Discussing The Correct Posture To Enjoy Dog Food

Chapter 158 - Banana Flavored Boss Gong (18)

Translated by Hua Li ^_~

2 chapters to go~

“Teacher Tang is fine now, right?”

In truth, Yu Sen felt like he was asking a pointless question.

Half an hour earlier, Yu Lin had excitedly called them back, but whatever he’d seen must have been… stimulating, because he suddenly shut the car door in their faces, saying the boss and Teacher Tang were undergoing “special treatment” and they shouldn’t interrupt.

Everyone understood instantly.

Judging by how long such “treatments” usually took, they expected to be left outside for at least two hours, so they busied themselves with processing beast meat and separating beast blood.

They hadn’t expected things to end so quickly this time.

Although there was no suspicious smell in the air, the sight of the boss’s earlier outfit—now ripped into rags and tossed on the ground—and the fresh kiss marks on his neck, made it clear that Teacher Tang hadn’t exactly been doing proper business in that half hour, and their boss had clearly suffered plenty of… handling.

Gou Liang, on the other hand, had a rosy flush, tender eyes, and a small, satisfied smile as he leaned against Shi Buyu’s chest. Compared to the rest of them, who had spent the night too worried to sleep, he looked positively radiant.

Gou Liang nodded, then said, “I’ve awakened a second ability.”

The group was both surprised and delighted, quickly asking what it was.

Gou Liang brushed his cheek against Shi Buyu’s arm. Even though time had been reversed and the moment when they’d been surrounded by beasts had passed, the hidden danger to Shi Buyu remained.

He could already imagine exactly how Shi Buyu’s team had been wiped out in End Times Chronicles—no matter how skilled they were at fighting the high-level sea beasts, injuries and blood loss were inevitable. And once Shi Buyu bled, the pure soul power in his blood would drive the entire sea’s sixth- and seventh-level, or even higher, beasts into a frenzy to hunt him down.

The ending seemed inevitable.

But Gou Liang would never allow such history to repeat in this timeline.

Since he had inexplicably slept for twenty-four hours, wasn’t that the perfect chance to awaken a new ability?

After Gou Liang demonstrated his level-four Stasis ability, no one was happier than Shi Buyu.

He had always worried that Gou Liang’s non-offensive ability would put him at a disadvantage. Although this new ability still wasn’t directly offensive, it meant that neither beasts nor ability users could easily bully him.

Even though there had never been a recorded case of a secondary ability awakening before, this was clearly a blessing. The team celebrated with a feast.

The next day, Gou Liang and Shi Buyu encountered the level-six four-winged dragon beast at the shore again. This time, they weren’t the ones running for their lives. With Gou Liang’s Stasis ability in play, Shi Buyu took down their first level-six beast core with little effort.

And so March passed without further incident, and the world moved into the unknown.

Far away at the Jiuzhou Base, Ju Bei had been probing returning ability squads for news. When he learned that Shi Buyu was not only alive and well in the south, but also slaughtering his way through beast hordes, he was so shocked he nearly lost his composure on the spot.

Impossible.

How could this world have twisted so far from what it should be?

Hearing others speak of Shi Buyu with godlike admiration, and of Gou Liang as if he were a national treasure—while survivors treated Jia Nanzhu and himself like weeds—Ju Bei could not accept this reality.

Falling from protagonist to supporting role was a heavy blow. He brooded for a long time, and his blind worship of Jia Nanzhu faded.

Until, half a month later, Jia Nanzhu made a shocking move that turned their disadvantage around.

—He ambushed and killed a supply team transporting beast cores back to the base.

That day, Jia Nanzhu’s ten-person squad of level-two ability users was out hunting beasts near the base when they ran into trouble.

With the strength of a level-two ability user, hunting a level-one beast wasn’t exactly easy, but it wasn’t too difficult either. In groups of ten, they were practically unstoppable. The team, however, found the pace too slow and proposed using beast cores to lure beasts into traps.

The plan was sound, but they overestimated themselves and ended up attracting a swarm of colony-dwelling giant ant beasts, nearly wiping out the squad.

Jia Nanzhu survived only because they stumbled upon a returning transport team, who rescued them.

