Why can't humans do it too?

"..."

"Can we meet up?"

"Can we meet up?"

"..."

The echo of Suer reverberated around them, only to be quickly absorbed by the trees.

Suer waited quietly, but nothing unusual happened. Apart from the sound of her own and Xinke's breathing, she heard nothing.

Just now, he had been repeating greetings to those around him in all the languages ​​of the races he had learned so far, but no one suddenly jumped out to greet him.

"...They might have already left?" Having voiced her guess, Su'er turned to Xin Ke, seeking her opinion. "What should we do? Should we continue searching? Or should we leave quickly?"

"Of course we'll go in and take a look," Xin Ke answered without hesitation, leading the way by pushing open the battered wooden door and entering the treehouse.

“…Well, I also think it’s unlikely that anything unexpected will happen,” Sue sighed slightly and followed him into the treehouse.

“Based on my understanding of the races I’ve encountered in your world, if you were hiding in the shadows and questioned like that, you would surely jump out eagerly, right?” Sul said casually, glancing around the room.

"Oh? Mr. Monkey, are you so sure?"

"Of course, rather I think the more you people consider yourselves powerful, the stronger your desire to perform and show off is. I even thought of his or her lines for his or her entrance—Oh? A mere monkey actually has this much courage?" Suer shrugged and complained, picking up something that looked like a lamp from a small wooden table.

"Pfft, hahahahahahaha," unrestrained laughter erupted. After a moment's thought, Xin Ke agreed with Su Er's simulation... but wasn't this even funnier?

"It's too easy to guess. To be honest, you have magic, a magical technique that can break through reality, but the variety you've shown in this battle is really too meager. If the guy who pushed open this door when I shouted is really still here, I don't believe he won't jump out and show his power and presence."

"After all, they're basically guys whose brains are all about fists and bigger fists... Ugh! What's with this creepy feeling?! Xin Ke! I have a bad feeling!"

As he spoke, a chill suddenly spread from Suer's tailbone upwards, making him feel as if he were standing in a frozen wasteland. It was so cold.

Then he didn't hesitate to send out a distress call.

"Is this abnormal?!"

"...No, at least I didn't see any unusual gathering of elves. It's just your imagination, Mr. Monkey." Xin Ke was a little nervous when she suddenly heard Su Er's shout. She rushed over but found nothing. Only Su Er was nervously tense.

“…Okay,” Suer was somewhat embarrassed about making a false police report, but this was a matter of life and death that could not be taken lightly, and no abnormality could be overlooked.

"Keep searching, keep searching."

After passing Xin Ke and walking into the treehouse, Su Er began to carefully observe whether there were any fresh traces left from recent touching.

The room wasn't well lit, so he could only squint and search by the light coming in from the windows and doorway.

"Think about it carefully, according to your theory, Mr. Monkey, aren't I the same kind of being as a forest elf?" Xin Ke's voice came from above Su Er's head. This woman had just gone to the second floor to check.

'Does this even need asking?! Have you really forgotten what you looked like when we first met?!'—Of course, I couldn't say that out loud.

Suer's intelligence was not, after all, so low as to be considered low.

"Well~, I just think Miss Nirbalen, you have quite a talent for acting, and you control everything very well, don't you?" After clearing her throat slightly, Suer answered softly to the top of her head.

"Really? I knew it... Actually, I thought so too~", Xin Ke's full and elegant voice came from upstairs. "Not to brag, but I quite like acting, and I've never been discovered to be one in the clan~"

Ah, I can definitely see that.

Hua Guanqing, those who know, know.

It was one thing if ordinary forest elves couldn't tell the difference, but Sull once again began to doubt the abilities of Kenas, the creator of the forest elves.

Are you okay?

As expected, the detailed search took a long time. Suer almost lost his patience and considered just skimming through it, but his rationality stopped him in time.

Twenty-odd years can take away so much. Many things that were once glamorous have turned to dust with just a touch from Suer—or worse, they rotted into a mess without even being touched.

After a busy day, Suer and Xinke not only failed to find much of what they needed, but they also didn't expand the area they had searched much. After all, for safety reasons, the two of them did not split up, but chose to work together instead.

Incidentally, although they didn't show any overt vigilance, Suer and Xinke never let their guard down, yet they still didn't see the owner of the handprint when they finished work.

Chapter 133 Melwall

Playing with a sharp, gleaming short sword in his hand, Suer had no resistance to things that brought him a sense of security just by looking at them, and this was one of the few gains he had made during this period.

Although they differ from the elves in the fantasy stories of Suer's past life in many ways, they seem to share the same love for ornate and even flamboyant patterns and decorations. This preference is also reflected in the cold weapons they forge. Instead of patterns being painted on later, the texture of the steel is directly transformed into patterns during the forging process.

The useless technical capabilities are astonishing.

"How much longer are you going to be happily hugging your toys?" With just a turn of her head, Xin Ke could see Su Er gleefully swiping at the things around her with her newly acquired weapon, and she immediately urged her impatiently.

"Uh, calling it a toy is a bit of an exaggeration. This sharpness is not something a toy should have," Su'er chuckled awkwardly and quickened her pace to catch up.

"What is a weapon that even elves don't possess if it's not a toy?" Xin Ke scoffed dismissively. "Mr. Monkey, do you think that some forest elves will charge into battle with this kind of trash instead of using magic?"

That... seems to make sense too.

To these magical races, this short sword may indeed seem like just a toy, but even as a toy, it instantly reduced the weapons forged and collected by humans to dust. Sull estimated that his former dagger would shatter upon contact with this short sword.

