Chapter 512: Imperially Decreed You Four as the Scripture-Fetching Quartet

"Huh? Master, isn't this our mission?" Zhu Bajie said.

The mission revealed in the mission information — this is literally the Journey to the West to fetch scriptures.

One of everyone's old specialties; doing it could be described as easy as pie.

Result: suddenly four competitors showed up... no, both sides have the same mission, so they should be called fellow travelers.

They even claimed this is their "exclusive mission" — what's going on?

"Not necessarily fetching scriptures either," Tang Luo said.

"Oi!" The red-haired Sakura-jima Shenmo Walker spoke up, his movements and bearing those of a typical Sakura-jima little hoodlum, the bottom-rung kind, "You lot are just chattering away on your own..."

He'd only spoken half his sentence when the short guy next to him suddenly grabbed him.

"What for?"

"Wait, this person..." The short guy looked at Tang Luo, his expression somewhat shocked and uncertain.

"Who is this person? White hair, so arrogant, brat!" The redhead continued making all sorts of meaningless noises to pump up his presence.

Similar to the "ahhhhh" roar little hoodlums let out before a brawl.

"I remember now!" The short Shenmo Walker suddenly shouted loudly, then kicked out with one foot.

The red-haired Shenmo Walker had no guard up and was kicked sprawling to the ground.

"What are you doing?" He twisted his head to look at his companion.

The short Shenmo Walker stepped forward a few paces, came before the three of Tang Luo, expression grave, abruptly dropped to his knees on the ground, pressed both hands to the floor, pressed his forehead to the ground — the legendary, very common dogeza: "Ten thousand apologies, Master Xuanzang, my companion was rude! His brain has issues, he's an idiot."

Red-hair and Blondie also reacted.

White hair, a black greatcoat not too much like a monk's robe, faintly revealing luxurious garments underneath.

And the special reaction to this mission.

Could it be, this is the legendary man who stands at the peak of gods and demons, the one who opened the Twilight of the Gods, the Empire's god-slaying monk Tang Xuanzang?

These four guys aren't people with extremely well-informed sources, but Tang Luo's title, they still know it, and they're clear on how terrifying the "Legendary Monk" is.

Supposedly now, all of Huaxia's Shenmo Walkers are controlled single-handedly by him.

If it really is that man...

Dogeza x3!

In this era, dogeza has long since become worthless.

If dogeza can solve the problem, ten times a day is no problem, throw in a Thomas Spin too.

Four people kneeling in a row, foreheads pressed to the filthy ground, no side-glances, each able to hear the others' heartbeats.

Kneeling first is no problem for now.

Kneel wrong and it's a hundredfold repayment; kneel right and there's no need for more words.

"You lot..." Tang Luo looked at these four people, "Are Fate Bearers, and your Fates are related to Journey to the West?"

"Defaulted to yes!"

"Admitted it!"

"So he really is that legendary man?"

The few of them had differing mental reactions, but it was still the short guy who raised his head and said: "Just a tiny bit of a connection." Forcing himself to explain a bit.

These four people's Fates are respectively Tang Sanzang, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing.

They really are the Journey to the West scripture-fetching bunch.

But their Fates also have some specialness — the direct source is a "will-it-ever-finish" series, a manga called Saiyuki.

A radical fanfic remake of Journey to the West; honestly, it's pretty good.

Tang Luo had read it back in the day.

"Saiyuki? I see." Tang Luo's gaze fell on the few of them.

Making them feel a near-tangible heavy pressure; this feeling had already surpassed being targeted by predators like a fierce tiger.

Simply like a great mountain gently resting against their spines, ready to come crashing down at any moment.

The four of them were completely tensed, every hair on their bodies standing on end, all sensory nerves mobilized to the limit.

Phantom pain had already slowly spread from their spines, gradually diffusing through their whole bodies.

All being rare scripture-fetcher Fates, there may be some differences from orthodox Fates, but without a doubt these Fates can also mutually "fuse" to grow stronger.

Seizing their Fate fragments would be beneficial for this Legendary Monk!

Especially that blondie — sweat continuously dripping down his cheeks, already soaking his forehead and the nearby ground.

His Fate is "Xuanzang Sanzang"; if the other party really intends to seize their Fates, the one who bears the brunt first is him.

"What to do, what to do? Fight to the death?"

"But I can't even lift a finger right now!"

"There's no Heaven-and-Earth Yuan Qi in this world." Tang Luo spoke.

The pressure on the few of them loosened; if they weren't kneeling they'd probably have collapsed to the ground, even so one could see their arms trembling faintly.

"Yeah." Zhu Bajie said.

"Could it be we guessed wrong?" Ao Yulie said, "Not the Western Heaven scripture-fetching."

"Don't know, no rush." Tang Luo said, "What are your names?"

The few of them felt pardoned, barely managed to stand up, and regarding Tang Luo's identity they no longer had any doubt.

A mere gaze nearly made them "kill themselves" — this strength is absolutely that monk standing at the peak, the god-slayer powerful beyond compare.

"Tomita Yuki."

"Fukuhara Mizuki."

"Nakahara Ichiro."

Tian Cangzhen.

The four people dared not use ordinary forms of address, after all, it was related to fate, fearing to rekindle this great one's interest.

