Chapter 118 Aftermath
The hood, which was originally of extremely poor quality, had been completely destroyed in the previous explosion, and the power that could inexplicably interfere with the perception of players and NPCs also vanished...
So, when Mo Tan saw Ji Xiaoge's unconscious face, even with his remarkably strong psychological fortitude, he was inevitably stunned for a moment.
Although he already knew that she was an extremely charming girl, Mo Tan still hadn't expected the young woman in his arms to shock him to such an extent...
Zero point seven seconds.
From losing himself to regaining consciousness, Mo Tan spent a total of 0.7 seconds in this process.
【Although her hairstyle has changed, this is not the main reason for my loss of composure...】
【Her appearance is no different from reality, but the impact she just had on me was far greater than the two times I met her outside the game...】
【Could it be the influence of certain passive skills or talents in Innocent World?】
【No, I've encountered enemies who used taunt skills before, but after being hit, I didn't feel any anger. The direct effect was just 'rush towards the target and attack them once.'】
【Moreover, it's almost impossible for in-game skills to interfere with a player's emotions, but if I think about it that way, could the problem be in reality?】
【But fortunately, it was just a feeling of 'being captivated by beauty,' not emotions like 'admiration.' Otherwise, I'd really have to check my mental state...】
【And if I had to do that, I'd need to use photos, which would always give people a perverted feeling. So, should I be grateful now?】
Three seconds.
From regaining consciousness to the end of this series of thoughts, Mo Tan spent another three seconds.
"Hey, what are you planning to do to me?"
And from the moment she was picked up by Mo Tan until she regained her senses, Ji Xiaoge took exactly 3.7 seconds.
Stared at by those close-up, light-black almond eyes, Mo Tan immediately instinctively turned his head away, raised a small red bottle in his hand, and scratched his hair a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, I just wanted to help you recover some health... Uh, I mean, recover some stamina."
"Hmm?" Ji Xiaoge blinked in surprise, then cautiously looked around, and hesitantly whispered, "Do you know what a refrigerator is?"
Mo Tan, who had deliberately let slip, chuckled dryly: "I even know how many steps it takes to put an elephant in a refrigerator."
"Put an elephant... Pfft... in a re... Pffthahahaha... refrigerator... Hahahaha." The young girl was stunned for a moment, then burst into uncontrollable laughter, her small shoulders shaking in Mo Tan's embrace, which was slightly wider than in reality.
【Is it that funny?】
Mo Tan, who had originally thought he had told a cold joke, forced two weak laughs, then carefully put Ji Xiaoge down gently and handed her the healing potion: "Can you move?"
"Pffthahaha... steps... Haha..."
Mo Tan: "..."
"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Ji Xiaoge playfully stuck out her tongue, then tilted her head with some difficulty: "It seems I still can't move. My HP has dropped to 3%, and I have a bunch of messy statuses on me. That Old Mage's staff is really powerful..."
Mo Tan shook the healing potion in his hand, quite troubled: "Then what should we do?"
"It seems I can only trouble you," Ji Xiaoge said with a giggle. "Another minute or two like this and I might just die. Ah~~~"
After saying that, she tried hard to open her small mouth, which couldn't open very wide.
Mo Tan shrugged, casually uncorked the potion bottle, and carefully poured it into the girl's mouth.
A moment later,
"Phew, I've finally recovered!" The heavily injured Ji Xiaoge staggered to her feet, flapping her outstretched wings to maintain balance, and gave Mo Tan an OK gesture: "Thanks!"
The latter shrugged indifferently: "Glad you're okay~"
"Hey, what's your name?" Ji Xiaoge swayed over to Mo Tan, staring into his eyes for a long time: "You don't seem like a bad person at all. Want to add me as a friend?"
"Mo Tan."
"Hehe, strange name. I'm Ye Ge. Uh... just a moment..."
【Player Ye Ge (neutral good) has requested to add you as a friend】
Mo Tan readily accepted.
"By the way, that old man really isn't a pervert, is he?" Ji Xiaoge whispered to Mo Tan conspiratorially: "Is he a player too?"
Mo Tan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "He's not a pervert, and he's not a player. Jia Deka and Ya Ya are NPC friends I met here. Both of them are good people, but they have a little... problem... in some ways..."
