Demons Beside You

Without a doubt, it was the goal of their journey.

"A safe? Do you know the pa.s.sword?" Chen Zhao asked.

"No... Why would I know the pa.s.sword?"

"Then let"s pry it open," Chen Zhao suggested.

"Will the mattock work?"

Chen Zhao took the mattock and tried to open the safe. However, the mattock broke straight away.

It was clearly impossible to open the safe with a mattock.

It was even more impossible to carry the safe back, since it weighed at least one ton. Even if Chen Zhao could carry it out of the cave, he would not be able to walk so many kilometers across the mountains with it.

The only other option was to carry it back with a helicopter, which was also impractical at the moment.

All in all, they had to attempt to open the safe on the spot and then share the treasure.

Chen Zhao tried and confirmed the safe"s outstanding quality.

Even with his incredible strength, the safe did not s.h.i.+ft an inch.

It was not made from normal iron, but rather alloy steel. Even a bomb might not be able to blast it open.

"Do you have any idea?" Chen Zhao asked.

"I can try, but I"m not sure if it"ll work."

Pierce walked up and placed his hand on the safe.

Then, many white, fluorescent tentacles extended from the back of his hand.

Having no physical form, the fluorescent tentacles entered the safe without difficulty.

After a while, the tentacles disappeared and Pierce withdrew his hand.

Chen Zhao asked, "How is it?"

Pierce shook his head. "The safe"s mechanism is too complicated. My spell Sensory Tentacles disappeared before I can understand it."

Suddenly, Chen Zhao"s right arm began to act funnily again.

He felt the Mouth of Glutton open. Normally, this would only happen when there was something threatening Chen Zhao or something "delicious."

Chen Zhao could not sense any danger, so there was only one possibility.

There was something in the safe that the Mouth of Glutton wanted to eat.

Without warning, Chen Zhao"s right arm lifted up. It was not Chen Zhao"s intention, of course, but rather that of the Mouth.

"Chen, what are you doing?"

Pierce was puzzled. All of a sudden, Chen Zhao"s hand enlarged. Then, a gap appeared on his hand and bit onto a corner of the safe.

Crack! The corner was torn off by the Mouth, after which it started to chew the alloy steel.

"What spell is this?" With Pierce"s understanding of sorcery, he obviously had no idea what it was.

He thought it was some kind of spell.

Nonetheless, it looked really powerful. The Mouth of Glutton had torn off at least ten kilograms of alloy steel.

Chen Zhao was speechless. He was now determined to learn how to control the Mouth once he got back.

He could no longer tolerate it to be so disobedient and appear when it wanted.

This time, it was fine, since Pierce was also a wizard. Although his combat power was probably non-existent, he had at least seen supernatural occurrences.

However, if the Mouth of Glutton was exposed in public, it would be terribly troublesome.

Clearly, Chen Zhao could not explain it by saying that it was magic.

Pierce was amused by Chen Zhao"s spell, while Chen Zhao could not explain his problem.

Just then, the Mouth of Glutton, which had finished grinding the steel, opened and bit another piece from the safe.

Chen Zhao felt his right arm grow heavier, but only slightly.

Perhaps the Mouth of Glutton just wants to eat the safe itself, instead of its contents?

Chen Zhao touched his right arm. It felt somewhat metallic.

Is the Mouth absorbing the properties of the steel alloy?

After taking two more bites, the Mouth seemed to be full. Then, Chen Zhao"s right arm restored to its original state.

The Mouth had eaten at least a hundred kilograms of the safe.

The safe was also open since one-third of its door was now missing.

Pierce took out all the things from the safe.

To be honest, there was quite a lot of stuff.

Among them, a very special painting managed to attract Chen Zhao"s attention. It was stored like how ancient Chinese paintings were usually preserved: its two ends were framed in rare rosewood and then rolled up.

It was also covered in plastic to prevent it from getting wet. Chen Zhao removed the cover and unrolled the painting. It was a splash ink landscape painting, with the inscription Wenlan Shanjing, which could mean "Wenlan Mountain View."

Wenlan Shanjing? Is this the name of the place or the painter?

Chen Zhao had never heard such a painter before and also did not know whether the painting had any value.

Nevertheless, judging from the texture of the painting, it should be quite an antique.

"Are you going to pick this painting?" Pierce asked.

Chen Zhao thought about it. "Alright. The painting it is."

"Then I"ll pick one too. This." Pierce took an antique pocket watch.

"I want this." Chen Zhao picked up a book, which was supposed to be a dairy according to its cover. Its pages were already yellowish black.

Chen Zhao only had one standard: pick whatever that looks old.

The two took turns to take their trophies from the pile in silence.

There were over 30 items in the collection. Both of them took more than 15, but there was one left. The two played rock-paper-scissors and Chen Zhao managed to get the last item.

As for who earned more, Chen Zhao could not tell.

He did not even know how valuable the things he had chosen were.

The two put their prizes in their own bags, after which they headed back.

After another few hours in the mountains, Chen Zhao and Pierce finally made it out.

"Chen, you"re a great partner to cooperate with." Pierce could finally relax. Chen Zhao really did not intend to betray him.

If Chen Zhao did, Pierce would probably have become his pets" feces by now.

Actually, Chen Zhao had also been on guard, since it was their first cooperation.

When he returned home, Fali saw him covered in dirt and mud.

"Chen, how"s the treasure hunt?" Fali knew that Chen Zhao had gone to look for treasure.

"Great. They"re all here." Chen Zhao put his bag down.

"What are these?" Fali could not understand the value of the collection as well.

"I"ll go and ask a professional later."

"Don"t you need to sleep? You didn"t sleep for the whole of last night, right?"

"I still feel fine. Are you going to work?"

"Yup. Clean Walter and the rest too. They"re all dirty. There"s even blood... Don"t tell me they ate Pierce South."

Fali also knew that Chen Zhao was not that kind of person. She was merely joking with him.

"Of course not. I didn"t want them to have diarrhea."