan Yunqing's perception. This was a bit strange.

Yan Yunqing opened the minimap to study it. Since he had reached level forty, the minimap was no longer just a minimap.

It could be zoomed in and out. Yan Yunqing directly zoomed the minimap to the smallest size to see the map of the entire continent.

Free City...

Yan Yunqing paused. He was stunned as he looked at the location of the Free City.

He had never carefully looked at the world map of Ailman before. He only knew that the Free City was in the southwest of the Ailman Continent, in a desert area, and was an ungoverned region.

Now, with a careful comparison, the location of that desert was extremely familiar. Using the unchanging Sea of Death as a reference, then this desert should be the location where the Demon King had established the Eternal Empire back then.

He had never bothered to find out what happened to that area after the fall of the Eternal Empire.

Yan Yunqing had always assumed that the place had been carved up by the Two Great Empires.

Now that he looked at it, the area of the Eternal Empire, especially the Eternal Imperial Capital, had become a desert on the map.

That's not right. He remembered that the reason he chose to build the imperial capital here back then was because the game interface showed that the resources here were the most abundant, and even the land was the most fertile. That's why the Demon King chose this place to build the imperial capital.

How did it become a desert in just a thousand years?

Even if the seas dried up and the fields turned into mulberry groves, it wouldn't change so quickly, right? Could it be because the war back then was fought too intensely, turning this piece of land into a desert?

But from this perspective, this Free City, located in the desert...

In just a short while, the bearded uncle had already finished cooking the noodles. He took an empty bowl from the cupboard, put some unknown seasonings in it, directly scooped the noodles from the soup base, put them in the bowl, and then used a ladle to pour a scoop of the soup base into the bowl. Instantly, a steaming aroma filled the air.

Yan Yunqing suddenly asked the bearded uncle, "Uncle, have you and your ancestors always lived in this Free City?"

The bearded uncle picked up the bowl of noodle soup, glanced at Yan Yunqing strangely, motioned for him to move aside a little, and then walked out with the bowl of noodle soup, "Yeah, where else can we live if not here? People from other countries don't recognize us residents of the Free City."

The bowl filled with noodle soup was placed on the table with a dull thud. Without looking back at Yan Yunqing, he said in a slightly self-deprecating tone:

"Those people always think that everyone living in the Free City are criminals, lower-class people, only fit to be slaves."

"Tell me, where else can we live besides this barren place?"

After speaking, the bearded uncle didn't wait for Yan Yunqing to agree with him. He took off the towel hanging around his neck and casually wiped his hands, "Ten copper coins, just leave it on the counter."

He turned around, not worried at all that Yan Yunqing would leave without paying after eating the noodles. He lifted the curtain and walked back into the back kitchen.

Yan Yunqing watched the bearded uncle's back disappear behind the curtain, and a thought stirred in his heart.

So, most of the residents of this Free City should be... the descendants of those who survived the war of the Eternal Empire.

Yan Yunqing sat down at the table, moved the bowl of noodles in front of him, and from the box of utensils on the side of the table, he avoided the knife and fork and directly chose the wooden chopsticks.

It's been so long since I've used chopsticks. What a nostalgic feeling.

No wonder the bearded uncle said that the food in this place was all like this. It seems that it was all passed down from their ancestors, and the source... was him, the Demon King. Who else would promote Huaguo cuisine and eating habits in another world?

Yan Yunqing ate a bowl of noodle soup with a strong taste of home. He wiped his mouth and, as the bearded uncle had said, took out coins from his money pouch, placed them on the counter, and left the noodle shop.

Hearing the commotion outside, the bearded uncle, who was about to come out and clean the bowl, was stunned when he saw the used chopsticks neatly placed on the table.

He then glanced at the counter and found that instead of the ten copper coins he had expected, there was a glittering gold coin.

The bearded uncle frowned, but didn't say much. He walked forward, put the gold coin into the drawer, then took out a small notebook and wrote in crooked handwriting: Black Red Remainder 99 Silver 90 Copper.

After recording all this, he began to clean up Yan Yunqing's leftover bowl and chopsticks again.

***

Yan Yunqing came out of the noodle shop and continued to wander around this city of yellow sand. On the way, he once again noticed that faint gaze on him.

He found a weapon shop and stood at the entrance with his back to the street, pretending to choose a weapon.

