Vinayak hurled a flatbread with all his might. Carrying an enticing scent of wheat, it flew out of the flour circle and landed at the very edge of the nest.
Hastur, tormented by hunger, pounced on it without thinking.
Taking advantage of the moment, the drone shot straight down the passage. Hastur noticed the Goddess of Prosperity's Money Pouch was about to disappear, so it clamped the flatbread in its jaws and scrambled up the inner wall after it.
It wanted both wealth and food.
The moment the drone reached the wellhead, Wu Heng flung open the cover and snatched the Money Pouch, the force of his tug flipping the drone over.
Hastur reached the wellhead at the same time. Its bloodied hand grabbed the drone's wing, while its mouthful of fangs snapped at Wu Heng's hand.
Wu Heng had no desire to be bitten and turned into a slug barely clinging to life.
The instant his right hand pulled away from the wellhead, his left hand slammed the metal cover shut.
Duang~!
The metal cover crashed into Hastur's head with a deep, resonant clang that echoed through the well for a long time.
"What a wonderful sound to celebrate with!"
Wu Heng exclaimed.
The cover had scraped away a layer of flesh from the back of his right hand, exposing clear veins and bones, yet not a drop of blood flowed out. It was rather eerie.
He took a bag of blood plasma from his personal space, tore it open, and quickly restored the back of his hand. Then he put the leftover plasma away.
Only then did he examine the wealth pouch in his hand.
The Goddess of Prosperity's Money Pouch was a deep red all over. It was called a money pouch, but looked more like an emptied-out heart.
Wu Heng gently opened it. A small pile of gold coins poured out at once, clinking as they hit the ground. He quickly closed the pouch.
Peering through the narrow opening, he saw countless miniature gold coins occupying most of the pouch's interior. Judging by how small the coins were, he estimated the space was around fifty cubic meters.
The gold coins sloped into a little mound. At the lowest edge of the pile, Wu Heng saw a new gold coin emerge from the ground.
The coins seemed to be produced by some mystical property of the pouch, rather than simply being ordinary gold placed inside it.
The important thing was that, from an oblique angle, he could see an opaque black membrane beneath the bottom layer of coins, rippling like water.
Wu Heng was familiar with this. The entrance to the Spatial Tomb had been covered by the same kind of spatial membrane when he entered the Lighthouse's private space.
That meant there was probably another, deeper space inside the pouch, but Wu Heng had no way to open it for now.
Wu Heng considered the matter. Based on the novels he had read in his previous life, these mystical items probably all needed to be claimed by an owner.
According to local legend, Hastur had stolen the Goddess of Prosperity's Money Pouch, which was what had enraged the gods.
If the pouch still belonged to the Goddess of Prosperity, the gods should not have been so enraged. So if the pouch did require an owner, it should now belong to Hastur.
Wu Heng thoughtfully touched his Lighthouse Mark and checked Tumbbad's second story mission: Kill the Son of God (Reward for completing the mission: 3,000 survival points).
"Hey, Raghav, it still hasn't disappeared, and the flour circle is about to vanish."
Vinayak stood inside the nest. Hastur had lost its pouch and was furiously battering the flour circle. He shouted anxiously at the camera.
Hearing him, Wu Heng checked the surveillance feed, then picked up the flour bag Vinayak had left by the well. He filled a throwing device with flour and attached it to the drone.
He opened the well cover, dropped the flour bag straight down, and lowered the drone into the well, leaving it suspended inside. Then he quickly shut the cover.
Hastur heard the noise below and started climbing up, but when it found the cover closed, it could only pound furiously at the outside of the flour circle. None of its movements could affect the flour.
The Dark-skinned Middle-aged Man and Yellow Braid hurriedly picked up the flour bag that had landed inside the circle and reinforced the flour boundary around them.
The drone flew over Hastur with the throwing device and released its mechanical claw.
The device exploded as it neared Hastur, blasting the flour inside and spreading it over a four-meter area.
