Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 496: The Gift

Baldy was the last one to board, and when he took his seat, the bizarre bird clearly sank a bit, nearly getting pressed down to the ground.

But soon, a powerful current of air rose from beneath it, lifting it back up again.

The Snake Vulture spread its wings and soared into the pitch-black sky.

They had flown for about forty minutes, Red Ridge Town had long been left behind without a trace, and Ma Lu was becoming increasingly clueless about where they were actually heading.

On the way, he had asked Baldy why they didn’t deliver the gift to Red Ridge Town first.

The expression on Baldy’s face was mysterious, and he only said that Ma Lu would know once they arrived.

And after flying for a while longer, a new town suddenly appeared in their sight.

"Up ahead is Nightmare Town," Baldy introduced to Ma Lu. "That’s the territory of the Evil Weaver; the gift I want to give you is there."

"Uh... you stored the thing there?"

"Stored? Something like that," Baldy replied.

By this time, the Snake Vulture had arrived above Nightmare Town, and Baldy gestured for it to descend.

Unlike Red Ridge, there were no houses in Nightmare Town, only pits one after another, as uneven as the surface of the Moon, and there were no people in sight.

Just as Ma Lu wondered where everyone had gone, dozens of figures suddenly surged out from those pits.

They were all enormous spiders with human faces on their backs, and they clearly noticed the Snake Vulture in the sky. Without any greeting, they opened their mouths and spat webs into the air.

The Snake Vulture seemed a bit frightened by the approaching webs, but in the very next moment, Baldy’s voice exploded from mid-air.

"Continue descending, I’ll deal with those unpleasant creatures below!"

Having said that, he leaped from the back of the Snake Vulture, like a meteor, and slammed down toward the ground!

The flames he had intentionally restrained burst forth in the next moment, engulfing more than a dozen giant spiders and burning their webs to ashes.

Without stopping, Baldy then turned to kill the other spiders nearby. With his distraction, the Snake Vulture avoided the now sparse webs and landed steadily on the ground.

Except for Coconut Jelly and Brother Xiao Wei, other members of the project team didn’t hesitate and charged towards those human-faced spiders.

Ma Lu was dumbfounded. "Weren’t we just here to retrieve something? Why has a fight broken out?"

"We are here to retrieve something," Brother Xiao Wei said, "but we have to kill the guards first."

"Ah, isn’t that just robbery?"

"If that’s how you want to interpret it, sure," replied Coconut Jelly. "But really, in the Abyss, we don’t have the concept of robbery; everything always belongs to whoever manages to snatch it."

"The team leader found out there’s good stuff in Nightmare Town and brought you, Boss Ma, to take it. Don’t worry, our entire project team is here. Handling Nightmare Town is more than manageable, so there’s no danger."

"......"

Ma Lu didn’t know what to say, pausing for a moment before he added, "They’re all fighting, aren’t you two joining in?"

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"There’s no need for us," Brother Xiao Wei said with a smile, "Actually, the team leader alone could handle it; the others just want to stretch their muscles. As for us two, we’re only responsible for one thing on this trip, and that’s to protect you, Boss Ma."

Brother Xiao Wei and Coconut Jelly were correct; in just a short while, the human-faced spiders had been exterminated by the people from Red Ridge.

Especially Baldy; the flames on his body seemed to restrain the human-faced spiders specifically.

They couldn’t get close at all, being burnt to death from more than ten meters away.

After clearing the scene, Baldy continued without stopping, burrowing into one of the holes.

"Let’s go down, too," said Coconut Jelly.

Ma Lu’s sprained ankle had already been healed by the Church’s Bone-setter on the way back to Red Ridge.

Hearing this, Ma Lu followed Coconut Jelly off the Snake Vulture and also entered the cave.

This cave wasn’t as damp as he had imagined; rather, it was quite dry, though the smell wasn’t very pleasant.

Inside the cave, there were paths splitting off in every direction. Ma Lu had initially tried to memorize the route back, but he quickly became dizzy and couldn’t remember at all.

At every fork, human-faced spiders would occasionally jump out and attack them.

However, before they could even move, Baldy had practically taken care of them all, with any that slipped through being dealt with by Coconut Jelly and Little Wei.

Beigong Meng, meanwhile, floated next to Baldy, guiding him along.

The group sped through the maze-like underground caves until they finally arrived at a stone hall.

The stone hall was full of spider cocoons, some of which were still moving as if something was about to crawl out.

Baldy ignored those cocoons and, after killing the guards in the area, made his way straight to the center of the stone hall.

There was a chest embedded with a pure white cross, radiating a holy light.

Baldy stepped up, crudely crushed the runes on top, and flung open the lid with relief and satisfaction.

"Not bad, the item’s still here; it must’ve just been brought in. They haven’t had a chance to use it yet—we’ve arrived just in time."

Ma Lu, hearing this, also leaned in to look.

Inside the stone coffin was a somewhat plain-looking ceramic jar.

"This... is this the ’gift’ you were talking about?"

"That’s right," Baldy said.

"The craftsmanship seems a bit ordinary."

"No, the gift isn’t the jar itself but what’s inside it," Baldy explained.

"What’s inside it?"

"Souls."

"What?"

"To be precise, they are soul fragments, usually formed from the obsessions of the deceased. Soul fragments have neither consciousness nor perception, but if left unattended, they can turn into evil spirits.

"That’s why the Church on the surface regularly sends priests to collect these soul fragments, sealing them in ceramic jars and burying them somewhere."

"Soul fragments are very rare in the Abyss; creatures like the Evil Weavers use them to breed their offspring, and the offspring produced with soul fragments are much stronger than those without.

"But the question is, what do I need these soul fragments for? I’m not raising spiders," Ma Lu said.

"As far as I know, soul fragments are also a special kind of ingredient," Baldy said. "They’re quite popular among Cosmic Chefs."

"Huh?"

Ma Lu then turned on the ingredient scanning feature of the Traveler’s Bracelet, and the next moment a notification popped up.

—Ding! Congratulations on finding a 7-star ingredient: "Soul Fragments", "Soul Fragments" Illustrated Handbook has been unlocked.

Ma Lu was shocked for a whole year, though he had already encountered all sorts of strange ingredients before.

Yet he was still dumbfounded by soul fragments.

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Is that even sensible?

Before Ma Lu could digest this news, Baldy urged him again.

"Boss Ma, we’ve found the gift, so pack it up quickly. The grandmother of the Evil Weaver will wake up any moment now. Although I’m not afraid of it, fighting it would be quite bothersome."