-[Special Chain Quest Triggered — 「Holy Mother of the Apocalypse」! This quest will directly determine the future direction of the entire refugee group and the soldiers’ forces. The extent of player’s influence will determine their fate. player has the right to choose whether or not to accept the quest. Rewards will be settled after player completes the entire chain of quests. Specific details will be disclosed after player confirms acceptance!]
This time, the system once again presented him with a riddle-like quest, forcing him to click accept before he could view its detailed contents. Although Chen Luo desperately wanted something to do—after all, it had been a very long time since he had carried out any system quests, and he simply wanted to throw himself into a few of them to relieve his boredom—the strange name “Holy Mother” made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. Chen Luo sighed, feeling quite troubled by the situation.
But ultimately, this was still a system quest. Since he had accepted it, he would naturally see it through to the end. After all, for a special chain quest, the rewards given to him would certainly not be insignificant.
-[Special Chain Quest successfully accepted! player has currently received 5 initial quests:]
-[Quest 1: Cook for everyone and treat their injuries. Reward: Activate Aura 「Breath of the Earth」 — When someone first encounters player, they will automatically develop a minimum level of basic goodwill toward him. Every good deed performed by player that they become aware of will strengthen the aura, while also increasing player’s intimacy with each Planetary Mother.]
-[Quest 2: Heal all sick individuals. Reward: Unlock Magic Skill 「Watchful Gaze」 — player can secretly observe a remotely monitored target and cast supportive spells on them without anyone knowing. Note: The larger the effective scale of the skill, the easier it is to be exposed; skills directly connected to the Earth Mother are not affected by this concealment effect. Each target may be continuously observed for a maximum of 5 hours, consuming 25 Mana/second.]
-[Quest 3: Successfully escort the refugees back to Shanhe City without using any movement-type magic skills to transport them. Reward: Unlock Magic Skill 「Hands of Purification」 — Purify all filth, curses, and magical marks on oneself and allies within an 8-meter radius. Cooldown: 5 hours. Mana cost: 95 Mana/use.]
-[Quest 4: Recruit at least 1 person from the rescue team or the refugees as an official teammate. The reward will be calculated based on the total number of allies successfully recruited before returning to Shanhe City.]
-[Quest 5: Complete at least half of the above quest list to unlock subsequent quests. Please keep working hard!]
Chen Luo scanned through the list, unable to suppress the tangled feeling in his heart. If there was anything that truly tempted him, it was the extremely practical support skills offered by the second and third quests. The remaining quests were nothing particularly special. Aside from the cumulative nature of Quests 4 and 5, Quest 1 made him somewhat annoyed because of the title “Holy Mother.” But regardless, this was the beginning of an entire chain of major events. Whether he wanted to do it or not, he had to. Since he had accepted it, he knew he had to get to work immediately.
-“Celes and Mana, get ready to come into the kitchen with me! Alice, go over there and take these medicines to treat those who are injured.” Chen Luo handed the medicine bag directly to Alice, then crouched down and carefully whispered into her ear, “Remember, don’t make too much of a fuss. You can combine healing magic with the medicine, but absolutely do not let those strangers notice.” He then turned around and assigned orders in a stern voice. “Christian, Avalon! You two go outside and bring back the soldiers clearing the road!”
After properly assigning everyone their tasks, Chen Luo immediately rolled up his sleeves and got to work cooking. This time, he opened the Alvibion manual through the system interface, rapidly flipping through the pages belonging to the 「Cooking, Delicacies, and Life」 branch with his spiritual sense. Preparing a meal for dozens of people who were simultaneously exhausted and physically drained was a difficult challenge. The food had to be nutritious, rich, soft, and easy to swallow. If it was too dry or hard, their throats, already dry and burning from exhaustion, would not be able to digest it.
After more than three minutes of browsing, constantly selecting recipes and preparing ingredients, Chen Luo decided to make a famous dish from his old world that he had heard of countless times but had never actually tasted—pork offal congee. He had never tried it before partly because he rarely traveled far from home, and partly because he had always been somewhat hesitant about eating organ meat. But in an apocalyptic environment like this, it was an extremely nourishing dish, excellent for keeping the body warm, and perfect for restoring physical strength. He decided to go all out.
Chen Luo placed a huge cast-iron pot filled with fragrant rice and a large pot of pork-bone broth onto the newly assembled camp stove, setting the heat to medium so the grains could slowly expand and absorb all the sweetness. Next, he and Celes and Mana quickly began preparing the fresh pork intestines, blood sausage, kidneys, and heart that had just been purchased directly from the System Shop. He crushed several pieces of fresh ginger and tossed them into the large boiling pot to remove the unpleasant smell. When the water began bubbling vigorously, he put all the cleaned organs inside and maintained high heat to preserve their crisp, fresh texture.