Hastur let out a pained howl and turned to ash.
Outside the well cover, Wu Heng looked as though he had expected this.
The system had not announced that the mission to kill the Son of God was complete, which meant Hastur had not been killed.
Sure enough, a new Haska appeared on the inner wall of the Well of God. The pouch was gone from its waist, and it was extremely agitated. Saliva trailed from its snarling mouth and dripped onto the ground.
Myths were generally exaggerated accounts built around historical facts.
Wu Heng carefully recalled the local legend of the Goddess of Prosperity and Hastur. One thing he could be certain of was that the so-called God of Greed, Hastur, was nowhere near as powerful as the stories claimed.
After the gods tore it apart, the Goddess used her own womb to bring it back to life, but it could never leave the womb.
So Wu Heng suspected that Hastur's resurrection was not its own ability, but was somehow connected to the Goddess's womb.
He certainly would not pass up the chance to absorb what might be the Goddess's flesh. When he completed the first story mission, he had tried using Siphon on the fleshy passage beside him, but he could not absorb a thing.
So either the Goddess's divine power was stopping him, or this so-called Goddess Womb was itself alive.
Whatever the truth, the problem was that flour alone would not be enough to kill Hastur inside the Well of God.
As dusk fell, Wu Heng decided to return to the house in Pune and find some helpers and tools before figuring out how to deal with Hastur.
Having made up his mind to leave, he checked the surveillance feed. The three people at the bottom of the well were arguing anxiously and fearfully.
Hastur continued circling the three people inside the Well of God, howling. It showed no sign of disappearing or falling back asleep.
"I need more flatbread and flour. Take turns keeping watch. I'm going back for a while."
Wu Heng's voice came from the camera beside the passage, and the three stopped arguing.
"Boss, don't forget about us!"
"Old friend, I hope you're worth trusting. Earlier, I only gave you a discount on those gold coins."
"Boss, you have to save us. My sister says she really admires you."
The Dark-skinned Middle-aged Man's words made Wu Heng pause. Hakob's sister was a dark-skinned, two-hundred-jin woman.
He secured the well cover and locked it, then looked around. Spotting a boulder weighing over a hundred jin, he carried it over and set it on top of the cover.
Before leaving, he glanced at the surveillance screen once more. Seeing the three of them helpless at the bottom of the well, he thought, Everyone has to rely on themselves!
Wu Heng gathered his belongings, climbed the rope back to the surface, and coiled it up. Then he made his way back to Pune.
He rode his motorcycle along the rubble-strewn street toward Raghav's house, planning to change clothes when he got back.
"Are you hauling something for Rajaji?"
A green military car was parked by the roadside with its door half open. A young, handsome British soldier sat sideways in the seat, his arm resting on the window as he chatted with another, bearded, middle-aged soldier outside.
"It's a gift for my girlfriend."
"I've never seen you be so generous, you—"
The young soldier stopped mid-sentence when he saw Wu Heng riding toward them on his motorcycle.
"Hey, Raghav."
As he spoke, he got out of the car, straightened the green peaked cap in his hand, put it on, and walked over to Wu Heng, blocking the motorcycle.
"Cooper Hack?"
Wu Heng asked tentatively.
"That little bird who often comes to your house—does he work for you?" Cooper Hack took out a cigarette and lit it, glancing around as he did.
Wu Heng knew he meant Vinayak, who sold the gold coins.
"No, he doesn't work for anyone. He's his own boss."
Cooper Hack, the young soldier, looked around before leaning close to Wu Heng and speaking quietly:
"I don't care about that. I can get you a tobacco license, but it's only temporary. It won't stay that way forever."
"Listen, I'm getting promoted in a month and leaving this Fantasy Plantation. After that, there'll be no one to put you in touch with Inspector Sahib. You have a month."
Cooper Hack finished speaking, turned, and got back into the car. Then he drove away.
Wu Heng had no interest in Raghav's tobacco dealings, so he went straight back to the house.
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