Chapter 51
Anxius, of course, had not entered a berserk state. As for eating him… without the slightest exaggeration, there really had been a moment when Anxius wanted to swallow him whole—not to eat him, just to keep him in his mouth, and when he missed him, take him back out and lick him a few times.
A few seconds later, Yomi felt one side of his cheek finally released. But immediately after that, the other side got nibbled instead!
The force was very light. Anxius was only holding the flesh of his cheek in his mouth, golden eyes fixed on him as he said, “I’m not eating you.” Just licking a little. He did not even dare bite down. Even the tips of his teeth were trembling.
Yomi’s brows were knit tightly, and they stayed knit until his cheek was finally released completely.
Still dazed, he touched his own face. There were no teeth marks. Which was only natural, since it had never hurt in the first place. But seeing Anxius still looking at him, and afraid he might keep biting, Yomi quickly covered his face with both hands.
“I’m sorry…” Anxius seemed to think he had frightened him. Lowering his head as if admitting fault, he leaned closer again. “Did it hurt? Let me see.”
“It didn’t hurt.” Yomi lowered his hands. His flushed cheeks showed no trace of anything. “But… don’t bite me again.”
Anxius paused. He did not say yes, nor did he say no. He only leaned over and gently blew on Yomi’s cheek.
A faint ripple of ambiguity spread through the air.
The good news: Yomi noticed it.
The bad news: Yomi thought this was just a sign that Anxius had developed some psychological distortion after his human form became smaller!
After all, back when Anxius had that huge human form, he had never bitten him.
Little sheep horns: ?
Yomi said he could understand this kind of psychological problem. When he had first arrived on Snar Star, he too had taken a long time to adjust. Of course, his own body had always been this size; only the environment had changed, so it was different from Anxius, who had once been enormous and had suddenly become smaller.
He only hoped Anxius would recover from the shadow of it soon.
“Actually, being a little smaller isn’t such a bad thing,” Yomi the spiritual mentor began comforting him again. “After your human form got smaller, even if you go back to Snar Star, people you know might not even be able to spot you in a crowd.” As he spoke, he wagged his head under the blanket like someone speaking from experience. “When I went to the bathhouse before, the front desk didn’t even see me! Really, it’s very good for staying hidden.”
Anxius, who was happy simply because his size was now close to Yomi’s: …
But Yomi did not take that night’s incident to heart, because he was simply too busy.
Air-drying meat took time. Every day after breakfast, Yomi and the others would go hang meat to dry. In winter there were no flies, but certain birds were incredibly annoying—they would come steal bites!
The first time Yomi discovered a bird secretly carrying off a small strip of dried meat, he immediately grabbed a slingshot and chased it away. All this meat had been hunted through everyone’s hard work. On top of that, there had been the labor of processing it, cutting it, marinating it, and moving it around. If all of it got stolen by birds, he would cry himself blind.
Because those little bird-thieves were so hard to guard against, from then on Yomi would carry different tools and patrol around the drying area every day. From time to time he would flip the meat strips over and inspect how they were drying, looking exactly like a tiny boss overseeing his workers.
The others copied him and started flipping the meat too. Since they had nothing much to do anyway, they simply built a little shed beside the drying area. Under it they placed a long table, wooden chairs, and a stove. There they would boil tea, eat jerky, and chat together. Of course, Anxius neither ate nor chatted. At most, he would occasionally drink a cup of tea, then go back to hurrying along with the spring sweaters in his hands—he meant for Yomi to have a full set of sweaters in different colors and styles before spring arrived.
Whenever a bird appeared over the drying area, Yomi would react as though facing a major enemy, standing up at once to keep close watch.
If the bird merely passed by, that was fine. But the moment it touched the meat—well then, no apologies, Yomi would immediately rush over to punish it!
Only, by the time Yomi got there, the thief had usually already been battered half senseless by Anxius, who had shifted back to his original form and flown straight at it, beating feathers loose until it screamed and fled.
Yomi would then take the recovered strip of meat from Anxius, put it back in place, and pick up the biggest feather left behind, holding it high over his head while glaring fiercely at the nearby medium-sized birds still harboring criminal intent, as if saying, Steal again and you’ll pay the same price.
