Gourmet! Paradise!

"Gulp."

Everyone present swallowed involuntarily, not out of nervousness, but because—

It smelled so good!

The fragrance of flowers, fruit, meat, and vegetables. Every scent imaginable and unimaginable converged into a roaring tide, wildly stimulating everyone's senses.

Ai Li rubbed her stomach. She had clearly eaten a lot that morning, yet she suddenly felt ravenous.

"Should we go in and take a look?"

"Let's go in!"

The tunnel was deep and long, yet there was a point of light at its end. That faint glow made everyone walk faster and faster, until it grew into sunlight that filled their vision! They took the final step out—

The entire world suddenly opened up before them.

Sunlight—dazzling sunlight—poured down from above. Though everyone knew it was merely a false sun created by the dungeon, they could still feel its vibrant vitality, instantly dispelling the gloom of the Swamp.

An endless plain spread out before them. Towering trees rose from the green fields, their branches hung with leaves resembling enormous slabs of meat. Pitcher plants filled with beverages dangled from vines, scallions taller than people grew everywhere, pudding-textured mushrooms flowed with cocoa, and a white river drifted slowly and peacefully along. Judging by its scent, milk and honey flowed within it!

In the distance, bizarre birds and beasts frolicked freely: giant roasted pigs radiating heat from their bodies, lions whose manes were made of premium sponge cake, koalas with cocoa beans growing from their backs, and mammoth elephants with patterned brown fur.

At the very edge of human vision, an incomparably enormous plant stood like an emperor. Its branches were bent beneath cherry-like fruit that shimmered with seven-colored rainbows. One look was enough to tell that it had to be the most precious thing in this region!

This place was like something out of a fairy tale. Who had not dreamed, as a child, of a paradise filled entirely with food?

Qi Laje was dumbfounded. At that moment, a grasshopper suddenly landed on his hand. The insect looked somewhat strange, with a heavily swollen back that seemed to contain brown liquid.

As if possessed, he grabbed the grasshopper and tasted the brown liquid.

"Ugh, so salty." Coming back to his senses, he cried in surprise, "It's soy sauce?"

Ai Li crouched down and picked a dandelion. Yet this dandelion also looked remarkably strange, its top seeming fleshy.

She hesitated, then took a small taste.

"This..." she said incredulously. "It tastes like beef tongue?"

With precedent set, the others could no longer restrain themselves. Cheering, they rushed into the Gourmet Area.

"Look, look! The trees are actually covered in bone-in grilled meat!"

"These mushrooms... Huh? Is that chocolate sauce on their caps?"

"This tulip looks so weird. Holy crap, it's garlic inside."

"These grapes are so tiny, and their color is weird too. Ah, why are they fish roe?"

The timid priest had wandered the farthest, all the way to the riverbank. She scooped up some of the white river water and tasted it. A warm feeling spread through her body. What flowed in the river was actually hot milk.

Everyone immersed themselves in the food. Every step brought a new taste experience, and this feeling was far more thrilling than dungeon crawling!

Even Xiu En, who looked the most stiff and old-fashioned, was unable to pull himself away from the grilled meat tree. In a short time, he had already gnawed through three skewers of grilled meat. The pitcher plants beside the tree contained every kind of drink imaginable, and he had luckily found beer. A bite of grilled meat, a gulp of beer—the fatigue instantly vanished into the clouds.

"What beautiful oysters."

Qi Laje found a bright red oyster by the river. Its shell looked as if layers upon layers of rose petals had been piled upon it, and it even carried the fragrance of roses.

Leaving aside whether finding oysters by a river made any sense, he eagerly pried open the shell with his knife. The plump oyster meat gave off a rich rose fragrance. With a single slurp, the soft, tender, springy flesh and fragrant broth flowed into his mouth, reaching his stomach before he even had time to chew.

"Ah..."

Qi Laje let out a moan, his eyes hazy.

Now this was gourmet food. What the hell had I been eating before?

While everyone was lost in bliss, a massive shadow slowly emerged beneath the river's surface and silently swam toward Qi Laje.

Yet he was still immersed in the explosive taste experience brought by the rose oyster.

"Boom—"

Water exploded into the air as the shadow completely engulfed him!

"Captain!"

The timid priest was the first to react. Her body moved on instinct as she fiercely shoved Qi Laje aside!

"Ahh, save me—"

Everyone's attention was drawn by the sudden commotion. They turned to look.

It was a giant tuna, but octopus-like tentacles grew from its tail. The small, frail priest was currently wrapped up and flung about by those tentacles, so terrified that she was nearly fainting.

Wasn't this the Tuna Octopus Jack sold at his barbecue stall? So there were specimens this huge!

"This is bad!"

Xiu En reacted first. He drew his shortsword and hurled it forward, the blade smashing through the tentacle like a cannonball!

The priest screamed as she fell. Fortunately, Qi Laje had also recovered by then. He not only caught her securely, but also cast a Gust spell, instantly summoning a fierce wind that blew the two of them away from the Tuna Octopus.

The Tuna Octopus shrieked and swiftly sank to the riverbed, leaving the people on shore trembling in fear.

"We let our guard down," Dan Ya said grimly. "This is still a dungeon, and it's the Zane Dungeon at that."

Food could indeed soothe the heart, but it could also make people lower their guard.

"No, we got too close to the riverbank."

Qi Laje was still shaken, but he was the only member of the Falling Hammer Squad with somewhat better adventuring instincts. It took him only a moment to figure it out.

"This river is the boundary."

Pointing at the cave they had come from, he said, "I think the thousand-meter stretch between the cave and the river is safe. But once you cross to the opposite bank, where the river marks the boundary, monsters begin to appear."

His analysis made sense. As long as they stayed away from the river where monsters lurked, they could freely enjoy this vast plain without any danger. At most, they just had to be careful not to eat themselves to death.

But once they crossed the river, they would have to face the monsters head-on.

Roasted Whole Pigs, Trumpet Lions, cocoa koalas, muscle crabs, and Doro King Kongs.

These creatures, both delicacies and terrifying monsters, seemed to follow some sort of rule. No matter how humans cavorted about, as long as they did not cross the river, they would not attract the creatures' attention.

Only then did Xiu En and the others realize that they could stand here unharmed not because this was a carefree paradise of endless food and clothing, but because some rule of the dungeon was protecting them.

This was still a dangerous dungeon, after all!

"But as long as they don't cross the boundary, even ordinary people can come explore here, right?" Ai Li muttered to herself. "It feels like lots of people will come here to make money in the future."

Dan Ya nodded noncommittally. The journey from the portal to the Gourmet Area was not far, and there seemed to be few monsters along the way. If people became familiar with the route, there would be no problem at all for ordinary people to come here.

Bede City's economy might be about to see a surge.

The group looked at one another, suddenly realizing that they might be among the first people to discover the Gourmet Area.

"What should we do?" Xiu En asked. "About the information on this place."

This was a considerable fortune—provided no one else had found this place yet.

But it was not particularly difficult to find, and the map would be made public sooner or later.

After some discussion, they reached a conclusion—sell the information as soon as possible!

They all knew their own limits. They knew they were not cut out for business, and they also knew that more people would discover the Gourmet Area sooner or later.

They might as well sell the information now, while they could still get the highest possible price for it!

"I'm going over there to take a look."

Xiu En suddenly said, pointing toward the towering plant in the distance. "My intuition tells me that thing is definitely, definitely worth a lot of money."