Why can't humans do it too?

Silently standing up, Su Er took a deep look at Xin Ke, who was still lying on the ground, and his mind was filled with chaotic thoughts.

"...Let's make a deal."

Taking a deep breath, Suer stretched his hand downwards.

"Promise?"

Xin Ke tilted her head, looking puzzled.

“Even managing to escape from a depth of ten thousand meters, the great Miss Nirbalen surely wouldn’t want to perish in a place like this, would she?” With her outstretched hand still there, Sue quietly said, “I will help you survive until you regain your strength… based on humanity’s experience surviving in this apocalyptic world. And you, after regaining your strength, will need to discreetly and without being discovered by other humans, appropriately helping them to better survive in this world, while ensuring their independence and autonomy, and never intentionally harming them…”

"Including, but not limited to, leaving behind items that can be used by humans and have the effect of concealing spirits, methods to increase the production of edible plants without spirits, etc... How about that?"

There was only one thing he needed to do, but he rattled off a long list of demands on Xin Ke. This unequal contract didn't make Su Er feel embarrassed at all, and even his previously excited breathing gradually calmed down.

He already knew he couldn't leave Xin Ke here... such a choice was no longer possible the moment he subconsciously jumped out of hiding.

Riku and the people in the village had been kind to him, and so had this cruel forest elf before him. Suer couldn’t ignore what she had done—he just felt that even in such a world, he still needed to guard the light that existed deep in his heart.

That might be what kept him guarding his own identity and the fence that made him different from any other life.

"...You should know, right? Such an agreement doesn't have any magical power; it's just a verbal game," even Xin Ke herself asked, puzzled.

"Nirbalian".

With a brief and unexplained answer, Suer simply nodded sullenly.

He believed in Xin Ke.

Given this forest elf's proud nature—to the point of disdaining even real gods and her own creator—she would certainly not break a promise made in her own name.

Suer firmly believed this.

"Hahaha... Hahahaha!"

Suddenly, he coughed up blood and chuckled softly. The laughter gradually grew louder. No one knew what Xin Ke was thinking. Su Er had no idea that this forest elf had thoughts different from the rest of the world. He just waited quietly.

Finally, a hand stained with its own blood rose up and gripped the palm that Suer had been waiting for so long.

“…I agreed.”

--------------

A burning pain throbbed on my face, appearing as if it were spreading, but before the pain could worsen, a hand wiped it away.

"...No, there's more and more black ash." Finally stopping, Su Er panted slightly as he looked around, trying to find a place to hide.

Xin Ke was lying comfortably on his back. She was the one who had wiped away the black ash that had fallen on Su Er's face. One of the injuries that had broken out earlier involved her tendons, so Su Er had to carry her to keep moving forward without slowing down. Fortunately, Xin Ke's weight was not surprising. In fact, Su Er felt that she was only slightly heavier than Nona, but it still increased his physical exertion.

There were no complaints; it was part of the agreement.

The robe, which had been torn multiple times, could no longer completely cover the two people's figures; it had become more like bandages wrapped around Xin Ke's body.

The surroundings were empty, with almost nowhere to hide. If they continued to move forward in this black ash, they would probably be corroded to the bone before they even reached the safe spot.

The surrounding land looked as if it had been bombarded by a meteorite, but what was unusual was not the meteorite crater, but the cracks that radiated outwards from the circular bomb crater. These traces of war had been there for many years, so much so that the ground beneath them had been slightly eroded by the wind and sunken inwards, though not deeply.

It's also not spacious.

With great effort, Xin Ke was pushed in first, and Su Er followed closely behind, lying down next to her. Below the slightly protruding crevice was a groove extending diagonally. In addition to being crowded, lying down in this environment could trigger claustrophobia. You could even touch the top of the crevice with your nose if you raised your head slightly.

'Like a coffin.'

A thought flashed through Suer's mind: if this could be considered a natural coffin, then wouldn't Xin Ke, lying next to him, look a bit like... something else?

Suer almost laughed, but quickly composed himself.

"Does it remind you of the jokes from your world?" came Xin Ke's voice from the side.

“Ah, I guess so,” Suer answered softly with his eyes closed. “They say that lying directly on an open rock like that can easily cause rheumatism.”

"what is that?"

“One of the diseases that torments humanity is something the forest elves would never understand… Could you give me that robe?” Sull turned his head and asked.

The space was still a bit too cramped, and one of Suer's shoulders was not covered, with some black ash drifting in and settling on it.

Along the way, he changed direction from time to time according to his mood, fearing that the goblins who wanted to avenge their companions would catch up. Suer didn't think that this time there would be any kind-hearted people like him who would suddenly jump out to help them.

Chapter Ninety-Two: Suer's Little Classroom

Silence reigned, with only the occasional whistling of the wind reaching their ears. Even the rocks beneath them seemed to be warmed, but when Suer instinctively reached out to touch them, they remained icy cold.

"...Hasn't it stopped yet?" Xin Ke seemed a little impatient while waiting, and she cracked her neck.

Lying there doing nothing and leaving everything to fate was making this forest elf extremely restless.

“Let’s be a little more patient,” Suer sighed helplessly and replied in a low voice, “This is just a normal black ash descent, not a storm of death. It won’t be over so quickly.”

"Wait a little longer, just a little longer," Suer reassured her once again. "The amount of dust has decreased significantly, and we should be able to move forward again soon."

