Being the Wife of a Fluffy Creature [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The Second World (1)

Although the new job was high in difficulty and full of annoying tasks, the Transmigration Company was indeed very good to its employees. When a task ended, a specialist came by to understand the situation; hearing Wu Yao’s feedback that the difficulty was too high, that person immediately reported it upward.

The new department was short-staffed. The company couldn’t help that the work was bitter and tiring, but they had money and could scatter coins by the handful. Before Wu Yao even had time to proactively extort money, the company raised his base salary, and the guaranteed minimum for each mission increased from 150,000 to 300,000.

If that was the case… then Wu Yao didn’t feel aggrieved at all. No one should try to snatch this job from him!

To ensure the physical and mental health of employees, there was a one-week holiday after every mission, allowing seven days to adjust before entering a new mission world. The system was currently packing luggage. Having just paid off a debt, Wu Yao was lying in a rocking chair humming a song in a quite good mood.

The system pushed a suitcase past him and, imitating Wu Yao’s tone, leaned into his ear to be a jerk: “I stayed behind just because I wanted to grind more data and get more rewards. What does it have to do with Shiyi? I wouldn’t waste so much time for someone I’ve only known for a few days~”

“Look at that, I said I was right to stay. One title and one achievement—think of how much money those can be exchanged for. Why stay here? I want to fish for a bit more, it has nothing to do with Wu Shiyi, don’t talk nonsense!”

Wu Yao, who was calculating his accounts, pushed the small light ball aside.

“Shiyi and I are just friends; look at how pure our sleeping is. What’s wrong with letting him hug me? Don’t those pairs of besties in the team also like to hold hands with their sisters? He secretly kissed my face… he more or less retained the habits of a dog, you can’t blame him!”

Wu Yao felt uncomfortable listening and stuffed a cookie into its mouth. “It’s completely over between me and the silly dog.”

“Are you sad? You didn’t fight for it before, and now that there’s no chance, you’re starting to regret it?”

Wu Yao turned over, backing away from it. The system patted his back. “Our job is like this. Everyone is just a passerby in our lives, so we must enjoy the moment to avoid leaving regrets.”

Wu Yao didn’t say a word, mechanically scrolling through his phone. Having worked for so long, he naturally knew that a transmigrator couldn’t truly be with a mission target. At most, they could renew for a few decades to accompany the target until they died of old age, then take their memories alone to the next world and meet new people.

Unless he chose to give up his long lifespan and apply to the company to stay in one small world forever. After completely becoming a lifeform of that world, the employee would have the common understanding of birth, aging, sickness, and death, walking to the end of life bit by bit like everyone else.

Abandoning immortality for someone else—Wu Yao wouldn’t do such a stupid thing even if he died. At the time, he thought he could keep renewing for free until the silly dog made a smart friend, and then he would exit the world.

Who knew that planet had its own native monsters. The silly dog took his identity as a General very seriously, always feeling that protecting survivors was what he ought to do. He was busy building bases and killing monsters non-stop; Wu Yao had just renewed to the tenth year when he died in battle.

Before breathing his last, he even smiled at Wu Yao, saying how much he regretted it, that he had words suppressed in his heart he never dared to say, and even asked Wu Yao if he would die because of him. Hearing that Wu Yao was born because of him and would naturally leave with him, Wu Shiyi smiled exceptionally happily.

“We are together forever, Xiao Yao. If we meet in the next life, I hope we can… can go one step further.”

Wu Shiyi was clearly very accepting of this ending. Perhaps in his conception, this was his most decent and best-looking way to die. Before long, a hero statue of him would be erected in the survivor camp.

Wu Yao wasn’t sorrowful, just a bit lonely for him. So, he customized a black simulated mechanical dog online and a life-sized mannequin that was “generous, wealthy, and had a sense of security.”

A model was a dead object after all; the feel of it was still much worse compared to the silly dog. Ultra-simulated models that generated their own heat were too expensive, and Wu Yao still owed a lot of money; relying on this cheap item to pin his nostalgic feelings was enough.

Previously, every time he left a mission world, Wu Yao would consistently go crazy at home, relying on ways that cost his voice but not money to relieve stress. This time was much better; he got along so well with Wu Shiyi yet didn’t go crazy because of the separation, though he did wipe away tears a few times at night.

The system teased the mechanical dog and asked Wu Yao if he wanted to go home. Wu Yao shook his head. The system thought his relationship with his family was bad and didn’t ask further.

