Plundering the Bag of Riches

"What's going on!"

"Boss, what are you doing?"

"Damn you, Raghav! Are you trying to kill the donkey once it's done milling? There's an endless supply of gold coins here, why do this?"

As the rope hit the ground, three exclamations erupted from the phone's monitor.

Wu Heng stood outside the Well of God and reached into his chest, pulling out ten exorcism talismans that had already turned to ash.

Although he had a hunch this stuff wouldn't work, he hadn't expected it to be this useless; it was clearly the practice work of some novice.

However, it did confirm that this god from the legends of western India was certainly not a legitimate deity.

After all, the mainstream faith in India was Hinduism; Brahma was the creator god, while Lakshmi held dominion over wealth, wisdom, and fertility.

The goddess of prosperity circulating in the west clearly conflicted with the Hindu pantheon.

This god of greed, 'Hastur,' didn't have the slightest air of a god; instead, he was more like a frenzied beast.

"Stop the noise and do as I say from now on."

Wu Heng spoke into the monitor, then pulled out a Shadow D28 drone and two pairs of pliers.

The drone was the size of two palms, multi-rotor, capable of vertical takeoff and landing, and had a payload of 10 kilograms—it was military-grade equipment.

He opened the well cover and dropped the two pairs of pliers down the shaft.

"Now, you two pick up the pliers. A monster carrying wealth will appear shortly, and this monster fears flour."

"I will lure it with food; you two use the pliers to clamp onto the money pouch behind the monster's waist and rip it off. You will obtain enough wealth to last a lifetime."

Wu Heng then took out a flatbread, tied it to the underside of the drone with a rubber band, piloted the drone into the well, and quickly replaced the cover.

Inside the 'Hastur' lair, the two men stared blankly at the pliers on the ground. They couldn't understand what Wu Heng meant—what monster? What money pouch?

"Raghav, I was wrong. You are ten thousand times greedier than I imagined. Let me go, and I will help you."

Vinayak knew he had no room left to struggle.

"Untie him."

Only after hearing Wu Heng's command did the two men untie the rope from Vinayak.

The drone began to fly down the passage, hovering in the middle of the lair.

The scarlet walls of the lair began to squirm, the ground became sticky and damp, and a bulge emerged from the wall. A scarlet, humanoid creature crawled out from within.

It knelt on the ground, stretching out its pleading hands, hissing at the flatbread tied beneath the drone.

"The god of greed, kneeling for a piece of flatbread?"

"Hastur, where is your dignity as a god!"

Outside the well cover, Wu Heng watched through the monitor, piloting the drone to hover higher, dodging Hastur's leap.

Hastur ignored the voice coming from the monitor, only hissing as it stared at the flatbread, climbing up the lair wall to pounce on it.

"Don't just stand there, give me the pliers."

Vinayak roared at his two underlings who were still in a daze.

He reached out and snatched the pliers from the yellow-braided man. The yellow-braided man's right hand was injured, and he couldn't even hold the pliers steady with his left; he was merely a tool Wu Heng used to test the Well of God.

Wu Heng maneuvered the drone, swaying it left and right, flying high and low to dodge Hastur as it continuously climbed and lunged along the inner walls.

Hastur let out increasingly impatient hisses, even kneeling in worship, but after failing to get the flatbread, it lunged upward again, jumping nearly to the mouth of the passage.

With the skill of a professional operator, Wu Heng lowered the drone by a meter, narrowly avoiding Hastur.

Vinayak stood within the flour circle, timing his move to clamp down with the pliers, but he only managed to tear open the pouch at Hastur's waist, spilling a pile of gold coins onto the ground.

The clinking of the gold coins caught the attention of the dark-skinned middle-aged man. His initial stupor instantly transformed into greed for the gold, and he also extended his pliers, waiting for an opportunity.

Hastur was enraged by the two men who kept poking at it with pliers from within the flour circle. It lunged at them, hissing and reaching out with blood-stained hands.

As soon as the blood-stained hands touched the range of the flour circle, sparks erupted from its palms, accompanied by a sizzling sound like roasting meat. Hastur recoiled, hissing in pain.

The growing hunger during its lucid moments only made Hastur more frenzied. It began to chase the drone, running around the flour circle and completely ignoring the two pairs of pliers poking at it from the side.

After dozens of attempts, Vinayak summarized his experience. He timed it perfectly, inserting the pliers into the gap between the money pouch and Hastur's waist, and used the momentum of Hastur's running to pull in the opposite direction.

Pop!

The palm-sized, blood-red money pouch was finally pried off and fell to the ground.

Hastur sensed something was wrong and instantly stopped its leap.

The greed for the gold coins actually allowed it to temporarily resist its frenzied hunger, and it turned back to retrieve the pouch.

Vinayak and the dark-skinned middle-aged man, Hakob, were quick-witted; they both extended their pliers simultaneously to clamp onto the pouch and dragged it back into the flour circle.

Hastur lunged at empty air, hissing as it collided with the flour circle, only to be reduced to flying ash and disappear into the ground.

Another bulge emerged from the inner wall, and a complete Hastur tore through the membrane and crawled out. It continued to hiss, staring at the wallet, then at the flatbread, looking extremely irritable.

The dark-skinned man greedily picked up the money pouch and gently tipped it onto the ground, revealing a pile of gold coins. The sight of the gold stimulated Hastur to crash into the flour circle once more.

The dark-skinned Hakob and the yellow-braided man exchanged a look, then turned to look at Vinayak, their eyes filled with malice.

"Idiots, what are you two trying to do? Look down and see your own situation."

Vinayak took half a step back, but fearing he might step out of the flour circle, he quickly stepped forward again and pointed at the ground.

Hearing this, the two men looked down and saw that the thick layer of flour forming the circle had already vanished by half its thickness.

"It's the slime on the ground. Ever since Hastur woke up, these secretions have been constantly consuming the flour. Damn it!" the man with the yellow braid exclaimed.

"Raghav, my good friend, how am I supposed to hand the money pouch over to you?"

Vinayak asked, facing the camera.

Wu Heng watched the monitor in silence. He had been looking forward to seeing which of the three would be the last one standing and willing to hand over the pouch, but he hadn't expected Vinayak to still have a shred of clarity left.

The drone dodged an attack from Hastur, which had just regenerated from the inner wall behind them, and landed at the feet of the three men inside the flour circle. Hastur circled the perimeter, roaring frantically.

"Tie the money pouch to the drone, take the flatbread off, and feed it to Hastur to distract it. I will drop more flour."

"No way, Boss! What if you don't lower the rope? Let us go up with the pouch!"

The man with the yellow braid was frantic; he feared that once Wu Heng had the pouch, he would abandon them.

"Shahu, I don't mind waiting for you all to die and finding a few new people to try again."

Wu Heng replied calmly.

"I—Boss, I was wrong. I lost my mind. Please forgive me; I am your loyal underling."

A glimmer of reason returned to the eyes of the man with the yellow braid, and he hurriedly apologized.

"It's fine. I'm not angry."

Vinayak snatched the money pouch from the dark-skinned middle-aged man, removed the flatbread from the drone, and hooked the pouch onto it. He couldn't help but speak up again:

"Raghav, this isn't fair."

"Fairness only appears when it is needed. Do we need it right now, my friend?"

Wu Heng asked calmly.

"...Yes, we don't."

Vinayak paused, looked around at his surroundings, and sighed.

"Now, please, throw the flatbread further away. Thank you."

Wu Heng controlled the drone, spinning its rotors to hover at a height of one meter, ready to take off at any moment.

Would you be willing to trade your collections and recommendation votes with me for two ear picks?