Chapter 98: Chapter 97: Self-Destruction—Is There Really No Price to Pay? (3/4)

Looking at Ultraman Tiga who landed right in front of her, Qianqian had no idea what to say...

Feels just like a dream.

One second ago I was thinking about submitting to fate, and now, Penman has disappeared off to god knows which corner.

Although she had no idea how the other party survived the self-detonation, that was his secret. No need to pry.

First, thank them. That never goes wrong.

"Thank you, senior!!!"

Qianqian bowed deeply, stretching her ligaments almost to the breaking point.

Then she stared at the little dog sitting upright, looking deadly serious at her.

Qianqian bowed just as hard to the dog, stretching her ligaments for a second round, nearing the full 180 degrees...

"Thank you, doggy!!!"

When she said that, the dog’s expression stayed serious, but its rapidly wagging tail made its happiness obvious.

But looking at this dog’s shape and posture, why does it look...

A bit like Teacher Lin’s dog.

Qianqian wasn’t exactly a dog expert. In her eyes, dogs of the same breed all looked pretty much the same.

And besides, this dog and Wangcai were obviously different—Wangcai has a colored head, this dog is colored below the neck. As for the color...

Exactly the same!

She secretly glanced at the person in the suit ahead. As for looks—can’t tell at all, but the build, seemed pretty close to Teacher Lin too!

Could it be...

Teacher Lin’s friend? Or maybe his actual brother?

The two of them each have a dog. One dyed the head, one dyed the body.

The more she thought about it, the more Qianqian found it reasonable—the logic totally held up.

Look, this person in front is obviously on a different track from Teacher Lin. Teacher Lin is a Superpower User, this guy looks like a Receptacle.

The source of their strength? Worlds apart.

Right after that, the suited person pulled out an unfolded A4 paper from a tiny women’s wallet, further proving Qianqian’s theory.

That women’s wallet must be a Contained Object too!

This suited person isn’t just an ordinary Receptacle, he’s most likely from the Hidden Cultivation Association!

Except for Hidden Cultivation, rarely does a Receptacle contain more than one Contained Object!

Who dates several people at once, unless they’re crazy?

A million thoughts flashed through her mind. When she took the paper handed to her, it confirmed Qianqian’s suspicions—

"’Notice to Remind to Go to Work’

Dear Ms. Qianqian:

Due to your unexplained absence from work for 1 minute, our company formally notifies you: please return promptly upon receipt of this letter and handle the appropriate leave procedures.

If you intend to quit, please submit a written application to shareholders Li Chuchu or Lin Hao. Only after approval may you resign.

Note: Salary will not be calculated for the absence period.

Ke Chen City Happy Milk Tea Co. (Seal)

Lin Hao (Signature)"

Looking at this ’Notice to Remind to Go to Work’, this person in front is clearly connected to Teacher Lin!

Qianqian’s eyes grew misty. Right when she was about to thank them again, Ultraman Tiga’s chest lit up red...

Swish!

Ultraman Tiga shot both hands toward the sky, pushed off hard with his legs, and rocketed skyward.

Then, the multicolored Little Black Dog suddenly jumped up from the ground, biting tightly onto the suited person’s ankle.

Just like that, Qianqian watched Ultraman Tiga dive into the clouds and disappear from sight.

At the spot where he vanished, a star twinkled in the air.

And as Tiga’s silhouette faded away, the cloud slowly dispersed.

That cloud didn’t say anything, but Qianqian somehow felt the cloud was kind of annoyed...

Maybe she was just too strung out. Once she relaxed, she started imagining even a cloud had consciousness.

Anyway, she needed to get to work pronto!

Teacher Lin even sent her a ’Notice to Remind to Go to Work’!

Qianqian ran down the mountain, but when she saw the animal corpses lying motionless, she murmured instinctively:

"Nature should be vibrant and full of life."

With every word, the little hill grew more lively.

The dead birds and animals on the ground looked confused as they climbed to their feet, some tried to fly...

But they’d been dead for a while, so they couldn’t just fly off immediately.

They were getting a little corpse-stiff!

But after hopping and stumbling about for a bit, the birds soon recovered, flapping and soaring into the air.

Chirping away, it was anything but quiet.

As the little hill fully returned to its former state, Qianqian’s face was pale, but her eyes shone clear.

While the hill came back to life, Qianqian gained a new insight into the power of [This is Totally Normal].

It’s not about control—it’s about going with the flow!

With this insight, a dazzling seed appeared above Qianqian’s head and began to grow...

Her aura started to rise gently as well.

Originally "walking firmly" down the mountain, she took a step onto thin air, and the birds swirling in the sky gathered under her feet and carried her toward Ke Chen City.

——Qianqian just brought the birds back to life, so them carrying a girl back to Ke Chen City is super normal.

Humans and nature, living in harmony.

...

