Chapter 177
Su Langfeng from the Su family’s dungeon had long sent someone to organize the information, and even after that brief confrontation, he had Su Jinxuan specifically deliver the information about the exotic beasts to Su Yitong for her to choose from. However, Su Yitong was not satisfied.
She knew that wasn’t everything; at least she was aware that there was a level 14 giant lizard in one of the dungeons, but it was nowhere to be found in the album Su Jinxuan had sent.
This indicated that Su Langfeng didn’t truly want her to grow fully. If Su Yitong were to develop both her offensive and supportive capabilities simultaneously, it would directly affect his and Su Baibo’s standing.
Su Yitong fell silent and began to focus on her selection. She immediately ruled out all the supportive types, even the A-grade ones.
After nearly an hour of scrutiny, Su Yitong turned the album around and pushed it toward Zhao Shuying: “I want this one.”
Zhao Shuying and the others looked at the open page on the table. Su Yitong had studied it for a long time, repeatedly comparing many exotic beasts. She would use her finger to hold the page and compare it with several alternatives before eliminating them, but this particular page remained under her finger, and she glanced at it from time to time.
**[Koala] Green Wine (Level 11, 35.35%)**
**[Divine Gift] Ah? (A-grade)**
**[Race] Koala**
**[Race Talent] Sleep**
When Su Yitong first flipped to this page, her immediate reaction was to reject it. Although she didn’t understand why Zelan also had a koala, she had a stereotype about this animal…
And seeing that the race talent was “Sleep” only made her more averse.
But once she saw the skills granted by the divine gift, she couldn’t bear to close the page.
**[Divine Gift] Ah?**
**[Skill 1] Huh? (Passive): If any target casts a skill on you without loudly announcing the skill’s name, that skill will have no chance of hitting you. (Special Bureau Note: If a master-pet contract is signed, the contractor can force the exotic beast to share its passive skills with them.)**
**[Skill 2] What did you say?: After using this skill, everyone within a radius equal to your level (in meters) centered on you will stop all actions, their bodies becoming rigid, and they will begin to repeat whatever they said previously for 5 seconds, with a cooldown of 15 minutes.**
**[Skill 3] I’ll say it one last time: Designate a target and use this skill, loudly shouting the skill’s name. For the next five minutes, that target can only use the skills you specify. (If the target doesn’t know the skill you mentioned, they will be unable to cast any spells for the next five minutes.)**
**[Skill 4] So quiet, I thought we’d always have something to say: After using this skill, all non-friendly targets that enter combat will be unable to speak for 1 minute, with a cooldown of 10 minutes.**
Four skills—truly worthy of an A-grade.
Unfortunately, the race talent “Sleep” ruined half of it…
**[Sleep]: Must sleep at least 85 hours a day; there’s a chance to comprehend skills while in a sleep state.**
In other words, she could only work for 5 hours a day. Considering she didn’t know when she might need it to fight, the best approach would be to avoid disturbing it outside of work hours.
This work ethic and schedule were practically touching Su Yitong’s sore spot!
Fortunately, in recent days, her sore spot had been poked by various people and events so often that she had hardly been working at all.
**[Chapter 229: The Aroma of Food]**
Zhao Shuying asked, “Are you sure this is the one? If so, I’ll lock it in for you, and then we can discuss further.”
Su Yitong replied, “I’m sure. Can’t you find out about its other skills?”
Zhao Shuying sent a message to the bureau to help Su Yitong lock in the koala, while explaining, “No matter how advanced the detection skills are, they can’t uncover it because the skills everyone possesses don’t show up on the panel, so they’re not within the detection range.”
Su Yitong asked again, “What about the talent skills of Tulan? Did you find those?”
Zhao Shuying thought of the ear chain she had just repaired: “...No.”
As they spoke, Zhao Shuying had already locked in the exotic beast Su Yitong wanted, and now came the main event.
Zhao Shuying’s expression turned serious: “We can help you contract the koala, but we need you to add 100 more Hope Hymns.”
Su Yitong countered, “The koala is only level 11, and its talent is only A-grade. Besides, you all share part of the responsibility for Black Feather being taken away.”
Zhao Shuying replied, “Are you blaming us for helping you avoid a disaster?”
Su Yitong said, “The outcome is indeed beneficial for me, but that doesn’t erase the fact that you were negligent.”
The two went back and forth, while Zhao Xianyin and Wu Qingbai dared not even breathe too loudly, fearing they might be used as a stepping stone to ease the tension.
In the end, both sides took a step back. Su Yitong agreed to add 85 more, bringing her total to 385, just enough for a full year.
Zhao Shuying said, “388 is great, very auspicious.”
Su Yitong replied, “385 is even more auspicious.”
