Chapter 30

Lu Yu couldn’t understand whether the Matai person in front of him understood the meaning of “heart-shaped.”

If it were before, he definitely wouldn’t think too much about it, but after last night, the two of them…

Although they didn’t confess, but…

“Isn’t it?” Tai Lie asked.

Lu Yu carefully observed his facial expression.

As stern and tough as ever.

Well, it seems he was overthinking.

Lu Yu smiled, “That’s it.”

He reached out his finger and gently pinched the “peculiar-shaped” shell from Tai Lie’s broad palm, paying special attention not to touch his skin.

He tossed the small shell into his pocket.

“I’ll go call Shan Pu and the others,” Lu Yu said, then hurriedly walked away from him.

Lu Yu walked briskly for a while, his steps gradually slowing down. He lowered his head, looked at the pile of neatly arranged shells, hesitated for a moment, took out the rebellious one, and put it into his storage ring.

It’s so strange; the game panel definitely wouldn’t accept it, but it’s not good to just throw it away since he already told Tai Lie it was a shell. Might as well keep it; it doesn’t take up much space anyway.

It’s just an ordinary shell; Tai Lie definitely doesn’t know what this shape represents.

Lu Yu reassured himself like this.

“Shan Pu, come back quickly!” Lu Yu shouted at the Matai people who were frolicking in the seawater.

“Okay!” Shan Pu and the others responded and started walking back.

The excitement on the faces of the dozen or so people hadn’t faded yet; they were all soaked from head to toe. Lu Yu took out some soft leaves and spare beastskin skirts and handed them to them. “Go change.”

“Alright!” Shan Pu happily took them and walked with the others into the woods.

Lu Yu watched their backs and sighed deeply.

See, he really is straight.

Dozens of perfectly built handsome guys, shirtless, dripping with water, standing in front of him, and he didn’t feel anything at all, just a little envious of their physique.

Lu Yu showed them the shell and asked them to collect more while he went to find some submarine mud.

After washing the shells, Lu Yu also figured it out.

This submarine mud, with such a grand name, was probably just mud.

Lu Yu stood by the sea, bent down, and dug up a handful of it from the ground. Sure enough, it was a success when he checked the game panel.

—

On the Beast Plain, in the Gao Hui Tribe’s small wooden shed.

After handing over the shed to Lu Yu and the others, the two brothers, Qiu Guang and Qiu Huang, had to use the remaining resources to buy a new small shed.

However, this shed was not comparable to the previous one; it was located in the corner of the stone city and was very small.

Qiu Guang was twisting his body uncomfortably, scratching his back.

Qiu Huang sat on the ground, clutching his chest and coughed, “Come sit down.”

Qiu Guang hurriedly went over and sat down, “Brother, how are you feeling?”

Qiu Huang frowned, “Let’s not talk about that for now. How did the task I asked you to do go?”

Qiu Guang, “Yesterday, I immediately sent people back to the tribe overnight with supplies and surveillance, and as soon as there’s any news, they’ll report back to us.”

Qiu Huang nodded, about to say something, when a voice came from outside the door.

“Chief, Vice Chief, we’ve found something!”

Qiu Guang called the person in, “What did you find? Speak up!”

The person reported earnestly, “I found that the people from that small tribe were roasting meat, and it smelled especially good!”

Qiu Guang and Qiu Huang:…

Qiu Guang angrily said, “Is that all you found? Do you want to be punished?!”

The person hastily waved his hands, “No no no, it’s not just that. I also found out that they left the city at noon today!”

Qiu Guang was furious, jumping up to hit him, “Why didn’t you mention such important information earlier?! Did you just go sniffing around for someone else’s roasted meat?!”

The person held his head, speaking in a small, aggrieved voice, “It smelled really good…”.

He really hadn’t eaten it, but if his willpower wasn’t strong enough, he would’ve wanted to buy a piece with fur.

Qiu Huang furrowed his brows, “Enough! Let him finish speaking.”

Qiu Guang stopped his hand, and the person continued reporting, “At noon, they left a few people at the wooden shed, while the others went to the commissioned camp, found a slave, and then left the city. I didn’t follow them afterwards…”

Qiu Guang was about to jump up again to hit his head, “Why didn’t you follow them?!”

The person hurriedly explained, “Because those people are really sharp. Yesterday, I got too close and almost got discovered. And although I didn’t follow them, I stayed at the city gate and caught the slave who led them out of the city!”

Qiu Guang’s eyes lit up, “Where’s the slave?!”

“Outside!”

After clarifying things from the slave’s mouth, a trace of distortion flashed across Qiu Huang’s face, as he said venomously, “When the warriors of the tribe arrive, send a few archers to hide on the route back to the city. Whoever comes, kill them! Especially the one who fought with me yesterday, and that skinny white guy.”

