Chapter 37 – Short in Stature, Big in Strength

Saturday, East District Food Street, Peace Noodle Shop.

“Uncle Tian, two bowls of beef noodles!”

“Little Lu, you clearly promised to treat me to a feast! How come we ended up eating noodles at Uncle Tian’s place again? Is this what you call a feast? How awful!”

Inside the noodle shop, Mu Xiaoye glared at Lu Chen with puffed-up cheeks, resembling a little goldfish blowing bubbles in a pond.

Before Lu Chen could respond, a tall figure appeared behind Mu Xiaoye and gently chopped her head with a hand-saber.

“Ouch, Uncle Tian, why did you hit me?”

Mu Xiaoye turned around to see the two-meter-tall Yu Tianqi, with his muscular build and graying temples, crossing his arms and grumbling, “What’s wrong, Little Yezi? Starting to look down on Uncle Tian’s cooking now?”

“What do you mean coming here doesn’t count as a feast? Can any outside food compare to the noodles I make!”

“Even if the flavor might be slightly lacking here, at least it’s clean and safe. You little girl actually dare to be picky? You don’t know how lucky you are.”

“Little Lu, you two wait a moment. Uncle Tian will bring your noodles out soon.”

After speaking, the tall Yu Tianqi turned and went to the kitchen to prepare the noodles.

The spacious noodle shop was suddenly left with only Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye, along with a white-haired elementary school student eating noodles in the corner and the three-headed strange bird beside her also eating noodles.

The elementary school student had only glanced at them curiously when they entered before lowering her head again to devour her noodles, eating with tremendous speed.

Mu Xiaoye looked at the mountain of empty bowls piled on the white-haired girl’s table and the three-headed strange bird also gulping down noodles, and couldn’t help whispering to Lu Chen.

“Little Lu, look at her appetite – it’s huge.”

“And that strange bird of hers probably isn’t an ordinary pet, but a Spirit Beast, right?”

Lu Chen nodded without saying much.

After all, he had noticed the unusual combination of the white-haired girl and the three-headed bird the moment he entered the shop.

Besides her large appetite, there was another thing about the white-haired girl that caught Lu Chen’s particular attention.

Her heartbeat was actually stronger than that of the Dharma Corpse Ye Chenglin in the Instance!

Didn’t this mean her Physical Body strength might be above that of Ye Chenglin at the Foundation Establishment Stage?!

When this thought first occurred to him, Lu Chen was somewhat frightened by his own realization.

What made it worse was that this idea seemed highly plausible, making him somewhat regret bringing Mu Xiaoye to Uncle Tian’s for noodles.

Ever since he had broken through in his cultivation of Water Dragon’s Roar, his hearing had significantly improved.

This enhancement didn’t allow him to hear farther or more clearly,

but rather enabled him to hear many things ordinary people couldn’t perceive.

Such as the rhythm of people’s heartbeats, or slight vibrations of objects.

It was precisely by relying on this ability that he had managed to detect many Yao Beasts in advance within the Secret Realm.

So although Lu Chen showed no outward reaction, he felt deep wariness toward the white-haired girl.

Not to be provoked – this person was absolutely not to be provoked.

She was definitely no ordinary person.

Thinking this, Lu Chen urgently wanted to change the subject and stop Mu Xiaoye from saying anything more, lest they unintentionally offend her.

Fortunately, at that moment, Uncle Tian timely emerged carrying ten bowls of beef noodles and placed two of them in front of each of them.However, when Mu Xiaoye saw her bowl of beef noodles, she immediately complained, “Uncle Tian, why does Little Lu have so much more beef in his bowl than I do? You’re being too biased!”

Yu Tianqi rolled his eyes at Mu Xiaoye in exasperation.

“Isn’t it because someone said not long ago that she wanted to watch her figure and asked me to put less beef in her noodles from now on?”

“How come you’ve suddenly changed your mind and decided not to diet anymore?”

“Huh? Did I say that?”

“Didn’t you?”

Mu Xiaoye scratched her cheek awkwardly, her eyes darting around as she said, “O-oh, I guess I did.”

“Pfft.”

Seeing this little Devil Head being mercilessly suppressed by Uncle Tian, Lu Chen couldn’t help but laugh.

But that laugh brought trouble upon him.

You like to laugh, do you?

Then stop laughing!

“Wow, Little Lu, not only did you trick me into thinking we were having a feast, but now you’re laughing at me too.”

“Say you’re sorry right now, or I’ll really get angry!”

“…”

Smiles don’t disappear; they just transfer from one person’s face to another’s.

For example, the smile that had been on Lu Chen’s face vanished and reappeared on Yu Tianqi’s face beside him.

Looking at the pouting Mu Xiaoye, Lu Chen had no choice but to say, “Sor—”

Before Lu Chen could finish, Mu Xiaoye’s big, doll-like eyes shifted, and she suddenly interrupted him.

