DADH Chapter 56

Jing Nian handed the team leader role to Huo Yi and chose to follow. Eventually, he found himself in a desert after a series of teleports.

Almost the moment his feet touched the scorching, soft sand, Jing Nian noticed that something on his interface was wildly vibrating.

Startled, Jing Nian hadn’t even processed it when someone suddenly picked him up. However, his game interface floated along with his line of sight.

Huo Yi, with his quick reflexes, only realized this when he was holding the small figure suspended in the air.

Jing Nian, who was suddenly hanging in mid-air, blinked: “…”

Huo Yi: “…”

Pretending as though nothing foolish had happened, Huo Yi instead vigilantly held Jing Nian in a posture reminiscent of the young dragon he used to be, indicating that he should check the interface.

Due to the intense shaking of the interface in front of him, Jing Nian, despite the awkward position, extended his hand to touch the flashing point on the rapidly moving screen.

The next moment…

“Ga—Ga—Ga—”

A long cheer and the Desert Vulture made a dazzling entrance!

As soon as the Desert Vulture, the king of the desert who had returned home, landed, it raced off without so much as a greeting, leaving Jing Nian and Huo Yi in a cloud of swirling sand as it zoomed away.

If Huo Yi hadn’t swiftly turned and shielded Jing Nian, he would have had sand in his face by now.

As the sandstorm gradually subsided, Huo Yi turned with Jing Nian still in his arms.

Jing Nian squirmed, wanting to get down from Huo Yi’s hold. Although he was currently in a smaller body, being carried like a child like this was still quite embarrassing.

After all, he wasn’t a little dragon anymore.

Jing Nian thought to himself, “Anyway, I’ll just pretend that I wasn’t the one who used to be carried like this as a dragon hatchling. :)”

But unexpectedly, just as he had prepared himself mentally, his head was suddenly held down by the man’s hand, and he heard the man’s deep voice from above.

“Just like this, as we used to be.”

Jing Nian: “…”

It’s not me. I didn’t do those things as a little dragon hatchling. What does it have to do with me, Jing Nian!

In the end, Jing Nian didn’t struggle because he realized that the desert’s drying wind was quite strong. He was too short, and his feet were too small. With every step he took, he sank deeper into the sand. On top of that, a gust of wind could easily bury him in the sand.

Seeing these demonic winds, he deeply understood why the Desert Vulture’s head had gone bald.

It must be because the wind was too strong.

“Do you want to catch it back?” Huo Yi asked Jing Nian, looking in the direction where the Desert Vulture had disappeared.

Jing Nian opened his map and realized they were in the [Northern Desert], which meant they were in the Desert Vulture’s homeland. It explained why the creature was so excited even when it was just sitting in his pet inventory.

Thinking back to how the Desert Vulture ended up in his pet inventory, Jing Nian felt a little guilty.

He felt that releasing the Desert Vulture back into its homeland might not be a bad idea.

So he told Huo Yi, “No need, let’s go find the mushrooms.”

After hearing this, Huo Yi returned to his usual silent and reserved self, not asking too many questions and showing no curiosity.

Silently, he led Jing Nian in a certain direction. Along the way, there were scattered footprints in the desert. Jing Nian noticed that Huo Yi was following these footprints, which piqued his curiosity even more.

Noticing Jing Nian’s increasingly puzzled expression, Huo Yi finally spoke up. Instead of explaining, he started by saying, “Have you noticed that many players have been leveling up faster recently?”

Jing Nian nodded.

Indeed, he had noticed that players like the ones he met outside Ga’erfu’s house were already close to level 60. Even his three not-so-skilled teammates on his friends list were approaching level 50. It was progressing quite quickly.

Huo Yi continued, “That’s because someone recently offered a hefty reward to explore new maps.”

As he spoke, the man kept walking. Because Jing Nian’s body was so small, he could only grab onto the man’s collar. He listened to the voice and softly replied with a questioning tone, “Hmm?”

