Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Chen Hanqiao stared blankly at the golden orange for a moment, then took the orange with a smile on his face. “Thank you!”
“Eat while it’s hot,” said Gao Peng.
Chen Hanqiao ridiculed, “You… Forget about giving me an orange, you just asked me to eat it while it’s hot.”
Gao Peng chuckled. All of them knew puns about oranges. It had just been a joke. They had originally been classmates, and they became even closer after their conversation.
“By looking at the numbers, you guys must be going on a mission.” Gao Peng glanced at the fleet of vehicles. There was a total of thirteen large trucks, and each of the trunks was loaded up with familiars.
Leather chains were tied around the bodies of the familiars to fasten them onto the cars. This was also done to prevent some of the naughtier familiars, like Moha and Mosga, from jumping out.
“I just received an order to clear up the monsters on Mount Jinfo. Someone spotted a group of mutated monsters there and wants them gone,” said Chen Hanqiao as his chubby face squeezed into a smile. He also didn’t try to avoid arousing suspicion as he peeled the orange right in front of Gao Peng.
The white orange pith on the surface was as tough as the tendons of a monster. Chen Hanqiao had to pull forcefully to tear the orange pith, exposing the smooth and tender flesh underneath. It was like amber. The golden orange flesh was filled with juice.
Chen Hanqiao split the orange into half and gave half of it to Gao Peng, then directly placed the other half in his own mouth. The juice squirted everywhere, even overflowing from the corners of his lips.
“Delicious!” As Chen Hanqiao ate the orange, his fatigue was instantly swept away. His uncomfortable stiff neck caused by the previous night’s sleep immediately recovered. Chen Hanqiao was amazed by the fact that the oranges Gao Peng had gifted were so effective.
“The monster was also a task to be done at the Explorer’s Union. It was rumored to be a rare mutant monster that’s highly aggressive towards humans.” Chen Hanqiao simply smiled.
The Explorer’s Union… Gao Peng was pondering if it was the same union that had been formed by his grandpa and the coalition government.
“All right. I won’t delay you any further. You should go ahead. I wish you a pleasant journey.” Gao Peng glanced at the people who got out of the car to wait for them. Although no one dared to show impatience, the act of stomping their feet while pacing back and forth and frequently glancing at his direction showed it all.
So he smiled and waved goodbye to Chen Hanqiao. Chen Hanqiao was also rather straightforward. He waved back and went onto the truck, saying, “Let’s meet again when we’re free.”
The convoy left, and Gao Peng saw the blue Electric Luster Bear on Chen Hanqiao’s truck. The big bear looked adorable as it was hugging and gnawing on a piece of metal, baring its big butt.
“You guys learned well!” Stripey praised the two Orange Delivering Children. They had pronounced two words clearly just now and hadn’t embarrassed it. On the journey, it had only managed to teach the two boys their names and one phrase—”Orange, eat.”
Oranges could beautify, and prevent cancer and cardiovascular aging, so gifting oranges to others was deemed polite behavior, not to mention that these oranges belonged to the Orange Tree Monster, so they were more nutritious than ordinary oranges. Gao Peng definitely encouraged this.
Back at the Southern Sky Group, Xu Qingzhi was carrying a stack of experimental documents out of the laboratory when she saw two short monsters jump down from Gao Peng’s back. They approached her and said, “Oranges, eat! Oranges, eat!” Bei Zhi and Nan Ju said in unison, their tiny hands extended before Xu Qingzhi.
Xu Qingzhi was confused. What is going on? Before she could respond, the two little monsters approached and shoved the oranges into her arms.
Bei Zhi was a little upset and shouted loudly, “Eat my orange, not his!” After finishing his sentence, he threw an orange into Xu Qingzhi’s arms. He even glared at Nan Ju as a sign of protest.
Nan Ju took one glance at Bei Zhi and silently threw another orange into Xu Qingzhi’s arms.
