28 Argenti (2/2)

Mao Lu chuckled, \”Something like that.\”

In less than a minute Mao Lu was opening the box in the kitchen. Chàng Bo salvated as he stared at the set of spicy chicken wings and fried squid.

The smell was just so tantalising.

\”That's how you can order food if you can't be bothered to cook. Though it's cheaper to just cook food for yourself. You can also order using some apps, but you don't have a mobile so it's easier to just call using the house phone. I'll give you some money to order with later so you don't go hungry if i'm preoccupied. Before I teach you about the currency…\” Mao Lu's words trailed off as he looked up at Chàng Bo and realised the man was practically drooling over the squid and chicken.

\”Didn't he just eat?!\” Mao Lu was surprised.

\”He's a Dao stage practitioner, his body requires a lot more energy than your body does, and he digests quickly. Not only that but he is perfectly at the Dao stage, all of his 10,000 meridians have been opened, his 1,000 acupoints are breathing, his blood is at the level of mercury and I can tell he has two twin souls and can easily live even if his body were destroyed. To be in such perfect condition despite that poison living in his veins for years, it can be seen that he is a talent that was nurtured with the best resources and spiritual medicines. He even rejects the essence of this realm because he finds it too impure and of low quality, not worth his pallette. How could your simple mortal level dish quench his hunger, all it achieved was wetting his massive appetite.\” Gates informed Mao Lu.

\”Meridians, Acupoints, twin souls, and can exist without his body?????\” Mao Lu had no idea about all the things Gates had just listed off, it sounded like something out of a fantasy novel.

\”These things are mostly only relevant to other practitioners, not Gatekeepers, and twin souls, when you get to the Dao Stage I shall explain it to you.\”

Mao Lu felt his head buzz a bit with all this new information, but he understood Gates, and if he didn't need to understand it yet then it meant it wasn't relevant to him right now. So he shouldn't waste time thinking about it.

\”If you're hungry just go ahead and eat. Don't think I'm stopping you.\” Mao Lu quickly told Chàng Bo. It took less than a second after he answered before Chàng Bo was picking up the spicy bbq chicken wings and swallowing them down with gusto. He didn't even pause to spit out the bones he just sucked them in whole.

It was a fascinating sight that was for sure.

\”But if he still gets hungry and this type of food isn't enough, then what am I supposed to do?\” Mao Lu asked Gates as he watched Chàng Bo move on to eating the squid.

It was funny how his face remained beautiful and his movements remained graceful, yet he ate like a beggar that hadn't seen food in months. Mao Lu couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene.

\”Do you think all the guests came empty handed? Even though you seem not to have noticed, but when you're training and busy, I go out of my way to reject the trillions of visitors that try to see you. Many, in an effort to gain your favour, leave gifts at your doorstep and I have collected them and stored them for you. The same thing happened when you met your guests the first time. At the moment I have accumulated 5 million tier 3 treasures, 60 billion tier 2, 200 trillion tier 1, 300 billion C grade medicines, 4 trillion B grade, 60 trillion A grade medicines, 88 billion B grade spiritual plants and 40 trillion A grade spiritual plants. And that isn't counting the resources you inherited from Wang Cao.

I only accepted the C grade and B grade items because they were somewhat rare, but of course you only deserve tier 1 and A grade. As a Gatekeeper receiving such gifts are commonplace. Ahhh that reminds me that I have yet to show you the treasury, I will show you that later, but my point is you have more than enough plants and medicines to feed him with. One A grade plant will be enough to keep him satisfied for a few months.\”

Gates said all of this very casually but Mao Lu's eyes were bulging.

He'd received that many gifts. Trillions????? And he hadn't even noticed. No actually he had noticed Gates taking things from visiting practitioners, and he had noticed Gates sending many Guests away but he'd only noticed on a subconscious level and never paid attention to it all. To think he was getting so many items, and they all sounded like super high level resources. And Gates was so chill about it, like this was normal and to be expected. Mao Lu still found it hard to remember that he was Gatekeeper and someone of such great importance.

