After climbing a short distance, we saw several golden monkeys leisurely scratching themselves by the rocks nearby, occasionally letting out a few calls.
The three men lay prone behind the rocks, watching with excited expressions. Qiang gestured, pointing to the young man named Da Gang, then to one of the golden monkeys, then to another, and finally to yet another. The other two understood, quietly taking out their guns and aiming. Qiang also found a comfortable spot, pulled out his pistol, and aimed at the largest golden monkey. The monkeys, completely unaware of the danger, continued to leisurely scratch and play.
Knowing he couldn't wait any longer, Ma Xiaoniu, who was in a nearby tree, turned off his phone, which had been recording, and put it in his pocket. Then, he flashed behind Qiang Ge and plunged a thumb-thick branch into Qiang Ge's anus.
"puff!"
"Ah!..." Qiang was about to fire when his chrysanthemum was the target. He screamed in pain, and the other two were startled, firing twice but hitting other parts of the target. Several golden monkeys cried out and disappeared into the woods with a few leaps.
Da Gang and the red-faced man stared in shock at Qiang Ge, who was clutching his buttocks, screaming in agony. Looking closer at Qiang Ge's buttocks, they saw a long tree branch lodged high, the other end deeply embedded in his buttocks, blood gushing out and pooling on the ground. The two men shuddered, quickly raising their guns and cautiously scanning their surroundings. All around was quiet and silent.
Seeing that no one was around, the two quickly ran to Qiang Ge's side, each supporting him with one arm, and then moved forward quickly, soon disappearing behind the rocks.
Ma Xiaoniu, perched in the tree, sneered. He had no intention of giving chase; he had the video recording, their conversation, the gun, and the golden monkey—enough to prove everything. He'd hand the recording over to the police later, and the three of them would be trapped.
Ma Xiaoniu flashed back home. The moment he arrived, his phone sent a notification of a deposit. He checked the balance and saw over fifty million yuan. "My god! Wang Youcai may not be a high-ranking official, but he's amassed a fortune!"
Come to think of it, he has sold off a lot of land in Songzhuang over the years. In addition, he has some shady connections and does some underground business, so it is reasonable for him to have so much money.
Looking at the clock, it was already five in the afternoon. After a whole day of running around, Ma Xiaoniu was a little tired. He quickly made some scrambled eggs with tomatoes and ate it, then leaned against the bed fully clothed, lost in thought.
Now that he has enough money, it's time to tear down and rebuild his house. It doesn't need to be luxurious; in fact, Ma Xiaoniu doesn't like luxury. He prefers a simple, elegant, and beautiful environment filled with a scholarly atmosphere. Actually, if the house weren't so old, Ma Xiaoniu would really be reluctant to rebuild it.
He still needed to buy a computer. Because of the Demon Forum, a computer had become indispensable. He had originally planned to go to the computer mall the next day, but then he suddenly remembered that he would need to re-extract his superpower after midnight, and things wouldn't be as convenient as they were now. With that thought, Ma Xiaoniu put on his shoes and teleported to a small alley next to the computer mall in the county town. Because it was already evening, the surroundings were quiet and deserted.
The computer mall didn't close until 10 PM, and it was bustling with activity. After much searching, Ma Xiaoniu bought what was arguably the highest-spec laptop in the entire mall, spending a whopping 50,000 yuan. The shop owner and clerk treated him like a god of wealth, seeing him off as he left the mall.
Arriving at a secluded spot, Ma Xiaoniu teleported back home. He casually placed his computer on the table and lay down on the bed, fully clothed.
How convenient! Ma Xiaoniu made up his mind that once he upgraded to a level two demon, he could choose a basic superpower as a permanent configuration, and he decided on teleportation! Choosing this ability had many advantages. First, it made traveling easier, which would save a lot of time if the mission location was far away. Second, teleportation was unpredictable, giving him a means of self-defense. At the very least, he could run away if he was really helpless!
Furthermore, given the system's track record, who knows what future missions will be like? They might even involve murder and arson. So, from now on, wear your demon attire when doing missions. And to promote your demon forum, it's best to leave some kind of mark while doing missions, like the forum's logo, that skull. Lately, there's been a serious encoding issue, which motivates us to update faster. Please take a moment to exit reading mode. Thank you.
===Chapter Nine===
Thinking of this, Ma Xiaoniu teleported back to the county town, found a small stamp-making shop, and had a skull stamp made. It was about the size of a palm, with four small characters below the skull: "Demon Forum." The stamp came with its own ink, so one application would last a long time.
