Chapter 88

Throw it in, but where?

To the residence of Mountain Crow 02 behind the cliff, or into the blazing bonfire below?

The middle-schooler crow boy flying above the heads of all his distant and close relatives trembled. He could hardly believe such cold, ruthless words had come from his own brother’s mouth.

If Mountain Crow 4091 had reacted so instinctively the moment he sensed something wrong, it was thanks to what he had learned before.

The Weird World was like a monster that could never be satisfied, constantly hunting for new prey every moment.

But some influences went both ways.

In the process of devouring one “prey” after another, those swallowed worlds left their own colors smeared across the Weird World.

Whether as weirds transformed from survivors, books, or cultural customs.

The greedily expanding Weird World, over endless years, had long become a mottled mess, indistinguishable from its original hue.

The powerful weirds living in this world each had their own dark twists, so they naturally lacked the patience to truly teach and nurture the little weirds under them.

In recent years, kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, universities, and various cram schools had seemed to flourish, thriving like wildfire. But in truth, most of the weird teachers in these schools still used textbooks left over from the devoured worlds.

Books were carriers of thought.

Customs varied across worlds. Some books taught students to be brave, others to be kind, some warned that selfishness and greed were the only way to thrive and enjoy the world’s sweetest fruits. Still others claimed that all intelligent life was born sinful, and life was merely a journey of atonement.

These conflicting thoughts were chaotic enough to turn a little weird just starting school into a lunatic—or simply make it disdain knowledge altogether, treating books as toys to tear apart.

But Mountain Crow 4091 was lucky.

From his first day of school, his school had been fortunate enough to possess a relatively systematic set of textbooks.

Unfortunately, the weird in charge of teaching only cared about the useful ones. The extracurricular books? They probably never read them cover to cover.

Even luckier, Mountain Crow 4091, bored out of his mind, had secretly finished all those extracurricular books during class multiple times.

Perhaps from that day, he was destined to be the odd crow out in the flock. But until yesterday, his true self had never had a chance to show. He might not have even realized that his heart, his subconscious, harbored so many vague ideas.

Mountain Crow 4091 felt like he was shouting, bellowing, the only sober one while all the weirds were drunk. But to his family, his relatives, he was just fighting for himself.

Fighting for the honor of becoming an offering.

Because before this, neither Mr. Mountain Crow 02 nor his great master wanted mountain crows that were too old.

Below, after a moment of silence, the gazes looking up from the mountain crows gained some hostility and eager anticipation.

They hadn’t expected that, at such a sacred gathering, a little mountain crow would fly out and use such a shameless way to compete.

But thinking differently—Mr. Mountain Crow 02 still hadn’t come out to scold or stop this little mountain crow’s behavior. Didn’t that mean this kind of striving was effective?

Just imagining that even they old crows had a chance to offer themselves to Mr. Mountain Crow 02 and his master…

Even Mountain Crow 17, who had spoken as the representative at the start, couldn’t help but tremble with excitement.

But he wasn’t as clueless as that little weird above. Mountain Crow 17 held back his agitation and decided to first handle the hundred mountain crow eggs he had prepared at the beginning, then go seek out Mr. Mountain Crow 02 to fight for his chance.

With his next steps decided, Mountain Crow 17 ignored that little whelp competing with dirty tricks. With a light wave of his hand, Mountain Crow 4091, still hovering in midair, plummeted down, smashing straight beside the bonfire at the base of the cliff.

Then, Mountain Crow 17 waved his hand again.

The mountain crows standing in the front row at the cliff base understood. They lifted the altar table holding the hundred mountain crow eggs and prepared to toss the eggs and table into the bonfire together.

The mountain crow eggs fixed on the wide altar table were each the size of a palm.

Mountain Crow 4091 coughed up blood and lay sprawled nearby. He could even hear the crisp tapping of tender beaks pecking from inside the eggshells.

Some eggshells already showed faint cracks.

Like little mushrooms that grew up listening to humans talk, no matter how weirds appeared outwardly, in essence, Mountain Crow 4091 sprawled on the ground was no different from the little mountain crows still pecking at their shells.

The smarter little mountain crows, who often heard their parents and siblings speak, could already talk.

They pecked tirelessly at their shells. When tired, they called out for daddy or mommy.

Their voices were hoarse, not as pleasant as typical weird fledglings. Like they had years of smoking under their belts before even hatching.

The adult mountain crows outside, called by the little ones, responded with delighted faces. The firelight illuminated their features, making them seem extraordinarily benevolent.

As if that roaring fire was a baptism welcoming the little mountain crows into the world.

But Mountain Crow 4091 knew better. That was the fire seed Mountain Crow 02 had brought—a fire that could burn weirds.

Mountain Crow 4091 still lay there with his face to the side, his cheek touching the scorchingly hot ground baked by the flames. His thoughts burned hot along with it.

He didn’t have many mature plans or schemes; otherwise, he wouldn’t have just flown up like that.

He was just a little weird still in school.

The instant the altar table was thrown into the bonfire, a scorching new thought flashed in his mind.

