Stranger Danger - Chapter 551: Is That You, Captain Gui?
Of course, using the Stomach of the Finger Eating Grandma came at a huge cost.
First, the user must sacrifice their fingers to use it. The more fingers they sacrificed, the more potent the effects.
Second, the Stomach of the Finger Eating Grandma was a living object. Naturally, it was filled with stomach acid and half-digested food. The user must withstand not just its horrible stench, but also the corrosive stomach acid. If they stayed inside the stomach for too long, there was a huge chance they might join the pool of digestive juice themselves.
That said, the bigger the price paid, the more potent a Strange Artifact became. That was the case for the Stomach of the Finger Eating Grandma. Not only could it temporarily disappear from the real world, it could even depart the space it had disappeared from without being detected.
Sixth Mouse had a lot of enemies as a matter of course, and he never failed to escape them using the Stomach of the Finger Eating Grandma… until now. He had no idea what the young man did, but he somehow forced him out of his pocket space and even dealt him a serious blow.
Regret like never before gripped Sixth Mouse. He knew the folly of overstaying his welcome, didn’t he? He was going to call it a day and go about his merry business, didn’t he? So why oh why did he get greedy and succumb to the temptation of one last heist?
It sure looked like it was going to be the last heist of his life alright. The dangerous presence behind him was getting closer and closer despite his best efforts to escape, and his face grew whiter and whiter as a result. despair was slowly but surely overcoming Sixth Mouse.
It was at this moment a group of people approached from a distance. The leader of the group was a huge, muscular man that looked more bear than human. He was carrying a massive, blood red axe behind his back. His followers were massive as well. Nearly all of them stood half a body taller than the surrounding crowd, and they were all carrying a massive axe on their shoulders. They reeked of blood and roguishness.
It didn’t take a genius to know that they were a group of violent murderers who had killed more than they could count.
Unlike most others, this group did not care if they offended the people around them. Every time someone stood in their way, they would violently shove them out of the way while yelling expletives the entire time. Their attitude was as flagrant as their actions.
Furious as they were, their victims took one look at them before choosing to stay silent. Those standing in front of the group also chose to move out of their way before they were moved out of the way.
Sixth Mouse had a different idea, however. When he saw the group, he immediately pounced toward them like he had found his saviors.
“Boss Xiong, help! Someone is trying to rob me!”
“What the fuck?!”
Try putting yourself in the leader’s shoes. You were strolling down a street with your head held high when suddenly, a wet, extremely smelly thing suddenly ran toward you at top speed. What would you do in this situation?
The big man did not even think. He immediately grabbed his axe and swung it at the incoming object.
Boom!
A red light severed heaven and earth. Sixth Mouse never expected his would-be savior to attack him, not to mention that the attack was beyond powerful. The axe force split him in half and killed him before he could react[1].
The axe force didn’t just split Sixth Mouse in half, or rather, Sixth Mouse was nowhere tough enough to diminish its power in the slightest. It continued forward and severed a couple of unfortunate passersby in half as well.
Seeing this, Ye Qing dashed forward and blocked in front of the axe force before it could cause any more harm. He then grabbed it with his bare hand, squeezed, and shattered it into smithereens.
Meanwhile, the big man was glancing left and right with a ferocious look on his face. “What the fuck! Who’s the bastard who tried to ambush me with shit? I swear I’ll tear them a new asshole with my axe!”
“Ahem… I don’t think that’s shit, brother. I think that’s a person,” one guy next to the big man spoke up.
“A person? Are you sure? What kind of person looks and smells like pure shit?” The big man did not believe him.
“No really, look. It has a head, a body, a pair of arms and legs, and even a bunch of intestines!” Another guy joined in.
“Huh. It does look like a person.” The big man bent down and looked the body up and down while pinching his nose tightly. “Wait a second. Is it just me, or does he look familiar for some reason?”
“Senior Mouse… I think he’s Senior Mouse!” Someone exclaimed in surprise.
“It’s him alright. Look at the bag behind his back. You never see him without his precious Strange Artifact!” A guy echoed in agreement.
“Sixth Mouse?” The big man squinted a little harder. “Huh. It really is that mouse. Who’s the bastard who killed my brother? I’m gonna kill him if it’s the last thing I do!”
Someone coughed. “Ahem… boss. You’re the one who killed him.”
“Oh right, I did, didn’t I? Never mind then.” The big man scratched his head before voicing his confusion. “But why did Sixth Mouse run into my axe of his own choice? Is he crazy, suicidal, or both?”
