WNMB

Following the Treasure Chest Radar, Xian Yu soon arrived in front of a cluster of buildings northwest of Great Warm Valley.

Xian Yu frowned. "Could it be underground?"

At that moment, the radar map showed his coordinates overlapping with those of the Bronze Treasure Chest.

But there was no sign of any treasure chest nearby.

He glanced at his backpack. It currently had three empty slots. Ever since he'd gotten the Diamond Shop and could buy better healing medicine whenever he wanted, he'd emptied all the medicine from his backpack.

Of course, being a frugal person, he hadn't thrown away the medicine he'd brought from home. Instead, he'd packed it into two large bags and left them in his room.

"I'd better look around and see if there's a tunnel or something." With a sigh, Xian Yu started searching the area.

A few minutes later.

Xian Yu looked at the cluster of buildings in front of him, a suspicion forming in his mind. "Could the treasure chest have spawned in a basement someone deliberately built? This place... surely it can't be such a coincidence..."

At this point, he wasn't going to keep looking for an entrance. What was the point?

The wooden thatched huts ahead were packed tightly together and arranged in a confusing maze. Even if he searched every single one, the entrance might be so well hidden that he'd overlook it. Then he'd end up searching another house and wasting his time for nothing.

After thinking it over, he decided to get some help!

"Come on out, Bai Xiaoqi!" After a burst of runes flashed on the ground, Bai Xiaoqi appeared before him in battle form.

Earlier, when he'd fought the black-haired ninja from Black Wind Stronghold—the one called Black Wind—he'd really overestimated himself. He'd wanted to avoid relying on Bai Xiaoqi, thinking that with the life force of the Eternal Spirit Blade, even getting stabbed through the heart wouldn't be a problem.

But the truth was, he'd been arrogant.

In fact, people's seemingly foolish actions usually had a reason behind them.

When he'd been trapped in the illusion, the things the "Three-Tailed Fox" in it had said to him had really hit hard.

Call it wounded male pride or a rebellious streak. Either way, even while he and Black Wind were stabbing each other through the heart, Xian Yu had never considered asking Bai Xiaoqi to step in.

The result was that he'd been gravely injured...

So, when it came to life, one shouldn't be too stubborn. When there was strength one could rely on, one shouldn't depend on it too much, but one shouldn't reject it completely either. It was all about finding the right balance.

"Master, what do you need?"

Bai Xiaoqi was over three meters long. Every time Xian Yu saw him, he was struck by how powerful and imposing he looked.

"Call me Young Master!" Xian Yu rolled his eyes.

Bai Xiaoqi's huge face scrunched up into a comical expression, but he still seemed quite intelligent. "Young Master... You summoned me. What do you need me to do?"

He would never talk back. Even if the boss was wrong, the employee who argued with him would be the one to suffer. The same went for wives—and masters, too.

What admirable awareness.

"Mm, my Xiao Qi is getting more and more well-behaved. I'll summon you a vixen to keep you company another day. First, dig up this patch of ground for me. There should be a secret room or passage underground. Your mother's down there."

"My mom?" Bai Xiaoqi looked utterly confused. !?(?_?;?

"That's right. You came out of a treasure chest, didn't you..."

As dust billowed everywhere, our excavator operator got to work.

With a swipe of his paws, each as big as a frying pan, he scooped up a huge clump of dirt. His sharp claws cut through the soil as easily as they would through tofu.

Bai Xiaoqi, a graduate of Lanxiang Technical School, worked with impressive efficiency. In just five minutes, he'd finished digging.

At the bottom of a hole five meters across and twenty or thirty meters deep was a storage room made of rock. A fox-shaped chest, glowing with a faint bronze sheen, lay quietly inside.

"Xiao Qi, hurry and take me down to see your mom." Xian Yu was already itching to get to the treasure chest.

Bai Xiaoqi: "..."

Xian Yu rode on the Three-Tailed Fox's back. It was his first time riding Bai Xiaoqi. His reddish-brown fur was soft, and the fur on his three tails felt as smooth as silk.

"Mm... Master, don't touch there..." Bai Xiaoqi suddenly let out a deeply sensual moan... with a trembling, high-pitched voice...

Xian Yu jolted in fright and nearly fell off his back!

Bai Xiaoqi's human form was so beautiful that it was impossible to tell whether he was male or female, and his voice was the same.

It was a sweet, pleasant, androgynous voice. Not only was it impossible to find unpleasant or irritating, it was the kind of voice that made you want to hear a few more words.

Perhaps it was the fox clan's natural bewitching charm.

But damn, hearing a trembling moan in that voice was terrifying!!! It was a weapon against men... no, maybe women would be just as affected...

"Uh... s-sorry. Is your tail sensitive?" Xian Yu actually apologized for once. He put his hands neatly back in place and shifted over, trying to keep as far away from those three tails as possible...

He was genuinely scared!

If he heard that voice a few more times, Xian Yu felt like he might turn gay...

At the thought, he shuddered involuntarily.

"Xiao Qi is a male fox. Xiao Qi is a male fox... Male... male..." After repeating this to himself several times, Xian Yu finally felt a little better.

"Master, be careful. We're going down."

Soon, Bai Xiaoqi carried Xian Yu down into the underground storage room.

"Holy crap... What is this..." Xian Yu jumped off the Three-Tailed Fox's back and landed on the rocky floor, stunned by the sight before him.

He'd seen a hundred-pound sack of rice dumped on the ground and piled up like a little mountain.

But a pile of gemstones about the same size, stacked up like a mountain... Could you believe it?

"I've made it! I've made it! I'm finally rich! If I exchanged all these gemstones for silver, they'd be worth at least fifty million!" Xian Yu's eyes practically glowed, like a miser's.

"Notice: A large amount of special energy crystals detected."

Just then, the Treasure Chest System spoke.

"Hm? Special energy crystals?" Xian Yu suddenly felt as he had when he'd first gotten the Treasure Chest System. A sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

"Ding-dong! This type of special energy meets the absorption criteria."

Xian Yu's heart lurched, and the sense of foreboding grew stronger.

After experiencing the Treasure Chest System many times, Xian Yu had gradually figured out a few of its patterns.

For example, when he got something especially good, the system would speak, followed by a "flower-sprinkling" JGP animation. In his field of vision, it looked like flowers raining down from the sky.

And when the system's voice started with words like "Notice" or "Ding-dong," it meant the information was important. He still hadn't figured out exactly what the difference was.

"Ding-dong! Beginning absorption of special energy."

"Holy crap!!! No!!!" Hearing that, Xian Yu completely panicked. He hurriedly shouted, "System, this is against the rules! How can you forcibly take my wealth without my permission to recharge?!"

"..."

But the system didn't respond at all.

"Ding-dong! Beginning absorption."

"No!!! Don't do this!" Xian Yu let out a heartrending wail, completely hysterical. "You were Tencent! Don't turn into NetEase!"

At least Tencent was: "No money? You can't play, you bastard!"

NetEase: "Play, you bastard~"