Maybe it was because of excessive thinking, or maybe it was because the limit of simultaneous vision was about to be reached. Xia Yibing suddenly felt a sharp pain in her eyes and brain.
It seems that this magical journey is about to come to an end.
Finally, she controlled Black Owl to raise his head, glanced at the thick dark clouds filling the sky, closed his eyes, and withdrew his mind from the open sea.
"From this perspective, the gray fog is not directly fatal."
She sat up in bed, pinching the sheets and said to herself.
"Winter God..."
"If they can contaminate the Winter Goddess without the gray fog surrounding it, then they can also contaminate us."
"Does this count as you indirectly saving my life again..."
"I really miss you, Aisuen..."
Chapter 50: Wonders of Winter Camp 1
After sneezing several times in a row, Hitzfeld rubbed his nose, suspecting that he was caught cold when he went out in the morning.
She was preparing and processing the ingredients because she suddenly realized that it was not just Xia Yibing who was behaving abnormally - not only did she not reply to the letter, but Ashley also had not returned for more than a week.
However, unlike the former, she was mentally prepared for this situation: Ashley did say a few weeks ago that at the end of winter, when the weather was the coldest, the Knight Academy would hold a winter camp for outdoor training, and she might not be able to return on time.
Hitzfeld wasn't sure how long these weeks were, but she guessed that Ashley should have another chance to come back and "let the news slip." So this time, all the ingredients were high-quality, and a large pot of beef was stewed.
While he was busy, he felt his legs itchy. Hitzfeld glanced down and saw Lily looking up at him, licking her mouth with her tongue as she looked.
"Not now." She knew that the aroma of the stewed beef was too strong. Every time the meat was stewed like this, the silly dog couldn't help but be greedy. "Go lie down by the fireplace first. If you have nothing to do, go find Walnut and ask her to take you out for a walk."
"Woof!" Lily basically barked every time she said, but Lily was not stupid. She would not leave no matter what she said.
Hitzfeld gradually ignored its existence and began to imagine when Xia would come back and have another bowl in the house.
The taste of the ingredients also needs to be changed. I prefer spicy food. Ashley didn't like it at first, but fell in love with it after tasting it a few times. However, a certain director really can't eat spicy food, so improvements have to be made in this regard.
What is she doing now.
The clay pot was steaming on the stove. Hitzfeld stared at the rising smoke and vaguely saw someone's outline in it.
She made an appointment with Baron Kager's people to meet next Monday, naturally because she had more important things to do before the deadline this week.
In this era, ordinary means may not be able to help a person across such a long distance, but it is different in the dream world, and she happens to have a strange eye that is related to it.
She planned to give it a try. If she had the second type of nightmare again when the eternal night came this time, she might as well not sleep well. She could try to go "outside" to see what was happening in her dream world.
Just as I was thinking about this, the ice needle mark suddenly sounded a warning.
It was Ashley. She finally came back, and she seemed a little tired.
She controlled the manor gate to dispel the illusion and let the "strong girl" in. She gave Lily a light kick on the butt, letting it go to greet its own kind.
Ashley was really exhausted. After coming back, she didn't even change her shoes. She lay down directly on the carpet and even turned her body face down, intoxicated by the smell on it.
"If the young master keeps doing this, the host will blame Hu Tao when he sees her!" Hu Tao dragged it out for a few times but to no avail. She stood aside with her hands on her hips, "She will blame Hu Tao for letting the young master do this!"
"What a weird name you call me." Ashley rolled over to lie on her back, scratched her itchy forehead and stared at Walnut, "Are you going to be a housekeeper here?"
The two of them are familiar with each other, and judging from the intimacy they display, their relationship even exceeds that of Hitzfeld. This is because when Hitzfeld was busy with work, he often left Ashley to Walnut, and the two of them have long been good friends who can talk about anything.
"Congratulations~" Without waiting for Kurumi to answer, Ashley grabbed her hand and shook it a few times, "After all, it was you who built the house, so it's quite suitable for you to be the housekeeper..."
Hu Tao was so angry with her that she said it as if she was able to become a housekeeper just because she renovated the house.
So what if we don't just repair the house? She is very capable!
The two were arguing and Lily was chased out, wagging her tail.
"Lily!" Ashley cheered when she saw the big white dog and pounced on it, knocking it down before it could react, and rubbing its furry body around.
"Woof! Woof woof!" Lily was terrified. Even though she was pressed into a sideways position, she still tried desperately to move her limbs and try to run away. However, Ashley was not Hitzfeld, and she could not break free from the restraints.
