Chapter 23: Wu Yue Obtains the Threelegged Golden Crow Cub

"Chapter 23: Wu Yue Acquires a Three-legged Golden Crow Hatchling"

"Wu Yue!!"

Wu Chong's voice broke as he screamed, staring numbly at the vanished dungeon entrance.

It was all his fault. If he hadn't been so arrogant and self-centered, Wu Yue wouldn't have died.

It was all his fault. He had promised to bring Wu Yue here to grind for resources, yet not only had his teammates been injured, but Wu Yue had even died.

It was all him.

Wu Chong sank into despair, shadowy tendrils coiling around him as if to devour him.

"Wu Chong!"

Startled, Wu Chong looked up to see Wu Yue appearing from a different direction.

The moment he saw her, the shadowy tendrils dissipated. Wu Chong leaped to his feet and rushed toward her, crushing her in a hug.

"Wu Yue! You're alive—thank goodness! I thought you were dead!!"

Wu Yue, "...I'm not dead, but you’re about to finish the job."

"Peep peep peep!!!"

Confused, Wu Chong looked up at Wu Yue's head—given their height difference, he found himself eye-to-eye with a tiny bird.

O O

·△·

!!!

"Wu Yue!! What the—?! Why is there a bird on your head?!"

Wu Yue's expression flickered. "Long story..."

Wu Chong roared, "Short version. Now."

Yanking Wu Chong’s arm, Wu Yue hauled him to the airship. "I'll explain on the way."

By the time Blaze's airship lifted off smoothly, the Chen family team finally spilled out of the dungeon exit in disarray, carrying Chen Yuanlang.

From a distance, Wu Yue exchanged a glance with Su Mo, who had been left behind, before steadily increasing the airship's altitude and heading toward the base.

Who would've thought the female lead would ever be left behind like this?

Once the airship stabilized in flight, Wu Yue left the cockpit.

Wu Chong marveled, "Wu Yue, how’d you get so good at piloting?"

Wu Yue replied, "Because Shadow still operates manual airships."

In her past life, she had only ever gotten to ride manual airships.

Manual airships were insanely complicated to operate, with very few people capable of piloting them. As personnel changed over time, Wu Yue had eventually become the go-to manual pilot.

Compared to the eight-hundred-button nightmare just to start a manual airship, Blaze’s auto-pilot was a breeze.

Wu Chong was incredulous, "What kind of backwater team is Shadow? They're still using such antiquated gear!!"

Wu Yue thought to herself: Shadow has to pinch pennies, otherwise how could the male lead, Shen Qingci, become CEO, marry a rich and beautiful woman, and reach the top of the food chain?

However, Wu Chong once again looked at the top of Wu Yue's head.

He was more curious about the chicken that had been standing on Wu Yue's head since they left the dungeon.

"What's the deal with this chicken? And chickens can't control their bowels—won't it poop on your head while standing there?"

Wu Yue's face fell instantly as she plucked the chicken off her head and held it in her hands.

"This is the Three-legged Golden Crow from earlier."

Wu Chong gaped in disbelief, jabbing a finger, "You're saying this chicken is the ancient divine beast, the Three-legged Golden Crow!!!"

After getting pecked hard, Wu Chong snarled, "Today, we'll settle this once and for all!"

Sighing heavily, Wu Yue stepped between the two, feeling like a referee dealing with quarreling siblings.

When children don't get along, it's often the elders' fault.

Wu Yue shuddered and bonked them both with a stick, "Both of you, calm down!!"

"When the Three-legged Golden Crow's clone attacked me earlier, my item's cooldown just happened to end.

I thought I'd counter with a rebound effect before leaving.

But I didn’t expect that one hit would actually knock it back to spirit form.

Then, all the illusions you summoned rushed into its soul, and the Golden Crow turned into what it is now.

The dungeon entrance closed, and the Chen family was right behind us. I was running toward the exit when, without realizing it, this Golden Crow perched on my head."

Hearing Wu Yue's disdain, the Golden Crow went berserk, pecking at her.

Woman!

You are my mortal enemy!

I will chase you to hell and back!! Once I recover, we’ll duel at the Forbidden Palace's highest tower!

But what the Golden Crow thought was a deadly attack might as well have been feathers to Wu Yue. Fussing over it like a mother hen, Wu Yue patted its little head:

"Alright, alright, you’re badly injured. Get some rest."

With that, Wu Yue actually found a small pillow, placed the Golden Crow on it, and said, "Sleep."

Once the Golden Crow lay down, she draped a small blanket over it.

Wu Chong was completely flabbergasted, "Where did you even get all this from?"

Wu Yue, "...System default gear."

Wu Chong was even more stunned, "Say what now?! The system?!"

Wu Yue reminded Wu Chong, "Have you even looked at your communicator since we left the dungeon?"

Wu Chong nodded, "Nope!"

He didn’t have time to check—he thought Wu Yue was dead and was a total wreck from grief, okay?!

Wu Yue reminded him, "Then check it now."

With that, Wu Chong opened his communicator, and messages flooded in. He went straight for the dungeon-related information.

"Congratulations to Wu Yue of the Blaze Team for achieving the first kill of the 'Three-legged Golden Crow Resource Dungeon,' obtaining massive resources.

She also got the first-kill reward: a Three-legged Golden Crow chick. With careful nurturing, it can grow into a true ancient divine beast, the Three-legged Golden Crow, working as both a mount and summon to fight for its master."

Wu Chong’s eyes went wide, "A chick?!

You’re saying this is a chick of the ancient divine beast, the Three-legged Golden Crow?! Not a clone or spirit form?"

Wu Yue’s expression was just as mixed, "Yes, it’s truly unbelievable."

Back in her past life, Su Mo had only obtained a clone of the Three-legged Golden Crow, and even that was badly corrupted by dark energy, needing cleansing well into the mid-to-late stages to complete.

If not for the help of the Wu Clan, perhaps Su Mo would have only ever obtained a clone.

But now, she had directly acquired a purified chick?

Wu Yue couldn’t figure out what changed this time.

After reading the dungeon announcement, Wu Chong checked the team group chat, which was blowing up:

"No way!!! You guys were just supposed to run a resource dungeon!!! How did you end up with an ancient divine beast?!!"

"Holy shit! I thought with Wu Yue around, Wu Chong would keep a low profile, but who knew he’d go even harder!!!"

"You were sent to run resources, not to farm an ancient divine beast!!"

"Wu Chong, you lucky bastard, at least you knew to let Wu Yue land the final hit, so the chick belongs to her!!"

Seeing this last message, Wu Chong gulped.

Thinking about all the trouble he’d caused for Wu Yue by being dead weight and causing problems along the way, Wu Chong hesitantly typed:

"Stop talking already!!

If it weren’t for Wu Yue this time!! We’d all be dead!!"

"I didn’t let her take the final hit—she solo’d the Golden Crow herself!!"

"And she wiped out the entire Chen family team!! Chen Yuanlang nearly got wrecked by Wu Yue!!"

Having just finished putting the Golden Crow to sleep, Wu Yue turned her head, "Wu Chong, what are you doing?"

Wu Chong immediately snapped to attention, "Nothing at all."

Wu Yue wasn’t buying it and opened her own communicator.

The last message in the team group chat was from Jian Suiyu:

"Almost wrecked Chen Yuanlang?

Good. Looks like Wu Yue is ready to officially begin Blaze’s standard training regimen."

What was Blaze’s standard training regimen?

For some reason, Wu Yue got chills.