Chapter 775 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 42

She cut in swiftly from the left side of the frog swarm. Though she wasn’t wearing the specialized protective suit, she always managed to dodge the viscous Lesser Water Arrows at the critical moments.

Her long blade stayed sheathed until it didn’t — and when it struck, a water-tongue frog was left dead or crippled every time.

Almost simultaneously, another figure shot out from the other side like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, plunging directly into the frog swarm on the right.

It was Su Yu, whose fighting style was even more ferocious.

Facing the incoming water arrows, she sometimes chose to block them with her bracer-wrapped forearm or the flat of her blade, using the angle to deflect them away. Though sticky liquid instantly coated her bracers, it couldn’t slow her advance or her killing speed in the slightest.

Her dagger targeted the water-tongue frogs’ joints, eyes, and throats — always the vital points — with terrifying efficiency.

With Mo Lan and Su Yu holding the front line, they instantly drew most of the firepower and aggro, drastically reducing the pressure on everyone else.

“Go!” Zhou Ming bellowed, hefting his long blade and charging toward a water-tongue frog that Mo Lan had wounded with a thrown knife, its movements already hampered. His heavy, powerful slash sent it flying.

Xiang Yufan prowled the perimeter, using his short crossbow to precisely pick off water-tongue frogs that were trying to spit water arrows or lash out with their long tongues in sneak attacks, providing suppressive fire and finishing blows.

The others joined the fray as well, each employing their own methods.

Even Ren Miao, who had just completed a kill only to be chased by water-tongue frogs, gripped her long blade again and circled around behind the frog swarm, slaying enemies while seizing the chance to retrieve the spoils she hadn’t had time to pick up earlier.

In an instant, the situation was completely reversed!

The water-tongue frog swarm that had been aggressively trying to mob them now found itself divided, surrounded, and picked off one by one.

The battle didn’t last much longer.

With everyone’s seamless coordination, the remaining water-tongue frogs were quickly dispatched, adding another dozen or so frog carcasses to the edge of the puddle.

With the crisis resolved, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Ren Miao looked at the water-tongue frog carcasses on the ground, patted her chest, and said to her classmates with lingering fear and deep gratitude:

“Th-thank you all so much! That really scared me half to death just now!”

“Same rules as always!” Su Yu was already rapidly calculating in her head which parts were high-value and needed to be separately processed and preserved, and which could be bundled for sale. She could barely wait to start processing the spoils.

Mo Lan also walked over to the water-tongue frogs she had killed. Her gaze swept over them, and she quickly selected the largest one with the best skin luster and the plumpest appearance, storing the entire thing in her storage mirror accessory to keep as a card-crafting sample for the Book of Cards.

Looking at the dozen or so water-tongue frog carcasses still remaining on the ground, Mo Lan thought for a moment, then said to Su Yu: “For the ones I killed, dig out the beast cores for me. You can keep the frog skins.”

Su Yu had been taking on beast core extraction jobs for a while now and was quite practiced at it. Without even lifting her head, she answered crisply:

“Water-tongue frog skin is excellent material for making protective suits — it’s worth quite a bit. Give me half, and I’ll process all the beast cores and the remaining frog skins for you!”

“Deal.” Mo Lan didn’t refuse. The entire journey, Su Yu had always been like this — though she was desperately short on mirror coins and resources, she refused to take advantage of her classmates and always offered her own price.

The other classmates also entrusted Su Yu with processing their shares.

Su Yu prioritized their portions first. Her technique was skilled, and before long, a pile of water-tongue frog beast cores and neatly stacked layers of frog skin had been set aside, while a large heap of frog meat remained on the ground.

Mo Lan looked at the pale, nearly fat-free fresh frog meat with its clearly defined grain, and felt as though a faint, clean fragrance of quality protein was drifting through the air.

In her Earth memories, countless frog recipes flashed through her mind — dry pot bullfrog, pickled pepper frog legs — that unforgettable numbing, spicy, savory flavor… Mo Lan’s mouth watered instantly.

She walked over to the pile of frog meat, crouched down, and poked one of the hind legs with her finger. The flesh was springy and bouncy, full of vitality. The water-tongue frog meat before her looked far firmer and more flavorful than ordinary bullfrog — it would definitely taste even better! She remembered that water-tongue frog meat was classified as edible mirror beast meat.

“…What is it, Mo Lan? Is there something wrong with this meat?” Wang Jingnan noticed her actions and asked curiously. The others looked over too.

Mo Lan looked up at everyone. “This meat looks delicious. I want to make dry pot water-tongue frog.”

“Dry… dry pot?” Lin Yue blinked, not quite understanding the term, but she understood the words “looks delicious” perfectly well.

“Mo Lan, you… you know how to cook?” Bai Wei asked in surprise.

“A little.” Mo Lan didn’t want to eat alone. “There’s plenty of meat here. Why don’t we cook it all up for dinner tonight? I can’t stand eating dried beast jerky and rice cakes every single day.”

Zhou Ming smacked his lips. “Mo Lan, just tell me what to do! I’ve got plenty of firewood I picked up along the way!”

“I… I also hunted two of them. You can have all my meat!” Bai Wei hurriedly pushed her portion of frog meat over — she had been planning to throw it away.

Though water-tongue frog was technically edible beast meat, very few people actually ate it.

“Take mine too!” Xiang Yufan had been looking for a chance to repay Mo Lan for her help that morning and immediately volunteered.

“And mine!”

“Count me in!”

In no time, aside from the one Mo Lan had kept as a sample, all the water-tongue frog meat from everyone’s kills was enthusiastically contributed, quickly forming an even larger pile in front of Mo Lan.

Mo Lan looked at the “mountain of meat” before her and nodded calmly. “Good.”

She first directed Zhou Ming, Xiang Yufan, and the others to build a simple cooking stove in the campsite, then produced a large pot.

The seasonings came from her storage mirror accessory — all common seasonings of this world. Mo Lan had long since researched what each one tasted like and how to use it, and she was confident she could make a Three Thousand Mirror Ruins version of dry pot water-tongue frog.

Everyone watched slack-jawed as Mo Lan conjured up seasonings like a magic trick, then skillfully began processing the frog meat — marinating, oil-frying…

Before long, an irresistibly bold aroma of numbing, spicy, savory goodness accompanied by the sizzling crackle of oil burst from that large pot, spreading outward and wildly assaulting everyone’s taste buds!

Even Su Yu, who had been completely absorbed in skinning and extracting cores, couldn’t help but look up, her nose twitching as her gaze drifted involuntarily toward the fragrant pot.

Everyone crowded around the pot, watching with eager eyes as Mo Lan used a long ladle to stir the glistening red, plump pieces of frog meat. They were practically drooling.

“It’s ready.” Mo Lan finally stopped stirring and announced simply.

Zhou Ming, who had been barely containing himself, immediately pulled out his mess tin. “Mo Lan! Give me a big scoop first!”

“Me too!”

“Save some for me!”

Everyone instantly transformed into a pack of hungry wolves, pulling out their utensils and scrambling to be first to dig into the feast.