The Frog Fell Over?

Dog Gnome are creatures similar to Doghead People, but only half the size of humans. Apart from having a sensitive nose, they have almost no special abilities. However, this race thrives in the Wasteland because their keen sense of smell allows them to locate battlefields and arrive at the scene as quickly as possible to eliminate the first wave of enemies.

Of course, they are proud of their sense of smell, accurately distinguishing more than three thousand scents, surpassing most races.

This helped them return the severed limbs and remains to their respective owners. In the Undead Nest, Li Ziran had the good fortune to meet a Dog Gnome merchant, and to put it bluntly, the corpses they provided were the most complete of all the corpse transporters.

Li Ziran watched the Dog Gnome scavenging the battlefield like ants in the distance. He knew exactly how to deal with these short guys.

With power and benefits, it's easy to make these Dwarf behave themselves.

After regaining human form, he did not try to hide himself and walked into the group of Dog Gnome like Giant.

When an intruder broke in, the Dog Gnome instinctively grabbed a broken arrow from beside him as a precaution, seemingly trying to drive away the intruder, who was, after all, just a human.

But after the Dwarf near Li Ziran wriggled violently and turned into small snakes, his last bit of courage vanished in terror.

Those on the very edge even fled; they knew very well that someone they couldn't afford to offend had arrived.

Li Ziran was very satisfied. He deliberately controlled his methods, only transforming into five Dog Gnome and not devouring their souls. These guys had it tough, living at the bottom of society, surviving by scavenging post-war garbage every day.

Of course, Li Ziran really needed their help. If he scared all these guys away, where would he find the black-robed man he needed?

Resurrection Spell is far more practical than tyrannical behavior like we do now.

"Call your leader over here." There's no need to be polite to such a weak species; being too polite will only cause trouble for yourself.

Soon, a Dog Gnome wearing a thorn hat trotted over, bowing and scraping as he smiled at Li Ziran, "Master, how can I help you?"

Seeing the other person's humble demeanor, Li Ziran help but think of how he himself had looked when he met Sandrew, and he figured it probably wasn't much better.

"Have you seen any black-robed figures on this battlefield?" Li Ziran took out some pieces of cloth worn by black-robed figures and asked directly. There was no need to beat around the bush; when dealing with these kinds of beings, being straightforward was the best approach.

"No!" the Dog Gnome leader said with certainty. "When we arrived, the Necromancer had already left with all the Undead. Not a single living person was left, not even half a corpse." He seemed very angry, clearly because corpses were more valuable than the broken arrows.

"Can I see the spoils?" Li Ziran took out five copper coins and tossed them to the other man. "Perhaps I can patronize your business."

The Doghead People stared suspiciously at Li Ziran. His shrewd mind sensed an opportunity to profit, but remembering his earlier actions, he immediately suppressed his spying and hurriedly said, "Of course, you can choose whatever you like." As if afraid of being taken advantage of, he quickly added, "Master, these things were painstakingly collected by my brothers. If you see anything valuable, you might as well..."

Li Ziran rolled his eyes and snorted, "Don't worry, I know the rules. I'll give you cash later. Lead the way."

Hearing this, the Dog Gnome leader was relieved and called out as he ran towards a nearby mound.

A small burrow was dug directly from the mound. This is a common tactic of the Dog Gnome. If someone tries to rob their goods, they will immediately collapse the mound and bury the burial site, then slowly dig it out later.

These guys are definitely survival experts.

The cave was very large, and the top was obviously unstable. This kind of cave is very strange; it will collapse if you hit just a few points. Li Ziran was sure that as long as he revealed even the slightest intention to rob, the loose soil above his head would collapse directly.

He wasn't worried about being buried alive; the Wasteland Striped Snake had the ability to survive in sandy soil.

However, what displeased him was that the spoils of war from these Dog Gnome were truly meager.

Broken arrows were scattered everywhere, and all that remained were tattered clothes. Li Ziran recognized the familiar black fabric, but as the other party had said, the Necromancer had taken away all the corpses he could carry.

Li Ziran saw half a broken sword, as if it had been bitten off by some kind of creature; it must belong to Cavis.

I remember when I left, Cavis was still fighting with that broken sword. I wonder how that paladin is doing now.

His body is a treasure, especially for Necromancer, as it is the best material for creating Dark Knight. If the opponent is strong enough, he can even summon a pure Dark Knight.

What Li Ziran wanted most was Cavis's gallbladder organ; the other party's level of evolution was definitely higher than the one he had obtained.

Unfortunately, it's just a thought.

"Master, is there nothing you want?" the Dog Gnome asked with concern. If this person could choose a few items, he might be able to earn a few copper coins.

Li Ziran shook his head. Almost everything here was junk. It might be a treasure to the Dog Gnome, but it was of no use to him.

"Is that all you have in stock?" Li Ziran asked, still somewhat Undead give up. He casually pulled out a silver coin and chuckled softly, "I'm a man of principle. Don't hide good things. I know you Dwarf; you just love to hoard things."

