The Key

After shouting this sentence, the cicada turned around and went back to pulling a ball of dough on its own.

Zhu Yan walked over, suppressing his fear of bugs, and knocked on its hard shell.

"You obviously have so much stock left, why won't you sell it to me?"

The cicada's movements stopped, and without warning, it let out a piercing chirp that made Zhu Yan's chest vibrate.

It turned around nimbly, waving its insect legs, and the huge eyes on both sides of its head struggled to focus on Zhu Yan.

"Even if your level is higher than mine, you have no right to speak to Auntie Jin like this!"

Oh.

So this was the real Auntie Jin, that was just perfect.

Zhu Yan thought expressionlessly. He pointed to the dough under the table, activated his level six ability, Honor the Ancestors, and repeated himself.

"I want to eat noodles. Why won't you sell them to me, Dad?"

Auntie Jin was only level six, and the ability Honor the Ancestors was also level six, so it could completely override her.

Auntie Jin's waving insect legs slowed down, and her huge eyes looked at Zhu Yan with some confusion.

When did she have a son?

No.

Shouldn't her son... be eaten by her as usual, turning into her own nutrients?

Why did she actually want to protect this son in front of her and give him everything?

Was this right?

Zhu Yan understood Auntie Jin's hesitation and doubled down, "Dad, what is all this dough for? Why won't you sell it?"

As soon as the second "Dad" came out of his mouth, Auntie Jin felt as if a fluffy cloud had been stuffed into her brain.

Soft, comfortable, with a refreshing coolness.

Good heavens, she couldn't care less anymore.

She was going to spoil this son!

"Oh, baby."

Auntie Jin's voice pitched up affectionately as she pushed Zhu Yan all the way into the shop and pressed him down to sit at a small table.

A few diners here seemed to have just finished their noodles. The empty bowls were still there, and broth was splashed all over the wooden tabletop.

"I know you want to eat noodles!"

Auntie Jin waved a few of her insect legs and very nimbly cleared away the empty bowls on the table.

"Wait, I will make them for you right away! Even if I risk a shortage in the supply for the Keeper, I won't let my precious son suffer!"

Hmm?

Zhu Yan sensitively caught the word "Keeper".

What did that mean? Was Auntie Jin's batch of dough meant to supply the Keeper of the Key Fragment?

Was it what he thought it was?

Excited, Zhu Yan hurriedly stood up and grabbed Auntie Jin's insect leg, the barbs on it making him gasp in pain.

"Dad, wait a minute, Dad!"

Clang—

The bowls in Auntie Jin's hands fell to the ground, splashing gravy everywhere.

She swore.

She had never heard two such beautiful "Dads"!

For these two "Dads", she could even give up her life!

Auntie Jin quickly tossed the bowls into a wooden bucket in the corner, grabbed a rag at random, and hastily wiped the table clean.

Then, she sat down quite eagerly, gazing at Zhu Yan opposite her with an adoring look.

"My good son, do you want me to keep you company?"

Zhu Yan was dumbfounded.

Holy crap, he finally understood the thrill Feng Yaozu felt!

Other than feeling a bit creeped out by being stared at like this, it was an absolute win in every other aspect.

"Dad, I just want to know," Zhu Yan continued to unleash his ultimate move, "Why aren't you selling all that dough? Are you providing meals for the Keeper? What is the Keeper? What is it keeping?"

Zhu Yan leaned forward and asked these questions in a low voice.

There were still a few diners eating heartily around them, and he didn't want the other horror creatures to notice anything unusual.

Auntie Jin chirped happily twice and blissfully leaned closer to Zhu Yan.

She didn't know how the emotion of "bliss" appeared in her brain, nor did she know why, but she simply couldn't resist the urge to do so!

"Hehe, you don't know, the Keeper loves eating my noodles the most."

"Because I added a little minced human flesh when kneading the dough... That smell, so fragrant!"

Zhu Yan still inevitably felt a little nauseous; he finally knew why the dough was a pale red.

"Oh my, the Keeper specially brought me along just for a bite of these noodles."

"No matter where it shifts to, my noodle shop will always be on the same floor as it."

Zhu Yan understood.

But none of this was the main point he wanted to hear.

"Dad, what is the Keeper?"

He asked again, and Auntie Jin hissed softly twice, as if laughing.

"It is a treant, a very large treant. Oh my, it is a full level fifteen, a much higher level than me."

"Unfortunately, relying on its high level, it doesn't give me any bone gold coins."

Speaking of this, Auntie Jin's huge insect head swayed, making Zhu Yan feel a burst of disgust.

"However, it is the Dean of Boyang University and promised to waive my rent in the school."

Wow.

At this point, Zhu Yan was actually a bit eager to try.

There was no fear of a level fifteen horror creature, only a yearning to kill the Dean next door.

Once he got Key Fragment 2, what crazy actions would this Dean take?

"So Dad, what it is keeping is..."

Zhu Yan guided her patiently.

Auntie Jin shivered with pleasure. "Oh... oh... baby! What it is keeping is of course a very important treasure, called some kind of fragment..."

Auntie Jin looked at the diners eating with their heads down around them and also lowered her voice.

"I forgot the exact name too. Anyway, it is very vigilant."

Zhu Yan quietly looked at Auntie Jin's intoxicated expression and eyes that had clearly lost focus.

He discovered that the effect of the Honor the Ancestors ability seemed to be stackable.

The more times the word "Dad" was called out, the more confused the horror creature opposite him became.

"Dad, so how many checkpoints has it set up?"

Zhu Yan asked in a low voice, "In which room? Where is the key? Please, Dad."

Auntie Jin's expression cracked a little, as if her reason had briefly returned.

But with the final "Dad" called out, she quickly became confused again.

"There are no room numbers here," Auntie Jin buzzed and said, "There are two keys in total, which one are you asking about?"

Two keys, it sounded quite difficult.

Zhu Yan felt a bit helpless.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Dad, do you know where the keys are?"

Auntie Jin's huge eyes struggled to focus on Zhu Yan, and her huge body swayed as if she was about to pass out drunk.

She hissed happily in a low voice for a while before saying, "The first key is on me, of course, because I need to open the room door to deliver food to the Keeper."

"It is a responsible Keeper... It always squats in front of the door and refuses to leave."

"The second key, I have seen it, is right under its butt, together with the door..."

Did this mean that the door to the room where the Key Fragment was kept, and the door key, were both under the treant's... butt?

Zhu Yan could roughly imagine the difficulty of this matter.

A treant's butt should be a tree stump, right.

A tree stump would press down on the space without leaving any gaps, so...

[Telekinesis] was probably a genuine challenge.

Even if [Telekinesis] succeeded, how was he supposed to open that door right underneath the tree spirit's butt?