Golden Ghost

Chapter 18 Golden Ghost

Very soon, the enormous Yellow Striped Giant Tail Scorpion—including its mildly corrosive acid and lethal venom stinger—had been sorted into categories and turned into perfectly preserved materials in jars and bottles.

A notification popped up in the corner of Meng Chao's eye:

Congratulations, Flamebearer, on completing your first standard resource collection.

Resources are the foremost factor in a civilization's survival and development. Every war waged by civilization revolves around resources, and resource collectors are among the most important arms of any civilization.

Your civilization will grow stronger because of the resources you collected. Contribution Points +3. Expert Level "Elementary Harvesting Technique" proficiency +1.1%.

Meng Chao let out a whistle.

Only to discover that utter silence had fallen behind him, and the atmosphere was somewhat strange.

When he turned around, everyone, including his father, was staring at him as though they had seen a ghost.

"..."

Meng Chao realized that he had accidentally gone a little too fast, a little too hard.

Though it was only the second level of the "Elementary Harvesting Technique," what he had mastered was its future version, refined to ever greater perfection.

Moreover, his muscle fibers and nerve endings had just been put through the wringer by the "Perfect Level Basic Gunmanship." His control over his breathing, heartbeat, and minute movements far surpassed that of ordinary harvesters.

This was nowhere near a high school student's standard. He was practically an old hand in the harvester circle!

"Dad, uncles, now that things have come to this, there's a secret I have no choice but to reveal."

Amid the silence, he could only force out an explanation. "Actually, ever since I was little, I've dreamed of becoming an ace harvester. Whenever my dad went to work, I'd secretly hide away and train hard. These days, it isn't difficult to find highly realistic monster models and specimens, monster encyclopedias online, and lifelike three-dimensional structural diagrams.

"Especially after I was injured last year and learned that my hopes of getting into university were slim, I became even more determined to become a harvester. I practiced like a madman, ten times harder than before. Ninth High School is a key high school, and its biology teachers are all monster experts. They gave me private tutoring, and I benefited enormously.

"On top of that, I've absorbed it through constant exposure, and it runs in the family. Heaven does not disappoint those who strive with all their heart—that's how I became what you see now."

The harvesters came to their senses as if waking from a dream.

They were not particularly educated, and they held an instinctive awe toward the legendary key high schools.

They subconsciously accepted his explanation and looked at Meng Yishan with envy.

"Meng Ge, what great fortune you have! With such an impressive successor, you can just wait to enjoy the good life from now on!"

Meng Yishan, however, asked suspiciously, "A Chao, you wanted to be a harvester since childhood? I've never heard you mention it. Why?"

Meng Chao's face reddened. "Isn't it because... Dad, you're the person I admire most in this life. I think the work you do is the greatest undertaking in the world. Ever since I was little, I swore I'd become someone like you!"

Meng Yishan froze.

"That's true," the middle-aged man thought. "When I was young, I was somewhat handsome. It's only Human Nature for my son to take me as his role model."

Meng Chao's face reddened even more. "As for why I never mentioned it... I was embarrassed to admit that I admired my dad. It was just too mushy."

"Silly child!"

The old father laughed helplessly. "Did you think I couldn't see your admiration for me just because you never said it?"

He completely believed his son's words, feeling both gratified and saddened.

He was gratified that his son was so sensible and capable, born to make a living as a harvester.

What saddened him was his own uselessness. He could not obtain enough resources to help his son get into an Undergraduate Program.

After all, harvesting was a profession with a very low threshold but an extremely high ceiling.

Harvesting ordinary monsters was something anyone could do. It was not much different from slaughtering pigs and cattle.

But to harvest the kings among super-beasts—the Nightmare Beast, Hell Beast, and Doomsday Beast—one had to possess Superhuman Power.

With his son's talent, if he could become superhuman, he might truly have a chance to become an ace harvester.

When that time came, all the Peerless Experts in Dragon City would respectfully invite him to process monsters for them.

But now, his son could only spend his whole life circling at the very bottom of the harvester world, just like them...

"Dad, shall we continue?"

Meng Chao interrupted his father's thoughts. "After putting it into practice just now and combining it with the theory I learned in class, I think I've found the feeling."

Father and son joined forces and harvested another seven Yellow Striped Giant Tail Scorpions.

Meng Yishan's team marveled again and again. Everyone began to look at Meng Chao in a different light.

Meng Chao's gains were considerable as well.

The proficiency of his "Elementary Harvesting Technique" kept accumulating, while memories from his previous life gradually became clearer and more solid. Every time he swung his blade to sever a monster limb, strip away a bundle of nerves, or draw out a glob of mucus, the sensation at his fingertips was wonderfully indescribable.

Suddenly, his movements halted.

"Golden Ghost?"

A Golden Ghost was a mutated Yellow Striped Giant Tail Scorpion.

It was slightly smaller than an ordinary Giant Tail Scorpion, but its venom was five times more potent. Both its stinger and venom could shoot dozens of meters away.

It also possessed a degree of mimicry, often disguising itself as an ordinary Giant Tail Scorpion before launching a fatal strike at its prey.

The battlefield was blackened by smoke and scorched by fire. This Golden Ghost had been piled together with other Yellow Striped Giant Tail Scorpions just now, and no one had noticed it.