The Dog Gnome leader chuckled awkwardly, intending to refuse, but the sight of the silver coin made him itch with desire. "Master," he said, "To be honest, we least like cleaning up Necromancer's battlefields. Those guys leave almost nothing behind. However, this time we did find a few good things on the outskirts of the battlefield. If you're interested, Master, you might want to take a look."

After the Dog Gnome finished speaking, it quietly burrowed into the depths of the burrow, rummaged through a pile of useless scraps of cloth, gently wiped away the top layer of soil, revealing a wooden plank. It then turned around and winked at Li Ziran, indicating that he could go over.

Li Ziran walked over, and the other party had already lifted the wooden plank. It was a deep pit leading underground, but it was narrower and shallower than the one above, and it had a sharp bend.

Li Ziran was speechless. These Dog Gnome were really good at hiding things. He never expected there to be a tunnel in the cave.

Following the Dog Gnome, we crawled through the tunnel for about fifteen minutes until we arrived at a closed cave that was clearly damp.

Clearly, this place is very deep below the surface; water vapor can only be found at the very deepest depths of the earth in the Wasteland.

"I wonder if there are any people in black robes?"

Li Ziran still held onto hope, but unfortunately, the Doghead People had no habit of collecting living people. In this deep underground cave, they only placed three items.

A massive iron breastplate, but only one piece, as thick as a finger, yet larger than Li Ziran; it belonged to the Earthstrider Dragon.

The armor escaped being melted by the fireball, but it was covered in teeth marks, and in one place there was a hole, as if it had been pierced by the teeth of some kind of giant beast. However, there was a thin layer of filamentous metal at the hole, which emitted a special copper color.

This was actually a magical item; Li Ziran was surprisingly wary of the knife.

That metal wire was probably made of refined copper or something similar, a relatively rare magical conductor. Dwarf alchemists preferred to use this material to craft magical equipment.

Beside the breastplate lay a purple book. The moment Li Ziran saw the book, his heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but think of the scene of the three girls being burned at the stake last night, their souls being drained.

This is clearly a specific book containing the 'Devouring Curse'.

Li Ziran picked it up. The book only had the simple words "Holy Scripture" on it. The first page was the title page, filled with luxurious words of praise.

The second page contains three simple sections: Blessing Organ Chapter, Judgment Chapter, and Verdict Chapter.

Opening it at random, one finds a dense collection of small characters, but they are not incantations; rather, they are gospel texts that read like stories.

Li Ziran had seen this before; almost every human priest liked to carry one, and it could be bought in the Wasteland for two or three copper coins.

If he hadn't seen Ivy absorb souls from it, he would never have imagined that this was a Holy Scripture of Devouring Curse.

Clearly, to truly understand its inner workings, one cannot simply read a few sentences from a book.

"Sigh, I really don't know how this thing got here." He chuckled inwardly; it didn't belong to the girls. On the contrary, he suspected it came from Cavis.

The handwriting inside was strong and powerful, clearly written by a man.

He casually put the 'Holy Scripture' back in its place and looked at the third item. His gaze froze. It wasn't anything magical; it was just an ordinary sleeping bag, but it was remarkably well-preserved.

The key detail is that the sleeping bag also has stripes of Frog saliva on it.

Li Ziran quickly stepped forward and opened the sleeping bag. A wave of cold air immediately hit him. However, there was no foam in the sleeping bag, nor was there the Fishman he had glimpsed.

"How... did you find this?" Li Ziran asked.

The Dog Gnome leader was delighted to be asked, realizing he had finally found something that would interest the other party. He quickly answered truthfully, but the more he answered, the more he noticed the master's displeasure.

"Master, is there a problem?"

Li Ziran smiled and shook his head, "No problem at all. You mean you found three Frog, then threw away the contents and only brought back this bag?"

The Dog Gnome nodded, not understanding what he had done wrong.

"How much is this bag?" Li Ziran asked. "I'm interested."

"This... Master, look, this bag is so cool, it must be made of some special leather, and look at the craftsmanship, the design..." The Dog Gnome used his limited vocabulary to describe the wonder of this thing, but unfortunately, he only managed a few words before his vocabulary dried up.

Li Ziran chuckled inwardly. Why did everyone like to exaggerate the price before selling anything? He casually placed fifty copper coins on his sleeping bag. "How's the price?"

"This... isn't that too little, Master? You know it's not easy to find something like this." The Dog Gnome tried to bargain.

Li Ziran sighed, gently blew on the silver coin, and it jingled pleasantly in the enclosed cave. Looking at the guy who only reached his knees, he laughed, "The bag is worth this much, but if you can find what's inside, this silver coin is yours."

The Dog Gnome didn't understand, but the silver coin was real. After thinking for a while, he suddenly came to his senses and asked, "Master, you mean... those three Frog?"

Without waiting for Li Ziran's reply, he rushed outside, shouting as he ran, "Call Dog Thirteen over here! Quick, ask him where he put those Frog! Damn it, he's brainless! If he can't find them, I'll turn him into Frog!"

Hearing the shouts, Li Ziran frowned. Could it be that the other party could also Frog Transformation?