The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 109 Prisoner in a Deadly Place
When Wu Zhuo first heard the word "Netherworld," he was stunned for a while before looking down at the terrain below.

"No, is it really Xilu Youdi?"

Wu Zhuo only then realized that he hadn't asked about the purpose of this trip.

"Sister En, what brings you to Youdi again?"

Ling Chengen patted the back of the bag and pointed in a direction: "We landed there."

Seeing that Ling Chengen didn't seem to be there for fun, Wu Zhuo looked at her profile with concern and earnestly reminded her, "Sister En, you know that Youdi is very dangerous, right?"

Ling Chengen stood on the back of the bag, looking down at him without saying a word.

Looking at her expressionless face, Wu Zhuo knew she didn't know, and said with a headache, "Youdi is a sky burial area."

"Many orcs on the Beast Plains who are nearing the end of their lives or who cannot find food during the cold season choose this place as their final resting place."

"Moreover, every year after the start of spring, when each tribe's hunting team goes out and finds scattered carcasses on the animal plains, they will help collect them and bring them here."

"Because there are many corpses in Xilu Youdi, there are also many wild beasts and strange animals in this place."

"When famine or cold disasters are severe, the bones here will pile up very high. After the corpses decompose, they will spread diseases. That's why there are no tribes near the Dark Land. Several hundred years ago, there were two tribes here, but in the end, all the orcs in the tribes died of disease."

Ling Chengen nodded: "I've already inquired about all of this before I came."

"So, if the rotting corpses caused disease, why not burn them?"

Wu Zhuo looked at Ling Chengen in shock and said hesitantly, "Isn't this a bit too cruel? Burning the body after death will be criticized."

Ling Chengen asked helplessly, "So, the plague caused by corpses, which leads to more people getting sick and dying, isn't cruel?"

Wu Zhuo was speechless for a moment when asked the question. Compared to the other question, it seemed that the latter was more serious.
"Let's go."

The bag had already landed on a relatively flat and open ground. Ling Chengen lightly touched the ground with his toes and jumped off its back. Wu Zhuo came to his senses and found that the person had already gone far away. The bag under him had been waiting impatiently and simply turned sideways and lifted him off its back.

Wu Zhuo collapsed to the ground, watching Ling Chengen's figure disappear, and quickly got up to chase after him.

After walking only a hundred meters or so, they encountered seven or eight skeletons on the road.

These are all bones; they look like they've been dead for a long time.

Wu Zhuo avoided the skeletons lying on the roadside and tugged at Ling Chengen's sleeve: "Sister En, aren't you scared? There are dead people all over here."

Ling Chengen turned around and looked at Wu Zhuo, who was 1.8 meters tall: "How come I never noticed before that you were such a coward?"

"Are you afraid that these skeletons will suddenly do a sit-up and scare you?"

Wu Zhuo quickly raised a finger to his lips: "Shh—"

"Sister En, we must show respect to the dead."

There are some things that really shouldn't be said, especially those related to this topic, in case they actually come true.
Wu Zhuo listened attentively to everything around him and kept a close watch on everything that happened around him.

Seeing his cautious demeanor, Ling Chengen couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head helplessly, "Alright, stay close. If you get lost, I won't come back to look for you."

Wu Zhuo, his face contorted with distress, followed closely behind Ling Chengen, avoiding a rotting corpse that had been half-eaten by vultures. He dared not even glance at what the corpse looked like.

He forgot where he'd heard it, but it was said that the vultures in the Western Heron Lands were most attracted to the eyes of corpses, followed by their internal organs…

"Sister En, you still haven't told us why we're here?"

Ling Chengen calmly replied, "Mineral exploration."

Hearing the unfamiliar term, Wu Zhuo scratched the back of his head: "Mineral exploration? What kind of mineral?"

"Salt mine".

Ling Chengen has been studying the maps given out by the system for the past few days. The map showing the distribution of mineral resources in the Southern Beast Plains is currently useless, and there's another one that's completely blank; she hasn't figured out its purpose. Asking the system yielded no results, only a warning to save it carefully, saying it might come in handy later.

Xiluyoudi is the closest salt harvesting site to the Stone Forest.

The salt reserves here are astonishing. Not only are there rock salt mines, but also exceptionally rich brine resources stored beneath the basin surrounded by mountains in Youdi.

Compared to sea salt and rock salt, well salt has fewer impurities, and the underground brine here is of very high quality, with almost no heavy metals, making it the most suitable for consumption.

Although Wu Zhuo didn't know much about finding salt mines or why Ling Chengen had come here, he always listened to his boss, so he didn't press the matter further.

The two wandered around the foot of the mountain, where the terrain was complex.

It only took Wu Zhuo two hours to go from being at a loss when he saw the rotting corpses to calmly dragging them into the pit and piling them together.

Despite the stench, Wu Zhuo threw the corpse he saw into the pit. He then gathered a lot of fallen leaves and firewood and threw them together with the corpse.

