Baozi jumped onto the rock's head and exclaimed, "Giggle, yes! Beyond this mountain lies the kingdom of humans!"
Stone nodded in satisfaction, thankful for his good fortune in having this big bun. You see, although the tongs had given him a map, it was drawn very poorly; for Stone, who had even struggled with real-time maps on Baidu in his past life, that thumbnail of the Blood Forest was utterly meaningless.
So, Stone simply had Baozi eat the map. Combining this with their exploration of the Crimson Forest over the past few days, Baozi easily learned about the surrounding terrain. More importantly, Stone was pleasantly surprised to discover that Baozi also had a recording function. All Stone had to do was have Mifen take the black diamond-shaped Baozi to the top of a tall tree, and Baozi would record everything it saw.
With this cheating skill, Stone and his companions reached the edge of the Crimson Forest in the shortest amount of time.
"Wait a minute, I remember Steel Hammer Daddy once said that when he and Mommy parted ways with humans, it wasn't on the mountain, was it?" Stone suddenly stopped, pulled the bun off his head, and asked in confusion.
Baozi struggled to wriggle in the stone's hand: "Gaga, the Crimson Forest is huge! Baozi brought Master here using the shortest distance from the outer edge of the Crimson Forest! And the mountains here aren't high! We can cross them in a day!"
Shi Tou hesitated for a moment, thinking that Bao Zi's words made sense, and finally nodded. However, the reason she was willing to climb the mountain with Bao Zi was that although the mountain wasn't high, it stretched for dozens of miles, and it would take several days to go around it.
"...When you're on the other side of the mountains, I'm on a lonely road with no end in sight..." At first, Stone sang smugly as he climbed the mountain. However, after Baozi's strong protest, and realizing how tiring it was to climb an unpaved mountain, Stone eventually quieted down.
"Crack!" Stone suddenly stopped in his tracks in shock: "What was that sound?" A noisy sound came from afar, and Stone froze.
"Gaga, rice noodles, come on!" The steamed bun suddenly bounced into rice noodles' hand and decisively turned into a black diamond.
Rice Noodles and Baozi were already working together very well. As soon as Baozi finished speaking, Rice Noodles darted up the tree with a "whoosh." Not long after, Rice Noodles darted down again.
"Gaga, Master! Baozi saw humans!" Baozi hopped back onto the stone's hand, but this time it didn't turn into a steamed bun: "Master, quickly put on the Kagaral Pursuit!"
Upon first hearing the word "human," Stone's heart skipped a beat. Having heard so many bad things about humans in the Dwarf Kingdom, even Stone thought humans were truly, truly wicked. But before Stone could even process this, Baozi's next question stunned him: "Why are you wearing that broken ring?"
The description of the broken ring made Baozi fall silent for a while: "Huh? Master doesn't have to wear it, but you should still take it out for a moment! Baozi wants to go up there!"
"Go up?" Stone, sensing Baozi's brain was about to malfunction again, finally pulled out the worn ring from his pocket: "What are you going to do? Take out the gold nugget?"
"Gaga, no! It's Baozi who wants to go up!" Although Shi Tou didn't understand what "go up" meant, Baozi quickly explained the meaning of the word to her with his actions.
The black diamond-shaped bun suddenly hopped onto the broken ring, then twisted its body on the ring's face, and instantly, the black diamond and the ring were perfectly combined: "Hehe, Master said before! Buns can't appear in front of humans!"
After a long pause, Stone realized that Baozi was hiding himself. But looking at the originally rusty and ugly ring, the addition of the black diamond instantly elevated its quality by several levels.
Hmm, now this ring really looks like an engagement ring!
Wait! Shi Tou, who was about to slip the ring onto her finger, abruptly stopped. This was an engagement ring! What was an eight-year-old kid doing wearing an engagement ring?!
