Chapter 39: Cold Night, Warm Fire (Part )

Unknowingly, night fell.

The cold wind began to blow in the quiet wilderness, and the lush grass swayed with it, making a "rustling" sound like a wheat field. In fact, there is a big temperature difference between the canyon during the day and the canyon at night. During the day, the canyon can be as warm as spring, but at night, it will become as cold as winter.

At this time, the vast wilderness was silent. Most of the animals had returned to their dens to avoid the cold before nightfall. The cold night wind became the protagonist of this dangerous place. It was like a naughty child, ignoring the complaints and howls of those cold-fearing animals, and running wantonly in the wilderness, covering the already chilly night with an even colder quilt.

But in such a cold and dim wilderness, there is a cave on a mountain somewhere that is still flashing with bright light. From a distance, it is like a bright lamp in the dark night. Warm air keeps flowing out of the cave, forming a sharp contrast with the cold world outside.

Many small animals like rodents gathered at the warm cave entrance to keep warm. They stared with their round eyes and looked into the bright cave from time to time, as if they were very curious about why two uninvited guests came to the wild area that had rarely been visited by people all year round.

Sitting on the soft fur blanket, Wang Yao stared at the group of small animals at the entrance of the cave with ill intentions. Suddenly, he smiled evilly and came up with a bad idea: "Hey, how about roasting them and eating them as well?"

Luna, who was grilling meat slices by the campfire, was stunned when she heard this. Then she looked at the small animal at the entrance of the cave and glared at Wang Yao unhappily: "How can you bear to eat such a cute hamster? Besides, there are so many slices of meat here, are you afraid that you won't be full?"

It turned out that they were called 雮鼠, and they were indeed very cute, much like the pudding mice on Earth. But Wang Yao couldn't help but grumble, "I'm just starving. You've been roasting them for so long and they're still not done. How about I do it myself?"

"You are injured, let me do it." Luna repeated what she had said four times while sprinkling salt juice for seasoning on the pieces of meat stuck in the branches.

Well, this girl's personality is so stubborn. Once she makes a decision, she won't change it even if others interfere. Helplessly, Wang Yao could only endure the hunger in his stomach and watch Luna grilling slowly.

Soon, a strong aroma of meat began to permeate the cave. The aroma lingered in Wang Yao's nostrils like a substance, mixed with a light salty taste that whetted the appetite. Just by smelling it, he began to salivate.

"It smells so good!" Maybe it was because he was too hungry, but Wang Yao squatted down without caring about his image. If his tail was wagging from side to side at this time, he would look just like a hungry puppy.

"Pfft." Seeing Wang Yao's expression, Luna couldn't help but laugh out loud: "You look just like a pet I once had."

Wang Yao was stunned. Was he talking about "Dabai"? When he was about to ask the girl what kind of pet she had (this seemed to be what most players were thinking?), a piece of barbecued meat with steam rising from its surface appeared in front of him.

"Hungry ghost, eat quickly." Luna looked at Wang Yao with amusement.

There were palm-sized slices of meat, strung together in two layers with a clean branch for better fixation. But what surprised Wang Yao was that there was not a single bit of burnt ash on the slices of meat roasted over a campfire. Instead, it looked like it had been fried on an iron plate. The whole piece was an attractive wheat gold color, with crystal-clear fat attached to it, reflecting an amber-like texture under the firelight. Just looking at the appearance made people very appetizing!

Wang Yao has always been confident in his cooking skills, but when he looked at the grilled meat in Luna's hand, he admitted defeat frankly. At least if it were him, he would never be able to grill such a spectacular grilled meat.

Driven by hunger, Wang Yao reached out and grasped the lower end of the branch, took the roasted meat slice, and couldn't wait to put the meat slice into his mouth. He took a light bite and found that the meat was more tender than he had imagined. As he chewed, the rich gravy also fully spread to every taste bud in his mouth. The rich gravy was as delicious as freshly boiled bone marrow.

"good to eat!"

"It tastes good, right?" Luna looked at Wang Yao with a smile. "This is a barbecue method I invented myself. Covering the meat with magic power can not only prevent the meat from being burnt, but also prevent the freshness of the meat from being covered up by the fireworks. Of course, salt fruit is also a very important seasoning. Compared with coarse salt, the juice of the salt fruit can more easily penetrate into the barbecue and can be more evenly distributed on the surface of the entire piece of meat. This way, the taste will be more condensed and mellow."

