NOVEL NEXT Chapter 62: Being F*cking Awesome Is Really Pressuring
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Not being able to locate the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor was an issue that was to be expected. After all, reality wasn’t a game where one could farm monsters as they pleased, while the Boss stood patiently in the Instance Dungeon for the player to arrive…
Fang Ning boringly cultivated his “Dragonization Ability”. Not only was his Internet disconnected, he didn’t even have electricity. He couldn’t play his games or read his novels. Ah, how empty, how lonely…
No! Fang Ning could not take it any longer, he finally remembered something that he should have done but had not managed to. Once he mentioned it, the System was sure to agree, and then his Internet and electricity would return.
Fang Ning spoke up, “We have to catch the two people that were plotting with the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor. They deserve to be interrogated for being so bold. How dare they try to harm us. If it wasn’t because the Elder Ancestor had given up at the last minute, we might have been done for! It doesn’t matter if we manage to get the Elder Ancestor’s whereabouts out of them or not, we should still kill them and destroy their spirits. Everyone else should know the consequences of attempting to harm us so that nobody will dare to plot against us with someone else!”
From the looks of things, the System had been quite down in the dumps recently. It no longer held the same degree of anticipation towards obtaining loot after farming a Boss as before.
It finally agreed to Fang Ning’s proposal, “Alright, you have a point. As long as it increases our safety factor, you are free to do as you please. Farming them should give us a few experience points too.”
Fang Ning took the chance to continue with, “Then I’ll go online to find out their whereabouts.”
“There’s no need for that. They’re not the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor, and they don’t possess the Aura Masking Ability of the Bai Sisters. I can locate them on the map immediately. They should be called Gui Er and Gui Qi. They’re in the hidden valley where the giant rat couple committed suicide last time. I wonder what they’re doing.”
Fang Ning was stunned, ‘System, if you keep being so f*cking awesome, I’ll feel really pressured.’
He wanted to resume his Internet and electricity while he was at it, but he failed miserably. He could only blame himself for not having the habit of buying physical books, so he had no choice but to continue cultivating his “Dragonization Ability”.
…
The hidden valley was quiet and misted over with a thick fog. A bunch of spirits, under the lead of a flaming red female spirit, were spread out across the valley in search. They combed the valley thoroughly, searching every nook and cranny leaving no stone unturned.
In a long and narrow cave, a grey rat anxiously urged a giant mountain rat, its ears listening intently for any sign of movements on the outside. Behind them covered was a huddle of mountain rats of all varying sizes.
“Gang Ya, have you dug through to the cave on the other side? The spirits are going to be here any minute!”
“My King, it’s almost done,” answered the bigger-sized rat before it continued to chew away at the rock wall. When it opened its mouth, its sharp teeth glimmered faintly in the dark.
“Well then hurry up. Kids, line up behind Gang Ya and bite the tails of the one in front of you. Once Gang Ya is done, go through immediately!” urged the grey rat.
The kids were quiet and obedient, unlike their usual rambunctious selves. They lined up obediently behind Gang Ya and did as they were told, patiently waiting to enter the tunnel.
At the same time, Gui Qi was busy ordering his spirit servants around at the bottom of the valley, with the strongest of them being Zhu Sanmei. He had collected the rest over the course of a few months, but it still couldn’t be compared to Gui Er’s own.
Gui Er stood by his side, white mask still on his face. However, he merely watched, and failed to summon a spirit servant of his own.
Gui Er continued watching for a bit before he spoke, “Gui Qi, we’ve already been searching for two days. Why haven’t you located the Mountain Rat King yet? Is it because the Mountain Rat King doesn’t even exist? Should I help?”
“Second Elder Brother, I wouldn’t dare to have you trouble yourself, so please rest assured and be patient for a bit longer. I have long found out a wealth of information on this place, and I’ve silently visited this valley many times. I can guarantee that there’s a nest of wild mountain rats here. They have a king amongst them, and although it’s about as big as a normal rat, it’s incredibly intelligent, which makes it perfect to be used as the main soul for a zombie puppet. I didn’t do anything earlier because I heard that they were living with the giant rats, and apparently this place is also one of the Bai family’s secret gathering points, so I didn’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to myself. However, now that the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor owes…”
Right before he could finish, Gui Er coughed dryly once in interruption, “That Elder Ancestor is nothing but a half-truth spewing piece of trash. He’s not only being hunted by the Truth Department, even Vigilante A is offering a reward for his head. The Association of Spirit Kings can no longer have any contact with him. Remember not to let it slip.”
Gui Qi nodded his head and answered, “Yes, yes. Now that the Elder Ancestor is in hiding and this gathering point has been abandoned by them, it really is the perfect chance for me to capture that Mountain Rat King. It must still be around here somewhere. Their seeds planted at the bottom of the valley show signs of being watered just a few days ago, so I think they must’ve evacuated in a hurry. They couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Then you better find it. I don’t want to risk delaying the matter with Vigilante A, you must remember that we still have a giant rat corpse waiting for us. Since you’re going so far for the soul of this king of rats, then I’ll begrudgingly offer the last demon corpse to you.”
Gui Qi happily answered, “Thank you, Second Elder Brother.”
“No need, no need.”
Gui Qi perked up again, “The leader of my spirit servants found them.”
