Early the next morning, Lin Ze was woken up by the sound of chopping vegetables.
The sound came from the yard, and the knife rose and fell on the chopping board, making a "dong dong dong" sound.
He got out of bed and opened the window.
Eve was squatting in front of a stone table in the corner of the yard, cutting a basket of tubers. There was a small stove next to it, with a copper kettle on top, and white steam rising from the spout.
"Are you awake?" Eve raised his head and glanced at him without stopping, "Grandpa asked me to prepare some dry food for you, saying you want to go into the forest."
Lin Ze washed his face and walked around the yard. Colin was not there, and Eve said that he had taken his people to the south slope to harvest wheat before dawn.
"Your grandpa is very generous. He just told you yesterday that the woods are dangerous. Do you feel free to go harvest wheat this morning?"
"He is worried about you." Eve put the cut tubers into a coarse cloth bag.
"Dragonborn-sama."
"Do you believe it?"
"Believe it or not, I won't delay your meal."
Eve tied the bag tightly and stuffed it into him. "Take it, I'll eat it if I'm hungry on the way."
Lin Ze took the bag and weighed it.
"You don't seem to like me very much?"
Eve rubbed his hands on his apron twice and looked up at him. "My grandfather bet the lives of more than two thousand people in the valley on you, just because you came to us riding a dragon?"
This is true.
Lin Ze shrugged. He was a kid, so he didn't have the same experience as him. He simply hung the bag on his waist and walked towards the north slope. After walking for more than ten steps, he heard footsteps behind him.
Eve followed carrying a woodcutter.
"What are you doing here?"
"After thinking about it, I'd better go with you. After all, I'm considered a local, so I should be better than you."
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Why aren't you afraid? But aren't you Mr. Dragonborn?"
"Okay, then you have to be prepared. Don't blame me if you can't get out." Lin Ze laughed.
"Huh!" Eve twisted his neck to the side and followed Lin Ze angrily.
The two went up the north slope one after another. The morning fog had not yet cleared, and the dew on the grass blades made the trouser legs soaked through.
Arriving at the meadow yesterday, the outline of Black Forest looked very mysterious in the mist.
Lin Ze squatted on the edge of the forest, his palms close to the ground.
The tremor still hasn't disappeared, and the rhythm rises and falls with a certain pattern.
"Wait here." He stood up and said to Eve.
"I'll go in with you."
Lin Ze glanced at her. "Then I can't guarantee your safety."
Eve pursed his lips and thrust the woodcutter into the ground. "Then I'll wait here. If you don't come out by night, I'll go back and report."
"Okay."
Lin Ze took a deep breath and stepped into Black Forest.
As the footsteps crossed the border, the light around him instantly dimmed.
The branches and leaves above the head are densely packed, completely blocking the sky. Occasionally, there will be tiny spots of light shining through the branches and leaves.
After walking for about dozens of steps, I suddenly stepped on something hard under my feet.
When I looked down, I saw a tree root protruding from the mud. The root was dark brown, covered with a layer of translucent mucus, and glowed with a dark green shimmer.
Lin Ze squatted down, took out his wand and poked the layer of mucus.
When the mucus was touched by the wand, it immediately shrank and seemed to be alive.
He took the wand back, and the slime stretched a thin thread on the tip of the wand, and the other end was connected to the root of the tree.
Lin Ze poked hard, and the mucus retracted from the surface of the tree roots, revealing the roots below.
White, like bones.
He stood up and took two steps back.
On the tree trunk, mucus is seeping out from the gaps in the bark, like sweat, slowly seeping out little by little.
In the darkness, a dark green shimmer appeared in the forest, shining through the gaps in the bark of the trees, like countless eyes, staring at Lin Ze.
"This atmosphere... is really scary..."
Lin Ze Raise the wand high.
"Lumos"
Those dark green shimmers shrank under the light, as if they were afraid of the light, retreating a little deeper from the surface of the trunk to the depth of the gap.
He took a few steps forward. The soil under his feet was too soft, and it would sink slightly if he stepped on it. The mud brought up by the soles was mixed with sawdust and a sticky black liquid, with a rotten smell.
The branches above my head suddenly made a "creep" sound.
Lin Ze raised his head suddenly and pointed the wand at it.
A thigh-thick branch was slowly bending down from a high place, and the end of the branch slowly reached towards him. The movement was very slow, but the target was very clear.
He took two steps to the side.
The branch followed and took two steps.
"Okay, you have eyes, right?"
Lin Ze stopped, switched the wand from his right hand to his left hand, and pressed it on the ground with his palm facing down.
"Impedimenta"
An earth wall rose from the ground and stood between him and the branch. The branch hit the earth wall and paused for a moment, then went around the earth wall and continued to stretch towards him.
Lin Ze took a step back, and the dragon scales appeared in his palm. He grabbed the end of the branch and pulled hard.
He pulled the entire branch off the trunk, and a dark green liquid spurted out from the broken part, splashing on the grass. The grass blades immediately turned black and curled where they were touched by the liquid.
The branch twitched violently in his hand a few times, and then became limp and motionless.
The further he walked in, the narrower the gaps between trees became, and in some places he even had to turn sideways to squeeze through.
The branches and leaves above the head are airtight, and the roots under the feet are slowly crawling in the soil like living creatures. Occasionally, roots retract from the feet, as if they were shocked by something.
After walking for about half an hour, the terrain in front suddenly sank, like a shallow pit.
There is a stone pillar lying across the bottom of the pit, half buried in the soil. Its surface is covered with dark green mucus, and a faint light is seeping out.
This is...
Boundary monument!
Lin Ze jumped into the pit and squatted next to the stone pillar.
There are words carved on the four sides of the stone pillar, but most of them have been covered in mucus, and only a few scattered symbols can be seen clearly.
He was about to use wind spells to blow away the mucus stuck to the boundary monument. Unexpectedly, as soon as he lit the wand, the stone pillar shook violently, and the mucus quickly shrank as if it had been burned, seeping from the surface of the stone pillar into the soil.
The writing on the surface of the stone pillar gradually appeared.
Lin Ze took a closer look and saw that the words on it were densely packed, but most of them were incomprehensible to me.
While he was thinking about it, the forest behind him suddenly became quiet.
The chirping of birds and the chirping of insects all disappeared, and even the scraping of leaves above my head stopped.
Lin Ze looked back.
The forest behind him was shrouded in a layer of mist, making it difficult to see the way he came.
After thinking about it, he used magic to make a copy of the text on the boundary monument. After he went out, he asked the people here. Maybe the locals knew this kind of text.