111: The Mysterious Clue — The Monster’s True Form (Part Two)

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Seeing the dead monster undergo a strange transformation, its body continuously shrinking, everyone grew wary once again, fearing the creature might evolve into another form. However, their worries proved unnecessary. The monster simply kept shrinking until it was no larger than a palm, looking incredibly cute—almost indistinguishable from an ordinary octopus on Earth.

“Huh! This is a decorative pet star beast. What’s its name again? I can’t quite recall. How could this be...” Zi Gui said in confusion.

No one understood how the monster suddenly changed its appearance. Suddenly, the little hamster that had been following Hao Shuai earlier ran over, jumped in front of the octopus-like creature, and began chattering anxiously, pushing the lifeless body with its tiny paws. Everyone grew even more puzzled.

At that moment, a loud humming noise echoed inside the spaceship, startling everyone. They looked around and saw two bodyguards escorting Jona, Si Yu, and Hao Shuai over.

“Hahaha... The power system has been restored, though that fierce beast drained quite a bit of the energy. We need to rush to the next stop to replenish!” Hao Shuai said to the group. “What about that beast? Did you manage to kill it? You all don’t know how terrifying the engine room was—it was like hell on earth...” Before he could finish, he suddenly felt a tug at his pant leg. Looking down, he saw his pet hamster pulling on it and quickly crouched down. “Little Bing, what are you doing?”

The hamster pointed toward the hall, hopping over to the octopus’s corpse, covering its eyes with its paws, and chattering mournfully as if crying.

Hao Shuai was stunned for a moment, then collapsed in front of the octopus’s body, cradling it in his hands and wailing loudly, “Xiao Qiang... my Xiao Qiang! How could you just leave? You’ve been with me for so many years, and you barely let me date any girls, and now you’ve abandoned me... boohoo!”

Witnessing this scene, everyone was dumbfounded.

After a long pause, Zi Gui cautiously asked, “Xiao Shuai, are you sure this is your pet?”

Hao Shuai sobbed, “My name is Hao Shuai, not Xiao Shuai, don’t be jealous... Of course, this is my pet. It’s been Xiao Bing and Xiao Qiang by my side all these years. How could I mistake it? Xiao Qiang! Which heartless person killed you? I’m going to report them to the Star Beast Protection Association to comfort your spirit... my Xiao Qiang!”

He continued crying, tears streaming down his face, truly heartbroken.

The bodyguards and the two women hadn't witnessed the monster’s death but seeing Hao Shuai’s affection for his pet, they shed a couple of tears themselves.

However... Zi Gui’s eyes swept coldly, and without warning, he grabbed a bench and slammed it down hard on Hao Shuai, yelling, “I think you’re just a walking curse! Not only are you unlucky yourself, but you nearly got everyone on this ship killed, including my little Jona... What kind of pet is this? It’s clearly a devil!”

Hao Shuai curled up protectively, covering his head and face, still repeating, “Gentlemen don’t hit faces...” which made everyone both angry and amused.

Mu Siyu, hearing Zi Gui’s tirade, began to understand the situation and said, “Brother Mu, could it be that this dead pet was the monster just now?”

Mu Tou nodded.

Mu Siyu pondered for a moment and said, “Brother Zi Gui, stop hitting him. Let’s ask and find out what’s going on first.”

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Zi Gui was still not satisfied, retorting, “What’s there to ask? Beat this unlucky guy to death! He not only got everyone on the ship killed but almost took my little Jona too!”

Everyone broke out in cold sweat... What kind of logic was that? Jona’s life mattered, but did the others on the ship not matter?

However, the flattery was well aimed. Jona smiled gently and said, “Alright, Zi Gui, let’s ask first. Such a big incident will definitely draw the attention of the Galactic Federation. Those of us who survived have to give them an explanation.”

Zi Gui finally stopped and said, “For my little Jona’s sake, I’ll spare your life for now... Humph, if you don’t explain, you can explain to the Galactic Federation yourself. After all, it was your fierce beast that killed everyone on the ship. It has nothing to do with us.”

Hao Shuai lay on the ground, dazed from Zi Gui’s beating. Meanwhile, his pet hamster was hopping around on the floor, standing on its hind legs and pointing its front paws at Zi Gui, chattering indignantly as if demanding justice for its owner. Everyone burst into laughter.

After a while, Hao Shuai got up, took out a mirror to tidy his appearance, and said, “Who knows what happened? I was knocked out and trapped in the repair room by falling cargo shortly after boarding. If you hadn’t rescued me, I wouldn’t even know there was a monster on the ship... Besides, how could that monster possibly be my Xiao Qiang? One of its tentacles was many times bigger than him!”

Zi Gui grinned slyly. “So you don’t believe me?” Raising the bench again, as if ready to strike, Hao Shuai hurriedly said, “Gentlemen settle disputes with words, not fists... I just don’t know.”