Now my old friend can retire with honor.

The phrase "cutting iron like mud, severing hair with a breath"—words that only existed in Suer's memory—can now be used in reality. More than twenty years is enough time for nature to transform this abandoned city into something else entirely. The stone slabs and streetlights that once guided the way between the treehouses are now broken and dilapidated, with many newly grown saplings pushing them aside. Everything has become its most primitive form, and the traces of the forest elves are fading away.

Unfortunately, all of these saplings have now fallen victim to Suer's cruelty.

"...Isn't Mr. Monkey a little too energetic?" Xin Ke sighed subtly as she watched Su Er panting heavily as he trimmed the branches off the saplings, which were as thick as bowls, and carried them back to the 'sun' one by one.

"Huh? What?", sitting on a pile of logs, Su Er wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.

"Are you really planning to build a house here... or settle down?" It was beyond complicated. Xin Ke's gaze kept shifting between Su Er and a row of logs that had been driven into the ground on the other side.

She rarely looked at others with the same eyes one would use to judge someone as mentally ill.

The flowers and grasses that originally grew there have been ruthlessly dug up, revealing the fertile soil.

"Why not?" Su'er said with a smile, patting the log under his bottom with great interest. "I'll live one more day as long as I can. Anyway, the agreement has been fulfilled, so of course it's better to live more comfortably."

“The proud and great Lord Nirbalen will surely be able to fulfill the other part of the agreement. Just thinking about it makes me feel so relieved... Lord Nirbalen shouldn’t go back on his word, right?” As he said this, Suer looked nervously at Xinke.

Facing such expectant, apprehensive, and slightly panicked gazes, Xin Ke wanted to say something negative but found that she could never bring herself to shatter her self-respect.

"...Heh," in the end, he could only let out a cold laugh.

However, that was enough; for Suer, such an answer could be considered an affirmative one.

“You can’t possibly understand how tempting such a small wooden house would be for a child growing up in a city built of steel and concrete… Just imagine it as the architectural style of goblins, only on the surface of the earth.” Feeling that he had rested enough, Suer rolled over and jumped down, then picked up a log and began to peel its bark.

“If you prefer this more natural style, then wouldn’t Melwall be better?”

"Merwall?"

"Ah~, located in the center of the entire city is a tall, lush tree that extends to the clouds. Its roots, like blood vessels, coil around the ground, expanding into the finest network of roads. Trees and vines growing from the earth intertwine densely, forming various houses and streetlights, filling the gaps between roads..." In the tone of a wandering poet, Xin Ke described the enchanting scene as if she were reciting a poem.

“Unlike the cramped layout here, those buildings constructed from wood and stone make full use of the forest elves’ best magical techniques, which can fully satisfy Mr. Monkey’s so-called…fantasy about another world,” Xin Ke tilted her head, “Don’t you want to take a look?”

Damn it, what she said was so tempting!

Just by following Xinke's description and roughly imagining that beautiful scene, Suer couldn't help but be captivated—wasn't it a bit too dreamy?

I really want to see it with my own eyes!

"...Let's forget it," Suer struggled to resist the temptation and finally shook his head vigorously, even speeding up his movements as he peeled the bark.

“It’s not a pleasant thing for a monkey to appear in a city full of elves. Compared to that oppressive feeling, I think this place is already quite good…” Suer said in a low voice, “And if I’m not mistaken, once you return to the elf kingdom, the corresponding research will have to begin, right?”

"Research on inactive nerve cells."

Suer's voice echoed in the warm open space, while Xinke remained silent.

“…Those gophers have already started, and I can’t stand falling behind those trash,” Xin Ke finally replied in a low voice after a long silence.

"Hey, why the expression?" After twirling the short sword in his hand, he threw it to the ground. Suer straightened up and stretched his back. The log had its brown bark removed, revealing the pure white heartwood, which was beautiful just to look at.

Unlike his busy schedule, Xin Ke immediately went back into the pool filled with herbs as soon as she returned to this place. For some reason, Su Er felt that the silent figure looked somewhat lonely.

“Isn’t this something we have to do?” Sull chuckled to himself at his own thoughts, and continued, “When the enemy has started developing a deadly weapon and they have a very high chance of succeeding, you’d better have a weapon that can match it… I know that kind of thing.”

Chapter 134 Refusal

Even if it's just to protect yourself.

Lies, Suer followed up with lies that even he himself wouldn't believe.

After all, the world this woman longed for had already been revealed to him in that cave with the campfire burning—she wanted a pure world, a world without the noisy and meaningless wars of today, and without other annoying races.

Xinke opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but Suer spoke first.

“Although I know absolutely nothing about magic, anything involving gods is never simple. How many years do you think your competition with the goblins will last?” Sul shrugged casually. “Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty years? One hundred years?”

"Isn't it very possible that this process could continue for hundreds of years without yielding any research results?"

It can't be denied.

Even though Xin Ke was arrogant and confident, she still dared not make a definitive statement about using a part of the divine species as a weapon.

If someone can make such boastful claims so casually, then it's more than just a sign of ignorance.

"The most likely scenario is that when you come out of the experimental workshop, you suddenly find that I have grown wrinkles, and the next time you leave the workshop, you find that I am so old that I can only stand up with the help of a cane... So, as for a partner... let's just forget about it."

"I have no regrets," Suer said calmly.

He had indeed seriously considered Xin Ke's invitation to him. He agreed to become her inexplicable and useless partner. If he could cling to such a powerful figure, life in this world would be much easier, right?