Chapter 92: Inside the Storage Room

【How much longer until they arrive?】 Wen Chu asked coldly.

System: 【More than half a day, around eight hours.】

A large group meant a slower marching speed; they were much slower than Wen Chu and Xiu.

Wen Chu looked at the messy patch of grass and lowered his eyes.

He already had no goodwill towards the Dragon Slaying Squad, and now he detested them even more.

He hadn’t acted back in the Forging Duchy simply because he didn’t want to get into a fight and implicate Xiu.

After all, the sign saying “No Xiu, Alice, or Dogs Allowed” was still hanging in front of the Forging Guild.

【System, can you teleport me next to them like before?】 Wen Chu asked.

The system hesitated. 【I can, but what do you want to do?】

Wen Chu carefully let go of Xiu’s hand and checked again to ensure Xiu wasn’t having another nightmare. Then, he took out the tuning fork and the heart wand from his spatial stone.

Wen Chu’s eyes curved into a smile. 【To make them sleep, of course.】

System: 【…?】

System: 【If I recall correctly, you can’t create dreams right now?】

Wen Chu had already stood up. 【It doesn’t matter. I just need to make them fall asleep.】

The system sighed. 【Fine. I’ll send you to a more hidden spot. Be careful.】

As soon as the words fell, Wen Chu’s vision went black.

When he opened his eyes again, he was on a small hill at the edge of the wasteland.

Looking down from above, the slowly advancing group below had lost their initial novelty and were chatting in twos and threes.

Having just eaten his fill, Wen Chu’s magic power was quite sufficient. He took out the tuning fork and poured his magic into it.

“Ding—”

A crisp sound rang out.

No one present expected anyone to attack them on the boundless wasteland. Except for a few who had their protective barriers up, everyone else was stunned.

“Ding—”

“Ding—”

“Ding—”

Wen Chu didn’t give them time to react, striking rapidly.

The soothing magic of a nightmare spread out. It couldn’t even be considered an attack, just a peaceful placation.

The protective barriers had limited effect, and before the offensive magic arrays could even be activated, those with low magic resistance were already drowsy.

“Wait! There’s an enem—”

The captain tried to force himself to warn them, but he was hit by a beam of pink magic.

He collapsed heavily, falling into a deep sleep.

As he slept, the rest fell one after another.

Louis watched everything in shock, his eyelids growing uncontrollably heavy.

What was going on?

This kind of attack… no, this attack so laughable it felt like comforting—he had never seen any similar attack method except from nightmares.

But the only nightmare of the Demon Race was Wen Chu.

That nightmare, so weak he couldn’t even eat a dream, couldn’t possibly have such…

Louis couldn’t finish his thought before he collapsed completely.

Wen Chu poked his head out from behind the small hill, looking at the group of people sleeping on the ground, and looked at the tuning fork in his hand with surprise.

Was he this powerful?

He had prepared to use other methods to “lull” them to sleep, but unexpectedly, after just a few strikes, this group was sound asleep.

Wen Chu was conflicted. 【System?】

The system didn’t deny it. 【I only helped a little. You did the rest.】

Meaning, the system had indeed opened a back door for him.

Wen Chu said sincerely, 【Thank you.】

The system’s tone was awkward. 【It’s just so you can complete the mission.】

It disappeared immediately after speaking, leaving Wen Chu with the unconscious people all over the ground.

In principle, it should guide Wen Chu on the right path and stop such acts of arson and murder.

But principles aside, Wen Chu’s hard-planted grass had been destroyed just like that, so it was only natural for him to be angry.

As long as he didn’t go overboard, it could pretend not to see.

Wen Chu didn’t know the system had opened back doors for him more than once.

He looked at this group of people and smiled.

He walked up, bent down, and said cheerfully, “You’ve finally fallen into my hands.”

System: 【…】

Just as the system was debating whether to remind Wen Chu to restrain himself, it saw Wen Chu reach out and efficiently strip the clothes off the person in front of him.

System: 【?】

Wen Chu didn’t just strip clothes; he collected supplies while doing so.

He didn’t want to get an eye infection, so he left their underwear, but apart from that, they shouldn’t expect to keep anything.

