Ren Yifei stood at the fork in the road a step ahead of everyone else, as if he had been waiting for a long time: "I've been waiting for you for a long time, why did it take you so long?"
The apprentice, holding the glowing wood, looked at Ren Yifei. Seeing that he wasn't angry, he smiled and said, "There are many forks in the road here; I took the wrong turn earlier. Has Master been here before?"
"I've been here." After saying these two words, Ren Yifei was silent for a while, a complicated expression on his face, as if he was recalling something.
But after only a few minutes, he regained his composure: "Let's go."
"Okay, I'll lead the way. Teacher, watch your step, the ground is wet and slippery here." The apprentice held the glowing plant to light the way ahead, making the cave much brighter and the moss appear darker in comparison.
With the light illuminating the way forward, it becomes much easier to find the middle of the tree roots.
They moved over the past two days, destroying the moss and fungi along the road, and leaving many traces of human footsteps on the ground.
Following these traces, Ren Yifei and his apprentice quickly found the main group.
From afar, orange light shone through the entrance, making it instantly recognizable as the place they were looking for.
Contrary to the imagined damp and cramped underground environment, the middle of the divine tree's roots was actually a large open space, no smaller than the nests of the soldiers and civilians on the second level, and about the height of a three-story building.
Moreover, the air inside is quite good; you can even feel the wind.
Many tents had been set up at the bottom of the cave. The workers and civilians who had been transferred were lined up in their tents, just as neatly as when they were eating. The workers were on the left and the civilians on the right, clearly separated.
The caves in the walls also had light, but the most eye-catching things were the bonfires.
They actually use open flames to cook food here? Because they haven't lived here for a long time, have they forgotten the various experiences and lessons left by their ancestors, so don't they know the harm of burning fire in this kind of semi-enclosed environment?
"These fires." Ren Yifei hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
Before he could even subtly express his thoughts, someone on his left recognized him: "Jiang? Is that you, Jiang?"
"Hmm." Ren Yifei walked over. It was a small area surrounded by five or six tents, all occupied by laborers, including two young couples. Now that they were away from their "ant nest," they no longer had to live apart.
The person who had greeted Ren Yifei earlier gave him a big hug: "I heard from them that you're back, that's great!"
The enthusiastic worker pulled Ren Yifei to sit down: "After you went out, some of our people followed, but we lost them. What happened after that?"
Ren Yifei sat down and recounted the story he had made up, adding some complex emotions to it.
The worker listening to the story had an even more complicated expression than him: "I never thought that soldier named Gucheng was actually... He acted so convincingly, I thought he wanted to kill you."
That was fatal; he was killed in retaliation.
Ren Yifei smiled and said, "Let's not talk about me anymore. How are you all feeling about moving here?"
"It's alright. We've lived here before, and there are even more people here now," the worker said with a smile. You could tell he was genuinely happy.
"Lighting a fire underground can easily lead to tragic accidents," Ren Yifei said, looking at the fire. The people here probably don't know anything about carbon monoxide or sulfur monoxide, and they likely have no experience living outdoors.
To my surprise, he laughed and said, "I know, you always remind us, how could we forget?"
A worker who had been listening to them in silence said, "I know it's dangerous, so when our ancestors lived here, they lived inside but cooked outside by making fires."
"Also, toilets should be far away from living areas, otherwise people will get sick. We've heard you say this many times. Look, the toilet is now located far away."
Ren Yifei's expression remained unchanged, but his heart skipped a beat. 'Jiang' actually knows all this? He's far too knowledgeable. Since he couldn't access higher-level books, did he figure all this out on his own?
This is... too amazing.
The workers, seeing that he was not speaking, assumed he was worried and comforted him, saying, "You'll only be inside for the next couple of days to tend the fire. The higher-ups said there will be other arrangements in a few days."
Then they brought out hot soup and a fist-sized fruit.
"..." It's confirmed that he's a thumb man. The thing in his fist is clearly a grain of roasted, puffed-up cereal, and the hot soup is in an oval-shaped fruit pit.
