Chapter 273: You Two Had a Good Time
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hao Ren still vividly remembered what Becky was like the first time she came: she wore a dusty, leather armour, with a dagger and a long sword on her waist, a faded old wind scarf around her neck, and simply pulled her hair up into a ponytail because she had no time to manage it. Going through the rigors of living in the wilderness made her look as if she just came back from a backpacking trip in Tibet. At that time, although Becky was a pretty girl, she looked a little countrified. The rough side of being a mercenary was impossible to conceal.
Now, Becky looked almost completely different. If she was walking down the street, no one could tell that she was from a different world if she did not reveal it...
"Pretty good, huh?" Becky noticed that it was not only Hao Ren, but the rest around her were also extremely surprised. She immediately opened her arms and turned around proudly as she said, "I picked out the outfit. This world is great. Beautiful clothes and delicious food are everywhere. Although I don't really feel safe about the 'technology' in this world, other aspects are really good. It's more comfortable here than my hometown."
"It seems like you've adapted to life here very quickly," Hao Ren said and nodded with relief. THao Ren was worried the most about this mercenary maiden, whom he brought into this world by accident. However, now that Becky seemed to be enjoying her life here, he was relieved. "But... where did you get the money for your clothes? Did Nangong Wuyue give it to you?"
"It was a prize." Becky hit her chest proudly and explained, "I signed up with Wuyue to join a… umm, I don't really know what kind of activity it is. Anyway, it's a bunch of people competing with each other for something. You'll get the prize if you win a few rounds. It's interesting. People in this world are really fascinating, they like watching a gang of people throwing knives or singing songs. After that, they'll give them money, how frivolous..."
Hao Ren was confused by what Becky just said. Just as he was about to ask her what was going, he saw Nangong Wuyue coming out from the kitchen. She was holding a large towel, rubbing the little mermaid while walking cautiously. Lil Pea stuck her tiny head out of the gap in the towel and kept turning her head around.
Nangong Wuyue finished the routine heating according to Raven 12345's cold treatment method.
"She dragged me into it." Nangong Wuyue had heard their conversation, and also did not know whether to laugh or cwary. "Becky is really active… The Goddess gave her the ability to understand the language here, so she found out how to make a living in just a few days. In fact, she doesn't need anyone to take care of her. She saw a TV station in our city that ran a variety show, so she wanted me to join it with her no matter what. I was worried that she might get into trouble, but we ended up entering the variety show."
Nangong Wuyue came up to the coffee table as she spoke. Lil Pea had been waiting in the towel. She calculated the distance and then leapt from the towel, falling into Hao Ren's arms. The little kid's tail was slippery, nobody could catch her or stop her from going anywhere.
Lil Pea was basically dangling from Hao Ren's clothes. He picked her up, smelled her and said, "Ah, smells like radix isatidis…"
The rest of them also held Lil Pea and passed her around, nodding as well commenting, "That's the smell of radix isatidis, alright."
"It's radix isatidis."
"And a little smell of sweet balm…"
The smell of sweet powder emanated from Lil Pea after being "boiled" in the radix isatidis. It was uncertain if the treatment could really cure her cold, but at least, Hao Ren felt that the chances of them getting a cold had been reduced by a lot. At this moment, Vivian curiously asked Nangong for more details about their escapades over the past two weeks, and she finally understood how colorful their life was. She did not expect that they already appeared on TV! And they were some sort of local celebrities…
In fact, Hao Ren knew that the city's TV station often held some variety shows. Although he did not really pay attention to such things, he also heard that the TV station specialised in this, and one of the most prestigious programmes they had on was "The People's Talent". This program accepted registration from all people, as long as they were currently living in the city. The content of the program was not fixed, and the main theme was to show one's personal talent, regardless of whether you could break a stone on your chest or hit virtually any target within a hundred steps, sing or dance. It was a stage that allowed people to show off their talents. The contest would be held weekly, and the winners would get a prize. It was a talent show that did not have much of a distinguishing feature. It was highly popular locally because of its low enrolment and the variety of talent.