After fully expressing intimacy, Ashley finally stood up and smelled the aroma of stewed meat in the air.
If someone asked her what the benefits of having an elder at home who knew how to make incense and medicine were, she would definitely answer that it made delicious food.
After all, it's also "putting a certain amount of material powder into the container at a certain time", the only difference is that one is for medicine and the other is for seasoning.
This was not nonsense - she had eaten in the school before, but she had never seen a chef prepare so many seasonings and spices. Many of them were even unheard of and should be the exclusive inventions of the mistress of the manor.
"Are you back?" Hitzfeld came out wearing an apron, revealing two slender ankles under the black skirt, wrapped in more mysterious black silk material, and wearing two plush slippers.
"There's a pair of shoes for you in the closet next to it, go change them."
She noticed that Ashley had been staring at the slippers. "Otherwise, it would be too much trouble for Walnut to mop the floor every day. You have to feel sorry for your best friend."
The dinner was very sumptuous, with five dishes in total: braised beef, duck fat sesame cakes, pork bone and scallion oil soup, eggs stewed in red tomato sauce, and peppered lamb slices.
Each dish is of sufficient quantity and specially matched. Between each meat dish there is a dish specially made to relieve the greasiness. If you still feel greasy after eating, there is a glutinous rice clear soup at the end - it is so light that you can drink it like water.
That was prepared for Hitzfeld himself. Ashley really didn't care about that. She still ate voraciously.
"If this continues, I'm afraid I won't want to go to the academy to eat..."
After finally finishing most of the food on the table, Ashley collapsed on the sofa and wailed.
The beef was stewed so soft and tender while retaining the chewiness of the meat fibers. Every bite was filled with gravy, and a dozen complex spices exploded in my nose...
There is also the duck oil pancake. There is no filling inside, but it doesn’t taste dry. It seems to be made up of many layers of pancake skin. It has a unique fragrance when you bite it...
Not to mention the later dishes that old friends had tried earlier, Ashley sucked them dry and even ate up the remaining tomato sauce with the bread.
After finishing the meal, I lay down to rest, feeling so comfortable that I almost went to heaven.
Lily curled up at her feet. It also had a great meal, getting a lot of big bones and meat.
"That means my preparation was not in vain."
Hitzfeld said as he and Kurumi cleared the plates.
Although she didn't show it on her face, she was still very happy in her heart.
After all, he is a simple wild child who praises people without reservation. He is not like Maps-Dyrant, who is more picky when he is given good food and always keeps talking about fried junk food.
"But you came back quite late this time... Was there something that delayed you?"
"Yes!"
Speaking of this, Ashley suddenly became excited.
She sat up and began to describe to Hitzfeld what had happened during this period, using both explanation and gestures.
"We are indeed going to hold that winter camp. I am the best performing apprentice. This time, the instructor took me to the training site outside and I discovered a particularly magical place!"
"Are you sure you can tell me about this discovery?" Hitzfeld stopped and warned her: "Didn't they ask you to keep it a secret?"
"Why keep it a secret?" Ashley was stunned. "Several instructors know about Heath. I think they are eager for you to know. Maybe they will come to Heath to solve the problem in the end!"
She was treating her instructors and teachers as ordinary people who were in trouble.
Hitzfeld was speechless. To be honest, she didn't think things would turn out this way, and even if they did, she didn't intend to accept it.
"Tell me what happened specifically."
But she was still very curious.
The instructors of the Knight Academy are of high quality. It is not enough for them to have proficient combat skills and strong armed forces. They also have to have rich experience and their own understanding of how to survive in a hostile environment.
Moreover, they also have to have good cultural literacy, because most of the children who "sell" themselves to the Knight Academy are poor children with low knowledge of common sense, and the academy does not want to produce only rough people.
Here comes the question - from what Ashley said, these teachers and instructors with such high quality, do they all think they are in trouble?
What kind of trouble is that?
She wanted to understand.
Ashley became proud when she saw her expression, raised her body and shouted: "It was a boring morning-"
Chapter 51: Wonders of Winter Camp 2
"It was a boring morning." Raymond Portman sat across the dining table, his voice like thunder, "I took two students out for an inspection... I was planning to see where to choose as the next training location."
"Wait a minute, Mr. Portman." Ethan and Darent were sitting opposite each other. Ethan had a cigarette in his mouth but did not light it. It was Darent who interrupted him: "The students you are leading should include..."
"Including Ashley Hitzfeld." The bear-like man nodded gently, "She should be a member of the detective's family, right? Then this name should be correct."
