Chapter Five: The Demolition Crew's Night Raid
Naming confirmed.
Alchemical Creature: Lion-faced Kong, Name: Garuru
Innate Traits: Great Strength, Breath Concealment
Abilities: Tearing, Pouncing, Biting, Climbing, Roaring
Basic Evaluation: Bronze Grade, Entry Level (Trainable)
System Description: This is a powerful beast.
At this moment, Wu You gazed at the Lion-faced Kong, now stored in the alchemical creature inventory, his heart swelling with confidence and pride.
Prompt: Newbie task completed.
Newbie reward acquired.
Alchemical Energy +3, current total 4
Alchemical Creature Storage +2, current total 3
Task rated Excellent, extra Alchemical Energy +3, current total 7
Would you like to leave the Mountain of Beasts immediately?
Wu You chose no. He wanted to test the Lion-faced Kong’s strength, but when he selected the summon option in the storage menu, he found it grayed out.
Unwilling to accept it, he tried anyway.
Prompt: Current level privileges do not allow summoning alchemical creatures in the Mountain of Beasts.
Damn! After working so hard all day, now you tell me I can’t summon it!
Wait—fine, so it can’t be summoned in the Mountain of Beasts. Hopefully nothing strange happens in the real world.
But, damn it, if I come in next time to catch alchemical materials, will I still have to do it alone?
Forget it, I won’t worry about that now. Next time is next time.
He chose to leave the Mountain of Beasts.
In the next instant, Wu You found himself back on his own bed in his bedroom. If not for his body nearly falling apart and his filthy clothes, he might have thought it all a dream.
He quickly checked the phone on his bedside table—it showed almost no change in time. He hadn’t paid attention before teleporting, but roughly knew, and he’d spent at least several hours in the Mountain of Beasts.
He opened the system and selected the alchemical creature storage. This time, the summon option was bright.
He chose to summon Lion-faced Kong, Garuru.
A humanoid, black-shimmering, gauzy stream of light flashed through the bedroom.
The next second, Garuru’s imposing form appeared in the room.
It casually twisted its neck and stretched its limbs, producing a series of crackling bone sounds, then stood motionless, staring at Wu You.
Even as its master, Wu You couldn’t help feeling a surge of fear in its presence.
“Sit,” Wu You tried issuing a command.
Garuru obeyed without hesitation.
“Clap your hands.”
Garuru raised its palms and struck them together. “Pa~”
Interesting—such accuracy. Let’s try something harder.
“Spin 360 degrees, do a split, and clap twice.”
With agility that defied its size, Garuru spun like a top back to its starting point, then dropped into a split and struck its hands together.
“Pa pa~” Its swift response and powerful movements stirred a breeze in the bedroom.
Whoa! That’s impressive!
“Can you speak?”
Garuru gave no response; evidently, this exceeded its capabilities.
But even so, this was already astonishing. Wu You wondered if every alchemical lifeform could so precisely comprehend his commands—he’d find out in time.
For now, though, perhaps he ought to find some clothes for Garuru. Thanks to the supplementary sketching function of the alchemical drawing board, even though Wu You hadn’t thought about it deliberately, Garuru’s pronounced masculine features were rather conspicuous.
...
1 a.m., at the entrance to Xugou Village, two vans were quietly rolling into the village.
Inside, around a dozen rough-looking young men sat. The leader, bald and burly, was none other than Xiang Biao, the demolition team captain.
By day, these men wore hard hats as demolition workers; by night, they wielded pipes as gangsters.
“Biao, that kid’s alone. Send two brothers and it’s done—why bring so many?” asked a middle-aged man with a buzz cut.
Xiang Biao chuckled, “I’m not just going to break his legs and send him to keep his father Wu Jianguo company—I’m going to smash their house too.”
The van erupted in praise: “Biao, you’re ruthless,” “Biao, you’re brilliant,” and so on.
The vans slowly drove into the village, stopping outside the fence of the Wu family’s contracted land.
The dozen men got out, carrying pipes, hammers, or knives.
...
Inside the bedroom, Wu You was still awake—too excited to sleep, no matter how he tried to calm down.
The moment the vans stopped, Garuru, who had been resting by the door, suddenly opened its eyes.
It raised its head, lips curling with a beast’s characteristic snarl.
Wu You immediately sat up. Xiang Biao’s gaze and the old village chief’s warning were still fresh in his mind; Garuru’s reaction definitely meant it had detected something.
He quietly got out of bed, hurried to the living room window, and peered outside. In the distance beyond the fence, he could just make out a dozen figures carrying tools heading toward his home.
Wu You clenched his fist. These bastards really came—good, just as I hoped. Let’s collect some interest for Dad’s accident!
He issued orders to Garuru at his side.
“Do you see them? Drive those men out. Break the bald one’s leg for me.”
The Lion-faced Kong glanced out the window, amber eyes flashing with a vertical slit in the center.
Shnk—its claws extended fully from all four limbs.
Damn! Wu You was startled, quickly adding, “Don’t kill anyone.”
Garuru didn’t go out the front door. Instead, it climbed upstairs, leaped from the second-floor rear balcony, and vanished into the night.
If not for the glowing dot marking Garuru’s location in the biological alchemy system, Wu You would have had no idea where it was—there wasn’t a single sound.
...
Xiang Biao’s crew had entered the fence. Ahead was a self-poured concrete path, flanked by vast fields of corn and some pumpkin and loofah trellises. The Wu family grew all sorts of seasonal vegetables and supplementary grains, and their house was still several hundred meters ahead.
In the group was a young man wearing glasses, looking bookish. He carried a pipe, nervously glancing around.
Beside him, the buzz-cut middle-aged man couldn’t take his twitchy behavior anymore and asked, “Hey, Huazi, what are you looking for? You’re making me nervous too.”
Huazi hesitated. “Brother Dong, I feel like something’s watching us. Maybe… you should tell Biao to call it off tonight. I’m really spooked!”
Xiang Biao overheard and turned, smacking Huazi’s head.
“Stop being paranoid. You watch too many horror movies. Get it done and finish early.” He glanced at the others. “The big boss says after this house’s gone, everyone gets twenty thousand.”
A subdued cheer went up.
By now, Garuru was wearing Wu Jianguo’s old leather jacket. Wu Jianguo had bought it online two years ago, but ordered it too large and never wore it. Despite its size, the black leather jacket was still stretched tight on Garuru, paired with black elastic shorts, exuding a violent aesthetic more exaggerated than Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.
Garuru crouched in the distant cornfield, beast eyes narrowed, watching those dozen pitiful prey.