Translator: ChuRen/ YuQiChen
Actually, in the end, Shi Kongzang didn’t really do anything to Sheng Ze. After all, the Ghost King was still their boss.
—He just used his eight tentacles and teamed up with Xiaoman for a mixed double beating.
That’s all.
Anyway, none of that mattered. What was important was that ever since Sheng Ze came back, Shi Kongzang felt clearer and fresher than ever, and even the frustration of being forced to be an octopus had eased considerably.
In comparison, Sheng Ze’s figure looked a bit dispirited.
But that wasn’t all…
When they got to the company, Su Ling left Wu Pan and the others behind and seriously held Sheng Ze, the little crab, in his fin for a stern meeting, focusing mainly on: “It was way too dangerous just now! How could you run off like that?”
Sheng Ze sadly pointed at himself: “I, Ksitigarbha, don’t usually hide behind others.”
Su Ling: …No, I distinctly remember you happily hiding behind me all the time before?
“No matter what, you’ve turned into a crab. People you could beat before may not be beatable now, plus you’re so small, what if someone picks you up and turns you into steamed crab…”
Su Ling lectured for a good ten minutes, calling it “strengthening safety education”.
Twenty minutes later, Su Ling said he was tired and poured himself a glass of water.
Taking the break, Sheng Ze was about to move past the topic when he heard Su Ling, cup in hand, beckon Wu Pan over and say, “You come here and continue telling A-ze off.”
Sheng Ze: ???
Wu Pan happily ran over and, from the beginning, started analysing how dangerous it had been just now.
Sheng Ze: …
Shi Kongzang and Meng Xiaoman fully embodied the spirit of “strike while the iron’s hot and finish him off”, shamelessly mocked Sheng Ze’s low fighting power, and at times backed up Wu Pan with: “Yeah, it was too dangerous.”
“That’s right, that’s right, way too impulsive.”
“Exactly, exactly, you need to reflect on yourself.”
—In short, they conveyed perfectly the meaning of: “How could you be so willful, reckless, and unreasonable?”
Feeling like the whole world was buzzing around him, Sheng Ze thought: …God, help me, I wanna die QAQ.
Wu Pan’s talk about strength was on a completely different level from Su Ling’s.
Su Ling was so exhausted in less than half an hour that he drank two large cups of water, but Wu Pan—
Twenty minutes…
Half an hour…
An hour…
An hour and a half later…
Even Meng Xiaoman and Shi Kongzang, who were just nodding along, were so tired they started dozing off, leaning against the basin wall. But Wu Pan was still excitedly bringing up a new topic.
Su Ling couldn’t stand it anymore and silently handed him a cup of hot water.
However, Wu Pan took the cup without even looking, set it aside, and all this time, his mouth didn’t stop moving once.
Sheng Ze felt dizzy and overwhelmed by the endless chatter. Unable to resist anymore, he interrupted and, bearing the humiliation, even admitted fault: “Alright, fine, maybe I wasn’t careful this time. But how does this connect to us needing to love peace and not just randomly fight?”
Wu Pan blinked—yeah, how did it end up that way?
“Alright, alright, it’s good you realise your mistake.” Su Ling smoothed things over and drew the critique meeting to a close, “There’s another battle in three days. Everyone think about what underwater spells you can use.”
……
The next day, news that the bun shop owner transformed into a great white shark spread throughout H City.
The Human World Forum and Underworld Forum expressed completely opposite attitudes toward this.
Human World Forum—
“Fake, transforming into a great white shark? Why not say he turned into a cute anime girl?”
“No picture, you’re just talking rubbish!”
“Do people not even use their brains when spreading rumours these days?”
Underworld Forum—
“I heard all electronic devices on site broke, and no photos or videos could be taken… That technique sounds very familiar.”
“Yeah, if someone with that kind of power is still hanging about the human world, it must be that Su something’s company.”
“Yes, it’s that Ling something company.”
Public opinion went through stages—from the fantasy channel rumour of “great white shark roaming the human world making buns”, to the environmental channel gossip of “bun shop uses shark meat for buns”, and then onto the horror channel’s “bun shop owner suspected of cannibalism”.
As the rumours fermented, even the word “suspected” vanished. Somehow, “bun shop owner eats human flesh” became accepted as confirmed news.
This rumour sounded far more believable (?) than the truth about “the owner transforming into a great white shark and battling a little dolphin.” So people widely declared that the animal world doesn’t really exist! Eating human meat is the real deal in this world!
#On how rumours really form#
As for how the regular customers of the bun shop reacted upon hearing this news—that’s beyond anyone’s guess.
The bun shop owner inexplicably became an internet celebrity. To evade police tracking, he simply transformed back into the great white shark form and hid in the shark tank at the aquarium.
Aquarium feeder: …?
Why has the food been going so fast lately?
Finally, three days later, the time for the showdown with Su Ling and company arrived.
With a “plop,” Su Ling jumped into the pool and, looking at the great white shark, exclaimed, “You’ve been eating well, huh? You’ve gained a whole lot of weight in just a few days.”
The great white shark snorted coldly, impatiently saying, “Enough chit-chat. Are you coming at me all together or one by one?”
Su Ling straightened his face and replied, “We are a proper company; we don’t do opportunistic stuff. Of course… we’ll come at you together!”
Great White Shark: …
Su Ling argued reasonably, “Look at your size—how could you have the nerve to challenge us one-on-one?”
Great White Shark: Is it my fault I got fat?
The great white shark flicked its tail, bared its big teeth, and charged fiercely toward Su Ling and the others.
Su Ling quickly dodged and shouted at Chang Bai and Chang Wu standing by the poolside: “Throw it!”
The great white shark’s eyelids twitched as an uneasy feeling suddenly arose.
