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[Cheat] Chapter 92: Mushroom Mountain
🕑 Added 2025-05-14 17:58:03 +0000 UTCPaimon crossed her arms, putting on a knowing expression.
“You know, telling someone not to tell anyone else is the least reliable thing you can do. Think about it—you couldn’t even keep it to yourself. So how can you expect others not to spill the beans too?”
Xiaoling found Paimon’s words very reasonable and lowered her head in guilt.
“You’re right… I’m sorry…”
Zephyr said, “Eh, it’s fine. It was just a complaint. On the way out, I’ll stop by Old Man Wang’s place and help myself to a few of his Sweet Flowers while I’m at it.”
“Wait, you’re not apologizing—you’re doubling down?!”
“This is what being an adventurer is all about! A true adventurer takes anything valuable from a house the moment the owner steps out.
And even if the owner is home, as long as you say, ‘This is for defeating the Demon King’ or ‘This is for justice,’ you can just take stuff right in front of them and it’s totally fine.”
“Isn’t that just theft? No—this is worse than theft! This is blatant robbery!”
“It’s all in the name of justice! Justice always prevails!”
Eeehhh!?”
Suddenly, Xiaoling giggled.
“Thank you, big sis.”
“Ever since my parents died, I haven’t laughed like this. You were just joking to cheer me up, weren’t you? Thank you so much.”
“I... yeah! That’s exactly what I meant. You’re welcome!”
Paimon: “Paimon can’t believe you just shamelessly admitted that!”
“Big sis, let’s go.” Xiaoling had packed up, and the two of them headed out together.
...
“Good morning, Hero!”
“Good morning, Brave One!”
Just past Mondstadt’s main gate, two knights greeted them with admiration and respect.
“Good morning, Knights. Thank you for your service.”
They were grown adults, yet their eyes sparkled with such excitement that Paimon couldn’t help wanting to comment on it.
“Xiaoling, hold on a second.”
It was early, and there weren’t many people on the bridge. Timmy was nowhere to be seen either—who knows where he’d gone off to.
Zephyr looked disappointed. From a distance, he launched a big AoE attack.
“Coo coo coo…”
The pigeons didn’t even have time to fly away—one after another, they were struck down and turned into poultry meat.
“Hero!!” the knights cried out in awe and praise.
Paimon lowered her head, speechless for a long moment.
“Poor pigeons... First the Traveler bullies you, and now the knights are doing it too. You guys really are pitiful.”
A tear slid from the corner of her eye.
“Let the merciful and kind Paimon set your souls free…”
And with that, she quickly gathered up the poultry meat.
Xiaoling stared, wide-eyed and speechless.
“B-Big sis… Why did you kill those pigeons…?”
“Because I like eating pigeon meat.”
“B-But… isn’t that kind of wrong?”
“I’ll make chicken-and-mushroom stew for you when we get back.”
Chicken-and-mushroom stew?! Xiaoling swallowed hard.
I’m sorry, dear pigeons… It’s not that I don’t want to help you… but chicken-and-mushroom stew is just too delicious...
After swiftly finishing off the pigeons, they made their way toward the mushroom-picking spot.
They didn’t go very far—just into the forest west of Springvale. As everyone knows, Mondstadt City and Springvale are the top two mushroom-producing regions for Mushroom of the Winds.
But actually, Springvale also has a high yield of ordinary mushrooms too.
That’s because Springvale is nestled deep in the mountains.
And what’s most abundant in the mountains? Wild ingredients, of course! So it’s only natural that mushrooms grow plentifully there.
Plus, the mountain is close to town, so resupplying is easy and the area is pretty safe.
“Xiaoling, have you ever been to Springvale before?”
“No. It’s really far from Mondstadt, and the road’s dangerous… I didn’t dare go.”
Paimon said, “Dangerous?”
“Yeah, ever since the Stormterror incident, a lot of monsters have appeared outside the city.”
“Right, I almost forgot about that… But why hasn’t Stormterror shown up yet?” Zephyr wondered silently.
They stayed in Springvale for a bit—it was Zephyr’s first time visiting in this world.
Honestly, it looked nothing like in the game. It was much bigger, and there were way more people.
But still, it was a village, not a city—nowhere near as grand as Mondstadt.
Even so, with its lush mountains and clear streams, it had the charm of a hidden paradise.
