DADH Chapter 16

⌈Weekend update: 0/2⌋

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After ascending, Huo Yi’s days in the divine realm were not much different from before his ascension. Without the passive calculations of revenge and the constant battles, his life became even more impoverished, to the point where only seclusion remained.

Later, he learned from an unorthodox Western deity about a method that could resurrect the small dragon that had been schemed against and dispersed before his ascension. However, it required a lengthy cultivation process. Until the true awakening of the little dragon’s memories, he could only start by feeding the dragon egg.

Huo Yi didn’t say anything and painstakingly gathered materials. With a “humble heart,” he sought guidance from the Western deity. Finally, he successfully “summoned” the dragon egg.

To nourish the dragon egg, he labored painstakingly for nearly a hundred years. Finally, there was a movement within the dragon egg. Little did he know that just by closing a minor refinement step, the dragon egg disappeared without a trace.

Following leads through many small worlds, he finally sensed the presence of the dragon egg shortly after entering this particular world. However, upon chasing after it, he only encountered a young man who was already suffering from a soul-loss condition, his soul nowhere to be found.

Upon investigation, Huo Yi realized that the young man’s soul had likely been affected by his dragon egg. Only by finding the little dragon could he figure out a way to restore him. He had no choice but to temporarily protect the young man’s physical body.

After observing the young man for a few days, he finally heard clues about the dragon egg from the young man’s family.

Subsequently, relying on his powerful divine awareness, he thoroughly learned the “technological knowledge” and “holographic game knowledge” of this small world. Huo Yi then directly entered this holographic gaming world.

Originally, he had planned to enter and use the power of his divine awareness to penetrate the data codes of this holographic game, retrieve the dragon egg, and leave.

However, there seemed to be a slight miscalculation in his estimation.

Upon entering, Huo Yi realized that this “pseudo-small world” was incredibly fragile. It couldn’t withstand the force of his divine awareness searching. Moreover, this virtual world was still in the process of being constructed by the “Creator¹the programmers“. Forcibly searching would cause it to crash directly, and the dragon egg was likely to be affected as well.

When he attempted to follow the game world’s data for a search, he nearly got detected by the “Creator.” To avoid unnecessary trouble, he directly borrowed some data from a passing NPC, made a few modifications, and simultaneously concealed his traces.

The only inconvenience was that he now had to take over the NPC’s job of receiving some adventurers.

But who could tell him why he encountered this tiny adventurer who was terrified by a Level 1 monster and crawling all over the place?

Unable to stand it any longer, Huo Yi casually threw a firewood-cutting knife and stabbed the Level 1 Big Green Worm to death on the ground.

The firewood-cutting knife was a weapon distributed by the NPC Uncle Pipilu to novice adventurers.

However, to his surprise, after he killed the worm, this timid little adventurer became even more extreme. He opened his throat and started howling, and in a flash, he climbed into Huo Yi’s embrace, tightly wrapping around his neck, and no matter how much Huo Yi tried, he couldn’t pull him away.

Huo Yi: “…”

Jing Nian had long been frightened out of his wits by the Big Green Worm. He had lost all reason. When he felt like he was about to be forcibly thrown out, his body instinctively reacted.

His two small paws clung tightly to the NPC’s neck, and he desperately tried to squeeze his head into the space between his neck and collar. If his size allowed it, he would have tried to burrow inside the collar. At this moment, he deeply understood the sense of security that came from having a little dragon cub snuggled in his embrace.

A soft sound echoed.

Under the trembling cloak, a slender object fell out, and the moment it landed on Huo Yi’s wrist, it tightly coiled around his wrist, exerting a force comparable to that on his neck.

However, Jing Nian hadn’t yet mastered controlling the little dragon cub’s body, so he didn’t notice its tail had slipped out.

Yet, the familiar touch caught Huo Yi’s attention. He pinched the chubby neck of the tiny creature in his arms and lowered his head, only to see a familiar small tail.

The soft tail wrapped around his wrist, its trembling tip curling up, and that tip was shaped like a heart.