Wu Yao clicked on his photo album and looked at a family portrait. His parents were long dead; otherwise, with one being a policeman and the other a lawyer, how could they have let their precious son be tricked by a black-hearted system into becoming a little slave?

The mechanical dog jumped up to lick him. Wu Yao pushed it away. “Brother System, where are you going?”

“To see my parents.”

“You’re a system and you have parents?”

The small light ball widened its eyes. “Of course! The factory that created me is my home. Look, this area is all my mom, and that area is all my dad.”

Wu Yao: …

How exactly did a bunch of machines differentiate between male and female?

The system went home to see its cyber-parents, and Wu Yao, staying temporarily at its house, spent his days teasing the dog and playing with the mannequin, entering retirement life early. At night, Wu Yao lay in the mannequin’s arms staring blankly; he poked the model in front of him, suddenly remembering a day the silly dog secretly kissed him in a dream. He had carefully kissed his cheek and whispered restrainedly in his ear, “I like you so much.”

Wu Yao didn’t know how to answer. He continued to pretend to sleep, thinking that if Wu Shiyi stole a kiss on his lips in a moment, how he should control his breathing so the other wouldn’t find anything abnormal, and whether his lips were closed or open when he usually slept soundly.

The worry was unnecessary; the silly dog just kissed his cheek and shrank back into the quilt. At the time, Wu Yao didn’t have any special feeling, but thinking back now, he felt strangely regretful. The system was right; he was a hell of a “straight man.”

The rest period ended, and the system rushed back with a pile of local specialties. It opened the backend and waved to Wu Yao. “Look sharp, we’re starting work! I asked around through other light balls; the world we’re going to this time is super relaxed!”

“The second mission ‘Caisheng Zhege’ is about to begin. Welcome to—Changning Xiaoyin Village!”

“Laicai? Laicai wake up. We made braised pork today; it won’t taste good if it gets cold.”

Before Wu Yao could shake off the dizziness brought by transmigration, he was picked up. A stranger’s breath sprayed on his face, and the heavy smell of tobacco made him frown in disgust. He opened his eyes coldly and came face-to-face with a mouth of yellow teeth. “Our Laicai is so handsome, let Daddy kiss you!”

Wu Yao twisted his head to avoid it while pushing the man’s face away with force. The system comforted him: “Don’t be afraid, this is your dad. You’re currently a five-year-old cub.”

“Even if he’s my dad he can’t kiss me. His breath is so stinky, I’m afraid of catching a disease.” Wu Yao paused, covering his mouth and almost dry-heaving.

The system’s perception was different from a human’s; it leaned out to sniff for a long time. “Is it really that stinky?”

“…I’m almost done for. This is an occupational injury.”

The hot pot city basement and Hell Park from the previous world weren’t as stinky as his temporary dad’s mouth. It was unnaturally stinky; this man must be sick. Wu Yao struggled a few times and successfully got the man to put him on the ground.

The man went to serve the food, and Wu Yao wandered around to familiarize himself with the environment. Although he had transmigrated to a rural village this time, his family’s conditions weren’t bad. Refrigerator, TV, washing machine—every appliance that should be there was present. On the yellowed wall hung an exquisite retro-style wall clock, and not far away against the wall was a black-and-red offering table with a statue enshrined on it.

Just as Wu Yao wanted to run to the statue to take a closer look, a burst of dog barking came from the yard. The man put down the rice ladle and went out to check the situation. Before leaving, he shouted into the house, “Laicai, don’t mess with the statue! The meat is for your brother, you little ‘bitch-hooves’ aren’t allowed to steal any!”

The first sentence was for Wu Yao, but what did the latter sentence mean?

“Understood, Papa.”

Several timid female voices rang out. Only then did Wu Yao notice there were actually two other people in the room. They had zero presence, as if they were invisible. A sallow, thin girl walked out of the kitchen with a forced, ugly smile. “Brother, you…” She said “you” for a long time without saying anything else, then lowered her head and walked over to serve the rice.

The wooden door opposite opened, and another dry-looking girl carrying a chamber pot quietly walked out of the room. The system watched the whole process, clicking its tongue and shaking its head. “I bet you ten points their names are definitely something like Zhaodi, Pandi, or Laidi.”

Wu Yao quickly adapted to his identity as a five-year-old child and ran to the kitchen to tug at the girl’s hem. “Sister, what’s your name?”

