Chapter 87: Xiao Mu’s Dungeon Site Selection, The Awakening…

After parting ways with Mountain Crow 4091, Su Ximu returned home. He first went to the bedroom to check on Little Mushroom.

At this time, Little Mushroom was much more spirited than it had been that morning. The two mycelium strands on its “head” curled and stretched, flashing at the ends like a pair of fireflies perched there.

Before Su Ximu left earlier, he had turned on the TV in the room, worried that Little Mushroom would get bored after waking up.

The TV was currently playing a relatively normal children’s cartoon from the Weird World.

Little Mushroom watched intently. It swayed back and forth as it mimicked speech from the cartoon. No one knew how a little mushroom actually watched TV.

When it noticed the bedroom door opening, Little Mushroom immediately dropped the cartoon and started shouting, “Master, Master is back.”

Last night’s events had come one after another and drained a lot of energy, so Su Ximu hadn’t gotten around to correcting Little Mushroom’s form of address.

Now, hearing it call him “master” again, he bent down, reached out, and poked Little Mushroom’s cap. He corrected it, “Call me brother. Um… or uncle works too.”

In the Real World, being addressed like that by a little mushroom might seem strange. But in the Weird World, ignoring its appearance, Little Mushroom was no different from Dudu and the other little kids.

They were all little weirds, little friends.

“Unc-Uncle?” Its childish voice carried confusion.

Little Mushroom had just watched the cartoon and considered itself quite knowledgeable now. From the cartoon, it knew that only those with beards were called uncles.

The teenager standing in front of the table put his hands behind his back and nodded maturely. “Mm.”

Su Ximu figured that when he had done summer jobs before, he had been coworkers with Little Mushroom’s “dad,” so they were peers.

That made it fine for Little Mushroom to call him uncle.

He had never been called uncle before.

But right after he responded, Little Mushroom raised its two little tendrils and shouted, “Brother!”

“Brother, brother, brother…”

Little Mushroom called out happily, leaving the teenager to blink in confusion. Hadn’t it been uncle?

He wasn’t too hung up on the title, though. Seeing how happy Little Mushroom was, he smiled and went along with it.

He stayed in the bedroom a little longer. Once he confirmed that Little Mushroom, which had fused with the white light, was still fine, Su Ximu left the bedroom and headed to the kitchen. He wanted to start washing the berries he had picked with his third brother.

Unexpectedly, his third brother had already washed them all. A full plate of fruit sat on the living room coffee table, and his second brother was sitting on the sofa reading a magazine.

His big brother wasn’t in the living room.

Compared to his second and third brothers, who appeared randomly throughout the house, Su Ximu felt like the study was his big brother’s fixed spawn point. Every time after getting off work, his big brother would appear directly in the study with his computer and continue working.

Su Ximu walked over to the coffee table and squeezed onto the same sofa as his second brother.

Although Su Wuzi had only been home for a few minutes, compared to his previous work hours, his current state was no different from being on vacation.

Clearly, he wasn’t as career-driven as their big brother.

When Xiao Xi squeezed onto the same sofa, Su Wuzi could clearly smell the warm orange-and-orange-blossom scent from Xiao Xi’s body wash.

He felt the slight chill from the berry Xiao Xi held to his lips. Su Wuzi opened his mouth, ate the berry, and conveniently extended his palm, handing over a piece of transparent “stone” that resembled an ice crystal.

This “stone” looked somewhat like the little stones in his collection at first glance—hard and transparent, like a gem.

However…

Su Ximu took the diamond-shaped transparent stone from his second brother’s hand and compared it in his own palm.

This “stone” was much larger than his collection. It was even a bit longer than his palm.

When he encountered something he didn’t understand, his instinctive reaction was the same as when he was a kid. He held the stone up toward the light to observe it.

The light refracted by the transparent stone also caught the attention of Su Jianglou, who was sitting nearby. He leaned over and examined the stone his second brother had suddenly pulled out, together with Xiao Xi.

