Chapter 15: Tales of Monsters
“I’m back.”
Su Jiu followed Bai Qianyu to a large house with a rustic atmosphere. Upon entering, there was a spacious courtyard with some edible chickens and ducks chasing each other, exuding a sense of homeyness.
“Qianyu, I heard you brought a classmate home, so I prepared a big meal.”
A gentle male voice came from the smoky kitchen on the left side of the courtyard. Before long, a handsome man in office attire entered the courtyard carrying a plate of rich meat dishes.
“This is my dad. My mom has been sick lately, so he often gets off work early to cook,” Bai Qianyu explained as she led Su Jiu into the courtyard.
Su Jiu nodded lightly and followed her into the living room. She found that a very wide square table was already full of dishes, and Bai Qianyu’s father was scooping his homemade wine from a jar in the corner.
Knowing that he was specially entertaining her, Su Jiu quickly greeted Bai Chen, “Uncle, hello. I’m Bai’s deskmate.”
“Good, good. Qianyu is in your care,”
Bai Chen chuckled, then walked over with the wine jug in his hand. He took a slight look at Su Jiu, but unlike others, he didn’t think she was a delinquent.
Although his cultivation had declined to its lowest point and he had lived in seclusion for many years, his eyesight was still sharp. In Su Jiu’s every word and action, he felt a familiar aura; she didn’t seem like a student, but rather like those who lived by the skin of their teeth from the Adventurer’s Guild.
He saw her as someone sent by the school to protect his daughter.
“Dad, why are you staring at her like that?”
Bai Qianyu glanced at her father, then turned and pulled the equally stunned Su Jiu to sit down.
Bai Chen scratched his head and chuckled, teasing, “If you were more like your brother, with a bunch of bad influences, Dad wouldn’t be surprised you brought a classmate home.”
“You know Brother’s friends are bad influences, but Su Jiu is different.”
Bai Qianyu, naturally reserved, couldn’t stand her father’s teasing and quickly found an excuse to leave for a moment. “I’m going upstairs to call Mom for dinner.”
Su Jiu suddenly came back to her senses. Just now, she felt as if she had been gazed upon by a colossal abyssal beast. With difficulty, she looked at Bai Chen, who was seasoning brine.
She had only read half the novel. She had speculated about the Male Protagonist’s parents. After all, with such an awe-inspiring bloodline, one of her parents must have a top-tier bloodline, but she had never reached a definitive conclusion.
The explanation given in Xiao’ermin’s novel was that Bai Ming inherited the bloodline from Bai Qianyu’s grandfather through alternate generations. Seeing him now, it was likely that this Uncle Bai was indeed extraordinary, deeply hidden.
“Su Jiu… hmm, I’ll call you Jiu, will you be going to the back mountain with Qianyu?” Bai Chen finished with his tasks, sat down, and handed her a cup of wine with a smile, clearly not treating Su Jiu as a high school student.
“Bai said there are some treasures in the back mountain, and asked me to go with her to take a look.”
Su Jiu nodded slightly, took the wine glass, and took a small sip. It was sweet with a slight kick.
“The back mountain has many monsters. If you encounter one, you two won’t be enough for it to even chew on. Listen to Uncle, don’t fool around with that silly girl.” Bai Chen, unlike Su Jiu, was not reserved, drinking cup after cup as if it were juice.
“Aren’t the powerful monsters in the primeval forests far from our city? These on the edges are at most Warrior Class at their peak,” Bai Qianyu’s mother hadn’t arrived yet, so Su Jiu could only continue to sip her wine slowly, looking knowledgeable.
“Oh? Judging by your words, you’re not afraid of Warrior Class monsters? But didn’t Qianyu say you’re her deskmate?” Bai Chen lowered his eyelids slightly, secretly thinking this was indeed a protector sent by the school.
“Su Jiu is indeed my deskmate… Ah! Dad, why are you pouring her wine?”
Bai Qianyu came downstairs, supporting a haggard Chen Ping. Seeing her father pouring wine for her underage deskmate made her somewhat lose composure.
This was the first time she had brought someone home, and her older brother was making a scene like this?
“Warrior Class… Hmm, I still can’t quite beat them, like that Crimson Flame Wolf King.” Hearing this, Su Jiu’s mind conjured the image of the five or six-meter-long Crimson Flame Wolf King. She drank the wine in her cup and involuntarily licked her lips.
