Chapter 39: Rabbit and Parrot

Leiketon followed the captain to the edge of the cordon; besides himself and the captain, all squad members were present.

This had been agreed upon before departure: if an unexpected event occurred in the contaminated zone and the situation was unclear, they would first gather at the departure point.

"Captain, what just happened? What was that powerful solar pathway force?" Xiya asked the quickest.

Then her gaze fell on Leiketon standing beside the captain, and her expression turned strange: "Could it be related to you again?"

"What do you mean 'again'? Besides today, when else has anything to do with me?" Leiketon protested, feeling wronged.

"It really is related to you! Tell me, what did you do? I'm curious!" Xiya said with a tone of 'as expected', then leaned in ambiguously to ask.

"I didn't do anything; I just chanted the honored name of an angel, and then they hit that abstract-looking monster with holy light." Leiketon summarized what had happened in one sentence.

"You know an angel's honored name!" Ms. Jessica said incredulously.

"You even chanted their honored name!" Qiaoxi followed Mr. Kes's words.

"And they responded to you!" Joseph then followed Qiaoxi's words.

"When did you two become so in sync?" Leiketon muttered speechlessly.

"That abstract-looking monster? What does it look like?" Xiya's focus was always somewhat different.

Leiketon carefully recalled the chimeric giant deer and giant tree, then said: "It looked like a huge deer and a big tree pieced together."

"Indeed very abstract; I can't imagine what you described." Xiya stared at Leiketon, always feeling he was fooling her.

"I never expected the monster to look like that; unfortunately, I was affected by its cry at the time and couldn't move, otherwise I could have seen its exact appearance." Mr. Kes said regretfully.

"Indeed, if we had arrived earlier we could still have seen His Majesty!" Captain Ikenton nodded in agreement.

At this moment Leiketon felt somewhat out of place with everyone.

He could only mutter in his heart: "These people's curiosity is too heavy! Let the Voyeurs come and serve you."

"Captain, what should we do next? Continue cleaning this contaminated area?" Leiketon had to speak up to steer the conversation back.

"The Earth Church will likely send a saint to directly resolve this area's pollution; what comes next depends on the situation." Captain Ikenton replied.

"A saint? Isn't that just the archbishop?" Xiya frowned slightly.

"A higher-ranking saint; this matter involves a high level, and what just happened will make their nerves even more tense." Captain Ikenton gave a simple explanation.

"Maybe it's because the church's angels suddenly appeared here and even took action?" Xiya spoke more bluntly than the captain.

"Is the relationship between the Church and the Earth Church not good?" Leiketon asked.

Leiketon himself didn't know this; given his knowledge, the God of Knowledge and the Earth Mother Goddess should have no major interests or position conflicts.

"The Church has always wanted to spread faith in Finbort; Ma Dan is the Church's breakthrough point." Xiya gave a simple explanation.

Leiketon instantly understood: although the two deities have no interest or position conflict, the Church's spreading of faith will definitely put them at odds, as everyone wants more followers for their own faith.

"By the way, I heard you wanted to raise a magical beast; I caught a rabbit and a parrot—do you want them?" Xiya naturally shifted the topic.

"Are they nice-looking?" Leiketon asked immediately.

"They're okay; that five-colored parrot should still be quite good-looking, and the other is a large gray lop-eared rabbit, quite plump, possibly tasty, and they can both talk—they were probably pets kept by locals before mutation." Xiya recalled.

"Tasty? Is that description too exaggerated?" Xiya's description made Leiketon picture braised rabbit head.

"Being tasty is the highest praise for an animal, you know?" Xiya said seriously.

"No, that should be their final evaluation in life!" Leiketon retorted on behalf of the small animals.

"Haha, Leiketon, you're right; if I hadn't stopped Xiya, that cute little rabbit would already be cute roasted rabbit." Jessica laughed and chimed in.

"Do you want it? If not, I can personally treat you to barbecue." Xiya enthusiastically invited Leiketon to choose barbecue.

"Let me look first; if I decide to keep it, I'll treat you to better barbecue later as compensation." Leiketon said.

"Fine, I'll give you the rabbit now." Xiya said decisively.

"Um, I haven't made a choice yet." Leiketon was shocked by Xiya's foodie nature.

"I made the choice for it." Xiya stared at Leiketon, leaving no room for rebuttal.

"Alright, I'll treat you to barbecue later; you can eat whatever else you want." Leiketon offered no objection to Xiya.

Worst case, if I don't want to keep the rabbit, I'll just give it to Xiya for roasted rabbit.

After Xiya and Leiketon reached an agreement unilaterally, she handed over the rabbit that was almost becoming roasted rabbit, along with an adult parrot with gorgeous feathers that had come with them.

The parrot's appearance astonished Leiketon; its plumage cannot be described as five-colored, but should be called five-light ten-color.

