Chapter 90: Sefeng Plains, Rat of the Wa!

Then I suppose I’ll have to scrutinize you a little more, too,” Hu Lie said coldly. “Though we have some history between us, mere loyalty does not make you fit to work for Young Master.”

The small shopkeeper froze. “Then what conditions do you have to meet to be qualified?”

Hu Lie raised his index finger and pointed at himself.

“You mean a beard?” the shopkeeper guessed tentatively.

“Damn it, no! It means you have to have some brains, like me!” Hu Lie snapped.

“I’ve been saying all along that the latest craze among the young gentlemen of high society is collecting scrap gear. You wouldn’t believe me, but surely you do now?”

With a sweep of his sleeve, Hu Lie went on, “Without enough intelligence, how could one keenly seize such a business opportunity?”

The small shopkeeper frowned. “So the fellow who just bought out your stall did it because of some strange obsession with scrap gear?”

“What obsession? It’s a refined taste!” Hu Lie corrected him.

The small shopkeeper was silent for a long while. Then, as if enlightenment had struck, he spat at Hu Lie’s feet and turned back toward his own stall.

As he walked, he kept cursing, “You take me for an idiot? You can come up with such a flimsy excuse? Nothing more than you sitting on a pile of unsold junk and finding some kid to play the straight man, trying to talk me into clearing your stock for you.”

The small shopkeeper shouted, “You’re not even human! I helped you watch your stall, and now I hope you hold your pee until your bladder bursts!”

Hu Lie had been suddenly spat on and, not yet understanding why, was about to fly into a rage.

But hearing that, he was no longer angry. Instead he gave a cold laugh, clasped his hands behind his back, and struck the pose of a worldly master. “A superior philosopher dwells alone, because there is no one of his kind around him.”

Hu Lie returned to his stall, rolled up the display cloth, and prepared to pack up and go home.

He did not even glance at the small shopkeeper, muttering to himself about how geniuses are always lonely, about how he admitted there had been an element of luck in his gamble, and the like.

At last, with a snake-skin bag over his shoulder, he strode up to the small shopkeeper and said earnestly, “I once regarded you as my closest friend, but now I no longer do.”

“It’s not because I have money, or a bright future ahead of me,” Hu Lie said with a mournful face, “but because you have changed. You’ve even begun to envy my talent. Alas, so be it. Let us part on good terms and go our separate ways. Brother wishes you a future as splendid as brocade.”

With that, Hu Lie flung the bag aside and left in a dashing manner.

He left the small shopkeeper sitting there in a daze, his face twisted as though he had seen something filthy.

...

Wang Chen did not know that a great philosopher had risen from the common streets.

He found a secluded place, flipped each piece of equipment over one by one, then took another trip to the exchange hall and resold everything, netting several million.

After that, he hurried without pause toward Gale Grassland.

As soon as he stepped out of the teleportation array, before the warm white light had fully faded, a blade-like chill swept toward him.

Wang Chen shivered uncontrollably. With a flash of his fingertips, he took out the down jacket he had prepared beforehand to ward off the cold.

He did a few squats on the spot, jogged for a short while, and once his body gradually warmed, he finally left the teleportation array and surveyed the surroundings.

“So Gale Grassland really is a desolate place,” Wang Chen said with feeling.

As far as he could see, there was not a trace of green. The barren ground held nothing at all, so his view was almost completely unobstructed, stretching far into the distance.

Wang Chen took out the map he had bought at the exchange hall and, using his compass, identified the direction.

“I should be heading there. According to the map, it’s nearly ten kilometers.”

“I really don’t want to travel in weather like this.” Wang Chen put the map away and pulled up the hood of his down jacket. In such a short time, his ears had already gone numb with cold.

He took Forest Mist from his storage space and lightly shook the staff head.

“Speed Divine Force!”

A soft radiance blossomed. After the ripple that distorted the air flashed past Wang Chen, he felt his body become much lighter.

So he began to run with that buoyant feeling.

...

As Wang Chen gradually warmed up, the icy wind in his face no longer felt so biting, and thin lichen began to appear at his feet.

At last, a small grove came into view.

On the ground, Wang Chen noticed some discarded instant-meal wrappers.

“That should be right. This is where the Starfir Pine is being logged.”

“These fellow humans of mine really do throw trash anywhere they please.” With a casual motion, he stored the wrappers away.

Wang Chen headed into the woods.

The moment he entered, he felt a tremor coming up from the ground, accompanied from time to time by thunderous roars.

“There can’t be ghouls in Gale Grassland, can there?” Wang Chen thought in surprise. That sensation was far too familiar; giant ghouls made exactly that sort of noise when they walked.

Keeping a measure of caution, Wang Chen moved toward the source of the shaking.

Beside a birch tree, he stopped, concealed himself behind it, and peered secretly at what was happening not far away.

He saw two towering humanoid beings roaring amid the trees.

“Beasts?” Wang Chen wondered silently.

At that moment, one of the humanoid beings turned its head, allowing Wang Chen to see its profile clearly.

The creature’s features were no different from those of a human, the only distinction perhaps being that they were more ruggedly spread out.

They were also communicating with one another. Though Wang Chen could not understand them, the sounds were clearly some kind of language with sentence structure and grammar, not the howls of wild beasts.

“So they’re some kind of subhuman, then?” Wang Chen thought.

For safety’s sake, a purple light flashed in his eyes as he attempted to use Beast Eye, but there was no response.

“That settles it. These two are definitely not beasts.”

“But what are they doing?”

Wang Chen kept observing their behavior.

He noticed that both of them were looking upward, as though the objects of their roars had been the trees around them.

They were also loosely covering their heads with their hands, and the back of one giant’s skull seemed to be bleeding.

At the sight, Wang Chen understood.

“Looks like they’ve run into those beasts that suck out the marrow of the brain. It’s just that those beasts are too small and too nimble, so these two brutes can do nothing about them.”

Wang Chen also searched the canopy with his eyes, hoping to find the beast’s figure.

Suddenly, between the branches of a birch tree, he spotted a tiny shadow darting about.

Wang Chen activated Beast Eye. Purple light flashed in his pupils, and the beast’s information appeared in his mind.

Bone-Sucking Eurasian Mouse, level 12.

Skill: Bone-Sucking Tongue Tube. The bone-sucking Eurasian mouse has an exceptionally peculiar tongue: hollow in the middle, capable of stretching long or shrinking short. When extended, it can reach three or four meters; when retracted, it can curl up within its narrow mouth. Moreover, when extended it becomes extremely sharp, and given the right angle it can easily pierce bone.

“It’s moving that fast without any skill enhancement? Purely on agility?” Wang Chen was secretly astonished.

This bone-sucking Eurasian mouse moved so nimbly among the branches, so fast it was almost nothing more than a streak of afterimage, and yet it relied only on muscle strength.