Monster Paradise Chapter 23: Reuniting with Fatty Yin
5 BlackIron Equipment worth of spoils: 2 defensive armors, 1 combat knife, 1 underwater Equipment and 1 scouting Equipment. What the last two did, Lin Huang did not know. The 5 pieces of equipment were in their inert ring state which he could not activate with his current strength.
On top of these Equipments, Lin Huang looted the Life Crystals in Xue Jie's storage space. A fortune of 30 years worth of crystals were taken, with a value of over 3 million credits.
The rest of the items in Xue Jie's storage looked worthless so he was too lazy to take them. His storage space wasn't big after all. It had a volume of 1 cubic metre. He definitely planned on expanding his storage space after the exam.
Hopping onto the Tyrant Express, Lin Huang pointed slightly to the left of Zuo Qiu Kang's path. The general direction still pointed towards the east.
It's not that he was afraid of fighting the other candidates, it was just a hassle. That encounter with Zuo Qiu Kang wasted over 30 mins of his time. Several more Zuo Qiu Kangs and he would miss the 15 days deadlines.
After running east for 20 minutes, they encountered a dust storm. While it wasn't severe, Lin Huang's ogre had to slow down his pace while Lin Huang himself had to cover his mouth.
However it was not long before they met with another incident. Lin Huang spotted a person's silhouette in the distance. It was probably a person. The silhouette vaguely resembled a ball with two small legs sticking out of it, and was slowly trotting off into the distance.
"This silhouette seems oddly familiar." Lin Huang had a vague impression of encountering this person before.
Tyrant changed directions and headed towards the silhouette, his excitement apparent in his eyes. His hunter's instincts told him that a feast awaited at the end of this tunnel.
"Tyrant. Ignore him, we will bypass him." Lin Huang commanded.
Upon hearing this, Tyrant had no choice but to give up on his meal ticket and change directions.
Yin Hang Yi was slowly traversing through the dust storm when he suddenly heard a strange voice coming from his back. As he turned around, he saw an ogre bearing a person on his shoulders, heading towards his general direction. Just as this strange sight registered in his head, the ogre gracefully leaped over his head and continued on its way.
Yin Hang Yi wasn't too shocked by this scene but that rider seemed familiar. The other party had covered the lower half of his face so only eyes were visible. He remembered seeing this person before, but his identity kept eluding Yin Hang Yi. Suddenly, it dawned on him, "That pair eyes…Don't tell me it's Lin Huang?!"
He immediately waved at that ogre and shouted, " Lin Huang! Wait ! It's me Yin Hang Yi!"
Hearing that call behind him which included his name, Lin Huang turned around and squinted through the sandy curtain in front of him to try and confirm his identity.
An awkward look crossed his face. This fatty was an annoyingly outgoing person. He liked to talk. A lot. If he came along, he would have to suffer the presence of a perennial chatterbox. However, this fatty had veered off the correct path and with this dust storm not subsiding anytime soon, it was highly likely that he would veer further off the course, failing his exam.
He sighed and shook his head. He decided to help the fatty.
Seeing the ogre stop, he picked up the pace and sprinted towards Lin Huang. Upon seeing Lin Huang slid down the ogre's arm, he sheepishly smiled as he greeted Lin Huang, "Brother Lin! I've finally met a familiar face! I reckon if I didn't meet you here, I would have died in this desert."
"Weren't you with the frontrunners? How did you veer off course?" Lin Huang didn't continue with that train of conversation but instead voiced out his doubts.
"Sigh. Last night, just as I fell asleep in my tent, the dust storm started and everyone had to take cover. By morning, I had completely lost my sense of direction." The fatty didn't look like he was lying so he accepted that reason.
"Brother! I didn't know you are a Beastmaster. To use an ogre as your mount, that's ingenious!" After saying that, his tone drastically changed as he wore a pitiful look on his face as he plead, "Can you give me a life? Pretty please? You won't me leave here to die in this god forsaken place right?"
"You won't die. Just press the SOS button." Lin Huang replied with a straight face.
"No way! I would lose my exam qualifications if I did that." Fatty Yin furiously waved his hand as expressed his refusal.
"Which is more important? Your life or the exam?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrows at fatty's refusal.
"Of course it's the exam!" Fatty Yin replied with conviction.
"I don't mind giving you a lift but I have one condition." Lin Huang raised a finger as he said this, a serious look on his face.
"Anything! As long as you don't ask me to sleep with you, I'm fine with anything. Fatty is still a virgin. I want to leave my first time for my future wife!" Fatty Yin said with a serious expression.
"Screw off! Who would want to sleep with a tub of lard!" Lin Huang lightly kicked Fatty Yin.
"What do you know! It's called love handles! Girls love the feel of my body. It's cuddly!" Fatty Yin dodged the kick as he explained.
"Alright. Enough playing around, I'm in a hurry. My condition is simple : If I tell you not to talk, you better not talk." He couldn't stand Fatty Yin's constant chattering. He would go deaf by the end of this journey if he didn't tag on this condition.
"What's wrong with talking? Why can't I talk?" Fatty Yin anxiously asked. Even with the ogre giving him a lift, the journey would take 2-3 days. Being unable to talk for 2-3 days was unbearable.
"If you don't want to, it's fine."
Just as Lin Huang turned around and started to walk off, Fatty Yin stopped him, " Fine, fine. You win. I'll accept your condition."
"Since that's the case…" Lin Huang turned and made a zipping motion.
Fatty Yin looked at him with a puzzled expression, "What's that?"
"It means to be quiet!" Lin Huang forgot that this wasn't Earth. The fact that Fatty Yin didn't know the meaning of that expression was not his fault.
Hearing that, the fatty immediately shut his mouth and waved at Lin Huang as if to say "Pick me up!"
"Alright. Tyrant place him on your right shoulder." Tyrant wasn't as gentle to Fatty Yin as he was to Lin Huang. He hooked two of his fingers onto Fatty Yin's belt and lifted him up.
In contrast, he lowered his arm and allowed Lin Huang to step onto it before lifting him to his left shoulder.
Seeing the disparity in the way he was treated, Fatty Yin complained, " I object! What's with this difference in service? I have the right to equal treatment…"
Lin Huang made the zipping motion to the fatty once more. He finally resigned himself to his fate and quietly sat down. Lin Huang was the one doing him a favour after all.
After settling down, Lin Huang slapped the ogre on his back.
"Let's head out!"
The Sand Ogre lifted and took a huge stride off into the distance towards the east…
Credits:
Special thanks to 7STARDARK BLADE! The first ever patron of Catato Patch Translations.