Money bags, spatial stones, weapons, horses, carriages, crystal cores… Wen Chu took everything he could see.

As for the bound spatial stones and weapons he couldn’t use?

He didn’t care. Wen Chu would rather smash them than leave them for this group.

He plucked every feather from the goose, refusing nothing.

Thirty minutes later, the only fully dressed person on the entire lawn was Wen Chu, surrounded by a field of nearly naked people.

Carrying hundreds of wands and swords, over a hundred sets of armor, three cartloads of daily necessities, and countless spatial stones and rings, Wen Chu, holding a grudge, arrived in front of Louis.

The system, having witnessed Wen Chu’s entire operation: 【What do you want to do?】

Wen Chu dragged Louis up and checked him. After confirming that he had even stripped the other party’s wand, he fished out a rope belonging to who-knows-who from a spatial stone.

He took the rope, raised his hand, and tied Louis and another demon who loved to jeer together.

Shoulder to shoulder, mouth to mouth, the two were intimately bound.

Wen Chu smiled. “Don’t you like spreading rumors? Then I’ll play matchmaker for the two of you.”

System: 【…】

It wasn’t just Louis and that demon; Wen Chu tied everyone else together too.

Only, instead of binding them tightly like Louis, he tied everyone’s ankles individually.

As long as one person moved, the people behind would fall like dominoes.

After tying the last person, Wen Chu looked at the group of sleeping people on the ground and sincerely wished them well: “Make sure you catch a cold while sleeping.”

He had even taken their carriages. He didn’t believe this group could persevere and find the dragon’s lair to fight naked.

After speaking, he looked at the sky. It was getting late, so he said to the system, 【Alright, please send me back.】

The system seemed shocked by his behavior and didn’t answer, silently sending him back to Xiu’s side.

Outside the cave.

Wen Chu had been gone for half an hour at most, and Xiu was still sleeping in the same spot.

Wen Chu cupped his face and watched for a while before gently pushing Xiu. “Xiu, wake up.”

Xiu’s long platinum eyelashes trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes.

He looked as if he had truly just woken up, his gaze towards Wen Chu filled with just the right amount of confusion. “How long did I sleep? How are you feeling now?”

Wen Chu: “Not long, just about an hour. I’ve replenished my magic. What should we eat for lunch?”

Xiu lowered his eyes, hiding the darkness within them. “What do you want to eat?”

Wen Chu was troubled. He was completely clueless about the ingredients in this world. “Anything with rice?”

Xiu forced a smile. “Okay, wait for me a moment. I’ll go borrow some ingredients and kitchenware from the elves.”

Wen Chu nodded. “Mmhmm!”

He didn’t plan to mention the Dragon Slaying Squad to Xiu.

Leaving aside the fact that he couldn’t explain how he teleported, Wen Chu mainly felt it wasn’t a big deal.

It wasn’t like he had helped Xiu kill the king.

As long as the king was still there, Dragon Slaying Squads would always be sent. Saying it now would only give Xiu false hope and serve no purpose.

Wen Chu thought for a moment and said to Xiu beside him, “When you go to the elves, ask about that dragon-slaying sword too? I saw a group of elves carrying it away in the Forging Duchy.”

Xiu remembered that group of elves. He had only glanced at them hurriedly at the time and hadn’t noticed exactly what they were carrying. He was stunned. “The elves took the dragon-slaying sword?”

“Yes, I don’t think I saw wrong.”

Wen Chu frowned as he spoke.

The wasteland and the Moonlight Forest were too close; there was no barrier between the two territories.

If the elves also harbored malice towards Xiu, he could easily be besieged by both elves and dwarves.

If a group of humans then came to reap the benefits…

Under the bright sun, Wen Chu shivered.

No matter how strong he was, he wasn’t confident he could retreat unscathed with Xiu from a siege of three races.

Xiu looked at him for a while, opened his mouth, then closed it again, saying in a muffled voice, “Okay.”

After speaking, he transformed into his dragon form.

The mountain-like dragon cast a huge shadow. It stretched its wings, its golden scales shining in the sunlight.

