Chapter 803: Do You Ride Lions?
Xu Huo applauded her.
Yan Jiayu looked up and was pleasantly surprised to see him. Stepping on the player on the ground, she stood up and said with a grin, "What a coincidence!"
"Should we wait until you're done?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.
Yan Jiayu nodded with a smile and asked, "Do you need to deal with those over there? I just came out of an instance and got a super powerful item!"
Without giving him a chance to refuse, Yan Jiayu stomped her foot, producing a cracking sound as she crushed the player beneath her, and shouted back, "Da Mao! Get out here and work!"
Xu Huo was slightly surprised, then saw a stone lion—yes, a stone lion—slowly walk out. With each step, its paws scraped against the ground, producing a unique friction sound like stone. Its movements were as lively as a real animal, but its appearance was no different from the stone carvings often placed in front of gates.
A stone lion that had come to life.
It walked up to Yan Jiayu with a hint of disdain, and she rubbed its head a couple of times—though the stone-carved mane was anything but soft, Yan Jiayu didn't mind the pain. Then she pointed forward and commanded, "Da Mao, catch them!"
Despite the lack of dignity in its name, Da Mao moved with speed and strength that rivaled any mutant animal. It was so fast that the naked eye could barely keep up, only catching a glimpse of a series of human-face-sized footprints left on the hardened road surface. In an instant, it had flushed out the two players tailing Xu Huo!
Most items and traits that had special restrictions on living beings were useless against a stone lion. Coupled with the speed difference, the two players could only defend themselves. In less than thirty seconds, they chose to retreat.
The stone lion pounced a couple of times but didn't chase, staring at the fleeing figures for two seconds before slowly swishing its tail and returning.
Yan Jiayu sighed. "It's not very obedient and tends to slack off."
Xu Huo smiled. "Maybe it doesn't like the name Da Mao."
Yan Jiayu looked at him with an expression of "that's absolutely impossible." "I wrote several names and let it pick one itself."
Witnessing the subtle relationship between "voluntary" and "forced," Xu Huo wasn't sure how much truth there was in "letting it pick."
"Are those two important?" Yan Jiayu asked.
"They probably saw me as a dangerous person. Letting them go is fine." Xu Huo gestured with his chin toward the player on the ground, who was spitting blood and weakly trying to pry her foot off. "What are you going to do with this one?"
Yan Jiayu looked down.
"Granny... I know I was wrong... I'll turn over a new leaf and be a good person from now on..." Before he could finish, she struck his neck with a vajra club, breaking it.
"This guy is really bad. I ran into him right after leaving the instance, and he was especially cunning. It took me a whole day to corner him." Yan Jiayu explained, then called the stone lion over, patted its back, and looked at Xu Huo with shining eyes. "Want to ride it?"
The stone lion turned its head and stared at him.
"No need. You should know that like repels like." Xu Huo shook his head. "It probably doesn't like men."
Yan Jiayu bent down to look at the stone lion's hind legs. "How do you know it's male?"
"The dragon has nine sons, and this is a Suanni, often seen on incense burners." Xu Huo said.
Yan Jiayu took a tail swipe from the stone lion, rubbed her face, and said, "No wonder it's so lazy. My senior brothers are also very lazy."
"What kind of item is this?" Xu Huo examined the stone lion. Though it looked like an animal, it was still an inanimate object, but it possessed a certain level of intelligence, somewhat similar to Mr. Dong.
"You'll never guess—it's an A-grade item." Yan Jiayu stroked the stone curls on Da Mao's head. "It's not a special item, you know. Although many items with a bit of intelligence are special items, special items can't be upgraded. Ordinary items, like instances, have a chance to upgrade."
Xu Huo nodded slightly. That was indeed a known theory, but the common method for upgrading player items was still multi-item fusion, and it was rare for a single item to upgrade on its own.
However, the curator of the Hundred People Art Museum he had visited before was clearly an intelligent evolving entity. It had found a way to upgrade the instance, so it wasn't hard to understand that an intelligent item could also upgrade.
"Items with human-like intelligence are really different." Yan Jiayu's face was full of joy, contrasting sharply with the stone lion's disdain. She added, "Da Mao will definitely become a super item in the future."
"Then congratulations in advance." Xu Huo smiled and said with a hint of meaning, "The name Da Mao will definitely shake up the super item rankings."
The stone lion bumped Yan Jiayu with its rump.
She put it back into her item slot, and Xu Huo noticed her right arm wasn't moving smoothly. "Are you injured?"
"I hurt it while fighting Da Mao. The bone is probably cracked, not broken, just a bit painful." Yan Jiayu patted her leg carelessly. "Anyway, my leg hasn't healed yet, so I'll treat them both together to save on potions."
Xu Huo remembered that when he left District 014, she had broken her leg in a random instance. The fact that she was bouncing around so quickly showed she was indeed gifted.
"Let's find a place to eat and have a good chat." He said.
The two returned to the bustling area. It wasn't mealtime, so they could still find a place to eat. Once seated, Yan Jiayu proactively ordered alcohol.
"Your tolerance has improved that much?" Xu Huo asked casually.
Yan Jiayu gave a mysterious smile. "I evolved a new trait—I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk."
Xu Huo was intrigued. "Tell me about it."
"It evolved right after I fought Da Mao," Yan Jiayu recalled seriously. "Nothing special. It was just that Da Mao was stealing wine at a distillery at the time, so maybe it's related to that."
Xu Huo looked at her thoughtfully. "Have you considered that you might have undergone a secondary evolution?"
"Super Evolution?" Yan Jiayu paused. "I didn't feel it. Super Evolution either means the body evolves again or the ability to interfere with the outside world. Getting drunk-proof isn't really useful."
Xu Huo chuckled. "Don't you think your injuries are healing too fast? The most effective potions provided by the game are for flesh wounds. Broken bones take longer. Maybe you've unconsciously adjusted your body. Try controlling your body internally—you might find something."
"That makes sense. I'll give it a try later." Yan Jiayu urged him to eat.
During their chat, she learned he had a place in District 011. "I've never been to District 011. When are you leaving? I'd like to come along and have some fun."
"The fight in District 009 is still going on. Staying here isn't interesting."
"In a couple of days. I still have some things to take care of." Xu Huo said.
"Perfect. I heard there's a painter in District 009 whose paintings are more effective than a psychotherapist. I want to buy two to take back as gifts." Yan Jiayu changed the subject. "The gallery seems to be not far from here."
"The paintings are probably gone." Xu Huo said slowly. The paintings were gone, and the painter had run off.
(Chapter End)