I got home and lay back in bed. I checked the time and it was already past nine o'clock. I read for a while longer, and then the clock struck midnight.
"Drawing begins. Please complete the draw within two minutes, otherwise an automatic draw will be conducted and a penalty will be imposed..."
Extract!
The dark roulette wheel spun and slowly came to a stop, from which a streak of blood-red light shot out.
Exceptional sense of smell – if you want it, there's no smell in the world you can't detect!
Today's mission: As a demon, how can my hands not be stained with blood? Let's kill someone for fun.
Murder! It's finally happening. Ma Xiaoniu was already mentally prepared; this was a system designed to destroy the world, so killing was only a matter of time. Although it felt awkward—after all, a normal person wouldn't find pleasure in killing—there were indeed people in this world who deserved to die. Ma Xiaoniu wouldn't hesitate to deal with such people. He was a good person, but definitely not a pushover.
Exceptional sense of smell, activated!
In an instant, countless smells flooded his nostrils—fragrant, foul, sour, spicy—all at once, almost making Ma Xiaoniu vomit. He quickly deactivated his superhuman sense of smell and closed his eyes, taking a long time to recover. Ma Xiaoniu was somewhat troubled. At this rate, forget about killing anyone; he'd probably be overwhelmed by the various smells before he could even kill anyone else. Ma Xiaoniu pondered, was there any way to only smell one specific scent? After all, with his superhuman sense of smell, surely he had that ability?
Ma Xiaoniu was willing to give it a try, but the shadow of countless smells flooding his nasal cavity was too strong, making him hesitant.
I'm not going to think about it anymore. Things will work themselves out. I'm going to sleep now; I'm really exhausted today.
Nothing happened overnight. At 6:30 the next morning, Ma Xiaoniu woke up on time, washed up, sat on the sofa, turned on his newly bought computer, and logged into the Demon Forum.
The Demon Forum remains empty. And rightly so; even if someone were to browse it, they'd probably just think it's a prank, and no one would actually place any hope in a forum. Of course, everything will change after today.
Stepping into the courtyard, Ma Xiaoniu took a deep breath. He silently recalled the smell of blood and activated his extraordinary sense of smell.
Several stenches of blood filled my nostrils. One was from the east, about three miles away, and another was from the west, about five miles away. There was also one in the county town, and the one in the county town seemed particularly strong.
Once the super-powered sense of smell is activated, these smells all turn into a misty substance. For example, the smell of blood turns into patches of blood-red mist, and these mists drift and scatter, forming a line that floats into the distance.
The westernmost point was closest. Ma Xiaoniu followed the smell of blood and, five minutes later, finally arrived at the place where the smell was coming from.
The smell of blood wafted from a house at the entrance of Songzhuang Village. Ma Xiaoniu certainly didn't know whose house it was, but Wang Youcai definitely did.
He called Wang Youcai and told him to come as soon as possible. Ma Xiaoniu found a tree stump nearby and sat down.
In just over a minute, Wang Youcai arrived by car. As soon as he got out of the car, Wang Youcai scurried over, his face full of obsequiousness.
"Brother Ma, you were looking for me?"
Ma Xiaoniu didn't waste any words and pointed to the house at the village entrance. "What's the name of the owner of this house? Tell me."
Wang Youcai glanced at it and said, "Brother Ma, this is Old Man Song's house."
"Song Laopi? Why would someone have that name?" Ma Xiaoniu asked, somewhat puzzled.
Wang Youcai chuckled. "Song Laopi's real name was Song Quanyou, but because he was such an honest and unassuming guy, he was nicknamed Song Laopi. Over time, nobody called him Song Quanyou anymore; everyone just called him Song Laopi."
"Honest and simple?" Ma Xiaoniu frowned. This wasn't right. Could it be that this place smelled of blood because they were killing chickens and ducks?
"Brother Ma, do you need to see Old Man Song? Should I call him out?"
"Okay, go and call him over." Ma Xiaoniu shifted his position, finding a more comfortable spot to sit.
Wang Youcai ran to Song Laopi's door and slammed his hand on the big iron gate, making a loud banging sound.
"Old Song, are you home or not? Get out here right now!" Wang Youcai only showed a fawning attitude when he was around Ma Xiaoniu; he was arrogant and domineering towards everyone else.
"Who is it? Coming, coming! Stop banging, you'll break the door if you keep banging!" A man's voice came from inside the courtyard. Then the large iron gate creaked open, and a thin man with a dark face came out. This must be Old Man Song.