The Guyu lasted for a full ten minutes. Just as the teammates on the ground were trying to convince themselves to eat a third round, the rain finally stopped completely.
Wen Jing popped the last grain of rice into his mouth and looked at his attribute panel.
Life expectancy: 85
Strength: 80
Speed: 48
Spirit: 71
Before primitive civilizations developed agriculture, the knotted ropes depicting golden wheat ears may have been a record of a wild grain harvest that humans had stumbled upon.
The conceptual projection within this Ancient Wilderness, Knotted Rope Maze transformed into this heavenly Guyu of grain.
Perhaps because primitive civilizations lacked methods for storing and cultivating grains, these grains are now impossible for them to preserve and simply disappear when they fall to the ground.
At that time, humanity was struggling on the brink of starvation, and obtaining natural food resources was undoubtedly a very Luck coincidence.
Therefore, if a primitive tribe truly recorded this knotted rope, their feelings at the time would likely be the same as Wen Jing's:
Thank you for the gifts of nature!
Chapter 74
This unexpected opportunity brought the team a great deal of reward.
The previous fatigue and injuries were swept away, and everyone's Wilderness Body was strengthened.
Of course, the biggest beneficiary was Wen Jing, whose attribute boost was equivalent to two Empowerment Stone.
After the rain stopped, the wasteland disappeared again, and everyone returned to the knotted rope.
"It's vanished..."
Eve looked at the empty seashell and murmured in disappointment.
They had already tried their best to eat, and in the end, they even used seashells as containers to catch two full bowls of grains.
Wen Jing naturally did the same thing with his three seashells, but when he left the wasteland and returned to the knotted rope, these gifts of nature vanished as if in a dream.
If I couldn't actually sense the changes in my body, it would be as if everything that had happened before had never existed.
The idea of bringing the grains back to the material universe failed, and four new paths, each linked by a different knot, awaited their choice.
Seeing this, everyone felt as if they had been doused with cold water, He Yunping couldn't help but worry:
"If things continue like this, how can we get back to normal?"
After defeating enemies in the wasteland, they will soon return to the Rope Knot Maze Rope Knot Maze, which will then disappear again, urging them to move forward.
It's getting late, and we need to prepare a return plan in advance.
The compatibility between the group is such that it would take them a maximum of three minutes to re-establish their chemistry.
Ji Shuang, who was standing nearby, thought for a moment and said, "If we can defeat the enemy before the storm ends, and if we have enough time left, we might be able to use it to return."
Wen Jing also mobilized resources and expressed his agreement.
Seeing her nod, the others seemed to have found their pillar of support. " Wen Jing, so what's our next step?"
Wen Jing climbed onto Eve's head, and Eve cooperated by standing on tiptoe so that she could see further.
However, being unable to fly limited their field of vision; they could only see the next two layers of knots at most, but instead of golden wheat ears, all they could see were animal hair knots.
There was even a particularly large knot on one of the paths, with a beast's tooth hanging from it.
Wen Jing herself was quite curious about the animal tooth knot, but last time she was willing to risk choosing a larger knot because she had seen the benefits beforehand.
This time, after that path of beast teeth, the second level was still full of 'combat knots'.
It's getting late, and whether to continue taking the risk is indeed a question worth considering.
So Wen Jing chose a knot on the edge—the second knot behind it wasn't fully visible due to limited field of vision, but perhaps it would bring an unexpected surprise.
The four of them naturally had no objections and immediately followed in her footsteps.
Before long, another battle broke out in the wasteland.
Time ticked by, and the six o'clock sunset time drew ever closer.
The five-person team passed through four battle knots, and each person carried two or three seashells in various ways.
Wen Jing's back was covered with seashells stacked on top of each other, a total of five.
Four of them were pink, and one was white. This was after she traded white seashells with her teammates along the way; otherwise, there would have been even more.
Seeing that the new wave of 'battle knots' in front of him was all 'battle knots', Wen Jing couldn't help but shake his head in regret.
It turns out that opportunities like Guyu are rare occurrences, and encountering even one is a matter of good luck.
But what she truly regretted was not finding a place where she could use the seashells.
As the oldest form of currency, Wen Jing was quite certain that its value as Ancient Wilderness material brought back to the material universe was not as high as its value as 'spending money' here.
But it doesn't matter if she didn't run into her this time, she can always come again.
So, Wen Jing glanced at the three paths in front of him, chose the one that seemed to be in the middle in terms of difficulty, and said to the remaining four, "Prepare to return."
"Yes!"
Everyone was startled and responded in unison.
