Chapter 73: Are These Real Talismans?

[Good stuff! Absolutely good stuff!]

Baji stared at the box without blinking.

It had a feeling that as long as it ate what was inside the box, its strength would skyrocket. By then, even if it faced a human's iron box, it could stuff it into its mouth and refine it in an instant!

After feeding it so much "crap" for days, had the big shot finally decided to give it something delicious?

Chen Huaian used scissors to open the box.

As he expected, the box contained a plant, while the other box held a pot of soil, colorful and vibrant. He planted the seedling in the pot, placed it on the windowsill, and stared at it for a while. Eventually, he couldn't resist taking out his "Thousand Degrees Recognize Everything" app to scan it.

The result came out quickly:

[Grass—a type of plant.]

Seriously, bro?

It's really just an ordinary plant?

Chen Huaian was speechless.

The game developers were way too lazy. How much does a pot of orchids cost these days? Sending over a dirty pot of grass like this was just too walk through!

And this pot of soil too.

It was filled with all sorts of colors, like industrial pollution, and didn't look appealing at all.

Then he noticed there was something else in the box. He pulled it out—a talisman sealed in a plastic bag, along with a set of instructions.

[Purple Sky Divine Thunder Talisman: Please attach this talisman to the flowerpot to protect the Nine-Turn Spirit Orchid and prevent it from being eaten by gluttonous demonic beasts.]

Chen Huaian: "…"

Gluttonous demonic beasts? Really?

The only things in his room were mosquitoes and a dumb cat.

Whatever, he'd treat it as a decoration.

Even though it was just a pot of grass, the flowerpot carved with celestial palaces and auspicious clouds did look quite nice.

He took out the talisman and stuck it on the flowerpot.

The pot with the talisman and a wilted blade of grass looked utterly ridiculous from a distance. It didn't seem like something a normal person would do.

In the game, Li Qingran was pacing around the bed, holding the dress. Seeing nothing else to do, Chen Huaian logged out of the game.

He had been so busy that he hadn't even eaten breakfast yet.

After breakfast, he planned to go to the square to practice his sword. He wondered if the old man would be there today.

…

While Chen Huaian was making breakfast, Baji sneakily approached the Nine-Turn Spirit Orchid.

The closer it got, the richer the spiritual energy emanating from it became.

[How could such a spiritual herb appear in this era of thin spiritual energy? Where did the big shot even get this…]

Baji stared at the Nine-Turn Spirit Orchid, utterly puzzled.

But it didn't matter. It didn't affect its appetite.

It moved closer, greedily swallowing its saliva.

Suddenly, crackle—!

As the sound of electricity rang out, a terrifying pressure loomed overhead, scaring it into rolling and crawling back to the sofa.

Only then did Baji notice the yellow paper stuck to the side of the flowerpot.

It was a talisman.

And it was even more terrifying than the ones on the door and window.

If it dared to touch the flowerpot even once.

It would die instantly!

As it retreated to a safe distance, the lightning that had begun to overflow from the talisman retracted.

[Hah… I was too naive.]

Baji looked at the spirit orchid protected by the thunder talisman, tilting its head at a 45-degree angle toward the sky.

[Why would the big shot give such a good thing to a beast like me?]

Shaking its head self-mockingly, it went back to gnawing on the unfinished Cao Hei Ya.

Regardless, as long as this spirit orchid was here, it would soon create an area suitable for cultivation.

By then, everything in the room would be infused with spiritual energy.

Ordinary rice would become spirit rice, Cao Hei Ya would become spirit Cao Hei Ya, and even a fish kept long enough could become a spirit! In this way, although it was still eating "crap," it had at least upgraded to chocolate-flavored crap.

Baji comforted itself this way, eating with increasing relish.

…

[Wild Wolves Spotted on Tianmen Mountain! To protect the safety of tourists, relevant departments have intervened.]

While scrolling through Douyin, a news short video caught Chen Huaian's attention.

[Regarding the unusually large wild wolves, let's see what our expert has to say.]

Chen Huaian twitched his mouth as he watched the white-haired old man on the video spouting nonsense.

What do you mean low aggressiveness?

Low aggressiveness? They tore apart the van like it was a toy!

But indeed, over the past decade, many mutated creatures had appeared, mainly due to an outrageous incident that happened ten years ago. Back then, many people didn't pay attention until the harm caused by seawater pollution gradually became apparent.

Mutated creatures were one of the consequences.

In the past, it was said that the chickens used in the food industry were multi-legged and multi-winged meat chickens. That might have been a joke, but now chickens with three or even five heads had indeed appeared.

Once, multi-headed chickens only appeared in laboratories, but now they occasionally popped up in farms.

Moreover, these mutated multi-headed chickens not only didn't die young but also had longer lifespans. Each head had its own thoughts, often leading to internal conflicts.

As the saying goes, rarity breeds value.

Although the safety of multi-headed chickens hadn't been confirmed, some places had already started treating eating them as a trend, and some farms had even begun actively breeding them.

Chen Huaian, like most ordinary people, believed that mutated creatures would inevitably bring harm to humans.

But for now, mutated creatures were still within control and could be killed with bullets. Once they mutated to the point where they couldn't be killed by artillery, it would probably be impossible to hide the truth.

Chen Huaian thought he wouldn't live to see that day.

After all, he wouldn't survive this year.

Once he was gone, who cared if the world was in chaos?

[Thankfully, that girl arrived quickly. She pulled out a pistol and shot the wolf dead in one shot! Also, I want to complain about the Sanguang van—the quality is terrible. I just closed the door with a bit of force, and it fell off by itself…]

[What? You're saying she was a young-looking security guard? That explains why she had a gun. I thought she was a middle school student, hahaha, hahaha…]

"Hey, isn't that Director Zhang?"

The scene shifted, and Chen Huaian couldn't help but grin foolishly as he watched the middle-aged man being interviewed by the reporter.

[The other wolf was struck by lightning. Thank heavens! If it hadn't been struck, the other three people in the crew would probably have been in grave danger.]

A few pictures of the lightning crater popped up, showing the mutated wolf charred to a crisp by the lightning.

As Chen Huaian shoveled food into his mouth, he suddenly froze.

Looking at the lightning crater, he finally realized what had been bothering him.

The thunder he had heard, the familiar lightning crater, and the missing Thunderfire Talisman…

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a few crumpled Thunderfire Talismans, staring at the cinnabar characters on them in disbelief.

He carefully placed the seven talismans on the coffee table.

Then, even more carefully, he reached out and poked them a couple of times.

After a long while, he muttered, "Are these… real talismans?"

…

…