"A little problem?"
"Yes, for example, Jia Deka's staff often explodes intermittently, and Ya Ya occasionally goes berserk."
"How interesting~" Ji Xiaoge exclaimed, then scratched her cheek a little awkwardly: "I'll have to apologize to Mr. Jia Deka later..."
Mo Tan handed her another healing potion (Tian Zhu Mountain product): "It's not entirely your fault. The way they were earlier could easily lead to misunderstandings."
Ji Xiaoge seemed to want to say something more, but a distant, approaching wail interrupted her. Mo Tan looked up and saw the burly man from before approaching with a middle-aged Half-Orc who seemed to be related to apes.
"The creditors are here..."
Jia Deka, with a somewhat gloomy expression, appeared silently behind Mo Tan.
"How is Ya Ya?" Mo Tan turned to ask the former, and Ji Xiaoge also looked at Jia Deka with some tension.
"She's done throwing up, just lying paralyzed behind us," the Old Mage sighed, then looked at Ji Xiaoge with some doubt, and hesitantly asked, "Are you sure you weren't trying to kill her...?"
To be honest, if one were to simply judge by Ya Ya's reaction after eating that spare rib, about nine out of ten people would define it as premeditated murder.
Think about it, you and your companion are traveling, and on the road, you meet someone who hands a plate of spare ribs to your friend who is about to starve to death...
The next second, that poor person begins to flash back through their life's past in their mind.
It's murder, isn't it?! How could it not seem like murder?!
However, the truth was not so...
【Self-Production and Self-Consumption】
Passive Talent
Effect: You can 'use' any dish you cook without any restrictions, and the negative effects it causes to you are reduced by 99.9%.
【If you can't eat it with tears, then throw it out with tears, and let those mortals feel true terror!】
And now let's look at...
【Spare Rib γ】
Creator: Ye Ge
Consumable
Use: Eat a piece of mysterious substance X
【Note: I finally made this decision, I don't care what others say... I don't care... I just won't care...】
Although the description seemed to have no problems (big fog), and Ji Xiaoge had also personally tasted this dish after it was cooked, she obviously forgot the 'negative effects caused to oneself are reduced by 99.9%' part of the 【Self-Production and Self-Consumption】 talent.
"I'm... I'm sorry! I ate it myself before, and because nothing happened, I thought it was safe. I'm really sorry!" Ji Xiaoge had also realized by now and immediately said to Jia Deka in a flurry, "And I'm really sorry for misunderstanding you as a lecherous old pervert earlier!"
Mo Tan also nodded: "I think that was indeed an accident."
After they both finished speaking, they found that Jia Deka had no reaction at all, and his eyes seemed a bit unfocused.
"Jia Deka?" Mo Tan patted his shoulder.
"Uh!" The latter finally reacted, then immediately looked at Ji Xiaoge with lingering fear, then quickly turned his head away, gently patted his forehead, and mumbled, "Why is this girl so beautiful...?"
The wings behind Ji Xiaodao 'swished' and covered her entire body, making her look like a white Feather ball (a ball made of feathers).
'Do me a favor! Get me a piece of headgear, anything will do. I'll explain later!'
Then, this new message appeared in Mo Tan's friend messages.
...
Two minutes later,
Deli, looking exhausted, came before the three. He first glanced at Ji Xiaoge, who was wearing a tall wizard's hat and shrinking her neck, with some surprise, then looked at Mo Tan and Jia Deka respectively, and said in a hoarse voice with red eyes: "I am the owner of the Mistletoe Tavern..."
For the next period, Deli spent roughly two chapters' worth of words simply explaining how incredibly difficult it was for him, a foreigner, to start a business in Dragon Soul Town. He then used about three chapters' worth of words to express how incredibly tragic his life was, and finally, he used about half a chapter's worth of words to describe how high-end, atmospheric, and classy the ruins they stood on had been just half an hour ago, without even taking a sip of water!
Even Ya Ya, who struggled to crawl to Mo Tan's side in a daze, was talked into unconsciousness twice!
"I understand what you mean..." Mo Tan, who remained clear-headed until the very end, saw Deli stop talking and immediately summarized: "In short, you hope we will compensate you for your losses as much as possible, right?"
Deli quickly nodded: "Yes, that's what I mean."