At first glance, the birds all thought it had been Yomi who defeated the thief, and they were nearly scared to death.
While batch after batch of dried meat was being made, the chives in the vegetable patch also began to grow.
For the first harvest of chives, Yomi used all of them to make chive pockets. There was no lack of meat in the house now, and under Yomi’s instruction, Meikai made the chive pockets especially large. For these aliens they were not really that large, of course, but Yomi still specially made a few smaller ones.
The moment they came out of the pan, before anyone had even eaten one, everyone in the house was already drooling from the overpowering aroma.
And once they actually took a bite, only then did they understand what true satisfaction felt like!
Yesi and Linda had never imagined that one day they would live even better on Junk Star than they had on Snar Star. But wasn’t that the truth? On Snar Star, where had there ever been food this fragrant? Even for similar dishes, anything made by Chef Yomi’s team was especially appetizing!
Even Karl forgot all about being a gentleman and buried his head in his food. So fragrant, so good!
A group of tall Snarians stared at the big remaining chive pockets in the basin, terrified that by the time it was their turn, none would be left. As soon as they finished one, they reached out for another.
Yomi gave two of his smaller chive pockets to Anxius. There were already very few of the small ones, but Anxius did not eat them. Instead, he neatly split the little chive pockets in half, taking care not to let the filling spill out, and then placed them back on Yomi’s plate, so that they would not burn his mouth. Only after preparing Yomi’s chive pockets for him did he lower his head and slowly begin eating his own.
The young men secretly watching: Tsk tsk tsk. Yomi is getting more and more practiced at making the crown prince do things for him.
Yomi: ?
As the days passed, more and more dried meat and cured meat accumulated in the house. The chives grew fast, and the other vegetables were sprouting up too. They simply could not finish eating it all.
Every few days, Anxius would go into town once. He basically never took anyone with him. Wrapped tightly in a black cloak and sunglasses, he would leave in the morning and return dusty and travel-worn by evening, occasionally bringing back a few suitcases and hiding them in the basement.
Once, Yomi even tried lifting one. He could not move it at all. Curious, he asked Anxius what was inside, and Anxius answered in a perfectly ordinary tone, “Guns.”
They were not the kind of handguns Yomi had first imagined, though, but larger, smarter weapons with far greater destructive power.
The moment he heard that answer, Yomi stopped asking. The fewer people who knew about such things, the safer it was.
He had no idea how far things had progressed on Anxius’s side, but at least in Yomi’s eyes, returning for revenge was not going to be easy. It would definitely require a very, very long time. And throughout that process, they still needed to live their own lives well.
Since the house now held too much stock, Yomi decided it was time to set up a stall at the market again.
Meikai’s business-minded brain had long since become impossible to suppress. For several days in a row he and Yomi held meetings on “product selection.” But after dragging everyone into choosing this and that, they found they could not bear to give up any item. In the end, they decided to sell the chive pockets and jerky from separate stalls—side by side!
Meikai and Harvey took charge of the chive pockets. They had already completely mastered the craft, and with prior stall-running experience, they worked quickly. Arlo mainly handled payments. The jerky stall was much more relaxed, so Yomi and Lynn would manage that one together. To be honest, Yomi felt he could handle it alone, but everyone else strongly disagreed!
A tiny little thing setting up a stall all alone—how was that any different from a lamb trying to sell things in a pack of wolves?!
If someone scooped him up together with the jerky and ran off, there would not even be anywhere to complain! So Lynn’s official duty was bodyguard. The jerky could be lost, but Yomi had to be protected.
The day before opening the stall, everyone was full of energy, each one busy preparing what would be needed for the next day.
Some time earlier, Anxius had brought back a medium-sized truck from town, and it happened to be just right for taking out to set up the stall.
Early the next morning, all of Chef Yomi’s team gathered to load the truck. But the moment they opened the door, they found it already full. Everything had been packed neatly in advance and divided into categories, which would make unloading at the market especially convenient.
Anxius had gone into town before dawn. It was Karl who explained things when he came over. “His Highness loaded the truck before leaving. Coincidentally, I also need to go to the market internet café today, so I’ll be your driver!”