The two people across from each other looked at each other, unsure whether Hitzfeld meant to have Ashley change her last name.
It seems that Mr. Portman and Instructor Portman are also people who don't care about details in life. They have to ask carefully when it comes to some details.
"Ashley is the best apprentice this term. Although she is a girl, her performance is better than those boys." Raymond nodded. "It would be a pity if such a person could only show off his martial arts skills in the future. Jiali and I have been giving her special training. I want her to be the captain of the red team."
In the winter camp of the Knight Academy, it would be a joke to just focus on survival.
It is true that this is a test for the young apprentices, but in Raymond's opinion, it is far from enough and cannot squeeze out more of their potential - they have long adapted to how to survive in the wild, it is just torture, and some even enjoy it.
Therefore, what ultimately distinguishes the winter camp results is still the competitive competition. This batch of apprentices will be divided into two groups and arranged to compete in certain aspects.
For example, according to Raymond's idea, the goal of this competition is an oak leaf medal. He will find a place to hide the medal, and the team that brings back the medal first will win.
If he hadn't discovered that accident, he would not have disbanded the team this time.
In that case, the operation might have already begun, and he wouldn't be approached by the two black-clad agents.
"One is Ashley, who is the other one?" Ethan asked while recording carefully in his notebook.
"Ali."
"What's your last name?"
"No surname."
Ethan couldn't help but look up.
"The boy's father died, and he has been living with his mother." Raymond explained, "In their village, it is extremely shameful for a boy to have the same surname as his mother, so he simply didn't want a surname."
"Stupid custom." Darent muttered, "You can't inherit your surname after you die?"
Ethan and Raymond pretended not to hear.
"Tell me about Ali," Ethan asked. "Is he good, too? Like Ashley?"
"Not as good as Ashley." Raymond said, "Ali's talent is not a problem. He can't beat Ashley, but he is smart and his academic performance has always been higher than Ashley's."
"We considered these two as candidates for captain, and as you know, we can't interfere too much once the competition starts..." He explained, "After all, it's in the wilderness. It takes time for us to discover the situation and it takes time to rush to the scene. In order to prevent someone from getting into trouble and losing their life, the captain must be aware of some things."
"So they have a certain right to know." Darent added, "For example, some terrain details, some hidden paths, some terrain traps hidden by obstacles, and where there are wild animals."
"Not that detailed, but almost." Raymond looked at him in surprise. "You know it very well, Agent Darent."
"Well... that's because I've dealt with the Flintstone Knights a lot before. When people are drunk, they will tell anything, even the color of their underwear."
"My original target was the Kacha Mountains." Raymond decided not to pay any more attention to him.
"Kacha Mountains?" Ethan asked, "Which direction?"
"That's naturally going south." Raymond smiled, "Northward is not a test."
Ordinary people would have a misunderstanding here, thinking that the mountains are colder and steeper the further north they are.
Although most of the facts are true, the Cachaça Mountains are one of the few exceptions - its ridgeline meanders around a huge angle on the map, with the upper part of the angle extending to the north, and the lower part bypassing various complex terrains and combining with the Grand Canyon from the southeast, which connects the Midwest.
"You all know about Burro Canyon, right?" Raymond raised his hand and waved it. "Some changes happened in that place, which caused many landforms...some things deep in the land were shaken out, and some original passages collapsed and changed. So in terms of the complexity of the terrain, the Kacha Mountains become more extreme as you go south."
"Like the bridge leading to Cain City?" Ethan asked him.
"Yes." Raymond nodded, "It's not very northern anymore... That's an example."
They were referring to a railway bridge that runs from Venn to Cain.
Due to the poor terrain, bridge construction was extremely difficult. Countless workers expended tremendous effort and finally built a bridge that winds through the mountain road and looks like a spiral from a bird's eye view. It can be considered a major engineering wonder.
"I plan to place the reward items on the Twin Gods Peak."
As he spoke, Lehman reached into his arms and pulled out a metal badge hanging on a thin chain.
This is an iron seal, the lowest grade one. According to Leiman, he completed a mission with his life when he was young, and King Charuni specially invited him to the palace for an audience. The King personally took the seal from a plate and gave it to him as a reward.
This is his treasure and he values it extremely much, which indirectly reflects that he also attaches great importance to this training.
It seemed that the accident he had met with was really serious, as he was able to sit here and chat with them peacefully.
Ethan felt a little uneasy. He had the impression that the relationship between the Flint Knights and the Extraordinary People had never been very good.
