Chapter 68: Supply Depot
After a short break, they continued their journey.
The falcon had fallen quite far away. In order to avoid delay, they did not look for it. Xiao Lin still could not confirm if that falcon was a scout, or if it had already relayed their location to the enemy.
That question was bugging Xiao Lin from the moment they started the test, but after removing all impossibilities, no matter how unbelievable the final answers were, they were still the final choices.
They were too preoccupied to concern themselves with the fate of Wang Dalin’s group that was sent on reconnaissance, because it was very possible that the Thunder Kingdom’s troops were heading for them at this very moment.
With the uncertain atmosphere, everyone had a serious look on their faces as they sped up their pace.
It was the evening when they finally reached the possible supply depot on the map. It was a very large valley, and the rocks around the area were very precipitous. There seemed to be a hole in the southeastern corner, and there were even wooden supports, so it was obviously a man-made tunnel.
That was probably the best piece of news they had the whole day: the supply depot was actually there, which meant they could obtain enough food and water. A smile appeared on everyone’s tired face.
"Hold on!" Xiao Lin stopped the ones that were preparing to rush over, he asked, "Let’s discuss first; what is everyone’s level with the Common Language of Planet Norma?"
Lu Renyi had an exasperated look on his face. "Huh? Why are you asking that?"
Xiao Lin explained, "There will definitely be people in the supply depot, and they will be Normans. We can treat them as NPCs, but how could we possibly talk to them normally? Normans can’t possibly speak our language."
Everyone was dumbfounded; many of them had actually not thought of that. Most of them only had LV1 or LV2 in the language, and that was basically the level where they could understand the bare basics; it was hard for them to even converse in daily speech.
Xiao Lin looked at Gu Xiaoyue; he remembered that she already had LV3 in the Common Language of Planet Norma, which was currently the highest in the whole class, but he did not know what sort of standard LV3 represented.
Gu Xiaoyue nodded. "Daily speech is not too hard, but it will be very hard to be fluent. I’ll only be able to use a few keywords to try and communicate. The only thing is how do you want to introduce ourselves?"
Lu Renyi had not fully comprehended the situation yet, and asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
Xiao Lin could not help but grin at the headache he had; that was a really tough question. He said, "We’re playing the role of
Everyone looked at each other in dismay. At that time, a lot of them, including Xiao Lin, realized the importance of the compulsory classes. Language, geography and history–those classes were not held in nearly as high a regard as the combat classes, especially to those of them who hated studying. It was such a chore memorizing things, and a lot of them were used to complaining about those subjects in their free time.
However, this was a foreign world, and not some game. It was not a place where having enough skill could settle everything.
"This simulation seems to not only be testing our skill, but all our abilities, including the compulsory classes." Xiao Lin felt a bit regretful as he looked at Gu Xiaoyue with hopeful eyes. However, she could only shake her head. Even though she was talented, she was still training and studying with everyone as well. She had spent a large amount of time on meditation, so she could not possibly have had the time to do well in her classes.
If they had more of an understanding of the invasion of the Thunder Kingdom by Judge Academy during 45 N.C, or if their language skills were a bit higher, they would not be in such an awkward situation.
However, they still stubbornly went to the cave. Everyone held their weapons tightly, but they would not simply use violence to solve the problem unless they had no other choice.
Walking into the cave, the space in front of them rapidly widened. There was a lot more space inside than they initially thought. It looked like half the hill had been dug empty. It was cool and breezy inside the cave and felt abnormally comfortable. The damp ground told them it was very likely there was an underground water source.
They had been marching in a desolate environment for almost a day, and after going through all sorts of suffering, all of them felt like they had just escaped hell. It was quite dark in the cave, especially since it was already the evening, so there was very limited light coming in from outside. However, they quickly saw a few torches light up in front of them.
"Be careful, everyone!" Xiao Lin warned them in a low voice, and then headed in front with Gu Xiaoyue. Gu Xiaoyue was the only one among them who had the necessary language skills to communicate, so Xiao Lin was especially careful to stay by her side to protect her.
Everyone was alert, but they were curious as well. Even though this was a simulated world, this was still the first time they would interact with a Norman, who could also be called aliens.
Under the torchlight, two men and a woman walked briskly toward them. The female was the furthest forward, and she looked not that much different from someone from Earth. Her hair and pupils were black, and looked pretty similar to an easterner. Her skin was on the darker side, and she wore a long white robe. She was built very sturdily and had a well-travelled look. Professor Dai had mentioned in class before that the humans on Planet Norma looked quite similar to the humans of Earth, the only difference being their various inner skills and attributes.
The woman stopped about ten meters away from them, and the two men stood next to her, looking like bodyguards. They each had a blade in hand and were cautiously eyeing them.
The woman cast a suspicious gaze on Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue, then she said, a clear but foreign voice, "@#￥%...&*"
Xiao Lin still had a LV2 in the common language, so he could somewhat pick out singular words and phrases. However, the woman spoke very quickly, and even had a bit of an accent, so he was completely clueless. Xiao Lin forced a smile, hoping it would be a polite reply, and looked at Gu Xiaoyue with the corner of his eye, signalling for her to quickly translate.
Gu Xiaoyue furrowed her eyebrows and she worked hard to digest what that woman had said. She took some effort to listen, but she was still at least a level higher than everyone else, so very quickly she opened her mouth, and carefully said, "@#,%￥,*&...,@*￥"
Gu Xiaoyue spoke rather slowly; she was not very fluent as well. It was like she used a few simple keywords to string together a passable sentence. Xiao Lin could not help but reminisce when he learnt English in school, and felt a bit of sympathy for the girl. Translating was really tiring.
The woman also had some difficulty making out what Gu Xiaoyue said, but it looked like she understood. The two of them started to communicate with simple sentences, and Xiao Lin could occasionally make out a few phrases, like ‘us’, ‘come from’, ‘merchants’, and ‘soldiers’.
Xiao Lin did not dare drop his guard, but the exchange seemed to be going well. After a few minutes the woman waved and the men sheathed their weapons. Gu Xiaoyue gave Xiao Lin a look as well, and Xiao Lin understood immediately. He asked everyone to sheather their weapons too as a show of good faith in a low voice.