Chapter 26 – Happy Marble
Wow, a real miracle from a single draw!
Tang Yu’an quickly chose to accept the reward and then took out the newly obtained special item from his portable warehouse.
A red marble, smooth and glossy all over, of unknown material. It felt slightly warm in his hand and shimmered with golden-red glimmers under the sunlight.
[Happy Marble]
[Description: A magical series marble. This is a marble that can bring happiness!]
[Status: Bound]
When the Lucky Wheel yields a special item, apart from the Shadow Umbrella, the descriptions are often quite cryptic.
For example, the Teasing Cat Stick’s description says no cat can resist it, but its actual effect is to turn creatures into cats.
Similarly, the description of this Happy Marble left Tang Yu’an puzzled. A marble that can bring happiness? Does playing with it make you feel happy?
Tang Yu’an fiddled with the marble but didn’t feel anything.
It seemed that the specific effects of this newly obtained special item needed to be discovered by themselves.
However, what did “Bound” mean…
Tang Yu’an thought for a moment, placed the marble beside a stone on the roadside, marked the spot, and then pulled Zhou Qi away.
As they walked, he kept an eye on his portable warehouse and pockets.
He wondered if “Bound” meant that if the item exceeded a certain distance, it would automatically return to him? Otherwise, what’s the point of binding it? If someone else took it, what use would it be even if it had his name on it? After all, this wasn’t a game where bound items couldn’t be traded or wouldn’t drop upon death.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi walked along the path, getting farther and farther away, until they were about a hundred meters from where they started, and still, nothing had happened.
Could it be that he guessed wrong? Or maybe he hadn’t gone far enough?
Tang Yu’an kept walking, but his pace noticeably slowed, hesitating.
Just as he was about to slow to a stop and consider returning to retrieve the marble, he suddenly paused. Looking down and raising his hand, he saw—
The marble he had left behind earlier had appeared in his palm!
He didn’t even know how it got back; he just felt something in his hand, and when he grasped it, there it was!
Tang Yu’an smiled happily.
It seemed his guess was correct. “Bound” meant that when the item exceeded a certain distance from him, it would automatically return to his hand!
“Brother Qi, look! The marble really came back!”
Tang Yu’an showed the marble to Zhou Qi. Although he didn’t know exactly how far it needed to be to trigger the return, it shouldn’t be more than two hundred meters.
This way, he didn’t have to worry about losing the marble!
“But besides that, what other function does this marble have?” Tang Yu’an said, puzzled. “I don’t feel particularly happy…”
Zhou Qi looked at the marble in Tang Yu’an’s hand, reached out to hold it, intending to examine it, but then—
He suddenly started to laugh.
Initially, it was just a slight curve of the lips, but soon the smile widened, and eventually, Zhou Qi grinned broadly and even laughed out loud.
He tried to suppress it, but ultimately the laughter became uncontrollable.
“Hahaha—hahaha—”
Tang Yu’an stared at him in shock.
Having grown up together, he couldn’t recall a time when Brother Qi had laughed like this.
Brother Qi was steady by nature; even when he smiled, it was subtle. Most of the time, he either frowned or was expressionless.
He had never seen Brother Qi laugh so openly!
“Brother Qi, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me!”
“Hahaha—hahaha—”
Zhou Qi laughed uncontrollably, tears welling up at the corners of his eyes, and he couldn’t help but clutch his stomach.
In the silent wilderness, such wild laughter was somewhat eerie. Fortunately, the Shadow Umbrella could even conceal sound, so it didn’t attract any mutated creatures.
But… what was happening to Brother Qi!
“Brother Qi?”
“Hahaha—hahaha—”
Zhou Qi waved his hand, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe, unable to answer his questions, and just shoved the marble back into Tang Yu’an’s hand.
Tang Yu’an realized that this might be the effect of the marble.
So the marble could make people happy—is that what it meant? But why, after the red marble returned to his hand, did Brother Qi’s laughter still not stop?
How long would this laughter last? Would he keep laughing like this? Tang Yu’an was filled with anxiety.
Gradually, Zhou Qi sat down on the ground, clutching his stomach that was spasming from laughter, his face flushed, tears streaming down his cheeks, looking as if he’d gone mad.
“Brother Qi… what should I do… sob sob…”
Tang Yu’an was frightened, anxiously watching him but having no idea what to do.
Until ten minutes later—
Zhou Qi’s laughter finally stopped abruptly.
Tang Yu’an, who had been so worried he was crying, saw that his laughter had finally ceased and hurriedly looked at him with delight, asking, “Brother Qi, are you okay now?”
Zhou Qi’s smile had faded; his eyes were unfocused, his face slowly turning from red to pale, as if his soul had left his body.