Gui Er’s tone was also one of surprise when he spoke, “Then hurry up and capture them. I want to witness this thing’s intelligence for myself. Giant rats make up for their lack of intelligence with their extreme aggressiveness. The Giant Rat Kings are the treasures of the Bai family and are all extremely vital to them. We can scare it, but we can’t kill it. If this Mountain Rat King is as intelligent as a human, then it isn’t so bad when compared to the Giant Rat King.”
Meanwhile, the female spirit Zhu Sanmei had indeed discovered the Mountain Rat King.
The grey rat used its entire body to block the tunnel as it let the final mountain rat escape. It squeaked aggressively at the flaming red female spirit.
“I know just what you’re trying to do. So I’m telling you now that I too, have formidable forces behind me!”
Zhu Sanmei’s face was smooth; she must’ve been a beauty while she was still alive. She watched the Mountain Rat King closely. Images from her previous life appeared in her mind, which caused her to halt. Her resolve wavered; she wanted to know what this little grey rat had to say.
“My support is a great Flame Dragon!”
“Once he appeared, the two giant rat demons that came here committed suicide in fear!”
“And those other giant rats were also killed by him! They’ve all escaped in fear!”
“We’re all okay, however. We’re all demons here. So after he chased those Giant Rat Demons away, he gave us permission to continue staying here. If you kill me, you’ll definitely anger him and bring trouble to your master!”
Zhu Sanmei felt that all this was really quite hilarious but at the same time pitiful. She felt emotions tug strongly at her heart, ‘This world possesses hordes of unknown perils and dangers. I’m so much stronger than this small creature; I could definitely kill it in a single slash. But someone almost killed me with a single move before, too. In this world, only the truly ignorant can continue living with a sense of security.’
However, there wasn’t much she could do either. There was no way she was letting the rat go though, or she would suffer cruel punishments in the hands of her deceitful master.
Her sympathy could only last until the Mountain Rat King was done speaking.
She extended a ghostly talon out towards the rat, and slowly lifted him into the air. Without sparing a glance at the little mountain rats in the cave, she turned and left.
The grey rat’s gaze was one of utter despair and bitter nostalgia as it watched the little mountain rats fade from view. It could only silently whisper, “Gang Ya, leave this place with the kids immediately…”
…
“Flame Dragon? What nonsense! How dare you bluff me, you must be looking for death!” Gui Qi held the grey rat in one of his hands while he listened to Zhu Sanmei relay the entire situation that had happened. Fury ignited in him and he gripped the rat tighter in an attempt to kill it.
“Wait a minute!” halted Gui Er.
Gui Qi was confused, “Second Elder Brother, it’s obvious that this rat is spinning a tall tale. It’s merely a wild animal demon, how can it have a Flame Dragon supporting it?”
Gui Er waved his hand dismissively, “Let me ask it a few questions first.”
Gui Er gazed at the grey rat. Its eyes glimmered as it glanced around nervously in fear; the intelligence in them was hard to miss. After a brief moment, Gui Er asked, “I want to know, does that great Flame Dragon you’re talking about shape-shift from a human?”
After hearing what was said, the dejected grey rat perked up and immediately answered, “Yes, that’s true. His looks are, as you humans say, devastatingly handsome. Any woman that meets his gaze would be pregnant immediately, any female spirit that catches his eye would want to reincarnate immediately…”
“Alright, stop blowing things out of proportion. I know who it is. Gui Qi, the fact that it’s still alive could be because it knows Vigilante A in some way. I think letting it go would be the best choice,” Gui Er supplied his thoughts, which was quite against what Gui Qi was planning to do.
Gui Qi was still reluctant; he had had his eyes on this grey rat for ages. Previously, he was deterred by the Bai family, but now that the family finally owes them a favor, he thought that they wouldn’t care about a small matter like this. He was originally planning on using this to exchange for the giant rat corpse anyways. If he were to let it go, where else could he go to find such a precious item to trade?
Qi City’s underground festered with giant rats, but his spirits weren’t strong enough to deter the Giant Rat King. He couldn’t exactly contact the Bai family’s Elder Ancestor either. Besides that, only Gui Er could finish the task Vigilante A assigned them to. He contributed nothing, so even thinking about taking something from his Second Elder Brother was ridiculous.
And so, Gui Qi said, “Second Elder Brother, why do we need to be so careful? This little thing may not even be related to Vigilante A. Maybe it saw the battle scene where the Bai couple was forced to commit suicide because of Vigilante A, so it spouted that lie. Besides, so what if it was really related to Vigilante A in some way?
“Vigilante A has always been a chivalrous character and has never laid a hand on the innocent. When we spoke badly about him behind his back last time, he didn’t take revenge on us despite hearing everything. He even acted as if he didn’t know anything, which means he probably still has something to ask of us. When it comes down to it, we can just say that we destroyed this little Mountain Rat King as a necessary step in ridding Qi City of its giant rats. Then I’m sure that he would be okay with sacrificing one life to save many.”
The grey rat seemed to understand everything that was being said as its eyes were once again tinged with despair.
However, despite saying so much, Gui Er didn’t respond at all. Instead, Gui Er kept signaling at Gui Qi using his eyes. Just then, a silhouette could be seen reflected in the grey rat’s eyes.