Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!
Chapter 360 - 81: Joyous Red and White Occasion, Lover in the Walls (Seeking Monthly Votes) _3

Chapter 360: Chapter 81: Joyous Red and White Occasion, Lover in the Walls (Seeking Monthly Votes) _3

"Everyone, tonight I’m treating you all to free wine tasting! This batch of wine was dug up by a friend of mine. It’s been aged for quite some time, and it seems well-preserved, but whether it’s still drinkable is uncertain, so just consider it a gift. If any of you love wine, feel free to grab some, haha, but if it has gone bad, don’t blame me, Old Hong," the plump owner said very generously.

"That’s very generous of you, boss," many people in the hall immediately cheered.

Among the Scavengers and Wasteland Wanderers present today, many were over forty years old and might already have been heavy drinkers before the disaster.

Now that such a delightful opportunity arose, naturally, no one wanted to be left behind.

As someone opened a bottle, the rich aroma of wine filled the hall, instantly enhancing the atmosphere.

Between strangers, there was clinking of cups and mutual compliments, a warm "how do you do," like old friends reunited after many years.

The festive scene made them both reminisce fondly about how the world used to be so rich and beautiful and feel hopeless about how bleak the world is now. Some cursed the injustice of today’s world, claiming that if they had their way, everyone could enjoy wealth and splendor, without suffering hunger and cold in the Wasteland.

Xu Shu found it amusing, thinking that alcohol really was a miraculous way to bring strangers closer together.

He was about to move forward when he saw the girl who called herself Xiao Li approach with a bottle of wine, her cheeks flushed as she asked, "Guest, won’t you join us for a drink? It’s on me."

A beautiful woman’s invitation, so boldly and warmly offered, made it hard for any man to refuse.

But Xu Shu was not any man, so he declined calmly, "Thank you, but I won’t drink."

In his previous life, he often drank alone late at night to dispel loneliness. In this life, he had not touched alcohol and did not need to relieve any loneliness, so naturally, he did not care for drinking.

Xiao Li seemed clearly disappointed by his refusal, but still insisted, "Then I’ll give this to you as a gift, it’s really something special."

She looked innocent and determined, not caring whether Xu Shu accepted or not, and stubbornly placed the bottle into his arms before turning and running away.

"Uh..." Xu Shu hesitated, then helplessly shook his head.

The girl was quite bold.

Too bad, Xu Shu preferred the demure and soft-spoken type of women, even better if they showed some resistance, and he was most delighted if under his domineering pressure they eventually yielded with reluctance and even enjoyment.

That said, he didn’t really like these overly forward girls.

Of course, it mainly depended on their looks.

Clearly, Xiao Li’s looks did not reach the level where Xu Shu would compromise his preferences.

Regarding this, Xu Shu could only silently apologize, with affection offered on one side and heartlessness on the other.

Tonight’s lodging was destined to be another sleepless night.

After the wine event, with many getting involved, the night grew fierce.

Xu Shu’s room was on the third floor, and intermittently from upstairs and downstairs came the moans of passion, which couldn’t help but make one profoundly reflect.

The people of this world sure loved to procreate.

Unfortunately, the excitement was theirs.

Xu Shu was left alone in an empty room, though thankfully, he didn’t feel any particular need these days, especially since he had just entered Sage mode not too long ago.

At night, everything with Xu Shu remained the same. Wrapped in his blanket, lying under the bed, he turned on the upgraded network and scanned the online world’s communication channels, paying special attention to any news like "changes occurred in XX ruins."

As long as anything appeared that matched with some of his own actions, Xu Shu could determine that those ruins were the same "ruins of the dead" he had just visited.

And once the ruins were confirmed, it meant that a Dao Mark would exist within.

No, there should be two.

One was naturally from this time’s "Arthur," and the other belonged to the former legendary "Shen Valley First-class."

Since both Dao Marks were in the same legendary world, if Xu Shu had a chance to retrieve them all at once, it would be a quite nice haul.

However, scanning around that evening, he found no messages that matched his predictions.

He was not in a hurry; as was the norm, it was mostly likely because not enough people had discovered it yet.

After all, it hadn’t been long.

"Eat your rice one bite at a time, walk the road one step at a time. Now, I’ve gained another Epic mark—a great achievement can be made."

"Sadly, the pathway is through ’Yin God,’ a series under Evil Spirit and another mark of the Three Deceit Families, but it doesn’t belong to an alternative species."

"I’m already at level 18, soon to be full level at 20. If I can’t find a mark from an alternative pathway, I might have to settle for one from the Yin God or Yang God pathways to try to merge with a Warrior pathway using the Mystical Chapter."

"Maybe the terms from the Three Deceit Families are mutually interchangeable?"

Xu Shu had already started to consider a second choice within his heart. If all else fails, just give it a try.

Others might die trying, but he wasn’t afraid. When in doubt, do sit-ups. He survived forcibly containing one the first time, and now that he was so much stronger, what was there to be afraid of?

Besides, with Wang Teng’s Dao Mark already in hand, he really could consume as many Warrior pathway Curse Seals as he wanted to!

As screams and shaking in the inn slowly subsided, Xu Shu drifted into a shallow sleep, his mind brimming with fantasies of sitting atop a mountain of high-grade Warrior Curse Seals. Countless power-seekers would come begging to allow their children or descendants to join his ranks, yearning for a curse they could not obtain.

In their desperation to achieve their goals, they wouldn’t hesitate to seduce him with various beauties, like an incredibly beautiful Empress, a noble fairy, an unrivaled female general, and so forth...

His beautiful dream was interrupted by a succession of strange cries.

Xu Shu wasn’t sleeping deeply, so even these not-so-loud noises made him open his eyes alertly.

"Ssssss... Ch-ch-ch..."

The fuzzy sounds seemed to come from either the floor beneath him or the ceiling above.

But after listening carefully for a moment, Xu Shu finally realized that this sound might be some kind of speech.

And it was coming from inside the wall!

What the hell? What was making noises in the inn?

Xu Shu instantly became fully alert, pressed his ear against the wall, and listened carefully.

As is well-known, sound travels faster through solids.

So after pressing against the wall, those sounds instantly became a lot clearer.

They were still very noisy, completely unintelligible, and there were lots of other noises, like rats scratching inside the walls, "giggling" incessantly.

There were the voices of women, then men, as well as the muddled voices of the elderly and the tender voices of children, all mixed together, sending shivers down one’s spine.

Among them was a woman’s voice who seemed to be the same person; she kept reappearing.

Indistinctly, he heard her saying something-something-sa, something-something-bi.

"What the heck is this, playing at?"

"Why the cursing?"

While Xu Shu was puzzled, the sounds of eerie chewing came from within the wall.

Crunch crunch crunch...

The fine chewing sounds strung together, eventually merging into a sentence he could barely make out:

"Soaking... complete..."

And then the sounds were indistinct again.

Xu Shu’s brow furrowed instantly.

Although he didn’t know exactly what was going on.

But looking at the current situation.

If nothing else.

It seems like an accident was about to happen.