Universe Infinite Canteen

Blood rained down from the sky, pitter-pattering for a good half minute.

Ma Lu regretted tossing away his goggles earlier to show off, which resulted in his face getting smothered with the flesh and tissue of the Iron-Eating Scarabs.

Not far away, those hunters who were participating in the assessment, and the new members who had just joined the Twin Sunflower Hunting Group, all stood with their mouths agape, sunk in silence.

Even those among them who had the most faith in Ma Lu hadn't expected the battle to end so quickly.

From start to finish, it hadn't even taken a second.

The seemingly invincible Iron-Eating Scarab, not catching even one punch from that man, had exploded into fireworks in the air.

Even Mai Mai, who had fought alongside Ma Lu before, had a look of disbelief.

"Deputy leader... Has he evolved again? What a waste, just like that an Iron-Eating Scarab is gone. If we could have brought it back, it would be worth at least a hundred thousand Electric Degrees. Luckily, there's still the guild's reward to claim.

"But after deducting the cost of round-trip tickets and medical expenses, we'll probably just break even," Mai Mai lamented after doing the math.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

By that time, Ma Lu had already walked back.

Looking at the figure stained red with blood, all the hunters present couldn't help but hold their breath, feeling a tangible, overwhelming pressure.

Ma Lu continued walking until he stood in front of Boggy, only then did he stop and lower his voice to speak again.

"Do you have any paper with you? It seems... some of the flesh got into my eyes."

"......"

In any case, so ended the Twin Sunflower Hunting Group's recruitment assessment, thrilling yet without danger.

Except for Aes, who had fainted, everyone felt that the journey had been worthwhile, having witnessed the spectacle of the Group's, no... the Giant Curtain's top expert single-handedly blowing up the Iron-Eating Scarab.

Even if they didn't get to join the Twin Sunflower Hunting Group in the end, the experience was worth the price of admission.

As for the final results, Boggy would have to discuss with the other members of the Hunting Group, taking into consideration the current team structure before making a final decision.

After returning to the city, Ma Lu first went to the cold storage as per his prior agreement with Boggy; he had helped Boggy unlock her second psychic power, and in return, she would give him a third of the prey she caught.

A month had passed, and his cold storage was roughly a thousand pounds heavier in stock, though most of it was 2-star and 3-star ingredients, with only one 4-star ingredient—a Flower-backed Leaf Toad Leg weighing about a hundred pounds.

Ma Lu placed the toad leg into the Collection Bag, and took an additional hundred pounds of leftover Earth Dragon Meat and Emperor Redback Scorpion Meat, planning to use them for the BBQ party.

Boggy's strength had indeed grown rapidly, but at this stage, dealing with 4-star beasts was pretty much her limit.

Moreover, following the recent beast tide, the powerful creatures near the Giant Curtain had suffered heavy losses, and not only the Twin Sunflower Hunting Group, but other hunting groups had also found it difficult to catch any rare prey lately.

However, after coming out of the cold storage, Boggy still had a surprise for Ma Lu.

"Is this... a Lava Giant Lizard?"

Ma Lu looked at the fist-sized red lizard swimming in the boiling pot and raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly," said Boggy. "We found it under some hot sand while hunting last week. It must have just molted recently, plus it's a female."

"Oh, that's perfect for pairing with the male I caught before."

Aside from establishing the division of hunting spoils with Boggy, Ma Lu had last asked her to look for young wild beasts, planning to bring them back to the Desktop Farm to breed.

Not only had Boggy found a female Lava Giant Lizard as per his request, but she had also captured or bought, by various means, young beasts like the Sickle-horned Antelope, Six-Hoofed Grey Wild Buffalo, Black-Crowned Deer, and the Three-humped Wolf Camel…

All pairs, one male and one female, with a total weight not exceeding three hundred pounds.

These ingredients were mostly 2-star, with none exceeding 3-star in rank. They might not be particularly outstanding in rarity; however, their advantage lay in being comparable to their counterparts in another dimension. Moreover, those counterparts were all on the list of edible species.

Cooking such ingredients was more easily accepted by ordinary diners; there was no need to worry about the presentation being overly bizarre.

After sorting out the purchases for the Desktop Farm, Ma Lu strolled around the city's market, buying several types of meats and filling up the Collection Bag.

Because his Traveler's Bracelet had been upgraded to Level 6, he now had much more active time than before, almost 4 hours left after taking care of business.

Ma Lu had wanted to go to Little Bear Bar for a drink, but news of his return had already spread around the city, along with the fresh feat of him punching an Iron-Eating Scarab to smithereens.

As a result, wherever he went now, he was surrounded by a large crowd of people.

Ma Lu's hand was practically soft from signing autographs when a motorcycle stopped in front of him.

Before Ma Lu had time to think, he jumped on, and the desert motorcycle quickly sped away with the two of them, stopping 10 minutes later in front of an apartment building.

The leather-clad rider in front of him took off her helmet, revealing none other than the red-headed He Yueji.

"I waited for you and when you didn't show up, I guessed you must have been blocked by the crowd, hahaha."

"...Okay, you guessed right, so this is where you live?"

Ma Lu looked around at the building next to him.

"Correct," said He Yueji, "Since you're here, why not come up and sit for a while? Otherwise, you'll get surrounded by spectators again."

Ma Lu thought about it and, seeing as he still had plenty of time left, he didn't refuse.

He Yueji's apartment was on the top floor. She led Ma Lu up there and when she was about to open the door, she suddenly remembered something. Her face changed, and she said somewhat frantically, "Wait outside for a moment, just a bit."

After that, she rushed into the room and shut the door behind her. It took about half a minute before she opened the door again and said, panting, "Okay, you can come in now."

Upon entering, the first thing Ma Lu saw was an empty display cabinet right in the center of the room.

"What's inside here?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." He Yueji subtly kicked a travel bag under the sofa.

Ma Lu didn't think much of it. It was just a casual question, and if He Yueji didn't want to say more, he wasn't going to pry.

The deputy leader of the Cyren Hunting Group opened the refrigerator, poured some wine into two glasses, scooped in a couple of spoonfuls of Honey Lizard eggs into the glasses to make Bubble Wine, and handed one to Ma Lu before sitting down next to him.

"Tell me about your journey this past month."

Ma Lu sipped his wine, "What do you want to hear about?"

"Anything is fine," He Yueji said, leaning in with a mischievous smile.

But just as Ma Lu had started talking, the room suddenly went dark.

"What happened?"

"Ah, I think my electricity card must be out of credit."

"Really? At this time?" Read chapters at empire

"Yeah, I bought some new equipment recently and used up all the money on the card, but no worries, once the goods from this hunt are divided up, I'll have money again."

"Then why are you taking off your clothes?"

"Because I bought new equipment and was planning to try it on for you. You should strip too," urged He Yueji.

"Why do I need to strip if you're trying on clothes for me to see?"

"Because the power is out, and the air conditioning cannot work either, soon the temperature in the room will rise, so it's cooler if you take them off," He Yueji declared righteously.

"..."