Chapter 56: Settling the Yield

Back at the Happy Home, Lu Rang spread his arms and fell backward onto the ground, shouting with tears in his eyes, "Ah...! