Chapter 148 - 145: Magic Power Equals Convenience
The sense of loss lingered on Tao Xingzhi for only a few seconds before he composed himself and pushed it aside.
They had had a brief conversation, but it hadn’t yielded much information. That was only in comparison to their high expectations, however. There was still some valuable intel to be gleaned from it.
"What do you think that was? The being standing there a moment ago... was it human?"
Tao Xingzhi addressed the group as "you," but his gaze fell on Huang Jiutian. Clearly, the naked eye was unreliable in a situation like this.
"In my Perception, it was a patch of nothingness. But I’m certain it was human!"
"Oh? And why is that?"
Huang Jiutian scratched his head.
"I’m not entirely sure. It’s just a strong gut feeling. That dark, void-like shadow... it could have been a disguise. A disguise I couldn’t see through... but then again, it didn’t feel like one..."
Then, he seemed to have a sudden realization.
"No, it wasn’t a disguise! Or rather, he couldn’t be bothered to use one, because he was never really here in the first place!"
Jiutian’s words were a bit baffling.
"Be more specific!"
Huang Jiutian seemed to be wracking his brain, struggling to put his feeling into words.
"Based on my past and recent experiences, my Perception is more attuned to ethereal things like souls, or something similar, right?"
"But just now, that spiritual presence felt incredibly powerful, yet it was as if nothing was there. I don’t know if you guys watch anime, but there’s this concept of a Thought Body. That figure we saw probably wasn’t his real body at all. It was just a projection of his thoughts!"
After he finished, Huang Jiutian gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"It’s all baseless, just a wild guess. I just can’t find the right words to describe what I felt..."
Tao Xingzhi frowned, not saying a word as he mulled over what Jiutian had said.
"That’s one way to look at it. An Ability like that isn’t necessarily beyond them."
Seeing Tao Xingzhi deep in thought, Liu Yue quietly asked Huang Jiutian a question.
"Could you tell if they were the ones who showed up during the Saint Louis Flame Demon incident?"
Jiutian shook his head helplessly.
"I couldn’t probe that deeply into the person we just saw."
’Power of the World? The Dark Tide?’
These questions swirled in everyone’s minds.
The mysterious man hadn’t mentioned a planet, but instead used the term "world." What did that signify?
Was the "Master Sage" that Big Thorn had spoken of the man they just met? How could they contact them again? How could they earn more of their trust?
This encounter had only raised more questions in Tao Xingzhi’s mind. He also understood that his list of work priorities had just grown longer. The bigger headache was figuring out how to report all of this to his superiors. He could only do his best.
"All right, everyone’s been working hard for days. Let’s clear the site and pull out."
Tao Xingzhi’s quiet command signaled the end for this temporary "construction site." Before dawn, every trace of man-made structures, including the construction barricades, would vanish completely.
...
After leaving, Qin Xiaoxia also let out a soft sigh of relief.
’I don’t think I messed it up!’
He’d been through plenty of major events and even faced life-or-death situations. His heart was tough enough, but tonight’s meeting was incredibly important to him, and the pressure had been immense.
Tao Xingzhi’s group was not easy to fool, even with Huang Jiutian as his man on the inside.
The more he said, the more problems could arise. A brief encounter before parting ways was the perfect approach.
’How should a reclusive organization that was "wronged" in the past act at a time like this?’
’Disdain! A look of utter disdain! The more disdainful, the better!’
He had to project an attitude of "I’m only meeting with you because I’m absolutely forced to," and "I only happened to run into you by sheer, unavoidable coincidence."
The level of difficulty he was operating at was far greater than that of the master swindlers of old.
But Qin Xiaoxia’s advantage was even greater—so much so that if it were a competition, it would be enough to make those old swindlers rise from their graves only to die again from despair.
It made him want to shout at the top of his lungs.
’I have fucking Magic Power! This feels absolutely amazing!’
