Spoils of War: Shegu Ring

As the distance closed, Hei Miao's sharp sense of smell came into play. "The core is in its mouth, cover me!"

"Alright! Hurry!"

Ye Yu's eyes flickered. She slipped into the nearest mirror and emerged from another, using the maneuver to distance herself from the crowd. At the same time, she took a moment to control her three flying daggers, spinning them rapidly like a meat grinder to attack the wide mouth. The lower lip of the Wide-Mouthed Chef Monster was instantly riddled with more holes, and shreds of flesh rained down from the sky along with fresh blood.

The benefit of this was increased attack power; the downside was the heavy drain on her energy and concentration, making it unsustainable.

However, the wounds and pain inflicted by the flying daggers successfully drew the full hatred of the Wide-Mouthed Chef Monster. It glared furiously at Ye Yu, roaring repeatedly, "Kill her! Kill her!"

Meanwhile, Wu Xi had scrambled to the top floor. Standing on a high, ruined wall, he aimed at the blood-drenched wide mouth, kicked off hard, and leaped directly into it.

He could already smell the core; it was right inside the tongue of that wide mouth. Wu Xi eagerly bared his cat claws. His fingertips extended, instantly becoming longer and sharper than tiger claws, each tip resembling a small dagger.

Soon, the fleshy tongue was gouged with a bloody hole. The Wide-Mouthed Chef Monster showed an expression of agony, screaming with its mouth wide open. It tried to shove its tentacles into its mouth to save itself, but they were swiftly sliced apart by the high-speed spinning flying daggers.

On the other side, fresh blood soaked the black cat's fur, but his golden eyes remained fixed on the half-exposed chunk of flesh.

A Tier 5 core! This was his!

Once he consumed this Tier 5 core and restored a portion of his strength, he could immediately break free from Ye Yu's shackles and eat her!

No, wait. A thought suddenly flashed through Wu Xi's mind. Ye Yu had promised to buy him cake, barbecue, and a little suit not long ago. If he ate her, wouldn't all of that be gone?

Maybe he shouldn't eat her just yet. Wu Xi suddenly struck with his claws as the Wide-Mouthed Chef Monster screamed in agony. Blood splattered onto his large, fluffy black face. The black cat stuck out his pink tongue to lick the blood from the corner of his mouth, clawing ruthlessly while thinking smugly: *He would capture Ye Yu and make her his slave. When the time came, the cake, barbecue, and little suit would still be his!*

But as he dug for the core, Wu Xi's claws hit something hard. The black cat's movements suddenly froze. Right at that moment, a dark shadow flashed before his eyes. A glint of light flashed in the shadow's hand, and as it vanished, the Tier 5 core half-buried in the tongue disappeared with it!

Ye Yu, who was supposed to be on the ground, had vanished. The Jing Nu had been lurking in the mirror for a long time, and now a Tier 5 Guaidan core was in her hand!

*Bang!*

With the core gouged out, the screaming Wide-Mouthed Chef Monster and its countless oily snake-like tentacles collapsed into a puddle of minced meat. Without the tentacles supporting it, the precarious office building instantly collapsed into a pile of ruins. Black and red minced meat mixed with a foul, bloody stench covered the wreckage. Smelly heads rolled all over the ground. At a glance, it looked like a living purgatory.

The workers who had been chasing Ye Yu just moments ago collapsed to the ground like robots whose power had been cut. They would probably wake up with bruises all over, but this was a good thing.

Under the rules of this Guaidan Factory, rabbits were not human, and workers were not human either. Even the survival rules were demeaning, forcing them to escape through a dog hole. From this perspective, these workers were much luckier than Wang Xia and the others. At least they could leave this black-hearted factory as proper human beings.

Furthermore, when the "stuck door" opened, those "Guaidan residents" who had been directly contaminated would forget everything they had experienced in this Guaidan Factory upon waking, returning to their ordinary lives.

*

Having secured the Tier 5 core, Ye Yu was in a good mood. Ignoring the blood-soaked ground, she walked toward the ruins with a hint of smugness, looking at the large black cat lying motionless on the debris.

"Hey, are you alright?"

