Chapter 53: Choice

Beanstalk Village.

"This, this, the little hamster has fainted!" Cheng Yue cried out anxiously, attempting to pick up the little hamster.

"No, no, don't move!" the old village chief quickly stopped her. "The little hamster was probably controlled by Chu Jiu using his special ability. If we touch it casually, it might end up harming Chu Jiu instead!"

Flustered and panicked, the crowd found themselves completely at a loss.

What should they do? What should they do?

The object in the box remained unrecovered, there was no telling if more monsters would appear, and Chu Jiu was unresponsive, his very life and death uncertain...

At this most agonizing moment, Lin Wen shouted at the top of her lungs, "Ahead, someone is coming!"

Everyone looked up and saw that someone was indeed approaching! A figure was striding toward them from the direction of the wasteland!

Who could that be?

In the moonlight and firelight, the approaching figure was dressed entirely in black, wearing a chilling expression, and carrying someone horizontally in his arms.

Cheng Yue, whose eyesight was the sharpest among them, recognized the person and gasped, "Chu Jiu! That person is holding Chu Jiu in his arms!"

Ignoring every obstacle on the path, the man strode right up to the roadside sign, carefully laid Chu Jiu down upon a bed of dry grass nearby, and said in a chilling tone, "I am a friend of Chu Jiu."

"He entrusted me to retrieve what is buried beneath the roadside sign."

With that, he made a gesture indicating for them to scatter.

His voice, demeanor, and posture all exuded an oppressive authority that made it difficult for anyone to disobey.

He barely managed to prop himself up into a sitting position, staring blankly at Lu Qingyan: "Lu Qingyan! Am I still dreaming?"

"Everything will be fine."

Among this group of people—or rather, among all the residents of Beanstalk Village—Aileen, whose family was the most well-off, immediately spoke up, "Bring him to my house! I'll tidy up a room for Xiao Jiu!"

Coupled with what Aileen had shared earlier: "Chu Jiu turned into a little hamster... and in his hamster form, he dug out so many items for us, while holding off the monsters alongside his other pets..."

Douglas: "..."

By this time, the man in black had already walked to the base of the roadside sign. Frowning slightly at the dirt pit the villagers had dug and the wooden box discarded to the side, he raised his right hand, encased in a black glove, and made a grabbing motion toward the pit—

At that moment, he felt a slight coolness on his forehead—

Instead, it used its tiny paws to gently stroke Chu Jiu's cheek.

Douglas walked over and asked softly, "Is Xiao Jiu awake?"

Aileen did not ask any further questions and carried the tray out of the room.

In his dream, his beloved canned-food cat had transformed into a massive black cat—so huge it could carry him entirely upon its back.

"We... who said we couldn't do it?!"

"When Mr. Lu went out this morning, he mentioned you would wake up today and asked me to prepare breakfast according to the recipe he provided."

Little Canned Cat was indeed fast asleep.

*

"Little Canned Cat, thank you for saving me..."

Given that there were nature spirits and beastmen in the wilderness, the existence of a mystical beast or two was hardly strange.

They were three people whose hands and feet were bound, babbling incoherently and raving madly.

Chu Jiu asked half casually, half purposefully, "The other night, was it the large-sized Little Canned Cat that carried me back?"

Fortunately, the fur beneath him was exceptionally warm.

Aileen explained that after letting Xiao Jiu rest in the guest room last night, she noticed he might have been unaccustomed to a new bed, tossing and turning and constantly kicking off the blankets.

Now, acting on Mr. Lu's suggestion and in order to confuse any outsiders' prying eyes, everyone in Beanstalk Village had agreed on a unified cover story:

Aileen: "You should appreciate it: Wow, what a pure and innocent romance between two young men! One is restrained and the other bright, one arrow poised on the string while the other remains utterly clueless, ahhh, I just hope they can get together soon!"

The sand and soil instantly rustled loudly, accompanied by the faint sound of cracking and shattering stones.

*

"How is Xiao Jiu doing?"

Lu Qingyan slowly withdrew his hand. "Hmm?"

*

Aileen dragged Douglas into the kitchen and lowered her voice, "Members of the Royal Guard have strict requirements for marriage, don't they? For instance, their spouses must remain permanently stationed in the capital city, or something similar."

Douglas, who had gone to considerable lengths to win Aileen's hand back in the day, nodded in deep agreement. "Understood."

Having received a confirmation, Chu Jiu still felt a strange lingering sensation in his heart, unable to quite put a finger on what it meant.

"Heh heh, I knew my guess was spot on!"

"Indeed, the Association is stronger and wealthier than us now, and they even command such devious tricks as 'being able to trigger a monster stampede'."

"Daddy! Uncle! Big Brother Chu Jiu is at our house!"

"How could his sphere of activity possibly be confined to just the capital city?"

"Delicious, isn't it?"

It turned out to be Chu Jiu's "pet rabbit."

Douglas noted that Chu Jiu had contributed the most and suffered the worst injuries during this stampede.

"We can become a prosperous Beanstalk Town, a developed Beanstalk City! We can have our own guard, becoming a formidable city that anyone will think twice about before daring to touch us!"

