Chapter 117: The Mummy "Fish"

“Lightning, stop fooling around and let our guest in.”

Uncle Tao had appeared at the doorway without Lu Kuan noticing. He issued the order to Lightning, then waved cheerfully at Lu Kuan.

A short while later, inside one of the clinic’s rooms—

A humanoid creature lay on the bed. It had a huge head, a wide mouth, short legs, and thick arms, while its entire body was wrapped in white bandages like a mummy, making its features impossible to discern.

Even so, its trembling, enormous belly was plainly visible. Looking at the mummy on the bed, Lu Kuan tried desperately to hold back his laughter, but in the end he failed and burst out laughing.

“You’re laughing at me again?” the mummy grumbled. Because of his injuries, however, his speech was slurred, making him sound even more ridiculous.

“Hahahaha!”

Lu Kuan laughed until his stomach hurt. Pointing at the mummy before him—or rather, the mummy-fish—he grinned broadly and said, “You look like that and you still won’t let people laugh? I ought to find an artist and have this historic moment preserved! Hahahaha!”

The other man snorted angrily several times, then wisely decided not to trade insults with Lu Kuan any longer.

The uniquely styled mummy on the bed was Old Blindeye, who had been rescued after an entire night of emergency treatment and had only just been dragged back from the brink of death. His muscles had been damaged all over his body, which was why he now looked like this.

Seeing that Old Blindeye still had the strength to argue, Lu Kuan could not help marveling at the vitality of the murloc race. When the old fellow had been brought to the clinic yesterday, he had been barely breathing. Lu Kuan had done everything he could, while leaving the rest to fate.

Uncle Tao watched with a smile, then turned to Lu Kuan. “We have Old Blindeye to thank. Without him, we would never have discovered the murloc tribe’s conspiracy…”

It turned out that as soon as Old Blindeye regained consciousness, he had warned Uncle Tao that the murlocs at the bottom of the lake were certainly plotting against Clear Water Village.

Yoda’s pet never left its master’s side. Since Lightning had been bitten, it was entirely possible that Yoda himself had made the attack—and that it was part of his scheme: weaken Clear Water Village, then seize the opportunity to launch a surprise assault.

Having lived among the murlocs for decades, Old Blindeye understood Yoda all too well. If there was one obvious change Yoda had brought after becoming the murloc lord, it was that he had injected this once-peaceful race with the genes of bloodlust and slaughter.

“I’ve gathered as many adventurers as I can to help Clear Water Village defend its homeland.”

At this, Uncle Tao looked at Lu Kuan expectantly. “Old Deer, will you come and help us when the time comes?”

Lu Kuan nodded with a smile. “Of course. I won’t shirk my duty.”

A short while later, Lu Kuan left the clinic and made another trip to the quartermaster in the temple, where he bought a set of Lesser Haste Scrolls.

“Lesser Haste Scroll (Excellent)

Effect: Increases the player’s running speed by 20% for 25 seconds. This effect can stack with similar effects.

Uses remaining: 3

Cooldown: 10 minutes”

Just as the item description stated, the scroll’s speed boost was calculated separately. If Lu Kuan used the Haste Potion in his pack at the same time as this scroll, his running speed would instantly increase by 70%.

“That should be enough… right?”

Lu Kuan muttered uncertainly.

After checking his friends list, he saw that Dai Guang and the others were still completing quests around Clear Water Village. Lu Kuan did not disturb them. He walked straight out of the village gates and headed west, crossing the Banyan Grasslands.

The Banyan Grasslands covered a vast area and were surrounded by mountains. Beyond the low mountain range at the western edge of the grasslands lay the westernmost region among all the maps surrounding Lava Fortress: the Dread Plains.

Though separated by only a single mountain range, the Banyan Grasslands and the Dread Plains were two entirely different worlds.

The former was filled with green trees, wildflowers, broad lakes, and great rivers. Fed by the endless streams flowing down from the snowy mountains, these waters irrigated the Banyan Grasslands and made them the richest land around Lava Fortress.

But to describe the Dread Plains, one word was enough:

Desolate.

“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”

Lu Kuan roughly wiped his face, spitting out the dirt that had found its way into his mouth for what felt like the hundredth time. His expression was one of disgust.

After three hours of travel, he finally crossed the mountains and reached the heart of the Dread Plains.

Sand and dust whirled through the air before him, blotting out the sky and sun. Even though Lu Kuan had prepared a face covering in advance, the violent sandstorm still tormented him mercilessly.

To the west of the Dread Plains lay the vast White Desert, a famed land of death in Echoes of the Gods. The White Desert was far larger than all the maps surrounding Lava Fortress put together.

The western wind carried sand and dust day and night from the desert into the Dread Plains, creating the region’s harsh natural climate.

Lu Kuan hunched forward as he made his way through the blowing sand. While battling the grit invading his nose and mouth, he also had to keep an eye on the route shown on his map to avoid losing his way.

“Grrrr…”

A threatening growl drifted through the sandstorm, faint and indistinct.

Lu Kuan immediately stopped, then dropped flat on the ground. A few seconds later, his figure vanished into the blowing sand, leaving behind only the faintest outline.

More than ten seconds passed before a massive head rose over the earthen slope ahead. At first glance, it looked like a large dog. But when the creature’s entire body emerged, Lu Kuan’s heart began pounding despite himself.

It was a canine more than two meters long, resembling the lean dogs commonly seen in ordinary life, though its muscles were far more powerful. Its tail was short and thick, and several grayish-white marks crossed its face. Combined with its mouthful of dark yellow teeth, the beast made anyone who saw it deeply uncomfortable.

“A level twenty-five-plus desert hyena…”

Lu Kuan said the words silently in his heart.

Then a second appeared, followed by a third…

Nine desert hyenas in total emerged from behind the slope. Following the alpha, they looked around and sniffed the air as if searching for something.

“Damn bastards, there’s no food here for you. Hurry up and get lost…”

Lu Kuan muttered silently to himself, wishing with all his heart that the beasts would disappear immediately.

Encountering high-level monsters right after entering the region did not mean Lu Kuan was unlucky. The Dread Plains itself was a level-twenty-five-plus map. If anyone found out that Lu Kuan had come here for no reason, they would probably take him for a lunatic.

But despite his tension, Lu Kuan remained completely calm. The Night Elf Cloak of Invisibility on his back was his greatest source of confidence.

He held his breath and remained concealed for nearly a minute. Only then did the enormous desert hyenas turn and leave. Lu Kuan waited another two minutes, making sure they had not set an ambush, before shaking the sand from his clothes and rising to his feet.

“This place really isn’t fit for human beings…”

Lu Kuan could not help complaining.

In that brief minute, his back had already been soaked with cold sweat. There was no way he could have stayed calm—the hyenas were so high-level that a single sneeze from one of them could have killed him.

Even so, the excitement in Lu Kuan’s heart outweighed his tension and fear. This encounter had just proven that his memory of the cloak’s special effect was accurate.

At such a close distance, even desert hyenas renowned for their keen sense of smell had failed to detect him. The cloak’s ability to conceal both his tracks and his scent left Lu Kuan extremely satisfied.