"Although I don't have enough money for compensation, I will try my best to help you." Mo Tan glanced at the absolute safety express, which was deeply embedded in the ruins not far away, and answered decisively, then looked at Jia Deka, Ji Xiaoge, and Ya Ya with some hesitation, and whispered to Deli with some difficulty: "As for my companions..."
Jia Deka waved his hand: "I'll help!"
Ji Xiaoge also nodded: "I originally wanted to work here, and I also misunderstood Mr. Jia Deka earlier, so I should help too."
Ya Ya, lying on the ground, also raised her arm and mumbled dazedly: "Woof wants to be with... Wang Dejia and Mo Tan..."
"Then I'll leave it to the four of you." Aqiang, the only employee of Mistletoe, Amod Blart Johnson, smiled and nodded at them, then patted Deli's shoulder: "Let's go. You can stay at my place for now."
"But..." Deli still wanted to say a few more words.
"There are no 'buts'," Aqiang shook his head at him. "They clearly genuinely want to help, so stop with the unnecessary talk and let's go."
Then he dragged Deli away.
Leaving the four of them silently looking at each other in a pile of ruins...
A moment later,
"I'm sorry."
"My apologies."
"It's all my fault."
"Woof!"
The four said simultaneously.
Although the content was not identical, the meaning was largely the same...?
"I was too impulsive then..." Ji Xiaoge said, blushing. The wizard's hat was clearly a bit too big for her, but it was already enough to trigger the 'Independent from the World' effect.
"It's still my fault for not explaining clearly in the first place," Jia Deka shook his head. "And I don't look righteous enough."
"Woof saw grandpa..." Ya Ya rolled on the ground, barking happily. It must be said that this girl's recovery ability was simply terrifying. After a trip to the brink of death, she was fine in less than an hour.
Mo Tan patted Ya Ya's head and sighed to the sky: "Stop talking, anyway, whether you guys made a fuss or not, I was 100% going to crash, so the main reason is still me..."
He was relatively open-minded. If it were someone else, they would probably be complaining about Master Lu by now, but Mo Tan felt that although the direct cause was that the express train's brake pads were forgotten, Master Lu's intentions were good, so he couldn't blame him.
All in all, the most pressing matter now was...
"To rebuild their tavern." Mo Tan looked around, rubbing his temples, and said: "About twenty percent of it is completely destroyed, so the basic repair work isn't very difficult. Since everyone wants to help, I suggest we work in pairs and take turns."
Ji Xiaoge suddenly asked curiously: "Why? Wouldn't it be faster with four people together?"
"As long as we stagger the time, the efficiency won't be much different, and..." Mo Tan hesitated slightly here, then shrugged: "It's best not to pair Jia Deka and Ya Ya together."
Ji Xiaoge tilted her head, not understanding: "Hmm, I'll listen to you. I'm fine with anything~"
"Ya Ya, no problem! Woof is very strong!" The dog-girl, whose comprehension skills had suddenly come online, also nodded vigorously and lovingly cupped her tail, which had several charred spots, muttering: "Wang Dejia always self-destructs!"
"I have no objections either." Jia Deka's old face flushed, and he applied an ice pack to his staff, which somehow never broke no matter how much it exploded.
Mo Tan nodded: "Then it's settled. I'll be with Jia Deka, and Ye Ge, you'll be with Ya Ya. We'll be responsible for after midnight, and you'll be responsible for the daytime."
"Very good." Jia Deka fiddled with his beard and smiled kindly: "This is how a Gentleman should be."
Ya Ya's big eyes blinked twice, then she slowly got up and walked towards the edge of the ruins: "Then Woof will go to sleep first~"
"Then that's settled, ah! Oh, right..." Ji Xiaoge also expressed that she had no objections, then suddenly ran to the remaining small half of the kitchen and brought out a large pot: "I'll make everyone a late-night snack!"
This time, Ya Ya reacted faster than anyone. Her legs went weak, and without a word, she performed a true dog-eating-dirt act. Then, all the fur on her ears and tail bristled, and she scrambled away, running into the distance, yelling: "Woof's not hungry anymore! Woof's not eating anymore! Woof will never dare to eat again!"
Mo Tan: "..."
Jia Deka: "..."
Ji Xiaoge: "..."
Chapter 115: End
