Chapter 375 - 275: There Seems to Be Something Wrong With Your Female Leader’s Body

Chapter 375: Chapter 275: There Seems to Be Something Wrong With Your Female Leader’s Body

Elder General Xia, who had been squinting at the map, suddenly spoke up. "Then let’s not talk here. Follow me."

The group followed a secret passage underground.

Passing a circular plaza, Tang Wen suddenly stopped. He looked at a ring of fireplaces, where he could see deep red, burning charcoal through transparent glass.

The fireplaces made the Underground Palace feel warm and cozy.

Following his gaze, Elder Xia casually explained, "I know what you want to ask. We didn’t build these."

"Hmm?"

"Think about it, kid. The area around the camp—the swamps, forests, mountains, and the great lake—is fraught with danger. Who would build a camp here?" Elder Xia tapped his pipe, offering a hint.

’True, I’ve never thought about this problem before.’

Upon careful consideration, he realized this place wasn’t actually suitable for habitation.

For a weaker faction, it would be best to settle down in a place like Taoyuan Village, surrounded by mountains on all sides. They could hide completely in a hollow, develop slowly, send out explorers, and cultivate experts.

But Flame Camp wasn’t close to a water source, nor did it have a river. The tilled fields were originally mountainous terrain, unsuitable for Farming. It really wasn’t a good location.

So why did the original leader of Flame Camp choose to settle down here?

Tang Wen understood. He looked up at the ancient-looking walls of the Underground Palace. "This place... was already here?"

"That’s right. It’s a ruin!"

Xia Qingge took a sip of wine and uttered a word rarely heard.

"My father told me my ancestral home is in the distant east."

’Huh?’

Tang Wen’s eyes filled with surprise.

Xia Qingge looked at him and said, "It’s said my ancestors were part of an exploration team from a major power. They traveled west, apparently trying to figure out what had happened to the world. Later, for some reason, they couldn’t go back."

"You never thought about finding your way back?" Tang Wen asked.

"Find my way back?" Xia Qingge gave him a strange look. "How? I don’t want to spend my whole life running around... and having to get reacquainted with distant relatives everywhere."

"They didn’t leave anything behind?"

"Their generation did think about going back. They made many attempts. Some who left never returned, and we don’t know if they found the way home or died out there. They didn’t leave much behind. Don’t worry about it; these things are too far removed from us."

GULP GULP.

Xia Qingge tilted back her radiant face and drank deeply.

Suddenly, her hand trembled almost imperceptibly. A trickle of wine slid from the corner of her rosy lips, leaving a wet trail on her slender neck.

Everyone was walking toward the secret room. Only Tang Wen, who was beside her, noticed this.

"What’s wrong?" he asked curiously.

"What do you mean, what’s wrong? My hand just shook. This wine is terrible."

As she spoke, Xia Qingge held the gourd in her hand up to Tang Wen’s nose.

It was the smell of sweet potato liquor.

Tang Wen didn’t think much of it and took out another wine jar from his Void Stone.

"I knew you had more in stock, you kid." Xia Qingge’s beautiful eyes narrowed. She took the jar and then looked at Tang Wen’s neck.

A necklace hung there, and on it, a small stone was wrapped in silver metal.

’I just felt a fluctuation. I know the wine came out of that little stone.’

"How much more do you have? Take it all out," she said, her eyes burning as she swallowed.

She looked as if she wanted to devour him.

"Heh, you should drink less." Tang Wen turned away, then suddenly turned back, staring into her eyes. "Speaking of which," he asked, "how did you get so addicted to alcohol?"

Experts above the Extraordinary Level found it very difficult to get drunk.

Among the many experts in Ganshan City, besides the elderly, young people rarely carried wine gourds and drank endlessly.

After all, alcohol did have some effect on one’s Martial Arts.

Drinking carousing wine at night to relax was one thing.

But who carried a wine gourd around all day, drinking it like water?

Xia Qingge blinked and declared righteously, "It’s a family tradition!"

"If you don’t want to say, then don’t." Tang Wen was the first to walk into the secret room.

Xia Qingge tilted her head back. GULP GULP. She poured the cloudy sweet potato liquor from the gourd into her mouth.

As Tang Wen stepped into the secret room, her hand twitched again. Although she controlled it immediately, a bit of liquor still spilled out, wetting the red dress on her chest.

The group waited in the secret room for a few minutes before Xia Qingge strode in, carrying a wine gourd now filled with bamboo-leaf green liquor.

Seeing the slight flush on her cheeks, everyone shook their heads.

Zhou Bing said coldly, "How has your addiction gotten so much worse recently?"