He almost thought he had entered a fairy tale world. He was a thumb-sized person, sitting in the hall of a field mouse's house, warming himself by the fire and eating grains of rice.
"Those who are used to eating pink meat cannot enjoy these delicious foods at first. They can only eat ground meat stewed in water. It's really pitiful." Gongmin said as he stuffed millet into Ren Yifei's mouth.
"I'm not hungry." Ren Yifei waved his hand, put down the hot soup and rice, and listened quietly to him talk about what had happened since he moved here.
Although we've only been here for two days, a lot has already happened.
Every day, workers and soldiers had to go out to find food—yes, food, not black stones.
The worker who was speaking was responsible for teaching the workers and soldiers how to find food, what was edible, and how to eat it.
Having to find ways to cook food before you can enjoy it is something that people who are used to eating ready-made food find very difficult to get used to.
Because of issues with food, toileting, cleaning, and other things... in short, everything was a mess at the beginning.
Fortunately, their tents and activity areas had been marked out in advance, and the neighbors were all familiar people, so there were no problems with their accommodations.
"The main problem is still food," he said. "These people, whether workers or soldiers, have never cooked food with fire before. The places they lived in didn't allow burning wood, and many of them don't even know what fire is."
Ren Yifei looked around and said, "But they look pretty good now."
"Yeah, not bad, or maybe they're too scared to scream anymore." Gongmin couldn't help but sarcastically remark.
"It's not their fault. We've never used fire before. You know why, right?"
Ren Yifei continued to coax, and the man, unaware of what was happening, added, "I know. I heard that a lot of flammable tree sap was used when building the nest, and it would all catch fire if you put it in a flame. That's why Granny Yao can only burn her medicine in the thatched hut outside."
"Yes," Ren Yifei agreed, thinking about the small stove in his studio.
They forbid him from seeing an open flame in the anthill, but allow him to bring it into the small stove. Does that mean they don't plan to leave the anthill behind?
Ren Yifei had previously discovered that the lighting tools for ant nests were luminous plants and minerals, and that there was never any open flame. He had speculated that ant nests might have the disadvantage of 'poor fire resistance'.
I never expected that cement, which feels so hard to the touch, is actually not heat-resistant.
After eating the rice and hot soup, the apprentice soon showed signs of discomfort; his stomach seemed unable to immediately accept the food.
The workers noticed and were about to say something when Ren Yifei spoke up: "I forgot you haven't eaten food cooked over a flame yet. Once you're more familiar with it, I won't make that mistake again. Excuse me, where's the toilet here?"
"Outside, Jay, take this child over there." The worker who had spoken earlier seemed to just realize what was happening and smiled apologetically.
"Do you need me to take you to the toilet?" A man in the crowd stood up and led the apprentice to the toilet.
To keep the cave clean, the toilet is located far away, and it takes time to travel back and forth. Of course, the people in the tents have their own small chamber pots, which they empty once every morning.
After the two apprentices had walked a distance, Gongmin turned to look at Ren Yifei: "This person is..."
Ren Yifei shook his head: "It's hard to say, let's be cautious. By the way, did a soldier or civilian in charge of household registration come today?"
"Yes, she also brought a lot of documents, and a group of people helped carry them in." Gongmin pointed in the direction for him, "It's right there, in that specially carved-out cave."
Ren Yifei spotted it immediately; it was brightly lit there, filled with glowing wood.
"You need to see her?"
"No, I just suddenly remembered something and wanted to ask. It's okay even if there's no answer," Ren Yifei said with a smile.
He did think of this incident incidentally.
He didn't have any particular obsession with the 'ghost card'.
If he's obsessed with obtaining rare cards, he'll definitely be anxious at this point. High-level dungeons are extremely stingy with information. Information easily obtained in low and mid-level matches requires tremendous effort in high-level ones.
For example, if he sees a notification about twins and wants to know their information, the first hurdle is to find the household registration administrator, during which time he cannot reveal his identity.
The second hurdle is finding and making contact with her. As a worker, one can't move around freely, so the only way to make contact is within the current environment. Otherwise, one would have to consider infiltrating, which would incur the hostility of many NPCs.