"Hard to remember." Tang Luo said, "Forget it, the organization has already decided, appointing you as the scripture seekers for this mission."

"Uh?"

The four people had different expressions, but hearing this, at least their lives were spared?

"Master, what do you mean by saying this mission is truly related to Journey to the West, to seeking scriptures?" Fukui Rui Sheng, that is, the short-statured one with the altered Sun Wukong fate, said.

Among the four, his temperament seemed the most composed.

Due to fate, the four people were quite familiar with Journey to the West.

"Who knows." Tang Luo neither affirmed nor denied, "Find a place with people, investigate a bit."

The place where the crowd appeared was a desert, as far as the eye could see, all cracked, yellowish earth.

Even vegetation was extremely scarce, let alone water sources.

The only scenery was those weathered rocks, the wind blowing over carried a unique roughness, like being filed by a rasp.

Tang Luo stepped into the void, ascending to high altitude, the sky had a layer of extremely thick clouds, making it impossible to tell what time of day it was.

Judging by light visibility, it was like dusk, but the temperature was quite high, at least thirty-seven or eight degrees of heat.

There was no sunset with temperature gradually dropping.

Tang Luo passed through the thick cloud layer, arriving at true high altitude, sunlight shone, extremely dazzling.

Returning to the ground, just as before leaving, Zhu Bajie and Ao Yu Lie, who had gone everywhere to scout, returned.

"Master."

"Heavenly disaster has struck, the human race withers, this world, I fear, is an apocalyptic wasteland."

"I think so too." Tang Luo said.

This mission's information somewhat revealed some background story.

Most important were the latter "Heavenly disaster has struck, the human race withers" two lines.

A wasteland world without heavenly and earthly qi, having things or people related to it, Tang Luo grew increasingly curious about this mission world.

"Master, I seem to see some buildings over there." Ao Yu Lie pointed toward the direction he had scouted and said.

Roughly glancing, first confirm the forward direction.

"Then let's go." Tang Luo flung the Heavenly Hound to the ground, "Transform, dog."

The Heavenly Hound comprehended with mind and spirit, flames ignited on its body, transforming into a massive combat form.

Tang Luo and the three sat on the Heavenly Hound's broad back, the black flames would not harm the three.

"How will you travel?" Tang Luo looked at the four he had appointed as scripture seekers.

"Master, we have transportation, as long as the speed isn't especially fast, we can generally keep up."

"A jeep?" Ao Yu Lie was very interested.

The white dragon horse in Journey to the West is a jeep that can transform.

"Uh..." Fukui Sun Wukong said, "It's an ordinary motorcycle."

Saying so, each person took out a motorcycle, actually not ordinary, but that kind of biker gang bike, each with exaggerated styling.

No one knows where they got them from.

On the wilderness, a white giant dog burning with flames trotted, movements light and steady, its broad back very stable, only occasional rising and falling.

Behind were four biker gang motorcycles, two of which had flags inserted at the back, bearing the words "Dominate XXX", fluttering in the wind.

The four drivers tried to shrink their bodies, squinting their eyes, blown by the fierce wind like grandsons.

Normally, they would speed out over a hundred yards, yet not be like this.

But the wind in this mission world seemed poisonous, making it hard to adapt.

The motorcycle props also lacked corresponding helmets or windproof goggles, only able to endure, four pairs of eyes swollen red, tears streaming in the wind.

Those who didn't know still thought these few cowboys, driving, were moved to tears.

Holding back speed, they advanced for about two and a half hours, the sky grew increasingly dim, the crowd arrived at the place Ao Yu Lie mentioned.

This place was indeed a settlement—or rather, once was a settlement.

Now it was merely a ruined, collapsed building complex.

Various collapsed buildings, only walls remained, or barely maintained intact houses, most sank into the desert's yellow sand.

The city about to be swallowed, remnants of past civilization, could barely be seen, the technological level before the wasteland was not low either.

At least there were some traces of modernization.

But what the wasteland became afterward is unclear.

The appointed scripture seekers four entered, everywhere searching for useful clues.

Tang Luo and the others then split up, walking around to look.

In some rooms barely counted as preserved intact, traces of human habitation could also be seen, along with white bones.

These traces were similarly very ancient, those bones already at the point where a light touch would shatter them, utterly rotten.

Part was human bones, another part resembled some kind of small-to-medium beast.

Not complete, hard to judge what exactly it was, whether edible.

And the ground beneath their feet, including some places where walls had not completely collapsed, had many black pits.

Each like a washbasin in size, some already blocked, some downward a sheet of darkness, unknown where they led.

Also unknown whether they were nests of some creature, making one feel creepy.

"Squeak squeak squeak..."

Tang Luo was looking at the black hollows beneath his feet, when suddenly a sound came from one side.

Turning his head, on the slanted wall beside him that had already become part of the earthen slope, a head poked out from the black cavity.

It was the head of a black rat, its eyes glowing with an eerie red light; judging from the head, its body was as large as a domestic cat.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak!"

No longer the green-bean eyes of a rat, its gaze fixed on Tang Luo, emitting a threatening sound.

"Roar!"

The Heavenly Howling Dog on Tang Luo's shoulder leapt down, letting out a beastly roar.

Today, is it the dog catching the rat?