He easily picked up a scimitar, brought it closer to examine it carefully, and with a slight flick of his wrist, a blurry reflection of the scene behind Yan Yunqing appeared on the scimitar.

Yan Yunqing's gaze swept past, accurately capturing the figures of several children in the crowd passing behind him.

Huh? Aren't these the same kids who were with the one who tried to steal his money pouch just now?

Are they... following him?

Yan Yunqing found it very novel. It was always him following others before, but now someone was following him.

Although they were just a few children.

Then let him see what these children want to do!

Yan Yunqing put down the scimitar and left the weapon shop.

In fact, Yan Yunqing's tolerance for children has always been very high, especially for obedient and well-behaved children. He originally had no ill intentions towards the child who tried to steal his money pouch just now.

Anyway, there were at most a few copper coins in the money pouch. His large assets were all in his backpack, and those children couldn't steal them even if they wanted to.

Now that he knew that 80% of the people in this Free City were descendants of the Demon King's former subjects, Yan Yunqing's tolerance for them was even higher.

No matter why he quit the game, these people had indeed experienced the destruction of their homeland again because of the Demon King's disappearance, becoming stateless refugees. Their descendants had evolved into the 'criminals' of the Free City.

Yan Yunqing turned his steps and seemingly unintentionally walked into a deserted alley. After turning a corner, he quickly scurried up the wall and squatted on it, waiting for the little tails behind him to arrive.

Sure enough, after a short wait, a few small figures appeared at the entrance of the alley. One of the taller and thinner ones looked inside. Seeing that the alley was empty, he was greatly alarmed: "Nika, I think we've been discovered. The golden nugget has run away!"

When Yan Yunqing heard how this group of children addressed him, he almost stumbled and fell off the wall.

What the hell is a golden nugget? Why does that sound so unpleasant? They might as well call him a golden fat sheep!

The little girl called Nika also poked her head in for a look. Seemingly sensing something, she looked up and her gaze met Yan Yunqing's.

Yan Yunqing even gave her a friendly smile.

Nika was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect Yan Yunqing to be squatting on the wall.

She paused, and then her expression changed. She turned her head and was about to run, not forgetting to remind her companions: "Run!"

They were all children who had lived together for a long time and had a tacit understanding. After Nika's order, no one questioned her words. They turned around and scattered.

Seeing this, Yan Yunqing quickly jumped down and accurately grabbed Nika's back collar, "Don't run, aren't you the ones looking for me?"

Nika was too thin and weak, and she didn't seem to be in good health. Even though she was the first to shout "run," her movements were not as agile as the other children. She fell a few steps behind and was thus picked up by Yan Yunqing like a little chick.

Nika secretly cursed in her heart. She was once again certain of this person's vigilance. She shouldn't have come to follow him herself.

At least if it were another child, there would still be a chance to escape from this person's hands, but her body would only drag her down.

She kept regretting, but it was useless now because she had already been caught. No matter how much she regretted or reflected now, it was useless.

So now, she could only—

Yan Yunqing lifted the little girl, turned her around to face him, and found that the little girl's face was pale, and her round eyes were overflowing with tears. When Yan Yunqing looked over, they fell in large drops.

She opened her mouth slightly, but no crying sound came out. Instead, she was breathing weakly, seeming to have some difficulty breathing, which gave Yan Yunqing a shock.

Because he clearly saw a [Weakness] debuff appear on the little girl's status bar, and at the same time, her not-so-large health bar was slowly decreasing.

Yan Yunqing: ?!

No, didn't he just lift the child a little? How did he scare her into a weakened state? And why does this weakness debuff also come with a slow health drain???

Yan Yunqing quickly put down the little girl in his hands and smoothed out her wrinkled collar, "Hey, are you okay?"

Nika's feet touched the ground, but her face was still pale. She clutched her chest, panting with difficulty, tears still falling in large drops. Her palm-sized face had no trace of blood, looking pitiful.

Yan Yunqing's brows were tightly furrowed. Looking at the little girl's appearance, he had a guess in his heart.

This little girl was small and obviously underdeveloped. She was startled and had difficulty breathing, almost unable to catch her breath. Her hand was also clutching her heart. Why did it look like she had congenital heart disease?

But Yan Yunqing was not a doctor, so he couldn't accurately judge whether the little girl had heart disease, let alone how to treat it when it acted up, or whether this other world had a way to treat heart disease.