*Don't come over!* Wu Xi's voice echoed directly in Ye Yu's mind, laced with pain. Just as Ye Yu thought the large black cat had been outsmarted and was throwing a tantrum, Wu Xi gritted his teeth and said with difficulty: *Use your flying daggers to destroy the statue in front of me, hurry!*

Ye Yu was startled: *What? A statue?*

Wu Xi seemed extremely anxious: *Just do as I say. I won't hold a grudge about you stealing my core!*

*What do you mean "your core"? This is clearly mine!* Ye Yu immediately and warily asserted her ownership of the Tier 5 core. However, seeing Wu Xi's strange emotion and attitude, she still raised her hand slightly, directing her flying daggers toward the far end, where a pile of minced meat covered something in front of the large black cat.

At the same time, she braced herself, ready to sacrifice the large black cat and drive away if anything went wrong.

Soon, the sound of daggers piercing wood came from a distance. Hearing the sound, the wooden statue Wu Xi mentioned didn't seem solid, but hollow?

Ye Yu exerted a bit of force, and the flying daggers spun rapidly. Amidst the cracking sounds, the wooden statue was instantly sliced into woodchips. Incredibly, several Tier 1 Guaidan cores rolled out from the debris!

A quick glance revealed about eight or nine of them. While Ye Yu was surprised, a bowl-mouth-thick, emerald-green Qing Mang rushed out from the side, its wide mouth gaping like a forklift as it charged straight for the pile of Tier 1 cores.

Before Ye Yu could react, the weakened Wu Xi suddenly burst with power, tangling with the Qing Mang. *Ye Yu, are you dead? Can't you see this rotten snake trying to steal our stuff? Help me!*

He couldn't beat Ye Yu only because she was too cunning, but what kind of creature was this snake to dare steal his spoils of war?!

Ye Yu snapped out of it, immediately raising her hand to send three flying daggers straight at the Qing Mang's head. With the human and cat working together, the Qing Mang avoided Wu Xi's fangs but was struck by three flying daggers at its seven-inch mark. Writhing in pain, the Qing Mang coiled tightly around Wu Xi and bit down on his lame leg. Normally, this minor injury was nothing to Wu Xi, but he immediately realized the snake was venomous!

The black cat's poisoned pupils contracted. He then turned ruthless, biting down hard on the Qing Mang's seven-inch mark and refusing to let go.

*Bang!*

Someone knocked over a box against the wall. It wasn't Wu Xi, nor was it Ye Yu, but a third person hiding in the dark.

Ye Yu hadn't recalled Ying Fu and Ying Mu earlier; she had kept them hidden in the shadows near her. Her original intention was to prevent Wu Xi from turning on her if he felt cheated, keeping Ying Fu and Ying Mu as a surprise element. Just then, someone crept closer, hiding behind a wall not far away.

Although Ying Fu and Ying Mu lacked vision, they could sense the shadows of living things nearby. The wall was exactly where Ying Mu was hiding. Thus, the moment the Qing Mang appeared, Ye Yu had already noticed this uninvited guest.

She immediately took a few steps and saw a person wearing a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood covering most of their face and a mask covering the rest. This person, like her, was wrapped up tightly and looked suspicious!

So, without asking who it was, she directly redirected her flying daggers toward them.

The opponent was clearly an Extraordinary. With a flick of his hand, several scaled Qing Mang with cold, vertical pupils appeared out of thin air. They coiled and materialized to attack Ying Fu and Ying Mu. Ying Fu was unfortunately caught. Since it was only Tier 1 and relatively fragile as an assassin, Ying Fu was instantly shredded into a mass of shadow, flowing back beneath Ye Yu's feet.

Ye Yu raised her hand, and three flying daggers flashed with cold light, flying toward the Qing Mang. Ying Mu turned into a puddle of shadow, swiftly bypassing the snakes to attack the opponent again. One flying dagger flew into Ying Mu's hand. Armed, Ying Mu's attack power surged, plunging a dagger into the hooded person's thigh.

"Ugh!"

The hooded person was indeed resilient, only letting out a muffled groan that sounded like a man. Ye Yu didn't care who he was; she showed no hesitation, immediately directing a flying dagger toward his throat.

*Clang!*

The hooded person leaned back sharply to dodge, but a bloody scratch was still sliced across his neck. The red string around his neck broke, and a circular pendant fell to the ground. Realizing he was outmatched, he immediately controlled the remaining Qing Mang to block the front, covering his retreat.

