Fang Jing let out a chirp, retreating into the cloth bag, only to pop right back out a moment later, startling Lu Hao, who had been lowering his head to see what he was up to.
A luxurious bracelet embedded with a blue bead appeared right before Lu Hao’s eyes.
Holding the bracelet up, Fang Jing chirped once more. Seeing that his poop-scooping officer seemed completely dumbfounded, he began chirping incessantly again.
Perhaps Fang Jing had brought him too many shocks already, to the point where Lu Hao had grown somewhat numb. He quickly calmed his racing heartbeat and asked, “Yuanyuan, where did you get this bracelet?”
Lu Hao remembered very clearly that, aside from Yuanyuan, there was nothing else in the cloth bag. So, where on earth did the bracelet come from?
“Chirp, chirp.”
Fang Jing opened his mouth, which was even smaller than Lu Hao’s thumbnail, and pointed one of his little claws right inside.
Lu Hao thought to himself, are you saying this bracelet was stored in, wait, Yuanyuan, are you a mutant space mouse?
“Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.”
Fang Jing was displeased. He was a human being, after all; how could he possibly be a rat?
Where on earth did anyone see a mouse that looked this cute and adorable?
His poop-scooping officer was going too far!
Furious, Fang Jing scratched Lu Hao a few times. The blows weren’t heavy, but they thoroughly messed up Lu Hao’s clothes.
“What’s wrong? Are you angry?”
Clueless, Lu Hao soothingly stroked Fang Jing’s back back and forth. “Yuanyuan, don’t be mad. It was my fault for saying the wrong thing.”
Even if he had no idea what he had said wrong, apologizing first was always the right move. Anyway, Yuanyuan couldn’t possibly ask him if he knew what he did wrong, right?
“Chirp!”
I am definitely not a rat!
Lu Hao still couldn’t understand the words, but by this point, his attention had already shifted back to the bracelet. “Yuanyuan, did you find this?”
Could this item have been dropped by someone who came to Fire Cloud Star?
Just looking at this bracelet, anyone could tell it was immensely valuable.
Lu Hao secretly reasoned that his Yuanyuan’s chimeric appearance was probably due to some crossbreed lineage, and perhaps the little guy possessed the bloodline of a space mouse in its body, which would explain why it had the spatial storage abilities unique to space mice.
Biological reproductive barriers were not absolute in biology. Lions and tigers, horses and donkeys, and so on all proved this point.
Some creatures had no lower limits whatsoever. When the mating season arrived, seals of completely different body types and species would even harass penguins, so similar phenomena certainly existed in the modern interstellar era.
Lu Hao had every reason to suspect that the reason his Yuanyuan looked nothing like this and nothing like that was likely the result of such a genetic mix-up.
If so, it wouldn’t be strange at all for Yuanyuan, possessing space mouse bloodline, to have spatial storage skills.
“Chirp.”
A single chirp pulled Lu Hao’s thoughts back to reality. “What is it, Yuanyuan?”
Lu Hao didn’t think too deeply about it, nor did he ever suspect that Yuanyuan pulled this item out just to give it to him.
“Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.”
The bracelet is for you.
Fang Jing aggressively pushed the bracelet toward Lu Hao’s face until Lu Hao had to lean back, otherwise the bracelet would have poked right into his mouth. “Yuanyuan, what are you trying to do?”
“Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.”
Give it to you. My good things are for you.
Overwhelmed and left with no defense against the aggressive offering, Lu Hao made a bold guess. “Is Yuanyuan trying to give this bracelet to me?”
“Chirp!”
Yes!
“Alright, thank you, Yuanyuan. But does Yuanyuan know that this bracelet is very precious?”
“Chirp, chirp.”
I know, of course I know.
The bracelet Fang Jing had pulled out wasn’t meant for decoration at all. That blue bead on it wasn’t an ordinary bead either; it was the demonic core of a North Sea Mermaid from the cultivation world.
Mermaids in the North Sea could be considered absolute demon kings, and this demonic core had been discovered within the fallen tomb of the mermaid king. Although most of its spiritual energy had dissipated, the residual coercion emanating from the item could still suppress beasts within a half-mile radius, stripping them of their combat capabilities and forcing absolute submission.
Clueless about all of this, Lu Hao took the bracelet and examined it with curiosity. “Yuanyuan, where did you pick up this bracelet? It’s really pretty.”
“Chirp, chirp.”
I didn’t pick it up! It was a gift from my fellow sect senior who specializes in artifact crafting.
Unaware of the bracelet’s true power, Lu Hao simply took it to be an ordinary piece of jewelry. Just as he was about to put it away, Fang Jing snatched it right back.
Lu Hao thought to himself, did the little guy go back on its word and grow reluctant to give it away, or did I completely misinterpret its intentions?
Just then, the two contracted beasts that Lu Hao had sent out to scout for some prey returned.
Clutching the bracelet, Fang Jing leaped straight onto Lu Hao’s shoulder. With a slight shake, the bracelet emitted a crisp, clear tinkling sound, not too loud, and lacking any deafening or jarring discomfort for Lu Hao.