Normally, such a small amount of black ash should not have caused any problems, but without the protection of the robes, the two of them could not continue to move forward despite the damage caused by the black ash falling on them, even though the destination set by Suer was just ahead.

Over the past few hours, Sul had heard the forest elves next to her complain countless times about wanting to use magic to blow away the dark clouds in the sky, but thankfully it was all just venting.

Using the last available magic on something like this is just too ridiculous.

"Did Mr. Monkey always do this whenever he went out to collect supplies?"

"No, it's still very different."

"Oh? How is it different? Is it the way they hide?"

"We won't talk that much."

"..."

The finger that had been drawing circles on the stone wall above Suer's head, which he had been using to observe out of the corner of his eye, suddenly stopped.

Although he knew that the forest elves next to him were probably holding another grudge against him, Sull could finally wait for the black and gray rain to pass without worrying that their conversation would attract any strange things.

Just as he was about to freeze to death, Suer suddenly realized that the black ash that had accumulated on his exposed shoulders had not increased for a long time—the rain of death falling outside had stopped.

Stiffly crawling out of the crevice, Suer struggled to do squats on the ground, then quickly turned to push-ups, trying to get his blood flowing quickly.

"Shall we continue in that direction?" Xin Ke asked, glancing at Su Er, who was stretching his body, as she sat on the ground and looked at the huge rift in the distance.

"Ah, we can't go straight there. We need to find some food and water first," Sul replied, panting heavily as he moved his cold body. "Although it's already in sight, it's impossible to get there in one go. There's still a long way to go... You races who usually travel by flying probably don't understand this, do you?"

In the end, Suer suddenly stopped, looked up at Xin Ke, and smiled. This is what they mean by "looking at a mountain but running to death."

Without the cover of the robe, he saw Xin Ke's rather revealing clothes once again. Even though they had been lying side by side on the ground for so long, while Su Er's whole body was frozen stiff, it was only slightly cool to this forest elf.

It's impossible not to feel envious.

“Let’s go to that depression over there first. We’re pretty lucky; the terrain here hasn’t been altered by the stray bullets from your battle. If I remember correctly, there are edible things to find down there.” Feeling that he had almost regained his mobility, Suer walked up to Xinke, turned around, and squatted down.

Looking at the two arms swinging backward, Xin Ke's expression was inexplicably strange. This was her second time experiencing the new version, which made her involuntarily quiet down a lot.

There is a cave with an underground river running through it. The source of the river is unknown, but some eyeless fish do live in this river. They are not big, the longest of which is only the length of a finger. The smaller ones are so small that you wouldn't even think of chewing them. They are all dark black and surprisingly easy to catch. When Suer passed through this place on his expedition, he marked this temporary supply point, but it is not suitable for long-term residence.

"Give."

"……This is?"

Looking at the half-dried piece of wood that Suer had moved in front of her, Xin Ke looked up in confusion and asked. Although she had already taken a twig that the man had sharpened at the front from her, she really didn't understand what these things were for.

“You need to do it like this… then like this… and then like this…” Squatting down next to Xinke, Suer patiently guided her to place the tip of the wooden branch into a groove in the dry block of wood. It was a small pit that he had first carved out with a dagger, and some easily flammable sawdust had already been placed inside.

"And then?" Although she had posed according to Suer's instructions, Xin Ke's doubts remained unanswered.

"Then just rub back and forth quickly. If you see smoke coming out, just blow hard into it." Suer gave Xinke a thumbs up for her comprehension and stood up with satisfaction.

“No, I mean… what’s the point of doing all this?” Xin Ke rubbed her temples as if she had a headache.

"Huh? Of course, it's for starting a fire!" Bi Xinke was even more surprised—okay, he was pretending. Su Er was trying hard to suppress his laughter and explained seriously, "This deep part of the cave is a relatively safe place. It has been proven many times that you can start a fire here to prepare some food simply, so don't worry."

“The strength of forest elves must far surpass that of humans, right? That’s amazing,” Sue said with a bright, sunny smile. “If a human tried to start a fire this way, they probably wouldn’t be able to light it even after rubbing it for over an hour, but forest elves would probably be able to do it much faster… You want to eat something hot too, don’t you?”

"?"

Seeing Xin Ke's smile growing increasingly stiff, Su Er suppressed the urge to burst into laughter—if he dared to laugh now, Xin Ke would definitely kill him right now. He had to keep his expression extremely serious and continued, "Anyway, I'll leave this place to you for now. These little fish probably aren't enough for us to eat. I need to find some other things."

Picking up his dagger again, he noticed that the rather long journey had left the ordinary dagger with many uneven nicks along its edges, but it could still perform its most basic function.

He wasn't lying to Xinke; he really needed to find more food to replenish their energy. He hoped that when he returned, he would see a campfire burning in the cave, enough to warm their bodies.

As for the process in between... let's leave that to the Forest Elf alone.

Chapter Ninety-Three Discomfort

Do you know the difference between humans and monkeys?

Sparks flew from the crackling campfire, landing on Suer's hands without making him change his posture. They weren't hot or painful. Without waiting for Xinke's reply, he continued speaking in a deep and seductive tone.

“That means knowing how to use tools…and of all the tools, the most important is fire,” Suer said in a low voice, gently turning the food on the campfire. “At first, we just used the flames burning on trees struck by lightning, but eventually we learned to create our own fire using tools…”