Chapter 41: Outrageous

As dawn approached and the sky began to pale, Bian Chunzhou finished his nightly cultivation routine.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was still plagued by the same question. Just who was the absolute scoundrel who had broken into his shop and stolen three whole barrels of fish? He couldn’t wrap his head around it. He really couldn’t!

Bian Chunzhou scratched his head in frustration. If a cultivator had done this, what could they possibly gain? He didn’t think he had offended any cultivator childish enough to pull a stunt like this. The fish were just ordinary black carp. He had only kept them in diluted spiritual spring water for the past few days to make their meat plumper and more tender. They didn’t contain any spiritual energy, so why would a cultivator want to eat them?

But if it wasn’t a cultivator, and was instead some rival business playing dirty, it didn’t make sense either. While many people had indeed gone in and out of Gongshang Bistro yesterday, for ordinary people to carry away three large barrels of fish without being noticed, and without alerting those upstairs… that would be harder than scaling the heavens.

Wen Xuxu had a very keen sense of smell and could read the messages carried by the wind. He had said at the time that no one had entered or left Gongshang Bistro carrying a large amount of fish.

This was truly… bizarre!

To have such a bizarre incident happen right after opening was infuriating. Although they had managed to resolve the immediate crisis by urgently shipping in another batch of black carp, he couldn’t just let this loss slide!

“No way. I have to catch this fish thief!”

After finishing his morning cultivation lessons, Bian Chunzhou was just about to head down the mountain to play the role of “Great Detective Sherlock Bian” when he received a message from Shopkeeper Rong.

“What? Stolen again! Is there no law and order left in this world?!”

They were really targeting his shop and his shop alone. Wasn’t the East Market of Langyuan City famous for being peaceful and safe for business? Why did his place have to be so… plagued by misfortune?

Was it really this hard to make a bit of hard-earned money? Bian Chunzhou stood in place and thought for a minute, then turned back toward Kaiyuan Peak. He used his sect contribution points to exchange for two Shadow Retention Stones. He refused to believe that this thief would dare to be so rampant once security cameras were installed!

When Wen Xu arrived carrying the copper hotpot from last night’s takeout, he noticed that his friend’s temper was exceptionally flared today.

“What’s wrong?” Had the shop opening not gone well?

Bian Chunzhou naturally had to vent. But seeing the clean copper pot in Wen Xuxu’s hand, he couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful. “So, did you really give it to your master to eat?”

Wen Xu set the copper pot down. “Yes. Master even said it tasted quite good.”

His mood instantly brightened. “Oh, really?”

“Really.” Not only that, but his master had even dug up some spiritual wine that had been cellared for a very long time. In any case, when Wen Xu left Guochun Peak today, his master was still lying drunk in the main hall. Whether he was actually drunk or just pretending, he had grabbed Wen Xu last night and gossiped about the sect for nearly an hour.

To be honest, some of it was quite scandalous. Wen Xu, for one, had never suspected that the Sect Master used to enjoy making handmade dolls.

Bian Chunzhou cupped his face and smiled. The divine dragon said he liked it! If he rounded that up, did it mean he had gained some favorability points? No, he couldn’t let the bad mood from the fish thief ruin his good mood for cooking offerings for the divine dragon!

Besides, now that the Shadow Retention Stones were installed, he would easily catch that little thief tomorrow!

Yet the next day, when Bian Chunzhou went to retrieve the Shadow Retention Stones, he found-

“This isn’t right, this…”

“They were eaten?” Astonishment also appeared on the faces of Chen Zui and Wen Xu.

Bian Chunzhou took out the Shadow Retention Stone. “More than that! Look, she’s just a thin, weak little girl, but she eats a fish in two bites. A fish this big! She swallows them alive with her bare hands, holding the wooden barrel like she’s holding a bowl of noodles. Eating three large barrels of fish was no different to her than slurping down three bowls of noodle soup!”

“No wonder no one saw a fish thief. It turns out they were eaten on the spot,” Chen Zui said, finally satisfied now that the mystery was solved.

“The main thing is, she eats the fish without spitting out the bones! Where on earth does it all go? This is too terrifying. Could she be… a demon?”

No matter how Bian Chunzhou thought about it, this was the only logical conclusion.

The Hengze Continent was vast. In addition to human cultivators, there were naturally demon cultivators and demonic cultivators. However, because their cultivation systems differed, they all minded their own business. To be more precise, human cultivators considered themselves the orthodox lineage of heaven and earth, and were unwilling to associate with demon or demonic cultivators. Meanwhile, demon cultivators were highly xenophobic, and most of them were only friendly to their own kind.

As for demonic cultivators, most of them lived wild, unrestrained lives of indulgence, and their reputation had always been rather poor throughout the cultivation world.

Yonglu Mountain was located in the Yonglu Mountain Range, which lay in the southern part of the continent. Most demon and demonic cultivators gathered in the north, center, and west. In any case, Bian Chunzhou had rarely seen any.

Well, except for the divine dragon. But how could a dragon be the same? Besides, he had never actually met the Divine Dragon Grandmaster Uncle.

Still, even if it was a demon cultivator, why would they resort to stealing fish from his shop?

Those barrels of fish weren’t worth many spirit stones. Could it be a stray little demon who was so starving that she wasn’t picky about her food?

“No, I’m going to wait out for her tonight!”

Even if she was a little girl, she couldn’t eat like this. He was running a small business, after all. Bian Chunzhou decided to skip his cultivation tonight and go straight to the shop to catch her in the act.