Qin Xiaoxia understood that having superior intelligence put him in a commanding position, allowing him to know both himself and his enemy while remaining in the shadows. With a little more experience, he would become even more adept.
Riding a small wave of accomplishment, Qin Xiaoxia used the Red Demoness’s Magic Power and a single-use Technique Array to transport himself and Mumu back to the Secret Realm in Qingzhen. Of course, he also brought back the remains of the Thorns and a pile of Golden Fertilizer.
Mumu had asked for it, after all. Qin Xiaoxia planned to let it eat the stuff. It would save him the trouble of a certain plant constantly trying to grow a new organ just to taste delicious food. ’Why don’t you just become a pitcher plant!’
...
「On the morning of the third day after returning from Shen City.」
Dozens of generations of Golden Fertilizer were piled on the wooden shelf outside the house. Mumu stretched a branch out the window, gazing at the snack rack in Doudou’s workshop before looking back at its own pile.
It felt like something was a little unfair.
But when it remembered what day it was, it was so overjoyed it couldn’t contain itself.
Since its old-timer phone had been registered with Su Su’s ID, Su Su had already helped Mumu swap in the new SIM card the day before.
A lazy person like Qin Xiaoxia wouldn’t lift a finger unless he absolutely had to. He would never do something as troublesome as going to a superstore to buy a phone, so naturally, he ordered it online.
The association’s old house wasn’t a suitable delivery location, so the shipping address was still their old apartment complex.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~ KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~
The rhythmic knocking sounded again.
"Master! I think the package should be here by now! Check the tracking again!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~
"Master, what if someone else picked it up!"
It wasn’t that Qin Xiaoxia was asleep; he just wanted to lie in bed a little longer. But he really couldn’t stand that thing outside anymore.
"Just have Doudou go get it for you. The gate guard knows him."
"But Doudou’s in the kitchen working on his roasted rabbit skewers! He says he can’t step away!"
’Holy shit, so those rabbits are finally being put out of their misery!’
Qin Xiaoxia sat bolt upright in bed. He felt a sudden urge to go witness the brutal scene in the kitchen; he was actually quite curious.
"Alright, alright, I’m going."
The weather was already warm enough for single layers, so Qin Xiaoxia got out of bed wearing just a pair of baggy shorts.
However, he didn’t head for the door right away. He went to the kitchen instead.
THUMP~ THUMP~ THUMP~
He could hear the sound of a cleaver slamming onto a cutting board before he even reached the kitchen.
’Sympathy?’
For Doudou, that sort of thing probably didn’t exist. At least, not for anything he considered an ingredient.
He was wearing a small apron, his body splattered with rabbit blood.
Just as expected, with no surprises, he was chopping up a rabbit.
The Red Demoness was squatting nearby, watching with intense curiosity. Her occasional hums echoed beautifully.
Any rabbit blood that splattered her way would automatically slide away before it could touch her.
’Good thing Su Su isn’t here,’ Qin Xiaoxia thought as he walked into the kitchen.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Doudou, what are you planning to make? Why haven’t you skinned it first?"
Doudou already knew his big cousin had entered, but he didn’t even look up, just kept swinging the cleaver.
"Roasted rabbit skewers! It’s hard to skin a dead rabbit, so I’m chopping it up first. I’ll just shave the fur off each piece later."
’Holy shit. So the rabbit died from being tortured first, and you only started chopping it after. No wonder I didn’t hear any squealing...’
"So, who are you planning to feed these roasted rabbit skewers to? Because there’s no way I’m trying one."
The Red Demoness looked up at Qin Xiaoxia and gave him a brilliant smile.
"I want to eat them~"
The sight was breathtakingly beautiful, but the subject matter was utterly barbaric.
"Mumu, let’s go get the package. There are no normal people left in this house..."
Then he suddenly remembered that this particular plant couldn’t exactly go for a walk outside. ’Guess I’ll just go by myself.’
PS: Chapter 3. Whoops, it got so late...