At that moment, the hamster kept gesturing in front of him. Hao Shuai paused, then said, “Little Bing, you’re saying you know?”

The hamster nodded and made a series of gestures: crawling on the ground, then appearing to hug something, then spreading its paws as if inflating.

Though the others didn’t fully understand, Hao Shuai had raised it for many years and could interpret. “You’re saying Xiao Qiang crawled out of the little nest I made for him, got into the cargo pile, found a spherical object, swallowed it, grew bigger, then knocked over the cargo and knocked me out?”

The hamster nodded vigorously, and everyone realized the truth. The little octopus must have eaten something that caused it to mutate, then stormed into the engine room to absorb energy.

Si Yu said, “It seems everyone was mistaken. They thought the star beast came from outer space, but it actually mutated inside the ship, absorbing energy from the engine room, which caused the ship to lose power. It was just too bloodthirsty and killed so many people.”

Mu Tou added, “It’s also luck that neither the hamster nor Hao Shuai were harmed. Looks like the octopus monster didn’t want to hurt them.”

Everyone nodded.

Jona angrily said, “We need to investigate what cargo this tourist ship was carrying and how something that could mutate a star beast ended up onboard. I had never heard of such a thing!”

Zi Gui nodded. “I haven’t heard of it either. Xiao Shuai, you know how to check the cargo and passenger lists, right?”

Hao Shuai grumbled, “My name is...” but stopped under Zi Gui’s fierce glare. “The operations room can check it.”

Zi Gui said, “Alright, let’s all head to the operations room. We’ll dock at the nearest spaceport. This ship’s had such a big incident; let the Galactic Federation handle it.”

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Suddenly, Mu Tou said, “Zi Gui, wait a moment.” Then to Si Yu, “You protect them going over there.”

They followed his instructions. Mu Tou said to the three, “My dimensional system just received a message from the Temporal Management Bureau. Take a look!”

He shared the information, and instantly their dimensional systems chimed:

“Beep... Sci-fi Dimension Alien Virus mission completed. Participants awarded 2,000 reward points... Beep, unknown mutated virus detected... Analysis shows it is non-native dimensional matter of unknown origin... Hidden dimensional task—Mysterious Clue.”

“Information: Since the establishment of the dimensional trading system, abnormal creatures have appeared in various dimensions due to alien mutation. Analysis indicates this mutation force is non-native and may threaten native lifeforms. Objective: Investigate the source of this mutation based on current clues. Reward: Authorized dimensional agents may enter advanced dimensional trading space-time ahead of schedule.”

“The Temporal Management Bureau, based on current data, indicates that the agent’s home planet in the Fundamental Matter Dimension holds relevant clues. Location: Latitude 29°32’–29°34’ North.”

“Alert: Task difficulty unknown. Previous agents who accepted this mission have perished. It is estimated that other dimensional ‘elect’ have intervened... This is a compulsory mission assigned by the Temporal Management Bureau. Dimensional agents may not refuse.”

Everyone was stunned by this series of alerts. Mu Tou thought, “Fundamental Matter Dimension? Isn’t that Earth, where I’m from? What does this latitude mean—cosmic coordinates or Earth’s?”

“Damn...” Zi Gui suddenly cursed, “What kind of mission is this? And we can’t even refuse?”

Mu Tou didn’t understand either. They had merely eliminated a mutated monster, yet it triggered a non-refusable hidden mission called ‘Mysterious Clue.’ It seemed quite dangerous; previous agents had died attempting it.

The group exchanged glances. Mu Tou felt the dimensional trading system tremble, and a message from Lu Daoxuan arrived: “I received the info from the Temporal Management District. This is a team mission... Opening dimensional teleportation, I’m coming over!”

Strangely, hearing that Lu Daoxuan was coming made everyone feel less anxious, as if his wisdom could solve their current problems.

“Hmm! I’ve received the Temporal Management Bureau’s message. Tell me in detail how you came to accept this mission!” After a ripple of light, Lu Daoxuan appeared before them. Though aware of the mission’s danger, he remained calm and composed.

To explain the origin of this mysterious task, Mu Tou recounted the entire event from Zi Gui’s call for help, including the revelation that the star beast was originally the ship mechanic’s pet.

Lu Daoxuan listened quietly, then said, “There are two questions here. First, Zi Gui said an unknown object hit the ship, after which the monster appeared. But after you killed the monster, you found out it was the ship’s pet all along. That’s strange—there might be a connection between the two.”

“Second, if something caused the star beast to mutate, then what exactly was that thing?”

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Today’s third update, the final one. Once again, I earnestly ask all readers to subscribe. As always, give Mu Tou a little hope, so he won’t fail or lose heart... Mu Tou will repay you with even more exciting chapters.