Huo Yi’s movement to pull it away came to an abrupt stop. After a moment of bewilderment, he skillfully “rua”ed the back of the little dragon cub that was crying loudly in his embrace and indeed felt the familiar body structure.

…Even though it was much smaller than he remembered and had a lot more tender flesh.

But it was indeed quite similar to his little dragon.

He wasn’t entirely sure. Taking advantage of the fact that the little cub was crying too intensely, he stealthily pulled apart the cloak that was sewn tightly to its body at all times. Sure enough, he saw a pair of little dragon horns.

They were a tender shade of red, with a hint of golden light.

Huo Yi’s gaze flickered slightly.

After absorbing Uncle Pipilu’s NPC data, he knew the rough appearance of adventurers, which should be human or semi-human.

Therefore, upon seeing this sneaky little creature with its head and tail hidden, he instinctively treated it as a child.

But he hadn’t expected it to be a…little dragon cub?

Huo Yi only glanced as he pulled it open, letting the little cub cry while unconsciously tightening the cloak, a rather suspicious behavior as if he feared exposing his true self.

Huo Yi endured the dampness on his shoulder and the soft humming sounds in his ear, deep in thought.

The pair of little dragon horns and his own little dragon resembled each other somewhat, but he couldn’t be entirely certain.

After all, when he tamed his little dragon, it was already sub-adult, with blood-red horns, displaying dominance.

He had no idea what his little dragon looked like in its infancy.

However, Huo Yi was suspicious that it couldn’t possibly be so timid and whimpering.

Nonetheless, the little dragon cub in his arms could be a clue. He had learned from other village NPCs that in this world, there was only one type of dragon – the Giant Dragon.

And on this continent, there was only one group of Giant Dragons, living in colonies.

Therefore, there was a high probability that by following this little dragon cub, he could likely find his dragon egg.

Huo Yi changed his initial decision.

–

As he felt the man’s large hand clumsily comforting his back, Jing Nian gradually began to calm down. In hindsight, he realized how he had lost his rationality due to the worm’s scare and what he had done. He wanted to crawl into a hole out of embarrassment.

He was also quite concerned about his dignity, okay?

Embarrassed to the point where he didn’t know where to put his hands and feet, he released his grip on the man’s neck. Afterward, in an uneasy manner, he pinched himself, reassuring himself that this was just an NPC. No one saw you crawling around in a humiliating manner!

No way!

Despite the strong heartbeat beneath the grip of his little paw, it was a forceful reminder to Jing Nian of everything happening.

Under the cloak, his ears that he had hidden and his cheeks turned completely red.

He shifted slightly, wanting to get out of the man’s embrace, but not knowing what to say. At this moment, a not-so-gentle caress was felt on the back of his head and neck respectively.

Jing Nian, as a whole little dragon, was being petted into softness. Incredulously, he tugged at the man’s shoulder, his round eyes widening significantly, displaying a tipsy, dampened expression.

He even felt an uncontrollable urge to release a satisfied “Ao~wu~” from his throat.

What’s going on, help, this NPC is actually petting a dragon!

Whimper, whimper, Jing Nian wanted to refuse, but it felt so good that he gave up struggling. He let his little head droop onto the man’s shoulder, stretching out his body to let the other party caress him.

Feeling the “weightiness” of the shoulder, Huo Yi’s gaze softened involuntarily.

It seemed that dragons had something in common.

After scratching for a while, he stopped and looked at the translucent quest interface in front of the little cub. He took out another stack of firewood-cutting knives.

Jing Nian, who was deeply engrossed in the caresses and couldn’t extricate himself, opened his slightly watery eyes and asked in confusion, “Why did you stop?”

He tried to lift his little head from the man’s shoulder, only to be pressed back down immediately. Before he could struggle, he felt the man’s body vibrate slightly a few times.

Then, a series of sounds rang out: “Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh…”

Jing Nian tried to raise his head to look, but he was pressed down repeatedly.

The man carried him in his arms towards a certain direction, and only after stopping did he release him.

Once his feet were on solid ground, Jing Nian was utterly bewildered throughout the whole process. He noticed that he had been placed at the edge of a vegetable field. He glanced to the side, but couldn’t discern any emotion from Uncle Pipilu, who was just standing there.

