Chapter 56: Chapter 55: The Scythe-Wielding Ghost and the Crayfish on His Back
Chen Xing had Taotie capture the star-spotted eel.
The star-spotted eel was severely beaten by Taotie and was dragged ashore by its tail.
Lying on the floor, the star-spotted eel’s gills on both sides opened and closed, its mouth wide open, contracting and expanding.
Its small, green bean-sized eyes bulged and were bloodshot.
“Water… water…”
Chen Xing heard the star-spotted eel’s crazed roar.
So he scooped up some water and splashed it on its body.
The star-spotted eel’s eyes moved to look at Chen Xing, squinting its small eyes, “Ah… comfortable.”
“Hm? What’s this slippery mucus on its body?” Zhou Hao squatted down, touching the transparent liquid on the surface of the star-spotted eel. It was cool and icy to the touch, soft and elastic, like some kind of gelatin.
But after being touched for a while between the fingers, it turned into a puddle of water.
Zhou Hao suddenly realized, “Is this… could it be the star-spotted eel’s lubricating fluid skill?”
“Lubricating mucus skill.” Wang Bing corrected.
Zhou Hao puzzled, “Okay, but can’t your medical departments produce lubricant artificially? The cost of artificial lubricant should be cheap, right?”
“You have to consider cost-effectiveness. The lubricating mucus produced by the star-spotted eel has shockproof properties and is considered a special-grade material. It can produce over 50 liters of lubricating mucus with just one use of its skill, and all it needs is some food to eat regularly, which is quite cost-effective labor.” Wang Bing sighed.
“Its lubricating mucus is non-toxic and is an excellent raw material. The composition is said to be quite clean and is considered food-grade, and it can be used for other purposes as well.”
Zhou Hao pondered thoughtfully.
Zhao Liang said, “You’re lucky, a star-spotted eel that has awakened an Innate Skill is a little treasure. You can sell it in the safe zone, where there are specialists who purchase these. However, you’ll need to sign an agreement, as each of you can only take three tamed beasts out of the Secret Realm, and this star-spotted eel will take up one of your spots.”
Chen Xing understood.
Subsequently, Zhao Liang took Chen Xing and the other two to the nearest safe zone, where they sold the captured star-spotted eel.
Under the witness of the officials in the safe zone, they signed an agreement, proving that this tamed beast was captured and sold to Tianlan Pharmaceuticals by him.
One hundred thousand yuan just like that.
Enough to feed Taotie six days’ worth of medium-quality pet food.
As Taotie’s size increased, so did its appetite, eating thirty pounds of medium-quality pet food in one meal to satisfy its hunger.
However, the effect of the medium-quality pet food was very noticeable. For a body that had grown to over five and a half meters, it was still maintaining an average daily growth of 23 centimeters in size and a 0.5 increase in Energy Level.
Saying that it was like riding a rocket skyward wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
This pace of improvement costs only fifteen thousand a day, and if spending money could achieve this improvement, not to mention twenty thousand, even two hundred thousand would have many people willing to pay.
Seeing Chen Xing make money, Zhou Hao and Wang Bing felt a bit envious.
The main reason wasn’t just the envy for the money, but the envy that Chen Xing managed to capture such a rare monster.
If they could post about it on social media, wouldn’t it make a great boast?
Both of them also hoped to catch a monster with exceptional talent, but after an entire afternoon of trouble, they found more than ten monsters and not a single rare one.
“No need to look anymore, it’s not that easy to find. If it were, they wouldn’t be valuable,” Zhao Liang said, carrying his backpack. He might not be a teacher with strong teaching abilities, but he was definitely a responsible and good teacher.
He accompanied the three in a casual stroll around Ze City for the entire afternoon.
Probably because they hadn’t ventured into the dangerous areas, Ze City did not seem as dangerous as imagined so far.
The four chose a relatively high two-story building and cleaned the surroundings a bit. This floor had three windows, but they had long since been dismantled, and together with the staircase leading to the first floor, there were in total four directions to watch out for.
Perhaps because people often came here, several spots showed clear signs of having been cleaned.
In a sheltered corner behind the wind, the four rested against the wall. Zhou Hao took out some bags of biscuits from his backpack and shared them with everyone.
“Here, have some food! There’s nothing to eat in the Secret Realm, I’m starving,” Zhou Hao forcefully stuffed the snacks into Chen Xing’s arms.
“Thanks,” Chen Xing said.
Zhou Hao tore open his snack bag, took out some biscuits, and began crunching away, “We’re teammates, no need to be polite.”
Chen Xing opened his package and chewed slowly, while on the ground beside him, Taotie rested its head on Chen Xing’s arm, one eye open and the other closed.
In the wild, it was difficult for it to fall completely asleep, but being close to its owner made it very happy.
Taotie had no idea what a bed was; all it knew was to use its big head as a pillow against its owner.
The night passed, perhaps because Zhao Liang’s Great Fire Blaster was dozing nearby, no monsters attempted a midnight attack on these four single men.
As dawn broke, the three were awakened by Zhao Liang, “Alright, that’s enough rest for last night. Today I’ll take you guys to experience the dangerous area. We’ll take this route, and tonight we’ll rest here.” Zhao Liang spread the map and pointed to the deepest safe spot on the map.
This safe spot was in the complete opposite direction from the entrance, one at the far north and the other at the far south.
From the route Zhao Liang indicated, they needed to cross two dangerous areas.
“You might encounter the Sickle Specter Crabs, or even the Blue King Conchs.”