As they looked, Su Jianglou frowned. He let out an “Eh?” on his own, first looking thoughtful, then suddenly realizing something. Finally, he glared at his second brother.

Having figured some things out, Su Jianglou began to question him. “You had this thing, but two years ago you just watched me search everywhere southeast and northwest?!”

He had no issue with it now going to Xiao Xi. But he had a huge problem with the weirdo who gave it!

Whether you planned to give it to me or not, you could’ve at least told me back then.

In his agitation, that pair of dark golden eyes—unique among the brothers—lit up bright as flames.

Hearing his younger brother’s accusation, Su Wuzi gave a normal explanation. “I didn’t have any extras back then.”

The one he gave to Xiao Xi was something he had just cut out from his own dungeon.

Su Ximu, still holding the diamond-shaped transparent stone, listened in a fog. He lowered his head to look at it again. So, what exactly was this thing?

After explaining to Jianglou, Su Wuzi naturally didn’t ignore Xiao Xi.

He transferred the “stone” from the teenager’s palm to his own, then placed the teenager’s fair palm on top of the “stone.”

One large hand and one small hand overlapped. A faint light emerged where their palms met.

The light was like ripples stirred on a calm water surface, circle after circle spreading from inside to out, toward the distance.

In an instant, the entire Wealth Avenue—the first to sense the fluctuations—began to stir.

“Hiss…”

“Roar!!”

“Hee hee hee…”

Chaotic roars and murmurs whose exact meanings couldn’t be discerned echoed from many villas in the Villa District.

Su Jianglou stopped quibbling with his second brother over those past trifles. He smiled faintly at Xiao Xi. “It’s getting restless outside. Third bro will be right back.”

With that, the next second, he was already outside the villa. He zeroed in on his target and smashed the villa that had made noise first.

“Keep yapping, yapping, yapping!”

“I’ll make you yap!”

Their Xiao Xi was so great, and now that he had something good, they still had the nerve to get jealous!

The next second, from the villa next door to the Su Family Villa, an old man in a white tank top with a grizzled beard walked out the front door, holding two meat cleavers.

In the Su Family study…

The person who had just been sitting in the chair working was nowhere to be seen.

At this moment, Su Ximu felt like he was wrapped in a pool of extremely warm and comfortable water. He wanted to move his fingers but found himself too blissfully lazy to do so.

He sensed the stone between their palms shrinking. Even if he was clueless, he now knew that his second brother had given him something very powerful and precious.

Inside the villa, it was warm and peaceful.

Outside the villa, smoke filled the air amid ghostly wails and wolfish howls.

After some unknown amount of time, the commotion outside finally died down. In the living room, Su Ximu felt that the stone—which had originally been larger than his palm—had completely vanished between their overlapped palms.

The moment this “stone” disappeared entirely, without needing his second brother to explain further, Su Ximu understood exactly what it was.

It was a fragment of his second brother’s Wasteland World dungeon.

He had heard his third brother mention before that his second brother’s Wasteland World dungeon was an extremely rare type in the Weird World.

It was a dungeon constructed and created based on a genuine wasteland world fragment. It was a real little world.

If given enough time, and if the weirdo possessing the fragment had sufficient patience and knowledge reserves, true life might even be reborn within this little world.

Many weirds fighting over territory in the Weird World actually yearned for a fragment like this.

That way, they wouldn’t need to fight to the death with other weirds over territory.

Wherever they went, their dungeon would follow.

After the “stone” disappeared, Xiao Xi kept staring at him without blinking. As if knowing what he wanted to say, Su Wuzi spoke first. “Second bro knows our Xiao Xi is super capable. He’ll definitely get even better things on his own later.”

“So for now, just think of it as second bro’s early investment, okay? Then later, when Xiao Xi finds something even better, he can give it to second bro?”