Qiu Guang responded, “Got it!”

—

“Witch, how’s it going? Enough?” Shan Pu placed a pile of seashells from his arms in front of Lu Yu.

Lu Yu checked with the panel, “Almost done. You guys go dig the submarine mud, I’ll pick up the seashells.”

He picked them up while keeping an eye on the numbers on the panel.

He couldn’t gather all the materials here, so he had to leave a few and retrieve them later at the tribe.

After a busy afternoon, Lu Yu and his companions finally collected all the materials. Fortunately, picking up these two types of materials didn’t require much effort.

Lu Yu was satisfied after checking the materials, he looked up at the sky and turned to say, “Alright, let’s head back!”

“Okay!” the Matai people responded.

They retraced their steps.

Passing through the small forest they came through earlier.

Lu Yu was about to talk to Tai Lie about upgrading the village when he suddenly saw him furrow his brows and stop.

Confused, Lu Yu asked, “What’s wrong?”

Tai Lie stretched out his hand, “Stop moving forward.”

Shan Pu and the others immediately stopped, “Chief?”

Tai Lie stared intently at the seemingly calm bushes ahead, sweeping his gaze over the dense branches and crowns in the distance.

“There’s someone, or a beast.”

Lu Yu was startled, and quickly realized that there might be a fight, so he wanted to take out the weapons and armor from the ring.

Tai Lie held his hand, about to speak, when suddenly, a change occurred!

An arrow shot towards them!

Lu Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

Fortunately, before the arrow got too close, Tai Lie had already caught it with extraordinary speed, while pulling Lu Yu behind him.

More arrows came flying!

Tai Lie shouted loudly, “Shan Pu!”

“I know!” Shan Pu responded, leaning forward slightly and charging towards the big tree where the arrows were coming from like a cannonball.

At the same time, the other Matai people quickly formed a formation.

Tai Lie whispered to Lu Yu, “Don’t take them out for now.”

Lu Yu nodded. If it was a beast, it would be fine, but if it was people, it was better to be cautious.

His tension eased after the arrow incident, and he calmed down.

The combat effectiveness of the Matai people was unquestionable. If they were threatened, there would need to be several times more people, but it was obvious that there weren’t that many hiding here.

However, who were these people?

The question flashed through his mind for a second, and he had an answer.

Other than the two brothers from the Gao Hui Tribe, who else could it be?

After the first round of arrow rain, aside from a few scratches on some Matai people’s arms, no one was seriously injured.

Tai Lie ordered, “Advance, slowly!”

“Yes!” the Matai people roared, advancing in an orderly manner.

Seeing this scene, Lu Yu was taken aback.

As far as he knew, when the Matai people fought, they would just charge forward blindly, but now…

Lu Yu glanced at Tai Lie guarding him in front.

The man’s tall and sturdy figure was like the strongest shield, never going to fall.

To be honest, Lu Yu didn’t know much about combat, and when he gave advice to Tai Lie, it was just a thought that might not be useful, but unexpectedly, Tai Lie listened and even silently contemplated, and improved upon it.

This man, silent and reliable, took every word he said seriously…

Lu Yu pursed his lips and looked away.

—

Up ahead, Shan Pu had already rushed to a tree, jumped up, grabbed a branch, and leaped up violently.

After a while, there was a scream, and a person was thrown from the tree, landing with a thud on the ground, alive or dead is uncertain.

The archers hiding in the other trees seemed to be startled by this movement, and even the arrow rain showed a slight pause.

Tai Lie seized the opportunity and shouted, “Attack!”

The Matai people, who were ready to strike, aimed accurately and charged forward.

Lu Yu paused and said, “Leave one alive!”

“Yes!”

The enemy archers were thrown down one by one.

The Matai people followed Lu Yu’s order to leave someone alive, just disarming them and giving them a punch before throwing them down.

These trees weren’t high, so falling from them wouldn’t kill anyone.

Once the situation was resolved, Lu Yu and Tai Lie walked to an archer who was crawling up, ready to escape.

“Stop.” Lu Yu said.

The archer’s body stiffened, slowly turned around.

“You…” Before he could finish speaking, Lu Yu saw the archer reach behind him, pulling out a small stone blade and throwing it at him.

Of course, Tai Lie intercepted it again.

But unlike arrows, the stone blade was caught, but Tai Lie’s hand bled a bit.

Seeing the blood, Lu Yu was initially flustered, but soon, he remembered something.

Favorability!

This big brother sure knows how to send warmth!

Seeing that Tai Lie was fine, already going up to clean up the people, Lu Yu couldn’t wait to open the game panel.

Sure enough, the favorability progress bar had been completed.

A prompt appeared on the panel.

[Game Panel upgraded, new features available]

Lu Yu chose to check it out.