He turned back to look at the vegetable field.

Oh my goodness!

Twenty plump big green worms were neatly immobilized in the soil, completely lifeless.

Then he noticed something else – how come all the vegetables next to the big green worm corpses were trampled so badly?

What on earth happened?

Jing Nian turned back with confusion and looked at Uncle Pipilu beside him. The uncle still looked handsome and dashing, even the collar of his rough clothes, which had been wet and wrinkled by his tears and snot earlier, was now clean again.

At that moment, his quest interface suddenly displayed a mission notification.

[Exterminate Green Worms 20/20. You’ve saved Uncle Pipilu’s vegetable field! Hurry and find Uncle Pipilu, he has something to tell you!]

Jing Nian was stunned: What’s this!

NPCs nowadays can even complete quests for players on their own?

Before he could process his surprise, he saw a few more notifications.

[You fought side by side with Uncle Pipilu, establishing a friendly relationship. Favorability +1]

[Obtained 100 experience points. Level: Lv1 → Lv2]

[Obtained 20 copper coins]

[Wood Element x20]

[Hunger Level +5]

The moment Jing Nian saw the hunger value, he immediately felt that the whole dragon was in trouble. This was a mechanism found in certain games. In the immersive holographic game where all five senses were engaged, when a player’s stamina or satiety was insufficient, it wasn’t as simple as just not being able to continue a quest; they also felt weakened and powerless.

To continue the quest, you had to either spend money or rest!

When he opened the shop, he indeed saw a section for food, all with the attribute of satisfying hunger.

A wide array of options, scrolling from top to bottom. Jing Nian found that 20 copper coins could only buy him 5 steamed buns, and each steamed bun only added 5 points to his satiety.

Truly, every excellent game had an excellent dogged planner behind it.

Even completing a beginner’s quest came with a sort of indirect extraction of a 20% reward from the player.

Jing Nian bought a steamed bun, not eating it in front of the NPC and having no intention to experience its taste. He used it directly.

At that moment, his quest list refreshed.

[Updated Beginner Quest 1: Perhaps you’d like to learn how to cultivate vegetables from Uncle Pipilu.]

[Updated Main Quest 1-1: Go to the [Riverside] to see the warrior; he seems to need help.]

Jing Nian briefly looked at the main quest and realized that the riverside was quite far away. Continuing with the beginner quest seemed to be the better path.

Not only was Uncle Pipilu right in front of him, but also because he had left the abyss for quite a while and needed to return before it got dark.

But upon seeing the word “vegetables” in the quest, his face turned green accordingly.

And Uncle Pipilu beside him had been standing silently without speaking, seemingly still waiting for him to accept the quest.

Jing Nian quickly tilted his little head and glanced at the sky, changing his plan.

Well, it’s getting dark, I should head home.

So, without hesitation, he clicked on the “reject” option.

“It’s already getting dark, I should go home. Let’s continue tomorrow!” Wrapped in his cloak, Jing Nian waved his small round hand at Uncle Pipilu in a cute and childish manner, then turned and dashed away.

Huo Yi, left standing in place, furrowed his eyebrows slightly. He looked at the bright and clear sky – dark already?

Nevertheless, that’s fine too. Although he didn’t understand why the little dragon cub was running, he could use this opportunity to quickly follow it to the dragon’s lair and find the dragon egg.

Huo Yi stepped in the direction the little cub had left.

 

Author’s Note:

Huo Yi: This isn’t my little dragon; my little dragon doesn’t cry this much.

Jing Nian: No, your little dragon cries even more!

First 19 new players before the official launch: QAQ There’s a devil NPC in the beginner village!!! He actually made me kill green worms barehanded! Those big green worms are like a person’s height, damn it! Whimper whimper whimper, he’s simply inhumane!!!

Later players: … The way the boss talks is just different. It’s not really barehanded, right? Isn’t a firewood-cutting knife considered a weapon? I found it quite useful even up to level 20.

The 19 players who tried punching the big green worms: ??? What firewood-cutting knife?

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