While Douglas hurried back home, Regar intended to run over to the pioneer's cabin to check on Ah Jiu, only to see Mary running toward him:

By this point, anyone could see that someone had intentionally tried to harm Beanstalk Village, taking advantage of the absence of the village's strongest fighters to wipe out the entire settlement using monsters.

Chu Jiu slowly squatted down beside it and whispered softly:

"The spirit beast, the villagers, and the village are all safe."

"But whenever Xiao Jiu faces danger, no matter how distant he is, he will rush to help Xiao Jiu!"

Although Lu Qingyan was present, he had hardly said a word.

When Chu Jiu rushed back to the pioneer's cabin, the corpses of the monsters covering the ground had already been completely cleared away, incorporated into the [Natural Fertilizer Pile].

Old Zhao: "Ah, it must be a special ability. That kind of animal-type special ability."

He was about to head to the guest room when Aileen quietly reminded him, "Going in there right now might not be very convenient."

Lu Qingyan pressed his lips together lightly.

It felt as though Lu Qingyan was checking his temperature with his hand.

*

"It was this man named Lu Qingyan who carried Chu Jiu out of the wasteland."

Yet three years later, he would take his pioneering points and leave for good—

"And as for Lu Qingyan, he respects Xiao Jiu's wishes while unable to defy his own duty, so—"

Chu Jiu lowered his head and kissed the little fellow's furry forehead.

Option one: Keep a low profile and live with his tail tucked between his legs. Remain a remote, impoverished village forever—a place where people had to count every grain of corn before cooking and scavenge dry grass for warmth—so that the Association would completely forget about them. That way, everyone would be safe.

"I will temporarily leave it in Chu Jiu's custody."

...Surely it wasn't the little cat that had told him.

Aileen smiled and placed a cup of honey water by Chu Jiu's bedside. "As long as you're awake, that's what matters. It's been two whole days—"

"Such beautiful eyes... so gorgeous..."

"Let me tell you, if Xiao Jiu ever suddenly starts asking you questions like 'What do you think of Lu Qingyan as a person?', that means he's finally starting to figure things out!"

With a curved smile in his eyes, Chu Jiu drifted off to sleep once more.

Douglas: "..."

Chu Jiu's mind remained wrapped in a chaotic fog, still unable to completely separate dream from reality.

Aileen said with a grin:

Douglas paused in surprise. "At the time, Chu Jiu's usual pet—an exotic beast he presumably controlled with his special ability—that black cat grew larger and carried Chu Jiu away ahead of us."

Then what did that have to do with Chu Jiu...

"Even if we swallow our pride, the Association might not necessarily let us go."

Douglas: "Hmm..."

Even though the man was unwilling to disclose his true identity, a brief conversation made it clear that his status was likely extraordinary.

*

This time, the Association had failed to successfully "teach Beanstalk Village a lesson." Unless Beanstalk Village completely faded into obscurity and the villagers and their products never appeared in a major city like Moon Sea City ever again, there would certainly be a second or third "lesson."

As he was thinking this, Aileen added, "Mr. Lu has spent most of his time in the room accompanying you these past few days, terrified that something might happen to you."

All of these accounts matched up with what had happened at the time.

Douglas: "...Oh..."

After waking up, Chu Jiu had a multitude of things to attend to.

The villagers could not help harboring doubts: What kind of object could possibly be hidden in such a deep place?

Douglas: "Ah?!"

It took Chu Jiu a long time to regain his wits, the expression on his face finally relaxing significantly as he muttered, "Thank you, goodness..."

Old Du whispered, "This must be a special ability too, right?"

As for what that giant cat really was, the dwarf beastman could not explain it clearly either.

An unfamiliar bed, unfamiliar pillows and quilts...

*

Unfortunately, the giant cat had not carried him in flight for very long.

Chu Jiu asked, "And then... you handed me over to Lu Qingyan?"

The area around the cabin was clean and refreshing, with unknown purple flowers blooming in the yard and cobblestones embedded in the ground gleaming brightly in the sunlight.

He had sprawled across Little Canned Cat's warm and soft back, wrapping his arms around its neck and inhaling the comforting scent of the cat to his heart's content.

A member of the special guard directly under the royal family.

"The village is safe."

"He must truly love pioneering, farming, and a free-spirited life!"

Only... how on earth did Lu Qingyan know about that method?

The man raised his right hand slightly higher, spread his fingers, and then closed them—

Returning home and listening to Aileen's account, they finally learned what had happened in Beanstalk Village the previous night.

Aileen walked in carrying a cup of honey water on a tray. "Did I just hear Xiao Jiu's voice?"

"But I seemed to have dreamed of you too..."

Mhm...

"When that time comes, make sure you don't mess things up, understand?"

...Why on earth would I think that?

In other words, from now on, Beanstalk Village had two paths before it:

Possessing great special abilities, a lofty yet undisclosed status, an innate oppressive presence without bullying the weak...

Ahead in the darkness, a small, white, furry ball bounced out—

In this kind of weather, kicking off the blanket was bound to result in catching a cold!

Realizing this, Chu Jiu instantly felt overwhelmingly drowsy once more, his body too soft to even sit up, lacking even the strength to ask "Where on earth is this?". He closed his eyes and collapsed back onto the pillow.

Douglas frowned slightly. "Then I definitely have to go take a look."

Yet in the end, the first question he actually asked was:

And then it seemed as though he had heard Lu Qingyan's voice?