The feather colors are like iridescent, reflecting sunlight into a dazzling array, and as the viewing angle changes, the colors on its body also shift.

"This parrot is too gorgeous! How did it achieve such a unique mutation?" Leiketon couldn't help but ask.

While other mutant creatures keep mutating toward bizarre shapes, this parrot is somewhat ahead of the curve.

"Who knows, do you want to take it for research? This is a decent topic, just the experimental material is a bit hard to obtain." Xiya said offhand.

"No, I'll just take this fat rabbit! The parrot is too eye-catching." Leiketon shook his head and refused.

This rabbit indeed looks like a large gray lop-eared rabbit, much larger than ordinary rabbits; its limbs have somewhat mutated toward a human form, the hind legs are thick, the forelimbs have lengthened considerably, and even the details of palms and fingers have emerged, though not very obvious.

The more Leiketon looked at the rabbit, the more he felt it resembled an anthropomorphic animal character that had run out of an animated cartoon.

On this, Leiketon could only sigh in his heart: the mysterious world holds endless wonders; perhaps one day he could even use the solar pathway's traits to assemble an Ultraman.

"By the way, what abilities does this rabbit have?" Leiketon asked curiously.

"It can grow rapidly, becoming the size of an adult human rabbit, but it's merely a superficial enlargement—poke it casually and it bursts." Xiya said while tugging the rabbit's ears.

"Not even as useful as the parrot's lying ability." Jessica simply summed up.

"Nonsense! Nonsense! I'm powerful!" The rabbit, which had been silent and motionless, actually rebutted Jessica's words.

The rabbit's voice was somewhat sharp and transformed; it was clearly distinguishable from human voices.

"Is it on bad terms with that parrot? It reacts so strongly." Leiketon asked curiously.

"It has been repeatedly deceived by that parrot; finally it tried to grow large to scare the parrot, but was still seen through." Jessica briefly recounted the grudge between the rabbit and the parrot.

"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" The parrot suddenly jeered at this moment.

"I'll bite you to death! Woo~" The rabbit, held by Xiya, struggled hard.

Then Xiya swung her hand and threw it to the ground, then stepped on it with one foot, deforming this rabbit's belly.

"Ah!"

"Save me~ save me~"

The rabbit's heart-rending screams made the parrot on the other side laugh even louder.

Leikeddun looked at the two animals in surprise; they were smarter than he had imagined, as if all the mutations had concentrated in their brains, so their bodies did not become strangely shaped.

"Don't worry, this rabbit may be weak but it can take a beating." Seeing Leikeddun keep staring at the two magical creatures, Xiya thought he was worried she would break them with her play.

"Oh oh! Pretty good, at least it's not completely useless." Leikeddun didn't mind.

Anyway, I keep magical creatures just for fun; how strong they are doesn't matter. Pets just need to look good and be interesting.

"Do you need to sign a contract with it? I can simulate one." Xiya's after-sales service was good; she proactively offered to help sign the contract.

"Can non-spirit-realm creatures also do that?" Leikeddun asked.

"The mutant creatures here can; although they are not spirit-realm beings, the mutations caused by pollution here also give them a deeper connection to the spirit realm, which is why they can use various extraordinary abilities—their power comes from the spirit realm." Xiya explained.

"However, the contract's effect binds both parties, so you need to be sure." Xiya added another sentence.

Leikeddun had already been attracted by another of Xiya's words; the mutant creatures here, because of their deeper connection to the spirit realm, can rely on it to use various extraordinary abilities, even if those abilities are not strong.

"Aren't the extraordinary abilities of these mutant creatures dependent on their internal extraordinary traits?" Leikeddun asked curiously.

"No, those traits and pollution are merely the cause of the creatures' mutations here, but their power does not come from them, or not solely from them." Captain Yikeddun, who answered Leikeddun's question, said.

"So extraordinary abilities aren't usable only by extraordinary beings? As long as one can form a certain connection with the spirit realm, that should also work, right?" Leikeddun asked follow-up.

"In theory, yes—just like many of the extraordinary abilities I and Xiya use are accomplished by relying on the interaction between the spirit realm and the material world, but if one is not an extraordinary being, it's almost impossible to achieve this." Captain Yikeddun explained.

"Why? Is it because ordinary people cannot withstand the influence of the spirit realm?" Leikeddun asked curiously.

"That's one reason; the greater reason is that ordinary people cannot form such a deep connection with the spirit realm." Captain Yikeddun showed no impatience at Leikeddun's series of questions and answered them very seriously.

"Do you still want your rabbit? Why are you suddenly so curious about the spirit realm?" Xiya interrupted Leikeddun's continued questioning.

"Yes, of course, I still want to study it!" Leikeddun hurriedly nodded.

(End of chapter)