Chapter 17
Rain World, aboard the transport ship.
The Fire Mage watched the fierce downpour outside the hatch, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper as he realized their progress had stalled.
To complete the mission in this Origin World, they had to find the boss that had merged with the world core.
But there was a problem.
They had to return to the transport ship for shelter every so often. In these conditions, let alone finding the boss—they couldn’t even travel very far.
“All they could do was hope the logistics team came through this time,” the Fire Mage thought to himself.
Just as he was wondering what to do, a clattering sound came from behind him. Curious, the Fire Mage turned around—and froze at the sight.
A young woman was staggering toward them, carrying a mechanical contraption even bigger than she was.
Clang~
As Mo Xi set down the rain shield, everyone present focused their attention on it, waiting for the young woman to explain.
Mo Xi caught her breath, patted the rain shield, and said, “This is the first finished model. We’ll test whether it can withstand the pressure of the downpour in a bit. Also...”
She paused, took a Shelter Potion from her storage space, and handed it to the Fire Mage. “I brewed this myself. It could save your life in a pinch.”
The Fire Mage looked solemnly at the potion in his hand. “How many more of these can you make?”
Mo Xi didn’t answer. She silently held up one finger.
“You can only make one more? That’s all right. It could still save someone’s life.” The Fire Mage sighed.
Hearing this, Mo Xi looked puzzled. She brought out a large pile of potions from her storage space and said, “Who said I could only make one? I mean, as long as you cooperate, I can keep making them.”
The moment she said this, everyone drew in a sharp breath. They had never received this kind of treatment before.
The Fire Mage gave Mo Xi a long, serious look. “What do you need us to do?”
“Hmm... Bring back any wild vegetables, seaweed, vines, or anything like that you come across.” Mo Xi thought for a moment.
The Fire Mage: “That’s it?”
Mo Xi: “That’s it.”
After getting confirmation, the Fire Mage took a deep breath, picked up the rain shield, and turned toward the fierce downpour outside. “Let’s move out.”
Whoosh~
The contractors who had just been resting all got to their feet in a great wave. Seeing that they looked ready to charge straight out and fight the boss, Mo Xi’s eye twitched. She immediately stepped in front of the Fire Mage.
“Wait, wait! We haven’t tested whether the rain shield is sturdy enough yet, and the Engineer still needs the data.”
The Fire Mage had just rallied everyone, only to be stopped. He fell silent for a moment, then turned around and saw everyone sitting back down. With no choice, he set down the rain shield.
Some time later, the rain stopped.
The moment it did, Mo Xi saw the Fire Mage hurriedly scoop up the rain shield and dash outside. Then he led everyone off to “strip the land bare.”
They weren’t using “strip the land bare” as a figure of speech—they were literally scraping the ground bare.
Watching this, the cookie girl said helplessly, “Isn’t there a more dignified way to do this?”
Mo Xi could only shrug.
That’s how contractors were. If something was useful, they’d take it—even if it meant scraping up the ground or tearing bricks out of a boss room.
After her recent research, Mo Xi had discovered that every plant capable of growing in Rain World contained the potion factors she needed. So the Fire Mage and the others stripping the land bare really was the safest option.
However...
“Do all high-level apothecaries have to collect materials in such an undignified way?” Mo Xi murmured, stroking her chin.
No one answered her question.
More than half a day passed in a flash, and Mo Xi witnessed firsthand what it meant for a swarm of locusts to pass through.
Things flying in the sky, crawling on the ground, plants, algae, soil, and anything that looked like a plant—if the contractors saw it, they took it, unless they couldn’t beat it.
When the contractors returned with ingredients, medicinal materials, and forging materials, all the staff felt a sense of responsibility welling up inside them.
It was worth mentioning that the contractors stopped not because they were tired, but because the Paradise issued a warning.
According to the Fire Mage, the Paradise had sent him three warnings, all telling them to focus on the mission and not destroy too much of the Origin World’s ecosystem.
Mo Xi observed three seconds of silence for the Paradise, which had to deal with a band of contractors who killed everything, harvested everything, and looted everything. Three seconds later, she was humming a cheerful tune as she went off to brew potions.
One day later, aboard the transport ship.
Watching the contractors eat cookies, drink cocktails, grab specialized explosives, get a luck buff, and collect potions as they prepared to depart, Mo Xi suddenly felt as if a grand expedition was about to begin.
Once every contractor was ready, the Fire Mage at the front raised his arm and shouted, “Let’s move out!”
Watching their figures slowly disappear into the distance, Mo Xi couldn’t help remarking, “When contractors band together, they really do make quite a sight.”
The contractors brought four rain shields on this expedition, using up nearly all the materials provided by the Paradise.
In other words, these four tested rain shields were the only safe zones they could rely on in the downpour.
“We’re off work! We’re off work!”
As one staff member returned to the main hall to rest, the others also “clocked out.” After all, there was only so much they could do.
Mo Xi remained by the transport ship’s entrance, gazing out at every blade of grass and tree in this world. She felt hopeful about the contractors’ expedition.
After all this time spent remembering, Mo Xi had finally recalled the setting of Rain World. It was simply so vast that it was hard to describe in a few words.
After all, Mo Xi couldn’t sum up this world as a story about a group of Ancients who, before collectively ascending from a world where all living things were trapped in an endless cycle, created a bunch of super-AI Iterators to think of another way to end the cycle—while also imposing a “Triple Affirmative” and forbidding AI from committing suicide, which then set off a whole series of events.
In Mo Xi’s eyes, the whole story was full of clashes between ideas and philosophies: Karma, for example, and the Echoes formed by those who ascended but still had attachments. All of it raised a question well worth pondering.
When life cannot come to an end, can death be a form of release?
Mo Xi couldn’t answer that question yet. But it seemed dinner was ready, and it smelled delicious.
A moment later, beside the dining table.
“Make way, please! The food’s hot!”
Mo Xi looked at the dishes on the table, appealing to the eye and nose, and the eager faces of everyone gathered around it. The corners of her mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
Whatever the future held, at least everyone was hopeful about this mission right now. That was enough for Mo Xi, because as long as there was hope, there was motivation to keep moving forward.
Everyone: “Cheers!”