Big G, Coffee Machine and Goblin

Chapter 40 The Girl and the Raspberries
The G300p hit the road again, but this time there was another person in the passenger seat.

Unlike the enthusiastic and energetic Shire, the new hitchhiker was noticeably quieter.

She didn't say a word the whole way, and even refused the chocolate that Ma Li offered her.

Although she was only a teenager, for some reason this child gave off the feeling of an ascetic. Even the singing coming from the loudspeaker couldn't attract her attention.

However, she was not indifferent to everything.

On one occasion, she suddenly asked Ma Li to stop the car, and then found a dying northern long-tailed tit in the bushes nearby.

She carefully picked up the poor little creature, placed it in the blanket, and then sat back in the car.

I don't know how she did it, but in no time the northern long-tailed tit regained its energy, crawled out of the blanket, and hopped around in the car, chirping wildly.

"It's thanking you."

This was the first time Ma Li had actually used the animal communication potion he had drunk so many bottles to listen to the sounds of animals.

Strictly speaking, what he heard was not a complete sentence, but a vague and simple idea, since most animals do not have a language system.

The girl reached out and let the little fluffy ball land on her palm, but it quickly found a better place, flew to the top of her head, and nestled in her messy hair.

"It said it wants to be your... animal companion, what does that mean?" Mali asked.

The girl tapped the northern long-tailed tit's head lightly with one finger, and the overly excited little creature quickly calmed down.

She then took a handful of wild raspberries from her pocket and placed them on the armrest box.

"Is this for me?" Ma Li asked, glancing at the raspberries.

The girl nodded.

"Thank you."

The off-road vehicle drove for a while longer and was almost at Black Rock Canyon, but Ma Li still did not see any signs of human habitation or activity.

Are you sure you really live around here?

The girl patted his arm again, and as the car stopped again, she jumped out and walked behind a big tree.

Ma Li initially thought she was relieving herself there, but after waiting for a while, she still didn't return.

After waiting for about ten more minutes, he called out, "How are you? Did you run into trouble?"

The only answer he received was the sound of the wind in the forest.

"I'm going over."

After Ma Li finished speaking, he walked behind the tree, only to find that there was no one there anymore, except for a neatly folded blanket draped over the tree branch.

However, the branch was more than two meters off the ground, and even Ma Li had to stand on tiptoe to reach it. It's a mystery how that girl, who was only 1.4 meters tall, managed to place it there.

Just like her, she disappeared amidst mystery.

Ma Li didn't hear any footsteps. If it weren't for the blanket hanging on the tree branch and the few raspberries in the carriage, he would have even suspected that everything before was just an illusion.

And when he got back to his car, he suddenly realized that this was the very place where he had encountered the bear-like creature.

So what's the connection between that giant bear and that strange girl from earlier?

Ma Li didn't know, but at least for now, it seemed that the other party didn't have any ill intentions towards him; he had simply hitched a ride.

He couldn't be bothered to guess the little girl's identity anymore. Since she lived in this forest, they would definitely run into each other again. Ma Li drove the G300p forward, arriving at the edge of the canyon.

He engaged the differential lock, carefully climbed over the high slope ahead, and drove for a while longer before seeing the traces left from his previous battle with the goblins, including the spiked mace used by the deceased goblin chieftain, which was still in its original position.

It seems that Charles was right; this valley is indeed sparsely populated.

In fact, not only humans, but even the animals in the forest dislike the red mist and rarely come here.

However, Mali has now completely gotten used to the presence of the red mist, and even feels a sense of familiarity when he sees it.

It felt like I was back in my apartment building.

But he didn't rush in because he still had some experiments to do.

He had previously deduced the pattern that things inside the red mist disappeared after leaving it, but this naturally led to another question.

What happens when something from outside the red mist enters it?
According to the half-elf girl, this red mist is essentially poisonous to the intelligent life on the continent of Revatres; contact with it is fatal.

But she didn't say what would happen if the item went inside.

If nothing unexpected happens, the first people to study the Red Mist should have made similar attempts, but Ma Li never saw anything of this continent on the other side of the Red Mist.

This means that those people may have failed, but wasn't he not there yet?

Ma Li didn't know exactly what was wrong with his body, but he could prolong the time that the things in the red mist could exist outside.

It might work the same way if it were reversed.

Ma Li had been looking forward to growing vegetables and fruits in the red fog for a long time.

Unfortunately, the final result was a mix of joy and sorrow.

He can indeed bring things from outside the red mist into it, although it's not yet known whether there are time and distance limitations.

However, these things did not include living organisms, such as seeds, insects, and even a gray rat that Mario had specifically asked Charles to catch for his experiments. None of them survived; they all disappeared into the red mist.

Nothing is left.

But on the other hand, the gold, silver, and copper coins, books, clothes, even the alchemical creations and the course videos he filmed on his phone were unaffected.

Whether it was psychological or not, Ma Li felt a little unwell in his stomach at noon, but felt better after returning to the Red Mist.

Moreover, he found a way not to waste the fruits and vegetables on the truck. Ma Li started a fire, boiled a pot of water, and cooked everything in it, so that it could be brought into the red mist.

As long as it can be frozen in time, the taste shouldn't be too bad, at least it'll be better than canned food.

This job was a bit tedious. He only had a small pot for cooking instant noodles, so he ended up just grilling them over a fire.

After preparing the supplies, Ma Li set off again.

He was already missing the soft latex mattress, but in reality, it would take at least two more days to drive out of the valley and back onto the asphalt roads of the city.

Although the distance between the two is not actually that far.

This is why Ma Li insisted on building the road. Even if it's just a dusty dirt road, it would save him a lot of travel time, let alone a highway connecting Baimu Village and Luoyang.

Most importantly, he will be able to drive a wider variety of car models.

While the G300p has a decent payload capacity, it's still a bit too small for trading.

(End of this chapter)