Chapter 727 Blood and Wine
While introducing to his companions, Joan swiftly swung a knife to cut off the silk thread hanging from the nose of the cave fishing crab, wound it into a large ball of thread, and stuffed it into the storage bag.
"As for the remaining carcasses of cave fishing crabs, I plan to spend some time dissecting and drawing them, and making specimens later."
"Mr. Vader, the cave fishing crab is one of the most valuable monsters in the 'Underdark'. It is full of treasures. It would be too wasteful for you to make a specimen of it."
Evelyn couldn't help but interject.
"What good things do cave fishers have on them besides the long line that serves as line and bait?"
Joan looked at Evelyn curiously, expecting her to give a more detailed answer.
"The shell of the cave fishing crab is both hard and light. Residents of the underground world often use this material to make armor and shields. The defensive effect is not inferior to that of steel cast equipment, and it is lighter than steel armor."
Evelyn thought for a while, and then said to Joan:
"The carapace is still secondary. The most valuable thing on a cave fishing crab is its plasma. Mr. Vader, have you smelled the blood of a cave fishing crab?"
As early as when he was hunting the cave fishing crab just now, Joan noticed the blood oozing from the wound, which gave off a strong smell of alcohol.
He didn't have time to think about it at the time, but now that Evelyn reminded him, he immediately realized something.
"You mean, the cave crab's blood contains something similar to alcohol?"
"That's right! The most amazing thing about cave crabs is that their blood smells and tastes like strong wine."
"I have never drank the blood of cave fishing crabs, but I have heard people say that the taste is pungent, and after taking a sip, it is like a fire burning in the throat. .”
"Those races with a taste for strong wine, such as dwarves and troglodytes, are very crazy about the blood of cave fishing crabs."
"The troglodytes often team up to hunt cave fishing crabs, the main purpose is to extract their blood as a drink."
"Dwarves are also willing to spend a lot of money to buy fresh cave crab blood.
"Compared to the troglodytes who drink raw blood directly, the dwarves drink more carefully, such as mixing the blood plasma of cave fishing crabs into ale, adding honey, fruit, spices and even hallucinogenic mushroom juice to make various cocktails for drinking. "
"The meat of cave fishing crabs is also a high-grade ingredient."
"Perhaps because of the blood soaked in spirits, the meat of cave crabs, even after being cooked, has a strong aroma of wine, which is delicious!"
Joan and the others had already had dinner, but after hearing Evelyn's vivid description, they all couldn't help swallowing their saliva.
Everyone unanimously decided that while the crab meat is still fresh, it will be stewed in a pot tonight, which can be regarded as a supper.
Outdoor adventure life can really exercise people.
For example, Joan's cooking skills have improved a lot during this time.
Wielding a knife skillfully to cut open the cave fishing crab, Joan poured the light blue blood that exudes the mellow aroma of spirits into the jug, which fully filled three big jugs.
Joan and his companions are not very addicted to alcohol.
However, out of curiosity, everyone is willing to drink a glass of crab blood wine, which can be regarded as a new taste.
The cave fishing crab weighs more than 200 pounds. After removing the shell, viscera and blood, Joan's meat is less than 40 pounds.
This low meat production rate, it has to be said, is no different from the distant relatives of the cave fishing crab in the surface world.
Although the meat yield is not high, fortunately, the taste is indeed as delicious as Evelyn said.
With the hot crab blood wine, everyone had a full meal of crab meat supper.
After eating and drinking this meal, the alcohol intake was a bit beyond the standard, and everyone, including Joan, was a little tipsy.
Audrey was on the first night shift tonight. With her strict and self-disciplined style, of course she had to use magical spells to disperse her intoxication so as not to fall asleep during the night watch.
As for the others, there is no need to sober up yet.
Yawning, they said "good night" to each other, and got into the tent to rest.
The expedition team spent a peaceful night on the underground river beach.
Early the next morning, Joan and his party continued to explore the hinterland of the Nida Mountains along the underground river.
When it was almost noon, Gulu, who was exploring the way ahead, reported to Joan through the "Secondary Mind Connection", that he seemed to have found traces of the campfire near the river beach.
Joan relayed the news to his companions, and then rushed over together.
Sure enough, as Gulu said, a large pile of bonfire embers remained on the river beach.
Joan walked up to check the stove pit.
There are some incompletely burned lichens and moss left in the pit, which are the most common and easiest "burning matches" in the Underdark.
Joan knelt down by the stove pit and found that there were residual water marks on the edge.
He stretched out two fingers and touched the soot in the stove pit.
There was a lukewarm touch from the fingertips, and a faint smell of lamp oil.
This suggests that the campers left here not long ago.
Judging from the traces left around the campfire, it is likely that an expedition camped here last night.
The campfire burned all night. Until this morning, the expedition team had breakfast around the campfire, and then used the water from the nearby underground river to extinguish the campfire and continue on the road.
Joan told his companions about his speculation.
Based on his speculation, Hailaer immediately put forward a bolder conjecture.
"Could the expedition team that camped here last night be like us, also interns from Midgard University?"
"If it's really my own, then this expedition team is likely to be Arnold, Lowry, Angel and Ryan!"
Hailar excitedly came to a conclusion.
"After all, apart from our team, only Arnold and the others dared to leave the safe zone and venture into such a remote and dangerous area."
"If it's really Arnold's team, it's a bit more complicated."
Holden gave his sister a meaningful look.
"We have gone through countless hardships along the way, and it took us ten days to reach the Dark Mountain."
"I thought that we would get a lot of first-hand surveying and mapping data if we found a piece of virgin land. If Arnold's team arrived here before us, at least in terms of map surveying, we would have lost to them."
"Meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign land, it stands to reason that we should follow the footsteps left by Arnold and others to catch up with them as soon as possible."
"However, considering the bet my sister made with Arnold, taking the initiative to reconcile with Arnold's team is basically tantamount to admitting defeat."
After hearing Holden's analysis, Joan couldn't help but look back at Audrey's face.
Her Royal Highness tried to pretend she didn't care.
But it was not difficult to see that she was not in a happy mood.
When everyone was relatively speechless and depressed, Evelyn suddenly laughed.
"Actually, you don't have to worry about being overtaken by your competitors. In my opinion, this campfire doesn't look like the camping traces left by human explorers."
Mid-Autumn Festival, add a new chapter soon