Chapter 88

Chapter 88

"Throw him in? But where?"

"Into the dwelling of Jackdaw 02 behind the cliff, or into the raging inferno below?"

The rebellious teenage jackdaw, soaring above the heads of all his relatives, shuddered. He couldn't believe such cold, heartless words had come from his own brother's mouth.

Jackdaw 4091's ability to instinctively react so intensely the moment he sensed something amiss was thanks to his prior experiences and observations.

The Eerie World was like an insatiable monster, constantly seeking new prey.

Yet, influences often flowed both ways.

As it devoured countless "prey," those consumed worlds, in turn, left their indelible marks on the Eerie World.

These marks manifested as survivors transformed into Eeries, or as books, or cultural customs.

Over long ages, the Eerie World, bloated with greed, had become so mottled that its original colors were no longer discernible.

The powerful Eeries inhabiting this world, each with their own dark and twisted natures, naturally lacked the patience to genuinely teach and nurture the younger Eeries under their command.

In recent years, various kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, universities, and tutoring centers appeared to be flourishing. However, most of the Eerie teachers in these institutions still relied on textbooks and materials salvaged from the devoured worlds.

Books are the vessels of thought.

Worlds differ in their cultural foundations. Some books teach students bravery, others encourage kindness, while some warn that only selfishness and greed lead to the best outcomes and the enjoyment of life's finest fruits. Still other books proclaim that all sentient beings are born with sin, and life is merely a journey of atonement.

These disparate philosophies were enough to drive a young Eerie, just beginning school, to madness, or to make them dismiss knowledge entirely, treating books as mere toys to be torn apart.

Jackdaw 4091 was fortunate.

From his very first day, his school was blessed with a relatively systematic set of textbooks.

Unfortunately, the Eeries responsible for teaching only cared about the "useful" textbooks. They likely never bothered to read the extracurricular books in their entirety.

Even more fortunately, Jackdaw 4091, feeling bored, often used class time to secretly devour all those extracurricular books.

Perhaps from that day on, it was destined that he would be the jackdaw out of place in the flock. But before yesterday, he had never had the chance to express his authentic self. He might not even have known that so many vague thoughts were buried in his heart, in his subconscious.

Jackdaw 4091 felt he was shouting, crying out, the only one awake in a world of delusion. But his family, his relatives, thought he was merely fighting for himself—striving for the glory of becoming an offering.

Because before this, Mr. Jackdaw 02 and his great master did not accept older jackdaws.

Below, after a moment of silence, some jackdaws looked up with a mixture of hostility and eagerness in their eyes.

They never expected that, at such a solemn gathering, a young jackdaw would fly out and resort to such a shameless competitive method.

But then again, since Mr. Jackdaw 02 had not yet come out to scold or stop the young jackdaw, did that mean such efforts were effective?

The mere thought that even older jackdaws like them might have a chance to offer themselves to Mr. Jackdaw 02 and his master…

Even Jackdaw 17, who had spoken as the representative earlier, couldn’t help but tremble with excitement.

However, unlike the young Eerie above who lacked awareness of the bigger picture, Jackdaw 17 contained his excitement and decided to first handle the prepared batch of one hundred jackdaw eggs before seeking out Mr. Jackdaw 02 to make his own case.

Having decided on his next course of action, Jackdaw 17 ignored the young jackdaw competing by underhanded means. With a mere wave of his hand, Jackdaw 4091, who had been hovering in the air, fell straight down, crashing hard beside the fire at the base of the cliff.

Then, Jackdaw 17 waved his hand again.

The jackdaws standing at the front of the cliff took the hint. They lifted the offering table holding the one hundred jackdaw eggs, preparing to throw both the eggs and the table into the fire.

Each of the jackdaw eggs, fixed firmly on the wide offering table, was already palm-sized.

Jackdaw 4091 coughed up blood, lying on the ground nearby. He could even hear the faint, crisp tapping sounds of tiny beaks pecking from inside the eggshells.

Some of the shells already had faint cracks.

Like the little mushroom that often grew up listening to human speech, in this world, regardless of how Eeries outwardly manifested, at their core, Jackdaw 4091 lying on the ground was essentially identical to the young jackdaws still pecking at their shells.

The young jackdaws, who also often heard their parents and siblings speaking, if clever enough, were already able to talk.

Inside their shells, they pecked tirelessly. When tired, they would call out for their fathers or mothers.

Their voices were hoarse, not as pleasant as those of other young Eeries, as if they had already smoked for years before even hatching.

Outside, the adult jackdaws called upon by the young jackdaws responded with proud, gratified smiles. The firelight reflected on their faces, making them appear exceptionally loving.

It was as if the blazing fire was a baptism to welcome the young jackdaws into the world.

But Jackdaw 4091 knew better—that was the fire brought by Jackdaw 02, a fire that could burn Eeries.

Jackdaw 4091 still lay on the ground, his cheek pressed against the searing hot ground. His thoughts, too, felt seared by the heat.

He didn’t have many mature ideas or strategies; otherwise, he wouldn’t have flown up like that earlier.

He was just a young Eerie still in school.

Just as the offering table was about to be thrown into the fire, another burning thought flashed through his mind.

With speed beyond his limits—so fast that the other jackdaws around could barely see—he lunged above the fire.

"Ah!!!" Jackdaw 4091 cried out in searing pain as the flames scorched him.