After a fierce battle with the giant ants, there were heavy casualties, and three members of the transport team were seriously injured.

Jia Nanzhu and another surviving level-two ability user were profusely grateful. But once aboard the transport craft, they discovered the team hadn’t been able to send a distress signal—its communications and navigation had failed on the way back, causing them to drift off course and cross paths with Jia Nanzhu’s squad.

Seeing the hundreds of level-two, -three, and -four beast cores stored on board, Jia Nanzhu’s greed flared.

After killing the four seriously injured members, he abandoned the craft, used his earth ability to fabricate a crash site, and buried the cores somewhere else.

To smuggle them away, he needed someone with spatial storage—and Ju Bei’s “space ability” was his only option.

He told Ju Bei the cores were salvaged from a crashed transport craft, but Ju Bei wasn’t stupid. The perfectly intact packaging and serial numbers told him it wasn’t that simple.

Whether it was lingering expectations for Jia Nanzhu or a stubborn resentment over “main character privilege,” he played dumb and willingly became Jia Nanzhu’s accomplice.

Without his system’s real-time monitoring, Gou Liang only learned of this five months later.

By then, his entire focus had been on Shi Buyu. Since discovering his boyfriend was actually the supreme Lord God, Gou Liang had been struggling to adjust.

Whether it was insecurity or something else, he had turned into a clingy little demon, repeatedly confirming—his way—that Shi Buyu belonged to him. Even when Yu Lin and the others teased him about being “hungrier than before,” he made no effort to restrain himself.

Shi Buyu enjoyed the closeness, and the two were too busy with their own sweetness to care about others’ business.

But when General Yao explained the situation, Gou Liang immediately zeroed in on the likely culprits.

General Yao: “In the past six months, there have been four crashes involving transport craft. Every time, the navigation and communication equipment failed before they went down, causing heavy casualties and severe loss of beast cores. I’ve sent people to investigate the crash sites, but no suspicious traces have been found.”

He couldn’t find evidence of sabotage, but feared a beast with a magnetic-disruption ability might have appeared in the north, which was why he wanted them to return to the Jiuzhou Base.

Shi Buyu naturally agreed.

After the call ended, Yu Sen said, “Beast detection has been running nonstop. Even though the Death Line has shifted further north lately, something like that shouldn’t appear anywhere near Jiuzhou Base.”

“Anything’s possible. It’s not impossible for such a beast to have lived up north all along.” Yu Lin paused, then added, “But I can’t help feeling it’s more likely someone’s behind this.”

Having already accessed Jiuzhou’s recent surveillance data, Gou Liang said flatly—

“It’s not ‘likely.’ It’s a fact.”

*

“Zhu-ge, the base has been investigating this matter. Do you think they’ll call Shi Buyu and the others back?”

“Why are you bringing them up?”

After their midnight rendezvous, Jia Nanzhu was sitting on the edge of the bed smoking. Hearing Ju Bei mention Shi Buyu, he instantly frowned, flicked his cigarette ash, and replied impatiently.

Ju Bei felt uneasy. In his eyes, Shi Buyu—no, that fat Tang guy who had changed everything—was his nemesis. Ever since he appeared, the world’s trajectory had completely shifted. The glory and spotlight that should have belonged to him and Jia Nanzhu had all been stolen by Shi Buyu and those other cannon-fodder side characters.

He was unwilling, yet powerless, and when he thought of them, fear outweighed hatred.

“Zhu-ge, I know you don’t like hearing it, but we don’t know how strong their abilities have become now. I’m worried…”

“Worried about what? That my ability’s weaker than theirs?”

Jia Nanzhu let out a cold laugh. “I’m currently the only level-four ability user in the base. Even Yao Sanjun isn’t my match. Do you think they could be stronger than him?”

Ju Bei hadn’t used a single stolen beast core for himself; all of them had gone to Jia Nanzhu. This allowed Jia Nanzhu, who had been a level-two ability user advancing slowly with the base’s supplies, to leap to level four in less than half a year.

Across the entire Jiuzhou Base, his ability level was the highest.