Picking up her chopsticks, she said with an air of ‘righteousness,’ “Forget it, forget it. I, Mu Xiaoye, am not a petty person. I won’t hold it against you.”

“Just give me a tiny bit of the beef from your bowl, and I’ll consider it your apology.”

With that, without waiting for Lu Chen to respond, she reached her chopsticks into his untouched bowl of beef noodles.

One piece, two pieces, three pieces…

This is too much, really too much!

Watching his beef noodles about to turn into plain broth, Lu Chen panicked instantly.

“Stop, stop, stop! Didn’t you say just a little?”

Mu Xiaoye, delighted by the pile of braised beef in her bowl, grinned so wide that her little canine teeth showed.

“Right, and isn’t this just a tiny bit?”

Hearing the deliberate emphasis Mu Xiaoye placed on “tiny bit,” Lu Chen immediately realized she was playing him.

Oh, you Mu Xiaoye, aren’t you just bullying an honest person like me?

Seeing Lu Chen’s speechless expression, Mu Xiaoye suddenly changed her tone.

“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Here, this bowl’s for you.”

To Lu Chen’s surprise, Mu Xiaoye pushed the bowl piled high with beef in front of him.

First, she deliberately gave him a hard time, then followed up with a heartwarming gesture.

Though he was reluctant to admit it, Lu Chen found himself swayed by Mu Xiaoye’s push-and-pull tactics.

Wait, could it be that she planned all of this?

Since when did she become so good at this?

“You did that on purpose?”

Hearing this, Mu Xiaoye giggled and said, “La la la, I don’t understand, I don’t understand.”

Watching the two of them, Yu Tianqi shook his head helplessly.

Childish, these two are just too childish.

How old are they, still playing these push-and-pull games?

Back in my day, forget about push-and-pull, people would already have kids running errands!

I’m too old for this sappy stuff. I’m out of here!

Carrying the remaining eight bowls of beef noodles, Yu Tianqi walked over to the white-haired girl and set them on the table.

“Uncle Tian, are those two very close to you?””You’re asking about Little Lu and Little Yezi? I’ve watched them grow up, so of course I’m familiar with them.”

Bailing ate her noodles while carefully observing the two not far away.

Yu Tianqi seemed to recall something and lowered his voice: “Xiao Ling, there are some things I can’t elaborate on right now, but Little Lu and Little Yezi are just ordinary people, truly ordinary people. Don’t drag them into this.”

“The Shanhai Bureau has enough members already, it doesn’t need these two. Understand?”

To this, Bailing responded very seriously: “But what if they’re willing to join themselves?”

Yu Tianqi fell silent for a moment before saying: “…Then it’s beyond my control.”

Hearing this, Bailing placed her finished bowl of beef noodles aside and picked up a new one.

While eating, she watched Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye from afar, her eyes filled with interest.

“Uncle Tian, you know some people are destined not to remain ordinary.”

“Everyone in the Shanhai Bureau is a monster, and we only nurture monsters, because only monsters can deal with monsters.”

“Those two, especially the young man, seem very suitable for our Shanhai Bureau in my opinion. Don’t you agree?”

“After all, ordinary people wouldn’t make Xiao Shang feel curious…”Hearing Bailing mention itself, the three-headed monstrous bird that had been burying its head devouring noodles looked up in surprise.”

It glanced at Lu Chen in the distance a few more times before lowering its heads to continue eating.

Witnessing this, Yu Tianqi sighed nearby: “Ah, such is fate and timing. I’m old, and can’t control everything anymore.”

“But there’s one thing I must remind you – if Little Lu and the others are unwilling when the time comes, yet you force them to make a decision…”

“Then I won’t stand by idly either. After all, these old bones of mine… haven’t reached the point of falling apart yet.”

As these words fell, the three-headed bird that had been eating noodles instantly startled, its feathers standing on end as it looked at Yu Tianqi beside it with terror, as if sensing something immensely frightening.

Bailing, however, remained quite calm.

She put down her chopsticks and said peacefully: “Uncle Tian, you can rest assured about that. Our Shanhai Bureau isn’t that domineering.”

Yu Tianqi grunted quietly and murmured: “Better not be.”

After Yu Tianqi left, Bailing looked confusedly at the three-headed bird beside her and asked puzzledly: “Xiao Shang, is our Shanhai Bureau very domineering?”

Hearing this, the three-headed bird named Shangfu showed complicated expressions on all three heads, unsure how to respond.

Because in a certain sense, their Shanhai Bureau… was indeed quite domineering.

After all, if they weren’t domineering, how could they manage the group of monsters within the bureau?

And those who can manage monsters – aren’t they monsters too!

(End of Chapter)