Everyone was delighted. One extra person meant one extra bit of liveliness.
Only after climbing aboard did they notice that the seats were different as well. Or rather, this applied only to Yomi’s seat.
On Yomi’s seat lay a newly knitted cushion, soft and thick, easy to carry, suitable both for sitting in the truck and for using during the stall itself, to keep the winter cold from freezing his backside.
The rest of them: Heh. Our backsides are forged from iron. We are not afraid of the cold.
The truck was much faster than an ox cart. By the time they arrived at the market, it was still very early, and there were not many people there yet. Many vendors had not even shown up.
Yomi picked a spot near the outer entrance and, together with everyone else, propped up a sign that read:
Little Lamb Chef Team: Chive Pockets, Supreme Jerky
This way, as soon as customers approached the market, they would smell the food and be drawn in quickly.
After helping them set up, Karl went to the internet café.
Not long after, a jerky stall appeared directly opposite them, run by two strong, powerfully built locals from Junk Star. Their skin was purple. One had a scar across his face, the other had a scorpion tail he kept flicking around. The two of them set up there often, so when they saw new competitors appear, they were openly dismissive.
This market was nothing like those proper malls and supermarkets supervised by official departments. Here, law itself practically did not exist. Everything relied on the local toughs who organized the market to step in and maintain order from time to time.
Because it was chaotic, scams were easy. But precisely because of that, customers valued reputation even more. Once they trusted a stallholder, most would not risk trying someone new.
At first, the two jerky sellers did not think these newcomers would pose any threat to them at all.
That changed when the very first brave soul walked up to Meikai’s stall and asked the price.
The main reason was simple: he was hungry. He had not eaten breakfast and had only come to sell the meat he had hunted. When one was hungry, a steaming hot dish like this was naturally far more tempting than jerky.
It smelled delicious, and the price was not high—well within an acceptable range. Even if it did turn out to be a scam, it was not so expensive that he could not bear the loss.
The brave customer paid, took the large chive pocket, sniffed it, and cautiously took a bite…
Less than a minute later, the same brave soul was devouring it ravenously and shouting for ten more. He wanted to eat two more himself, and bring the rest home for his wife and children to try!
Now that someone had served as the first guinea pig, the other Junk Star residents who had also been lured over by the smell but were still afraid of being scammed finally became eager to try a piece themselves… and every one of them fell instantly for it!
The stalls selling chive pockets and jerky were very close together, so while Meikai sold chive pockets, he also pulled customers over to the jerky stall. “We’ve also got supreme jerky over here! All top-quality products from the Little Lamb Chef Team. Boss Little Lamb is right there—you can taste it first before buying!”
The moment people heard they could try it first, they all hurried over. After all, if it was bad, they simply would not buy it.
At the stall, Yomi had set up a little sample area using a small box. Inside were tiny cut pieces of jerky, with different boxes holding different flavors.
In order to attract customers, he himself would occasionally spear a slice with a toothpick and pop it into his mouth to chew.
The people who swarmed over generally bought at least a little after tasting. Some were buying for novelty, others because they genuinely loved it. It was rather like a child tasting spicy strips for the first time—an addictive deliciousness one simply could not resist… It was far better than the plain, no-frills local jerky people here were used to.
This time, clearly, drawing customers was much easier than when they had sold stinky tofu. Before long, both of the Little Lamb Chef Team’s stalls were crowded with people, and business was so booming it was almost unbelievable!
Meikai was not surprised at all. He had an excellent head for business, and the tastes of Junk Star people were not that different from those of Snar Star people. A picky eater like him had fallen completely under Yomi’s culinary spell, so this flourishing scene had been fully predictable.
Where some rejoiced, others worried. The jerky stall opposite still had a few old regulars, of course, but compared to the Little Lamb Chef Team, it was nothing at all… Those two large men had ruled the food section of this market for years. It was the first time they had ever encountered something like this!
How could they possibly accept their business being stolen? What was more, they had backing here. One could say that all the food vendors in the market had to address them as “big brother.”
Burning with jealousy and anger, the boss left his stall and quickly called over some underlings. First he had them disguise themselves as customers to buy a few chive pockets and some jerky. Then, in a secluded corner, the two stall bosses sampled them in secret.
