Chapter 773: Whose Fault Is It Anyway?

Dong Rui chuckled: "I don't have any, but you do."

Ever since he put on the mask given by State Preceptor Bai Shuang, he no longer had to cover his face when entering the marketplace, and he didn't have to find an empty corner to face the wall when drinking tea or eating.

This was the life he wanted.

He Lingchuan slowed his hand: "I have money; what does that have to do with you?"

"How many favors do you owe me?" Dong Rui said leisurely, "Do you want me to calculate them for you one by one?"

He Lingchuan was speechless.

Indeed, he had plucked divine bones and divine blood from Dong Rui, and even borrowed two of his demon puppets to execute the Ru Mountain plan. It could be said that without Dong Rui's help, he wouldn't have been able to take back the divine object.

This favor was truly huge.

Rarely seeing him stifled, Dong Rui was even happier: "Give me money; I'm running out of funds here! Give me a thousand taels first."

He Lingchuan handed him a thousand-tael silver note.

Dong Rui immediately called the waiter and threw out a silver ingot: "I'm happy today; I'll treat everyone here to tea, and everyone gets another plate of dried fruit! Come, storyteller, add a few more good segments!"

Hearing such good news, the guests in the teahouse stood up one after another to thank him.

Dong Rui laughed loudly, almost writing "getting carried away" on his face.

After he had laughed enough and the surrounding noise had subsided, He Lingchuan said with a fake smile: "You can play as much as you want, that's fine. But I want to remind you, favors that are too heavy are not a good thing; once they can't be repaid, then simply—"

He raised his palm and made a throat-slitting gesture.

Dong Rui's smile disappeared immediately.

If the creditor was gone, then the debts and favors owed wouldn't need to be repaid.

The Ghost Ape heard He Lingchuan threatening its master and immediately bared its teeth and hissed at him, but didn't dare to make a move.

Not to mention that it had been defeated by this guy twice before, meeting him again this time, it felt that He Lingchuan had become stronger, strong enough to make it fearful and not dare to act lightly.

Dong Rui patted its head and said: "What do you want now?"

"Have you researched any clues about those strange cicadas?"

"How could it be that fast?" Dong Rui picked up a mung bean cake and chewed it slowly, "I only arrived at Other Rongshan yesterday; you want results today? Do you think I'm a god?"

He had only slept once and hadn't eaten or played enough yet.

"This is truly strange." He Lingchuan rested his chin on his hand and looked at him, "Back then, when you were researching demon puppets in the Demon Nest, you were at it day and night, not even willing to escape. Where did that fanaticism go now?"

Would Dong Rui be someone who threw research aside and only cared about eating, drinking, and playing? Especially since the mutation of the seventy-year cicadas was so interesting, and he had several live specimens in his hands.

"Times have changed; I experienced several life-and-death situations with you from there—" Dong Rui pointed to the east, "crossed heavy pursuits, and finally escaped; only then did I know that time is precious and people should enjoy life while they can! What's wrong with that?"

He Lingchuan knew that the east referred to the Beijia Empire, and he also knew that this guy was talking nonsense, so he waved his hand and called the waiter: "Get us a private room."

"Two guests, please go upstairs."

The private room in this small teahouse wasn't very private either; there were suspected un-dried spit marks in the corner of the wall. It was more appropriate to call it a cubicle; after all, it had a door.

He Lingchuan closed the door, casually set up a sound-insulation barrier, and asked him: "Alright, what's going on?"

Dong Rui looked blank: "What do you mean, what's going on?"

"The seventy-year strange cicadas came from the northeast, and so did your Ghost Ape. Your home is also in the Wan Ge Marsh." He Lingchuan said, "Tell me, what is the connection between these?"

"Uh..."

He Lingchuan simply laid it out: "The seventy-year cicadas became so strange because of divine blood, right?"

He had experimented with divine blood and had used it to frame Nian Zanli; his understanding of this stuff far exceeded others.

This guy was truly hard to fool, and his secrets couldn't even be kept for a night. Dong Rui said with a bitter face: "I'll state first, the cicada plague in Other Rongshan this time is purely an accident and has nothing to do with me."

He Lingchuan said *hmm*: "For the past few months, we were either in Beijia or on the road west."

"That's right, that's right." Dong Rui nodded like a pounding garlic, "Seventeen waited for me in Xiazhou but couldn't find me, so he returned to Wan Ge Marsh on his own. But I had been away for too long, and during that time, a nest of thieves appeared in Wan Ge Forest, looting everywhere, and they found my home."

Seventeen was the Ghost Ape.

He Lingchuan felt something was wrong as soon as he heard it: "And then?"

"Coincidentally, during those few days, Seventeen stole wine from the town and was drunk outside all day long!" Dong Rui got angry just thinking about it and patted the monkey's head hard. The Ghost Ape held its head with both claws, not daring to make a sound, "This group of thieves was halfway through stealing things when Seventeen returned, and the two sides started fighting. During the scuffle, half a bottle of divine blood was accidentally broken and splashed onto the forest floor."

"That happened to be the active period for the seventy-year cicadas in Wan Ge Forest; they were all busy breaking through the soil to surface, and being splashed by the divine blood, they, they..."

Sure enough, it was like this. He Lingchuan rubbed his temples: "So the fuse of the cicada plague was really your divine blood?"

"Hey, hey, it has nothing to do with me!" Dong Rui quickly shifted the blame, "If those thieves hadn't come to steal my things, the divine blood would still be sitting well in my house!"

"Such an important treasure, couldn't you have hidden it properly?"

"I hid it, why wouldn't I?" Dong Rui smiled bitterly, "But you tell me, as the victim, how could I have the experience of a thief? I hid it so secretly, yet they still found it."

He Lingchuan sighed: "Continue."

"The ground splashed by the divine blood caused some plants to mutate. Seventeen was busy killing thieves and didn't pay much attention. About ten days later, some animals and demons in Wan Ge Forest suddenly went crazy and started destroying fields and eating people, and the local government began organizing suppression. Just then, the cicada plague also occurred. The seventy-year cicadas two or three months ago weren't as big as they are now, but wherever they passed, it was a dark mass, and not a blade of grass grew."

He Lingchuan looked at him and said: "This kind of cicada mutation, for you, is it too simple?"

Since he had to tell the truth, Dong Rui simply sat up straight:

"No, no, it's very inspiring!"

"Inspiring?"

"The two cicadas that Zhu Xiuer helped me tie back, I've already finished tinkering with them. I originally lived in Wan Ge Forest, and I had already used the original version of the seventy-year cicadas for experiments, thinking they were useless. But this time, this time it's different."

As soon as he talked about experiments, Dong Rui's eyes lit up: "I'm sure that those seventy-year cicadas that ate the divine blood died on the spot 99% of the time, but there must have been a few that survived. Do you know why, hmm?"

Seeing him excited, He Lingchuan had to play along: "Why?"

"They were about to give birth!"

"During that time, seventy-year cicadas would surface to mate and produce; perhaps a few had already mated, so they laid eggs early under the stimulation of the divine blood!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 774 =====