Chapter 39 I Don't Eat Beef

His rules are rules!

If Mu An wanted to count down from 'Nine' directly to 'Four', then he would count down from 'Nine' to 'Four'.

Not convinced?

Heh, if you're not convinced, go tell that to the pistol in his hand!

"Chicken! I know it... it's chicken! That's right, it must be chicken!"

At the very last moment, Slave Trader Deere hurriedly gave his answer.

Regardless of whether this answer was correct or not, he had to take a gamble.

After all.

If he didn't speak up in time, he wouldn't even have the chance to gamble.

That would truly be too unjust!

"Oh? Why?"

Mu An raised an eyebrow, not in a rush to act; he was actually quite interested in hearing the reason why the other party guessed chicken.

Seeing the alchemical tool pressed against his forehead being moved away, Slave Trader Deere felt an inexplicable sense of happiness, like a survivor who had gambled correctly.

He collapsed to the ground as if drained of all strength, sweat pouring down like rain, and even his crotch area was damp—he had clearly lost control of his bladder from fear.

However, there was still the 'final hurdle' to clear; he wasn't truly safe yet.

Therefore, Slave Trader Deere dared not delay.

And seeing the man's somewhat impatient gaze, he quickly braced himself and explained.

"It's only because chicken, after being minced into a paste, can be made into an overly delicious dish."

"I once had the honor of hearing a certain chef, who sported a center-part hairstyle and wore overalls, mention this dish."

"This delicacy was once the top-tier of the culinary world; other dishes were completely unworthy of mention in its presence—not a single one could compete!"

"The only problem is that the technical requirements are too high."

"I heard that during the preparation process, one has to sing and dance, making it almost impossible for anyone to replicate."

Mu An stroked his chin with one hand, then smiled and said.

"A quite interesting answer, so, congratulations on answering... incorrectly!"

Slave Trader Deere's pupils shook instantly.

Wrong?

He actually answered incorrectly!

"The answer! At least before I die, tell me the real answer!"

However, Slave Trader Deere heard such an extremely unexpected statement.

"The answer is... I don't eat beef!"

Upon hearing the 'correct answer', Slave Trader Deere was instantly dumbfounded.

He was truly a fool!

Truly!

It turned out the answer was never in 'pork, chicken, or duck' to begin with.

This wasn't a multiple-choice question where he had to pick one of three at all.

It was a damn fill-in-the-blank question!

Or rather, this man never intended to let him live from the very beginning!

Bang—

The gun fired.

Another unlucky fellow returned to the cold embrace of the Goddess of Death.

After completing the act of punishing evil and promoting good, Mu An innocently spread his hands and smiled at the two women.

"You know, I hate human traffickers the most in my life."

Renée: "..."

Nina: "..."

"I have a question."

"Granted."

Renée: ?

"It means I'm letting you speak."

"I don't have a shred of sympathy for killing this guy, but didn't he say he had a lot of money? Why not make him hand over all his money before killing him?"

Renée expressed her confusion.

Mu An was speechless and covered his forehead.

"Nina, explain this to our newly joined employee, whose nickname is 'Stupid Elf'."

Nina also spoke up weakly.

"Um... Sister Renée, is there a possibility that we could still get all the money after killing him?"

"Oh right, the boss usually likes to call this kind of behavior 'looting the corpse'!"

Upon hearing this, Renée felt as if she had been struck by lightning, her head buzzing.

The young girl instantly realized.

That's right!

After killing that slave trader, it indeed seemed possible to directly obtain all his remaining property.

Unless the other party was a mage with extremely strong Mental Energy and possessed a spatial ring with a special magic barrier.

Otherwise, there was simply no stopping the fate of having one's property plundered.

[It's such a simple principle... why didn't I think of it just now?]

[Could it be that I was hit by some evil mage's intelligence-lowering spell?]

Renée fell into deep contemplation.

Boom—

Just as Mu An and the others were preparing to retreat, the ground suddenly shook violently.

The surrounding objects toppled over; Renée, who was lost in thought, didn't pay much attention and accidentally fell straight into Mu An's arms.

Feeling the man's scent so close by, the young girl's pretty face instantly flushed a few shades redder.

Because...

[It's... it's too close!!]

She felt that she only needed to lift her head slightly and stand on her tiptoes to kiss the corner of the man's lips.

"Oi, don't keep taking advantage of me."

As a black-hearted boss who was 'fully devoted to work', Mu An didn't think much of it and helped Renée stand back up.

At the same time, he narrowed his eyes, using the [Enemy Detection Radar] to repeatedly assess the surrounding situation.

"Who... who took advantage of you! Any, anyway, it couldn't be me!!"

Being told this, Renée's pretty face turned even redder.

Even her speech became stuttering, as tsundere as ever.

Unfortunately, the man's attention didn't seem to be on that right now.

"Boss, there seems to be the sound of monsters roaring nearby..."

Nina walked over with a worried expression after listening intently.

Logically speaking, the vicinity of such a small town that could be built up should have already been cleared by many advance adventurer squads.

Coupled with the special magic barrier and the regular sprinkling of special medicinal powder that could repel monsters.

Living here should be relatively safe, and it's impossible for too many monsters to appear.

But now the situation has clearly changed.

During the Red Moon period, monsters that have fallen into a frenzy won't care about these things; their desire to kill is maxed out.

Not to mention seeing humans, even if they see their own kind, they might launch a killing attack, being extremely insane.

Otherwise, so many adventurers wouldn't be trying every possible way to escape from the deep labyrinth.

"This place cannot stay."

"A Rank 90 Lightning Light Bird monster and a Rank 88 Flame Two-Headed Dog are fighting each other nearby."

"Countless monsters driven by them are rushing towards here."

"Although these guys aren't high Rank, they are generally around Rank 20 or 30; the adventurers in this small town probably won't be able to resist..."

Mu An analyzed calmly.

Of course.

The premise for all this is that they and the others don't join this turmoil.

Several Undead Creatures with Ranks as high as over ninety are enough to sweep everything away.

Including the two powerful monsters that caused this crisis!

To summarize in one sentence.

All the adventurers in the small town might not be able to hold out, but for their squad, it's not a big deal at all!

By the way.

These two high-Rank monsters are the culprits who killed Mu An and Nina last time.

At that time, Mu An's strength was still relatively weak, equivalent to a newbie who hadn't left the beginner village suddenly encountering a max-level boss.

Just a slight aftermath of the battle sent the two of them away, and because of this, two precious Resurrection Coins were wasted.

Regarding this, Mu An has always held a grudge.

As a man who never holds grudges (crossed out) is super-duper vengeful, he felt it was time to 'get even'.

After all.

Times have changed, and the roles have reversed!

...