"Are you done over there? I've pretty much cleaned up on my side."
"Butterfly Blaze!"
Hu Tao swung her Staff of Homa, and a wave of fiery butterflies burst outward in all directions, dealing a full-screen AOE that wiped out the remaining health of the small fry enemies.
"I bet you were trying to burn me along with them," Gu Sanqiu said, quickly crouching down and conjuring a helmet of Geo energy to protect his hair.
٩(๛˘ ³˘)۶
"Hehe, of course not," Hu Tao grinned mischievously as the Staff of Homa dissolved into golden light. "So, what do we do next? Doesn't your family have some way to handle big guys like this?"
"Can't the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor just call someone to come bury it right here?"
"With the Dust-Lock Demon-Suppressing Formation in place, this thing will slowly dissipate. Burying it on the spot is probably the best option."
Wait a minute.
Gu Sanqiu paused and glanced at the corpses.
All this time, he had been using his trusty fishing rod to pull things out of the black hole.
But that raised an interesting question: What if, instead of pulling things out, he started throwing weird stuff into the black hole? What would happen then?
The black hole had always been under his control, opening and closing as he wished. Apart from when he claimed his "daily sign-in rewards," no matter how much he praised, cursed, or even threw rocks into it, the thing never reacted.
But what if he threw something valuable like these creatures in there? Maybe it would react differently.
"Actually, I do have a way, but you probably shouldn't watch what comes next, little girl," Gu Sanqiu said, grinning at Hu Tao. "You know what I mean, right?"
"Tch, stingy man."
Seeing the vein pop on Gu Sanqiu's forehead, Hu Tao smirked and obediently walked off into the distance.
"Fine, fine, I know you Gu Family people have lots of secrets. I won't look, okay?"
"Thanks for understanding."
Gu Sanqiu relaxed. If it were anyone else, he could probably brush them off with his status as an incense bearer.
But not Hu Tao.
As the head of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, she knew a lot—probably more than she let on. Gu Sanqiu didn't have a good enough excuse to fool her easily.
For others, he could explain away the black hole by claiming it was a "sacrifice to the Geo Archon."
But with Hu Tao… If she bragged about some "adventure with the incense bearer slaying demons," and a certain someone overheard…
Gu Sanqiu imagined that, by the next day, Zhongli would be standing at his door, waiting for a chat.
Considering the size of the black hole, Gu Sanqiu decided to get closer before activating his nearly invisible cheat ability.
Since most of the stuff he pulled out ended up in his stomach, the black hole didn't get much action.
Swoosh—
Once his plan was set in motion, the black hole was even more responsive than expected. The warhorse ghoul and the surrounding chunks of corpses were sucked in almost instantly.
"Looks like my guess was right."
But then, a sense of danger surged through Gu Sanqiu's mind, causing him to leap backward instinctively!
Cluck-cluck-cluck!
A horrendous screech echoed from the black hole as a massive, three-meter-tall creature, about the size of a small bus, burst out and lunged at Gu Sanqiu's head with its beak!
"What the hell is this development?!"
Gu Sanqiu was stunned. This was the first time a living thing had popped out of the black hole!
The creature in front of him could barely be called a chicken. Half of its body was covered in scales, the other half in feathers. Its comb looked like a patch of grass crushed by a giant's foot, and it was covered in swollen, grotesque lumps.
To make matters worse, its legs were absurdly thick, like something out of a creation horribly photoshopped by the gods.
But despite his shock, Gu Sanqiu reacted quickly, pulling out his golden fishing rod and swinging it toward the monster's head!
Since it came from the black hole, it stood to reason that his fishing rod would have a significant suppressive effect on it. Relying on elemental power right now would be foolish!
"Sanqiu, what's going on? I thought I heard a—"
!!!
The moment Hu Tao saw the grotesque creature before Gu Sanqiu, her eyes widened, and then she slumped lazily against a tree branch, not even bothering to move.
(ˇωˇ」∠)_
"Sanqiu, you got this. Hurry up and kill that thing. It's so ugly I don't have the energy to deal with it."
"Then get over here and help!"
"Oh no, I've been struck by its hideousness. Such a sneaky monster. I'm too weak now, Sanqiu. Save meeee—"
(╬￣皿￣)
Gu Sanqiu gritted his teeth and flicked his wrist, making the golden fishing rod glow even brighter. At the same time, the amber-yellow Geo energy from his Vision flowed into the rod!
Boom!
A massive explosion echoed from the depths of Wuwang Hill, startling the Millelith stationed nearby. They immediately turned their gaze toward the source of the disturbance.
"Was that… a blast of malevolent energy?"
Fortunately, they soon got their answer. A young man emerged from the hill, dragging the grotesque creature behind him on a fishing line, followed by a black-hatted girl.
"Hehe, Sanqiu, you're amazing! You should totally join the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor as a guest minister. That way, if there's ever a problem, I can just call you directly."
"Yeah, right. Can you even afford my salary?"
Gu Sanqiu glanced at the massive chicken-beast on the end of his fishing line, silently marveling at the resilience of his cheat ability. The fishing line's strength was truly impressive.
After killing the creature, its name and details popped up in his mind:
Name: Ugada Giant-Legged Chicken
Origin: Wasteland Realm
Purpose: What else could it be for, besides eating?
Note: As a symbol of ugliness, the Ugada Giant-Legged Chicken has always hoped to be classified under either birds or beasts for research. However, after its culinary value was discovered, scholars from both fields began long, drawn-out disputes over which group had the right to study it.
…
That note was… interesting. It felt like he'd uncovered some scandalous details about the upper echelons of academic circles.
Gu Sanqiu had always been curious. If his cheat ability worked like an encyclopedia, the person or people leaving these notes had to be at risk of being beaten up one day, right?
There was the same kind of snarky commentary when he caught the Shadow Eagle, and now this. If there were a real person behind these notes, wouldn't they eventually get jumped?
"This… young man, how should we address you?" a soldier from the Millelith asked hesitantly.
"The name's not important. Did you receive the letter my pet sent?"
The soldier saluted. "Yes, we apprehended eight suspects exhibiting suspicious behavior. They've been restrained using Cryo Slime condensate…"
"Good, good. the Millelith's professionalism is impressive," Gu Sanqiu interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Any more praise, and I'll end up drinking tea with the Millelith again, so let's leave it at that."
…
Huh?
(°ー°〃)
The soldiers froze.
Again?
What kind of person was this guy? And the reason he stopped them from calling him "young hero" was because of this?!
Without realizing it, the Millelith soldiers all had the same thought: Maybe we should actually take him back for questioning.
---
If you spot any mistakes let me know so I can fix them.
Read up to Chapter 30! [P@treon.com/WiseTL]