The cold, wet ground was uneven and covered with hay. Two figures were chained up and covered in scars.
“Tell me, who are you people? Where did the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken come from?”
A guard held a whip and whipped the two boys fiercely.
“I told you a few days ago, Mister. My name is Zeke, and this is my younger brother, Zenoah! We usually steal from here and there, and we stole the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken eggs from a caravan in Monte Town. What else do you want from us?”
Zeke’s face was bruised and his swollen eyes revealed a hint of helplessness.
“Yeah right! Master Miles already said that you’ve never been to Monte Town. Don’t blame us for going hard on you if you don’t tell us.”
The guard whipped Zeke’s thigh, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. He hugged his leg and could not speak.
“We really stole the eggs from Monte Town. There’s nothing else we can tell you even if you beat us to death.” Zenoah gritted his teeth and stretched out his neck.
“Two miserable little wretches.”
The guard threw away his whip and glanced angrily at the two of them before turning around and leaving the dungeon.
After the guard had left, Zenoah crawled to Zeke’s side. “Are you alright, Brother?”
“I’m fine. Remember, we’re from Monte Town. We’ve never seen the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken before! It wasn’t easy for Watson to get the beast and we can’t lose it. Our family is counting on it to survive. We can’t say anything even if we die.”
“Don’t worry, Brother. I won’t say anything even if I die.”
Outside the dungeon, the guard left and went up to a luxuriantly-dressed middle-aged man. He bent down awkwardly and said, “Master Miles, these two people are too stubborn. I didn’t get anything out of them.”
“It’s already been four days, and you still don’t know anything. How useless of you.” Miles’ eyes were cold and the mustache on his mouth trembled slightly.
“Master, what do we do now? Do we continue hitting them?”
“They’ll die if we continue hitting them and if that happens, we won’t be able to get anything out of them! Get a painter to draw the faces of these two people, then go to the nearby farms and ask if anyone knows them.”
With his expression becoming much colder, Miles thought for a moment and said, “Spread some rumors while you’re at it and say that those two people stole something from our farm. If no one comes to claim them within two days, I’ll chop off their heads! If their relatives and friends hear about this, they certainly won’t just sit around. It’s fine if the two kids don’t tell the truth, because someone will eventually say it for them.”
“Yes, Master.” The guard nodded respectfully and left, leaving Miles clenching his fists with an vague expression.
He was able to become a big farm owner not because of his extraordinary wisdom, but because of his ruthlessness. “Just wait until the families of these two people come. If they don’t have a strong background, we’ll kill them all. That way, no one will know that I got the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken.”
…
In the chicken farm back at Watson’s home.
“Watson, Father asked me to come over and ask how many eggs are there in the house now?” Vincent walked in from outside.
Watson, who was looking after the chicken farm, stood up and said with a smile, “Brother, you came at the right time. The Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken has just laid some eggs. I don’t know how many exactly, but you can give them a count.”
Vincent walked into the chicken house and found that there was a hill of eggs inside. After carefully counting, he found that there were more than 800 eggs. His mouth curled up into a surprised smile, though it was not as huge as a few days ago.
Continuous surprises would eventually cause a person to get numb to it.
Five Pentacolor Fragrant Chickens could lay 500 eggs per day, which equaled 15,000 eggs in a month. That alone was worth 15,000 gold coins. The money was enough to sustain their family several generations over. For that reason, Edward happily announced in the morning that each person could eat three eggs per meal from that day onward.
After eating a lot of eggs in recent days, Vincent’s strength had increased by almost 1,000 catties and his combat aura strength had also doubled. As of that morning, he had officially become a Bronze-tier warrior.
It could be taken as a double blessing.
“Watson, these Pentacolor Fragrant Chickens were also a gift from your master, right? Didn’t I say before that you should invite your master into our home for a while if he came?” Vincent asked somewhat unhappily when he thought of that.
No one else could have been that generous. Since those four Pentacolor Fragrant Chickens came from Watson’s master, it was proof that Watson had met that mysterious master again. Vincent’s speedy ascension to Bronze-tier warrior was all thanks to those Pentacolor Fragrant Chickens, so it was only right that he thanked the master properly.
“I’m sorry, Big Brother. My master left after leaving behind these four chickens. I didn’t have time to speak to him.”
“Are you sure that all your master did was leave behind these four chickens?”
“I’m sure.”
“You’re lying again, Watson!”
Vincent cocked his eyebrows. Under Watson’s nervous gaze, the young man said, “Aside from just leaving behind four Pentacolor Fragrant Chickens, your master took away thousands of hens too, didn’t he? Does your master like to eat chicken. He also took away one thousand of our hens the first time, right? If he ate them all in a few days, does it mean that he has a big appetite?”
Vincent had checked yesterday and discovered that there were no chickens running away from the henhouse. No one had seen any of those wild chickens running away from the nearby farms. The only explanation was that Watson’s master had taken them away. It was not a big deal, but Vincent was hoping that Watson would not hide it from his family.
“Big Brother is right. My master does love to eat chickens.”
Watson wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He thought that Vincent had seen something, but his big brother’s line of thinking did not let him down.
“Watson, there’s no need to worry about food and drink at home now. We won’t even be able to spend all the money from selling so many eggs. Do you think we can keep some and let them hatch?” Vincent did not dwell on this question and quickly came up with a new idea.
“I’m afraid that won’t work. The hatching rate of Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken is low to begin with. Moreover, an unfertilized egg can’t produce a chick without a rooster.”
If Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken was that fertile, it would not have been such a precious Gold-tier magical beast.
“It doesn’t matter whether it works or not. The least we have to do is try. Please ask your master to send a rooster the next time he comes.”
Vincent seemed to be sure that Watson’s master would come to give them a rooster. After saying a few words, he ran out of the chicken farm and found an empty space to practice his combat aura.
The path of cultivation was like sailing against the current. Setbacks were aplenty if one did not advance further.
Watson observed for a while and withdrew his gaze. His brother’s suggestion was good, but applied only to ordinary people.
The system could create a Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken simply by fusing a thousand ordinary chickens. The probability of the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken laying a fertile egg was less than one in a thousand. Even if it a chick hatched, they still had to buy expensive feed, and it would take a long time for the chick to mature. Therefore, it was not as convenient to just fuse them.
He made up his mind to head to Misty Forest with Scarlet to catch some wild chickens and fuse them later. Before he left however, Watson was forced to stay behind after receiving a startling message.
20 minutes later.
“Father, is it true that Zeke and Zenoah were captured?” Watson paced in the hall and frowned.
In front of him, Edward held a piece of parchment with a portrait drawn on it, frowning. “Look at this! According to what it says, Zeke and Zenoah were captured by some ten miles away by Miles Manor’s people. Right now, the people from the manor are issuing arrest warrants everywhere. I reckon they will find our house very soon. What should we do?”
Edward had already contacted the merchants and would be coming over to collect the eggs in a few days. The sudden incident made it abundantly clear that Miles Manor was wanted the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken.
“Miles Manor also said that if no one goes to their manor and pick the kids up within two days, they’ll chop off Zeke and Zenoah’s heads.”
“How dare they!”
Vincent was also there. “I’ll go. I’ll bring Zeke and Zenoah back. I—”
Before he could finish, Watson had already waved his hand. “There’s no need. Big Brother, you’ll stay here and look after the chicken farm. I’ll go myself! Zeke and Zenoah were captured because of me. I should be responsible for them.”
Although the people in his family were not very reliable, they were still family to Watson. Anyone who laid a hand on his family would have to pay the price.
