The Fool of the Gods

Just when the entire mushroom-foot tribe was immersed in crazy joy, the cheers and shouts suddenly stopped.

This sudden change even confused the players. Cheng Shi looked along the line of sight of the mushroom-foot people, and saw Zuo Qiu, who was standing at the end, holding the broken lantern in his hand to the front with an inexplicable expression.

Just now, under the cover of everyone's figures, the mushroom-foot people in the tribe may not have seen the state of the lantern clearly, but now looking back, no matter who it is, they can guess the answer to the question they asked.

Several little mushroom-foot people burst into tears at the scene, and a beautiful female mushroom-foot person half-knelt on the ground and hugged them, also sobbing.

The players looked at it with different expressions but didn't say anything. The old chief sighed and said sadly:

"Epska took Abul away. May his soul never suffer under the [Prosperity God], and may the will of [Prosperity] always bless the mushroom-footed people..."

The sad-looking mushroom-footed people around also cried out in unison:

"May [Prosperity] last forever, and may the tribe be worry-free--"

The players were welcomed down from the altar. Since this was the first group of guests entertained by the mushroom-footed tribe in hundreds of years, the entire tribe was extremely enthusiastic.

But in Cheng Shi's eyes, they were a little too enthusiastic. The light in their eyes was more like waiting for something they expected than hospitality.

He frowned and looked at his teammates, and found that only Zuo Qiu looked at these mushroom-footed people with a strange expression like himself, while the others were still looking around in confusion.

The mushroom-footed people chattered around the players until the old patriarch dismissed everyone and invited them into his home.

The old patriarch's home is the largest house in the mushroom-footed tribe, but because the mushroom-footed people have different living habits from the flesh-and-blood race, there are not too many decorations and furnishings in this house. It looks like a shack, and a shack built with dead branches.

The moment Cheng Shi entered the door, he found that the wood used to build the house here was very familiar. It was not until he quietly touched the doorpost that he was sure that these woods were twisted night pythons!

Strange, why did the tribe in the rainforest use the wood in the Sighing Forest as building materials?

Zuo Qiu noticed Cheng Shi's actions and nodded to him, and then silently took out his history book. Obviously, he also found that there might be some unusual stories here.

After all, the fog gate connecting the underground and the surface is itself an incredible thing.

You should know that since ancient times, there seems to be only one passage connecting the underground and the surface in the history of the Island of Hope, and that passage is the [Abyss Volcano] located west of Tagasmera of the Reality and east of the Grand Court of Inquisition's Forest County.

So it is difficult for ordinary people to imagine that there is a shortcut to the surface in the Sighing Forest. If the fog gate really leads to the southwest rainforest, why don't the creatures in the Sighing Forest use it to go to the surface to find food?

They are much more terrifying than the beasts in the dense forest.

With this question in mind, Cheng Shi found a corner in the old patriarch's house and stood silently...

Yes, standing.

Because the mushroom-footed people rely on the roots of mycorrhiza to penetrate the ground to rest, there are no stools in their homes.

It's... quite tiring.

The patriarch and several young men in the tribe stood side by side. There were no tables, chairs or food in the house. Everyone consciously formed a circle and started a formal meeting that seemed informal, just like a conversation meeting.

"It's been a long time since outsiders came to the tribe. Since I can remember, the fog outside has blocked all roads out of the tribe."

The old patriarch sighed and said the first sentence, but just this one sentence made all the players present change their faces!

Fog?

What fog?

The players were a little stunned, and the hunter even said to himself:

"So this is not the southwest rainforest of the Isle of Hope?"

But I didn't expect that this muttering was heard by the old patriarch. He was stunned, and then his eyes were filled with infinite longing.

"Rainforest?

I have heard of it. I have seen a description of it in the notes of the previous chief.

But the previous chief had never seen it himself. He had only heard about it from the previous chief.

It is said that it is suitable for the mushroom-footed people to live there. It has abundant rain and fertile soil, which is much better than this rotten and dry land.

Alas...

Perhaps our piety did not move our Lord, so He did not forgive us, nor did He grant us the way home.

This is not the surface of the Island of Hope. This is still the underground of the Island of Hope, because where we are is...

The Forest of Sighs."

!!!Sighing Forest?

How is this like the Sighing Forest?

[Prosperity] has never looked at the Sighing Forest!

You know, the [Decay]-filled forest is full of dangers, how could there be a tribe gathering here? It is full of fog and there is almost no sunlight, even the Dark Sun...

No, wait! Sunlight?

When everyone thought of this, they looked out the door at the same time.

They suddenly remembered that the warm sunlight they saw along the way was spread on every inch of the mushroom-foot tribe, but when it shone on their bodies, it seemed... There was no temperature!

Dark Sun!

Could it really be the Dark Sun! ?

The hunter near the window quietly took a step back and let the sunlight shine on his arm. He felt it for a moment and nodded to everyone imperceptibly.

The players' eyes condensed, and suddenly they felt that this trial was beginning to become absurd.

In the [decayed] forest, there lived a group of [prosperous] believers. This scene was like a little green suddenly appearing on a black and white ink painting, but the pigment was clearly only ink, so where did the green come from?

For the sake of caution, everyone did not respond, and did not dare to show too much shock on their faces. Cheng Shi was intrigued. He looked at the old patriarch with interest and gave a "gesturing" smile, obviously wanting the old patriarch to continue.

The old patriarch's face was also strange. He had deliberately said these things. Seeing someone responding to him ambiguously, he tried to say another paragraph.

"According to the tribal history, we were once a carefree mushroom-foot tribe in the southwestern rainforest as you said, but one day, He...suddenly abandoned us and sent the entire tribe here.

How can the mushroom-foot people survive in the Sighing Forest where the will of [Prosperity] cannot move an inch?

Perhaps our crime is not worthy of death, or perhaps He is still tolerant of us. In short, He set his eyes on this exiled land, and in this endless [Decay] forest, He peeled off a wisp of fog for us, letting the dark sun from the ground shine in, allowing the tribesmen who have been punished for generations to survive to this day.

No one remembers why the tribe was convicted, and even if there is, those who know the inside story dare not mention this blasphemous evil again...

So exile is a foregone conclusion, and our mushroom-foot people can only live in this small place, living in the gap between the anger of [Prosperity] and the erosion of [Decay]."

...