Seeing the Qing Mang charging fearlessly at her, Ye Yu, being fragile herself, didn't dare fight them head-on and quickly retreated into the room. A few minutes later, the Qing Mang died, and their corpses quickly dissolved. The hooded man had already fled. Ye Yu used her high-speed movement to chase him outside, but she only saw car exhaust. The man had arrived in a small car. Her high-speed movement was only Tier 3; no matter how fast she was, she couldn't outrun a car.

She could have chased him in the 712, but Ye Yu decisively gave up, and Ying Mu quickly turned back.

"Meow! You already have a Tier 5 core, can't you leave some scraps for me? We agreed on a ninety-ten split, you're going back on your word!"

Drenched in blood and looking disheveled, the large black cat meowed furiously while fighting with Ying Fu and Ying Mu.

Ye Yu snorted coldly without a hint of guilt. "Listen to you, acting as if you keep your word. If I hadn't been clever, that Tier 5 core would have been stolen by you, you cunning black cat!"

After working hard for half the day, Master Wu was so angry he almost spat blood. "Despicable woman! How do you have the face to accuse me?"

When there was an enemy, they were tacit teammates, but once the enemy was gone, the human and cat immediately fought. The weakened and poisoned Wu Xi was naturally no match for Ye Yu. After a brief struggle, having little strength left, his body swayed, and he collapsed completely onto the ground.

This time, Wu Xi didn't get back up. Knowing he was outmatched, he lay on the ground, gasping for breath, without even the strength to curse Ye Yu.

But just as Wu Xi was waiting for death in despair, a fair hand suddenly appeared in front of him, carrying the scent of five Tier 1 cores.

Wu Xi was stunned. He looked up at Ye Yu, his brain failing to react. His golden cat eyes, usually sharp, were now wide and round, his face filled with confusion, looking rare... cute?

Ye Yu was momentarily captivated by the cat's cuteness, and her voice softened slightly.

"I was just joking with you earlier. You worked hard today. It wasn't easy to defeat that Guaidan, and you even got bitten by a venomous snake. Look at this little paw, it's swollen to the size of a head. You've really suffered. Come, hurry and eat the cores. When we go back, we'll have barbecue... No, we'll eat barbecue for a whole month to nourish you!"

Hearing this, Wu Xi didn't care about the five squirming pieces of flesh, staring blankly at Ye Yu's almond eyes. "For me?"

Ye Yu's eyes flickered, and she smiled as she squatted down.

"Of course they're for you. Eat them quickly. Look at your paw, it looks terrible. It must hurt a lot."

Her fair fingers gently touched Wu Xi's swollen, poisoned paw, her almond eyes showing worry. "That snake looked highly venomous. Can eating cores cure the poison? Are five enough?"

The girl's almond eyes were as gentle as water, and her voice was filled with pity. Perhaps because the summer sun was too intense, as she stood amidst this mountain of corpses and sea of blood, casting a shadow over him, the large black cat dazed for a moment, staring up at her blankly. Her golden eyes reflected the girl's silhouette; she seemed to be glowing with the sun behind her.

Had Ye Yu's voice ever been this gentle before? Moreover, she was actually willing to share cores with him and even cared about his injury?

Never having been treated so gently, Wu Xi awkwardly tucked his paw under his body.

"It's just a mere snake venom. If my internal injuries weren't unhealed, this poison wouldn't even scratch me. Even now, with my self-recovery and detoxification abilities, three cores are enough."

The slightly boastful words slipped out, and the black cat suddenly froze. *Oh no, did the poison make him stupid? How could he tell the truth? Ye Yu is so stingy; once he said three were enough, would she...*

"How could three be enough? You worked so hard today, you must have five."

Before Wu Xi could think further, the girl's hand gently stroked from his head to his back, while her other hand considerately brought the cores to his mouth.

"Come, eat."

"Really for me?"

"Really for you."

Under the girl's gentle voice, the mesmerized Wu Xi lowered his head and ate the five Tier 1 cores. As soon as the cores entered his stomach, they turned into waves of energy coursing through his body.

"Alright, since you're exhausted, rest here first."