The second-in-command, the one with the scorpion tail, had already prepared a speech about how disgusting and terrible the food was. But after finishing the jerky in his hand, he instinctively asked the boss whether they should go buy some more, because that little bit was nowhere near enough!
“You spineless fool!” the boss roared and smacked him across the back of the head, then angrily marched over with his men, clutching the half-eaten chive pocket they had bought, ready to pick a fight.
The moment he reached the Little Lamb Chef Team’s stall, he hurled the chive pocket and jerky at them. “This tastes awful! You think you can cheat people out of money here? Hurry up and pack your things and get lost! Don’t make me beat you up!”
The moment he heard the commotion, Yomi ran right over. “What’s going on?”
The instant the man approached, Meikai and Harvey had already guessed what was happening. Meikai was extremely familiar with such cheap intimidation tactics. But he was no longer the man he used to be. He stepped in front of Yomi and smiled at the two burly men. “Everyone’s tastes are different. If you think it tastes bad, that’s your business. If you were really just customers, then fine. But if you’re here to stir up trouble, we’re not welcoming you. Fellow vendors, do you really think we can’t recognize you just because you changed cloaks? Can’t you just go back and sell your own jerky properly?”
The boss was startled: Changing cloaks wasn’t enough? Damn, your eyes are sharp.
Humiliated and enraged, he waved a hand to summon all the underlings behind him. “So what if we are causing trouble? One mountain can’t hold two tigers! Either you get out today, or we do! Boys, get them!”
Yomi’s face turned pale at once. Looking at their aggressive posture, he knew this would not be settled easily. Even a strong dragon could not crush the local snake, and they were outnumbered. Aside from Meikai and Harvey, the original forms of the others were nowhere near as ferocious as the people on the other side. If it really turned into a fight, they would definitely be the ones to suffer.
But if they backed down now, they would never have any place in this market again. No one here was going to stand up and defend justice for them.
Meikai transformed first. He did not want Yomi to go through the same kind of bullying he himself had once endured. Without even turning around, he shouted to Lynn, “Take Yomi and run!”
Harvey also transformed back into his original form—a male lion. He was probably the most aggressively built among them. Seeing the men on the other side already beginning to smash the stall, he let out a great roar and lunged into combat, biting and wrestling with the burly men…
Yomi trembled violently, then turned and ran with Lynn to the internet café to fetch reinforcements!
However, Karl’s original form was a pangolin, and even his combat power could not compare with fierce beasts. So as Yomi ran, he desperately thought of possible solutions—and truly came up with one that might work. The moment they reached the internet café, he first had Karl notify Anxius in town about what was happening here.
Anxius’s side had internet, so he would receive the message promptly. But the journey there and back would take several hours. It was far too late for that to solve the immediate problem. So this was only one step, a precaution in case it became necessary…
Just as Karl finished sending the message and was about to grab weapons and go back to help, Yomi suddenly stopped him. He looked toward the truck Karl had parked nearby.
“I have an idea. Follow me.” Yomi pulled a water gun out of his pocket and gritted his teeth as he headed toward the truck.
…
Back at Meikai’s side, the fight had already erupted into chaos.
Brawls in the market were far from uncommon. The moment passersby saw one, they simply kept their distance, afraid of getting dragged in themselves. Stepping in to mediate or help? Impossible.
Fortunately, Arlo’s original form could fly. While Meikai and Harvey fought, he could dart in and viciously peck at enemies’ backs and necks. But the other side had the advantage in numbers, and within only a few minutes, the three of them had already begun to lose ground…
Meikai figured that by now Yomi and the others should already have reached a safe place. Since they clearly could not win, the only option was probably to find a direction and run. Even as he bitterly thought that, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of a familiar truck speeding toward them from not far away!
The truck was crammed full of people. From inside came the dissatisfied roars of numerous fierce beasts, and several spears were being thrust out of the windows and waved around by unseen hands. Judging by the number of weapons and the volume of the roaring, there had to be at least ten people inside with formidable original forms!
Dear heavens!
At the wheel sat a giant pangolin, and the passenger had already leaned his head out the window, aiming a gun…
Meikai was utterly dumbfounded. Where on earth had they gotten so many people?