Then, the dragon lowered its head and rubbed its nose against Wen Chu’s.

“Roar-woo.”

Wen Chu smiled and cupped the dragon’s head. “I know, I’ll watch the house properly and won’t run around.”

The dragon “woo’d” again, obviously not trusting him much, but after a brief hesitation, it flapped its wings and left.

Wen Chu watched the dragon leave, looking at Xiu’s receding figure, and sensed something was wrong.

“The Moonlight Forest doesn’t seem to be in that direction?”

He was confused but felt Xiu couldn’t be wrong.

Probably just taking a shortcut?

Thinking this, Wen Chu took his little white horse and turned back into the cave.

The cave was no different from before he left, except for a horse’s tooth mark on the scattered gems on the ground.

It seemed the little white horse had woken up hungry and tried to eat the gems but failed.

Wen Chu patted the pony guiltily. “Don’t eat random things next time. I’ll take you out to graze on time.”

As he spoke, he put away the bitten gems on the ground and searched in his storage stone.

Although the Dragon Slaying Squad hadn’t retrieved their weapons, there were plenty of good things on their carriages. Wen Chu had pried off a few enchanted crystal cores from their biggest and most beautiful carriage to patch things up for Xiu.

He had watched them custom-order it at the carriage shop, and now it was his.

Thanks to the Dragon Slaying Squad, he was now someone with a small treasury.

After replacing the gems, Wen Chu paused as he looked at the storage rooms one by one in the cave.

He rummaged through his storage stone again.

The Dragon Slaying Squad really had all sorts of junk. Wen Chu successfully found a magic scroll that could shield magic array effects and walked deeper into the cave holding the scroll.

He was going to see the storage room he hadn’t managed to see last time.

What exactly was Xiu hiding from him?

---

On the other side.

Xiu was indeed not heading towards the Moonlight Forest.

Instead, he flew towards the direction where Wen Chu’s magic residue lingered.

With Wen Chu not by his side, Xiu no longer needed to hide. His transparent blue beastly pupils were full of violence.

That’s right, the moment Wen Chu left, he woke up.

The wasteland wasn’t safe. Xiu had trouble sleeping even in his lair, let alone in the open air.

It was only because the person beside him was Wen Chu that he had unconsciously relaxed and fallen into a deep sleep.

When Wen Chu’s aura disappeared, Xiu woke up completely.

His first reaction upon waking was panic.

Wen Chu was gone.

Xiu searched the cave and nearby hills in the shortest possible time, even flying around in dragon form, but saw no trace of the nightmare.

Why leave suddenly without saying goodbye? Weren’t they just discussing what to eat for lunch? was there something he did that dissatisfied Wen Chu? Or had Wen Chu been kidnapped?

Xiu was nearly driven mad with anxiety.

Just a second before he was about to storm the Moonlight Forest or the Forging Duchy to find him, a familiar magic fluctuation came from somewhere in the wasteland.

It was the soothing magic of a nightmare.

This magic was extremely stable and powerful, enough to show how safe its user was.

The dragon stopped moving.

He stood on the highest mountain in the wasteland, gazing in the direction of the magic fluctuation, and fell silent.

In the blink of an eye, Wen Chu had gone thousands of kilometers away.

And that direction was exactly the border between the Forging Duchy and the wasteland.

It was also where Louis was most likely to be.

So Wen Chu hadn’t disappeared, nor had he been kidnapped, but had voluntarily used a teleportation scroll to meet someone else?

Thinking this, Xiu silently transformed back into human form.

This news was like a basin of cold water poured over his head, extinguishing all his anger.

Wen Chu leaving without a word using a teleportation scroll while he slept… the meaning couldn’t be clearer: he didn’t want him to discover this private meeting.

Xiu returned to his original spot like a masochist, lay down again, and closed his eyes.

As long as he pretended not to have noticed, Wen Chu should come back, right?

No matter what Wen Chu did, as long as Wen Chu continued to return to his side, he could forgive everything.

He could still wait for Wen Chu, right?

If he couldn’t… he…

Xiu endured a whole hour that felt like years until he finally heard movement beside him.

