Chapter 9: The Unusual North City

Having inspected the kitchen, Li Jing was quite satisfied.

Although Chen Yuran didn't know how to cook, the kitchen had everything, all of which were top-notch items that ordinary people could not afford.

The rental house where Li Jing used to live, didn't even have a kitchen.

Every mealtime, he had to eat out.

Not only was it expensive, but it also tasted terrible.

The only dinner he could get was by freeloading from Liu Sisi's work meal.

Having a kitchen to cook in, he would get to save quite a bit of expense.

Before he crossed over, Li Jing was living alone.

Cooking was easily managed by him.

After inspecting the kitchen, Li Jing went downstairs to take a look at the guest room.

With this look, he was even more satisfied.

The first floor of the villa had only one guest room.

But this one alone was twice the size of his rented house, if not more.

Not only that.

All the furniture and furnishings in the guest room were brand new.

Not to mention, it also came with a computer.

Since he crossed over, Li Jing hadn't even had the chance to touch a computer.

One reason was that he couldn't afford it.

The other was there was no internet in his rented house.

Now, everything was settled with one step.

With such excellent living conditions in front of him, Li Jing found nothing to complain about.

Seeing that the time was almost to noon, Li Jing decided to go out and buy some food materials, and also take the dog for a walk.

Before leaving, Chen Yuran had not mentioned any requirements to him, only hoping that he could help walk the dog.

This was a small matter, certainly worth fulfilling.

As he walked out of the villa, Li Jing saw Stinky Tofu cheerfully digging under the only grapevine in the courtyard. He couldn't help but smile.

Not only was Stinky Tofu digging, but he also seemed to have spasms like digging a few paws then making two crazy turns on the spot, then burying his head in the dug hole, and then retracting to continue digging.

A Husky is always a Husky.

A well-deserved ditz.

Watching Stinky Tofu's display of the Husky's true nature, Li Jing finally understood the sadness in Chen Yuran's voice when discussing this dog.

Shaking his head, Li Jing called out softly.

"Stinky Tofu."

Stinky Tofu's ears moved in the courtyard, and he turned his head questioningly.

"Your master asked me to walk you before she left. I'm going out to buy groceries now. Do you want to come?"

Li Jing asked.

Upon hearing this, Stinky Tofu "woofed" and quickly nodded, trotting over and gesturing with one paw. Suddenly, a leash appeared out of nowhere and fell to the ground.

Li Jing was startled at the sight.

A storage space!?

A dog...has a storage space!?

What the hell...

After being stunned for a while, Li Jing finally came to his senses.

Seeing Stinky Tofu wagging his tail and handing over the leash, Li Jing realized that he should drop his preconceived notions about Huskies and take this big dog seriously.

No matter how silly Stinky Tofu may be, he is still a Spiritual Beast.

And he is a Three Realm Spiritual Beast!

Putting aside prejudice, Li Jing also noticed that although Stinky Tofu was digging and burying his face in the pit, there was not a trace of dirt on his face or paws.

Petting Stinky Tofu's large head, experiencing the smooth texture of his fur, Li Jing was amazed.

This is indeed a dog worth tens of millions!

The touch of his head was simply amazing!

Taking the leash and tying it to Stinky Tofu, and closing the villa gate on his way out, Li Jing left the villa area with him.

It was obvious that Chen Yuran had spent considerable effort in training Stinky Tofu.

After leaving the door, Stinky Tofu behaved very well.

He always stayed by Li Jing's side, not pulling or dragging the leash.

His steps were steady and did not resemble a typical Husky who often go wild when outside.

Paired with his good looks, the sight of walking him was quite impressive.

Upon leaving the Closed Moon Flower Garden, the rate at which passersby turned their heads was almost a hundred percent.

For a moment, Li Jing couldn't help but develop a liking for this big dog.

The only thing that made him a bit uncomfortable was-

With every step that Stinky Tofu took, the long health bar on his head would sway.

Li Jing saw this scene.

It was like a flirtatious young girl waving a handkerchief, coyly calling out for someone to come play!

Really, this was quite annoying.

...

