Meanwhile, elsewhere.
[Achievement Unlocked: Dance with Fire]
[Achievement Points Obtained: 30]
“Done.
Ten Blaze Rods should last me a while.
Looks like I got lucky today—I managed to get this many without the Looting Enchantment.”
Fu Mo put away the ten Blaze Rods in satisfaction, then turned and left.
He had no intention of continuing to fight the Blazes.
If he kept going, he would run out of food and be forced to eat ‘Spicy Strips.’
“I wonder how Jing Yuan is doing.
It’s been so long, but he still hasn’t come looking for me.”
Fu Mo took out his phone and checked the time.
It had been fifteen minutes since he and Jing Yuan split up.
Logically, Jing Yuan should have finished before him since he only had to find some Nether Wart.
Yet fifteen minutes had passed, and Fu Mo had already obtained ten Blaze Rods, but Jing Yuan was still nowhere to be seen.
“Something couldn’t have happened to him, could it?”
Fu Mo decided to look for him.
If anything happened to Jing Yuan here, he wouldn’t even know how to explain it to the Luofu.
Fu Mo began searching the fortress’s corridors for Jing Yuan.
Fortunately, after only a few minutes, he spotted Jing Yuan crouching beside some Nether Wart with a troubled expression.
“Jing Yuan, what are you doing?”
Hearing his voice, Jing Yuan looked up.
When he saw Fu Mo, a smile immediately appeared on his face.
“Fu Mo, come here.
How am I supposed to harvest this Nether Wart?”
“Huh?”
Fu Mo walked over and looked at the Nether Wart in front of Jing Yuan.
Every last one was still planted on the Soul Sand.
He immediately gave Jing Yuan a strange look.
“You mean more than ten minutes have passed, and you haven’t harvested a single one?”
Jing Yuan looked somewhat embarrassed.
“I didn’t know how to harvest it.”
Fu Mo rolled his eyes, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
“Don’t worry.
Nether Wart isn’t that delicate.
Just harvest it however you like.”
As he spoke, Fu Mo stepped directly onto the Soul Sand and reached down to pull up the Nether Wart.
Jing Yuan’s expression changed drastically when he saw Fu Mo step onto it.
“Watch out for that strange sand!”
But by the time Jing Yuan finished speaking, Fu Mo had already pulled up all the Nether Wart planted on the Soul Sand.
Holding it in his hand, he turned to Jing Yuan in confusion.
“What did you say?”
“You’re all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Fu Mo couldn’t understand what Jing Yuan was talking about.
It was only Soul Sand beneath his feet, not a Lava block.
At most, Soul Sand acted like a speed bump.
Still unconvinced, Jing Yuan reached toward the Soul Sand again.
The instant his fingertip touched it, the sensation of something tearing at his soul returned.
His face immediately turned deathly pale, and he hurriedly withdrew his hand.
Why did touching the Soul Sand affect him while Fu Mo remained completely fine?
Fu Mo also noticed the change in Jing Yuan’s complexion and immediately realized something was wrong.
He stepped off the Soul Sand.
“What did you feel when you touched the Soul Sand just now?”
“It felt as though something was tearing at my soul.
This sensation can’t be resisted with power.
Fu Mo, what’s going on?”
Fu Mo frowned, unable to make sense of it either.
He only knew that in Minecraft, Soul Sand’s particle effects did indeed show souls rising from the surface.
He hadn’t expected this common type of sand in Minecraft to gain the ability to directly attack a living being’s soul in the real world.
Then again, Soul Sand was an essential component of the Wither’s body.
Thinking about it that way, perhaps it made sense?
“I’m not sure what’s going on either.
I’ve never encountered anything like this before.
We can study it after we get back.”
Although curious, Fu Mo didn’t want to waste too much time here.
He simply dug up several blocks of Soul Sand with his hands and stored them in his Inventory, planning to let Jing Yuan and the others study them at their leisure after they returned.
Seeing this, Jing Yuan said nothing more.
He merely stared warily at the remaining Soul Sand.
He hadn’t expected such ordinary-looking sand to affect even an Emanator like him.
If an ordinary Pathstrider touched it, their soul might be completely drained the instant they made contact.
It was rather frightening.
“Shall we head back?”
“Mm.”
On the Luofu.
Fu Xuan and the others nervously stood guard outside the Nether Portal, taking out their phones from time to time to check the time.
Nearly an hour had passed since Jing Yuan and Fu Mo entered the Nether Portal.
Yanqing, who was standing guard nearby, couldn’t help looking at Fu Xuan.
“Master Diviner, can you divine the General and the others’ fortunes?”
Fu Xuan shook her head with an ugly expression.
“I tried as soon as they entered, but I couldn’t divine their fortunes at all.
It’s as if the two of them no longer exist in this world.”
This was the first time she had ever encountered such a situation.
“Then can I lead some troops inside to search for the General and Fu Mo?
What if they’ve encountered danger?”
Yanqing was growing anxious, but Fu Xuan glared at him.
“Forget it.
If even the General has met with trouble, what use would you be going in?
You’d only be throwing away more lives.
Stay here and stand guard.
That’s an order.”
“Yes…”
After reprimanding Yanqing, Fu Xuan anxiously took out her phone and kept checking the time.
A few minutes later, just as everyone’s worry reached its peak, a noise suddenly came from the Nether Portal before them.
Two figures emerged from the curtain.
“General!”
“Fu Mo!”
The moment Fu Xuan, Qingque, Tingyun, and Yanqing saw those two familiar figures, they breathed long sighs of relief.
Jing Yuan and Fu Mo stepped down from the Nether Portal.
Jing Yuan smiled and nodded to everyone.
“We were delayed for a while along the way.
Sorry for worrying you.”
Fu Xuan nodded, then hurriedly turned to Fu Mo and asked, “Fu Mo, the materials…”
“We’ve got everything.
We can start saving him now.”
Fu Mo took out the Blaze Rods and Nether Wart to show them.
Smiles immediately appeared on Fu Xuan and the others’ faces.
The Infected could be saved now!
“There’s no time to lose.
Let’s go right now.”
Fu Mo also wanted to confirm as soon as possible whether the Infected counted as an infected Villager.
Once he saved him, he still had to choose a new Mod.
He now had enough Achievement Points to purchase a small- or medium-sized MOD.
He could hardly wait to grow stronger.
“All right.”
Jing Yuan was naturally willing to save the man immediately, but before leaving, he turned to look at the still-active Nether Portal behind him and asked Fu Mo,
“Fu Mo, what about this Nether Portal…?”
Fu Mo took out a bucket of water and poured it over the Nether Portal.
The dark purple curtain in its center shattered with a sound like breaking glass, then vanished.
“I’ll shut it down for now.
I’ll come back and dig it up later.
Let’s go save him first.”
★ ★ ★
T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me!
★ ★ ★
Shilling time!