Hao Ren never expected that Becky, a mercenary girl from the Otherworld would actually go to the TV station and enter such a contest… Would it be apt for him to say that a mercenary could quickly adapt to any environment?
"Nangong Wuyue can sing well, so I understand..." As Hao Ren listened to Becky talking about how funny the show was in excitement, he really could not help but ask curiously, "Do you have any special talent?"
"Of course. I can crush granite and reinforced concrete slabs on my chest."
Hao Ren was speechless.
She actually performed this on the stage! But, dear super lady, don't you think that this may have a negative influence on your personal image?
Becky was proud of it and said, "I almost scared the judges to death. I put such a thick slab of granite on my body, and then smashed it with an excavator's shovel bucket. Sometimes. I had to smash for a few minutes to break the granite. If the old man hadn't faint, I could have entered the finals with this skill... Unfortunately, the TV station later said that although this talent was exciting, it was too violent. I had to change it to a less cool one."
"Actually, I was the one who forced her to change it." Nangong Wuyue twitched her mouth and said, "She didn't consider the physical limitations of a human body on Earth at all, fighting the excavator with her stone-like skin. I was worried that it would attract the Chinese Academy of Science if it got really famous."
Becky lowered her head in dismay and said, "Later on, I performed blindfolded and carved a tofu with a sword..."
Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
That's enough.
"Wuyue, needless to say, you must be singing," Vivian said as she looked at the siren girl with admiration. "With your beautiful voice, even if you don't remember the lyrics, you can simply hum a tune and it'll get you into the finals. I really envy you. It looks easy, making money this way. But, too bad I don't have any special talents. Besides magic and flying, I can only cook."
Lily thought about it and said, "You can perform magic! Cover your hand with a piece of red cloth, then take it off and lot of bats would fly out…"
"But that trick usually uses pigeons! I only have bats!"
"In that case, you can also perform that crushing rock thingy on your chest. Your body can't be weaker than Becky's. She's just a human. Her 'stone' skin isn't necessarily stronger than your skin. Then, we can team up. You take the rock, and I'll be responsible for smashing."
Vivian looked at Lily with a weird expression and said, "I bet you'll be swinging your arm with all your might and smashing me down. Your goal is to bash me deep into the ground until you can't dig me out, right?"
Watching the two superwomen discussing the topic seriously, Hao Ren quickly switched their attention and said, "Enough about that, you two can just stay at home. Singing is Nangong Wuyue's profession, and she surely performs better than the both of you on stage, so just stop thinking about it."
He still had something to say: It was not about Nangong Wuyue's good voice, but about Vivian's irreversible bad luck when it came to fortune. Even if she actually won $100,000 on the TV show, she might not have been able to make it to the bank safely…
He knew that if he mentioned it, he would not have dinner that night. Hence, he just kept it to himself.
"You girls really had fun the past two weeks," Hao Ren said. He looked at Becky and Nangong Wuyue with a smile on his face. "But, I want to confirm: you girls didn't get into any trouble, right? You know we are special and different. We have to be cautious in public."
"Hey, no need to be so careful," said Becky as she waved her hand in a relaxed manner. "We aren't thieves, why so secretive? Besides, Wuyue's been making a living out of singing, and she's still fine."
Nangong Wuyue smiled bashfully and said, "We've just been fooling around at home, but how about you? You seem to have done something big? I heard about it from the goddess. She said that you're starting to think from a wider perspective."
Hao Ren told them what had happened in the past two weeks. It surprised and impressed both Becky and Nangong Wuyue. Although they may not necessarily understand what life was like under the dome just from listening, the epic events of the elves' experience and the great migration were quite enough to touch their hearts.
"You really are a good person." Becky was moved by the story. She looked at Hao Ren and said, "You're usually quiet. I didn't expect you to be so capable… By the way, I've had a pretty good time here. When will you send me home?"
Hao Ren was stunned.