Arlo did not think that deeply. The moment he saw the sight, he shouted excitedly, “The reinforcements are here! These people are finished!” He suddenly pecked at the enemy even more viciously than before, his courage magnified tenfold!
The boss on the opposite side clearly had not expected the other party to have backup too. He staggered, staring fixedly in that direction.
A truck like that could not even hold that many people. Clearly they had been driven mad with anger, to the point that even the back had been loaded full of people—and all armed…
The second-in-command was visibly nervous. “That stall boss has backing… Boss, are we still fighting?”
But before the boss could answer, the rest had already scattered in terror. Never mind the numbers, the formation, and all the weapons—even just that gun was terrifying enough, alright?
No one wanted to lose their life here.
They fled so fast that the abandoned boss and his second-in-command were instantly seized by Meikai and jointly beaten up by him and Harvey. “Go on, show us how tough you are again! If we don’t teach you a little lesson, you really think we’re vegetarians?”
Boss and Second: Who the hell thought you were vegetarians? Your original forms clearly aren’t herbivores at all!
When the truck was almost upon them, they finally, with all the strength in their bodies, managed to escape the two beasts and flee for their lives, terrified they would die on the spot.
Once they ran off, Karl did not stop. He kept driving the truck after them, chasing them several more miles before finally turning back.
When disaster struck, these men had all abandoned each other. While Yomi had aimed the gun at them earlier, they had even shoved one another around in hopes of using someone else as a shield… Ah, the brotherhood among them really shattered quite thoroughly today.
Yomi had Karl drive back in time.
At the stall, Meikai and the others were still flushed with excitement, waiting for a truckload of reinforcements to jump out. But when the door opened, all they saw was Lynn and a heap of spears.
Meikai: ?
Yomi jumped down from the truck and smiled, tucking the water gun into his waistband. “This is called the Empty City Stratagem.”
Meikai looked completely baffled, but once Lynn climbed down, sore-armed from holding all those spears, and explained the plan, everyone finally understood.
The truck had a partition between the driver’s seat and the rear compartment, so Yomi had Lynn wave a bundle of spears out the windows with his tentacles in order to create the illusion that the truck was full of armed people. As for the overwhelming battle-like sound, all they had done was download recordings of tough men shouting before a fight and play them from three communicators at maximum volume simultaneously.
These local bullies probably would never have expected to experience a human Empty City Stratagem.
Yomi: See? Knowledge is power. Reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms wasn’t for nothing!
Once they understood the truth, Arlo and Harvey laughed themselves silly. Meikai, however, still looked worried. “Once those people go back and ask around the market, they’ll definitely find out it was fake. When that happens, they absolutely won’t let this go.”
“That’s exactly the effect we want,” Yomi said. “Karl and I already deliberately let a tiny flaw show. They’ll realize it today. Good. Anxius is already on his way here.”
At that, Meikai was completely convinced. Anxius could shatter a battleship—what chance did a few local thugs stand against that? He silently mourned for them in advance.
Clearly, Yomi also understood that people like this would never stop unless they were taught a truly painful lesson.
As expected, a few hours later, the burly men whose brotherhood had already cracked apart regrouped awkwardly in the nearby forest, every one of them furious.
“Damn it, that little boss tricked us! I got people to ask around the market. Their truck didn’t have anyone in it at all! And they don’t have any background here either!”
Being deceived was a small matter. Losing the boss’s prestige was the big matter.
When the scar-faced boss learned that the gun which had frightened him badly enough that he had nearly peed himself was actually a water gun, his face turned greener than chives.
The rest were also humiliated beyond words. After all, he had not been the only one who had shoved his comrades around and abandoned all loyalty while fleeing…
Retaliation was absolutely happening.
“This time we won’t act inside the market,” the boss said, touching the scar on his face and gritting his teeth. “If this gets too big, it won’t be good. They’re about to close up anyway. We’ll make our move on the road back. While we’re at it, we can also inspect their ingredients and force them to tell us their recipe…”
The underlings had no objections.
Now that their dignity had been swept away, they all hated the situation intensely. But just thinking that after the ambush they might get all those delicious recipes and all the ingredients too was enough to make them drool!
