IMC Chapter 66

Shu Bao blinked and suddenly leaned closer to Lan Qing, whispering, “Which prince are you?”

Lan Qing blinked back and replied, “I’m the eighth prince.”

Shu Bao nodded in satisfaction, “A good number.”

Lan Qing tilted his head in confusion, “Are numbers really categorized as good or bad?”

“Of course! It’s all about the three, six, nine tiers!”

Lan Qing gave an “oh” and nodded, “The ninth prince is indeed impressive! So that’s the reason.” The little green snake immediately cast a look of admiration at Shu Bao.

Shu Bao: “…” How should I explain this? Never mind, let’s just consider it a pleasant misunderstanding.

The thirty-seventh prince, who had been shouting and no one paying him any attention, finally sat down in front of Shu Bao and the others, panting heavily. He didn’t forget to emphasize his identity while catching his breath.

Yinzi suddenly poked his head over to Shu Bao’s side. The thirty-seventh prince’s voice cut off abruptly as he stared in horror at the huge creature before him.

Shu Bao patted Yinzi’s head and said, “Good job!”

It was only then that the thirty-seventh prince noticed that, besides a person wearing a mask, there was also a mouse and a snake. This food chain combination left him bewildered, especially since the mouse could talk and dared to pat the magic dragon’s head!

Under the wary gaze of the thirty-seventh prince, Yinzi left in satisfaction and continued to wander around the camp. With its large head occasionally poking into the unburned houses of the camp, it was clear that this imperial prince was discovered in this way by Yin Zi. Now, Yinzi was working hard for the next head pat, while the idle Jinzi and Lai Fu followed suit, learning the routine.

After the dragonlings left, Fu Qing and the others naturally focused their attention on the prince. The thirty-seventh prince instinctively stood up from the ground, bracing himself for their scrutiny.

“You…” Fu Qing was about to ask.

“I am the thirty-seventh prince of the empire!” the man immediately emphasized again.

Shu Bao turned to look at Fu Qing, suspecting he saw a vein bulging on his forehead.

“Tell me your value! Give me a reason not to kill you!” Fu Qing said with a frown.

The man was stunned, then hesitantly said again, “I am the thirty-seventh prince of the empire.”

Fu Qing rubbed his forehead, “Besides that!”

“…”

The scene fell silent for a long time. Shu Bao and Lan Qing looked at the prince curiously. Eventually, Shu Bao couldn’t help but ask, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

The thirty-seventh prince: “…” He couldn’t think of any value he had beyond his princely status.

After another awkward silence, Fu Qing casually pulled out a large knife and walked towards the thirty-seventh prince with it.

The thirty-seventh prince’s legs went weak. He sat down on the ground again, repeatedly scooting backward.

Shu Bao and Lan Qing shook their heads in disbelief. This prince was truly useless; even running away would be faster than crawling like this!

Finally, as Fu Qing raised the knife, the thirty-seventh prince’s usually stiff mind finally had a flash of insight. He raised his hand to show the jade bracelet on his wrist, “This magical bracelet is a space for storing life!”

Fu Qing, satisfied, put down the knife and lifted the thirty-seventh prince by his collar, bringing him in front of Shu Bao. “Your storage space has arrived.”

Shu Bao, holding his paws, looked at the thirty-seventh prince with a sweet expression and said sincerely, “Thank you!”

The thirty-seventh prince: “…” What could he do? He could only tearfully remove the bracelet and hand it over to the fluffy mouse in front of him.

Shu Bao took the bracelet, and the thirty-seventh prince added, “The bracelet has a resizing function.”

Shu Bao peered into the bracelet, which transformed into a collar. When he tried to remove it, the bracelet expanded again with just a thought. Eventually, Shu Bao put the bracelet on his arm without the system bracelet, holding his paws up to look at it. The silver system bracelet and the jade bracelet actually matched well.

The thirty-seventh prince sat on the ground, looking particularly aggrieved.

After putting on the bracelet, Shu Bao inspected its contents and was delighted to find: The magical bracelet could be called a divine artifact. It contained rolling mountains and a flowing river, with an area comparable to a large city. It was truly the dream bracelet of a mouse.

Happy, Shu Bao patted the thirty-seventh prince’s shoulder. “You’re really a great person!”

The thirty-seventh prince: “…” He was momentarily unsure whether to be shocked that the paw that had just patted the dragon was now patting him, or to comment on the lack of guilt in the mouse’s attitude.

But as the saying goes, winners are kings and losers are villains. Just as the empire never considered the thoughts of the defeated, the thirty-seventh prince knew his situation. Thus, he showed no dissatisfaction and even complimented, “It looks great. It complements your complexion.”

Lan Qing and Fu Qing both looked down at the fluffy ball, whose dense and fluffy fur covered all the skin.

Seeing this, the thirty-seventh prince quickly corrected himself, “It complements your fur color. It makes you look fair!”

Fu Qing and Lan Qing: “…” This prince might be good at speaking to mice, after all; he’s not entirely useless.

In fact, the thirty-seventh prince was quite skilled at pleasing people; otherwise, he wouldn’t have received such a sweet reward.

