"Is... is this really a child's toy?"
Guided by Master Fuli, Lin Ying found her way to Ah Qing's loft. Calling it a loft wasn't entirely accurate, as the upper floors above the second floor of Ah Qing's home were unfinished and unrenovated.
The loft was just the end of the stairs, an upper space beyond the balcony stairwell, built as a storage room with a few pieces of template boards.
Lin Ying climbed up the A-frame ladder, pushed aside the board blocking the storage room door, and saw a series of "little metal toys" that Yu Zhengxi had gifted to Ah Qing when she was a child.
"... Master Fuli, look, shouldn't this be considered an axe?"
With a look of disbelief, Lin Ying reached a hand into the loft and pulled out a pink mini axe, turning around to show it to Master Fuli.
The entire structure of the axe was flat, with an integrated axe head and handle, both of which were adorned with floral cutouts.
The overall size of the axe was small, about twenty centimeters in length, predominantly pink with white accents, giving it a cartoon-like vibe, and the large floral cutouts added a touch of mechanical intricacy.
Judging by the size of the handle, it seemed suitable for a young girl aged seven to twelve.
"... After all, this is Ah Qing's treasure trove, so having some self-defense weapons is quite reasonable."
Seeing the pink mini axe, Ansheng couldn't help but show a peculiar expression on his face.
But considering this was Ah Qing's small warehouse with a few self-defense weapons, it made sense.
Ah Qing loved outdoor activities, and having a bone-cleaving battle axe before she built up her strength was quite reasonable.
A naughty little Spirit Beast misbehaves, and Ah Qing wields the small axe to open up its crown.
"Then... what about this?" Lin Ying put down the small axe, her face full of peculiar expressions, pulling out from the loft a pair of hard-tailed flail maces, about ten centimeters long each, with long handles adorned with gold ingot-shaped weights.
Lin Ying kept digging and pulled out a dust whisk, except the horsehair at the tip had turned into metal strands, and hidden within those strands were numerous sharp gears, so that just a light sweep over the enemy with the whisk could cause a 200-pound man to shed 20 pounds in three seconds...
A two-meter-three long sword, a metal stick, a pair of mandarin duck machetes, and over a dozen exotic weapons, along with a fan that looked like it was made of wood, but was actually made of metal.
Lin Ying, at the very end of the excavation, even pulled out a ridiculously large compound bow.
"......"
Ansheng stared in speechless amazement at the absurd array of weapons Lin Ying had pulled out from the loft.
"These armaments... if I didn't know better, I'd think Ah Qing was preparing to attack the Spirit Beast Gang."
In awe, Ansheng knocked on the metal weapons laid on the ground with his paw.
After inspecting each blade, Ansheng found that not all of the weapons in the loft were made of Spiritual Particle Metal.
The pink axe, ceremonial long sword, compound bow, and dust whisk, although imposing in appearance, weren't actually made from Spiritual Particle Metal; they were made from some unknown alloy steel with guaranteed hardness and toughness.
Only a bi-colored long staff and a folding fan, as well as an inconspicuous spear tip, were weapons made from Spiritual Particle Metal.
The so-called folding fan, when fully unfolded, was actually a very cleverly designed small round shield.
Ah Qing's second uncle probably knew his niece liked frolicking in the fields and anticipated she might encounter Spirit Beasts that couldn't be communicated with verbally, so he had prepared some tools for defeating Spirit Beasts in advance.
In the event a Spirit Beast came calling, Ah Qing could effectively use these Spiritual Particle Metal weapons to eject the Spirit Beast out the door, stopping any potential freeloading Spirit Beast at bay.
"Who knows what these are for guarding against...."
Ansheng, with a darkened expression, squatted on the ground, fiddling with the ground-laying Spiritual Particle Weapons.
"Lin Ying, see if you like any of these! Once you've chosen, I'll turn myself in..."
Ansheng looked at Lin Ying and asked.
"Do you really need to turn yourself in? Master Fuli, you won't be in any trouble, will you?"
Lin Ying squatted down, looking at Master Fuli and asked.
"Possibly... I'll just get dirty! But, that's something you don't need to worry about, I, Ansheng, will handle it! At worst, it's just... you know...."
With an air of determination, Ansheng let Lin Ying choose first, assuring her that if anything happened, he would take care of it.
At worst, it'd mean exposing his belly and getting repeatedly rubbed on the bed by Ah Qing, something a fox could endure.
"Then... I'll choose this one!" Lin Ying said, picking up the brass-colored spear tip to Master Fuli.
When choosing a self-defense weapon, the long staff was too long, inconvenient for carrying, and though the fan-shaped round shield was quite nice, Lin Ying thought of the car doors, the two doors taken from the Dragon People Ruins, which could serve as a full-body shield.
