Whatever He Wished For Came True

Shrek City was livelier at night than during the day, with neon signs illuminating the streets as brightly as daylight.

"Eat slowly. No one's going to steal it from you."

Chen An propped his cheek up with one hand and smiled helplessly at the silver-haired girl beside him, whose cheeks were puffed out like a hamster's.

This was the sixteenth bowl. He had finally experienced the Silver Dragon King's appetite firsthand.

His current situation was rather delicate. After entering the city, his [Luck] talent had automatically risen to Level 2 as time passed, and he occasionally found some lost Federal Credits, but it was nowhere near enough to cover their expenses.

Sigh, where could they go next?

Without a proper false identity, it seemed they could only wander around and sleep on cardboard in alleyways.

It was not as though he had never done that before. Clean cardboard was actually quite comfortable to sleep on.

He did not mind, but what about Na'er?

Chen An secretly glanced at Na'er as she ate. He deliberately leaned closer and lightly touched his chest, where the scales were giving off steady, gentle warmth because of his proximity to the girl.

Thinking back on the past month of searching for her, even the efficiency of his nighttime meditation cultivation seemed far inferior to simply sitting pressed against her like this for a whole day.

As he was lost in thought, a warm current suddenly spread through his entire body.

"Hm? My soul power increased?"

Chen An moved his body a little, then quietly pulled up the panel to confirm it—Level 12. It really had risen.

If every level came this easily in the future, there would be no need to rack his brains meditating. He could simply pile up progress by eating delicacies from land and sea.

Out of boredom, Chen An turned his attention to the customers who had just arrived beside them.

Three young men in Shrek school uniforms took their seats, apparently discussing something.

A: "Do you think the Evil Soul Masters have been making more and more moves lately?"

B: "Definitely. Last month, my teacher and I ran into an Evil Soul Master dumping things in a civilian district. Later, we found out they were flammable materials."

A: "What do you think their purpose is? It can't just be random destruction, right?"

Chen An tilted his head toward the three and eavesdropped.

C: "Who knows? They've always been like this over the years, like stinking flies. You can't drive them away, and you can't kill them all."

Evil Soul Masters from the Holy Spirit Cult. They were also an obstacle that threatened his growth, and their upper ranks were connected to the Abyss.

Chen An hoped he would not encounter those lunatics this early on.

After Na'er finished another two bowls, she rubbed her stomach, her face blooming with a blissfully silly smile.

Seeing her like that, Chen An could not help muttering softly, "It's like raising a child."

"Hm? What's wrong?" Na'er's sensitive ears caught the sound, and she looked toward Chen An, who wore a strange expression.

"Nothing. Are you full? Where should we go next?"

"Half full, I guess... Where should we go..."

Na'er tilted her head back, pursed her lips as she thought, her silver hair gleaming beneath the neon lights. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.

"Right! Let's go back to that Ferris wheel! I haven't seen enough of it yet!"

Chen An's heart skipped a beat. The Ferris wheel would be cleared out at night, and besides...

He touched the pitifully few coins jingling in his pocket. After paying the bill, he feared he would not even have money for breakfast tomorrow.

But if he refused outright, this little ancestor would probably make a fuss again.

"The Ferris wheel... good idea."

Chen An kept his expression unchanged, but he was already figuring out how to ask the restaurant later whether he could wash dishes to pay off his debt.

"The bill."

With a dejected look, he slowly took out his small stack of Federal Credits and placed them on the table.

Before the server came over, he boredly counted the empty plates and bowls piled on the table, trying to numb his anxiety over the bill with precise numbers.

As he counted, Chen An's movements froze.

The bowls... did not seem to add up?

He remembered Na'er had devoured eighteen bowls. With his one, there should have been nineteen. But on the table... there were twenty?

Chen An abruptly looked up and met Na'er's purple eyes, glinting with mischief.

The little girl swiftly lowered her head and pretended to concentrate on licking her spoon, but she could not hide that trace of guilt. It completely gave her away.