Ling Chengen then opened the tinderbox he had made before leaving home, lit the firewood, and casually threw it into the large pit filled with corpses.

As the firelight consumed the corpses at the bottom of the pit, Wu Zhuo looked at his filthy fingers and said with a pained expression, "My hands are dirty, and I feel like my whole body is covered in the stench of corpses."

"We'll find a water source soon, then we can wash up."

Ling Chengen wasn't much better off than him. Burning the corpse wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; Bai Qingyu had specifically told her about the situation in Xilu Youdi after learning her destination yesterday.

The area is rich in brine resources. In order to solve the tribe's salt supply problem and prevent them from being controlled by others, she must build a salt mining factory here. In that case, she will have to solve the problem of corpses scattered all over the place.

Moreover, the long-term exposure of large numbers of corpses to the elements in the wilderness can easily breed bacteria and cause widespread epidemics.

Burning the body is the safest thing to do.

“If you clear away all the grass around you, the fire could easily start a wildfire if it spreads to the vegetation at the edge of the pit.”

Wu Zhuo nodded, and Ling Chengen pointed in a direction: "Look for other corpses around here. As long as they are not completely skeletal, drag them all over here and burn them. I'm going to check the mountains over there. Don't wander around. Besides the vultures, there are also hyena packs here. If you encounter any danger, avoid them first and then notify me."

"Remember?"

Wu Zhuo nodded and patted the bone blade at his waist: "I understand, Sister En, don't worry."

Seeing his confident assurance, Ling Chengen was not entirely at ease and could only leave a strand of his spiritual energy on him in case he encountered danger and was unable to return in time.

The secluded land of Xilu is more tranquil than other forests, with only the chirping of insects and the occasional roar of strange beasts.

Ling Chengen has encountered four groups of vultures along the way, totaling no less than fifty. Among them are nine mutated species, most of which have awakened metal-type abilities. The vulture with the highest ability level is already at level six, which is similar to Chong Zhen's. However, metal-type combat power is much stronger than earth-type.

Ling Chengen collected a lot of minerals from the mountain and carefully examined the map: "If we want to drill salt wells to extract brine, what is the minimum depth we need to drill?"

The system asked in confusion, "Isn't your ability to detect underground places? Why are you asking me?"

Ling Chengen: "I can explore the area, but you know better than anyone how big this valley is. I want to find the best location for drilling salt wells as soon as possible. If you can't do it, then forget it."

The system immediately retorted, "Of course I can, but you always try to trick me into helping you for free! Don't think I don't know your shrewd nature."

Ling Chengen: "Tell me how many mission points will be deducted."

"5 point."

Ling Chengen raised an eyebrow slightly: "Let's get started."

The system was surprised by her easygoing nature; normally, she would have had to haggle with it for a while.

“Go to the left. There’s a very hidden cave over there. There’s a passage inside. About 20 meters down, there’s a fork in the road. Choose the right-hand side. Go through it and you’ll find an open space. That’s the best spot to dig a salt well. Just dig down a few dozen meters and you’ll find brine.”

Do you know how to drill salt wells and what tools are needed?

"The latest page of the mall has a limited-time graduation gift pack. For only 499 task points, you can buy a complete set of books on salt well excavation and brine extraction."

"Only 499!"

Ling Chengen said speechlessly, "You're just after my 999 mission points, aren't you?"

System: "The task points you earn are meant to be spent."

Ling Chengen refused without hesitation: "No need. Of course I'll spend the money I earn, but I should spend it wisely. I know the whole process of salt well excavation and brine extraction very well."

She had seen real salt wells and had looked up information about them when she was bored.

It must be said that the wisdom of our ancestors is truly fascinating.

System: "..." This is a miscalculation.

I didn't expect her to know even this!
His head doesn't look that big, so how does it hold so much strange and wonderful knowledge?

The system, biting its little handkerchief, could only watch as she disappeared into the cave.

Ling Chengen dragged the three skeletonized corpses inside the cave to the entrance. As he walked further in, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at the fork in the road inside the cave.

She stopped in place, slowly closed her eyes, and unleashed her psychic abilities.

"I heard breathing."

There are other living people here.

This was something Ling Chengen never expected.

It's springtime now, and the central region has already thawed, so hunting isn't difficult.

At this time, no one would come to the Dark Land to commit suicide, right?
Ling Chengen's brow twitched slightly. Instead of choosing the direction the system had suggested, he stepped towards the cave on his left.

Wind was blowing through the cave on the right, and the air was moving.

The cave on the left should be a dead end, but there's a living person there.

However, judging from his breathing, he was not far from death.

Ling Chengen walked deeper into the cave, holding a tinderbox in his hand. With his left hand, he gripped a bone blade and cleaved the poisonous spiders and snakes that crawled out of the mountain wall crevices. He finally stopped at the end of the cave.

"It really is a living person."

She stared in shock at the man nailed to the ground, her eyes widening in disbelief.