After some thought, Lin Ying chose the spear tip, which could be carried like a dagger.
"Alright! Let's go have a meal!" Ansheng nodded, ready to head home for a meal as a sign of gratitude.
"Thank you, Master Fuli..." Lin Ying embraced Master Fuli, with a smile, rubbing her cheek against him and said, "You'll come back for New Year's, right? I might have a little gift for you then."
"Gift?"
Ansheng was taken aback by the words, punched in a question mark, and turned to Lin Ying, scratching his head: "What... surprise are you secretly preparing again? Tell me first, otherwise I won't know how to reciprocate."
"Why would you need to reciprocate? These are all rightfully yours, Master Fuli, for safeguarding the peace of the locale."
Lin Ying smiled silently, only mentioned letting Master Fuli return to attend the trial opening of Qingao Island, then later go visit the newly completed Fox Immortal Temple.
However, they might need Lin Bingyun to bring in another crew for construction later.
While the three-shift rotation is quick enough, the site is not yet fully staffed, so they can speed up a bit more.
"Master Fuli, Miss Ah Qing just sent you a message on WeChat, saying that you should definitely not enter through the front gate when you return to school..."
"Currently, the whole school is in chaos because of tomorrow's 'Conference on Enhancing Agricultural College Talent Cultivation: Accelerating New Agricultural Science Exchanges Based on Demand'."
Ansheng had just returned home when Lin Bingyun, who had been waiting at the door for a while, stepped forward and conveyed the WeChat message sent by Ah Qing to Master Fuli.
"Chaos... chaos?"
Ansheng showed a puzzled expression, saying: "Isn't the security level at Xinxing Agricultural Science College quite high? If there's really going to be an all-out war inside and outside the school..."
"The situation is a bit complicated. I just helped you confirm the source from Fat Cat and the others who sent a segment for you..."
Lin Bingyun pulled out her phone, opened WeChat, and retrieved Fat Cat's messages, playing a short video.
The video footage was taken in front of the hideout, with Fat Cat shoving Jellyfish Lady with a "meow" sound from its mouth.
A conversation emerged from the short video.
"We already agreed, I go out to shoot video, afterwards you have to pay me 500 in remuneration..."
"I'll give it to you! Would Fat Cat ever deceive anyone? As long as you use my phone to film those savages, I'll immediately transfer 500 to you..."
"Deal!"
Jellyfish Lady, cautious all over, raised Fat Cat's phone to go out filming videos.
Inside campus roads, a male in a white coat tightly wrapping his arms around the leg of a Zangbear, pleadingly looked at the Zangbear saying:
"Bro... I'm begging you, tomorrow morning, don't have breakfast, okay?"
"Will you give me some attention? I invite you to Karaoke; just promise to come for a check-up tomorrow, and I'll privately give you a 5000 yuan red envelope, alright? I really need help from bros for my graduation thesis..."
"Roar..."
Zangbear looked completely disdainful, despite someone clinging to one of its legs, it bounced on one leg toward the canteen.
"What's wrong with you, kid? Not eat when there's food? What did I come all the way to Chang'an City for?"
"Shoo, don't block me from begging for food; if I'm late, I won't get the Agricultural Research Institute's special supplies."
"Wow, 5000 yuan!"
Jellyfish Lady exclaimed, rotating the phone quietly recording happenings on campus roads.
At the school gate, two groups were verbally attacking each other.
Professors from the Agricultural Research Institute condemned the others' shamelessness, stating they were supposed to arrive in Chang'an City the next morning, yet they came for a sneak attack.
The opposition, however, showed thick skin, vigorously blocking professors from Xinxing Agricultural Science College, directing their subordinates to rush inside, embracing Spirit Beast and calling them bro, tricking one if possible.
"Bro?"
"Oh? You want to give me 5000 yuan too?" Jellyfish Lady's eyes lit up as she held up her phone.
"Sis! I'm an intern doctor; look, I'll give you a check-up tomorrow..."
"Intern doctor?" Jellyfish Lady paused, a exclamation mark appearing above her head, and she turned and fled.
"Sis... wait for me! Forget 5000, how about I secretly fold you a 20000 yuan red envelope?"
The intern doctor was shocked, suddenly leapt forward, blocking Jellyfish Lady's path, saying, "We're having a grand offering; you only need to bring another Spirit Beast over, and we have cumulative bonus rewards..."
"You're talking nonsense!" Jellyfish Lady spun around and ran, and the WeChat video ended there.
Ansheng: "..."
Is this... a meeting?
Why does it feel like they're here to cause trouble?