Zhao Shuying conceded, “Alright, we’ll go with your number. But I have one more question: since we’re making it a full year, why not make it a leap year? Leap year has 355 days.”
Su Yitong gritted her teeth and asked, “85 times! Are you signing or not?! If not, I’m leaving!”
Seeing that the conversation was about to push Su Yitong to her limits, Zhao Shuying had to relent: “Fine, fine, 385 days it is! We’re all familiar with each other, so I won’t quibble over a day or two.”
Su Yitong: “…”
Beside them, Zhao Xianyin hesitated to speak until Su Yitong left. Then she took Zhao Shuying’s hand, pulling her sister close, and asked seriously, “Do many people know I’m your biological sister?”
Zhao Shuying smiled affectionately: “Everyone knows. You should hurry up and level up.”
Zhao Xianyin: “…”
Wu Qingbai thought to himself: Good thing he learned to keep quiet today; otherwise, wouldn’t he have been driven to madness?
…
While Zhao Shuying and Su Yitong were negotiating, Yu Xunge was busy learning the basics of cooking from her grandmother, not just following the aroma of food.
After learning that Yu Xunge wanted to practice her culinary skills, Shen Yushi asked her to prepare a dish for her to evaluate.
To avoid scoring above 80, Yu Xunge sifted through her cooking recipes and chose a high-difficulty one, ultimately scoring only 75.
After tasting the squirrel fish Yu Xunge made, Shen Yushi didn’t scold her but instead assigned her a hefty amount of basic practice tasks.
Chopping vegetables took up a third of the assignments, while seasoning and temperature control took another third. For these two tasks, Shen Yushi only assigned homework, instructing Yu Xunge to practice at home. During her days in B City, Yu Xunge needed to learn the most crucial lesson—how to select ingredients, spices, and seasonings.
So, starting from the morning of the 85th day, Yu Xunge followed Shen Yushi through the streets and alleys.
Along the way, Lu Qiyun, Yu Chayan, and two people Yu Xunge had never seen before accompanied them. These individuals were responsible for protecting Shen Yushi.
Yu Xunge didn’t know if these people had protected Shen Yushi in her past life; many things were gradually diverging from her memories. At least in her previous life, there hadn’t been a third child between Yi Qiuguo and Yu Qingshan, and they had never come to B City.
Years had passed, yet Shen Yushi’s nickname remained unchanged. Whenever they went out, familiar elderly ladies and gentlemen would greet Shen Yushi as “Xiangxiang,” and those who were closer would call her “Fan Xiangxiang.”
“Xiangxiang, out buying groceries?”
“Xiangxiang, your granddaughter is here to see you?”
“Fan Xiangxiang, what are you cooking today?”
“Fan Xiangxiang, are you selling today’s dishes? My son’s daughter just sent me some game currency.”
It had been like this in her childhood too. Shen Yushi would hold her hand, and she would hold Yu Xunghuan’s, the three of them linked together, while Yi Qiuguo would jog ahead, taking photos of the three generations with her phone.
People they encountered would greet Shen Yushi in the same way, as if no one disliked Fan Xiangxiang, as if everyone knew her, leading Yu Xunge to believe for a long time that her grandmother’s surname was Fan and her name was Xiangxiang.
According to Yi Qiuguo, there was a time when little Yu Xunge insisted on changing her name to Cai Xiangxiang—something Yu Xunge would never admit to being so foolish.
Finally, after exiting the alley and encountering no one else to greet them, Tulan turned to Shen Yushi and said, “So your name is Fan Xiangxiang. Xiangxiang, your shao mai is super delicious.”
Yu Xunge replied, “...How old are you? How old is my grandmother? You think you can just call her Xiangxiang?”
Tulan said, “Alright then, Xiangxiang sister.”
Yu Xunge clenched her fists at Tulan, wondering if he had hit puberty.
Shen Yushi was amused by the silly dragon and casually handed Tulan a basket of shao mai with a perfect score of 100: “Here, take this. You can call me grandmother just like Xunge.”
Tulan hugged the shao mai and leaped into the air: “Thank you, grandmother!”
Yu Xunge: “…” She recalled how Tulan had looked when they first met, with that same adorable expression…
During their meal break, Yu Xunge inquired about the blank skill crystals. She hadn’t forgotten that she needed to send the skill crystal “We’re Not Familiar, But That’s Okay” to her morning self on the 15th.
Unfortunately, these were tightly controlled.
Zhao Shuying had no stock; she said her quota had already been used up, and if Yu Xunge wanted one, she’d have to wait until next month. The blank skill crystals were under particularly strict control lately, and there was nothing she could do.
Thus, Yu Xunge had no choice but to turn her attention to Lu Qiyun and the others.
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