“Er, I wasn’t really paying attention, but I think he was crying for help before you killed him, boss,” someone answered.
“Crying for help? Are you sure?” The big man continued to scratch his head in puzzlement.
“I think so, boss.” The underling standing next to him nodded.
“If he’s crying for help, then someone must be trying to kill him.”
The big man’s eyes grew as wide as bronze bells as he slammed the butt of his axe on the ground, causing a huge pit as a result. As he scanned his surroundings with his hawk eyes, he roared, “Who is the bastard who tried to kill my brother? Show yourself so I can send you to his grave!”
A tidal wave of killing intent washed out of him, and it was so thick it was almost tangible. Scalp crawling, the surrounding people immediately backed away from the big man until a clearing appeared. The only one still standing in the clearing was the group… and Ye Qing.
“Are you the bastard who tried to kill my brother, boy?” The big man affixed his gaze on Ye Qing and snarled.
The big man was three meters tall and as wide as the broad side of a barn[2]. If he was a bear, then Ye Qing was like a little lamb who accidentally stumbled into the territory of a pack of bears.
Ye Qing did not react to the big man’s intimidation, however. He simply said slowly, “I was chasing him, yes, but I wasn’t going to kill him. I was just going to take back the item he stole.”
“He stole from you? What did he steal?” the big man asked.
“An invitation letter. You can check his Nature’s Shell if you don’t believe me,” Ye Qing answered.
“You, go check out Sixth Mouse’s Nature’s Shell.” The big man gestured at one of his followers. His follower obeyed and dug through the goo of blood and vomit without complaint.
A short while later, his follower found what he was looking for and checked its content. He confirmed, “Boss, it’s as he said. There really are a bunch of invitation letters inside the Nature’s Shell.”
“No, wait. These are all invitation letters to the Trueman feast!” Someone exclaimed in excitement.
The big man’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s awesome! With these invitation letters, we can bring a couple more brothers with us to the Bodhisattva’s sermon!”
“Ahem…”
Ye Qing wasn’t expecting Sixth Mouse to carry this many invitation letters with him either. At a glance, there were at least seven or eight invitation letters in the Nature’s Shell. The problem was that the group was obviously plotting to claim the invitation letters for himself, so he coughed and said politely, “Excuse me, can I please have my invitation letter back?”
“Your invitation letter?” The big man stared at him with his big eyes. “And what proof do you have that the invitation letter is yours? Will it fly back to your hand if you call its name?”
Ye Qing: “…” Do you think I’m Sun Wukong or something?
“My name is Joyless Ye. One of the invitation letters has my name on it,” Ye Qing explained patiently. He seriously did not want to get into more trouble if he could help it. He would leave as soon as he reclaimed his invitation letter.
“Boss, it’s as he said. His name is on the invitation letter,” someone pulled out an invitation letter and said.
“Huh?” The big man began furrowing his eyebrows in displeasure. “Who gave you the right to write your name on my invitation letter?”
Ye Qing: “…” Is that you, Captain Gui? [3]
Ye Qing sighed. “I have other proof that will prove that the invitation letter is mine.”
“Oh yeah? What is it?” The big man asked.
“Give me the invitation letter, and I’ll show you the proof,” Ye Qing answered.
“Hah! Do you think I’m stupid? What if I gave you the invitation letter, but you refuse to return it to me?” The big man sneered. “Plus, this is my stuff. Why should I give it to you?”
“You leave me no choice then.” Ye Qing sighed again. The big man didn’t look like the brightest bulb, so he was hoping that he could trick him into giving up the invitation letter. But now, he had no choice but to take it by force.
As soon as he finished, Ye Qing blurred and appeared in front of the big man.
Despite his size, the big man wasn’t slow in the slightest. He immediately swung his axe at Ye Qing. Judging from the sheer power behind the attack, it could split even a boulder in half, much less a flesh-and-blood person.
Some of the bystanders even looked away because they didn’t want to taint their eyes with the gruesome sight.
1. The irony is that Ye Qing might have let Sixth Mouse live if he just surrendered and gave up his goods. If you guys ever find yourself in a similar situation—no, I’m not accusing anyone of thievery, I’m just making an example—remember that a fine and maybe a night in a prison cell beats dying lol. ☜
2. His height isn’t an exaggeration, but his width is. Tell me if I should change it. ☜
3. This is a reference to a character in a 2007 TV series called “The Secret Facility”. ☜