In a minute, Xu Qingzhi had dozens of oranges in her arms. There were so many that some of them fell to the ground. Xu Qingzhi looked at her boss, and Gao Peng coughed, “The oranges are quite delicious. You should eat more.”
When Gao Peng returned, it was already eight o’clock in the evening. The sky had already turned dark. Upon hearing of Gao Peng’s return, a group of familiars came running from the lake to welcome him.
The White Steel Bladed Beast was the fastest. A bolt of lightning flashed across the void, and in the next moment, it condensed into a figure right next to Gao Peng. It unintentionally saw the two Orange Delivering Children that were standing not far behind Gao Peng, and its expression changed.
Looking down at its own bent legs, it stood upright and straightened its back as it quietly measured their heights with its limbs.
Then, as if it had been struck by an arrow, it staggered backward and bumped against Goldie. It was as if its bones had given out, and it collapsed onto the ground.
Goldie coldly swept its eyes across the White Steel Bladed Beast, who seemed to be possessed. It snorted, “Weakling!”
It kicked the White Steel Bladed Beast with one foot and strode towards Gao Peng. It also noticed the two Orange Delivering Children behind Gao Peng, and it thought, Were these new familiars found by Gao Peng? Why do they seem so small? Gao Peng’s preferences are really getting stranger.
Goldie shook its head and stepped forward, resting both of its hands on the shoulders of the Orange Delivering Children. The shoulders of the two skinny young boys sank, and they fell directly to their knees.
“Hey buddies, your bodies seem pretty weak,” snickered Goldie.
The Orange Delivering Children lifted their heads with much difficulty. They pulled two oranges out of their butts and gave them to Goldie. “Eat, eat, eat oranges…”
Goldie didn’t mind. It took the oranges, threw them straight into its mouth, and started chewing loudly.
“Nice oranges. Do you still have more? Come on, come with me. I’ll teach you how to mingle around.” Goldie took the two Orange Delivering Children aside to ask for more oranges to eat.
After comforting the familiars, Gao Peng asked them to look after the stone, the bowl, and the book, to make sure they didn’t escape. The group of familiars assured him.
Gao Peng beckoned to Da Zi, which was mingling with the group of familiars, “Da Zi, come with me.”
“Did you hear that? Gao Peng is looking for me!” Da Zi was bloated with pride. Then it turned around and ran to Gao Peng with its short legs. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
…
“Da Zi, are you ready?”
“I’m ready!”
“However, once you make up your mind, there’s no turning back.”
“I won’t regret it.”
“You might not be a pure centipede anymore.”
“…Gao Peng, why are you so naggy? I can’t wait any longer.”
“All right.” Gao Peng nodded and looked at the needles that were as thick as buckets in his hand. The needle tube was filled with thunder serum; there was even a golden dragon swimming in it. He aimed and injected the needle into Da Zi’s mouth.
Gulp, gulp, gulp…
The thunder serum burned Da Zi’s mouth to the point that it was illuminated with electric light. Some of the electric serum even overflowed onto Gao Peng’s clothes, burning huge holes in it.
After the injection was completed, Da Zi passed out on the ground, its limbs twitching. The electric light shone out through the gaps of its shell. All the electronic devices in the laboratory made a buzzing beep, and in the next moment, all of them exploded.
Gao Peng quickly left the laboratory and closed the door. He had a feeling that his laboratory might be scrapped. However, it wouldn’t matter; Gao Peng was prepared to switch to a new laboratory anyway.
The destruction of this laboratory was just at the right time for him to replace it with a new laboratory.
He pulled Xu Qinghi, who was working on data outside, out. Xu Qingzhi wanted to bring along all the lab materials on the desk.
“There’s no need to do so. Just seal your files and take them away.”
Upon hearing what Gao Peng had said, Xu Qingzhi extracted the USB that was used for records on the table. As she left hurriedly, she constantly looked back. She was dazed, as she still didn’t know what had happened.