Ye Yu stroked the black cat's head again. In the past, if Ye Yu dared to stroke him like this, it would definitely provoke the lion. But now, Wu Xi felt his strength depleted, so he lay on the ground with his ears drooped, letting her warm palm stroke his head.

Ye Yu, while trying to maintain her gentle, high-pitched voice telling him to rest well, turned around and looked at her hand thoughtfully.

As she grew stronger, her suppression of Wu Xi naturally became stronger. Previously, she had wanted Wu Xi dead, but now she felt his existence held greater value for her. That was why she had saved him.

And ten Tier 1 cores might not even equal one Tier 2 core. Out of nine Tier 1 cores, she couldn't bear to give them all, only giving five. Compared to that Tier 5 core, this value was just a drop in the bucket. It didn't even meet the agreed ninety-ten split. Her stingy persona remained unshaken.

Ye Yu had been prepared to be cursed by Wu Xi as shameless and stingy, but... *laughable, so this cat prefers the gentle approach over force! He actually likes a sweet, coaxing tone?*

But thinking about it, it seemed normal. After spending these few days together, she had figured out some of Wu Xi's character. This cat seemed cold and cunning, but he was actually narcissistic and boastful, with very obvious personality flaws.

A glint of mischief flashed in Ye Yu's almond eyes. *Hehe, since that's the case, I won't stand on ceremony.*

*

After a victorious battle, the most important thing to do was naturally to plunder the spoils.

Ye Yu eagerly stepped into the pool of blood, searching through the chaotic ruins, afraid of leaving the remains of the Tier 5 Guaidan in some corner.

Soon, she successfully found a Happy Beef Sausage and a blank little notebook titled "Worker Behavior Manual." The logic of Guaidan was always chaotic, so it was reasonable that the wide mouth didn't drop anything mouth-related after death.

Recalling the information from her textbook, she closed her eyes and used the core in her body to resonate with the Guaidan remains, thereby "reading" the rules of these two items.

Happy Beef Sausage: A Tier 2 Guaidan relic, a single-use item. It can contaminate the creature that consumes it, turning them into a cat for a period of time. The specific level of contamination depends on the consumer's strength and willpower.

"Worker Behavior Manual": A Tier 3 Guaidan relic. By writing rules, it can inflict mental contamination on marked workers.

After clearly "reading" the rules of the "Worker Behavior Manual," Ye Yu snapped her eyes open, her face filled with surprise and joy. How much she had hated this terrifying mental contamination before was how much joy she felt now as the owner of the "Worker Behavior Manual"!

Mental contamination was a massive weapon! If she encountered another Guaidan in the future, she could just mark the Guaidan's true form as her worker and order it to commit suicide. This wasn't just a "Worker Behavior Manual"; it was practically a "Death Note"!

However, Ye Yu quickly discovered that as a Tier 3 Guaidan relic, the mental contamination of the "Worker Behavior Manual," though powerful, had significant limitations.

First, there must be a boss before there can be workers. She had to write her company's name on the first page of the notebook, then make the target wear a work uniform printed with her company's name, and the target must clearly have the concept of being her worker in their mind. Only then could the marking succeed, allowing mental contamination.

This limitation immediately crushed Ye Yu's fantasy of sweeping all before her. Nonetheless, based on the materials she had recently read, having this mental contamination trait made the "Worker Behavior Manual" top-tier even among the entire collection of Tier 3 Guaidan relics in the Shenzhou Investigation Coalition.

Ye Yu recalled the exchange rules in the "Guaidan Elimination Alliance." Excluding team divisions, an independent investigator who resolved a Tier 1 Guaidan and submitted the core would receive ten points. A Tier 2 Guaidan was one hundred points, a Tier 3 was one thousand points, and so on.

Since a Tier 5 Guaidan was the minimum required to drop a Tier 3 Guaidan relic, and subsequent upgrades required finding extremely rare craftsmen and consuming other cores and relics, Guaidan relics, though cheaper than cores, still cost exorbitant points in Ye Yu's eyes.

Ten thousand points were required to exchange for a decent Tier 3 Guaidan relic, and converting ten thousand points into money would be one million yuan!

Of course, independently resolving ten Tier 3 Guaidans and submitting the cores, or independently resolving one Tier 4 Guaidan and submitting the core to get ten thousand points, was still highly dangerous for low-level investigators.

