Chapter 73 – Cat Dad is a Thief

Xiaomao let out long a sigh of relief. With two weeks, he could achieve so many things that could potentially cancel out the crime.

Killing Otto gave Xiaomao a brass key and a patch of paper, which contained a map of the city and nearby regions. However, it looked different from the other maps that NPC cartographers made.

The map showed the X marks of various places, which indicated points of interest. However, Xiaomao had no idea what they were for as they contained no other information or item detail. In the menu, it simply showed as “Unidentified Map”.

Xiaomao put the map and the key aside. He reread the quest and the hints at the bottom of the quest menu.

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[?????? Instinct]: Use your inventory. Do not use your mana.

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‘I see.’

The purpose of this quest was to hide his crime, and that coincided with Xiaomao’s intention. Moreover, he was already aware of inventory perks as they could store carcasses or corpses of beasts, animals, NPCs, and remains.

Without hesitation, Xiaomao shoved the entire corpse into his inventory. Otto’s fat body sank into the inventory menu and disappeared.

He turned his attention to the bloodstain on the carpet and the floor next. He stored the carpet and furniture in his inventory slots. Unfortunately, a few drops of blood still dirtied the wooden floor.

Xiaomao patted the bloodstain with his tentacle, thinking of storing droplets of blood.

DING

It worked as Xiaomao had intended. Droplets of blood were gathered in one of Xiaomao’s inventory slots._.

In the inventory menu, the corpse was turned into items. They became “Otto’s Corpse”, “Otto Blood”, and “Bloodstain Furniture”.

While relying on the chameleon skill, Xiaomao sneaked out of the room. However, he didn’t leave the adventurer guild yet. He proceeded to the upper floors, searching for Otto’s private room.

Xiaomao soon discovered a room on the third floor, which was locked. He inserted the brass key that he got from Otto right away.

The key broke and dissipated into dust. However, the door was unlocked.

Upon entering the room, a glittering stash of Otto’s gold coins, treasure chests, and jewelry blinded Xiaomao. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head several times to adjust to the absurd light of these treasures.

The source of the light came from a faceless angel statue, which was located at the center of the room.

At the pedestal of the statue, there was a written message.

[Chaos Demon God Tlaloc]

Xiaomao frowned. This was the name of the mastermind behind the circulation of corrupted spirit stones, and he was the enemy of Pangu. However, he was not on a friendly term with Chang’e, the Chaos Demon Goddess.

‘Otto is really the servant of Tlaloc. Oh, well. RIP.’

Xiaomao pushed the inventory panel against the statue and devoured it into his inventory. He also collected useful items in the room. Among them, two black stones were stored in a sealed casket. Of course, Xiaomao took them back and stole Otto’s stone.

A few minutes later, Xiaomao’s inventory was full. However, Xiaomao didn’t collect enough. He put small jewelry, trinkets, and accessories that players could wear into a chest. Then, he carried it over his head and waddled out of the room.

Fortunately, the chameleon skill extended to the items that Xiaomao was carrying. The treasure chest became invisible to NPCs and players in the guild building.

While Xiaomao was leaving, two Otto bodyguards returned to the guest room, but they couldn’t find their boss. They scratched their heads and ran out to look for him.

Xiaomao noticed their actions and giggled. He proceeded toward the port, where Shepherd and Lucky had been waiting.

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At the port, the two retainers already started the ship’s engine. Xiaomao hopped on it and revealed himself. He put down the chest and ordered Shepherd.

“We’ll sail around the entire continent, munya! But first, let’s go back to the Gnoll Island, munya!”

Shepherd was confused, but he nodded. They sailed the tree boat to Gnoll Island.

When they arrived, the mermen made way for them to pass. Lucky carried the chest and followed Xiaomao to the dungeon while Shepherd stayed behind to refuel the boat engine with his mana.

At the bridge, Lucky and Xiaomao encountered Nymph, who was leading a group of flying mermaids. They were in the middle of building something under the cliff.

Xiaomao was curious. He rode a flying sword and greeted them.

“What are you building under the cliff, munya?”

“Oh, hi!” Nymph picked Xiaomao from the flying sword and carried him in her arms. She brought him to her friends.

“We’re building an aqueduct.”

“Aqueduct? What is that for, munya? Why not a pipe or a canal instead?”