They journey in silence.

Due to an incident occurring at the nearby agricultural market the day before, Li Jing went out of his way to avoid suspicion, taking an hour to arrive at a further distant market carrying stinky tofu.

Upon his arrival at the entrance of the food market, Li Jing furrowed his brows.

Looking up, he saw only a few scattered customers moving about the market.

Most of the vendors' stalls were operating sporadically.

It was almost noontime at this point.

The business wouldn't be bustling at this hour.

Those who needed to buy vegetables had done so in the morning.

The next peak would be at dusk.

No matter what, the market at noon shouldn't be this deserted.

What was happening?

While he was pondering, a middle-aged woman laden with bags of groceries emerged from the market.

Li Jing approached with his stinky tofu.

"Ma'am, what's happened in the market? It seems unusually sparse."

The middle-aged woman wasn't cold to his inquiry and stopped to reply.

"Young man, you must not have watched the news? This morning, five incidences of monsters attacking have occurred, resulting in several dozen deaths across the various fresh food markets in North City."

Five supernatural events in one morning?

Li Jing frowned, doubting the authenticity of the woman's words.

How could there be so many supernatural events happening in succession?

Not to mention North City, it's unlikely there would be an event like this even once a year across the whole of Jianghai City.

Five occurrences in one morning, this was absolutely absurd.

Seeing Li Jing's disbelief, the woman shook her head.

"If you don't believe me, check the breaking news on your phone. Now, not only are those selling fresh products terrified, those selling fruits and vegetables also dare not open their stalls. After all, we all do business in the same place, and if something were to happen, it could cost us our lives."

Chattering on, the woman continued.

"If you need to buy food, you best hurry. Soon all the vendors left in the market might run away. Stock up more, if the Inspection Bureau doesn't find out what's happening today, I'm afraid neither the food market nor the agricultural market will have vendors operating tomorrow. By then, the only place to get groceries will be those expensive, not-so-fresh supermarkets."

Hearing mention of the "Inspection Bureau", Li Jing immediately recalled how Chen Yuran received a call and left in haste just over an hour ago.

After politely thanking the woman, Li Jing, still leading his stinky tofu, entered the market and pulled out his phone to check the news.

Suddenly, a headline in red caught his eye.

"Breaking! Unexplained Supernatural Events Consecutively Erupt in North City, Approximating One Hundred Casualties!"

Seeing the headline, Li Jing's brow furrowed.

It turned out that everything the woman had said was true!?

He clicked on the title, stopped, and read the contents.

He shouldn't have looked. After reading, he was completely stunned.

The breaking news he was looking at was published five minutes ago.

As of the time of writing, eight supernatural events had occurred in North City just this morning!

That was three more than what the woman had mentioned!

These additional three incidents occurred within the hour he left home to reach the market.

However, these three incidents didn't occur in fresh food markets; they occurred in a pet shelter and two pet hospitals.

Eight consecutive supernatural events, how could there not be chaos?

Adding the one from yesterday's agricultural market, that's nine incidents in less than twenty-four hours!

No wonder Chen Yuran left so hurriedly in the morning...

So.

What on earth is happening?

Li Jing was baffled.

As the saying goes,

There's nothing as queer as folk.

The frequent occurrence of supernatural events was already unscientific in itself.

Such incidents were only happening in North City and nowhere else in Jianghai, clearly indicating there were external factors causing them.

While he was deep in thought, the stinky tofu walking beside Li Jing suddenly bristled and began to bark fiercely at a fish seller not far away, looking as if it was about to rush over.

?

Seeing this, Li Jing quickly tightened his grip on the leash.

Stinky Tofu was quite sensible and understood human language, it was unlikely to harm people.

But better to be safe than sorry.

On the other side, the fish seller also jolted in fright, quickly stepping back and grabbing a fishing net nearby.

Seeing that Li Jing swiftly pulled the leash taut, the fish seller sighed in relief, though clearly irritated.

"Young man, control your dog!"

Just as Li Jing raised his head to apologize, a large fathead fish from the basin in front of the fish seller suddenly leapt up, reaching a height of more than three meters!