Together, Chang Bai and Chang Wu lifted a large water jar and “plop plop” poured the object hiding inside into the pool.
The great white shark looked at the small black dots falling from above and sneered, “Just these little things? Hmph.”
Su Ling grinned, waving his fins adorably, “Don’t be so anxious.”
The great white shark’s disdain vanished instantly as it clearly saw the little black dots.
“Piranhas?!” the great white shark exclaimed in shock and anger.
“Kids, charge!” Su Ling’s chubby body led hundreds of piranhas, surrounding the great white shark tightly.
One piranha was the first to break through and quietly bit the shark’s belly.
The great white shark’s thick skin and tough flesh made the piranhas chomp until their teeth ached before opening a tiny wound. As soon as the scent of blood spread, the surrounding piranhas all started getting agitated.
The great white shark’s eyes reddened with rage: “Shameless!!”
Su Ling was insulted but felt no shame. Instead, he calmly joined Sheng Ze, Meng Xiaoman, and the others to form a circle, creating a subtle formation that tightly trapped the great white shark below.
The piranhas hesitated for a few seconds after smelling the blood, then swarmed toward the great white shark in full force.
—As for Su Ling and the others, they had already coated themselves with piranha-repelling potion, so the piranhas ignored them entirely.
The great white shark fought desperately, biting through one piranha after another, turning the aquarium water thick with blood. Despite numerous wounds all over his skin, the shark grew fiercer as the fight went on.
Sheng Ze bobbed up and down in the water a little, somewhat approvingly: “Decent combat power.”
—Very suitable for capturing and recruiting as enforcers.
Shi Kongzang’s heart skipped a beat; his gaze on Sheng Ze filled with scrutiny.
Sheng Ze didn’t notice Shi Kongzang’s stare. Instead, he looked at the great white shark thoughtfully, clearly plotting something.
Suddenly, Sheng Ze turned back, smiling gently at Shi Kongzang.
Shi Kongzang: …
Taking advantage of Su Ling’s distraction, Shi Kongzang quickly refused, “I’m not doing this.”
Sheng Ze was surprised, “I haven’t even said what we’re doing.”
Shi Kongzang wore a cold expression: “I can guess.”
“Oh?” Sheng Ze’s tone was ambiguous as he slowly said, “Maybe not.”
Shi Kongzang hesitated for three seconds, then frowned and asked, “So what exactly do you want to do?”
Sheng Ze smiled, “I want to take the great white shark back to the Enforcement Hall. You help me hold off Su Ling and don’t let him discover my true identity.”
Shi Kongzang: …So it really is that thing!
“Actually, since your current identity is Ksitigarbha, as long as you say the word, the boss won’t refuse to show you that respect,” Shi Kongzang reminded him.
Sheng Ze licked the corner of his mouth1how does a crab do this??, smiling with a meaningful look: “Appearing as the Ghost King brings more benefits than just that.”
Shi Kongzang, full of questions, wasn’t paying attention and suddenly saw Sheng Ze forcibly transform—from a crab into a swirling mass of dark human energy—holding the Netherworld-famous Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand.
Because he forcibly broke through the great white shark’s restriction, Sheng Ze’s soul was unstable, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Shi Kongzang’s expression grew stranger—seeing the Ghost King willing to get hurt to return to his original form made him even more curious about those “benefits” the Ghost King mentioned.
Unbothered, Sheng Ze wiped the blood clean with the back of his hand, then unleashed a veil of dark energy to shield the great white shark inside.
Su Ling seemed to sense something. When he looked up, he suddenly noticed the grand arrival of the “Ghost King”!
“This shark is fated with my Underworld. I intend to take it away. I humbly ask Boss Su to show restraint,” the Ghost King said softly.
The great white shark finally withdrew from the endless attacks and glanced at the Ghost King with some disdain. But considering his situation, he swallowed his mocking words.
Su Ling bit his lip and stared blankly at him.
Then, in the next moment, all the ghosts present saw that Su Ling suddenly sprouted a small tail behind him and ran eagerly over, wagging it at the Ghost King.
That posture and look were more sycophantic than even Tuanzi when begging for food!!!
“Please, my lord, feel free!” Su Ling said with shining eyes.
The Ghost King was stunned for a moment, then reached out a clean hand to pat Su Ling’s little dolphin head, softly praising with a smile, “Good boy.”
At his touch, a faint pink glow appeared on Su Ling’s body. His tail excitedly wagged as he transformed entirely into a little pink dolphin!
Meng Xiaoman and the other ghosts: ?!!
The Ghost King unabashedly cuddled the little dolphin, wiping away all his previous sadness from Shi Kongzang’s bullying and Wu Pan’s nagging.
Su Ling obediently lay still in the Ghost King’s hands the entire time, and not only that, but the blissful expression on his face clearly spelt out—“My idol touched me, I’m so happy!”
Shi Kongzang almost spat blood.
So this is the so-called “benefit”?
Meng Xiaoman couldn’t help but whisper to Shi Kongzang, “Never would have guessed, the boss is actually the Ghost King’s super fan.”
Chang Bai, touching his chin thoughtfully from across the water’s surface, mused, “If that’s the case, which does the boss like more—Sheng Ze or the Ghost King?”
The Ghost King, overhearing everything: …Right?!
Help! What to do if I accidentally become my own rival?!
Author’s note: 【Underworld Forum】
1L: That Su-something company is stirring up trouble again.
2L: The original poster means the Ling something company, right?
3L: You all have guts. My cousin mentioned the company once on the forum and got banned for a week.
4L: Wow, Su Ling really has powerful backing?
5L: …4L is mighty.
…
NL: Hey, hey, hey, 4L, you still there? Are you still alive???
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