Seeing that she had been found out, Na'er lowered her head, pouted, and confessed.

"It was too delicious. When you were spacing out, I couldn't help myself... and ordered another bowl... Hehe."

Chen An looked at her meaningfully without saying anything, then placed one more Federal Credit on the table.

"Next time, just tell me."

After leaving the restaurant, Chen An walked silently ahead while Na'er kept cautiously peeking out from behind him.

Noticing that his reaction was different from earlier that day, Na'er grew uneasy. Instinctively, she felt that she had gone too far.

What if he stopped taking her out to play if she did not act meek? There was still so much delicious food to eat!

Na'er grabbed his wrist and coquettishly pleaded like a child, "I'm sorry, Brother Chen An. I was hungry for too long... I really couldn't help it."

Chen An was just about to inspect the changes in the Roulette section when Na'er pulled his hand down.

He stared blankly at the girl acting cute before him, while glancing at the Roulette from the corner of his eye.

—Roulette refreshed. Event pool.

Yes: 40%. No: 60%.

Chen An had no draws available, so he had no way of knowing what would appear if this outcome succeeded.

"Uh, I'm not blaming you. It's just that I'll have to go hungry next. Come on, let's go to the Ferris wheel."

It was too late, and the amusement park had already closed for the day, so Chen An brought Na'er to the deserted back entrance.

The night wind passed through the aging amusement park rides, producing soft whistling sounds.

Without the daytime bustle, the amusement park displayed an eerie stillness beneath the moonlight.

Stepping onto a platform formed from fish scales, the two lightly climbed over the wall.

After landing, Chen An waved his hand and dismissed the Scale Armor.

The pale red scales flowed back toward his sleeve like living creatures, settling once more against his skin.

"Hehe."

The instant she landed, Na'er could not help letting out a delighted cry, her eyes sparkling in the darkness.

"Don't run around."

Chen An warned softly, taking her hand as they felt their way forward along the shadows.

The empty carousel, the motionless bumper cars, and the tightly shut gates of the haunted house all looked like silent silhouettes in the night.

This uninhabited place instead stirred Na'er's curiosity immensely. She touched this one moment and poked that one the next.

"Chen An, your martial soul is so amazing."

Na'er swung his hand, then seemed to recall something and looked up at him.

"Those sparkling scales—how do they keep changing? Can I see them again?"

"Secret."

Chen An brushed her off casually, though his mind was not entirely on their conversation.

"My martial soul is a white spear. Do you want to see it?"

Chen An was not in the mood. "You should think about whether we can pick up any money tomorrow instead."

"Hmph, you don't give me any face at all."

Na'er pouted, but did not press further. Her attention was soon drawn to the towering Ferris wheel ahead.

The Ferris wheel stood silently in the night. Just as the two were about to reach its base, a suppressed whisper carrying a certain sticky quality drifted over on the wind.

Chen An abruptly halted and raised a hand to signal Na'er to be quiet.

The voices did not come from the Ferris wheel, but from behind a more desolate patch of bushes to their side, seemingly near the amusement park's outer wall.

His heart tightened as he immediately recalled the Shrek students' discussion of Evil Soul Masters in the restaurant.

"Move faster... This place... is suitable... If we waste too much time, we'll be discovered..."

One voice was hoarse, as if phlegm were lodged in its throat.

"...Hmph, those people... are thorough with their investigations... Only a place like this... is temporarily safe..."

The other voice was even colder, carrying undisguised malice.

Chen An held his breath and carefully pushed aside the waist-high wild grass before him. By the moonlight, he glimpsed a sight that made his pupils contract—

Two figures in gray-black robes, their faces covered by ghastly white masks, were crouched beneath the wall, digging a shallow pit.

One of them held a dark red jar, its opening sealed with black paper covered in strange inscriptions.

The other took handfuls of dark red powder with a foul bloody stench from his robes and scattered it around the jar.

They were Evil Soul Masters.