“……”
Ignoring his daughter’s petulant scolding, Bai Chen confirmed Su Jiu’s gaze again. Her dark pupils were filled with confidence, as if she could truly kill Warrior Class monsters with ease.
“Dad! Look at you! You’ve made Su Jiu drunk, and she’s starting to talk nonsense.”
Bai Qianyu was genuinely angry. She had worked hard to get her big doll… oh, no, her good sister home.
“Hey, I’m not drunk. This is just malt beverage, not alcohol.”
Su Jiu blinked her eyes in confusion and gestured with the cup in her hand towards Bai Chen, wanting another glass.
“Let’s eat quickly.”
Bai Chen smiled and refilled Su Jiu’s cup, as if it were truly malt juice. He had already defined Su Jiu in his heart—a top-tier High-level Warrior.
High school student? Don’t make me laugh.
Only a top-tier High-level Warrior would dare to challenge the lord of a group. Although the Crimson Flame Wolf King was a low-tier lord, its strength was not inferior to some weaker War General Level monsters.
“Dad! Why are you still pouring Su Jiu wine?”
Bai Qianyu was exasperated with her salaryman father, wondering why he couldn’t act normally. She then turned to her mother and softly called out, “Mom, tell him quickly, how can he let a girl drink?”
“But, Little Jiu used to drink here at the barbecue stall often. I didn’t expect your deskmate to be her.” Chen Ping clearly recognized Su Jiu, who often came to her stall.
Back then, Su Jiu, with a bottle of Bai Gan in one hand and snacks in the other, was quite a sight.
“Uncle Bai, another glass.”
“Ah?”
Bai Qianyu looked at Su Jiu with a strange expression, finding that she was already clinking glasses with Bai Chen and drinking heartily. She felt a stampede of a thousand grass-mud horses.
I treat you as a sister, and you’re making brothers with my dad?
Before long, Bai Chen’s face was flushed. He looked at Su Jiu, who was unaffected, and his mouth twitched. Then he started bragging:
“Did you see the warning issued by the Dragon Hunter organization? Monsters are rampant lately, and there are frequent signs of monsters appearing outside Huayang. They specifically warn us ordinary people not to go outside the city.”
“Ah? It’s not that exaggerated, is it? My brother’s former classmates even formed teams to go on picnics to the back mountains.”
Su Jiu had read quite a few books over the years. Most monsters were far from human-occupied cities, and renowned organizations like the Law Enforcement Hall, the Dragon Hunters, the Adventurer’s Guild, and government organizations conducted regular patrols and clean-ups to ensure the safety of people within the cities.
“Hehe, you really don’t believe it. Think about it, which mayor doesn’t want their city to be peaceful and prosperous? Even if monsters invaded, to avoid panic, they would probably still claim everything is under their control… In fact, there have always been monsters near our city, but this time, due to the Relic, it has likely disturbed the living conditions of many monsters, causing uprisings.” Bai Chen said with a smile, indeed showing a bit of disdain for the officials.
“……”
Su Jiu fell silent. Her dead father seemed to be the mayor…
“A few days ago, I saw huge footprints appearing in our area. During those days, the Dragon Hunters were all here… In the end, it was said they killed a White-Browed Fanged Tiger over four meters long.”
Bai Chen continued, opening his arms as he spoke of the Giant Tiger to indicate its size, describing it vividly… He hadn’t learned much in these years of seclusion, but he had learned a lot of bragging.
Su Jiu, seeing Bai Chen’s demeanor, didn’t think he was lying. She frowned slightly.
So large, almost as big as the Crimson Flame Wolf King. If this thing appeared, it would be troublesome.
Su Jiu’s gaze fell on Bai Chen, who was vividly bragging again, thinking to herself: However, with this Uncle Bai here, there shouldn’t be any problems.
Unbeknownst to them, Bai Chen’s gaze also fell on her face, and he felt slightly relieved.
With this girl, perhaps Qianyu could obtain the fortuitous encounter in the mountain that made the spring water capable of improvement.
He dared not spend money to hire someone to explore; fortuitous encounters were things that those who understood would understand…
He had originally planned to wait for his son to return and explore, but unexpectedly, his usually reclusive daughter brought a friend with whom she seemed to have a good relationship, and with that person’s strength, she could handle these monsters.
This fortuitous encounter, his old family Bai would tearfully accept it.
