The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse] – CH31

Chapter 31: A Genius

Xie Wu didn’t know about Mo Xiu’s plan, but he agreed without hesitation.

And from what Cheng Cheng had said, the others also disliked Xu Liang’s behavior. This made Xie Wu feel deeply validated and even more convinced that choosing to follow Mo Xiu and the others had been the right decision.

Xie Wu had a gentle personality and was easy to get along with. Knowing that he didn’t have any supernatural abilities, he tried his best to do more work.

For example, he helped take care of the small field outside the apartment so Cheng Cheng could better stimulate plant growth there. He also assisted Lu Pingwan in preparing meals for everyone.

At first, he was worried that the only thing he really knew how to cook was animal food—things like the meals he used to prepare for cats. Even though he worked hard learning from Xiao Wan, he still worried that he didn’t have much talent for cooking and wouldn’t be able to satisfy everyone.

Unexpectedly, the dishes he made—similar to cat or dog food—were especially popular with Mo Xiu and Mo Qi.

Seeing this, Xie Wu tried cutting the meat they obtained into strips and drying it, making jerky snacks like the ones he used to prepare for small animals in the hospital. He simply added more seasoning suitable for humans to make the flavor stronger.

The result was also extremely popular with the two of them, especially Mo Qi.

This surprised Xie Wu and made him feel happy—at least in this way, he could be more useful.

The only strange thing was that these two powerful figures had rather… peculiar tastes. Why did both of them like food so similar to what the feline animals he used to treat enjoyed?

With his personality and his special “cooking skills,” Xie Wu gradually secured his place in the team and got along well with everyone.

He parked the RV downstairs and moved many of his belongings up to the apartment.

Although living in the RV alone was possible, it still couldn’t compare to sleeping in a proper apartment room.

Just as Cheng Cheng had said, the bed in his room was very large. Even with two grown men sleeping on it, it wasn’t crowded. They could even chat before going to sleep, and their relationship gradually grew closer.

After the apocalypse arrived, Xie Wu had lost all his relatives and had no friends left around him. Cheng Cheng’s presence truly brought him great comfort.

In fact, Xie Wu felt that this period of time was the most comfortable life he had experienced since the apocalypse began.

Every day he ate well and slept well. Mo Xiu and the others didn’t excessively demand or exploit him, and he also had plenty of personal time.

When he had nothing to do and was organizing his luggage, he sometimes took out a few books stored in the RV to read.

One of them had been passed down from his ancestors. The cover had no title, and inside it recorded things like Qimen Dunjia, the Five Elements, the Eight Trigrams, and other mysterious subjects. The content seemed rather mystical, and Xie Wu couldn’t understand much of it.

Still, since the book had been passed down for so many years and was said to be valuable, he had brought it with him when he left.

One day while resting, Xie Wu casually took the book out and flipped through it. At that moment, Mo Qi happened to walk out of the room and saw it.

The moment Mo Qi noticed the book in his hands and sensed the unusual aura coming from it, he immediately stopped and walked toward Xie Wu.

When he looked closely, it was exactly as he expected. That was no ordinary book—it was clearly a cultivation inheritance left behind by a cultivator.

But how could such an inheritance end up in the hands of an ordinary person?

“Where did you get this book?” Mo Qi asked, glancing over Xie Wu again to confirm that he had no cultivation at all.

Xie Wu snapped out of his thoughts and replied, “It was passed down from my ancestors. I heard it’s very old. Do you recognize it?”

Mo Qi didn’t answer immediately. He simply took the book from Xie Wu and flipped through a few pages.

It recorded cultivation techniques, methods of refining artifacts, as well as information about pills and talismans. The content was quite comprehensive.

However, it was relatively basic. It might be useful for cultivators below the Golden Core stage, but beyond that, the book wasn’t very valuable. At least to Mo Qi, it was no different from a children’s book.

“I wouldn’t say I recognize it,” Mo Qi replied. “I just think it’s a little interesting.”

It had been a long time since he had seen anything related to the cultivation world. Encountering it suddenly gave him a faint sense of familiarity.

Just then, Mo Xiu returned from outside and raised an eyebrow when he saw Mo Qi reading so attentively.

He walked over quickly and glanced at the contents of the book. Seeing a bunch of symbols that looked like incomprehensible scribbles, he couldn’t understand any of it, so he looked toward Xie Wu for an explanation.

Xie Wu explained the book’s origins again, and Mo Xiu simply assumed that Mo Qi was curious and had picked up a random book to read.

He asked, “Are you looking for something to read? What kind of books do you like? Do you want me to help you find some?”

Mo Xiu thought that maybe life in the apocalypse was too boring—no TV, no computer, no phone—so Mo Qi had suddenly become interested in this kind of book.

That was his oversight. He should have prepared some entertainment beforehand.

Since Mo Xiu suspected that Mo Qi probably hadn’t received much education before, he even thought about finding some more interesting books with lots of illustrations for him next time he went out.

