Chapter 390 (1/2)

While the four ascetics were still immersed in their unspeakable mental state of awe, Hao Ren was thrilled because of Raven 12345’s words: An annual bonus! Rewards! Fringe benefits!

Hao Ren felt cheated since the day he signed the contract. He had gone through a bunch of dangerous and inexplicable things, but the work benefits of the new unit were the one thing he was satisfied with. They were not bad. Although the unreliable Raven often made a mess of what she was supposed to send to him for a lot of reasons, have you ever seen any company on Earth giving you a car and ship within six months of working? On top of that, the ship was not an ordinary ship, but an actual spaceship.

So, Hao Ren was looking forward to his annual bonus.

Raven 12345 did not let him wait too long. She slashed the air and one by one, she moved a couple of things out from the dimensional crack. “According to our company’s contract, the annual bonuses are here…”

Hao Ren’s expression quickly shifted from anticipation to dullness with an “are you kidding me?” look.

“Fifty kilograms of rice, fifty kilograms of flour, ten litres of oil… Yes? Any problems?” Raven 12345 asked when she found that Hao Ren was still standing there. Hao Ren was unsure of what to say at that moment, so he asked, “…This… is the annual bonus?”

“Yes.” Raven 12345 nodded and said, “You should’ve already known when you signed the contract. The annual bonuses of heaven include rice, flour, and oil. Of course, this is limited to standard carbon-based biospheres. Some places receive sulphuric acid, gasoline, and silicon crystal plates…

Hao Ren looked at the pile of things and thought they were better to appear in the street or office than in heaven. But it seemed to have been written on the contract. He could only sigh and thought that Gods were all crazy. They gave you car and spacecraft as a small award but you just got two bags of rice as annual bonus…

But soon he knew that he had underestimated the powers of these psychos. Raven 12345 was still digging out and said, “… Then here are two boxes of snacks for you, half a bag of oil-tea camellia, a box of golden apples…

Hao Ren saw a small box filled with more than ten golden apples and the apples were covered in some kind of mysterious brilliance. He was thrilled and asked, “What did you just say?”

“Golden Apple,” Raven 12345 said, “The classic variety cultivated by the Goddess of Life. Looks like a legendary fruit on Earth, so it’s called the Golden Apple. Of course, this is not real gold, it’s edible.”

Hao Ren asked and his voice began to tremble, “What… What’s the result of eating it?”

Raven 12345 thought and said, “No special result on me, but it is said that if mortals eat it… It seems like it can at least eliminate all diseases and grow back broken limbs. Oh yes, it can extend the life expectancy for hundreds of years…

Hao Ren’s heart pounded. After confirming that Raven was not joking, his eyes were shining and asked, “It’s all mine?”

Raven nodded but Hao Ren was still puzzled and asked, “But the problem is… Putting such a box of treasure together with rice, flour, and oil. Don’t you think this package is weird?”

“Nothing weird. Annual bonus includes rice, flour, oil, snacks, and fruit. Rice, flour, and oil can keep for a long time but fruit can’t. So we change it to golden apples that can be stored for a long time. We’ve been doing it thousands of years ago.”

“Just for this reason? Because it has a long shelf life?” Hao Ren almost cried out.

“Yes.”

Gods were all crazy!

“There is one last thing,” said Raven 12345, taking out some red paper from the dimensional pocket, “Chinese New Year is just around the corner, so I give you this couplet–this is my own handwriting, paste it on the door. It will turn your house and two miles around your neighborhood into a holy sanctuary.”

Hao Ren accepted the couplet with a weird expression, unfold the papers and saw some scratchy words written on them. The first line is: I’ve been thinking for two months and I don’t know what to write; the second line is: I’ve been thinking for another three days; the horizontal scroll: As long as there’s a word on it…

The whole couplet looked so scratchy that Hao Ren suspected it was written with a paint brush. However, when Hao Ren was holding it, he could feel the warmth. The dim glow flowed around the handwriting and there was a kind of faint and sacred atmosphere surrounded them.

“Err… Can I not paste it on my door?” Hao Ren was struggling inside. He felt like he would get into this kind of situation every time he met her. “I’ll keep it as a treasure.”