It was early in the morning, and many hardworking hunters and farmers were already preparing to head into the mountains to hunt and forage.
Zephyr didn’t go with them. The number of mushrooms he needed to gather was massive—100 jin (about 50 kilograms). Going with them might be convenient, but it wouldn’t guarantee that he’d meet his target.
So he and Xiaoling took a different path. Once they entered the mountain forest, the air immediately turned cool and refreshing.
“Wow, Lumine, look! There are mushrooms here!”
Xiaoling beamed with joy. They had only just stepped into the forest and already found three mushrooms—definitely a good sign.
Zephyr, however, was a bit helpless. Three mushrooms… Would that even weigh half a jin?
Normal people gather mushrooms by the piece. He had to gather them by the jin. How was that even fair?
He muttered to himself, “...I wonder if buying mushrooms from Springvale would still count toward the quest.”
That would be the last resort. If he could gather them naturally, it was best to do so.
Paimon watched the others working hard and felt a little guilty.
“You’re all working so hard. Paimon will help too—”
“Then stop just standing there and get to work already!”
“Hmph! Paimon was going to help, but now that you’ve said that, Paimon don’t feel like it anymore!” Paimon huffed and crossed her arms, turning her head away in annoyance.
Lumine said, “I’ll do it. Sorry, Paimon, Zephyr didn’t mean it. Come help us pick mushrooms. I’ll make you stir-fried mushrooms with meat for lunch.”
“Yay! Wait a sec—wasn’t it supposed to be chicken and mushroom stew?”
“That’s our lunch. What does that have to do with you?”
“You-you-you—you two are conspiring against Paimon!!”
The mountain was teeming with wild resources—perhaps they were just lucky. It seemed like not many people had used this path. The three of them gathered mushrooms for about two hours and collected more than 800 mushrooms in total.
All the mushrooms they found were tossed directly into Zephyr’s inventory—there was no way they could carry that many by hand.
Xiaoling was gasping for breath.
“That should be enough, right?”
Zephyr dumped all the mushrooms out of his backpack. They formed an actual little mountain.
Xiaoling’s eyes lit up.
“That’s so many mushrooms!”
Along the way, they also gathered some mint, pinecones, Sweet Flowers, and other ingredients. In total, they had at least 1,500 items—though mushrooms made up the majority. With over 800 mushrooms all laid out, the sight was truly impressive.
> Quest Complete – Reward: 10 Blue EXP Books <
“The quest is complete? Not bad.”
They’d received ten blue EXP books—not a huge reward, but better than nothing. Plus, the mushrooms weren’t confiscated, so all in all, it was a pretty good deal.
At the very least, it beat grinding Hilichurls.
“Alright, that’s enough gathering. Let’s head back.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Zephyr waved his hand and stored everything away.
Xiaoling looked on with admiration.
“Big sis, you’re amazing… Can I become someone like you someday?”
“Keep working at it. If your wish is heard by the gods, you can obtain a Vision too.”
But to her surprise, Xiaoling shook her head.
“I don’t want a Vision.”
“Huh?”
There was a hopeful light in Xiaoling’s eyes.
“I want to become someone strong on the inside, like you—not physically strong, but emotionally strong!”
Zephyr was a little puzzled.
Xiaoling continued,
“I actually heard about you before, sis. People in Mondstadt said a strange traveler showed up recently.”
“Well… I probably do seem strange from an ordinary person’s point of view.”
“But I don’t think so. I think you’re strong because you don’t care what others think.
Everyone looks at you like you’re weird, but you still do your own thing without hesitation.
If you really cared what others thought, wouldn’t you be hiding away instead?”
“...Are you trying to compliment me right now?”
“Of course I am! And just now, while we were gathering mushrooms, I saw you sweating so much.
But you never once said you were tired or complained.
That’s when I realized—you’re someone truly strong.
Someone who doesn’t care about pain or hardship, and doesn’t let gossip or rumors bother them.”
“Ahem…”
Zephyr felt a little embarrassed.
Lumine looked helpless too. She was the one doing all the work. Of course he wasn’t tired.
And as for the rumors… most of them were kind of true, anyway…
Xiaoling’s gaze darkened a little.
“If my mom and dad had been strong like you… maybe they wouldn’t have left this world…”
Paimon opened her mouth.
“…”
She fell silent for a long time.
“U-Um… your parents…”
//END