But after he asked, Mo Qi shook his head.

“No need. I just thought this book was interesting, so I picked it up to read.”

“You can understand it?” Mo Xiu asked.

“Yes,” Mo Qi replied plainly. “Of course I can.”

The book was so simple—why wouldn’t he understand it?

Xie Wu was also curious. This book had been passed down in his family since the time of their ancestors.

For so many years, no one in his family had truly been able to understand it. Even he could only interpret a small portion of it, which already made him seem exceptionally talented.

“Then do you know what this section means?” Xie Wu pointed to a passage in the book and asked humbly.

Mo Qi had always treated his subordinates well, and he was especially pleased with the jerky Xie Wu had been making lately. So he didn’t mind answering the question and generously explained it.

Now it was Mo Xiu’s turn to be astonished.

He hadn’t expected that Mo Qi wasn’t just talking nonsense—he actually understood it.

But the explanations he gave sounded extremely mysterious.

Mo Xiu realized that not only could he not read it… he couldn’t even understand the explanation.

Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, Mo Qi felt a bit helpless. But then he remembered they were ordinary people without any cultivation foundation. It wasn’t surprising that they couldn’t understand.

He didn’t explain further. Instead, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Xie Wu’s book had given him a new idea.

Previously, because of the limitations of his body’s endurance, he couldn’t fully use much of his power. Even though his divine consciousness was vast, it was restricted everywhere.

But when he flipped to the section about talismans just now, it reminded him of something.

Mo Qi had risen step by step as an independent cultivator. And one trait of successful independent cultivators was that they were usually versatile.

Whether it was refining artifacts, making pills, or drawing talismans, they knew at least a little of everything.

Mo Qi himself was even more skilled. Although he wouldn’t claim to be absolutely unmatched, he was highly proficient in many fields—including arrays and talisman drawing.

The limitations he faced could clearly be improved through formations and talismans.

Thinking of this, Mo Qi felt delighted and immediately returned to his room to study talismans.

However, as soon as he was about to begin, he encountered a problem. In this world, finding yellow talisman paper and cinnabar was impossible. Drawing with blood was another option, but Mo Qi wasn’t very willing.

Drawing talismans was fine—but if he had to feel pain every time he did it, that really wasn’t necessary.

Fortunately, Mo Qi was easily satisfied. His divine consciousness was powerful, and drawing them by hand should still work well enough in a world that had no magical artifacts at all.

After thinking it through carefully, he found some ordinary paper and a pen. Infusing his spiritual power into the pen and guiding it with his divine consciousness, he began experimenting with writing various formations and talismans.

He had plenty of methods to protect himself, but what he worried about most was Mo Xiu’s safety.

Protective talismans that could block attacks were essential. He also had to consider their daily resource collection. Carrying so many items around was heavy and inconvenient.

He could try making formations that expanded space and reduced weight, attaching them to a backpack. That way, it would be much easier for Mo Xiu to carry things.

Unfortunately, the actual results were still different from what he imagined.

After creating a spatial expansion formation and attaching it inside the backpack, Mo Qi had originally hoped to create a space as large as a small warehouse.

But when he used his divine consciousness to examine the interior space, it turned out to be less than half the size of a bathroom.

The gap between expectation and reality made Mo Qi feel somewhat disappointed.

In a world with nothing at all, making good things with bare hands was truly troublesome.

When Mo Xiu entered the room, he saw Mo Qi looking unusually dejected.

He immediately walked over and asked worriedly, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Or are you hungry again?”

Mo Qi shook his head and handed the backpack—stuffed with many things—to Mo Xiu.

Although confused, Mo Xiu took it.

Inside were food and their daily supplies. He carried this backpack often and was very familiar with it.

But this time, when he picked it up, he realized it seemed noticeably lighter than before.

“Hm?”

The young man weighed it again uncertainly, then opened it to check the contents. Everything was still there.

Not only that—the backpack, which should have been full, now seemed to have a lot more space inside.

Nothing was missing, yet the space had increased.

And it had become lighter too.

This clearly defied common sense, so Mo Xiu immediately looked at Mo Qi and asked, “What’s going on?”

Mo Qi rubbed his nose and said somewhat dissatisfiedly, “I attached a newly drawn formation inside. I thought the backpack didn’t hold enough things and wanted to expand the space a bit.

“But it only expanded a little. At least the weight did decrease.”

“You made this? Formations? Talismans?” Mo Xiu felt like he had entered a completely unfamiliar field—it sounded unbelievably mystical.

Even though they were living in an apocalypse, formations and talismans were things that only appeared in cultivation novels.

“How do you even know this stuff?”

But the moment he asked, he remembered Mo Qi reading Xie Wu’s ancestral book earlier.

Mo Qi hadn’t just understood it—he had explained it to them.

Could it be…

Mo Qi was actually a cultivation genius?

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