“Hehe. Have you noticed that the ceiling on this cave produces green water?”

“We’re underground, so that might be seawater. Am I wrong, munya?”

“You’re not wrong, but you’re not right either. You see, this place is built on top of a sealed calamity-class monster, and its mana polluted the seawater. But now, your new dungeon core purifies the polluted seawater! Every drop of water in your dungeon is so clean and nutritious to us. We can’t help but want some of the leaking seawater that you don’t need.”

“Oh!”

“That comes to our aqueduct. Can we build it in your dungeon?”

“Of course, munya. Be careful about the adventurers though. Also, don’t send mermen here. They might be gender-swapped by the power of the dungeon core, munya.”

Nymph revealed a wry smile, “Too late.”

She looked at the mermaid workers. Their round shifting eyes revealed their nervousness, and their movements seemed awkward and clumsy. Moreover, some of them didn’t wear a bra.

Xiaomao sweated profusely and stared at the half-naked mermaids with a pokerface.

Nymph giggled and petted Xiaomao.

“It’s okay, though. The mermen and mermaid population ratio is currently 200:1. We’re lacking mermaids at the moment. Turning them into mermaids doesn’t hurt. As the matter of fact, we are discussing the crisis of lacking women, and we’re planning to migrate homosexual mermen here.”

“…”

“Could we transfer our gay mermen here, pretty please?”

“Go ahead, munya. Be warned though. The dungeon core will give them an odd skill, munya.”

“What skill?”

“Reproduction, munya.”

Xiaomao sighed, expecting to hear Nymph’s complaints.

On the contrary, Nymph laughed, “Perfect! I was worried that they won’t be able to reproduce. If your dungeon can allow men to get pregnant, this place will be VERY useful!”

“Nani?”

Xiaomao was so shocked that he exclaimed in Japanese. He looked up to give Nymph the are-you-serious look.

“Come to think of it. Do you have that skill as well, Mister Xiaomao?”

“No,” Xiaomao answered instantly.

“Shame.”

“Yeah, shame (on you), munya!” Xiaomao coughed and changed the subject, “By the way, I’ve found a statue of Chaos Demon God Tlaloc. Do you need it?”

“WHAT?!”

All mermaid workers stopped what they were doing and turned to Xiaomao. Even Nymph exclaimed in shock.

“Do you really have it?!”

“Y-Yes.”

Xiaomao brought up the statue topic since he knew what they were for.

All statues of Chaos Demon God Tlaloc acted as a beacon for his apostles to gather and convert all living beings in the world into mindless monsters, including players!

Whenever a player consumed a corrupted spirit stone to get stronger while they were under the beacon’s range, they absorbed a portion of the strange energy of the Chaos Demon God. The cultivators called it the Curse of Tlaloc.

The Curse of Tlaloc was more dangerous than regular curses. Not only did it affect game characters, NPCs, and local monsters, but it also affected the bodies of the players in the real world!

Before the regression, many Chaos Demon God’s followers lost their sanity, and their personalities changed. School teachers became school shooters. A kind pastor became a serial murderer. Even an innocent child turned into a tyrant overlord.

In order not to be cursed, ones must never consume a corrupted spirit stone.

As Xiaomao knew about the rivalry relationship between Tlaloc and Chang’e, he brought the statue here to let the mermaid deal with it.

Nymph’s face turned dark, “Could you give it to me? I’ll destroy that blasphemous object right away!”

“Sure, munya!”

Xiaomao leaped off from Nymph’s arms and rode a flying sword toward solid ground. He ejected the statue from his inventory and placed it for everybody to see.

Nymph immediately pulled out a long staff from her cleavage and pointed at the statue.

BOOM!

The golden statue exploded and dissipated into silver light.

Xiaomao frowned and stared at Nymph’s bosom. He questioned the physics and logic of how she stored a 2-meter-long staff in between her boobs.

Nymph shoved the staff back into her cleavage as if she had a 4th dimension pouch in there. Then, she smiled at Xiaomao.

“Done!”

DING

<You have obtained 1,000,000 Contribution EXP for destroying a cursed artifact.>

<Your Contribution Level has increased to Level 6!>

Nymph added, “If you find more statues, bring them to me. I’ll turn them to ash and put a stop to Tlaloc’s plan!”