He waved his hand at Tang Yu’an.
Apparently, he was fine now, just not ready to speak.
Tang Yu’an wiped away his tears, sat down beside him, quietly accompanying him, his eyes full of worry and guilt.
After a while, Zhou Qi finally seemed to return to himself. He looked at Tang Yu’an, took a deep breath, and said, “Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Laughing nonstop for ten minutes had made his voice hoarse.
Tang Yu’an quickly took out some water from the portable warehouse, carefully bringing it to his mouth. As for the Happy Marble, he had already stored it back in the warehouse.
After Zhou Qi drank a few sips of water, he finally recovered.
He rubbed his face with both hands to relax the muscles cramp from laughing, recalling the involuntary laughter he had just experienced, and said in a low voice, “It seems we don’t need to test the effect of this marble further.”
Tang Yu’an still had lingering fear and nodded.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Although it was rare to see Brother Qi laugh like that, he could feel his pain and only felt apologetic and distressed.
“It’s okay.” Zhou Qi touched his cheek, showing a relaxed expression.
Although the experience just now was indeed painful—the fear of not knowing when it would stop made him feel he might laugh himself to death—but…
There was no need to let An An know.
“Laughing a bit felt good too, just think of it as exercising lung capacity. But that marble…” He paused, then said, “Don’t use it on people casually.”
For someone in poor health, they might really laugh themselves unconscious or even to death.
Tang Yu’an hurriedly nodded. This marble was too overpowering; not only did it make people laugh, but even after he took it back, the effect still lasted a full ten minutes!
It was too scary! He must store it properly and not let Brother Qi touch it.
“However…”
Tang Yu’an grinned mischievously and said, “Using it to deal with dangerous creatures might have miraculous effects.”
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and nodded, “But we don’t know if it works on mutated animals.”
“Then let’s rest a bit and go try it?”
Practice brings true knowledge; whether it works or not, we’ll know after testing!
“Okay.”
Zhou Qi nodded. After finally recovering, he took out a few packs of scallion chicken biscuits from his portable warehouse to fill his stomach.
He realized today that laughing… is indeed a physically exhausting activity!
*
Twenty minutes later, Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an set off again. They used their remaining two uses of the Lightness Technique together, heading toward the nearest dangerous creature.
Most of the dangerous creatures residing around the grocery store had been cleared out; this time, the dangerous creature was a bit farther away.
Even with the Lightness Technique’s effect, it took them half an hour to reach the location.
This place seemed to have been some kind of conference center, with exposed ground showing remnants of tiered areas.
They walked around the area and finally found their target under a huge stone.
Upon seeing the appearance of the dangerous creature, both boys couldn’t help but hold their breath.
It was a wild boar!
Or rather, it should be a mutated boar.
Its body was larger than a normal wild boar but not as big as Yuan Bao when he reverted to his original form.
The mutated boar had thick hair on its head, covering most of its face, revealing only its distinctive snout and two huge tusks.
Those sharp and thin tusks protruded from its mouth, slightly curved upwards, looking ferocious and terrifying. Coupled with the boar’s charging power, it seemed it could easily pierce a human body.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
It was repeatedly ramming a large stone for some reason, occasionally stopping to paw at the base of the stone with its forelimbs.
That large stone seemed to be metal-cast, possibly a landmark object in the past, and was dented with pits from the impacts, showing how hard the mutated boar’s tusks were.
In terms of combat power, the Wang Cai would probably be at a disadvantage against this mutated boar.
Fortunately, with the Shadow Umbrella’s protection, it didn’t notice Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an, focusing solely on ramming the big metal stone, ignoring everything else.
“Brother Qi, shall we try the marble?” Tang Yu’an asked.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and nodded, “Okay.”
They didn’t know how durable the Dog Frisbee was or whether it could withstand a full bite from this mutated boar. If the Dog Frisbee was bitten to pieces, that would be a huge loss for them.
Now that they had the Happy Marble, it would be better to test if it was effective; if it was, they could exhaust the boar’s strength.
Tang Yu’an agreed with his analysis. He handed the Shadow Umbrella to Zhou Qi and then took out his slingshot from the portable warehouse.
They were only about twenty meters away from the mutated boar, within his slingshot’s range, and he was confident he could hit it!
“Whoosh!”
Soon, the marble shot out.
However, contrary to Tang Yu’an’s expectation, the marble that was about to hit the boar’s rear missed at the last moment—
The mutated boar seemed to have eyes on its back, suddenly twisting its hindquarters to the side, causing the marble to miss!
The next moment, the boar, which had been crazily ramming the big stone, suddenly turned its head, eyes red, and charged straight toward where they were!