He raised his tiny face, clearly puzzled, and asked, “Hefty reward? Exploring maps?”

Huo Yi’s breathing faltered slightly. He delicately adjusted the small figure in his arms to ensure a secure grip and then continued, “Yes, these people are exploring new maps to distribute these mushrooms…”

Huo Yi’s gaze subtly shifted toward Jing Nian’s contemplative expression. He realized that Jing Nian wanted to know the source of the mushrooms. To keep his discovery of what Jing Nian wanted hidden, he redirected a portion of his awareness to briefly explore real-world knowledge he had, then he smoothly continued, “As a kind of marker.”

As Huo Yi spoke, he anticipated the young man’s reaction. Sure enough, as soon as the words left his mouth, Jing Nian’s expression changed.

The young man’s head shot up like an awakened kitten, and his eyes glistened with surprise and anticipation as he looked at Huo Yi.

The surprise and eagerness that lit up in the young man’s beautiful blue eyes filled Huo Yi with a nameless sense of satisfaction. He cleared his throat and continued, “This is also the ultimate goal of the person who offered the hefty reward behind the scenes.”

The combination of a hefty reward, spreading mushrooms as markers, and the markers being related to him made it hard not to draw connections.

Jing Nian’s breathing quickened, and he impatiently looked toward the direction where the footprints on the ground led.

Sensing Jing Nian’s eagerness, Huo Yi quietly picked up the pace.

However, at that moment, the Desert Vulture King, who had gone off to have fun, returned, and it wasn’t just one Vulture that came back.

After a startling and dusty screech of “Gā!” a group of smaller, shrill “Ying~Ying~” cries followed.

It was a group of much smaller desert vultures.

The sight of a group of vultures transformed into chicken-like creatures sprinting across the desert was rather terrifying. In Jing Nian’s view, it was like a rolling sandstorm approaching.

Fortunately, the group of desert vultures was still quite far away.

Watching the lead desert vulture, which the swirling sand couldn’t catch up to, flutter its wings toward their location like a returning swallow, Jing Nian could only say, “We need to run quickly!”

They mustn’t let these unfortunate little fellows get to them; otherwise, they might end up buried in the sand.

Huo Yi immediately held Jing Nian and leaped gently into the air, arriving at a mid-air position.

Looking down from mid-air, they could see not only the group of desert vultures chasing the rolling sand but also a circle of players behind them, riding the sandstorm and shouting in pursuit.

The lead Desert Vulture King, upon noticing Huo Yi flying with Jing Nian in his arms, suddenly widened its fish-like eyes, recalling something. It promptly stepped on the brakes, causing the little desert vultures behind it to collide one after another in a chain reaction.

The Desert Vulture King, standing firmly in the dust, raised its head and finally emitted a trace of kingly aura, tilting its head backward, letting out an unpleasant “Gā gā gā…”

“Children! Let’s take to the skies! The enemies won’t be able to catch us!”

Inspired by Huo Yi, this group of desert vultures finally remembered that they could fly and didn’t need to race with these two-legged creatures on the desert ground.

The bizarre chase scene came to an end with the infuriated players on the ground.

In the higher and more distant sky, Jing Nian looked at Huo Yi, who had jumped up and was hanging in mid-air, without speaking.

They were then surrounded by a circle of desert vultures.

The leading Desert Vulture King, cheerfully as an excited puppy, was introducing Jing Nian to its offspring with a series of “Gā gā” sounds.

Moreover, it treated the inspiration for their recent takeoff as a lifesaving favor granted to Jing Nian and advised its offspring to regard Jing Nian with even more respect than itself whenever they met him in the future.

As for why?

Could it tell its offspring about being tamed as a pet? Of course not. The current favor was a perfect excuse.

After conveying all this information, the Desert Vulture King turned a bit nervously and made a request, asking Jing Nian to keep the matter of it becoming a pet a secret.

Jing Nian: “…How about I release you?”

The Desert Vulture King was more excited than if it had regained its life. “Ga!”