After many battles, everyone has come to understand the rules here.
The deeper you go, the more likely you are to encounter dangerous and powerful enemies, but conversely, the longer the rumors will persist.
If you choose a relatively small knot and allow more than three minutes to remain after defeating the enemy, you can return.
In other words, in this time and space, once you pass the initial trials and enter the Knotted Rope Maze, you must proceed to a certain length of knots before you can return.
"Boom..."
Upon entering the wasteland, everyone unleashed their full power, eliminating any enemies that appeared as quickly as possible.
"Return!"
Amidst the sound of wind, spatial fluctuations appeared around the five individuals, and they slowly vanished from this world.
Three minutes later, at the registration center, five people appeared out of thin air in various parts of the square.
The emergency robots rushed over immediately, then retreated after seeing the group of people who were full of energy and had returned with a full load.
Even though they had already returned to the material universe, the four of them instinctively looked at Wen Jing first.
Wen Jing couldn't help but smile, "Let's go, there's still a post-war meeting to attend."
*
"Haha... I knew you guys would have a great time! Thanks for your hard work, everyone!"
When they arrived at the Student Council in the special car, Song Zhi, who had received the news, had already come to greet them.
With Wen Jing joining the team as an 'action advisor' for the first time, many within the Student Council are closely watching the outcome of this exploration.
On their way to the conference room, they attracted many curious glances.
Whether the operation was successful or not was easy to tell. Whether the members were injured or not, and their mental state, could be judged at a glance. Not to mention that when they were at the registration center, they had already sealed all the white seashells they brought back with Aether Medium, which Ji Shuang was holding in her hand at the moment.
As for Wen Jing's seashells, she packed them all into 10-credit-point packaging boxes that wealthy young men would never normally bother with. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were takeout she bought on the way.
Song Zhi glanced at the packaged box in Wen Jing's hand, as if he hadn't seen it at all, and said with a smile, "How was your first time teaming up with the department? Were there any problems with your teamwork?"
"No... it's fine."
Wen Jing subconsciously shortened his sentence, then remembered that he had returned to the material universe.
" Wen Jing, your contribution is indispensable to the success of this operation." Song Zhi spoke politely to Wen Jing, but not forgetting to glance at the others, adding, "Of course, everyone's cooperation was also crucial."
Unexpectedly, upon hearing Song Zhi's words, Eve immediately said, "It's mainly thanks to Wen Jing!"
Ji Shuang and He Yunping both nodded. "That's right."
"If it weren't for Wen Jing, I might have already died there." Brown patted his chest, revealing a lingering fear.
"Hmm? I see!" Song Zhi was surprised, but quickly switched to a cooperative expression.
He then discovered that the four people, who had been somewhat awkward towards Wen Jing before participating in the operation, were now completely obedient to her.
What exactly happened?
As they spoke, the group arrived at the meeting room where they had previously held a tactical meeting.
Each exploration using the Locator Stone requires a pre-exploration tactical meeting, followed by a post-exploration meeting to summarize the experiences encountered during the exploration, serving as a strategy for the next exploration and an assessment of the project's future value.
Without a doubt, this expedition was of immense value, both in terms of intelligence and the results it yielded.
Especially after learning about the golden Guyu the five people encountered on the wheat knot, not only did Song Zhi's expression change, but the Student Council Foundation, which was also watching the meeting, was in an uproar.
"Upgrade this project from D-level to A-level... no, S-level!"
" Brown, we should also move up his position and focus on developing him for a period of time. Only when his synergy improves can we bring in players with better team synergy."
When it comes to uncovering benefits, the Student Council members have an absolutely keen sense for it.
Upon hearing about the opportunities the group had gained in the Knotted Rope Maze, they immediately realized the value of the project.
Even if the team members mentioned that they didn't encounter Guyu again in the Knotted Rope Maze, but there was a chance of encountering her, and they knew under what circumstances they could encounter her, that would be enough to attract many people to buy team spots.
This is a known and confirmed opportunity to increase the strength of the Wilderness Body.
The head of the Operations Department said, "I know what you're thinking. For every future expedition, the Operations Department must have two slots!"
Backstage, the Student Council leaders were engaged in a heated debate about exploring the future, while the group holding the post-war meeting was in a very harmonious atmosphere.
The most common source of conflict in these team activities is the uneven distribution of loot.
Their spoils had already been distributed before their return. Wen Jing received the largest share of the seashells, and the others had no objections. The benefits they gained from this exploration, thanks to the Guyu opportunity, far exceeded the Locator Stone.