During this hour, he had thought about strangling Wen Chu and demanding answers, and he had thought about chaining Wen Chu up and keeping him in the cave in captivity. But in the end, he only showed a confused expression when woken up, asking Wen Chu how long he had slept.

None of this was Wen Chu’s fault; it was the people outside who were too scheming.

Wen Chu was penniless; the teleportation scroll must have been a gift from Louis.

Even though Wen Chu had already drawn a line with Louis, Louis still pestered him endlessly.

Truly shameless.

So, kill Louis.

Xiu’s expression grew colder and colder.

His headache was gone, but a hundred years of bad temper and the dragon race’s greed and selfishness ran in his blood.

He could soften his attitude towards Wen Chu, but that didn’t mean he could be generous enough to tolerate a demon who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth trying to abduct his little gem.

Xiu’s wings beat faster and faster, whipping up a gale wherever he passed, blowing many animals in the wasteland straight into the air.

In just a moment, he arrived at the border of the wasteland.

It was also where Wen Chu’s magic fluctuation had come from.

Xiu descended aggressively, ready to spew dragonflame, but stopped in the next moment.

He looked at the pile of naked people on the ground and suddenly felt he might still be dreaming.

Otherwise, how could he see the Dragon Slaying Squad having an orgy?

Did the king know they played this hard on missions?

Xiu was baffled for a while, searching the crowd for a long time but failing to find Louis.

Coincidentally, the effect of the sleep spell began to wear off one by one.

Louis woke up first.

He felt like a hairy crab, tied up tightly all over, with a stranger’s breath right in front of his nose.

What the hell? Who was sleeping on his face?

Louis cursed inwardly and opened his eyes, dumbfounded the moment he saw the person in front of him.

“Fuck!!!”

His angry curse resounded through the sky.

“Carlos, you—blegh, pervert—blegh blegh blegh, get lost!!!!”

Louis retched while trying to move his mouth away from Carlos’s, which was pressed against his.

But Wen Chu had tied them too tightly, even binding their heads with several loops.

After struggling for a long time, Louis not only failed to move his mouth away but ended up rolling around with Carlos.

He couldn’t help but start cursing, and with every curse, he was forced to kiss Carlos, eventually disgusting himself to the point of vomiting.

Carlos, waking up with an unidentified object plastered to his face: ?

He didn’t react to what was happening at all, instinctively assuming Louis was provoking him, and raised his fist to punch.

And so, the two demons rolled around even faster, intertwined.

Xiu: …

Only then did Xiu realize that the bundle of unidentified objects just now was Louis.

No wonder he hadn’t found him; he was tied up here.

So Wen Chu suddenly ran out to strip them naked and tie them up?

It wasn’t a private meeting; it was revenge.

Wen Chu hadn’t thought of leaving him.

The last bit of anger vanished, and a gentle smile, unnoticed by anyone, flashed in the dragon’s eyes.

How could someone be so cute even when taking revenge?

Luckily he had restrained himself then and hadn’t imprisoned Wen Chu directly; otherwise, he would have made a huge mistake.

Louis was still cursing, and his voice woke up quite a few people.

The moment the Dragon Slaying Squad opened their eyes, they saw a giant dragon and its burning beastly pupils.

“Dragon… Dragon!!”

Someone screamed, trembling, reaching for their wand, only to grab air and realize they had nothing left on them but their underwear.

“Where are my clothes?!?”

“There’s a pervert!!”

“Where’s my wand? Where’s my spatial stone—where are our carriages?!?”

Everyone woke up one after another and realized something was wrong.

The scene was chaotic.

A few quick-witted ones realized something was wrong and got up to sneak away, but in the panic, no one noticed the ropes tied to their ankles.

Before long, those who had just gotten up felt a pull on their ankles and completely lost their balance, falling like dominoes one after another, crashing into the dirt.

Overhead, the dragon was still staring at them unblinkingly.

Relying on advanced weapons and tools, the group had never truly taken this lone dragon seriously. But now, empty-handed, they finally sensed the dragon’s terror.

This was an existence of utter disparity, capable of crushing them with a single finger.

No creature had any chance of survival facing a dragon empty-handed.

“Help!!”