"Damn it! Who the hell was that?! What hatred?! What grievance?! Saw me and self-detonated right there!"

Penman tumbled out of the void, rolled a few times on landing, and, after checking the area for safety, scribbled:

"Heal."

While feeling his stamina softly returning, Penman recalled...

He didn’t seem to have pissed off anyone crazy enough to die with him—those he offended were already dead.

He refused to believe there was no price between his enemy’s death and resurrection!

Trading your life for mine at a huge cost!

Insane!

Why the hell, though?

Penman thought for ages, but couldn’t figure it out.

So, Penman decided to log onto the Extraordinary Universal School’s official forum, post his experience, and see if anyone else had been through similar situations, or seen that kind of superpower or Contained Object, so he could use it for reference.

To make sure someone would answer, Penman decided to offer a reward for replies.

If a reply got accepted, Penman would personally pay 100,000 cash, or equivalent Cultivation Resources...

Of course, the forum platform asked Penman to put up at least a million as a deposit for performance assurance.

That money—no sweat for Penman.

He currently had savings of...

"Your account balance is insufficient."

Seeing that system message, Penman frowned.

How could he be out of money?

System glitch, maybe?

He clicked to pay the deposit again——

"Your account balance is insufficient."

All of Penman’s money was in a single account. He remembered clear as day—over sixty million still in it!

He opened up his bank app and found...

He really had no money left in the account!

No, to be accurate, just the small change remained.

Sixty million vanished!!!

...

[Wild Cultivator, first time facing the brutality of the Cultivation Realm!] 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

[He believed he had no grudge with Lin Hao, yet suffered Lin Hao’s last-ditch, self-sacrificing self-detonation attack!]

[After Lin Hao’s Residual Pill and Incarnation blew themselves up, Wild Cultivator fled in panic]

[Wild Cultivator was relentlessly chased by Lin Hao]

[This is straight-up murder and robbery, yo!]

[Is there still justice? Is there still law?]

[Once the lowest of the Cultivation Realm, Lin Hao has finally grown into a ruthless, seasoned Cultivator]

[Wild Cultivator, to save his own life, threw out Cultivation Resources valuable enough for Lin Hao to treasure, slowing Lin Hao’s pursuit]

[For this magical combat, Lin Hao picked up ’six superior Spirit Stones’ from Wild Cultivator]

After self-detonating Incarnation and Residual Pill, Lin Hao, to quickly rebuild them, spent all the Spirit Stones he’d ’gold-mined’ over the past few days.

The price—pretty damn steep!

But whether it was worth it or not, who could say?

Anyway, Lin Hao felt he didn’t lose out and was ready to let all the cash he’d collected lately go down the drain.

But unexpectedly, in the end...

He actually profited?

The return rate on magical combat—this high?

Still, next time, gotta figure out some spells with real fighting power...

Right now, all his flashy power adds up to basically nothing.

This magical combat? He just bulldozed through with Magical Power, and honestly, his MP efficiency is way too low.

With that in mind, Lin Hao handed over the six superior Spirit Stones to the Incarnation, and after the Incarnation geared up in the ’Medicine Salesman Outfit’...

He climbed out the bathroom window.

The Incarnation then looped through an alleyway, flagged down a car, and prepared to head for Ke Chen City’s stray dog shelter.

"Can you call another car? It’s a pain to take your dog on board."

"I’ll pay extra."

"It’s not about the money."

"Add two hundred."

Having just scored six superior Spirit Stones, the Incarnation didn’t mind dropping two Spirit Stone Fragments at all.

"Hmm? Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Hop in then."

As the Incarnation left, Lin Hao stepped out of the bathroom, only to spot Li Chuchu outside.

Li Chuchu looked at Lin Hao, checked the time on her phone, and then... after some hesitation, made up her mind and said:

"Lin Hao, I’ve decided: these next few days, I’ll get full-body checkups for all employees, including you and me. How’s that?"

"I don’t need it, just give me the cash value."

"Nope! You must! You work so hard every day—health matters most!"

"..."

Unable to argue with Chuchu, Lin Hao could only agree.

"I’ll go wash my hands, then head up front to make milk tea."

After leaving the back room, Lin Hao saw Qianqian pushing through the crowd in line.

When Qianqian saw Lin Hao, she had tons she wanted to say, but it only came out as:

"Teacher Lin, I’m back."

She handed the ’Notice’ she’d been clutching straight to Lin Hao.

Lin Hao took the ’Notice’, looked at it, then handed it back to Qianqian:

"You were late today. Deducted from your pay—don’t do this next time."

"Uh huh."

"Don’t just stand there! Go to the back and change clothes."

"Got it, got it."

——

[Unused Monthly Pass Shelter Center]

Don’t roast me, don’t roast me, the little author isn’t not stocking up Chapters on purpose, it’s just work keeps messing me up, orz...