The momentum of its charge was unstoppable; stones flew along its path, and any obstacles in its way were knocked aside.
This was not a creature humans could contend with!
Fortunately, having learned from the previous encounter with Wang Cai, when Tang Yu’an shot the marble, Zhou Qi had already picked him up with one hand and leaped to the side.
Since Tang Yu’an also had the Lightness Technique applied, Zhou Qi had no difficulty holding him with one arm and could still hold the Shadow Umbrella steadily with the other.
They floated away like two leaves.
“Snort!”
The mutated boar’s charging speed was fast, but ultimately, it couldn’t match Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an, enhanced by the Lightness Technique. After charging forward without finding a target, it stopped in confusion.
Its hooves pawed at the ground repeatedly, snorting foul-smelling gas from its nostrils.
Unable to find them, it went berserk and crashed into everything around, then turned back to ram the big metal stone again.
Zhou Qi had quickly carried Tang Yu’an over a hundred meters away. After recalling the Happy Marble, they ran back.
“Brother Qi, let me try again!”
“Mm, good luck!”
Encouraged by Zhou Qi, Tang Yu’an seized the moment. As the boar was ramming the giant stone, he shot the marble toward its flank.
The boar twisted to the side again, but since the marble was shot from the side this time, it didn’t completely dodge.
In the end, the Happy Marble still touched its skin, then quickly bounced off, shooting into the pile of rubble at its feet. With that speed and force, who knows if it would be damaged.
This hit was like a scratch to the thick-skinned mutated boar, causing no harm.
The marble’s contact with its skin was definitely less than a second, but…
Just when Tang Yu’an thought this attempt had failed, the mutated boar suddenly stopped all movements, slightly opened its mouth, as if smiling.
Gradually, the smile grew bigger and bigger.
Before long, the ruins echoed with increasingly loud pig squeals.
“Oink—oink oink—”
The ear-piercing sound was like slaughtering a pig, tormenting the ears of Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi.
As the squeals grew louder and sharper, the huge body of the mutated boar suddenly collapsed to the ground, causing a loud crash amidst the billowing dust.
Even so, the high-pitched pig squeals did not stop.
The boar laughed so hard that it rolled on the ground, alarming the small animals hiding in the conference center, which fled the area.
Worried that the Happy Marble might be crushed by the boar, Tang Yu’an quickly distanced himself from the boar. When the marble returned to his hand, he found it not only intact but spotless, and finally felt relieved.
“Oink oink—oink oink oink—”
The boar’s squeals grew more and more painful, and the commotion it caused became bigger and bigger, with flying dust obstructing their vision.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had to temporarily move away, using their watches to calculate the time.
Sure enough, after ten minutes, the boar finally quieted down.
It seemed the effect of the Happy Marble lasted exactly ten minutes and only required a touch to take effect.
As the dust gradually settled, the boar’s figure reappeared in their sight.
It shook its head and stood up, looking around suspiciously, seeming puzzled by what had just happened.
Then, while it was still in a daze, Tang Yu’an shot the marble at it again.
When that familiar joy surged from deep within, the boar was momentarily stunned. But unlike the first time when it immersed in it, this time its eyes showed panic and unease.
But there was no way out; soon, it started squealing and rolling on the ground again.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi, learning from the first experience, retreated quickly after the marble hit, hiding far away.
Taking advantage of the ten-minute interval, they explored the surroundings.
This area was not somewhere they had unlocked before.
In places where customers they had traded with had walked, the fog on the map would automatically clear. This area, Tang Yu’an guessed, was somewhere Lin Zhen had passed through.
She had gone to the giant lizard’s nest, and this conference center ruin was probably on the way.
The vegetation here was noticeably denser than around the grocery store, and the life aura was stronger. However, the small animals were either scared away by the mutated boar or hid deeper, so they didn’t find any.
As for dangerous mutated creatures, the map only showed that mutated boar.
They rummaged through the ruins and finally, Tang Yu’an found a beer bottle, made of green glass, filled with moist silt inside.
Zhou Qi picked up a twig and scraped out the silt.
“Tomorrow we’ll ask Sister Lin if she wants it,” Tang Yu’an said.
Lin Zhen’s home had many bottles and jars, and he had seen some beer bottles. She might be interested.
“Mm.”
Zhou Qi nodded, went to a nearby puddle to rinse the bottle. However, when the silt inside the bottle was poured out, he suddenly frowned, sensing something amiss.
“Brother Qi, your eyes have turned red!” Tang Yu’an suddenly exclaimed.
Zhou Qi pressed his lips together, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
After a while, when he opened his eyes, that strange redness had been suppressed again.