He squatted down in front of Nika and rummaged through his backpack. The only healing-related potions he had were the small red potions he had made himself.

He couldn't make other potions without the recipe, so Yan Yunqing had planned to get some potion recipes after entering Sigret Academy.

And he had even fewer healing skills. Yan Yunqing's skill panel was focused on being a violent DPS, with at most a few escape skills and status skills. He hadn't put a single point into healing skills.

After all, whether it was the Demon King or Yan Yunqing, they had a super healer support elf with them in the early stages. Why would he need to heal himself?

Facing Nika, whose health was continuously dropping, Yan Yunqing also felt a sense of helplessness. He thought for a moment, took out a small red potion, and planned to treat a dead horse as a living horse—no, treat a living person as a dead horse... that's not right either...

Anyway, let's try it first!

At least the small red potion had a health recovery effect. Since this suspected heart disease's [Weakness] debuff manifested as continuous health drain on the panel, then as long as he stabilized the child's health bar and didn't let it completely drop to zero, it should be fine?

Yan Yunqing pulled out the stopper of the small red potion and said to Nika in the gentlest tone possible, "You're feeling very uncomfortable right now.

I have a potion here. It should have some effect if you drink it, at least it can make you feel a little better. I know it's hard for you to swallow when you can't catch your breath, but you have to try hard to drink a little. Do you understand?"

Nika's tears were still falling, her eyes were wet and her vision was blurry, but she could vaguely sense that the person squatting in front of her had no malicious intent. She knew that her [Observation] had automatically activated.

The panic in her heart subsided a little. The person in front of her seemed to be a soft-hearted person.

Nika's eyes were filled with tears as she nodded, indicating that she understood what Yan Yunqing had said. She tried hard to take a step towards Yan Yunqing, proactively showing weakness.

Seeing this, Yan Yunqing directly pulled Nika over, brought the mouth of the small red potion close to her mouth, and supported her back with his other hand to prevent her from falling due to unsteadiness.

Nika tried hard to breathe. She felt a sweet taste on the tip of her tongue. It was difficult to swallow when she couldn't breathe properly, but Nika's desire to live was at its peak at this moment.

She tried hard to make a swallowing motion, and the sweet liquid went down her throat, but more of it overflowed from the corner of her mouth, wetting the knee of the person kneeling in front of her.

Yan Yunqing had already tried very hard to control the tilt angle of the small red potion, but a lot of the recovery potion still overflowed from the corner of Nika's mouth. From a whole bottle of small red potion, Nika only managed to swallow about a quarter.

But fortunately, as Nika took small sips of the recovery potion, her slowly decreasing health bar stagnated and began to tremble, jumping left and right. It would deduct a little, then rise a little, making Yan Yunqing's heart pound with fear.

After finishing one bottle, Yan Yunqing casually threw it away and took out another small red potion, repeating the process and feeding it to Nika. This bottle was much better. Nika drank nearly half of it.

With two bottles of recovery potion down, Nika's complexion finally eased a lot. It was no longer as pale as a sheet of paper. Her health bar finally began to rise, no longer deducting. It was just that the [Weakness] debuff on her status bar was still not eliminated.

This made Yan Yunqing very worried: Would the effect of the small red potion disappear, and under the influence of this debuff, would this little girl start to lose health again?

Nika finally recovered. She was no longer panting with difficulty, but had returned to her usual weak breathing, little by little, returning to normal. Only then did she realize what had just happened. Her legs went weak and she sat directly on the ground, her whole body limp.

Yan Yunqing was shocked: "Are you feeling unwell again?"

Her health bar wasn't continuing to drop, was it? How could she stand straight when she was having difficulty breathing just now, but now that her health bar was starting to rise, she sat down?

It's not a final burst of energy before death, is it?!

Nika lowered her head, her hand still clutching her chest, feeling her meager heart beating weakly. Nika felt like she had been reborn.

She sniffled, met Yan Yunqing's concerned gaze, and gently shook her head, "No... I'm not..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by a sharp child's voice.

"What are you doing to Nika?!"

The children, who had finally noticed that Nika had not followed, came back despite their fear and found Nika slumped on the ground, while the golden nugget in their eyes was close to Nika, doing something unknown!

The children briefly forgot their fear and rushed forward excitedly, trying to push Yan Yunqing away, "Let go of Nika!!!"