The girl was about eight or nine years old, with empty eyes and a wooden expression. Even though she was a child, her demeanor and aura were like an elderly person, with no vitality at all. She didn’t seem to find Wu Yao’s question strange at all. “Pandi.”

The system clapped its hands. “I told you! That old bastard’s ‘preference for boys over girls’ is soaked into his bones. I knew his character the moment he opened his mouth. Come on, pay up on the bet!”

After taking Wu Yao’s red envelope, the system sighed with emotion. “So pitiful, these kids, suffering like this at such a young age.”

Wu Yao felt something wasn’t quite right. He circled the room a few times. “Where’s my mom? Why are there no traces of a mother living in this house?”

“Dead or escaped, I guess. In the Transmigration Company, these realistic-leaning dungeon types are everywhere. The mainstream plots are usually divided into three kinds.” The system counted on its stick-figure hands. “A woman is sold to the village by human traffickers to be a wife; she resists fiercely and is killed, becoming a female ghost to curse the whole village. This is the Female Ghost Revenge line; the task players receive is usually to perform a ritual for the ghost or escape from her hands.”

“The second type is the woman didn’t die but was tied up and forced to give birth, one after another until a boy is born. This category belongs to rescue missions; players have to rescue the victim from the inhuman villagers.”

“The last type is the mystery-solving dungeon. The woman might have been beaten to death while escaping, or maybe she was buried after losing her value once the boy was born. Players have to find out the cause of the woman’s death within a set time and hand the evidence to the police.”

Wu Yao was somewhat surprised. “Looking at it this way, players and the female ghost are on the same side; the worst case is just performing a ritual for her.”

“Otherwise, you’d side with traffickers and rapists? The company wouldn’t be able to recruit anyone then, at most a few college students.”

Wu Yao didn’t understand the situation over there. The company only recruited dungeon designers, not players. He thought the ghosts in the dungeons would be antagonistic toward players.

The system pulled over a blackboard and listed a few key points: “Zhaodi/Pandi – Preference for boys; Mom is gone – Human trafficking; Enshrining a strange statue – Evil cult superstition; Dad is bad to daughters – Domestic violence; there might even be plots involving sexual assault and selling daughters for money.”

Finally reaching its familiar territory, the system knocked on the blackboard with a relaxed face. “Studied the mission world thoroughly in less than ten minutes after transmigration. I really am a little genius. A tiny mission, easily taken down!”

Wu Yao thought for a long while and felt it made a lot of sense. From this perspective, the only difficulty in this world was that he was too young and had low combat power, making it inconvenient to do anything. However, the mission details said his target this time was a little fox. Even if female ghost massacres, evil gods descending, or scumbags selling daughters to old bachelors did occur later, what did that have to do with a little fox?

After hearing him finish, the system also realized the situation wasn’t quite right. It pulled up the backend data and looked. “Whoa!”

“Mission Target: Red Fox”

“Name: Xiao Hong (Temporary, can be modified)”

“Health: 1 (The fox is still alive)”

“Sanity: -10 (The fox hates everything)”

“Total Score: -9 (This data really makes one’s eyes go black, doesn’t it, worker?)”

Wu Yao: … Yes, he was about to faint.

The information on the little fox was also very concise, similar to the silly dog in the last world. Xiao Hong was a fox who dreamed of becoming a fox immortal, doing good deeds everywhere to accumulate merit. Just as it was about to become an immortal, it was tricked, turning from a little fox immortal into a little fox spirit.

The gap between immortal and demon was too large; the little fox spirit turned dark and decided to take revenge on the world. Finally, it was beaten half to death by several passing monks and Taoists, and it hid in the mountains with its tail between its legs to recover from its injuries.

After finishing the data, the system pulled the blackboard back and drew a circle around “Evil Cult.” Since this world had fox immortals and fox spirits, it could certainly have ghosts and evil gods. The little fox was likely screwed over by some evil cult.

The two studied several possibilities, and Wu Yao couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Having guessed the general direction of the plot, this mission would be much simpler.

A few minutes later, the man entered the house cursing. “D*mned animal cub! When I catch it, I’m definitely going to skin it!”

Zhaodi set the table and stood beside the dining table with Pandi, both lowering their heads and serving their father and brother like servants. The man picked up a piece of braised pork with both fat and lean for Wu Yao. “Laicai, eat meat!”

