What happens when a person's thought speed exceeds their body's reaction speed?
It's the feeling of watching yourself about to be attacked but being unable to react, something a certain Mr. Bucciarati, who wishes to remain anonymous, knows deeply.
Gong Qiying's current body also inherited the original panel data. The increase in his intelligence attribute significantly boosted his thought speed, but his weak body couldn't keep up with his brain's commands.
"Thud—"
With a muffled sound, people are probably already imagining ambiguous scenes, right? A strange girl tackles a young man, leading to a beautiful encounter...
However, Elsa didn't tackle him. She firmly stabilized herself. Instead, Gong Qiying was startled and fell down himself.
How embarrassing!
He was about to get angry, but then he saw the giant sword on her back.
To call that a sword would be an understatement – I've seen enough, take it away quickly.
"Uh, what can I do for you, Heroine?" He decided to play it safe.
"I'm sorry," Elsa bent down and extended her hand to him, her face full of apology.
"?"
What kind of move is this?
Gong Qiying chose to take the girl's hand. It wasn't soft at all. Her palm had calluses from serious training. It felt like she could crush his Five Maidens with a little force.
He originally thought Elsa would gently pull him up, but things took an unexpected turn again.
Elsa suddenly exerted force and yanked him towards her. Their faces almost collided!
Damn it, I'm really getting angry now. Gong Qiying glared. You can't mess with people like this. Even if I get flattened into a pulp by that giant sword, I'll still curse your whole family.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that Elsa had the exact same harmonious family relationship as Batman.
"Sniff sniff..."
"...What are you doing?"
Elsa suddenly leaned in, stood on her tiptoes, and sniffed around Gong Qiying's neck. Her black hair occasionally brushed against his skin, bringing a tingling sensation. Her warm breath was quite ambiguous, but it made Gong Qiying feel like a Caterpie was crawling on him, very uncomfortable.
She wanted to explore the scent higher up, but no matter how much she stood on her tiptoes, she couldn't reach the area above his neck. The scene became a bit awkward for a moment.
Gong Qiying grabbed her shoulders, pushed her away, and said, "Don't get too close, miss. What kind of behavior is hugging and cuddling in broad daylight? If you're really thirsty, I know a good dungeon. The monsters inside are quite interesting."
Elsa stared at him and said:
"The smell of monsters."
"What?"
Gong Qiying's expression changed slightly, and he asked with a smile, "I'm an Adventurer. It's normal to smell like monsters, right?"
That's strange. His body hadn't been in contact with monsters for several days.
"Not that kind," Elsa shook her head, looking confused again, as if she didn't know how to describe it properly.
She felt that the monster smell on Gong Qiying wasn't the usual stench people talked about, but a scent that went deeper into the Soul. Only someone who had spent a long time with monsters, or even lived with them, could have this kind of smell.
She had seen people who tamed horse-like magical beasts before, and those people also had a similar smell, but...
The smell on Gong Qiying was even stronger. If you had to compare it, it was the difference between Guangdong spicy and Sichuan-Chongqing spicy.
Moreover, the smell of the magical beasts he was tainted with was even more dangerous!
So far, Elsa only knew that she had the ability to smell the unique "scent" of the Demon Race and magical beasts. Sometimes, this special ability was more effective than magic.
This was the first time she had seen someone coexisting with dangerous magical beasts, and her curiosity led her to act irrationally.
Gong Qiying looked at the young girl in front of him, feeling a faint sense of repulsion in his heart, and just wanted to get away from her quickly.
Just as he was about to ask what kind of smell it was, a voice interrupted them.
"Elsa, what are you doing?" Sally chased after her, panting. It was really not easy for his small frame to catch up with Elsa.
"Sally, I..."
Sally came before Gong Qiying, bowed slightly, and said, "I'm truly sorry, sir, this child startled you."
This is the third young master of the Bede Family? He's actually so polite.
Gong Qiying had heard of the name Sally. He heard that the other party was a beautiful young man. Now that he saw him, wasn't this the cross-dresser that Old Thief Miyazaki liked the most?
No, no, I can't judge people by their appearance. What if he can turn into a muscular big guy in his second stage?
He shook his head and said with a smile, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Being lively is what makes a girl feel like a girl. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first. You two carry on."
With that, he left in a hurry.
Sally watched Gong Qiying leave, his head turning stiffly to look at Elsa, his face darkening as he asked, "What were you doing just now?"
Elsa felt the killing intent and silently took two steps back, saying, "He has the smell of dangerous magical beasts on him."
"That must be from being in the dungeon. I looked at his file, he's an Adventurer. Adventurers who spend a lot of time in the dungeon more or less have some smell. Don't be too nervous. I'll have someone check his information, alright?"
As Sally was speaking, he suddenly paused.
He had only roughly glanced at Gong Qiying's background. The Guards had also gathered the information in a short amount of time, so it wasn't very detailed, not even filling half a page.
But at this moment, as he recalled, one piece of information was particularly striking.
[Ma Lei Da, Bronze Rank Adventurer, Registration Time]
The registration time was four days ago!
A bit strange...
He thought about it and decided it would be better to have the Guards investigate thoroughly.
When Gong Qiying returned to White Whale Street, the workers were sitting in front of his shop, all with worried expressions.
"Why aren't you working?" he walked over and asked.
"B-b-b-boss!?"
The workers looked as if they had seen a ghost and said, "We heard you were taken away by the Guards and thought you had committed some crime. We were so worried."
"Worried that you'd finish half the work and not get paid, huh?" Gong Qiying rubbed his neck, still feeling as if there were strands of hair on it, itchy. "Don't worry, I was just called in for questioning about something. You can continue working as usual, you won't have to worry about not getting paid."
After briefly comforting the workers, he didn't stay in the shop to supervise. Instead, he strolled outside, pondering what Elsa meant by the "smell of monsters."
Could it be that staying with monsters for a long time leaves some kind of characteristic? That doesn't seem right. Those veteran Adventurers don't have any strange smells on them.
The thought of staying away from Elsa that had suddenly surfaced in his mind also puzzled him. This thought seemed to be instinctive, an instinct telling him not to get close to her.
"I should interact with her less in the future," Gong Qiying muttered to himself.
A few days passed, and a piece of news was published in the newspaper.
"Ma Lei Da Magic Item Shop officially opens today, specializing in dungeon products. We have everything you need, welcome to visit!"
Gong Qiying's shop was finally finished with renovations.
Thank you for the monthly votes, thank you for the tips, and thank you for reading!
Before you continue
Explore the wiki