Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Gao Peng, Gao Peng, Goldie’s gathering up all the dead fish on the beach. How silly is that?” said Da Zi.
“Oh? Why is that?” asked Gao Peng, patting Da Zi’s head.
Most of his familiars had long outgrown receiving headpats from him. For instance, no matter how high he jumped, he could no longer reach Stripey’s head.
Thank god he still had Da Zi, who now stood a mere one and a half feet tall.
Da Zi’s feet clacked noisily against the ground as it moved forward alongside Gao Peng, not at all aware that the latter was silently assessing its height.
“Of course it’s silly.” Da Zi began flexing all 32 of his claws. “Why work so hard when Gao Peng is already taking care of all our needs? Goldie has gone bald from overworking itself, the poor thing.”
“It’s already bald!” interjected Flamy, who still remembered the time that Goldie had made fun of it for going bald. It was still nursing a grudge over that.
“It would go bald even if it didn’t overwork itself,” added Flamy. “Bloody baldie.”
“Goldie’s doing the right thing, you know,” said Gao Peng solemnly.
“Uhm?” Da Zi looked at Gao Peng curiously.
“That duck knows I’m rewarding it for its labor. It’s not silly at all,” said Gao Peng. “The only silly thing here is you thinking that I’m going to take care of you for the rest of your life.”
Da Zi tried to whistle as it continued walking forward, pretending not to have heard what Gao Peng had just said.
Achoo! Goldie let out a sneeze and scratched its bald head quizzically. Then it shook its head and continued picking up all the dead fish on the beach.
A lot of people had stayed behind to scavenge the dead monster carcasses on the beach. They would turn a huge profit by harvesting and selling their parts at the market. Most of them didn’t care who had been responsible for killing them. As a rule, the remains of any sea monster higher than Commander-tier automatically went to those responsible for slaying them. No one in their right mind would dare claim them as their own. On the other hand, the remains of any sea monster below Commander-tier were free game for everyone else on the beach.
Just then, someone laid their hands on a crab’s pincers at the same time as Goldie.
Both of them made eye contact with each other for two seconds of uncomfortable silence.
Then the man loosened his grip and slowly backed away.
Goldie stuffed the three-foot-long crab into its pouch.
“That’s also a fish, a crab fish. Another 500 bucks in my pocket…” Goldie had draped fish of all sizes over its body, holding them all in place by bunching up its muscles to pinch them like clothespins.
Goldie had become more diligent after spending all those weeks honing its muscles.
It waddled along the beach, picking up any sea monster carcass it could find on the ground.
Some of the scavengers recognized Goldie. Even those who didn’t eventually learned from the surrounding chatter that it was Gao Peng’s familiar. Despite the duck’s absent-mindedness, all of the scavengers had the good sense to stay out of its way.
Also, most of the fish that Goldie had picked up were of the worthless variety, making it all the easier for everyone to avoid it.
When Gao Peng and company arrived at the Southern Sky headquarters, they were greeted by the sounds of gongs and firecrackers. Golden leaves sparkled all around them.
In front of the entrance, a crowd of Southern Sky employees were holding a horizontal scroll in their hands, on which was written, “Welcome home, heroes of the Southern Sky.”
Behind Gao Peng, Zheng Tiezhuang and the others laughed out loud.
As this was its first time coming home to such fanfare, a Blood Raging Kong hurriedly hid itself among the group of monsters in a corner. When the firecrackers rang out, it curled up and let out a terrified screech.
Gao Peng was speechless. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Hou Mu was behind all of this.
When Gao Peng walked past the threshold, Hou Mu wriggled out of the crowd of people and approached him.
“I won’t be staying long in Yang Cheng City,” said Gao Peng to Hou Mu.
Hou Mu quickly said, “I was hoping that you would stay here for just a bit longer…”
Gao Peng waved a hand at him. “Grandfather was the one who gave you your promotion. I trust his judgement,” said Gao Peng flatly. “You’ve been the general manager of Southern Sky’s Yang Cheng branch for seven years.”
Hou Mu had no idea where Gao Peng was going with this. He simply nodded and said, “Okay…”
“Seven years… You were able to keep the Yang Cheng branch together when my grandfather went missing, and even after he came back. That speaks volumes of your abilities. Zheng Tiezhuang and Liu Changhan are still learning the ropes of their new positions. They still need further guidance from you, Manager Hou.”
“Very well. If that’s what you wish, I won’t argue with you about it anymore,” said the portly Hou Mu, who humbly bowed his head and smiled warmly at Gao Peng.
“Before I forget, Young Master Gao, I need to speak to you about the thing you told me to keep an eye out for…”
“Oh? Did you find the materials I asked for?” asked Gao Peng. He had asked Hou Mu to look for the materials Da Zi and the others needed to evolve. He would be more than happy to accept whatever Hou Mu had gotten his hands on.
“Not exactly. However, I have received a report saying that someone spotted an unusual phenomenon that you asked me to keep an eye out for.”
Gao Peng stopped in his tracks. “What unusual phenomenon?”
“Ghostly soldiers walking the earth and building their own bases on the mortal plane.”
Gao Peng’s widened his eyes. Most of the materials necessary for Dumby’s evolution could be found in places where said ghostly apparitions had been spotted.
If what Hou Mu said was true, he would soon be able to gather more than half of Dumby’s evolutionary materials.
Every time Gao Peng heard the word “Mythical,” a strange feeling bubbled up inside him.
Would a familiar transform into the mythical creatures that the ancient legends spoke of when it finally reached the Mythical grade? Most people usually imagined Epic and Legendary-grade monsters as beings that stood on top of the world. Would a Mythical-grade monster completely transcend the boundaries of this world?
Gao Peng still had a hard time believing that this world was now capable of producing Mythical-grade materials.
“Where did this happen?” asked Gao Peng.
“Bingzhou, Gao Ping City, Chang Ping Village.”
“Chang Ping…” muttered Gao Peng.
Then he nodded. “All right. Thanks for telling me this.”
“Young master Gao, I’ve already prepared all the materials you’ve asked for on the second basement of your laboratory.”
Gao Peng nodded, then told Da Zi and the others to wait outside before leading Dumby to the second basement.
Blood Red Tearstone, the feathers of a white heron, the venom gland of a Black Hateful Scorpion…
Every one of these materials was of the highest quality. Gao Peng could see that Hou Mu had put a lot of effort into collecting them for him.
“All of you step out for a moment. I’ll handle this on my own,” said Gao Peng. He put a mask over his mouth, slipped on a white lab robe, and finally, put a pair of sterilized gloves over his hands.
“Please excuse us,” said a high-ranking researcher in the laboratory before he led his assistant out of the room.
Dumby stood in a corner with a black-and-white dandelion trembling on top of its head.
Gao Peng climbed up Dumby’s shoulders and took the Yin Yang Calendula off of it to set it aside on the laboratory countertop.
The Yin Yang Calendula stirred for a moment on the countertop. Its white crown of petals looked like a cat’s fur standing on end. There was a naked patch of skin on it, making it look like a half-eaten cake with no frosting on some parts. Gao Peng had used some of its fur to treat the German Shepherd on the battlefield before.
The Yin Yan Calendula didn’t seem to notice him as it slowly stretched its leaves out.
Gao Peng looked at it in amusement. It looked like a cute little girl smiling a toothless smile at him.
