Chapter 557 - 263: The Fruit Factory’s First Offline Gathering

December 15, clear skies.

It’s been three days since Chen Yuan returned from the Mysterious Forest.

Yun Province,

Lishui City.

"It’s so warm." Stepping out of the airport, Chen Yuan, coming from Qin Province, immediately felt the temperature difference between the two places.

In this season, the temperature in Qinling is extremely low, with heavy snow and howling winds. One must wear thick coats when going out, and even then, there’s a chance of getting frostbite.

December

in Lishui City, however, is different, with an average temperature around ten degrees. Chen Yuan only needed to wear a light jacket.

Gazing at the azure sky, the weather was clear with leisurely white clouds.

"Unlocked another new location," Chen Yuan remarked.

During school days, he was busy with studies and seldom traveled, but after becoming a Beastmaster, the frequency of traveling to other places increased rapidly.

This time coming to Yun Province was due to Li Junyue’s invitation to the first offline gathering at the Fruit Factory.

They had known each other for a while. Li Junyue was grateful for their help and had invited them to visit Lishui City days ago.

Coincidentally, Li Junyue was taking a break these days, so the other three traveled from afar to Lishui City.

Since Jiang Wenning and Chang Yuhuan’s flights were around the same time as Chen Yuan’s, the three soon successfully met up.

Chen Yuan had offline contact with both of them before, so he wasn’t unfamiliar. Meanwhile, Jiang Wenning, being lively and cheerful, quickly eliminated any unfamiliarity and awkwardness upon first meeting Chang Yuhuan, and the two laughed and chatted all the way.

After waiting for a while, an off-road vehicle stopped in front of the three.

The passenger door opened, and out came a well-built man, about thirty years old, with a square face.

"Everyone, get in the car."

Li Junyue looked at the three he was seeing in person for the first time, a large smile appeared on his resolute face, and he extended his hand invitingly.

The three sat in the back row. Jiang Wenning lightly tapped the car door with her hand, smiling: "Wow... Yue, this car is quite expensive."

Li Junyue, sitting in the passenger seat, turned back with a laugh: "The department provided it."

He then pointed to the young man in the driver’s seat and introduced: "This is Lin."

Lin, with a youthful, handsome face, glanced back and greeted them with a smile. But upon seeing the trio, he was slightly stunned, thinking to himself: "These are Captain Li’s friends? They look about my age."

Since joining the Investigation Department, they had been busy for more than two months.

These days, it’s finally the turn for their ninth group to rest. Lin originally planned to take his girlfriend to travel the nearby cities, but today he was called by Captain Li to pick up some friends.

There’s no choice; when the captain speaks, who dares not listen?

But Captain Li’s friends seem a bit too young; how did Captain Li know them?

Having followed Captain Li for some time now, Lin was well aware that Captain Li’s lifestyle was quite monotonous and solitary, like a hermit.

All day besides training, he’s either with his wife and kids, with zero entertainment activities.

But as his team member, he didn’t need to focus too much on Captain Li’s life; he just wanted to deliver them to the destination quickly and then pick up his girlfriend.

He had already planned out the next few days’ itinerary, taking his girlfriend to tour Er River next door and also sitting by Er River at night discussing life, having some deep spiritual exchanges...

Thinking of this, Lin showed a silly grin, fortunately, Li Junyue’s voice timely pulled his thoughts back: "Lin, let’s drive."

"Oh oh, okay." Lin nodded, starting the car heading towards Lishui City’s downtown.

Lishui Airport is a distance away from downtown, the car slowly drove forward, the scenery different from Qin Province’s was quickly passing by outside the car window.

Li Junyue glanced in the rearview mirror at the three in the back seat. He had intended to initiate a conversation but his mouth opened without any words coming out.

Online friends meeting offline is too novel an experience, since he was not good at social interactions, he couldn’t find the right topic.

Chen Yuan silently admired the scenery outside the window; he likewise wasn’t someone who initiated topics.

Contrarily, Jiang Wenning and Chang Yuhuan were still enthusiastically chatting, but the topics were limited to those girls are interested in like makeup, photography, etc., making them hard to jump in.

After a while,

self-designated host Li Junyue finally overcame his inner awkwardness, mustered the courage and spoke: "I’ll be taking a four-day leave this time, and today I’ll accompany you around the downtown, we can rest here tonight."

"Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Deqing County. They have the most delicious mushrooms there."

Chen Yuan nodded: "Sure."

Not long ago, Li Junyue was promoted to captain of the ninth group of the seventh branch of the Investigation Department, responsible for handling and solving special extraordinary incidents around Deqing County.

Chen Yuan is somewhat aware of Deqing County. There are several well-known snow-capped mountains and nature reserves there; after the Spiritual Energy Revival, various wild Pet Beasts emerged, it’s a key area for Yun Province’s oversight.

In terms of scale and fame, of course, it’s not as known as Qinling, but the snow-capped mountains here are majestic and spectacular, some are climbable, thus attracting many mountaineers and Beastmasters.

Jiang Wenning raised her right hand to ask her doubt: "Yue, aren’t mushrooms only available in the rainy season? It’s already December, are there still any?"

Li Junyue’s face exhibited a smile: "It used to be like that, but now it’s different."

With a slight pause, Li Junyue slowly explained: "Now, many species and numerous Fungal Pet Beast rest there, lots of Fungal Pet Beasts periodically drop some mushrooms, and this aspect is not affected by the climate."

"Therefore, no matter when from now on, you can always enjoy fresh and delicious mushrooms."

Upon hearing this topic, Lin unconsciously licked his lips, responding to the topic: "Yeah, the mushrooms dropped by these Fungal Pet Beasts are way tastier than those before, the soup brewed is a major nourishment, some special mushrooms can even increase Spiritual Power, but..."