Wen Xu asked, “And what do you plan to do once you catch her? Hand her over to the authorities?”

Chen Zui added, “The City Lord’s Mansion’s jail probably can’t hold a demon, right?”

If this had been a malicious fish thief, Bian Chunzhou would have definitely given them a harsh beating. But since it was a little girl, even if she could eat three barrels of raw fish, he couldn’t bring himself to beat her up.

“Whatever, I’ll catch her first and figure it out later. If all else fails, I’ll just hire her as child labor!”

…

That night, the three of them went down the mountain together to catch the fish thief. Bian Chunzhou had originally planned to stake out the place alone, but considering that the thief was very likely a demon, and demons possessed naturally powerful physical bodies, even a little girl might be too much for a Qi Refining Stage rookie like him to handle.

To avoid a fight that might damage the newly renovated hotpot restaurant, Bian Chunzhou didn’t refuse their help. Besides, Gongshang Bistro was partly Wen Xuxu’s anyway; the guy was a major shareholder who had invested fifty thousand spirit stones.

The three of them took up their respective ambush positions, waiting only for the little thief to arrive.

However, the night passed in complete peace. The little thief had actually learned her lesson!

Bian Chunzhou opened the lid of the fish barrel. The black carp inside were jumping and splashing, not a single one missing.

“Did she think three times was the limit and decide to quit while she was ahead?” If that was the case, Bian Chunzhou could only accept it. In any case… he would just treat it as buying the little girl a meal, even if her appetite was indeed rather terrifying.

“Or maybe she sensed the three of us and didn’t dare come steal the fish.”

“What should we do then?”

Bian Chunzhou scratched his head. “The sliced black fish is our second best-selling dish, right after the mutton rolls. If it were a dish that didn’t sell well, I would just take it off the menu. But if I remove this fish, we’ll lose a lot of customers.”

Gongshang Bistro had only been open for a few days. Taking a dish off the menu now would be like ruining their own reputation. Bian Chunzhou had thought about putting a protective talisman on the fish barrels, but he wasn’t at the shop every day. His main focus was still cultivation, after all. The shop’s manager and workers were all ordinary people. If he put up a protective talisman, it would keep out both the thief and his own staff.

“Let’s wait and see for another couple of days. If they’re still being stolen, we can go to Alchemy Peak and ask if they have any pills to deal with demons.”

That was their only option. The three of them waited until the manager got up for work before leaving Gongshang Bistro.

For three days in a row, the fish remained safe and sound. Boss Bian figured he just had to chalk the previous theft up to bad luck. Since he could easily afford such a small loss, he quickly put it out of his mind.

Who would have thought that on the fourth day, the damn fish were gone again! The little girl was even sleeping right there in the fish barrel, bold as brass!

Wasn’t this a bit too brazen? Where was the justice in this?

The moment the manager saw his boss arrive, his knees were still shaking. “Boss, you have no idea! I don’t know which wicked soul put this little girl in there. Not only did she steal all the fish, but she almost caused a death in our bistro! The water was over her head. When the worker found her today, we thought she was dead!”

“That bad? Where is the little girl now?”

“My wife just carried her out and took her to the medical clinic at the corner. She’s incredibly lucky to be alive. Her body was freezing cold, but thankfully she’s still breathing. At least we didn’t end up with a corpse in our shop.”

Bian Chunzhou was speechless. Actually, is there a possibility that the little girl herself is the thief?

Unfortunately, if he said that out loud, neither the manager nor the waiters would believe him.

“Take care of the shop. I’ll go check on her at the clinic.”

When he arrived at the clinic, Bian Chunzhou finally saw the little thief. The manager’s wife was currently feeding her medicine. The brew was probably too bitter, as the little girl’s brow was tightly furrowed in clear reluctance.

“Boss, you’re here.”

The moment Bian Chunzhou appeared, the little girl tensed up. She looked very young, eight or nine at most, wearing slightly oversized linen clothes. Yet, one look was enough to tell she wasn’t a child raised by an ordinary family.

So, was she a demon or not?

Bian Chunzhou had never seen a demon before, nor did he smell any unusual scent. He couldn’t help but look at the little girl’s stomach. Where did all those fish go after she ate them?

Since she was such a young child, Bian Chunzhou couldn’t bring himself to hand her over to the authorities. In the end, he didn’t expose her, only telling the manager’s wife to take good care of her.

“Hey kid, what’s your name?”

The little girl remained silent.

The manager’s wife spoke up. “She doesn’t seem to be able to speak. Don’t press her, Boss. But since she’s like this, should we report it to the officials?”

That godforsaken scoundrel, doing something so cruel that benefited no one. The child was so young! If the girl weren’t sitting right in front of her, the manager’s wife would have unleashed a torrent of curses.

She couldn’t speak? That made things difficult.

The clinic wasn’t a charity. After paying for the medicine, Bian Chunzhou could only leave the little girl in the care of the manager and his wife for now, planning to head back to the mountain to ask his friends for advice.

To his surprise, he ran into Senior Sister Xia Ying just as he stepped out the door.

“Senior Sister, what’s wrong? Did you find the eldest miss of the He family?”

Xia Ying shook her head, but froze completely when she saw the little girl the manager’s wife was holding by the hand.

Cultivators had excellent memories. Because hers was so sharp, she recognized the girl instantly. She looked exactly like A’qing did when she was a child, as if cast from the very same mold!

“Senior Sister? What are you looking at? Senior Sister, calm down!”

The corners of Xia Ying’s eyes turned red. “I can’t calm down! That godforsaken bastard, he even has a child this big now! How dare he!”