Wu Yao looked at the two thin girls; their stomachs had been growling, clearly starving. “Aren’t the sisters eating?”

“Don’t worry about them, they’ll eat in a bit.”

Wu Yao nodded and said nothing more. He put the meat in his mouth, and his eyes instantly lit up. The person who cooked it had very good skills; one bite was fatty but not greasy, leaving a fragrance in the mouth. The level far exceeded ordinary households; even many restaurants couldn’t produce this taste.

Wu Yao ate three pieces in a row before turning to look at the man. “Papa, did you make this?”

The man didn’t answer, just picked up his wine glass and smiled proudly.

Wu Yao only ate a few pieces of the plate of braised pork. He had estimated the amount of food; the man was constantly drinking and eating edamame, so there wouldn’t be much room left in his stomach. If he ate less, the dish could have enough left for the next meal. If the man drank this much, he would surely sleep soundly tonight, and the two girls could take the opportunity to sneak food from the fridge.

Wu Yao had just crossed over for one meal’s time and wasn’t clear on the rules of this house, not knowing if he could leave the table early. The man hummed a little tune, dragging out his meal for over an hour. “Bitch! Go cut the red sausage in the fridge and bring it over!”

Zhaodi gave a hum of affirmation.

Wu Yao rubbed his brow irritably. “Papa, I want to go out and play.”

“Go out… go out and play?” The man asked drunkenly. “Now? It’s not safe for you to go out this late.”

Wu Yao looked at the sunset outside the window. “Just playing in the yard.”

“The yard… the yard is even worse. Stay in the house properly, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

Wu Yao had guessed correctly; this family really had a rule about not leaving the table early. He sat dryly for three hours until the man stood up before Wu Yao could move freely.

The two girls finally got to eat. The man poured the leftovers into a basin, and Zhaodi and Pandi knelt on the floor to lick and eat it. The braised pork Wu Yao had specifically left behind was also thrown into the yard by the man to feed the guard dogs.

Wu Yao watched the entire process, his gaze toward the man becoming increasingly unkind. After eating, the whole family gathered in the bedroom to watch TV. The screen showed a fashion show; the man stared lustfully at the models’ bodies and reached out to pull Zhaodi beside him into his arms.

Wu Yao was scrolling through the backend data when the system suddenly let out an “Ah!”

“Old bastard! I knew it, I knew it!!!”

He looked up; the man’s hand had already reached into Zhaodi’s pants. The girl didn’t struggle or cry, just kept her head lowered quietly. Pandi looked at the TV expressionlessly, as if she couldn’t see what her father was doing to her sister.

Wu Yao glanced at the fruit knife in the fruit plate, took a deep breath, and regretfully retracted his gaze. It wasn’t time yet.

He grabbed the man’s arm, intending to let “Papa” hug him. In the eyes of the animal father, Laicai was the family’s ancestor-bearer and a golden nugget; as long as Wu Yao didn’t act too out of line, he wouldn’t be in danger. Just as the man was about to reach out and hug his son, the dogs barked again in the yard.

This time the man didn’t go out, cursing inside the room. “D*mn little animal coming to steal chickens again. I’m definitely skinning you tomorrow!”

Whenever he cursed, Zhaodi and Pandi began to shiver.

Wu Yao tilted his head and asked, “Papa, what’s outside?”

“A fox. There’s a mountain right behind our house, so foxes are always coming down to steal chickens.”

Wu Yao’s eyes lit up. Unlike Wu Shiyi’s situation, District C was small with convenient transportation, and the hot pot city was easy to find. The mission target this time was hidden in the mountains; if he, a five-year-old child, went into the mountains to find a fox, it would take forever. Since the target would come to his house to steal chickens, that made things easy.

The wall clock struck nine times. The two girls supported the drunken man to the bathroom to wash up. After serving the animal father, Zhaodi began to take care of Laicai while Pandi washed the dishes and tidied up.

Wu Yao refused to let Zhaodi serve him. His sister looked like she had heard a ghost story, shivering and repeatedly looking toward the door. It seemed the man frequently domestic-abused them; even knowing their father was fast asleep, Zhaodi was still very afraid of him.

Laicai’s house only had two bedrooms; his dad lived in the east room and Laicai lived in the west room. Zhaodi and Pandi slept in the middle room to conveniently serve the two at any time. Wu Yao invited them in to sleep, but the sisters covered their heads with a quilt and pretended they couldn’t hear.

