Chapter 51: Chance Encounter

"Whoa~ Lei Kedun, why are you lying on the ground? Didn't you tell me the ground is dirty and you can't lie directly on it?" Tu Ba Ge didn't know how he had squeezed out of the cabinet and ran to the training ground.

"Call me the boss!" Lei Kedun said weakly.

The rabbit's arrival was a mystery, but Lei Kedun, for his pride, had to endure the lingering pain and crawl up from the ground.

"How did you get out of the cabinet?" Lei Kedun asked, curious.

"I bit the cabinet lock open and got out!" Tu Ba Ge said proudly, chest puffed.

"So you dismantled my cabinet?" Lei Kedun said, eyes narrowed.

"I put the lock back, boss!" Tu Ba Ge said, shrinking his neck.

"You can do that too?" Lei Kedun was again shocked by the rabbit.

Tu Ba Ge nodded proudly: "I hammered the nail I bit out back in; I tested it, and the lock still works."

"Whatever, it's just a lock. What did you come to see me for?" Lei Kedun thought the rabbit was fine aside from not looking much like a rabbit.

"Awaw, boss, could you buy me a small bed? I don't want to sleep on the ground." Tu Ba Ge tugged at the bow tie on his neck.

"Sure, we'll buy it when we go home later. Anything else you need?" Lei Kedun finally remembered he had only been caring for the rabbit and hadn't prepared a rabbit nest.

"I also need a pillow, um… a blanket! Shoes, a cloak!" Tu Ba Ge counted on his fingers.

Lei Kedun's eyelid twitched; he thought if the rabbit's paws weren't short, it would list even more.

"Fine, but the shoes and cloak will take some time; there's no rabbit version, they'll have to be custom‑made." Lei Kedun nodded, he wasn't short of money anyway.

"No problem." The rabbit didn't care about the details, as long as it could be bought.

【7】 "But how did you know all this?" Lei Kedun was curious who told his rabbit to want these things.

"But how do you know all this?" Leighton wondered who had told his rabbit to want these things.

"After all, for a rabbit, wanting a bed and blanket is normal, but wanting a pillow and shoes pushes the style toward a children's channel."

"The red‑haired Great Demon King asked me why I only have a staff, bow tie, and hat. She said an extraordinary rabbit properly dressed also needs shoes and clothes, but I think clothes aren't as convenient as a cloak." Tu Ba Ge babbled.

"The red‑haired Great Demon King? Hahaha! That's the nickname you gave Xi Ya?" Lei Kedun laughed when he heard Tu Ba Ge's nickname for Xi Ya.

"No, no, it was that parrot. I just saw the parrot at the red‑haired Great Demon King's. Its feathers had fallen off a lot; it said the Great Demon King thought they looked nice and pulled them off to make a feather cloak," Tu Ba Ge said vividly.

"Just that parrot? Its feathers aren't enough, are they?" Lei Kedun didn't quite believe the gossip.

"But that red‑haired Great Demon King applies a feather‑growing potion to it; its feathers grow fast, and once grown the Great Demon King plucks them, then keeps applying the potion and plucking," Tu Ba Ge imagined the scene and shivered.

"Uhh, it's Xi Ya… no, the things the red‑haired Great Demon King can do." Lei Kedun nodded in agreement.

"But that's why you want a cloak, right? Are you planning to wear the cloak to directly shame that parrot?" Lei Kedun looked at the rabbit skeptically, feeling it had darkened a lot.

"Hehe~ That's right! Boss, you said defeating an opponent spiritually is the greatest." Tu Ba Ge proudly lifted his little head.

Lei Kedun was speechless, hand on his forehead, and warned himself internally not to brag in front of this rabbit again; it would take it seriously.

The rest of the afternoon Lei Kedun spent recuperating and replaying the afternoon's battle. He realized his biggest problem was his body's speed lagging behind his thoughts, so his body couldn't keep up with his mind.