With speed beyond his limits— so fast the surrounding mountain crows could barely see—he arrived above the bonfire.

The wide altar table rose against the wind, and suddenly, a pair of black wings sprouted from underneath.

“Ah!!!” Mountain Crow 4091 cried out from the burning pain.

The agony further unleashed his potential.

Under the incredulous gazes of all the mountain crows, he carried that table straight into the sky.

Without mishap, he would have been smacked down before reaching the cliff top, just like before.

But then, the unexpected happened…

In plain view of everyone, a white light flashed abruptly, like lightning streaking across a clear sky.

The lightning tore a tiny rift in the sky for a brief moment.

Soon, the lightning vanished, and the boy straining under the heavy table vanished too.

It wasn’t time for cram school yet. Su Ximu was holding a book and reading.

The cover read several abstract large characters: 108 Ways to Master Dungeons in One Week.

Beside his hand were a few other books he hadn’t gotten to yet.

Respectively: Can’t Handle Weirdos? Work Till You Drop!, Dungeon Design? It’s an Art, and On the Dialectical Relationship Between Weirdos and Dungeons.

He read very seriously. The book in his hand turned a page only after a long time, and he occasionally took notes with a pen and notebook.

Su Ximu thought that since his second brother had given him such a precious dungeon construction space yesterday, if he didn’t study hard, he’d be letting down his second brother’s faith in him.

Ever since yesterday, he felt like something extra was in his head. Hmm… that wasn’t quite right. Or rather, something extra was by his side?

Anyway, it was like having a spatial passage beside him that he could open anytime, leading him to another space.

On the other side of the passage was a little world belonging to him, where he could unleash all his ideas.

At this moment, Su Ximu finally understood the vague connection he had sensed between himself, the little mushroom, and that injured boy—Mountain Crow 4091.

It was the contract between a dungeon master and dungeon staff.

It could also be seen as a work contract.

At least, that’s how Su Ximu understood it.

After figuring out the light orb’s purpose, he had secretly resolved in his heart to carefully control the emergence and use of his power from now on, never repeating last time.

Work had to be consensual.

Moreover, setting aside those first two accidents, no hiring child labor was his bottom line!

As he thought this, suddenly, a faint cry for help—so weak it could vanish if ignored—appeared in the reading boy’s perception.

This was another feeling that could only be understood intuitively.

The next instant after receiving the distress signal, the dungeon’s invisible door swung open, allowing the second employee, Mountain Crow 4091, to enter.

Stumbling, Mountain Crow 4091 smashed entirely into the vast, empty world. One particularly naughty little mountain crow egg he had rescued got flung out with him, smacking against the transparent air wall, bouncing on the ground twice, then cracking open with a snap. The cyan eggshell split cleanly in half.

Though the little mountain crow had a hoarse little smoker’s voice, it didn’t hatch as ugly as typical bird fledglings—bald and soggy.

These little mountain crows, conscious even in the egg, had absorbed the eggshell’s nutrients. The moment they could hatch, they emerged as fluffy little coal briquettes.

Since Su Ximu had accepted the rescuing Mountain Crow 4091, in the next few seconds, he had already prepared himself for a disheveled “employee.”

But he hadn’t expected Mountain Crow 4091 to be such a mess—and even the eggs he brought along bore scorch marks on some shells.

Luckily, weirds had strong vitality; the fire couldn’t kill them in a short time.

In the brief moment Mountain Crow 4091 fled with the little mountain crows, the remaining mountain crows led by Mountain Crow 17 reacted swiftly.

In mere instants, they searched the entire cliff forest.

Mountain Crow 17 was furious beyond measure.

Such an abrupt disappearance surely meant another weird had interfered. Perhaps this interloper coveted the offerings for Mr. Mountain Crow 02!

This was his first major task from Mr. Mountain Crow 02, and such a huge blunder had occurred!

Rage nearly burned away Mountain Crow 17’s remaining reason.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to use the last shred of sanity to recall the power forms used by all the powerful weirds in yesterday’s conflict.

Among them, that boundless black mist had shaken him to the core.

After racking his brain for a long time, confirming that none of last night’s combatants used a fluorescent white light as an attack method, Mountain Crow 17 had a target in mind.

This was at most some outsider meddling where they shouldn’t.

Most likely, it seemed mysterious but was only slightly stronger than him. Otherwise, why hide?

Even if it was an outsider weird, no fear. Did they think weirds’ territorial instincts were just empty words?

With that considered, Mountain Crow 17 finally let his reason be consumed by raging fury.

That day, within a few short hours, a paper wanted poster carried by the mountain crows scattered to every corner of Tanzhong City.

【Wanted!

In the name of Mountain Crow Family’s Mountain Crow 02, and all Mountain Crows of the family, the following weirds are hereby wanted.

Wanted Weird One: Mountain Crow 4091, photo#

Wanted Weird Two: The weird assisting Mountain Crow 4091 in fleeing with the offerings, using fluorescent white light power.

Whichever provides clues will be heavily rewarded by the Mountain Crow Family!】

Outside the Su Corporation Building

An employee curiously picked up a sheet of paper and read its contents aloud while looking it over.