Chapter 145 The Bizarre Candy House

Liu Zong and Bai Qi bypassed several players who had finished selecting their food and walked up to a display image. The player advertising on the screen was no longer young; she was promoting a cake that supposedly filled one with abundant energy. At the top of the image, the shop name read [Ragdoll's Candy House].

Looking at the image before them, Bai Qi casually remarked, "What, are you thinking of buying some to take back? I see you still haven't quite gotten used to your new status. Actually, players above level 2 rarely bother buying things outside because they have no idea where the materials come from. They prefer finding their own chefs—though once you reach level 3, you can even hire level 2 chefs, and the things they make are truly top-notch."

Hearing this, Liu Zong merely shook his head. "No, we aren't here to buy anything."

With that, Liu Zong gently tapped the image and spoke to the advertising player inside, "Ms. Dorsy? I am the Zhuliu Giant. I have come to fulfill your request, please open the door."

Only then did Bai Qi understand. He asked in bewilderment, "Isn't that micro-map yours? It belongs to her? But the space controlled by a level 1 player shouldn't contain anything you need, right?"

The spaces controlled by level 1 players, as mentioned by Bai Qi, were essentially 'perks' for those who became level 1 players after turning sixty. Since they had essentially given up the possibility of advancing in combat classes, they redirected their energy toward secondary professions.

Consequently, the system would grant them a small space based on their primary secondary profession for them to manage.

For instance, Liu Zong's father was a miner, so the system provided him with an underground space where mineral veins automatically generated every day, allowing for endless excavation.

Another example was Liu Zong's mother, who was a farmer. The system gave her a plot of farmland where she could cultivate various plants and harvest the matured fruits.

However, such spaces also had limitations; most of them were only at level 1, and their yields were nothing special. The best achievement Liu Zong's father ever managed was digging up a single level 2 blue gemstone from his mine.

As for Liu Zong's current target, Bai Qi figured it surely required something of level 3 purple quality or above; otherwise, Liu Zong wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to hire someone of his caliber for protection.

Yet, the pastry shop before them was unmistakably only level 1. One had to know that pastry houses were rarely assigned particularly large or valuable spaces as system compensation.

Just as Bai Qi was feeling perplexed, a door of light materialized before the two of them. From within the light gate came an elderly female voice: "Ah, Mr. Zhuliu Giant! Welcome, welcome, please come in."

Liu Zong said nothing, stepping into the light gate alongside Bai Qi.

Beyond the light gate lay a modest pastry house. A woman wearing a golden crown and silver shoes sat in the corner of the shop, sewing a ragdoll.

Taking a closer look at the interior of the pastry house, Liu Zong and Bai Qi noticed that apart from the expected display cabinets, the shop completely lacked any tools for making pastries. Instead, it was piled high with ragdolls of all shapes, sizes, and styles.

Seeing Liu Zong and his companion enter, the woman finally put down the ragdoll in her hands and stood up.

At that moment, Liu Zong noticed the character 'N' inscribed upon her forehead. Furthermore, she stood only about one meter forty centimeters tall, making her look like an underdeveloped young girl.

The woman walked up to Liu Zong and said, "Hello, I am Dorsy. Welcome to my toy house."

Dorsy's voice was remarkably aged, bearing no resemblance to her youthful appearance.

Hearing that voice, Bai Qi tugged at Liu Zong's sleeve and muttered, "She's strange. That mark on her forehead is a lineage imprint, which apparently allows certain things to be passed down continuously. However, after accepting the inheritance, one's appearance undergoes changes, and one can never leave the ancestral grounds."

Scarcely had Bai Qi finished speaking when Dorsy chimed in, "This gentleman is correct. What my family inherits is a candy house—a micro-world that automatically produces pastries. It's just that over the past few years, the micro-world passed down in my family has run into some trouble, and I've sought out many people.

"However, they all said that the enemies we ultimately have to face possess excessively high clearance levels. Even if we beat back their attacks, we wouldn't be able to sever the enemy's grasp from the root unless we could deal with them at the source.

"Yet, a weak level 1 woman like myself—where would I even find any experts? I've simply been dragging this out. If not for Lord Zhuliu Giant, a few more years might have seen my family's heritage end with me."

Upon hearing this, Bai Qi grew rather excited. He could tell that the space in Dorsy's possession was no ordinary system-issued pocket space, but an ancestral space. It might not have seemed like much at first, but with every passing generation, new small spaces had been integrated into it. After dozens of generations, even a tiny space could evolve into a miniature world.

Naturally, it was entirely possible for good things to emerge within such a place.

By this point, Dorsy had begun explaining the situation inside her inherited map.

In the map passed down through Dorsy's family, the center was originally a house made entirely of candy. Beside a river of milk lay a plot of chocolate mud, where various types of wheat were grown, guarded by a scarecrow to supply sufficient flour for the candy house.

Next to the chocolate mud flats was the candy forest, filled with trees made of various confections. Within it dwelt a tin man whose daily job was to chop down trees and deliver the sugar and sweets to the candy house.

Bordering the candy forest were the cream mountains, inhabited by a multitude of egg-like beasts. These creatures possessed spherical bodies resembling eggs and were guarded by an eggshell lion, providing a sufficient daily supply of eggs to the candy house.

Once these materials were delivered into the candy house, they would be automatically processed within to become the food Dorsy sold. Thanks to the long-standing inheritance, the levels of the recipes and other features were quite high, allowing Dorsy to obtain up to level 3 food at best.

However, approximately a few years ago, another micro-world had aggressively collided with theirs. That too was a candy-themed world. Upon impact, it began dispatching forces to plunder the resources of Dorsy's family micro-world and extended a vein-like structure into it, attempting to forcibly merge Dorsy's micro-world into its own.

They had also deployed three bosses specifically to deal with the scarecrow, the tin man, and the eggshell lion. As long as these three guardians perished, the adversary would gain control over the three primary resource production sites, causing the candy house to halt production indefinitely. Additionally, two other bosses were assigned to wreak havoc throughout the miniature world.

Over the past few years, Dorsy had constantly searched for players who could assist her, but most could only manage to defeat the opposing bosses and were entirely helpless against the enemy's encroaching vein-like appendages, unable to cut the problem off at the root.

Consequently, the matter had dragged on until now, leaving her utterly without a solution.

Having reached this point, Dorsy looked toward Liu Zong and stated the reward she was able to offer.