IMC Chapter 45

After sending off the lion caravan, everyone’s attention turned eagerly to the package returned by Lan Qing. It had been so long since they last heard news from Lan Qing, and everyone was very excited.

At Shu Bao’s signal, the high priest placed the package on the ground. Shu Bao climbed onto the package and opened it himself.

Upon opening the package, everyone’s eyes lit up because it contained the Hidden Orchid, which was currently needed by their tribe. Shu Bao stood among the pile of magical materials, unable to resist giving a big thumbs-up to his snake teammate.

The package not only included Hidden Orchid but also construction materials for the magical plantation. In addition, there were a few bottles of potions and a small bag of seeds.

Clearly, Lan Qing’s first action after entering the chaotic world was to conduct trade in taverns and similar places, selling the items he carried and then purchasing the required magical materials.

Realizing that time flowed more slowly in the chaotic world, Lan Qing had arranged for the caravan to deliver the items back to the tribe in advance while he continued exploring the chaotic world himself.

Shu Bao handed the Hidden Orchid to the high priest, instructing him to place it around the tribe as soon as possible. Recently, there had been too many chaotic creatures outside the tribe. Many of them were unfamiliar, with an unknown strength.

After storing the remaining magical materials in his bracelet, Shu Bao planned to start building the magical plantation. As he walked toward the designated area for the magical plantation, he opened and read the letter from the package.

The snake teammate had clearly considered Shu Bao’s size; the letter was miniaturized. When Shu Bao opened it, it was like holding a newspaper. The convenience of carrying it resulted in very small text. The closer Shu Bao looked, the more he had to bring the letter right up to his face. In the end, from the front view, the only thing visible was the deity’s round little belly and tiny feet. Occasionally, the deity’s fluffy ears would become visible when he moved.

Despite Shu Bao not paying attention to the path, he managed to navigate around various obstacles with precision and smoothly arrived at the blueprint area for the magical plantation. The blueprint immediately displayed the required construction materials.

Among them, the 100 units of wood and 100 units of stone had already been collected by the Xia Wang tribe members. Shu Bao placed 10 red owl feathers, 10 chaotic swamp reeds, and 10 doses of two-headed snake venom into the blueprint. The resource bar for the blueprint immediately reached 100%.

Unfortunately, neither Shu Bao nor Lan Qing had found any black meteorites upon entering the chaotic world, otherwise, this construction could have included them.

After gathering all the materials, Shu Bao clicked to start the construction. The construction bar on the blueprint began to grow slowly. It seemed that it would take at least a few hours.

However, this construction was different from the previous ones. In addition to the blue glow, there were also other colors mixed in. These colors resembled semi-transparent ribbons, swirling and drifting around, creating a stunningly beautiful and dreamlike effect under the night sky.

The Xia Wang tribe members passing by stopped in their tracks, their pupils reflecting the colorful light, filled with curiosity and anticipation.

Since the construction of the magical plantation would take time, Shu Bao found a small stone nearby, sat down, crossed his legs, and continued reading.

As the mesmerized Xia Wang tribe members looked down, they saw their deity. In that instant, the previously sacred and beautiful aura seemed to shatter.

“Did Lord Lan Qing write anything? Is there news about the monarch-level monster?” The high priest came over and crouched down, asking with curiosity.

Shu Bao, having finished reading the letter, handed it to the high priest with a smile, “You can read it yourself.”

The high priest took the letter, which felt like holding a small card, with its dense text clearly showing how much Lan Qing missed the tribe while away.

The high priest stared blankly at the letter. Shu Bao looked up and suddenly realized, “I forgot the text is too small. You might not be able to read it.”

The high priest shook his head. “No, Deity, it’s mainly that I can’t read.”

Shubao: “…” He had forgotten that apart from himself and Lan Qing, everyone else in the Xia Wang Tribe was illiterate. It seemed that teaching literacy needed to be added to the agenda.

Shu Bao then relayed the contents of Lan Qing’s letter to the high priest. As Shu Bao had guessed, Lan Qing had first gone to the tavern he mentioned earlier to trade for supplies. However, being so small, Lan Qing almost got stepped on multiple times while trying to enter the tavern.

After finally climbing up to the tavern owner’s table, Lan Qing startled the owner. But in the bizarre chaotic world, after a brief surprise, the people in the tavern quickly accepted the notion that a talking snake was just another peculiar occurrence.

The tavern owner displayed the typical skills of a merchant—bargaining.

Coincidentally, the lion caravan arrived at the tavern and immediately intercepted the deal, purchasing the magical materials Lan Qing was selling at a reasonable price. Lan Qing, in turn, bought the needed items from the lion caravan.

Although the tavern owner was displeased with the interception, such is the nature of trade, and he didn’t make a big fuss. The problem arose when some people thought Lan Qing was a high-level magical beast and wanted to capture him for profit.

Lan Qing definitely couldn’t agree to that. In a fit of excitement, Lan Qing transformed right in the tavern, his massive body instantly filling the space, pushing everyone into the corners, and even lifting the tavern’s roof.

