Chapter 4

As the black-skinned ogre war leader, the one-eyed ogre king Mogar, learned that Gulong enjoyed listening to the "foods" tell stories, he roared the most severe reprimand for this behavior, which was seriously out of line with ogre tradition. He strictly forbade Gulong from indulging in the stories of the "foods" again, lest he miss mealtime and bring the entire tribe back to the dark age of raw meat and blood... In fact, this was the real reason he opposed Gulong's interest in stories. The Black Hand tribe had long been spoiled by Gulong's improving culinary skills and could hardly tolerate the raw meat's pungent and foul smell, let alone rotten meat.

Of course, Gulong completely ignored the great war king's warning and had no intention of ending his hobby. At worst, he would give the one-eyed ogre king a couple of extra meals when he was most angry, bribing him with delicious food, a tactic he learned from human stories and found to be very effective.

However, Mogar was one of the three leaders of the Black Hand ogre tribe and the one with the most actual power. Therefore, Gulong could only symbolically hide his small hobby. He hid the special talents with stories deep in the cave to avoid Mogar finding and eating them. He also prepared a large amount of smoked ham and cured meat using a secret cooking method provided by a prisoner, so he could throw it to the hungry blue-skinned ogres if he missed cooking due to listening to stories. The ogres were already known for their fat, and with Gulong's feeding, the Black Hand tribe, except for Gulong, the giant troll Raphana, and her two children, had all become a group of plump, blue-skinned fat people. Even the naturally tall and slender old troll now had a round, bulging belly. After each meal, he would dance an incredibly ugly dance with his cane, calling it "post-meal exercise."

As the number of stories Gulong heard increased, his taste in stories also grew. Gradually, he became more picky, and ordinary stories could no longer satisfy him, let alone repetitive or boring ones. Naturally, he began to value those who could truly tell good stories more and more. The best conditions in the deepest part of the cave were reserved for these storytellers.

Among them was a very special prisoner who lived in the most comfortable stone chamber in the entire cave system. The temperature was suitable, there was no dampness, and a rock fissure leading to the surface ensured fresh air circulation. The luminescent moss on the cave ceiling provided minimal lighting. At the special request of this storyteller, Gulong even prepared a large ogre pot that could boil two or three live people, though he didn't know what the storyteller needed such a pot for. As long as Gulong felt it wasn't threatening, he would try to meet any request from the storyteller.

The reason was simple: the stories told by this storyteller were incredibly captivating.

Finally reaching his destination, Gulong could hardly contain his growing excitement. He gently pounded on the heavy stone prison door and shouted loudly, "Hurry up, I want to hear the continuation of yesterday's story right away. Tell me, who won the war between the Medusa called 'Green Snake Spirit' and the monkey king who loves to preen himself?"

The special prisoner hidden by Gulong might be a Medusa, a Naga, or some other humanoid race. Neither Gulong nor the prisoner herself could be sure. Below her waist, she had a green python tail, which was the most distinctive feature of the Medusa race. However, she did not have the terrifying snake hair or the Medusa's most feared innate magic, the "petrifying gaze." Apart from her slightly green skin, the strange snake woman's upper body was almost indistinguishable from a human.

On the DotA continent, humanoids with human upper bodies and snake lower bodies, besides Medusas, are commonly Naga. However, she did not have the fish scales on her upper body like a Naga and did not like to stay in water all the time.

However, Gulong didn't care about these details. He only cared about the stories the snake woman told. Her stories were completely different from those told by others. While others' stories, though varied in genre and theme, all took place within the scope of the DotA continent and shared a common history and background, the snake woman's stories were entirely different. They had a completely different background, history, environment, and culture, even a different worldview. According to her, her stories took place in a world called "Dongsheng Shenzhou," another continent...

ps: Request recommendations, request collections.

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