“Previously, elder Kui told you that the number of deaths in the Secret Realm exceeds a thousand people every year, with over eighty percent being careless victims of the Sickle Specter Crabs. And he didn’t even finish—besides the death toll, there are more than ten thousand people who end up crippled by them every year. However, it’s not a big problem even if an arm is severed; as long as you pick it up immediately and get healing treatment, it can be fully restored.”
“If you can’t find your arm, then you’ll have to spend more money. Limb regeneration at the hospital is not cheap; I remember it’s about sixty-three thousand.”
Wang Bing said with a bashful tone, “It’s not that expensive, it’s just a matter of an advanced skill. If you need it, you can find me, and I won’t charge.”
Chen Xing’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he glanced at Wang Bing’s back.
At noon, the four of them finally arrived at the area Zhao Liang mentioned where the Sickle Specter Crabs were located. There was a noticeable increase in the number of Beast Tamers here, and the water was clearly deeper. Many roads were built over rooftops, and numerous houses were submerged in water.
Every so often, one could see Beast Tamers standing at the water’s edge, some dangling lines for fishing.
Others, dressed in waterproof suits, were entering and exiting sunken civilian buildings.
It seemed that these were all here to catch Sickle Specter Crabs; there were more people than crabs.
Zhou Hao couldn’t help but make a comment, “Brother Zhao, you said this place is dangerous. If the Sickle Specter Crabs dare to show up, they’ll be turned into sieves in the next second.”
“Just scaring you, to make sure you don’t underestimate the Sickle Specter Crabs,” Zhao Liang spoke slowly. “But the death toll is true; that I didn’t lie about. The Sickle Specter Crabs like to hide in deep water areas, you have to search for their traces by entering the houses or attract them with bait.”
Chen Xing was puzzled, “Haven’t the Sickle Specter Crabs been hunted to extinction after being caught for so many years here?”
There were so many people in the Ze City Secret Realm hunting Sickle Specter Crabs, and the area of Ze City wasn’t that large.
“The authorities regularly release Sickle Specter Crabs into the water, otherwise they would have been wiped out long ago.” As Zhao Liang spoke, he suddenly made a sound of surprise, glanced at the Great Fire Blaster overhead, made a gesture, and then waved to the others to follow him. “Come with me.”
The group crossed a narrow bridge squeezed between two buildings.
They stepped on the roof of another tile house, then jumped onto the balcony of the building behind it.
The balcony was less than half a meter above the water level.
In the backlit, shadowy part of the water’s surface, a cluster of messy aquatic plants nestled against the corner of the wall.
The Great Fire Blaster lingered above the water’s surface, quietly watching below.
“Is there something down there?” Wang Bing whispered.
“There is. Now that we’re here, we’ve got to earn back at least the ticket price. Watch closely; I’m only going to show you once.” Zhao Liang grinned at the three of them, sunlight glinting off his bald head.
The Great Fire Blaster above the water surface moved, its body surface’s fine down heating up, scorching, and shining!
From afar, it looked like it was coated with a layer of fiery red bread crumbs.
The blaster’s mouth opened, and a jet of crimson flame gushed out!
Water evaporated, thick white steam rose, and the area scorched by the flame collapsed, with the surrounding water not replenishing fast enough to match the rate of evaporation.
From a dozen meters away, the scalding heat wave hit them in the face, causing the three to instinctively cover their cheeks.
At the same time, as the Great Fire Blaster unleashed its attack, the steel needle at the end of its tail stood erect, gleaming with a cold light.
The next second, the steel needle shot out from its tail.
Like a bullet fired from a sniper rifle, it instantly submerged into the water.
The Great Fire Blaster stopped its attack and hovered in mid-air again.
“Which one of your Beasts will go into the water and fetch the Sickle Specter Crab up?”
“Taotie.”
Chen Xing instructed Taotie to go down.
Scared back ten meters by the Great Fire Blast earlier, Taotie had only a pair of eyes visible on the water surface but quickly dove in upon receiving the command.
Moments later, a two-meter diameter blue crab was brought up from the water.
The blue crab was already dead, and right at the center of its back, the Great Fire Blaster’s steel needle was firmly embedded.
The deep blue shell, which appeared extremely hard, was sunken with web-like cracks spreading from the center point where the needle had struck.
The only lethal injury on the Sickle Specter Crab was this single steel needle.
“How about that, cool, isn’t it? A Sickle Specter Crab worth one hundred and fifty thousand in the bag,” Zhao Liang said with confidence.
Zhou Hao spoke in a deadpan tone, “Brother Zhao, it didn’t even get hit by the Great Fire Blaster, did it?”
“Being cool is all that matters; don’t mind those details.”
Zhao Liang sighed. Little Zhou was still too young; he didn’t understand.
Chen Xing’s attention was on another matter.
“Brother Zhao, is the Sickle Specter Crab’s corpse really only worth one hundred and fifty thousand?”
Zhao Liang laughed, “It’s just a corpse; the biggest value is the meat on it. The yield of crab meat is not high, and this Sickle Specter Crab will probably yield only about a hundred pounds of meat. It’s the monster cubs that are worth some money since they can be signed to become Beasts Tamed. It’s difficult to tame adult individuals, and even if they are tamed, they’re not as obedient as those raised from young.”
Zhou Hao expressed his agreement, “Indeed, I’ve raised three dogs at home, all of them brought back as pups. You grow attached to those you raise from a young age.”