Seeing that he had caused trouble, Lan Qing immediately tried to escape the building, which resulted in breaking the tavern’s door. Consequently, Lan Qing was detained by the tavern owner and made to work to compensate for the damage.

The high priest: “…” It sounded just like something Lord Lan Qing would do.

Shu Bao, stroking his chin, sighed, “I thought he was out exploring the chaotic world. But it turns out he was detained for work.”

However, the tavern, being a place full of mixed characters, spread news very quickly. Lan Qing managed to gather a lot of information there. Unfortunately, the letter didn’t mention anything about the monarch-level beast, indicating that the news of the monarch-level beast had not yet reached Lan Qing when he handed over the package to the lion caravan.

The high priest felt a bit disappointed but found some comfort in the items Lan Qing sent back. “What should we do now?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll go out to check when it’s almost dawn. That monarch-level beast might not even pass by here. Even if it does, it might not be during the night,” Shu Bao said, confident in his luck.

Reassured by Shu Bao’s calm demeanor, the high priest also settled down. Unlike the creatures from the chaotic world, they weren’t here during the day, so they still had a fallback.

After placing the hidden orchids, the number of chaotic creatures surrounding the tribe noticeably decreased. From inside the tribe, it was even more apparent that the chaotic creatures were fleeing.

As soon as dawn approached, the chaotic creatures voluntarily moved away from the tribe’s location, continuing their frantic escape.

The people of the Xia Wang Tribe seized the opportunity to begin their familiar process of gathering prey. With their cooperative wolf partners now available, they ensured that no food was wasted.

Shu Bao, having left the tribe just before the sun rose, decided to explore the surroundings. Since he could return to the tribe during the day, he planned to roam around, as long as he got back before sunset, to ensure there would be no surprises in the tribe’s nighttime defenses.

As for the daytime, Shu Bao believed that the increasingly dedicated forest giant wolves were still highly reliable and would eventually become excellent partners for humans.

After stepping out of the tribe, the rising sunlight quickly vanished along with the tribe, plunging the surroundings into darkness.

To wear the cat-eye necklace, Shu Bao had no choice but to transform into his human form. Although he preferred his mouse form, carrying a necklace as a mouse was incredibly inconvenient.

Thus, while a large number of chaotic creatures fled in one direction, a lone figure moved against the flow.

The scale of this chaotic creature migration was enormous, and the Xia Wang Tribe was situated on the edge of the migration path. Shu Bao approached the periphery of the migrating army and moved in the opposite direction.

He didn’t plan to go too far this time, as the time flow in the two worlds was different. He couldn’t stay in the chaotic world for too long.

Fortunately, he soon found the target he was looking for: a group of adventurers seeking fortune amidst the chaos.

In a situation where so many chaotic creatures were migrating, it meant that nearby dangers were imminent but also presented a great opportunity to make money. Those rarely seen magical beasts were likely to be mixed in with the group, as they followed the migration due to their submissive nature.

The migration army stretched far and wide. Even with night vision, Shu Bao couldn’t see the end of the group at a glance. Among these chaotic creatures, very few truly understood what was happening; most were blindly following the others’ movement.

Considering the commotion he had caused previously by grabbing dragon eggs, Shu Bao had deliberately changed into casual clothes this time. His long hair was tucked into a baseball cap for concealment, and he also wore sunglasses and a mask.

When Shu Bao, dressed like this, appeared next to a team of magical beast hunters, he immediately drew the attention of everyone.

One of the team members looked at Shu Bao curiously for a moment before speaking up, “Hey, buddy, we’re not a bounty team; we’re a professional hunting team. You don’t need to cover up so much.”

It was clear that the team mistakenly thought Shu Bao was someone with a bounty on him, which was why he was so heavily disguised.

“Hey, buddy, it’s just that I’m too good-looking and don’t want to attract trouble. Don’t overthink it,” Shu Bao explained calmly.

The hunting team: “…” Never mind, better to focus on making money and ignore the oddball.

But the next moment, the oddball spoke up again, “Hey, buddy, do you know what’s happening in the north? I just came out of the Chaotic Swamp.” He even pulled out a bottle of magic potion.

The hunting team’s eyes lit up immediately. Although the potion wasn’t of a rare variety, in the chaotic world, no one would ever turn away from having more potions.

“Yeah, there’s a necromancer army approaching from the north. The army has thousands of members. Although it’s just an ancient army, it’s extremely lethal. Wherever it goes, almost no living creatures are left behind. All the magical beasts along the way are scared and fleeing south, which is why so many magical beasts are migrating.” One of the team members, who had initially been dismissive, suddenly became friendly and began to elaborate on the information he knew. After all, it wasn’t much of a secret.

“The necromancer army appears at irregular intervals, with random locations and routes. Each appearance causes a large-scale migration of magical beasts and significant casualties. Countless people have attempted to crack the monarch’s domain and eliminate this elusive necromancer legion, but all have failed. It is said that the leader of the legion is too powerful, possessing an undying body that allows it to resurrect unharmed no matter how many times it is killed.”

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