Beast Taming: Invincible Breeder-Chapter 29 - 4: Letting Bygones Be Bygones

Chapter 29: Chapter 4: Letting Bygones Be Bygones
Li Cunxu sneered contemptuously, "You are indeed very naive. Don’t you know that according to the alliance laws, fugitives on death warrant have no human rights? Their captors can dispose of their belongings as they wish, even kill them."
Strict measures are applied in chaotic times.
Although it appears peaceful now, the Human Race is actually standing on the edge of a cliff, one misstep and they might fall into an endless abyss, relying solely on an old chairman to hold the front line.
Therefore, criminals who disrupt the stability of human society will face the most severe crackdown.
After ing, escorting Zhang Chiqian away, Li Cunxu returned to Zhang Chiqian’s small hut.
This box was so full of gold and silver jewelry that there wasn’t room for even one more gold necklace. Li Cunxu suspected that the amount of gold Zhang Chiqian had collected was more than this.
Li Cunxu dug down three feet and beneath the other three corners of the house, he excavated three boxes, two of which were filled with golden jewelry.
"Is scavenging this lucrative? I almost want to become a scavenger."
He was just thinking out loud, as he didn’t have a keen eye for gold, scavenging wouldn’t yield such a gain.
Li Cunxu didn’t overlook any corner and dismantled the small hut, eventually finding a painting in the rafters.
The painting depicted a raging sea storm.
"Nothing special."
"No, Zhang Chiqian hid this painting so carefully, it must be special."
"He poisoned a friend to seize a painting, could it be this one?"
"What’s so special about this painting?"
Li Cunxu examined it several times but couldn’t figure out any clues.
"Could it be a well-known artist’s work? There’s no seal or name of the artist?"
Suddenly, Li Cunxu thought of a possibility.
"Could it be..."
Li Cunxu immediately tested it, closed his eyes in meditation, recalling the image of the raging sea storm.
When he opened his eyes again, Li Cunxu beamed with joy, "It is indeed a visualization map, containing a Vast Sea Meditation Technique."
Even the cheapest visualization map costs millions, and even if Zhang Chiqian’s gold was all converted into money, it wouldn’t be enough to buy a visualization map.
"No wonder Zhang Chiqian killed for the painting."
Actually, the greatest gain from Zhang Chiqian wasn’t the gold, nor the visualization map, but an old book titled ’Extreme’.
This old book was a martial arts manual, recording the supreme fist technique of Martial Artists: the Extreme Divine Fist.
Li Cunxu came for this.
Li Cunxu wanted to gift Li Anle something she liked before she left, noticing her interest in Martial Artists. Hence, he remembered that a supreme martial arts manual, the Extreme Divine Fist, was hidden in Landfill No. 4.
In a previous life in the game, a player with a rare item found this book in Zhang Chiqian’s hut under the item’s guidance. Word spread among other players, inciting a treasure-hunting fever at the landfill, and at that time, Li Cunxu, who had joined in, understood the matter well.
As for how he knew about Zhang Chiqian’s criminal acts?
In the game, Zhang Chiqian realized a player bought a small book from his home which was the Extreme Divine Fist; thus he secretly poisoned the player to reclaim the book. The player did not know Zhang Chiqian was responsible, but had a habit of marking tracing signs on droppable items to recover them if lost.
Although the player tracked the Extreme Divine Fist back to Zhang Chiqian’s house, naturally deducing Zhan Chiqian was the poisoner, he was furious but helpless. In "Divine Dominion", the freedom was high, but NPC protection was strong; otherwise, players could freely kill NPCs, halting the game’s storyline. The player couldn’t kill Zhang Chiqian or perform theft to retrieve the Extreme Divine Fist.
The player, unable to swallow this grievance, offered a high-priced bounty for anyone who could retrieve the Extreme Divine Fist, promising a real-world reward of one million.
Li Cunxu also joined in, but was one step too late. When he arrived at Zhan Chiqian’s hut, a player had already discovered Zhan Chiqian’s wanted status from the new mural on the wall and called the police to take Zhan Chiqian away, retrieving the Extreme Divine Fist.
Missing out on the million reward, Li Cunxu lamented, cursing how he couldn’t recall better.
Regarding why Li Cunxu hadn’t remembered this matter, firstly, it was too long ago, and secondly, the Extreme Divine Fist didn’t seem important in memory.
The wealthy player who offered the million reward and got the Extreme Divine Fist back thought the Martial Artist was a hidden profession, hence switching to it—but in reality, wasted a year before switching back to Beast Master.
In "Divine Dominion", Martial Artist is not a hidden profession but a lower-tier one.
Why switch back and forth, and not have a dual profession with both Beast Master and Martial Artist?
Because dual professions in the game come with a double experience penalty.
Leveling up in "Divine Dominion" is quite slow, requiring more experience the higher you go.
With a double experience penalty, the account would be nearly wasted.
"Returning with a full load."
Li Cunxu said happily, carrying four jewelry boxes, two paintings, and a book of Extreme Divine Fist, returning joyfully to the ranch.
Upon returning to the ranch, Li Anle was still sulking by the stream.
Li Cunxu didn’t bother her; when a little girl is angry, she won’t listen to explanations; instead, he put away his things and opened an old tiger-playing-with-a-cat painting that seemed familiar, examining it carefully.
After a while, suddenly, Li Cunxu moved, tearing the edges of the painting, and from the layered depiction of the old painting fell a thin treasure map.
"So it’s this kind of trick!"
Li Cunxu picked up the treasure map, examined it, and said in utter disappointment, ripping the map to shreds and tossing it in the trash; he thought it was going to be a good find.
This treasure map isn’t a genuine one but a trap meant to lure people to their deaths.
The so-called treasure site on the map is actually an ancient tomb with rampaging ghoul guardians draining life force, not a treasure trove. Someone deliberately made many layered tiger-playing-with-cat paintings to lure people in as ghoul food.
Tricked players posted the tomb’s location on forums, commenting and luring other players to the same fate.
"Come to this ancient tomb! A great haul, look at the treasure I can barely hold!"
"What are you shouting upstairs, bringing them here will get all the treasure taken."
"The second floor is really selfish; shouldn’t we let the family enjoy the benefits since each person can only enter the tomb once?"
"Exactly, everybody come quickly!"
Li Cunxu recalls it so clearly because he, too, fell for it and gave the first few comments a thumbs up after escaping, without holding any grudges.
Li Cunxu, carrying the Extreme Divine Fist, went to soothe his sister.
"Here, I specifically risked my life to get you the supreme martial technique, the Extreme Divine Fist."
Indeed, he had risked his life; the opponent was over sixty and wielding an infamously tetanus-inducing butcher knife.
Li Anle, too worried to sulk, asked anxiously, "You risked your life? Did brother get hurt? Let me see."
"I’m fine."
Li Anle checked him thoroughly, ensuring Li Cunxu wasn’t injured before she stopped worrying.