Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 445 The Heavyweight Empress
Appearing next to Sofia was a little girl with chestnut hair. Sofia turned her head and found the little girl quite familiar—she was wearing a uniform with a strong waitress style, with only the fluffy light green skirt showing a bit of youthful vitality.

Of course, it's normal that he looked familiar, after all, he was working as a waiter in the bar where Lin Lin and the others were last night.

(As shown in the picture, since 2DOS is so old, even with the image quality restored, the CG is still very blurry, so I won't show the character models. I've found an illustration to make do with.)

"You must be Petty?"

Sofia turned to look at her, her words a question, but her tone was a statement.

Although she had to take care of Bao Bao and left early after arriving at the tavern with Lin Lin and the others yesterday, and actually only caught a glimpse of the other person from afar, she had still heard the name several times during her previous tour—this girl was quite a prominent figure in this village, and everyone knew more or less about her experiences.

Like Aiden, the Sunshine Guy, Patty is also an orphan. The village where she was born was completely destroyed by an unidentified monster, and she became the sole survivor because she went out to pick mushrooms that day and got lost.

If it weren't for the fact that the village chief of Jiangbo Village happened to pass by that ancient forest while traveling and encountered Petty, who had been lost for half a day and was tired and hungry, this small village would probably not have had even the last survivor left for a long time.

The village chief of Jiangbo Village originally intended to send the child back to the village and then continue his journey. However, after circling around twice, he finally found Petty's village, only to find that the houses had collapsed, the buildings were in ruins, and the place was in complete disarray, as if it had been ravaged by something. All living things had disappeared completely, including the herbivorous dragon birds that were kept as pets.

In this situation, leaving such a young girl alone would be tantamount to watching her die. Helpless, the village chief of Jiangbo Village had no choice but to take Petty on a journey. A few years later, when they passed through this place, they saw the geographical location of Jiangbo Village and established a village there.

Although she had such a nightmarish experience in her childhood, the village chief of Jiangbo Village took meticulous care of her and helped her gradually emerge from the shadows, becoming optimistic and cheerful again.

However, although she has emerged from the shadows, this experience has not been entirely without its impact on her. She has placed all her emotional attachment on the village chief of Jiangbo Village and on the village he has painstakingly built. It can be said that her feelings for Jiangbo Village are even deeper than those for the village chief himself.

Driven by this deep love, Petty spared no effort for the development of Jiangbo Village. She worked three jobs, day and night. During the day, she managed the task wall in front of Sophia as the village's mascot. Whenever she had free time, she would go to the village's port to help with the procurement and inventory of supplies. At night, she transformed into a waitress in the tavern—she treated everyone in Jiangbo Village with gentleness and equality.

(Note: The original setting is that the village chief of Jiangbo Village adopted Petty, but the experience of the village being completely wiped out is a secondary setting created by the author.)
"Yes, I'm Petty. You were the receptionist who handled the handover with the guild yesterday, right? That's amazing..."

Looking at Petty, who was watching her with a cheerful smile, Sofia couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It was truly remarkable that she could still be strong and smile after such a tragic experience.

A mix of heartache and admiration welled up inside me, suppressing the strange feeling that a "guild-certified professional mascot" needed to learn from this "amateur village mascot," and I smiled:
"It's nothing special. At the current rate of development in Jiangbo Village, it won't be long before the guild establishes a branch here. And by then, you, who have been serving as the village's mascot, will definitely receive professional certification from the guild."

Sophia's words made Petty's smile deepen. It wasn't because of the latter part about receiving professional certification from the guild, but because of the former part about the guild establishing a branch in Jiangbo Village. This meant that everyone's hard work in the village had been recognized. As the "founding father" who had participated in building the village from scratch, she would naturally feel honored if such a scene really happened.

"Thank you sister!"

Petty thanked her sweetly before asking about the other person's purpose in coming to see the commission wall.

"Hmm...Any quests with missions set in the primeval forest?"