Feeling that spending too much time with Baozi was making him a bit dim-witted, Stone put the ring back in his pocket. Then he reached out and grabbed Mifen'er, and together they ran wildly into the distance: "Haha, we've finally arrived at the human kingdom!"
-----
It's time for the second watch!
Hey, want to watch it at midnight?
I'll try my best with the pan-fried buns! ~\(≧▽≦)/~ Lalala!
Chapter 96 It's really hard to come up with a fake identity
"Stone, is this the human kingdom? It's so ugly!" At this moment, MiFen'er and Stone were perched on a big tree, staring blankly at the humans in the distance.
Okay, Stone thought she shouldn't have believed Huoqian! Saying that the Blood Forest was just outside the human kingdom? What the hell! A kingdom? Did he even know what a kingdom was?! It was just a small mountain village!
Look, there are a few dilapidated mud-brick houses, winding paths, and chickens and ducks hopping around every now and then. Under the big tree at the entrance of the village, there are also a few older women selling fruits and vegetables at a stall.
Stone was deeply saddened, but something even more heartbreaking was yet to come. She discovered that she couldn't understand a word those people were saying!
"Baozi! You better get out here!" Stone pulled out his ring and roared at Baozi with murderous intent, "What language is this? Explain it to me!!"
A few days ago, during a break from his journey, Stone had already used memory extraction to implant the world's common language into his mind. At that time, although Baozi cried his heart out, he still told Stone that the common language was the language of humans, used by all humans, and occasionally by some races closely related to humans.
But the humans not far away were clearly not using a common language! Stone suddenly felt deceived.
"Giggle, even Baozi doesn't know! Baozi is a good Baozi, Master can't bully Baozi!" Although Baozi was forced by the stone to turn back into a Baozi, it kept twisting its body, trying not to let the stone catch it.
"Hmph! Then tell me, what language do these people speak?" Stone wasn't so easily fooled, even though she couldn't catch the steamed bun. But she had her curse as a trump card: "You damned steamed bun, this princess curses you to be unable to move!"
And so, the steamed bun froze spectacularly.
"Now you can tell me what went wrong." Shi Tou gently held the steamed bun in his hands, and then gently tickled it.
"Hahaha. Master, stop!" Baozi wanted to dodge Shi Tou's groping hands, but his body was frozen in place by Shi Tou, so he could only beg for mercy in grievance.
"Speak properly. If you make me happy, I might consider letting you off the hook~~~" Stone stuck out a finger and poked in the pleats of the bun: "How about we do another memory extraction?"
"Gah gah. No! Baozi will tell you everything, tell you everything!" Baozi cried pitifully, but unfortunately, because its body was fixed in place by the stone, it couldn't open its folds to let the soup flow out, which immediately diminished the effect.
Stone finally stopped what he was doing: "Speak!"
"Gaga, Master, you don't know, humans are such a fickle race!" Baozi sobbed, "The dragon race has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, but their language hasn't changed at all! The dwarf race's language has changed a little, but it only changes a tiny bit every few thousand years!"
Stone was silent for a moment, then seemed to understand what Baozi meant: "So you're trying to tell me that the memories you gave me weren't wrong, it's just that humans changed their language?"
Baozi really wanted to nod vigorously. But it couldn't do it right now: "Hehe, Baozi really isn't lying to its master! Humans are too fickle. Hundreds of years have passed, Baozi really doesn't know!"
Based on Shi Tou's judgment, she felt that Baozi's explanation made a lot of sense. However, this news was not good news for her, since in the novels Shi Tou had read before, there were very few tragic time travelers who struggled with language.
"Hehe, Master, there's one more thing!" Baozi suddenly spoke up again: "It's very, very far from the capital! Maybe the language there hasn't changed much!"
The capital city? What the heck?
"Baozi, what is the capital city? Where is the capital city?" Shi Tou asked honestly.