Even after advancing to a Sequence Eight Martial Scholar of the Seeker of Secrets, Lei Kedun found that in today's afternoon fight he barely displayed any Martial Scholar skill, as if his Sequence Eight were a dud.

"This is partly because Xi Ya is too strong, but also because my mind and body aren't synchronized," Lei Kedun reflected on his afternoon performance.

His final conclusion: he must find Xi Ya again and take a few more hits before he can fully utilize the Martial Scholar's enhancements.

After reflecting on the afternoon's training, Lei Kedun took Tu Ba Ge to the commercial street to buy rabbit‑nest supplies.

Tu Ba Ge, still dressed like a gentleman, perched on Lei Kedun's shoulder, scanning the passersby and shops, whispering with his head tucked into Lei Kedun's ear.

"I want a soft bed and a fluffy blanket," Tu Ba Ge whispered.

"Fluffy? Aren't you the one?" Lei Kedun pinched Tu Ba Ge's paw holding the staff.

"But humans love fur, don't they?" Tu Ba Ge said, puzzled.

"Yet you're just a rabbit." Lei Kedun thought it over but didn't voice the remark.

"It's just fur, buy it a rabbit‑fleece blanket so it feels home's warmth."

Originally Lei Kedun went to a pet store to buy Tu Ba Ge a small nest, but unfortunately the store only sold rabbit cages.

Finally Lei Kedun went to a baby‑goods store, bought a baby crib to place on the floor and a genuine leather‑fur blanket, though the shop didn't carry rabbit skin. He then bought two children's gentleman outfits that fit the rabbit perfectly; the shoes only needed some stuffing, and also the cloak Tu Ba Ge kept yearning for.

He bought a lot, so Lei Kedun asked the shop to pack everything and deliver it to his home.

On the way home with Tu Ba Ge, a middle‑aged gentleman wrapped in a tall scarf and wearing a black top hat hurried past Lei Kedun. Tu Ba Ge, perched on Lei Kedun's shoulder, twitched his nose, sniffing something in the air.

"He smells blood on him, plus a foul stench," Tu Ba Ge whispered to Lei Kedun after they brushed past the gentleman.

After hearing Tu Ba Ge, Lei Kedun turned casually, facing the shop on his left, and with a corner‑of‑the‑eye glance toward the direction the gentleman had passed, but saw no trace of him.

Lei Kedun suppressed his surprise, turned casually and kept walking forward, as if he had only paused briefly, drawn unintentionally by the nearby shop.

As Lei Kedun walked on, a hat‑wearing silhouette emerged from the shadow near where he had paused. The figure stayed within the shadow, glanced briefly toward Lei Kedun's departing direction, then merged back into the darkness.

"Boss, the person in the shadow disappeared," Tu Ba Ge whispered in Lei Kedun's ear.

"Mm, never mind him, let's go home." Lei Kedun released the hand that had been clutching the talisman in his pocket.

"Boss, how did you know there was someone in the shadow just now?" Tu Ba Ge asked curiously.

"I saw it." Lei Kedun whispered to Tu Ba Ge as they slipped away from the street.

Lei Kedun didn't go straight home; he wound around the street several times before flagging down a carriage.

After his peripheral glance missed the middle‑aged gentleman, he instantly opened his Eye of the Seeker of Secrets and found something hidden in a shadow on one side.

However, Lei Kedun didn't probe further; after the discovery he immediately averted his gaze to avoid being sensed.

He then acted as if nothing happened and kept walking, but after a short distance he quietly reminded the Tu Ba Ge perched on his shoulder to watch the shadows behind.

"Merging into shadow should be the Hanged Man path of a hermit's ability; the blood scent—did someone just get killed? Or a blood clan? I met a cultist at noon, another at dusk; is Ma Dan a cult hideout?" Lei Kedun mused, half‑speculating, half‑teasing.

(End of Chapter)