Chapter Nine: My Pet Is a Bit Strange

“There probably aren’t many experts like me who spend a fortune to start fresh with a new character in a new district.” Hearing this, Xiao Zhang couldn’t help but burst out laughing, then quickly covered his mouth, unsure who had gotten him dragged away by these three wrenches.

“After all that, you still haven’t told me how you actually got here. Are you some big shot’s exclusive account or something?” Mo Kuang looked at Xiao Zhang, who was grinning at her like a fool, scratched her head, and thought to herself that this guy didn’t look like anything good—she’d better keep her distance from him in the future.

In truth, Xiao Zhang himself had no idea how he’d ended up here. What he could confirm was that he seemed to be some kind of bug. “To be honest, I really don’t know what happened. I’d just finished settling things at school and was about to take the high-speed train home, and then I just suddenly ended up here.”

“Yeah, I was brought in inexplicably too. The whole batch of Awakened who came in with me got wiped out by the Hunters in the beginner area. If the leader hadn’t saved me, I’d be long dead by now.” Mo Kuang recalled her own beginnings. If she’d run into a monster like the Corpse King back then, let alone the Hunters, she wouldn’t have survived the Corpse King alone.

“Come on, let’s go check out what’s happening over by the safe zone. Looks like there’s some trouble.” As she spoke, Mo Kuang tossed a wrench to Xiao Zhang and strode off toward the safe zone.

Xiao Zhang swallowed nervously. Damn, is this woman planning to take me out? “Sister Kuang, um, did you put away your laser sword from earlier?”

Mo Kuang’s expression darkened at his words. “It got blown to bits. Where am I supposed to put it? And what are you made of, anyway? How are you so tough? And stop calling me Sister Kuang—it sounds ridiculous.”

“So what should I call you?”

“Mo Mo will do.”

“Mo Mo? I’m not on Tantan, you know—”

Seeing Mo Kuang’s face darken again, Xiao Zhang shut his mouth and followed her for about two hundred meters, where he saw the aftermath of his battle with the Corpse King. Clearly, the explosion had caused quite a crisis. The destroyed trees alone were remarkable, not to mention the several-meter-wide crater.

“Want to go check it out? Maybe give your old buddy a kick?” Mo Kuang said with a half-smile.

“Yeah,” Xiao Zhang replied, heading straight for the Corpse King’s corpse.

After a few steps, he spotted the body—and still felt queasy at the sight. Damn, still as ugly as ever!

“Xiao Zhang, what happened? I saw a flash of light hit you just now,” Mo Kuang’s voice called from behind.

“Huh?” Xiao Zhang turned, only to find the Corpse King’s corpse had vanished.

At that moment, a line of virtual text appeared before his eyes: “Congratulations on your first kill. You have received a Beginner’s Gift Pack.”

Prompted by the interface, Xiao Zhang checked immediately.

A warehouse option had appeared in his personal info menu.

Opening it, he found a gift pack inside, which he opened without hesitation.

Beginner Healing Pills*6.

Beginner Mental Elixirs*4.

Intermediate Healing Elixir*1.

Corpse King Larva*1.

Beginner Healing Pills? What the heck are these? He hesitated, then clicked for more information.

Beginner Healing Pill: Chance to drop when killing C-class or higher wild monsters and bosses. Heals ordinary wounds, restores stamina and constitution; the more severe the injury, the weaker the effect.

After clicking, six small red pills appeared in Xiao Zhang’s hand.

Each was about the size of a thumbnail.

Looking at these candy-like pills, Xiao Zhang swallowed one in a single gulp. No particular taste.

Soon, a warm sensation spread through his body, and after a few minutes, he felt strength returning to his limbs.

Mo Kuang came over and noticed the pills in his hand. “Where’d you get healing meds?”

“Mo Mo, don’t you pick up loot after a fight?” Xiao Zhang replied helplessly, thinking to himself, who knows what she’d been feeding him before.

“That’s odd. Bosses in this kind of instance don’t usually drop these. Anything else?”

Xiao Zhang pulled out a bottle of Mental Elixir from his warehouse. The blue liquid inside tempted him to take a taste, but he resisted.

“Damn! Mental Elixir?” Mo Kuang exclaimed in surprise.

“What’s up?” Xiao Zhang handed it over. “If you want it, it’s yours, Mo Mo.”

Hearing this, Mo Kuang smacked him. “Do you have any idea how precious this stuff is for a healer?”

“Hey, Mo Mo, it’s not like I’m a healer or anything—unlike you, I don’t have those… uh, I mean, I’m just not a healer.” Xiao Zhang almost blurted out something inappropriate about the feel of her hands.

Wait! The Corpse King!

There was still that Corpse King Larva in his inventory!

He immediately checked.

A prompt appeared:

Corpse King Larva. Set as pet?

A pet? Xiao Zhang felt like he’d drawn the short straw. Who would want such an ugly thing as a pet?

He was about to decline, only to realize—there wasn’t even a decline option.

“Mo Mo, stop laughing. Can I not take the pet?”

“What?”

“I said, can I refuse the pet?”

“Oh, a pet!” Mo Mo nodded. “Nope, you can’t—”

The message flashed: Corpse King automatically acquired as pet. Please check the (Pet) tab.

Whoa, what the hell? It auto-accepted!

Opening the pet tab, he saw a cutesy Corpse King icon, along with the prompt: Summon?

Not wanting to act rashly, he decided to check the details first—just in case he couldn’t handle the sight.

Whatever, might as well summon it! Come on out and sing me a couple verses of “Conquer”!

A flash of light, and a figure appeared before Xiao Zhang—

Or, to be precise… at his feet!

Xiao Zhang froze. This thing wasn’t even the same species!

A mini-zombie stood beside him, looking like a pint-sized version of the hopping vampires from those old Hong Kong films—only much smaller. In fact, not even up to Xiao Zhang’s knee.

Corpse King Larva… it was definitely larva, all right. Just not the same kind as before!

Well, at least it was better looking than that one with eyes all over its forehead.

But its combat power seemed… questionable.

“What is this thing, Xiao Zhang? A zombie?” Mo Kuang came over and patted the little pet.

“Apparently it’s my pet,” Xiao Zhang said, covering his face in embarrassment.

“Hahahaha, a pet—hahaha!” Mo Kuang laughed until she nearly had a cramp. “A pet, hahaha!”

The little zombie took one look at her and promptly bit her.

“Hey! Damn it—”