The crowd panicked, a chaotic mess. Even when the captain shouted for them to untie the ropes on their feet first, no one paid him any mind.

Xiu wanted to laugh a little.

Growing up, from being hunted by humans to hunting humans, every time, he saw righteous humans who arrogantly cursed him to die even while being chased.

This was the first time he had seen humans so panicked.

“Roar—”

Xiu let out a roar, and dragonflame spewed forth.

Mere sparks fell on the crowd, but they turned into a prairie fire.

Everyone present, including Louis who had rolled far away intertwined with Carlos, instantly turned into burning men.

The ropes were burned by the fire, and the crowd scattered, some even rolling on the grass attempting to extinguish the flames.

Xiu frowned, controlling the dragonflame so it wouldn’t burn the grass.

This was the grass Wen Chu had given him.

And because of this, he also saw the mess on the road behind this group.

“Roar!”

The dragon let out an angry roar, and the warning flames suddenly became scorching hot.

“Ahhhhh!!”

“Fire fire fire! Who has a freezing scroll!”

“All our scrolls were taken!!”

“Quick, go to the Forging Duchy! Run back now!”

The captain made a prompt decision, forcing himself to lead everyone crawling towards the Forging Duchy.

Xiu watched them coldly, with no intention of stopping them.

His mental state had just stabilized; killing people now would shake his hard-won stability again.

Therefore, he hadn’t struck to kill from the beginning.

Otherwise, this group wouldn’t have had a chance to call for help; they would have turned into a pile of black ash on the spot.

Of course, whether they could survive the bumpy journey back to the Forging Duchy with such injuries was none of his business.

The dragon hadn’t killed anyone this time.

The dragon snorted, very satisfied with his handling of the situation.

He pawed the ground, flattening the area the group had walked on, then transformed into human form and took a sign from his storage space to write on.

【Private Lawn, Do Not Trample
——Wen Chu, Xiu】

Xiu placed the sign at the outermost edge of the lawn.

This sign was also a magic item; it would broadcast a warning whenever someone approached.

After confirming everything was fine, Xiu thought about asking the dwarves to build a road while transforming into his dragon form and flying quickly towards the Moonlight Forest.

He was in a hurry. Wen Chu still hadn’t eaten lunch, and he still had to ask about the dragon-slaying sword.

But the hospitable elves surely wouldn’t be stingy about lending him some daily supplies and revealing a bit of intelligence.

Wonder if Wen Chu was bored at home? Was he scared? Did he miss him?

---

On the other side.

Alone at home, Wen Chu opened the door to the storage room and stared blankly at the contents inside.

There was no princess as he had imagined, only rows of full bookshelves, various colored robes, and a few sets of kitchenware.

On the bookshelves were identical copies of “The Collected Poems of Overend.”

Conservatively estimated, there were thousands of them.

Wen Chu blankly took out a book of poems, knocked around the storage room to ensure there were no hidden compartments, and then looked dazedly at the book in his hand.

Wen Chu: 【…So Xiu’s secret is that he’s actually a fanatical fan of Overend?】

System: 【…You have to respect every dragon’s preferences.】

Was this something shameful? Why hide it so strictly?

Wen Chu carefully put the book back and accidentally glimpsed a table deep inside, with a few papers on it.

It looked like a desk.

Did Xiu usually work here? Was this actually a key study area?

Wait, did dragons have government affairs to handle?

Just as Wen Chu was about to go over and look, he suddenly heard a sound like the earth shaking and mountains swaying from the cave entrance.

Wen Chu nearly lost his footing, hurriedly grabbing the bookshelf to steady himself, and looked warily outside.

A heroic female voice rang out as if amplified: “Old dragon, open the door! What good stuff are you hiding to revive the wasteland? Show me!!”

Following that were a few more earth-shaking sounds.

“You even set up a barrier? What are you doing, getting timid after all these years? I’m not tearing down your house, I just want to look. I, Alice, never tear down houses, steal, or rob!”

Wen Chu: ?

Holding onto the bookcase while shuffling outwards, he began to question his life.

This was Alice?

The “pitiful” little princess who, according to the king, had been “abducted by the dragon”?