If Baozi could still move at this moment, it would definitely give Shitou a few big eye rolls. Unfortunately, it was too weak to do so now: "Hehe, the capital is the capital of the Luoming Empire! Baozi used to live in the capital with its master! The capital is a very, very big city, and there are lots and lots of delicious food!"
Stone glared at Baozi with disdain. "You're just a steamed bun. You're lucky you haven't been eaten yet. And you're still thinking about good food?!"
"Alright, since we don't really have a destination, let's head to the capital!" Shi Tou quickly decided on her future itinerary. After all, for her, the allure of big cities was definitely much greater than that of those deserted villages.
"Giggle, Baozi is a good Baozi, Master, let Baozi move!" Baozi saw that the stone was no longer so angry, and knew that he had passed the test again, so he immediately started climbing up the pole again.
Stone readily agreed, and also instructed Baozi to return to the ring and stay put, not to come out without her permission.
With MiFen'er leading him down to the ground, Shi Tou, trying to maintain a calm smile, walked towards the people not far ahead. If Baozi was right, then even if he didn't quite understand what these people were saying, as long as it was the same language, he should be able to understand it after hearing it many times.
"Hello, um, excuse me, where is this place?" The words had barely left his mouth when Stone wished he could bite his tongue off. How could he have just said that? Didn't it immediately make him look like a complete country bumpkin?!
The women whispered among themselves for a while, and finally, the youngest and best-dressed woman took two steps toward Stone. She coughed twice to clear her throat before speaking to Stone in a strange tone: "Honored guest, this is Muda Village. What can I do for you?"
Upon hearing this, Stone was first stunned, then immediately overjoyed. It seemed that Baozi was right after all; the common language was indeed a human language. Thinking back to the diverse dialects of her past life, Stone felt that the relationship between the language she had just heard and the common language was probably like the relationship between dialects and Mandarin. As for the woman's somewhat strange tone, it was probably because she didn't use the common language often, which caused her speech to be somewhat awkward.
"We're fine. We just wanted to ask how to get to the capital from here?" Shi Tou tried to put on a smile, but she had no idea what to do. What would she say if someone asked her where she was from?
"To the capital? That's so far!" The woman thought for a moment, then stepped back and talked to the others before coming over to Shi Tou and saying, "If you go east from here, it'll be about 30 li. There's a small town there, we all call it Tingyun Town. Little girl, you'll find the carriage to the capital there."
Stone thanked the father and daughters before setting off with Rice Noodles. Afterwards, she asked Baozi about it. Baozi said it didn't know of such a place either, suggesting that the town must have been built only in the last few centuries.
Thirty miles isn't a long distance, but Stone Man's legs are short, and he wasn't familiar with the area, so it took him two days to get there. Upon reaching the outskirts of the town, Stone looked at the town in the distance and hesitated for a moment.
Although the women in Muda Village hadn't suspected her, it was likely because they were rather naive and, being a child, had lowered their guard. But they were almost in town. Looking at how bustling the town entrance seemed, Shi Tou felt she needed to find a better excuse.
There's no point in trying to figure out an excuse with MiFen'er. So, Baozi was called out again: "Baozi, I came from the Crimson Forest and I don't speak the local dialect. There's no way to hide this. You need to find me a better excuse."
"Hehe, do we really need an excuse?" Baozi looked at Shitou with the eyes of someone looking at a lunatic: "Master, why don't you just say you came from the Crimson Forest?"
You're kidding me!
Stone threw the steamed bun on the ground and stomped on it: "Are there any humans in the Crimson Forest? Even if there are expedition teams, which expedition team would bring an eight-year-old child into the Crimson Forest? Or do you want me to say that I grew up in the Crimson Forest?!"
Baozi thought for a moment and then spoke up: "Hehe, Master can say you're from Muda Village!"
“Baozi, don’t think that just because you’re stupid, everyone else has to cooperate with you and lower their IQ! Muda Village is only 30 li away from here, and there are only a few people in the village. Do you think this can be kept a secret?” Shitou felt utterly powerless. She really couldn’t have too much hope for a mere Baozi.
