Chapter 292 The Yungang Buddha Statues (1/2)

There's a chance that its corrupting agent isn't something that can usually be found in this world. Maybe it's something that the Cataclysm brought into existence, thought Gao Peng.

He put away his laboratory equipment and said to Stripey, ”Stripey, I'll leave you here with the statue. Go play with it if you're feeling bored.”

Stripey nodded and watched as Gao Peng left the stone cottage.

Poke, poke.

When Gao Peng was finally gone, Stripey began playfully prodding at the statue.

This new toy that Gao Peng had given it was quite sturdy. No matter how much Stripey played with it, it still remained intact.

As tolerant as the Guan Gong statue seemed, it wouldn't let just anyone or anything touch it like that.

The bronze statue glared at Stripey as it silently judged its own size against the mountain-sized spider.

Don't test me, spider!

Still having too much fun with its new toy, Stripey poked it gently with one of its massive legs and sent it tumbling to the ground.

”Hey, have you ever heard of me?” asked Stripey happily.

Monsters of the same species were usually capable of communicating with one another.

Even though Stripey was a spider, it was able to communicate with other rock-type monsters, an ability it had obtained after absorbing the Mountain Spirit King's essence.

The Guan Gong statue simply didn't want to engage with the spider.

”I think you have heard of me. I've been getting a lot of praise from the humans outside recently. They've been talking about how I'm the greatest familiar in the world. Can't blame them; it's the truth!” Stripey was overjoyed to have finally found someone to talk to. It crawled to the Guan Gong statue's side and began talking excitedly to it.

However, the conversation was mostly one-sided, as the bronze statue didn't say a word to it.

”Metal man, did you know? That was probably one of my coolest moments ever,” Stripey gushed enthusiastically while tapping on the Guan Gong statue's head with its leg.

The Guan Gong statue remained mute.

”Hey, did you know? I think that the mealworms that Gao Peng bought for me in Chang'an City were the tastiest things I've ever tasted. I haven't had anything tastier since,” continued Stripey, sounding somewhat disappointed.

”Have you eaten mealworms? Oh, I completely forgot that you're a metal man. You probably don't need to eat, do you? It's a shame. You probably don't even know what it's like to taste.”

The Guan Gong statue continued to say nothing.

”Have you ever been to Chang'an City? You've probably never been there. It's almost as big as Yuzhou City,” Stripey went on.

Finally, the Guan Gong statue blurted out, ”Could you please stop talking?”

Stripey looked at the bronze statue in surprise. ”You can talk?”

...

That night, Gao Peng was searching for information on recently discovered monsters from other regions when suddenly, he heard Spidey's voice in his head. ”Gao Peng, I finally cracked the statue.”

”How did you do it?” Gao Peng was taken aback. It had only taken Stripey a day to accomplish what he had been trying to do for a week.

”Nothing, we just chatted for a bit,” said Stripey happily. ”It probably just wanted to be my friend.”

”All right. Did you ask it why it killed someone that day?”