The third hurdle is getting the household registration administrator to disclose such confidential information. For ordinary people, that's out of the question. So, the only option is to try unconventional methods, while ensuring that nothing gets exposed.
Just this one piece of information about 'twins' requires so many methods. If you want to know more, you basically have to spend every day searching for missions.
He even suspected that the players had given up on finding the ghost because they hadn't made any moves.
Ren Yifei said she wanted to find the household registration administrator, but the worker misunderstood: "Do you also want to ask about your birth? Since she came, many people have gone to ask. But most of them can't be found anymore."
It turned out that many people were concerned about his background, so Ren Yifei nodded and said, "I'll give it a try first."
"Are nobles here too?" Near the Huji Cave, Ren Yifei discovered some caves located higher up, where it seemed that people were looking down.
The workers across the way followed the gaze and said, "I've heard that, but I've never seen them before. I did hear them cursing the lowly people, tsk."
Like Jiang, this group of workers generally held a negative attitude towards the nobles. They didn't understand the role of the nobles and the queen, and considered them merely useless people who leeched off them.
Based on the information Ren Yifei knew, the nobles and queens here not only didn't drink blood, but they might have had a lot of blood drawn from them, which was rather tragic.
"And those people, they're still looking forward to returning to their old lives in two days." He covered the burning fire with charcoal ash, extinguishing it. Then he picked out the intact charcoal pieces and placed them in a clay pot to the side.
"Why are you keeping these charcoal pieces?" Ren Yifei asked, puzzled by his actions.
"They're collecting these charcoal from above."
He took out the whole charcoal pieces and added some dry wood strips before he finished his work: "After coming out, there was indeed more to do, but I felt even happier."
"I think that when you live outside, food and habits are not important; what matters is here." The worker pointed to his own head, but what he really meant to be pointed to was someone else's head.
Seeing that Ren Yifei didn't speak, he thought he didn't understand: "Let me demonstrate it for you."
Ren Yifei saw him stand up, walk to the middle of the tent area, and say loudly, "Did you know we used to live in cages?"
Everyone else looked up at him.
"It's like being farmed; that entity throws some food at us every day until one day we can be slaughtered. We don't belong there; we should have freedom," the worker added.
Those people all turned their heads away and went about their own business.
"See, that's it." Gongmin returned, his face smiling but his expression full of helplessness.
These people came as part of the spark, but they didn't know why they came; they simply followed orders out of habit.
For decades, everyone has taught them this way: no questions are needed, just obey.
Those who rebelled, like Jiang and the few workers here, were a minority.
"It will be alright." Ren Yifei could only comfort him. It's only been two days now, and they will truly realize the significance of what they are doing now in the future.
The apprentice had been gone for a while, and Ren Yifei, not wanting to waste any more time, stood up and walked toward the household registration manager.
A soldier or civilian stopped him: "What do you want?"
"I want to know who my parents are." Ren Yifei coughed twice, a harmless smile on his face. "I know I might not be able to find out, but I just won't give up until I try."
The guard at the cave entrance stepped back a little: "If you can't find it, come out immediately."
"Thanks."
The veteran woman, who was organizing documents inside, had already heard the commotion. She looked up and asked, "What are you looking for?"
But when he looked up, he saw a red vortex with black characters spinning within it. The old soldier's eyes lost focus, and he asked again, "What are you looking for?"
Do you still remember the twins from eighteen years ago?
Two people had asked the old soldier this question, so when Ren Yifei asked, she answered: "The twins from eighteen years ago, one was a nobleman named Shengchun, and the other was a worker. Their names are related to water."
Ren Yifei had some premonition beforehand, but he still paused for a moment when he heard that the name was related to water.
"River?"
The author has something to say: One of the ways to increase the difficulty in high-level games is to block information and create confusing options.
It's like the same exam paper has been changed from an open-book exam to a closed-book exam, and from single-choice questions to multiple-choice questions.
Whether it's 'unknown' or 'a hidden anthill', players need to observe, think, increase NPC favorability, and even use illegal means to obtain the correct information.