"You even recognize a Golden Ghost?" The harvesters examined it carefully for a while, then cried out in surprise.

"Our biology teacher just taught us about it."

Meng Chao smiled faintly and flexed his wrists and fingers. "Prepare handles number nine, fourteen, and twenty-two; blades number five, eight, and eleven; as well as an armor-crushing hammer and a bone probe. Also prepare cooling stabilizing solution at 35% concentration. Add 1% mithril to it. There's a strong chance we'll find high-grade materials inside this Golden Ghost, so they must be preserved properly."

Without realizing it, the dominance of an "Expert Level" practitioner spilled out.

But Meng Yishan and the others hesitated. "A Chao, leave it alone. Just use cooling spray to keep the remains intact. Manager Gu will come deal with it later."

Manager Gu was the most technically skilled harvester at Nine Xin Resource Recycling Company.

Meng Yishan and his group of rough men had strong arms and plenty of strength. After more than a decade on the job, they had no problem handling ordinary monsters.

But a Golden Ghost was close to the pinnacle of ordinary monsters, only a hair's breadth away from a super-beast.

Its internal structure was complex. It contained venom and acid, and Spirit Transformation organs and crystals might also appear.

Such high-grade monsters were usually handled by Manager Gu, or by the superhuman who had killed them, such as Tiger Lord himself.

Meng Chao had forgotten that rule.

But...

He leaned close to the Golden Ghost's fatal wound and sniffed it, then carefully dipped a little mucus flowing from the wound and sensed its viscosity.

"No. This Golden Ghost suffered a penetrating wound where its torso connects to its tail. Its nerve cord and Nerve Ball have been exposed to the air for too long. If we wait any longer, its flesh and blood will mutate, its Spiritual Energy will go out of control, and it could turn into a ticking time bomb at any moment." He shook his head. "We can't wait for someone else to come. We must race against time and salvage as much material as we can."

The harvesters stared wide-eyed at one another.

Meng Yishan sniffed it. "The smell is a little off."

"Even if it is, there's nothing we can do."

One of the harvesters kindly advised, "A Chao, you don't understand. Our skills are too poor to handle this kind of high-grade monster. If we mess up, and Tiger Lord blames us, none of us will have an easy time. As for the materials rotting, that won't be our problem. The battlefield is such a mess—who can guarantee that every monster will be harvested one hundred percent perfectly?"

Meng Chao was still unwilling to give up.

He knew that his father was affiliated with "Nine Xin," where the base salary was meager and everything depended on performance.

For ordinary monsters, depending on harvesting difficulty, danger level, and material quality, they could generally earn around two to four percent of the material's value.

A Golden Ghost was worth dozens of times more than an ordinary Yellow Striped Giant Tail Scorpion. How could they let it slip away for nothing?

Hiss.

A flash of blade light stabbed into the Golden Ghost's fatal wound.

Another flash, and the carapace around the wound was peeled away, revealing the trembling contents beneath.

"It's fine. Uncles, take a rest. Dad, give me a hand. That famous teacher from another school who came to Ninth High School for further study happened to teach me how to dissect a Golden Ghost." Meng Chao spoke calmly.

"Ah!"

Seeing him act so recklessly, everyone was startled.

Meng Yishan also frowned slightly, but his son had already opened the wound. The monster materials were rotting and mutating at a visible rate, so he could only stand firmly behind his son.

"You all rest. I opened this Golden Ghost. If anything goes wrong, put it on my head." He waved his hand.

The harvesters were stunned for a moment. Shortly afterward, they all gathered around.

"Meng Ge, what are you saying? A Chao is like our own nephew. How can we let you father and son bear this alone?"

"We may be rough men, but we can still shoulder one Golden Ghost!"

"Meng Ge, don't even think about keeping this Golden Ghost all to yourself. If there's money, everyone earns it together. If trouble comes, everyone bears it together!"

Hearing their laughing scolds, warmth rose in Meng Chao's heart, and his hands moved faster.

To the others, it looked as though his stability, precision, and delicacy had all improved by a great deal compared to before. His ten fingers were like feathers and surgical knives at once, quickly stripping away a large quantity of materials.

The pale golden materials gave off a faint, unusual fragrance, entirely different from that of ordinary Giant Tail Scorpions. Soaked in stabilizing solution, they looked like delicious delicacies that made mouths water.

Meng Yishan had been somewhat worried at first, but his son's masterful technique gradually put him more and more at ease and filled him with joy.

He simply picked up the full set of tools and focused on assisting his son.

Father and son worked in seamless coordination and soon reached the most crucial part.

"Change to blade number eleven. Widen the opening by another three millimeters. Use the fluid extractor to clean the operating surface, then spray five-percent microporous chitosan solution to slow cellular decay."

Meng Chao's orders were clear and methodical.

At the very instant all the mucus on the operating surface was sucked clean.

Two dissection knives, one large and one small, one straight and one curved, transformed into twin silver whirlwinds.

The harvesters could no longer see his movements clearly. All they heard was, "Cha cha cha cha," as the Golden Ghost's tail was hollowed out at a visible speed.

With a light flick of his hand, a crystalline yellow core appeared in Meng Chao's palm.

"Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball!"

The experienced harvesters were utterly astonished.