The system sighed and shook its head. “If this were in the Transmigration Company, the designer would definitely have created a female ghost to eat that scumbag alive.”

Wu Yao said nothing, lying on the heated brick bed with his ears perked up for any movement. The little fox spirit had fled to the mountains; it didn’t dare show its face before humans. Not long after the man finished shouting, the dogs stopped barking. The time was too short; the fox likely hadn’t eaten again. Now that the lights were out in the small house, it was the perfect time for “stealing chickens and dogs”—the fox would surely return.

Wu Yao waited in the darkness for a long time until the dogs barked outside once more. The man was snoring rhythmically, and Zhaodi and Pandi didn’t dare wander around; no one could stop him. Laicai’s bedroom had its own door leading to the yard. Wu Yao climbed off the bed, stepped into his small sneakers, and ran out lightly.

Two large yellow dogs were barking madly at the west side of the yard, where there was a half-open iron gate leading to the backyard and the dry latrine. Wu Yao skirted around the tricycle blocking the doorway, moving his short legs as fast as possible to run to the backyard wooden door. The door wasn’t locked; Wu Yao pulled it open with force.

By the moonlight, he saw chickens flying everywhere and a fox being chased by a rooster and a goose. The orange-red little figure scrambled around the yard, a chick held in its mouth. The rooster occasionally flew up to peck it; the fox seemed heavily injured as its movements grew slower and slower. During its run, the chick in its mouth fell to the ground and chirped as it ran away.

Wu Yao was dazed. The system covered its mouth. “Wow, is it that weak? It was a fox spirit once, after all.”

Wu Yao, however, was quite accepting. The silly dog was almost in a coma the whole time when his health was at 1, only awake for that brief moment. The little fox still had the energy to run around; its foundation was indeed good.

Wu Yao aimed at the target, found the right moment, and grabbed the big tail to drag it to his feet. The fox had no room to bite him with its mouth occupied, so it turned its head to glare with beautiful amber eyes, staring at Wu Yao fiercely.

Up close, Wu Yao realized this really was a tiny fox, covered in downy fur and at most a month old. Strange, could this little thing be a fox spirit? Had he caught the wrong one? Was it not his target?

The fox looked at the chicken and then at the child, as if making a decision. It suddenly let go of its mouth and turned to bite back hard. Wu Yao immediately retracted his hand and grabbed the scruff of its neck.

The next second, the mission system prompt rang in Wu Yao’s mind.

“Congratulations to the host for triggering a side mission—The Little Fox’s Wish: Revenge”

“Please help the fox bite the boy in front of it to death.”

There was only one boy in this yard. Wu Yao pointed at himself.

I kill me?

The fox was too small and weak, having exhausted its strength in the chase. Now it didn’t even have the energy to resist, only baring its teeth to intimidate him. Wu Yao looked at its appearance and suddenly felt a bit of emotion; when he and Wu Shiyi first met, the silly dog had also been this fierce toward him. The difference was that Wu Shiyi was intentionally scaring him to drive him away, while the fox cub really wanted to kill him.

He was starting to miss the silly dog again.

Wu Yao drove away the chickens and ducks, dragging the half-dead fox cub outward, intending to find it something to eat lest it really starve to death. He didn’t want to drag it like a sack either, but he didn’t dare hug it, fearing the little fox would bite his neck.

The fox cub was shivering constantly—more out of anger than fear. Wu Yao patted its little head. “I’m not trying to harm you. There are a few of Laicai’s ham sausages in the bedroom; I’ll feed them all to you. Stop thinking about the chickens, you can’t win.”

“Wuu!”

“The way you hiss at people is very similar to a dog I picked up before. I saved it, and I’m saving you too. Its name was Wu Shiyi… how about this, you’ll be called Wu Boyi from now on.”

The fox opened its mouth to bite him. Wu Yao pulled up the backend; sure enough, the name column hadn’t updated. No matter, this name was so auspicious, the little fox would like it sooner or later.

Dragging the fox all the way to the iron gate, just as Wu Yao wanted to push the door open and go out, the Wu Boyi who had given up struggling suddenly twisted its body, its two claws tightly grasping his wrist.

Wu Yao was stunned. He looked around, and a chill suddenly rose up his spine. The dogs in the yard and the chickens and ducks in the backyard had all stopped barking at some point. In the silent night, only a rustling sound could be heard, slowly approaching the iron gate of the backyard.