\”Give me two seconds, I will get you a spiritual plant.\” Gates said.

Mao Lu noticed the miniature keychain version of Gates, that was connected to his belt, vanish momentarily. When it reappeared its pages flipped open and a orange plant, that looked like a hybrid of an onion and a grapefruit, popped out and into Mao Lu's hands.

Chàng Bo, who was mid devouring the last squid, paused when he saw the plant.

\”Is that a heavenly Po plant, said to taste like the nectar of the heavens?\” he said quickly, he swallowed as he looked at it.

Mao Lu didn't really know whether it was or not and just answered, \”Yep probably, it's for you since you seem really hungry.\”

\”For me!\” Chàng Bo exclaimed his voice going high and squeaky.

Mao Lu nodded.

\”Thank you so much!!!\” He shouted as he snatched the plant, as if he thought Mao Lu was going to change his mind any second, and bit into it.

An orgasming, moaning sound of bliss erupted from Chàng Bo the moment it entered his mouth. He looked so happy.

Chàng Bo was freaking out. \”I can't believe he gave me the heavenly Po plant. This is crazy, they're so rare that they only grow in the Deity realms, and one of these costs 60 trillion Essence stones. Even my Father would hesitate before giving this away to someone. This should be locked up in a treasure vault, just eating this alone can help me progress to the Ascendance stage in half the time I would have normally.\”

\”I know Gatekeepers are crazy rich but to just give this away. Whoa. Even the Gatekeeper of one of the most crappiest mortal realms is still easily richer than the richest practitioners.\”

Chàng Bo felt a little jealous of such wealth, but then felt even more encouraged to deepen the bond between himself and Mao Lu. \”When we're best friends, what belongs to him will easily be mine.\”

Mao Lu was none the wiser towards Chàng Bo's vindictive and plotting thoughts. All his mind was filled with was, \”How is he so cute when he eats!!! That precious smile and those filled up cheeks, he's like a little hamster storing it in his mouth. Bless.\”

Just as Mao Lu thought all of this he mentally slapped himself for the third time that day.

\”What is happening to me?!!!!!!!\” He mentally screamed.

Gates who was listening in on Mao Lu's thoughts, flippantly commented, \”I've been wondering what the hell is wrong with you for a while now.\”

….

As evening popped around, Mao Lu went into his quarters in the west building to train. Since he didn't know how long his daily training might take him, before he went he gave Chàng Bo some more spiritual plants and some money in case he grew bored and wanted to go and explore.

After teaching Chàng Bo about the chinese currency, renminbi/yuan, Mao Lu sat cross legged on his bed.

\”Before we begin todays session, I thought I should inform you that during the week you were training, I informed the Gatekeepers association about the Key user. They expect you to come to the association for a meeting within the next two weeks. So I suggest that after this training session we should head straight there.\” Gates advised Mao Lu

\”I see. Then we will head straight there when we finish this training session.\”

After saying that Mao Lu entered the space within his mind. He saw the seed of the information he'd absorbed from the realm, last time it had sprouted a silvery stardusted leaf, now it had four more leaves.

Whilst Mao Lu concentrated on training his Sense of the Realm, he didn't notice his phone buzz on his bedside table.

Wechat app Notifications:

You've been added to a group chat with FEI BING BING, ZHAO DETONG, TANAKA KATO, BEI LAO, and FANG KAI named HOUSEWARMING PARTY.

Message from FEI BING BING:

\”Hey Lu, I'm sorry for being a major bitch the last time we saw each other. I've had time to cool my head, I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry. Forgive me.

Also all of us know you've moved house so we've made group chat for your housewarming party. I'm sure you're all set up by now and even if you're not, we'll come over to help out. Perhaps sometime around next week. I'm not sure if you've deleted wechat or not since you haven't responded to anyone lately, so even if you don't see this message we're still gonna surprise visit you okay. Lol. You've been forewarned.\”