The "Guaidan Elimination Alliance" only allowed points to be converted into money, not money into points. From this, it was clear that converting points to money was a loss, so unless they were extremely short on cash, investigators wouldn't bear to do it.

Ye Yu naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to do such a thing, but this didn't stop her from imagining that the little notebook in her hand was worth one million yuan! And that was the official price; it could fetch even more on the black market.

No wonder Uncle He said being an investigator could make money. Compared to the various benefits and point values of investigators, the minimum reward of five thousand yuan for a Tier 1 mission was practically the least worth mentioning!

Ye Yu carefully put the little notebook into her pants pocket. This was one million yuan, one million yuan! If not for her clothing limitations, she would have loved to stuff this "one million yuan" into her chest like the ancients did.

Next, she picked up the ten thousand... no, the Tier 2 sausage. The limitation of having to make the target consume it to take effect was also not small.

When she fought others, she couldn't just pull out a Happy Beef Sausage from her pocket in the middle of the fight and ask the big brother to eat a grilled sausage and spare her life, right? So this thing wasn't useful on the surface; it could only be used secretly to harm people. Or... eat it herself?

Ye Yu calculated quickly. This Happy Beef Sausage would only turn the person who ate it into a cat for a period of time, essentially forcing them to lower their intelligence and stripping them of their ability to resist. But it wouldn't cause any harm to the human body after they changed back. So in a desperate situation, maybe she could change her thinking and eat a Happy Beef Sausage herself?

One had to know that not every Guaidan would abuse kittens like this Guaidan Factory. If she encountered a Guaidan monster she couldn't beat, turning into a kitten might deceive the enemy and allow her to escape the battle, right?

Or if she was being chased, finding a corner to turn into a sexy kitten would allow her to run right past her pursuers, wouldn't it?

The more Ye Yu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Although her IQ would drop to a cat's level and her behavior might be uncontrollable, this indeed represented a ray of hope in a desperate situation!

But because of this, one Happy Beef Sausage was too little. Having had her appetite whetted by the "Worker Behavior Manual," Ye Yu looked down slightly on this humble sausage.

She put the Happy Beef Sausage into her other pocket with some regret. Then, as she was about to walk toward Wu Xi to use her sweet voice to care for this cat who preferred the gentle approach, her attention was caught by a glint on the ground under the sunlight.

Ye Yu walked over and immediately remembered that this was the pendant the hooded man had dropped earlier. No, to be precise, it was a bone ring.

She bent down to pick up the ring and examined it closely under the sun. Delicate, snow-white snake bones wound around three times, with five snake heads overlapping indistinctly, the center snake head biting its tail. A tiny, rice-grain-sized ruby on the forehead was what had just caught her eye.

This seemed to be a Shegu Ring crafted from the bones of a five-headed demonic snake. It was extremely exquisite. The tiny rubies on the pale snake bones looked like drops of bright red blood on snow, adding a touch of vivid color to the Shegu Ring, a perfect finishing touch. The overall design exuded a unique, eerie aesthetic, the kind that let anyone know at a glance that it was expensive and definitely not a cheap roadside item worth a dozen yuan.

So, Ye Yu's first reaction was: *Are these rubies real? Are they worth money? How much?*

Then, she held the ring against her finger. The band of this Shegu Ring was very small. Her fingers were slender, and it looked just right. The hooded man seemed to have a large frame, and she wasn't sure if he was a man or a woman, but she was certain he couldn't fit this ring on his fingers, which was why he wore it as a pendant around his neck.

What was the significance of this ring for him to go to such lengths to carry it? Ye Yu held the Shegu Ring in her palm, closing her eyes to sense it.

When she opened her eyes again, three flying daggers appeared out of thin air in front of her, then three became six, six became twelve, and finally, eighteen flying daggers appeared neatly before her, hovering around her!

However, this scene only lasted for an instant. Ye Yu felt a wave of exhaustion, as if her body had been hollowed out. Her legs went weak, and she swayed, almost falling. When she looked up again, the eighteen flying daggers had vanished.

But this didn't stop her from looking at the Shegu Ring in her hand with surprise and joy. She already understood its function. Its effect: Tier 3 Guaidan relic, Shegu Ring. Ability: Replication. It can replicate the original item up to five times its quantity at once!