Black Blade and Grayfist stayed in that state of "kneeling together as one" with perfect coordination three times in a row.
Black Blade finally couldn't take it anymore. He reached out and yanked Grayfist up from the ground.
At this moment, both of their faces were red all the way to their ears. Their toes were dug tightly into the ground, wishing they could dig out a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment in the dirt and hide inside it.
Seeing this damn level of tacit understanding between the two of them, Xu Yuan was just about to lose it. Earlier, when he saw Black Blade interacting with Steve, Xu Yuan had thought those two were pretty fun to ship.
He hadn't expected to find "sweet moments" between Black Blade and Grayfist too.
It really matched what Xu Yuan had thought to himself before, "The most important thing is that you three live your lives well."
That was also the reason Xu Yuan didn't interrupt them after their first "tacit cooperation" and let them keep casting their spell.
After all, life occasionally needs a bit of seasoning, and Xu Yuan was more than happy to appreciate these kinds of "little sentiments."
After pulling Grayfist up, Black Blade cleared his throat twice to break the awkward atmosphere, then began reporting the progress to Xu Yuan.
"Grayfist's mission has already been completed. A small number of players and calamity villagers were taken away by the Void Iron Golems."
"We just received news released by the calamity villagers who were captured at the very beginning. They said that those two HIMs have already reached a cooperation, and they also said that those Void Iron Golems have already betrayed the Void…"
As for the news about the Void Iron Golems betraying the Void, Black Blade was still somewhat surprised, but he remained doubtful about the accuracy of this information.
After saying this, Black Blade looked at Xu Yuan and said, "The reliability of the information… seems impossible to confirm…"
Hearing the news that the Void Iron Golems had defected, Xu Yuan was somewhat surprised, but not shocked.
In Xu Yuan's view, the betrayal of the Void's conscious entities was only a matter of time.
If they were merely machines without consciousness, they might have remained loyal to the Void forever.
But clearly, they were living beings, each with independent individual consciousness.
Awakening self-awareness was only a matter of time. Once they awakened that self-awareness, they would inevitably raise the banner of rebellion against the Void.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan looked at Black Blade and said, "The Void Iron Golems rebelling is only natural. This is a good thing for us."
"After the Iron Golems sent out to scout the rainforest's strength regroup with them, they'll probably set off for the rainforest."
At this point, Xu Yuan looked at Grayfist and said, "When that time comes, the other two HIMs might want to form an alliance with you. For now, take your people back to the previous camp, and then send some people to keep watch around the outer perimeter of the rainforest."
After giving his instructions to Grayfist, Xu Yuan looked at Black Blade again and asked, "Have all the underground tunnels around the rainforest been dug out?"
Previously, the underground tunnels mostly led to various regions. After the last time pause ended, Xu Yuan arranged for Black Blade to start digging underground tunnels outward from the rainforest as the center, toward the surrounding areas.
The purpose was to allow for rapid troop transfers.
The Annoying Village HIM and the Tyrant HIM didn't know that Xu Yuan had already grasped their every move.
On top of that, with the information provided to them by Grayfist's subordinates who had just been captured, they would definitely think that Xu Yuan still had no real defenses prepared, and that his forces were still concentrated inside the rainforest.
Therefore, once they arrived at the rainforest, they would certainly be the first to surround it.
This was also the reason Xu Yuan had his people dig underground tunnels connecting the areas around the rainforest.
The goal was to quietly move his forces to the surrounding regions without anyone noticing, creating a counter-encirclement.
If he had his people hide in the surrounding areas of the rainforest ahead of time, there would inevitably be a risk of discovery.
So the best method was to wait until the Annoying Village HIM and the Tyrant HIM surrounded the rainforest, then have his people withdraw from the rainforest area through the underground tunnels and carry out a counter-encirclement.
Hearing Xu Yuan's words, Black Blade nodded and said, "They're all finished. As per your requirements, the underground tunnels are all at relatively deep levels. There are a total of twenty-seven tunnels, with several tunnels in every direction centered on the rainforest."
"The tunnels have also been fitted with rails and minecarts. They're already operational, and part of the reserve resources have been transferred over."
Black Blade really handled things thoroughly. Most of the time, Xu Yuan only needed to provide a plan, and Black Blade would fill in the specific details himself, completely sparing Xu Yuan any extra worry.
Hearing Black Blade's response, Xu Yuan nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm. You can go get busy."
After nodding, Black Blade left together with Grayfist.
They hadn't gone far when Grayfist couldn't help but complain, "What were you doing just now, squatting there like you were playing carrot squat?!!"
"Seriously, what kind of rules do you guys even have here?! Five days on, two days off? Bowing from Monday to Friday, no bowing on Saturday and Sunday??"
"Seriously… I was so embarrassed my toes were about to dig out a three-bedroom, one-living-room place!!"
Hearing Grayfist's words, Black Blade didn't answer him. He kept a grip on Grayfist's arm and sped up his steps, gritting his teeth and whispering, "Stop embarrassing yourself here!!!"
———
Although Black Blade and Grayfist weren't speaking very loudly, the rainforest plaza was extremely quiet, and the wind just happened to be blowing from the direction they were leaving toward the plaza.
As a result, their conversation clearly reached the ears of both Xu Yuan and Notch.
At this moment, seeing the two walk farther away, Notch finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
"Pfft…"
"In the future, I'd better avoid situations like this… or I'll die from holding it in sooner or later!"
Actually, when Black Blade and Grayfist started their "carrot squat," Notch was already on the verge of losing it.
That moment was truly agonizing. He had practically gone through every sad thing in his life just to barely suppress his laughter.
Hearing Notch's words, Xu Yuan was about to say something when he saw Notch looking thoughtfully in the direction where Black Blade and Grayfist had left.
"They're really close…"
If it were anyone else, Black Blade and Grayfist's behavior earlier would probably just be taken as something amusing, have a laugh and move on, without really understanding the motivation behind their actions.
But Notch could understand it, because when Black Blade first brought Grayfist to the rainforest, Notch had been hiding nearby and secretly watching.
So he could understand that the reason Black Blade and Grayfist made fools of themselves was entirely because they both cared deeply about each other and didn't want to embarrass the other person.
Just this single action was enough to prove that the bond between the two of them was not shallow at all.
Watching their backs as they left, for some reason, in that brief instant, Notch felt that this scene seemed oddly familiar. He subconsciously murmured, "Come to think of it, the personalities of those two are pretty similar to two friends of mine…"
As he said this, Notch couldn't help but space out a little.
"Who were they again?…"