"The primeval forest? Please wait a moment, let me find it... I remember I just organized the mission data yesterday, it'll be quick..."

Having not received professional training, I had to figure out many skills on my own, and I was a bit flustered for a while before I finally found one from a pile of requests after two minutes.

"how about this?"

Sofia gazed intently, and five stars lined up in a row came into view:

-

Hunting Mission: The Heavyweight Empress (★★★★★)
Mission objective: Hunt a heavy beetle
Side Quest: Hunt a Penetrating Beetle
Reward: 13900z (Main Quest) 5000z (Side Quest)

Processing fee: 1000z
Mission Location: Primeval Forest
Limited time: 30 days

Client: A strange businessman with a sudden whim

Hahaha! I've come up with another brilliant money-making idea! I heard that sandals made from materials from the thorn beetle are creating a new fashion trend among desert women, so I immediately posted a lot of thorn beetle hunting quests. But after thinking about it carefully, to win in the business competition, I can't just follow the trend. So, hunters, go hunt down a heavy beetle for me! Sandals made from heavy beetle materials will definitely crush those sandals made from thorn beetles! Hahaha!

-

Sophia glanced at the request document with a strange look in her eyes. Why did she feel that the person who requested this request seemed a little abnormal?

Will there be any problems if I accept this task?

Petty seemed to have guessed Sofia's thoughts and quickly explained:

"Although the client's mental state might be a bit... well, I've verified it carefully. He can definitely afford the payment, and the merchant in the armor even said that if this task helps him win in business competition, he's willing to establish a supply channel for 'Master Beer' with Jiangbo Village..."

Petty suddenly stopped speaking and gave an embarrassed smile, as if she had suddenly realized that the person in front of her was not a resident of Jiangbo Village. This kind of task, which would greatly benefit Jiangbo Village after completion, was nothing special to them.

However, for Sophia, as long as the mission itself is sound, that's enough. As long as the target of the hunt is innocent and the client can afford the reward, there's nothing she can't accept. Besides, neither Sophia nor Lin Lin are people who can't stand to see others succeed. If they can help develop other people's villages while completing the mission, there's no reason for them to refuse.

Well, although this was just a conclusion Sophia drew from her usual interactions with Lin Lin and the others, it was basically accurate—except for the client himself being a bit unusual. When Sophia brought Lin Lin several mission slips with target locations in the primeval forest, Lin Lin immediately noticed the Heavy Beetle mission slip. If he remembered correctly, the Heavy Beetle's armor seemed to provide a "Artillery" skill boost, right? This was a huge boost to his grenade launcher and shield axe!
However, after taking out the receipt and looking at it carefully, Lin Lin's gaze involuntarily lingered on the first line of the client's message. The string of bizarre "lu ha ha ha ha" had a strange sense of déjà vu.

Seeing that Lin Lin was interested in the task of hunting the heavy beetles, Sophia relayed the information she had learned from Petty to Lin Lin.

If he was only suspicious before, after hearing the words "Daren Beer," Lin Lin was certain:

"If I'm not mistaken, the armor that merchant was wearing should be a black belt suit, right?"

It's been a long time since I've seen that devilish instructor...

During the last Lingfeng Rebellion, the other party had already left Jieyun. On one occasion when he was traveling by boat between the hunting grounds and the stronghold, he had already heard that the instructor encountered pirates while transporting a batch of cheap raw materials and lost a lot of money. Later, the pirates were wiped out by a sea dragon, and all the looted goods sank to the bottom of the sea with almost no chance of being salvaged.

I thought the instructor was on the verge of bankruptcy back then, but looking at the description of this mission now, it seems like he can still hold on.

"I don't know either... Petty met the client, and she probably doesn't recognize the black belt suit either?"

Lin Lin waved his hand, "Forget it, it doesn't matter. None of that matters. Even if the client can't afford the fee, I'll still take the job."

I've been using this Transformer Ice Shark armor set for a while now, it's time to get a new set of armor.

