Three-Legged Golden Toad
Before the police arrived, Big Beard had already headed to the warehouse with his team.
The uncle and nephew at the warehouse were still in a rage.
They should have been happy to have gotten rid of the Food Inspection Department's people. But just now, Fatty Hu had leaned against the frozen meat, only to knock it over and take a hard fall.
Only then had the uncle and nephew discovered that the meat they had brought in was all hollow!
Third Uncle flew into a rage. "I paid Boss Wang double the price for those dozen-odd tons of meat! How dare he cheat me!"
Hearing that, Fatty Hu immediately wanted to go find Boss Wang, but fortunately, Third Uncle stopped him.
"Something's not right! I inspected the meat when I bought it. Besides, if it were just a layer of skin, the workers unloading it should have noticed!" Third Uncle pondered.
Unable to figure out why, the uncle and nephew squatted in the warehouse, stewing in silence.
Just then, Big Beard returned.
"Why are you back again? Are the test results out already?" Third Uncle asked deliberately.
Without a word, Big Beard took out his phone, pulled up the video, and held it out in front of them.
After they watched the video and listened to the conversation in it, Big Beard smiled. "The police will be here any minute. Anything else to say?"
Third Uncle collapsed onto the floor, muttering, "Impossible... Impossible..." His eyes were utterly blank.
Fatty Hu was dumbfounded too, unable to say a word.
Half an hour later, a police car pulled in and took the uncle and nephew away. The police also said they would continue investigating the other people involved.
Only then did Big Beard leave with his team, satisfied.
Once they got in the car, the driver smiled. "Another unscrupulous producer shut down."
"This time, it was all thanks to that good citizen who helped us in secret. I don't know which unsung hero managed to get a video from the scene. Otherwise, there would have been nothing I could do about them." Big Beard was quite modest.
"The key is, that video had sound! That crooked boss actually said in it that once things blew over, he'd bring that batch of dead pig meat back. That one sentence alone is enough to put him in jail!"
"Right, he said that batch of dead pig meat was taken to Wanjia Cold Storage 102. I need to take some people over and get it out right away. That's important evidence!"
The driver checked the time. "Your shift is almost over."
"End my shift? The people's food safety is a serious matter. How can I think only about getting off work? Go—we're not heading back. Wanjia Cold Storage first!"
After everyone had left, Jiang Yiming suddenly appeared at the warehouse.
Because of the heat, the remaining frozen meat had thawed.
"We can't let the rest of this meat go to waste!"
With that thought, he immediately released the six level-three Snake Gu.
"You were the only ones who didn't get your fill just now. All this meat is yours!"
At his command, the six giant snakes slithered over and began to wolf it down.
After eating for a while, they evolved to level four and had grown over five meters long! Before long, after swallowing the meat and bones on the ground, they all reached level five. The longest were already over twenty meters long and about as thick as Jiang Yiming's thigh! Even the shortest were over ten meters long and as thick as his calf!
Of the five kinds of Gu worms, snakes could eat the most! They needed far more food to rise from level one to level five than the other four kinds of Gu worms.
Once the Snake Gu reached level five, a system notification sounded.
[Congratulations, host. You have successfully collected all five kinds of level-five Primordial Gu. Reward: the Essence Absorption and Qi Intake Art manual.]
A manual!
Jiang Yiming remembered how expensive manuals were in the System Store! Yet he had actually been given one for free!
"I never imagined collecting all five kinds of level-five Primordial Gu would come with such a great reward!"
He held out his hand, and the Essence Absorption and Qi Intake Art appeared in his palm in an instant.
As soon as he opened the book, the information inside automatically drilled into his mind. Before long, he felt as though he had memorized the entire manual automatically. At the same time, the manual grew lighter and lighter until it turned to dust and vanished into the air.
"So convenient? No need to memorize it by rote—I learned it just by flipping through it? No wonder manuals are so expensive!"
After learning the Essence Absorption and Qi Intake Art, everything suddenly became clear to him. Feeling the Gu Essential Essence in the qi sea of his dantian, he now understood everything that had puzzled him before.