The pain only unleashed his potential further.

Under the disbelieving gazes of all the jackdaws, he carried the table and flew straight up into the sky.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would be struck down again before he could even reach the top of the cliff, just like before.

But then, the unexpected occurred…

In full view of everyone, a sudden flash of white light, like lightning streaking across a clear sky, tore a small rift in the air.

The lightning vanished as quickly as it appeared, and the young jackdaw boy straining under the weight of the heavy table disappeared along with it.

***

It wasn’t yet time for cram school. At the moment, Su Ximu was reading a book.

On the cover were a few abstract characters: "108 Ways to Master Dungeon Design in One Week."

Beside him were several other books he hadn’t gotten around to reading yet:

"If You Can’t Lead Eeries, You’ll Just Work Yourself to Death!"

"Dungeon Design? It’s a Science."

"On the Dialectical Relationship Between Eeries and Dungeons."

He read with great focus, turning the pages of the book in his hand only after long intervals, occasionally pausing to take notes with a pen and notebook.

Su Ximu thought, since Second Brother had given him such a precious dungeon construction site yesterday, if he didn’t study hard now, he would feel he had failed Second Brother's trust.

Ever since yesterday, he could sense something different in his head. Well… that wasn’t quite right—or rather, something new around him?

Anyway, it felt as if there was now a portal beside him that could be opened at any time, ready to transport him to another space.

On the other side of the channel was his own little world, where he could freely express all his ideas.

And now, Su Ximu had finally figured out what that faint connection he could barely sense between himself, Little Mushroom, and the injured boy—Jackdaw 4091—actually was.

It was a contract through which the dungeon master hired dungeon staff.

It could also be seen as a work contract.

At least, that was how Su Ximu understood it.

After understanding the purpose of the ball of light, he had made a silent promise to himself to be careful in controlling the emergence and use of his power from now on, ensuring that what happened last time would not occur again.

When it came to work, both sides needed to be on board.

And, putting aside the first two accidents, from now on, not employing child labor was an absolute rule!

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly, a cry for help so faint it could easily be missed abruptly appeared in the reading boy's awareness.

It was again a feeling that could only be felt, not explained.

In the next instant after receiving the distress signal, the invisible door of the instance swung open, and the instance’s second employee, Jackdaw 4091, was allowed in.

Stumbling and staggering, Jackdaw 4091 crashed into the vast, empty space. Along with him, one of the more lively jackdaw chicks he had rescued was flung out, slamming against the invisible wall before bouncing twice on the ground with a crack—the green eggshell shattered completely in half.

Although the jackdaw chicks had raspy, smoke-like voices, they weren’t as ugly as typical bird hatchlings when breaking out of their shells—not bald and wet all over.

Having developed a faint consciousness inside the eggshells early on, the jackdaw chicks had been absorbing nutrients from within. By the time they were ready to hatch, as soon as they emerged, they looked like fluffy little black puffballs.

Since Su Ximu had accepted the distressed Jackdaw 4091, within the next few seconds, he had already prepared himself for the possibility of welcoming a messy-looking "employee."

But he hadn’t expected that not only was Jackdaw 4091 in a sorry state, even some of the eggs he brought along were marked with burn marks and soot stains.

Fortunately, the supernaturals had strong vitality, and the fire couldn’t kill them outright in such a short time.

In the brief moment Jackdaw 4091 made his escape with the chicks, the remaining jackdaws, led by Jackdaw 17, reacted just as quickly.

In just moments, they searched the entire cliffside forest.

Jackdaw 17 was furious beyond measure.

Such a sudden disappearance had to be the work of another supernatural interfering. Perhaps this interfering supernatural was after the tribute they had prepared for Mr. Jackdaw 02!

This was the first time Mr. Jackdaw 02 had entrusted him with such an important task, and such a huge mistake had occurred!

Anger nearly consumed what little rationality Jackdaw 17 had left.

He took a deep breath and, forcing himself to use his remaining sliver of rationality, recalled the forms of power used by all the powerful supernaturals involved in yesterday’s conflict.

Among them, the nearly boundless black mist was the most terrifying.

After struggling to recall for a long time, he confirmed that among the supernaturals involved in last night’s conflict, none had used a fluorescent white light as a means of attack. Jackdaw 17 felt he had a handle on the situation.

At most, this was just an outside supernatural muscling in on their territory.

Most likely, it only seemed mysterious but was actually only slightly more powerful than him. Otherwise, why would it be so sneaky about it?

Even if it really was an outside supernatural, there was no need to fear. Did they really think the sense of territory of supernaturals was just an empty saying?

After considering all this, Jackdaw 17 finally allowed his rationality to be completely burned away by his white-hot rage.

That day, within just a few short hours, paper wanted notices carried by the jackdaws scattered to every corner of Tanzhong City.

"Wanted!

In the name of Jackdaw 02 of the Jackdaw Family and all jackdaws of the Jackdaw Family, the following supernaturals are hereby wanted.

Wanted supernatural one: Jackdaw 4091, photo attached.

Wanted supernatural two: The supernatural that assisted Jackdaw 4091 in escaping with the tribute, using a fluorescent white light as its power.

For anyone who can provide clues about the above, the Jackdaw Family will handsomely reward!"

Outside the Su Building,

an employee curiously picked up a piece of paper, reading its contents aloud as he examined it.