Chapter 86: Where Did That Pair of Dogs Go?Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Despite hearing the words “Qi City”, Bai s.h.i.+xin’s expression remained unchanged, as if he had just been dispatched to some random place.
Seeing his calm demeanor, The Bai family’s Elder Ancestor was even more satisfied, “Very well, you are one of the most qualified and most intelligent in your current generation of the Giant Rat Demon Clan, so I can rest a.s.sured knowing you are on this task.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin was honored, “You speak highly of me, Elder Ancestor.”
The Elder Ancestor gave him a few pats on the shoulder before he pa.s.sed him a jade pendant, “I previously gifted an Aura-Masking Jade to the late eldest daughter of the late Mr and Mrs s.h.i.+ping, but she was killed and that piece was taken by Vigilante A. When I made my advent into this world, I brought three pieces with me. The second piece will now be given to you, and it will mask your demonic aura completely once you wear it. In addition to how careful you are, I can guarantee that you will not be noticed by Vigilante A even if you meet him.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin lowered his gaze to look at the jade and rejected the Elder Ancestor’s offer instead. He then sternly said, “Elder Ancestor, I’m sure you know that s.h.i.+xin was blessed with the innate ability to hide himself, so I will not let Vigilante A discover me. You can give this jade to s.h.i.+fu or the rest, the plan they are carrying out in Ji City is from the Giant Rat Demon Clan’s thousand-year foundation. According to sources, Vigilante A is already in Ji City, so despite the fact that they’re deep in hiding, there’s still a possibility of them meeting him. They’ll need this more than I do.”
“I really was not mistaken in my choice to trust you; all those years teaching you lot about solidarity really didn’t go to waste. You’re the person in your generation that understands my painstaking efforts the most, s.h.i.+xin. How about this, you can use it first for this task, then when you return you can give it back to me. Then I’ll pa.s.s it to s.h.i.+fu and the rest to use. From then onwards, any treasures of this type will be available for public use and will be allocated for immediate dispatch.”
Only upon hearing this did Bai s.h.i.+xin reach out towards the piece of jade. He bowed and said, “Thank you, Elder Ancestor. I’ll complete this task even if it means sacrificing myself.”
The Elder Ancestor’s mouth pulled into a pleased smile, “Haha, don’t joke around about death so easily, you can return alive even if you don’t complete the task. The Earthly Hound Clan have always liked living alongside the powerhouses of the human race, they lack goals and only know how to run away. If they collude with the humans too long, they’ll grow into a threat. However, failing the task this time won’t bring us much harm, we’ll have plenty of chances to deal with them.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin’s eyes brimmed with tears, “I will never be able to return your generosity no matter what I do, Elder Ancestor.”
“All right, you may go now. I will notify them later that if your task requires any a.s.sistance, be it backup or materials, everything will be deployed immediately.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin nodded his head in agreement before he turned to leave.
The Elder Ancestor watched his departing silhouette and stroked his beard in thought, ‘He said that he could hide himself from Vigilante A, but can he hide from himself?’
…
After leaving the Elder Ancestor’s home, Bai s.h.i.+xin did not immediately act on finis.h.i.+ng his task. Instead, he returned home first.
His home was a wide underground s.p.a.ce with lots of rooms and living s.p.a.ces; the décor was exquisite and luxurious, and ventilation was perfect too. It was fully furnished with contemporary furniture, and the windows were even equipped with electronic screens for a real-time view above ground. Building houses underground were extremely costly, so the fact that he had such a house made it very clear that he held a high position.
After pressing his finger to the fingerprint scanner by the door, he entered the house with a “beep”. Right after he entered, a fragrance wafted into his nose.
“You’re finally back, dear. Every minute you’re not by my side, I’m always worried that those brothers and sisters of yours will appear and eat me alive,” whined a beautiful lady in his embrace.
Bai s.h.i.+xin’s serious expression from before immediately s.h.i.+fted into one of relaxation.
He laughed heartily, “You have nothing to be afraid of, Jing Er. I’ll skin whoever that even thinks about it! Not to mention you’re wearing that defensive treasure I brought with me into this world; their weak powers won’t be able to harm you, I’ve said so before, haven’t I?”
“You’re so mighty, dear,” wors.h.i.+pped the lady called Jing Er, her head rested against his chest.
Bai s.h.i.+xin patted her on the head and continued, “To give you some peace of mind, I’ll tell you a secret. When your people sought refuge with my clan, we installed trackers on you that show up on the Elder Ancestor’s Special Talents Digital Map. The Elder Ancestor has long set a strict order that the Giant Rat Clan is not to harm anybody that has sought refuge with us, or he’ll make them pay direly.
“Besides, you’re one of the best people at farming, Jing Er, and that is relevant to our clan’s foundation of a millennium. Once that thing is done, your contribution will definitely be rewarded by the Elder Ancestor bestowing eternal youth and longevity onto you.”
Jing Er’s face was one of shock, but she immediately expressed her worry afterwards, “But I heard that you demons are pretty cunning, what if I’m sacrificed after I’ve served my purpose? What do I do then?”
Hearing this, Bai s.h.i.+xin not only did not get angry, he caressed his wife’s head lovingly, “Haha, that’s only done by you short-lived people. These silly games were only played by all those emperors and elders that were worried their offspring would not be able to control the ministers and officials after their death.”
“Do you know how long the Elder Ancestor of our clan has been alive? He’s more than 500 years old, and he is very well-connected. You people are weaker physically, so even if granted longevity, you wouldn’t be able to live as long as him. What can he be scared of? Wasting too much food on you lot? Sacrificing you after you’ve served your purpose will just ruin our reputation; how can we recruit more talented geniuses from the human race if we do so? You’re part of the first batch of people that we recruited, so you’re extremely valuable to us since we’ve spent so much effort in recruiting you. The longer you lot are kept alive, the more people we get to recruit.”