No! As long as it remained Jing Nian’s pet, those nefarious Great Dragons wouldn’t dare to harm it recklessly!

It didn’t want to leave!

It was determined to follow Jing Nian to the end!

Feeling the unwavering determination of the Desert Vulture, Jing Nian: “…”

The players on the ground hadn’t noticed Huo Yi and Jing Nian. After all the desert vultures had taken flight, they sat in a circle, discussing.

A player who had run the most energetically kept pacing in circles underneath the vulture flock and said with confusion, “How did these dumb vultures suddenly get so smart?”

“Was it because of the big vulture?” Another player, resting on the ground, guessed while gazing into the distance.

“Could that big vulture be a map boss?” someone curiously speculated. “After entering this map, it seems like we haven’t encountered any powerful bosses. It’s too… easy for a level 50 map.”

He struggled to express his thoughts.

“Too simple,” someone chimed in.

A middle-aged player with a world-weary face took a puff from his fake cigarette and exhaled, “Indeed, it’s too simple. This dungeon map is just a desert, and there aren’t even many high-level creatures like poisonous scorpions and snakes, which are common in deserts.”

“The dungeon monsters are extremely weak,” another player quickly added.

Someone immediately countered, “To be precise, it’s not that they’re weak but rather incredibly stupid.”

Another person immediately agreed, “Yes, after all, these monsters are in their 40s, and in the ‘Dragon Slayer’ game mechanics, level 40 monsters roughly have the combat power of players at levels 50-60. Most of us are around this level, which means we’re evenly matched with these dungeon monsters. But because these vulture creatures are so dumb, we ended up surrounding and ganging up on them.”

“Uh,” someone in the crowd chuckled, “are you sure we ‘ganged up’ on them? Could we even catch up with them?”

“Hahaha.”

“Hahaha, damn…”

Recalling the hilarious scene of chasing the vultures and inhaling their dust earlier, someone wiped away tears of laughter, saying, “I suspect these monsters are just too stupid. They frequently forget they can fly, how many times have they made us run out of breath without catching a single one?”

“Good point, a group of people being outrun by flying creatures is quite absurd.”

In the air, Jing Nian listened to the chat in the nearby channel while the desert vultures learned their lesson and remembered to take flight next time. Then he heard the conversation above.

Jing Nian fell silent.

Clever players, you’ve uncovered the truth.

At this moment, Jing Nian also noticed the players on the ground, some of them lounging idly, tossing and catching objects, seemingly those mushrooms.

Huo Yi timely interjected, “These people are the ones who took on the bounty missions.”

Jing Nian watched the local chat for a while and realized that these players didn’t treat the mushroom matter as a secret. They had mentioned it several times inadvertently. However, it seemed that the bounties were posted from outside the game. This meant that Jing Nian couldn’t directly contact the bounty issuer.

Jing Nian contemplated for a moment, then looked at Huo Yi’s dependable profile, choosing to seek his help. “Can you help me contact the person behind the bounties?”

Huo Yi, who had already tried and failed due to a lack of valid ID from the interstellar side: “…”

—

On the other side, Jing Xing heard his own dry and hoarse voice and suddenly felt like he might be having unrealistic thoughts. However, his two brothers had their eyes brightened.

“Yes! I look exactly like him. We are twins! He’s even cuter and slimmer than me!” Without waiting for Jing Xing to continue, Jing Yan eagerly shoved his face in front of Ga’erfu, hoping that the other party would carefully inspect his face.

Ga’erfu knew that some of these otherworldly people might not match their appearance and soul, but these three individuals seemed to be a perfect match from head to toe. Therefore, after taking a moment to examine Jing Yan’s face, he fell silent and decided to trust his friend.

But before that, he decided to assess the character of these three people. So, he said, “I have seen him, but I have one request. If you can fulfill it, I will tell you. If you are unwilling, you can leave now.”

“We’re willing!” Three excited voices chorused in unison.

---

Translator’s corner:

Ooooooh~

We’re almost there, everyone \(^o^)/