He glanced at the bottle from which the silt had been rinsed out and said to Tang Yu’an, “An An, come here and see if there’s something in the mud.”
“Okay!”
Tang Yu’an responded, but before starting, he went back to give the boar another shot with the marble, then ran back, put on gloves, and sifted through the mud.
Before long, a blue crystal the size of a mung bean appeared in the sunlight, sparkling brilliantly.
“Brother Qi, there’s really something!”
Tang Yu’an washed the blue crystal clean and took out the one Grandpa Li had given them, discovering that it was indeed the same kind of stone, just much smaller.
He knew this was a good thing, and that Brother Qi’s parasite had a special reaction to this kind of stone, so he quickly put it away. Then, thoroughly washing the bottle inside and out, he didn’t find any more blue crystals.
“We’re quite lucky.”
Tang Yu’an chuckled, then looked at Zhou Qi and asked, “Brother Qi, are you okay?”
Zhou Qi nodded, with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth, seeming in a good mood.
Just as Tang Yu’an put away the cleaned beer bottle and was about to look for more, the boar’s squealing suddenly stopped again.
“Oh no, time’s up!”
Tang Yu’an ran over again and shot the boar with the marble.
The mutated boar, which had been vigorous and spirited, was now completely exhausted after laughing for twenty minutes.
It glanced at the big metal stone, and finally, after struggling to stand up, decided to leave this strange place. However, the next moment—
“Oink oink! Oink oink oink!”
It started to “laugh” painfully again.
As the boar fell into despair time and again, Tang Yu’an’s slingshot aim became more and more accurate.
Finally, after laughing for a full forty minutes, the boar was exhausted and couldn’t stand up anymore.
This time, when Tang Yu’an was about to shoot the marble again, Zhou Qi stopped him.
The Lightness Technique’s effect was about to end; if they kept delaying, they might not make it home until late today.
In the boar’s current state, it could hardly stand up and probably couldn’t even bite through the Dog Frisbee.
Tang Yu’an obediently put away the slingshot and Happy Marble.
After the dust settled, they cautiously approached the boar under the protection of the Shadow Umbrella.
The boar didn’t notice anything, lying on the ground, breathing heavily.
Zhou Qi took out a dagger, stood behind it, and stabbed hard at its neck, but…
It didn’t penetrate, and the tip of the dagger even bent.
Zhou Qi quickly jumped back, but the boar, which had been sensitive to the marble’s attack and had gone berserk before, now, even when being attacked at a vital spot, still lay on the ground panting.
It seemed its strength was completely exhausted.
They approached again.
The boar seemed to sense the attack, but it was really too tired! It didn’t have the strength to move a hair!
It breathed heavily, alert to its surroundings, but heard no footsteps.
Had that guy left?
The boar was not sure; it felt it was being hunted.
But the enemy’s combat method was too strange; it had never encountered this before, filled with fear and unease, feeling that today might be its end.
When this unease reached its peak, a Teasing Cat Stick with a bell suddenly appeared in front of its eyes.
“Jingle—jingle jingle—”
The cat stick gently swayed, the bell emitting a crisp sound.
The boar stared at the cat stick; gradually, its eyes could only see the cat stick, and all its attention was attracted by the swaying bell.
It didn’t notice that its body was gradually shrinking, smaller and smaller, finally turning into a dirty little cat.
Tang Yu’an looked at the pig-branded little cat lying on the ground, still panting. It didn’t even have the strength to lift a paw to play with the cat stick, just lying there as if it could stay there forever.
He put away the cat stick.
Although the little cat looked fragile, seemingly killable with one blow, Tang Yu’an knew that as soon as they showed hostility and attacked it, the little cat would turn back into the ferocious, thick-skinned mutated boar.
Even the dagger couldn’t harm it, so there was no need to waste effort. Anyway, the red dot representing the dangerous creature had disappeared from the map, and their task was 1/10 completed.
They prepared to go home, but before leaving, they went to check under the big metal stone.
Thanks to the boar’s efforts, a small pit had been dug under the stone, and Zhou Qi could easily reach in with his arm.
He felt around for a while and finally took out a fingernail-sized stone. As soon as this stone appeared, the little cat on the ground noticeably became agitated.
It meowed, the sound hoarse like a heavy smoker’s voice.
Just as it bared its teeth, preparing to snatch the stone desperately, Tang Yu’an glanced at it and took out the marble from the warehouse.
The pig-branded little cat froze for a moment, then went silent.
It was that thing! It was him!
The mutated boar stared at the red marble, recalling the fear of being controlled by unstoppable laughter just now, and looked at Tang Yu’an as if he were a demon.
Finally, it let out a miserable howl and ran away, stumbling over itself.