Jing Er’s worry s.h.i.+fted into elation and she patted her husband’s chest, “Then I can relax, I still want to be a storybook couple with you.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin nodded his head, his hand still slowly caressing his wife’s hair. He slowly cleaned the dust that humans could not see from her hair and thought to himself that his wife really did not need to worry about much.
Not long after, the lady once again worriedly said, “Once your clan has established themselves and the plan is complete, you’ll be one of the higher-ups since Mr and Mrs s.h.i.+ping at both dead, dear. When that time comes, you won’t get yourself a harem of wives right?”
Bai s.h.i.+xin halted in his cleaning and exasperatedly said, “The Giant Rat Clan are cunning but not fake, and we’re also very indifferent towards kins.h.i.+p. However, we are fiercely loyal to our partners; it’s not like you didn’t know that Mr and Mrs s.h.i.+ping committed suicide together. n.o.body left the other behind and escaped to save themselves.”
“Hearing you say that gives me the a.s.surance to continue working. By the way dear, I found a new recipe online today so I tried making it. After we have our meal together, I’ll be leaving for overtime at work.”
“All right, I was just missing my wife’s cooking too,” Bai s.h.i.+xin joyfully embraced his wife before leading the both of them to the kitchen, the Elder Ancestor’s task seemingly the last thing on his mind as he wasn’t even the least bit worried about it at all.
After their meal, Bai s.h.i.+xin escorted his wife all the way to the underground railway.
Not only did she have to work overtime at night, she would not be coming home until at least one in the morning.
Although she would be coming home quite late, his wife would be protected, and watched over diligently, so Bai s.h.i.+xin was not worried. This wasn’t to protect her against giant rats, but rather humans.
After sending his wife off, Bai s.h.i.+xin stared at nothing in particular, before he furrowed his eyebrows once as his gaze hardened.
A moment later, a person appeared from that very spot.
“Do you know what scared her recently?”
“Yes I do, Master. Two days ago, a batch of newly-born giant rats were sent to the laboratory to be tested on. Due to the large number required for the tests and the urgency of the situation, a bunch of the rats weren’t properly trained and had displayed hostility towards the Mistress.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin’s gaze went cold and he waved a hand through the air, “Kill the entire batch and replace them with a batch that’s properly trained. It doesn’t have to be quick, just make sure that none of them display hostility after entering the lab.”
“Yes, Master. I’ll get it done immediately.”
“You may leave now.”
Bai s.h.i.+xin returned home alone and entered his study immediately. He swept his gaze across his bookshelf before settling on a book. The t.i.tle of the book read “Sun Tzu’s Art of War”.
He flipped to a random page and started reading.
“Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”
After repeating this specific part a few times, s.h.i.+xin’s eyes glimmered with something unidentifiable.
…
The System s.p.a.ce.
Three days had pa.s.sed and the lack of news had caused the System’s patience to run out.
The System then spoke, “Where did that pair of monsters go? There hasn’t been any news at all. I think that Zheng Dao lacks experience, since he’s new and all. How about you do it yourself, Host? Since you can view the System Map, which is an advantage he doesn’t have.”
Fang Ning understood the System’s feelings. According to it, the pair of monsters had indicators the same size as the Elder Ancestor’s indicator; but it just so happened that they weren’t powerful enough right after their Advent, so their indicators did not show up on the map.
It was the same as when a Boss in a game escaped right before it dies. Any player would want to catch up to it and kill it before it was allowed to recuperate.
Fang Ning reluctantly put down his new game, “Beast Mastery”, and let the Boss in the game go.
He knew that after farming this pair of monsters, he would gain enough experience points to cultivate “Atmospheric Morality Technique” into its complete version; he still had his priorities in check.
Fang Ning then said, “I can do it myself, but let me review the information that Zheng Dao has given me first.”
“Do it quickly.”
Fang Ning flipped through the information that Zheng Dao had given him once; with his now highly-developed brain power, he was comparable to a famous detective and he immediately knew what was going on, “According to the information I have here, the two monsters take on the form of dogs. They visited our restaurant for food. Due to their heightened smell and their ability to drill into the ground, they were able to detect the Flame Dragon early and managed to escape in time.
“Zheng Dao and the rest had discovered that their last stop would be a farm on the outskirts of Qi City. I think they must be quite weak, so they can’t continuously use their ability to escape, or they would’ve directly escaped past Qi City’s borders.”
The System interrupted, “There’s no need for so much a.n.a.lysis, where could they be now?”
“There’s one place where the possibility of them appearing is the highest.”
“Where?”
“The Giant Rats’ food source.”
“???”
“All you know is farming monsters and training, so you don’t even a.n.a.lyze any information from the outside world. I know that most of the nearby cities have been seeing a significant decline in the amount of stray cats and dogs, some places are even clear of them completely. A lot of people have witnessed them being dragged into the ground by the giant rats. Zheng Dao is cooperating with the local Truth Department and is helped out by security agencies, and they’ve searched all the places in and nearby Qi City. The only place they didn’t search is underground. I’m sure that pair of demon dogs have been captured by the giant rats.”
“Are you saying there’s no hope in finding them anymore? Not even if you do it?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
Fang Ning thought to himself, ‘It’s not that I don’t want to help, but this is the reality of things so you should just give up. Let me continue playing my game. That game’s newly-launched and I don’t want to lose my ranking.’
“All right, since you’re so useless, I’ll be disconnecting the electricity and Internet for a week so you should go and practice.”
Fang Ning was speechless, “…”