Having been a weirdo for so many years, Su Wuzi was good-looking, but he gave off a bewitching, demonic vibe.

Su Ximu had never felt that way, though.

It was probably because his second brother was always gentle and soft-spoken around him.

He had given away such a precious gift but still worried the recipient would be unhappy and refuse it.

Su Ximu looked at his palm. It still seemed to hold the lingering warmth from moments ago.

He looked at his second brother, then extended that hand again. He curled four fingers, leaving only his pinky bent.

In a serious tone, the teenager said, “Then we pinky promise.”

Later, when he really became super strong, any gifts he gave, his second brother and the others weren’t allowed to refuse.

“Pinky promise.” Su Wuzi immediately hooked his own pinky around it.

After this day, on the Community Website’s Model Family Contest section, the Su Family’s vote count shot straight up.

It soon crushed the previous top-ranked Model Family by a wide margin.

At the same time, the Su Family’s contestant profile picture was replaced with a new one.

It was the new family portrait Su Jianglou had been drawing ever since he learned of Ox Grandpa’s gratitude for them saving Xiao Xi. It had just been finished, perfect timing to use.

Dai Qian and Wu Ming, who checked the Community Website votes daily as routine, felt utter despair at the overwhelming gap.

Recalling yesterday’s commotion—which had affected the entire Tanzhong City and surrounding cities—the two analyzed in their hearts that the weirds who had made their move weren’t just top-tier on Wealth Avenue. They could probably rank among the best in the entire Weird World known to Bureau Chief Lin.

Hiss. Tanzhong City was terrifying.

On the other side…

Yesterday’s conflict, which had rippled across all of Tanzhong City and the surrounding cities, had also impacted the Mountain Crows living in Tanzhong City to a certain extent.

All the Mountain Crows gathered on a cliff in the suburbs. They listened as Mountain Crow 17 stood at the top of the cliff’s edge, speaking on behalf of the esteemed Mr. Mountain Crow 02. “In light of the Mountain Crow Family’s outstanding performance over the past year, the esteemed Mr. Mountain Crow 02 petitioned the great master and finally secured a special honor for our Mountain Crow Family!”

“The great master has permitted us to offer sincere tribute from the Mountain Crow Family once again this year!”

Below, the Mountain Crows—in humanoid form with wings on their backs—reacted with fanatical expressions upon hearing this.

They praised the esteemed Mr. Mountain Crow 02 and his great master with fervent tones!

To follow such a powerful weirdo was the pride of their entire Mountain Crow Family.

The next time they met the ravens from the Raven Family, they would have even more bragging rights.

Their lord valued them so much that he had made an exception for them!

From the top to the bottom of the cliff, the Mountain Crows boiled with passion. One could imagine that if Mountain Crow 02 suddenly appeared right then and asked them to sacrifice themselves, they would probably leap into the fire pit below without hesitation.

Only Mountain Crow 4091—who had come to the gathering with his parents and brother—looked around blankly. He felt utterly out of place amid the fervent atmosphere.

He didn’t know what had come over him, but starting from yesterday, he felt like he could see through phenomena to the essence of everything. He was smart beyond measure!

Seeing the Mountain Crows about to offer “tribute” again to Mountain Crow 02’s abode—those little mountain crows still incubating—he couldn’t hold back. He clenched his fist, flapped his pitch-black wings fiercely, and positioned himself in a spot even better than Mountain Crow 17’s.

He balled his fist and shouted to all the Mountain Crows below, “What special honor!”

“With all that commotion yesterday, maybe that damn Mountain Crow 02 couldn’t hold back his greed and went to rob something!”

“He’s not showing up today, which means he’s definitely injured! He wants to eat the little chicks to recover!”

The chuunibyou youth let out his own shout: “Dumbasses! Wake up already!”

He thought his shout would awaken his own kind.

What awaited him instead was a deathly silence.

Then, he heard the voice of his older brother, Mountain Crow 3992.

He said: “Throw him in there too.”