Forget it, she'll have to figure it out herself!
"By the way, Baozi, if I said I came from somewhere else, like the capital, would anyone believe me?" After thinking for a while, Shi Tou remembered the woman from Muda Village saying "honored guest" to her. She had very standard and fluent Mandarin, so it was very likely that the woman would misunderstand that she was from a big city.
"Hehe, this is a great idea! Master came from the capital, originally with an expedition team, but the expedition team got separated from Master, and now Master is going back to the capital!" Baozi shook his folds, indicating that this was a great idea.
"But it's the same old problem: which expedition team would take an eight-year-old child to the Crimson Forest?" Stone was still very sad. With memories of her past life, she knew very well how difficult it would be for an eight-year-old girl with no one to rely on to survive in a human kingdom. More importantly, besides her excellent blacksmithing skills, she had no other skills.
Sigh, I can't exactly let her tell everyone she can forge iron, can I? She's only eight years old...
"Hehe, yes! There's a very special fruit in the Crimson Forest called the Blood Pearl Fruit! The Blood Pearl Fruit has a powerful effect; if you eat it during your juvenile stage, it will enhance your talent for fire magic! Unfortunately, the Blood Pearl Fruit loses all its effects once it leaves the Crimson Forest!"
Shi Tou's eyes lit up immediately, and she quickly created a fake identity for herself in her mind.
Serena, female, eight years old, from the capital of the Fallen Empire. A year ago, she came to the Crimson Forest with an expedition team to pick Blood Pearl Fruits. However, due to an encounter with a magical beast, she became separated from the expedition team. After many twists and turns, she finally left the Crimson Forest with the help of a little elf. Now, she hopes to return to her home in the capital with the little elf who saved her life.
Oh, and one more thing: if someone can get me to the capital, my family there will definitely reward me handsomely!
-----
It's past midnight!
Well, since Shengjianbao is quite diligent, how about giving him some encouragement?
We don't need anything else, just a small pink ticket, okay?
Although we didn't launch them on the 1st, it's been a week since then, and poor thing, not a single pink pan-fried bun has appeared!
☆, Chapter 097: Temporary Stay at an Inn
Having completed all the preparations, Stone didn't forget to have Baozi also give MiFen'er a copy of the Common Language's memory. You see, the little elf MiFen'er only knows a little bit of Elvish and Dwarven, so for everyone's future communication, Baozi had no choice but to sacrifice its little chrysanthemum again.
Seeing Mi Fen'er clutching her head with both hands and looking utterly bewildered, Shi Tou had no choice but to push her forward. Fortunately, they weren't far from the town entrance by now: "Wait a minute, Baozi, don't talk, and Mi Fen'er, you should also keep quiet, understand?"
Mi Fen'er still held her head in her hands, and just nodded stiffly.
"Excuse me, is this Tingyun Town?" At the town entrance, Shi Tou saw a little girl who was about the same age as her and asked.
The little girl looked at the stone with curiosity, then glanced at the rice noodles being pushed forward by the stone, and nodded hesitantly: "Yes, do you need a hotel?"
"Stay at a hotel?" Shi Tou thought for a moment. Since she couldn't go to the capital alone anyway, staying at a hotel would allow her to ask about the situation here. So she agreed: "Little sister, we need to stay at a hotel. May I ask if your hotel is far away?"
"It's not far, it's over there!" As soon as the little girl heard Shi Tou agree, a big smile immediately appeared on her face. She pointed ahead and said, "I'll take you there! It'll only be a little while!"
"Okay." Shi Tou looked at Mi Fen'er and was relieved to see that she was finally no longer holding her head with her hands. She was really afraid that the memory extraction would make Mi Fen'er stupid!
After following the little girl for about two hundred meters, she stopped in front of a house and said, "It's right here, please come in, sister!"