And judging others by himself, Jia Nanzhu refused to believe Yao Sanjun would tolerate an ability user stronger than him threatening his position. He was certain Shi Buyu’s group couldn’t be more than level three. Though he had an unspoken wariness of Shi Buyu’s lightning ability, his confidence in his own level-four power made him completely dismiss any lower-level ability users.

“Zhu-ge, don’t forget about that Tang Tang’s ability,” Ju Bei said, far less optimistic. “If he were on-site and saw traces of our abilities, what then? And I heard he can see an ability user’s level. If he discovers yours… We’ve only got you right now. Facing them still isn’t safe.”

A gnawing anxiety plagued him.

The feeling of things spiraling completely out of his control had left him instinctively afraid of Gou Liang.

“You’ve got a point.”

Jia Nanzhu took a deep drag from his cigarette, his eyes turning cold and ruthless. “In that case, let’s have them join those transport team members—never return to the base again.”

Big talk.

Seeing this, Gou Liang let out a cold laugh.

The next day, Gou Liang’s group of seven packed up, took an armored vehicle to rendezvous with Jiuzhou’s ability squad in the Dead Zone, and borrowed a helicopter to return to the Jiuzhou Base.

Passing a certain stretch outside Jiuzhou’s city limits, their navigation and communications equipment indeed began to glitch.

Gou Liang curved his lips. “Let me see what kind of beast tech we’re dealing with.”

His fingers flew over the keyboard, characters scrolling across the screen at dizzying speed—as a newly minted level-five ability user, Gou Liang had undergone another physical boost. He still couldn’t break the 169cm height limit, but his speed and strength had risen another notch. The best proof? Among the team, Boss Shi’s clothes got “worn out” most often.

Zhou Gao laughed. “I want to see what kind of beast has the guts to go toe-to-toe with our Teacher Tang.”

They watched with interest as the screen’s data flew past, none of them understanding it but all waiting to see their opponent crushed.

Yu Sen asked, “Captain, should we…?” He pointed to the ground below.

“Relax, it won’t get away.”

Shi Buyu patted his shoulder, and sure enough, the moment he finished speaking, fireworks bloomed across Gou Liang’s monitor, accompanied by a few dull bangs from the machinery on the ground self-destructing.

Touching his brow, Gou Liang turned back around. The screen now showed normal navigation and communications. “Level-four earth ability user. He’s destroying evidence.”

“Level four? So all those missing beast cores in Jiuzhou went into that bastard’s stomach!”

Qin Bei cursed.

Shi Buyu said, “Don’t rush it. Old Qin, follow him and see if he’s got accomplices. No need to act yet.”

“Yes, sir!”

With a jaunty salute, Qin Bei leapt from the helicopter, gliding with the wind as he pursued the level-four earth ability user per Gou Liang’s directions.

The culprit was extremely cautious. Even in uninhabited zones, he didn’t travel aboveground, tunneling back toward Jiuzhou like a mole along a winding, complex route—clearly an experienced offender. Without Gou Liang’s vision ability, more precise than any detector, he might really have escaped.

Following the trail into Jiuzhou, Qin Bei realized—it was an old acquaintance!

If Shi Buyu hadn’t warned him not to act, he’d have dragged that rat out for a beating on the spot.

Meanwhile, Shi Buyu led Gou Liang’s group to meet with General Yao.

After two years apart, the reunion was emotional.

Compared to their first meeting through an electric barrier, when humanity’s survival seemed grim and the air was heavy, this time the mood was far more relaxed.

Now that Jiuzhou Base had stabilized, and with no ability beasts pushing northward, they had developed enough to hold their own against level-one beasts. With continued training, future generations of ability users could even stand against ability beasts and survive.

General Yao said with heartfelt emotion, “Major General Shi, we owe all this to you! Without your selfless help, survivors would still be struggling just to get by, hiding in basements from level-one beasts without ever seeing the sun.”

Shi Buyu smiled. “Sir, you’re starting to sound more and more like a political leader.”

General Yao laughed heartily. “You have no idea—running things taught me fists alone aren’t enough. Without a silver tongue, you can’t get far at all.”

As they spoke, Qin Bei returned on the wind.