"What do you mean, worse? It means my tolerance has improved! What does a child like you know about wine!" Xia Qingge shook her head like a rattle-drum, causing her upper body to sway gently as well.

The view was quite captivating.

Well, among everyone present, only Tang Wen snuck a couple of glances.

’Why is her chest wet?’

The Queen was impervious to heat and cold.

Her red dress was very thin, and now that it was wet with liquor, it accentuated her fair, jade-like skin.

Finding it strange, Tang Wen took another look.

"Ganshan City has an underground Demon Cave, which is extremely dangerous. Logically, its environment is even more hostile than our camp’s. But for some reason, they seem to have never considered moving away."

Tang Wen had mentioned the issue with the underground before, but not in as much detail as today:

"Normally, even if they had to suppress the Demon Cave, they shouldn’t have the entire clan—men, women, old, and young—all living in Ganshan City. Otherwise, if they ever failed to suppress it, it would be a disaster that could wipe out their entire clan."

"It is very strange." General Zhou had considered this despite his busy schedule. "If I were to design it, I would build Ganshan City into a fortress that faces inward. There would be no need to send people to fight to the death underground; they could just set traps on the surface and wait for the enemy to emerge."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Tang Wen also approved of his idea. If they could get gunpowder weapons from White Stone City, it would be even simpler.

’Just surround it with high walls and toss in explosives.’

’At worst, they could build a few more layers of encirclement.’

The lethality of gunpowder weapons was enough to be fatal to ordinary Martial Artists.

’The Underground Demons can’t all be Extraordinary Level, can they?’

’Even if they were, indiscriminate bombing with gunpowder could still take half the life of an Extraordinary.’

’Hit them with a few rounds of explosives first, and the rest would be easy to deal with.’

"They must have already thought of anything we can think of," Tang Wen said. "I asked the Gang Leader of the Black Water Gang, my master. He just said the situation is very deep and that the three great families are the ones in charge. It seems they have a reason why they must go down and fight to the death underground."

Tang Wen had always found this hard to understand.

"Is there some unknown benefit involved?" Elder General Xia spoke up.

Tang Wen shook his head. "I thought so too, before. Perhaps there’s some rare Martial Arts resource that makes the Huang Family willing to risk everything. But they keep urging me to take the White Tiger Tribe down there to stand guard. If there really was a benefit, even if they could hide it from the five major powers of the Outer City, they couldn’t hide it from a Fifth-Grade White Tiger. And they certainly couldn’t hide it from the White Tiger Tribe."

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Tang Wen then voiced another of his doubts.

He couldn’t understand why the White Tiger Tribe didn’t come out to dominate a region, instead choosing to remain garrisoned in the Ten Thousand Mountains, living a relatively simple and poor life.

"Perhaps it’s their faith and conviction, something like an ancestral precept?" General Zhou guessed.

"That doesn’t seem right either. It takes all sorts to make a world. The White Tiger Tribe has tens of thousands of members at the very least. It’s impossible for every single one of them to be willing to live a simple life and faithfully adhere to their ancestral precepts."

The human heart is complex. Who could resist the temptations of the prosperous world?

The White Tiger Tribe also had ordinary Extraordinarys and ordinary Martial Artists.

Within the tribe, their status wasn’t high, and they certainly didn’t get to enjoy any precious resources.

But if they were to leave, whether they joined another faction or went solo, they could absolutely live a carefree life of nightly revelry!

Why did no one leave?

"Don’t be in such a hurry to uncover the truth." Elder Xia coughed, glanced at Xia Qingge, and said in a heavy tone, "You’re still young. The most crucial thing is to improve your strength first. You should know that the answers to some things might change your entire life."

Huh?

Tang Wen looked at the old man, who was lighting his pipe and exhaling clouds of smoke.

Doubt filled the eyes of everyone, Tang Wen included. Only the Queen continued to lift her wine gourd and drink, GLUG GLUG GLUG, seeming to care about nothing at all.

「Nighttime.」

Piles of bonfires were lit.

Accompanied by the light beat of drums, the young Guards and Martial Artists in the camp began to perform a simple dance.

The young men and women were enjoying the festivities of the new year.

Swept up in the atmosphere, Zhou Bing pulled Tang Wen up to dance for a while.

After they danced in an embrace for a bit, Tang Wen went to pull over Xia Qingge, who was drinking all by herself.

The moment his hand touched her, Xia Qingge violently pulled her arm back. "No, I’m not going. Dancing is for kids." With that, she turned and went up to the roof.

Suddenly, a voice transmitted directly into Tang Wen’s ear, "There seems to be something wrong with your Queen’s health!"

It was like having ice water poured over his head.

He subconsciously looked in Hu Qi’s direction.