Usually, the royal family would not personally come to the Land of Gold Sources. However, recently, there had been a beast revolt in the Land of Gold Sources, and the empire’s beast tamers had tamed a large number of rare magical beasts.

To transport these beasts, the king sent a prince, and the reward was the magical bracelet that could store life.

This bracelet was an artifact that had been passed down for hundreds of years. It was said to be crafted by a once-renowned master and could contain living things within its spacious interior.

For the sake of this bracelet, princes who were unwilling to step into the harsh environment of the Land of Gold Sources nearly fought over it. In the end, it was the thirty-seventh prince, who always knew how to please the king, who came out on top and came to the Land of Gold Sources with the bracelet.

He initially thought it would be a very simple task, especially after hearing about the appearance of a magical dragon nearby, he felt as if he was favored by the god of fortune. He immediately sent out his own guards; whether they could personally capture the magical dragon was secondary, but they would definitely be of help.

As for himself, he, of course, wouldn’t go to such a dangerous place. He stayed in the camp to rest, waiting to capture the magical dragon and then transport it back to the imperial capital. He could imagine how pleased his father would be.

With such a pleasant dream, the thirty-seventh prince went to sleep. However, when he woke up, the camp was in chaos. The roar of dragons and various shouts scared him so much that he hid under the bed. Amid the confusion, it seemed many people came into his room looking for him, but they left in a hurry while he hesitated whether to come out.

When it finally quieted down outside, he mustered the courage to crawl out from under the bed, only to be met face-to-face with a massive dragon head that poked into the room.

He was immediately snatched out of the room by the dragon. The thirty-seventh prince was momentarily stunned and thought he was going to be eaten by the dragon. However, the dragon let him go, and he found himself surrounded by three dragons! It turned out he wasn’t going to be devoured but rather shared among them!

In the midst of overwhelming fear, the thirty-seventh prince couldn’t remember what he shouted, but at least the outcome was favorable: he exchanged the bracelet for a new lease on life.

After putting on the bracelet, Shu Bao admired it for a moment before turning around and entering the warehouse. There, he stored the magical beast cages inside the bracelet. The bracelet did not have a master recognition function; any wearer could use it, and not only the wearer but also others could enter the bracelet’s space.

Upon learning this, Lan Qing was very curious and strongly requested to try it out. Shu Bao agreed with pleasure. As soon as his paw touched his snake teammate, the snake appeared in the bracelet’s space.

In the bracelet, Lan Qing could communicate normally with Shu Bao, although Shubao could unilaterally cut off communication. Finding it quite interesting, Lan Qing did not rush to leave and decided to explore the space.

In the camp, the thirty-seventh prince watched eagerly, hoping to get a promise of survival from Fu Qing and Shu Bao.

Fu Qing kept his word. After scavenging the camp, he and Shu Bao boarded the dragonlings and left together. The silhouettes of the three magical dragons quickly disappeared into the sky. The thirty-seventh prince stood there for a long time, finally letting out a long sigh of relief. Then, he frowned deeply. Not only had he failed his mission, but he had also lost the bracelet.

However, considering that the opponents were three magical dragons, he reasoned that by playing the victim, his father would likely not be too harsh on him.

Thinking about the bracelet made the thirty-seventh prince feel a pang of regret. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated about the three dragons that had flown away.

The thirty-seventh prince did not leave but waited in the camp. After two or three hours, people gradually returned to investigate. They were furious to find the camp had been completely looted, but they were relieved that the prince was unharmed. Once people returned, the empire immediately contacted other resource points to report that the camp had been raided by three giant dragons.

The news of the three dragons appearing caused a stir throughout the Land of Gold Sourcess, especially among the empire’s forces, who vowed to capture the raiders and tame the three dragons.

At the same time, the mysterious raiders who had looted the empire’s resource points publicly declared that they would continue to raid other resource points of the empire, with the next target being the empire’s largest resource point.

Upon receiving the news, the empire began to mobilize personnel for defense, while other forces in the Land of Gold Sources watched with interest.

The empire remained on high alert for two days, but the largest resource point remained untouched. Instead, the smallest resource point was raided. The raid was executed with great speed; from start to finish, it took only half an hour. The three dragons overwhelmed the small resource point, leaving it completely defenseless and looted once again.

And this was just the beginning. In the following days, several of the empire’s resource points were continually attacked. The raiders, using the dragons’ attacking power and speed, came and went freely, leaving the empire helpless and always on the defensive.

The empire’s forces were infuriated. At this point, it was too late to request external support, and the manpower available at each resource point was insufficient to defend against three dragons. In the end, they unanimously decided to consolidate all resources and personnel from various resource points and fight the dragon riders in a decisive battle!

Upon hearing this news, Shu Bao and his companions were very pleased. Fu Qing even complained with some dissatisfaction, “It’s been four days, and they’re only now consolidating resources. These people are not only lacking in skill but also in brains!”

Shu Bao nodded, “Yes. If they had consolidated earlier, we wouldn’t have had to run around so much!”

Lan Qing, on the other hand, was quite puzzled and asked, “Why, after raiding so many resource points, have we not managed to get a single duck?” The promise was to steal all their ducks, right? The snake should keep its promises.

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