“No, bringing him over was just so I could buy a 【Divine Relic】 to deal with him along the way. I'll find you hired hands when the time comes.”
Calculating the time, the duration she had stayed in the general store was about enough for Tuanchun to bring Tuantuo to Shengzhi Shuishui to cure the bad luck state.
Fang Yuan put the shovel and hammer back into her fluffball, getting up to leave.
Huo Duoduo, who hadn't managed to scam any gold coins from her, scratched her ears and poked Fang Yuan's thigh with her nose. “Five days! Find me four hired hands in five days. I'm really busy here, can you hurry it up?”
Fang Yuan flashed an 'OK' sign, clutched her hand into a fist to tap her chest, and gave her a 'don't worry, leave it all to me' expression.
Only then did Huo Duoduo wave her hand in satisfaction. “Go on then, just don't get my general store dirty! Go die far away!”
Holding the 'OK' sign, Fang Yuan pushed the door open, bumping right into Liang Du, who was trying to eavesdrop but hadn't heard anything.
Liang Du was already used to getting caught eavesdropping. He quickly plastered a proper, flattering smile on his face, opening his lips, just about to say the words, “Little Sister Fang Yuan, Big Brother Liang was just worried that something bad happened to you inside.”
But no sound came out.
Replacing his voice was a sharp whistle that tore through the air.
He didn't even see where the hammer came from, only catching a glimpse of the afterimages created by her swinging arm and that tender-yellow, heavy hammerhead blasting straight toward his face!
Too fast.
That smile was still frozen on his face, while his pupils were already filled with the rapidly expanding shadow of approaching death.
In that instant, Liang Du's brain spun at top speed.
Fang Yuan used full power—no, no, no, not full power. This air-rending sound, no, it was only sixty or seventy percent of her strength.
She wants to kill him.
She hit him!
His 【Blessing】 was canceled!
But he still has a 【Divine Relic】, that turtle shell; she should know that.
Yet she still wants to kill him.
Did she buy some 【Divine Relic】 in the general store? Is the God of Wealth blind?! Can someone like this actually win His favor?!
“Bang!!!”
And so, a dull, heavy, tooth-grinding crash exploded before his eyes. His entire body was lifted off his feet by the massive force, airborne for a brief moment, before slamming onto the ground like a violently thrown sack of potatoes.
The force reflected by the turtle shell also swept heavily back against Fang Yuan's arm. She simply dissipated the momentum along with the force, turning to plant a foot firmly onto Liang Du's chest.
Raising the hammer high, her gaze remained indifferent, looking exceedingly like she was just carrying out a daily routine.
“Liang Du, with your suspicious and cautious nature, you wouldn't have followed me here alone, even if you have a 【Divine Relic】.”
Falling along with her words was the heavily slamming hammer.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes...
Pinned under her foot, Liang Du saw the durability value of 【Mother Turtle's Beloved Child Shell】 on his panel rapidly dropping.
He completely gave up struggling.
The instant he was grabbed by Fang Yuan, he knew there was no escape.
Just like back when he left his mother's funeral, seized by Fang Yuan who was hiding in the drain, dragged by his hair into the woods, and struck in the back by the axe she swung—it was the exact same experience!!!
There was no escape!!!!
【Mother Turtle's Beloved Child Shell】: From Mother Turtle's love for her child. She removed the largest, thickest turtle shell from her body and bestowed it upon her child, wishing only that her child may go further and further under her protection, safe and sound. Carrying this Divine Relic provides automatic defense when facing a fatal attack. Current durability: 19.9%
“Fang Yuan, why did you try to kill me at my mom's funeral back then! If you wanted money, you could've just told your Big Brother Liang! Does your Big Brother Liang look like a stingy person?”
As death drew near, that amiable, friendly smile was still plastered on his face.
“Your Big Brother Liang has always taken good care of you, Little Sister Fang Yuan. Why did we have to come to this point?”
What answered him was the falling hammer.
He heard the crunch of a hard object shattering, seeing flying shell fragments trailing heat as they fell onto his face.
Looking remarkably like the warmth of his mother.
Fang Yuan lowered her gaze from above, not answering his question, but continuing her own train of thought:
“Since you dared to come and move together with me alone, and didn't leave after knowing I have a 【Blessing】 that creates gold coins and seeing me enter the general store—Liang Du, do you still have another life-saving 【Divine Relic】, or did you cooperate with someone?”
Liang Du also rambled on to himself: “Little Sister Fang Yuan, did you come to kill me back then for my useless mother? Why? A useless person like that, dead is dead. At least I made her death more valuable, right?”
“And that fool of a father, thinking he could get the money I worked so hard for without doing anything—on what basis? A good-for-nothing who only knows how to drink, I might as well help him die a more valuable death too. They should all be grateful to me, shouldn't they?”
“Why do you want to kill your Big Brother Liang so badly? The scar you left on your Big Brother Liang's back won't go away. Honestly, every time I see that scar, it reminds me of you, Little Sister Fang Yuan.”
Fang Yuan tilted her head slightly, looking as if she had taken his words in.
A bit hungry. Was there food for sale in the Crucible? So hungry, wanting to eat a multigrain savory crepe, but high-end ingredients like that probably didn't exist in here, right?
The hammer in her hand fell.
“Bang—!!”
The hammerhead slammed squarely between his mouth, nose, and cheekbones.
The moment it struck, that face collapsed inward. All expressions, bones, and contours of flesh were violently flattened, the skull knocked askew by the force, turned into a bloody mash.
Fang Yuan squatted down, grabbing Liang Du's clothes to wipe the hammer in her hand.
“Watched enough? Do you want to give him a strike with the hammer too?”
She didn't even raise her head, wiping all the blood and brains on the hammer onto Liang Du's clothes.
As her voice fell, a figure stepped out from around the corner of the street.
Gothic attire, twin tails—it was that eleven-or-twelve-year-old young girl.
“Hello, Sister Fang Yuan. Would you like me to call you Fang Yuan or Hammer Star?”
She tilted her head up, her gaze sweeping over the nickname above Fang Yuan's head.
God Candidates could only see each other's nicknames floating above their heads.
Having wiped the hammer mostly clean, Fang Yuan stowed it back into her fluffball, casting a downward glance at the head of the gothic twin-tailed young girl.
Nickname: Night-Bound Butterfly
Fang Yuan withdrew her gaze.
An age of middle school syndrome. Normal. At least it sounded better than Liang Du's “A Warm Word Warms Three Winters.”
“Where is that older sister of yours? Didn't you two hit it off like old friends back at Hero Square? What, broke up?”
Back then, she had deduced that person's 【Blessing】. Based on that ring, there was a high probability it was related to the God of Love.
The glance she had swept over just now didn't just check her nickname, but also the pale pink ring on her ring finger.
“Call me whatever you want, as long as you like it.”
Rate on N.U.