Yet, to the two contracted beasts, this sound struck straight at their souls.
Whimpering sounds escaped from the throats of both beasts. The prey they had been holding in their mouths dropped straight to the ground. As if sensing some terrifying entity, the two beasts cowered in fear, pressing themselves flat against the ground while whimpering miserably. They looked both in extreme agony and utterly terrified, utterly devoid of any will to resist.
Lu Hao thought to himself, what is happening?
“Chirp.”
Look.
Fang Jing stopped moving.
The moment the tinkling sound from the bracelet ceased, the two contracted beasts finally seemed to regain their strength. They staggered back to their feet, scanning their surroundings with a mixture of vigilance and shock, still lingering in a state of residual panic.
Clearly, they were still deeply traumatized.
When the tinkling sound rang out once more, the two contracted beasts immediately collapsed back to the ground.
Lu Hao thought to himself, this is incredible.
Turning his head, Lu Hao looked at the fluffy white ball playing so happily on his shoulder, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down with great difficulty as he swallowed. “Yuanyuan, your bracelet…”
He could be certain that this bracelet was no ordinary object.
He had seen it clearly just moments ago. The bracelet itself possessed no bells, nor did it feature any other hidden, unique internal mechanisms. Yet not only could it make a sound, but that sound also possessed the astonishing ability to deter and suppress contracted beasts.
“Chirp, chirp.”
Here, take it!
Now, the poop-scooping officer should finally know how to use it.
Fang Jing pushed the bracelet toward Lu Hao once more, chirping eagerly.
Understanding Fang Jing’s intent, Lu Hao took the bracelet with lingering suspicion and inspected it thoroughly once again. When the two contracted beasts stood up, he tried shaking the bracelet, but it made no sound at all. He tried several times with the same result.
In the end, it wasn’t until he tentatively channeled his spiritual energy into it that he managed to make the bracelet ring.
Once the bracelet emitted its tinkling chime, even though the volume wasn’t high and it became entirely inaudible just a few meters away, the contracted beasts heard it loud and clear.
Since the little bell possessed the power to deter and suppress contracted beasts, would it perhaps prove equally useful against other fierce beasts, or even the Zerg?
Lu Hao wasn’t sure. Even if he wanted to ask, his Yuanyuan could not speak human words and thus couldn’t answer his doubts.
It seemed that once they returned, he would have to conduct some thorough experiments.
In high spirits, Lu Hao proceeded to process both the water deer and the black sheep brought back by his contracted beasts. “Yuanyuan, tonight I’ll grill some venison and mutton for you. This deer is a water-attendant species, so its meat will be extremely tender and juicy when grilled. As for this sheep, it’s just an ordinary wild mountain sheep, but since wild sheep graze on a hundred different herbs, their meat is rich in nutrients. Although mutton can be a bit gamey, I’ll use sour wild fruits and other seasonings to marinate it and cover up that taste. It’s going to turn out delicious, so you can definitely look forward to it.”
“Chirp, chirp.”
Is it really that delicious?
Just listening to the description made Fang Jing unable to wait any longer. While Lu Hao was busy skinning the beast, Fang Jing scampered right up to his side, chirping incessantly.
Back in the cultivation world, the food he ate most often was the standard valley-avoidance pills. It wasn’t until he contracted a poop-scooping officer that Fang Jing realized just how many culinary delights he had missed out on all this time.
The constant chirps echoed without stop, but Lu Hao didn’t find them noisy at all. On the contrary, he felt happy. It was a lively, joyous atmosphere, and even while performing bloody, gut-churning tasks he usually disliked, his sense of aversion diminished significantly.
“Yuanyuan, be careful now. Don’t get too close to the fire. If you singe your furry backside, you’re going to shed precious little golden tear-beans.”
“Chirp, chirp.”
I’m being very careful! Hurry up and grill the meat, poop-scooping officer.
Watching his contracted beast look so intensely famished that moisture was pooling at the corners of its mouth, Lu Hao couldn’t help smiling as he sped up his movements. Before dealing with the black sheep, he sliced off two large chunks of water deer meat and set them over the fire. “Look, the meat is already roasting. Don’t be impatient.”
Fang Jing finally stopped making noise, sitting obediently by the campfire and staring intently at his roasting meat.
Glancing over, Lu Hao couldn’t help chuckling quietly to himself.
The little fellow, which wasn’t even as large as his palm, had an appetite truly fit for a monster. The two slabs of grilled meat in front of it were several times larger than its entire body, enough to crush it flat under their weight, yet, who would have thought that even this terrifying amount probably wouldn’t even be enough between the little guy’s teeth.
In the end, one water deer and one black sheep later, a full eighty percent of the meat ended up inside Fang Jing’s stomach, while only a single deer leg went into Lu Hao’s. Once both human and beast were thoroughly full and everything was tidied up, they crawled into the tent to rest.