I go to barbecue and this is how it works?
Although it was the first time for Wang Yao to eat food made by Luna, he was still impressed.

How bored must this girl be to come up with such a bizarre way of grilling meat? He couldn't help but wonder if all of Luna's skill points after upgrading had been put into [Life Skills]!

But no matter what, this dinner was very satisfying to Wang Yao. It was the most satisfying and delicious hot meal he had eaten since he came to the Canyon Battlefield. He ate alone the whole time, and when he felt full, the slices of meat Luna brought back were almost gone. "Uh, sorry, I was just busy eating by myself." Wang Yao scratched his head in embarrassment. He was so excited about eating that he didn't notice that Luna was busy grilling meat for him the whole time and didn't eat it at all.

"It's okay, I don't eat much, and I'm already very happy that you like it." Luna smiled, as gentle as ever.

"That's great." Wang Yao heartlessly took out the fruit the girl brought back and started to chew it, while watching Luna thread the last remaining piece of meat on the branch.

"By the way, Luna, why are you here in the top lane? Are you planning to destroy Wei's first defense tower?"

"Huh? How did you know?" Luna turned around with a surprised look on her face.

"Uh, I just guessed." Wang Yao shrugged, keeping his achievements and fame to himself.

He was just an unknown soldier in the Shu army. Who knew if the Shu high-level officials arranged Luna to come here because they accepted his proposal? If other generals proposed the same proposal as his, wouldn't he become a shameful villain who deprived others of their achievements?

These days, the only way to protect yourself is to keep a low profile.

"You are really amazing. You can guess this." Luna smiled at Wang Yao, but she didn't pay attention to the hidden meaning in Wang Yao's eyes. Instead, she turned her attention back to the barbecue on the campfire: "Just as you guessed, this time I am leading the main force to destroy the Wei defense tower. But in fact, I have been very nervous inside."

"What are you so nervous about?" Wang Yao couldn't help but ask.

"This is my first time leading a line of troops, and it's the main force. I was only responsible for supporting three lanes before." Luna smiled helplessly: "I'm afraid I'll mess things up. The senior officials of Shu seem to attach great importance to my operation this time. If I mess it up by accident, I'm afraid I'll be disliked by others again."

"How could you have such an idea?" Wang Yao was speechless. He couldn't understand why Luna, who was both beautiful and powerful, would feel inferior. "You don't have to think too much. It's actually very simple. There are no heroes stationed in Wei's top lane. What you have to do is to lead the troops to eliminate the black soldiers, and then quickly destroy their defense towers before Wei can come back to help. But you have to pay attention to that when attacking the defense tower, you must first let the troops enter the attack range of the enemy's defense tower, so that the soldiers can attract the firepower of the defense tower, and then you can take advantage of the opportunity."

Wang Yao suddenly stopped talking halfway because he found Luna staring at him blankly: "Any questions?"

"No, no." Luna turned her head away subconsciously, her eyes seemed a little vague, "It's just that I feel that you seem to have changed a lot after coming to the Canyon Battlefield. Come to think of it, you were hunted down by the Black Armor Army in the wild area for two days alone. It must have been very difficult, right?"

Thinking of his experience in the wild area over the past two days, Wang Yao fell silent. With a click, he took a big bite of the fruit. The sweet juice mixed with the bitter flesh was just like his days in the wild area over the past two days.

"Nothing, that's all."

He suddenly didn't want to talk about his experiences in the past two days. Perhaps for many soldiers, this would be something to be proud of, but for him, what he did in the wild area in the past two days was actually something he could not accept at all from the bottom of his heart.

Unconsciously, a scene from the early morning came to his mind. He felt bad for the young black soldier who was shot dead by him in order to save his companion. He suddenly remembered Hua Mulan's words: If you are too far away from home, you will forget your hometown. If you kill too many people, you will forget yourself.
I used to think this line was super cool, but now when I think back on it, I feel that this line actually reveals a lot of pain and bitterness that others cannot understand.

"Did I say something wrong?" Seeing Wang Yao's face was unnaturally pale, Luna asked awkwardly.

"Nothing, you're overthinking. Eat quickly." Wang Yao shook his head and smiled faintly. "Eat and rest early. We have to go back tomorrow. The longer you delay, the more things will happen."

(End of this chapter)