—The orders for the Armored Dragon armor are still lined up at the blacksmith's. Moreover, the Armored Dragon armor is more inclined to enhance defense, while the Heavy Beetle set's Artillery buff is more focused on offense. If we make both sets, we can choose more flexibly depending on the monsters we will face in the future.

Having already received the commission and having a legitimate reason for doing so, Lin Lin was unwilling to waste any more time. He went directly to Ye Zi and, with Ye Zi and Nia Lu, climbed onto Tiao Tiao's back.

As Tiaotiao spread its wings, a black shadow shot straight into the sky like an arrow. Some villagers from Jiangbo Village who happened to look up felt as if something had flashed before their eyes, but upon closer inspection, they could only see a small black dot.

……

Starting from Jiangbo Village, there is a large area of ​​dense forest in between, which Lin Lin could fly directly across, but he did not choose this route.

He hadn't forgotten that Jiangbo Village was probably in the middle of a 2DOS storyline. The steel dragon was still lingering deep in the forest and hadn't been driven away yet. What if the steel dragon saw them and took it as a provocation, stirring up a storm and fighting them directly?
Although with his and Yoko's combination, plus Jumpy's full strength, they are confident that they can protect themselves even if they encounter Steelix, it is a complete waste of time and energy to fight a battle that is not necessary, and there is a possibility of getting injured.
Therefore, Lin Lin cautiously chose to go around along the edge of the dense forest. It was roughly the same route as taking the sea to the primeval forest, but flying was much faster than sailing. In about a day, Tiao Tiao had already carried them through the dense forest, which was as lush as a tropical rainforest, and officially entered the primeval forest.

"Wow! The scenery here is amazing! Even the colors seem much brighter than in the dense forest!"

Jumping landed on a shallow, azure riverbank to rest and recover its strength, while Yoko looked around with curiosity, her eyes filled with amazement.

“Indeed, this river is almost as deep as an underground volcano… no, I mean an underground river in a cave before the lava flowed. The bright blue color of that river comes from the minerals brought by the lava. Why is this river so blue?”

Lin Lin stepped into the water and found that the depth was just above his ankles. The ground beneath the surface felt very solid, without any muddy feeling, but rather like rock.

"It must be seawater, meow?"

The date palm dipped its paw into the water, then brought it to its mouth and licked it twice.
"That's right, meow, it's salty, meow!"

Lin Lin crossed his arms and looked up at the distant sea that he could vaguely see:

"But isn't the blue color of the sea due to depth and refractive index? The water here is so shallow, it shouldn't be like this..."

"Brother Lin Lin, how do you know all this? Isn't this something only scholars study?"

Lin Lin: ...

Ahem, may I say that when we were hunting the Ghost Frog last time, we brought Sophia along and, on a whim, we discussed this issue?

Let's look at the cobalt morpho butterflies in the distance, everyone...

"Boss, boss, look! There are so many butterflies flying in the woods over there! They're twinkling and blue, just like the reflection of the river in the sky!"

Nia Lu tugged at Yoko's leg and pointed.

"That's a Cobalt Morpho butterfly cat! A very common environmental creature! But as common as it may be, there are just too many of them here..."

Date, with its arms crossed, also felt a little strange. Back then, when it and Lin Lin were training for Da Kong's flight, they often went into the forest with a capture net. At that time, the weather was still very warm, and they didn't see such a large number of cobalt morpho butterflies. Now that the cold season is almost over, how come there is such a spectacular sight that should only appear during the breeding season?
Could it be that the last time a Deinosuchus appeared, it ruined the ecosystem, causing the number of environmental organisms to decrease?
"Perhaps because of its proximity to the sea, the primary forests are less affected by temperature fluctuations?"

Lin Lin wanted to carefully feel the temperature, but the excellent insulation of the Transformation Ice Shark set he was wearing made him unable to feel anything unusual. Ye Zi was the same; with the special protective stone that provided both cold and heat resistance, she felt as if she were bathed in a gentle breeze in any environment.

(End of this chapter)