“Boss, it’s that bastard Jia Nanzhu—” Spotting General Yao, Qin Bei halted abruptly, snapped to attention, and saluted loudly. “Huaxia First Army, Major Qin Bei, reporting! Salute to the commander!”

“Salute!”

General Yao returned it, then chuckled. “Seeing you young ones so full of spirit puts me at ease.”

Shi Buyu grinned. “Sir, there’s still plenty for you to worry about. Oh, and remember you promised to officiate my and Xiao Keng’er’s wedding—now that I’m back, I don’t want to wait any longer.”

“Look at you, so impatient. Even Teacher Tang is embarrassed for you.”

“I’m in a hurry too.”

Gou Liang cut in.

Ever since he saw them, General Yao hadn’t stopped laughing, and now he laughed even louder.

It was clear he had given a lot for the survivor base, shouldering an extraordinary amount of pressure. In just two years, he had aged rapidly, but now, with a long-lost smile on his face, he suddenly looked ten years younger.

He said, “Alright, this wedding has been delayed long enough. I think the sooner the better. I’ve been waiting for this wedding feast so long my hair’s turning white.”

The group, chatting and laughing, entered General Yao’s office and finally turned to business.

“Major Qin, you just said the person who ambushed the transport team was Jia Nanzhu?”

At this, General Yao’s expression became grave.

Qin Bei nodded. “General, Major General, I followed him the whole way—no mistake. I saw that bastard crawl out from underground with my own eyes. Ju Bei was there to meet him. They’ve already realized their plan’s been exposed and are probably plotting to run. That rat knows the underground routes like the back of his hand—we need to act quickly.”

After confirming Jia Nanzhu’s ability level, General Yao assigned the eager Zhou Gao and Qin Bei to assist the base’s disciplinary unit in capturing him.

Unfortunately, they were still a step too late—Jia Nanzhu and Ju Bei had vanished without a trace.

Instead, their neighbor, Ji Guangyuan, approached the disciplinary team and immediately declared, “I want to report Jia Nanzhu and Ju Bei for stealing beast cores!”

Ji Guangyuan had noticed the suspicious rise in Jia Nanzhu’s ability level, but hadn’t connected it to the destroyed beast core transport teams. He only assumed the two had used Ju Bei’s spatial storage ability to smuggle cores. When he saw the disciplinary team coming to arrest them, he assumed the theft had been discovered and promptly reported them—unfortunately, no one gave him credit for it.

Zhou Gao and Qin Bei soon returned with bad news: “That bastard got away!”

“Teacher Tang, can you still track them?”

Yu Lin’s question carried little hope—Gou Liang’s current level-five visual ability only had a radius of 15,000 meters, and with Jia Nanzhu’s level-four tunneling ability, he could easily be long gone by now.

But Gou Liang, who had already been keeping tabs on them, brought good news: not only had they not escaped, they were less than two kilometers away.

“They’re at the base’s beast core vault!”

General Yao’s face darkened further.

Cracking his knuckles, Zhou Gao sneered. “Looks like they want to pull one last big job before leaving. Hmph. Boss, let me go roast that rat dry!”

Shi Buyu said, “Xiao Keng’er and I will catch them. You guard all exits of Jiuzhou Base and be ready to act—don’t let them escape.”

“Yes, sir!”

Meanwhile, underground, twisting and turning toward the vault, Jia Nanzhu and Ju Bei had already broken through the vault’s foundation.

Ignoring the shrill alarms from the vault’s infrared security, Jia Nanzhu ordered Ju Bei to load as many cores into his space as possible.

This was Ju Bei’s first time participating in an actual heist, and his legs felt weak. He just wanted to get out quickly and tried several times to convince Jia Nanzhu they had enough. But the man, his eyes red with greed, wouldn’t listen and seemed determined to empty the vault.

Only when Ju Bei’s space was packed to the brim and could hold no more did Jia Nanzhu finally stop, after triple-checking they’d taken everything possible.

By then, the ability users guarding the vault had arrived.

“Who’s there?! Stop right there!”

Bao Zi shouted, and a level-three fire ability shot toward Jia Nanzhu and Ju Bei as they tried to dive back into the tunnel!