At the same time, Yomi, with a very strong sense of counter-surveillance, had already sent Arlo in his original form to spy on the area, meaning he had seen their every move with perfect clarity.
He had even been the one to deliberately spread the rumor that the “gun” was just a water gun, specifically to make sure the bad fish would take the bait.
From the moment he received the message, Anxius had already been on the move.
Yomi had sent him the rendezvous route in advance—not in the market, and not at the farm either, but by a river in the wilderness near the market.
Once the stalls were closed, they all got back into the truck and slowly drove out toward the wilds.
Yomi sat in the back with a pair of binoculars, watching the suspicious car following them at a distance, and nodded with satisfaction.
The local thugs were equally satisfied. Wild countryside—very good. Excellent for hurting people.
Once they started the fight, no matter how hard the others screamed, it would be useless. Heh heh~
As he drove, the boss carefully controlled his speed so the truck ahead would not notice them too soon.
But the truck in front never stopped, driving straight into the deepest part of the forest. When it passed a stretch of riverbank, it suddenly sped up, while the small car behind did not dare accelerate for fear of exposing itself too early. Before long, they lost sight of it.
“Doesn’t matter,” the boss said confidently. “There’s only one drivable road through these mountains. We just keep following it. They can’t get away.”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
“Boss, I’ve been busy all day. I’m thirsty.” The second-in-command licked his lips while looking at the clear river beside them. “They can’t escape anyway. Why don’t we get out and drink some water first?”
In truth, the boss was thirsty too. He stopped the car and let everyone get out to drink or relieve themselves as needed. No one was to mess things up later.
Some of them went behind the trees to urinate. The boss and the second-in-command, meanwhile, led a few others down to the riverside to drink.
The scenery nearby was quite nice. Thinking of the successful ambush that was about to happen, the boss found himself in a wonderful mood. Even drinking water made him sigh in satisfaction. “The water is so sweet! No wonder their food tastes so good. It must be because the water around here is so good!”
His underlings echoed him and kept gulping down water.
Once they were all satisfied, they got back into the car. The boss’s guess was right—there was only one road. If they just kept driving forward, they would find those people sooner or later.
A few minutes later, the car reached the upper stretch of the same river, and sure enough, they spotted a group of familiar figures.
The Little Lamb Chef Team!
Inside the car, the boss was delighted, cackling smugly—when suddenly he heard the second-in-command, still speaking hesitantly, point toward a tiny figure by the river and say, “Boss, th-that little boss is right there!”
“I saw him!” the boss replied, his tone excited.
The second-in-command continued in a hesitant voice, “Then did you also notice… he’s been sitting by the river washing his feet the whole time? The water we drank not long ago was probably his foot-washing water. You know, the water you said tasted so good…”
The car went silent for several seconds. Veins bulged at the boss’s temples. He nearly wanted to kick his underling to death on the spot.
Flinging the car door open, he roared, “Everyone with me!” and stormed toward the riverbank in fury. But before he even got close, a figure cut him off.
The massive monster descended with terrifying force. He had clearly been flying for a long time; his breathing was heavy, his whole body drenched in sweat, yet there was not the slightest trace of fatigue on his face. His body was strung taut, like an alarm bell of imminent violence. Turning his head, the monster revealed golden eyes streaked with red, like a demon climbing out of hell itself, and lunged straight at them—
Even a worldly figure like the boss had only ever seen something like this before when wild beasts were protecting their young.
“…Who the hell are—” He did not even finish the question before his field of vision abruptly changed. Looking down, he realized, oh, he had already been punched flying.
While he was still in the air, a sharp claw snatched him up and smashed him back down into the ground.
The boss transformed into his original form and struggled with all his might, but the other side refused to release him. While pinning him down with one claw, the monster simultaneously waded into fierce combat against the rest of his men who had all panicked and transformed into their original forms as well… no, not combat. It was more like completely one-sided beating.
In less than a minute, the cries of ghosts and wolves rose through the wilderness as they howled for mercy.
But the place was too remote. They could scream their lungs out and no one would come.
The little lamb boss might not have had a whole truck full of people—but this one person was worth several truckloads all by himself.