"I can finally refine the Gu Essential Essence in my qi sea!"
Jiang Yiming briefly tried the method in the Qi Intake Art. Sure enough, under his guidance, a small ring around the outermost edge of the Gu Essential Essence was slowly absorbed by his qi sea, turning from Gu Essential Essence into his own Gu Essence that he could control at will!
It was enough to know that the Essence Absorption and Qi Intake Art worked. Rather than rush to refine all the Gu Essential Essence, Jiang Yiming returned home and began refining Gu.
"Since I have all five kinds of Primordial Gu, I'll pick one of each and try refining them."
Having made up his mind, he chose a medium-sized Snake Gu from the six. Then he selected a Spider Gu, a Centipede Gu, a Toad Gu, and a Scorpion Gu from among the other Gu worms.
Once he had made his selection, he put the Gu worms into the Gu Refining Plate.
The Snake Gu was enormous, but as soon as it entered the Gu Refining Plate, it shrank to just over a meter long.
The smallest Spider Gu, however, grew somewhat larger after entering the Gu Refining Plate.
The Gu Refining Plate balanced the Gu worms, but Jiang Yiming still hadn't figured out the precise rules governing that balance.
As soon as all five Gu worms were inside, they turned vicious. They crawled toward the center from five directions, and the moment they met, they recognized neither kin nor friend and slaughtered one another.
Before long, severed limbs flew across the Gu Refining Plate, and green fluid flowed freely.
After the brutal battle, the Snake Gu emerged victorious. It was in terrible shape too, half the scales on its body having been stripped off!
Next came the most critical fusion stage.
After absorbing the other Gu worms' energy, it had to successfully fuse with it.
If it endured, it could evolve into a Yellow Rank Gu worm; if it failed, its body would burst apart and it would die, turning into a mass of Gu Essential Essence for Jiang Yiming to absorb.
The Snake Gu curled up in the center of the Gu Refining Plate and held out for quite a while. Every so often, it raised its head and opened its mouth wide in pain; at other times, it lay on the ground, rolling incessantly. Blood gushed from the gaps between its damaged scales.
In the end, it still failed. Its serpentine body burst apart, turning into specks of Gu Essential Essence that flew out of the Gu Refining Plate and merged into Jiang Yiming's qi sea.
"Alas... it failed."
Jiang Yiming had already experienced many failures at refining Gu and should have been used to it by now, but watching the Snake Gu die still left him with some regret.
"Again!"
He pulled himself together and once again picked out five different Gu worms from the Primordial Gu.
This time, the Snake Gu was the final victor again. Unfortunately, it failed during fusion once more!
"Again!"
Jiang Yiming refused to admit defeat and started again.
Failure!
The fourth attempt, failure! The fifth...
"Huh? This time the final winner wasn't the Snake Gu, but a Toad Gu!"
"Although the Toad Gu won in the end, one of its hind legs was completely bitten off. It only has three legs left, and it looks very weak."
Once it entered the fusion stage, it too was in unbearable pain. One moment it flipped onto its back, belly up; the next it scrambled to its feet, its cheeks swollen enormous and nearly transparent, ready to burst at any moment.
After it struggled for a long while, Jiang Yiming thought several times that it was about to explode. Unexpectedly, it held on in the end and successfully made it through the fusion stage! Its skin turned golden yellow in an instant!
Successfully refining a Gu was certainly cause for joy. The only regret was that one of the Toad Gu's hind legs had been bitten off, leaving it with just three legs, which looked a little strange.
The system notification appeared at just the right time.
[Gu refinement successful. Obtained Yellow Rank Gu worm: Three-Legged Golden Toad. Innate skill: Mysterious Fate Coin.]
After hearing it, Jiang Yiming looked contemptuous. "This is a Three-Legged Golden Toad? Could you stop insulting that name? I know that a Three-Legged Golden Toad bears the Big Dipper on its back, has the two aspects of yin and yang atop its head, and holds a copper coin in its mouth."
"Where's the seven-star pattern on its back? The yin-yang bagua on its head? It doesn't have a single coin in its mouth, yet it has the nerve to call itself a Three-Legged Golden Toad?"