Once the pork offal was just cooked through, he skillfully skimmed away the layer of grease floating on the surface with a strainer, added a little rich seasoning, and quickly transferred everything onto a stone cutting board. The sharp blade in Chen Luo’s hand moved with practiced precision, slicing the intestines, heart, and kidneys into thin, tender, fragrant pieces. He neatly arranged them on a tray, preparing to add them to the bubbling pot of congee that was already filling the room with an enticing aroma.
***
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, Aaron and Chris had already left the base and quickly moved through the narrow alleys of the abandoned city. After following the tracks for only a few minutes, they found the road-clearing unit Captain Zhang had mentioned. Looking at the soldiers’ dirty, haggard faces filled with anxiety, as well as their increasingly sparse rate of fire, Chris immediately understood that they were on the verge of running out of ammunition. Relying on the keen hunting instincts of the Wolf race, Chris said nothing and instantly shot forward like a shadow. Aaron could not keep up and could only chase after him while panting and shouting, “Hey, Chris, slow down!”
At that moment, the five soldiers had just struggled to kill several mutated monsters when their final magazine emitted a dry *click-click*. At that desperate moment, a massive black shadow tore through the lingering smoke with a terrifying roar and appeared directly before them—a Level 8 giant Orc with bluish-gray skin as hard as steel! Without an unexpected variable, these five exhausted soldiers would certainly have died on the spot.
*SWISH!*
A sharp sound of something slicing through the air rang out! A gray-silver blade flashed through like lightning, severing half of the Orc’s massive arm and forcing it to stagger backward in pain with an enraged roar. The black shadow that had just appeared was Chris! Before the five soldiers could even understand what had happened, another beastly roar suddenly exploded. A furry figure leapt down from above, its magic-infused claws tearing a deep wound across the monster’s chest, spraying black blood against the corner of the wall—it was none other than Aaron!
-“Hey... hey! You’ve got to be kidding me! What the hell are those two brats?!” a young soldier blurted out in shock as he stared at the scene before him. For low-level soldiers who only knew how to use conventional firearms, such savage close-quarters combat power was something they had never witnessed before.
-“How should I know?! But it looks like they’re not hostile toward us... Still, don’t you think those two children are far too young?!” The older man standing behind them could not believe his eyes either. Who would have thought that two barely grown children could easily suppress a Level 8 monster, while their own Level 6 group of five had to risk their lives just to fight it?
With the perfect combination of Chris’s speed and Aaron’s explosive strength, the giant Orc’s head was separated from its neck in less than three minutes. Its enormous body crashed to the ground, leaving the soldiers stunned into silence. They suddenly realized that these two children were at least five levels above them—an unbelievable reality unfolding right before their eyes.
-“Everyone, are you the road-clearing team Captain Zhang mentioned? We were sent here by our big brother to support you and escort everyone back. Looks like we made it before it was too late, right?” Chris sheathed his blade and calmly spoke first. After all, Aaron was still too innocent. It would be troublesome if he casually said something he should not.
-“Yes... yes! May I ask who the two of you are...?” the soldier who had been holding the gun earlier panted, his eyes still filled with shock.
-“I’m Christian, and this is Avalon. The five of you, come back to the base with us. Big Brother has already given us detailed instructions. You all look like you’ve reached your limit, right? Come with us first.” Chris explained while politely gesturing for them to follow. Their expressions clearly showed exhaustion in every pair of eyes. Yet, out of military pride, they refused to allow themselves to collapse. Chris’s invitation at this moment was no different from a lifeboat being thrown into a raging sea.
-“All right! We’ll go with you, but wait for us to collect—” Before the middle-aged soldier could finish, an impulsive young soldier interrupted him and questioned them suspiciously. “Why should we trust you?! Who is this ‘big brother’ you keep talking about? Which faction do you belong to? What exactly are you plotting?!”
-“Hey, Helber! Don’t be so rude to them!” The experienced veteran immediately reprimanded him quietly, easing the tense atmosphere. “They just saved our lives. Besides, if they had bad intentions, with that kind of strength they could have killed us all long ago. Why would they stand here wasting time talking?” To leave both sides a way out, he turned to Chris and said, “Let us collect the materials from these monster corpses first, then we’ll immediately go with you. Is that all right?”
-“No need to bother. Avalon can take care of cleaning up the battlefield. Everyone, just follow me.” Chris waved his hand.
Although the soldiers still had some doubts in their hearts, given the current situation, they could only suppress their suspicions and follow closely behind Chris. Behind them, Aaron had already gotten to work with practiced efficiency. The blade in the little bear boy’s hand swept through the corpses with fluid precision, cutting away all the edible monster meat in the blink of an eye—the survival training Chen Luo had given him over the past two days had turned him into a skilled butcher. Aaron quickly tied up the fresh chunks of meat and silently followed the group toward the gathering area.