Brewing Wine

This small pool is located in the South Four Mountains. In order, it's the fourth mountain south of Earth Valley, and its precise geographical location should be southeast.

Du Ke favored this small pool for a reason. It was like a pool in a fairy realm. Surrounded by layered shrubs and trees that blocked the sunlight, the area around the pool was as dim as night. Yet, it was precisely these dim conditions that created the pool's magic. The water seemed to contain plankton that emitted a faint blue light, drifting around with the water and casting a subtle glow on the surroundings.

By the edge of the pool grew a small flower with symmetrical leaves, which he named "Glow Lotus," not because it resembled a lotus flower in any way.

It was because the Glow Lotus bloomed by the small pool as if it were flowering at night, and it also emitted a faint pink glow, echoing the faint blue light from the pool, creating a dreamlike, fairy-tale atmosphere.

Du Ke first checked the surrounding environment to ensure no dangerous Magic Beasts were lurking.

Only then did he materialize a testing bench, scoop up some of the glowing water from the small pool, and observe the microorganisms in the water under a microscope. He quickly discovered that the faint blue light came from a type of tiny algae, or more precisely, an organ within the algae. However, when he compared it to water without the glow, he found the same algae present, but they were not glowing.

After a bit more research, he made another discovery: the algae didn't emit light on their own. They only glowed faintly blue after consuming a certain substance in the pool.

"Does this substance only exist in the pool?" Du Ke put away his testing bench and looked back at the small pool. The pool was situated amidst a jumble of rocks. A small stream trickled down from upstream, and a river flowed slowly downstream.

Yet, the glowing algae were only found in the small pool. Occasionally, a patch of glowing water would flow into the river and quickly lose its luminescence.

And the small stream upstream of the pool had no glowing algae at all.

"Let's search upstream and see if the substance is flowing down from there," Du Ke, driven by a spirit of exploration, cautiously moved upstream. Along the way, he encountered large trees entwined with various dead vines, making the already dim forest even darker, almost as dark as night.

Soon, Du Ke discovered a peculiar passage. This passage was only about the size of a person and extended along the stream. It seemed to be a path created by some animal over many years of travel, carved between dead vines and branches.

The passage continued up to the mountainside, where a cave appeared before Du Ke.

The cave entrance split into two passages: one along the stream and another extending further into the mountain. Du Ke saw that the stream flowed out of this cave. He shone his flashlight into the cave and found it wasn't large; "concave" was a more fitting description. He could see the cave walls at the depths at a glance. Apart from some high platforms resembling stalactites, there were no signs of Magic Beasts.

"Let's go in and see, what's there to fear? I have Teleportation Magic!" Feeling the Spirit Worm parasitic on his palm, Du Ke bravely entered the cave.

When he reached the stalactite platforms, his eyes widened in surprise: "There are people here!"

The stalactite platforms were naturally formed, but between them were pipe-like connecting channels carved from some kind of wood. This clearly couldn't have been made by animals. These wooden pipes connected the stalactite platforms in order of height. Turbid liquid flowed slowly through them, and some residue could be seen in the liquid.

The lowest stalactite platform was the source of the stream outside the cave.

The highest stalactite platform had a stalactite hanging from the ceiling. The cave ceiling was connected to some unknown water source, which flowed through this hanging stalactite into the stalactite platform, then cascaded down step by step into the stream outside the cave.

"This..." Du Ke cautiously scanned the surroundings, finding no other artificial traces. He didn't know if people used to live here and had abandoned it, or if the inhabitants had just left temporarily.

"If there are indigenous humans, what would they be doing with this?"

As Du Ke pondered, he moved closer to the stalactite platforms, examining them one by one. It was then that he noticed something was amiss. The highest stalactite platform was like a large water vat filled with various fruits, which had rotted. The second stalactite platform was the same. Five or six stalactite platforms in a row were all filled with fresh or rotten fruits, left to be washed by the water.

Starting from the seventh stalactite platform, there were no more fruits, but there was turbid liquid inside.

Down to the later stalactite platforms, the liquid gradually became clearer.

"Is this... winemaking?" Du Ke suddenly thought of a possibility. Otherwise, who would waste their time putting fruits here to rot? "There must be indigenous humans living in this mountain. Their winemaking method looks very primitive, and they probably haven't developed any advanced civilization... And they must have been here recently, as there are very fresh fruits here, as if just picked."

He paused.

Then he doubted himself again: "But it doesn't make sense. These stalactite platforms drip little by little; how can they make wine? Wouldn't all the wine flow into the stream... Could the substance that makes the glowing algae glow in the stream be formed from the fermentation of these fruits?"

At this moment.

The sound of some animal's cry suddenly echoed from outside the cave. The cries were chaotic, as if a large group of animals was calling out. Du Ke's heart stirred: "Could it be the indigenous humans are back? I need to hide!"

He wasn't afraid of these "primitive people," but rather wanted to observe them secretly. So, he quickly replicated the cave wall's rock and turned himself into a large rock, embedding himself in the cave wall. He left small holes for observation and set up a night vision camera to record video.

The chaotic cries grew closer.

Soon, the first indigenous humans entered the cave. There was no light inside, and Du Ke dared not turn on his own, so he could only observe using night vision. He quickly realized that these indigenous humans who entered didn't look like humans but rather hairy monkeys or apes—or rather, not entirely hairy. They were completely bald on their heads, giving them a strange and ugly appearance.

These bald monkeys quickly went to the stalactite platforms after entering. They frantically scooped up the sediment from the water in the lowest stalactite platforms and stuffed it into their mouths.

Among them, a Monkey King, with a particularly large physique, roared at the bald monkeys scooping up the sediment, scaring them into scattering.

The Monkey King, satisfied, occupied the best stalactite platform. It didn't need to scoop up the sediment itself; instead, it had several female monkeys scoop it up for it and then fed it mouthful by mouthful. After it had eaten its fill, it allowed the other monkeys to eat. These monkeys didn't eat much, only a few small mouthfuls each. After eating, they all lay on the ground rolling with contentment. Some male monkeys even began to mate with female monkeys right there.

"Disgusting."

Watching the monkeys engage in indecent acts, Du Ke felt nauseated.

Especially the Monkey King, which not only occupied several female monkeys for itself but also drove away male monkeys that were mating, taking their place to complete the mating. It was too lewd.

The entire uninhibited gathering lasted for nearly an hour. At the Monkey King's command, all the monkeys walked out of the cave. Just as Du Ke thought they were leaving, he realized they had returned. Each monkey held a pile of fruits in its arms, and under the Monkey King's direction, they orderly threw these fruits into the stalactite platforms—this was clearly their "winemaking" process.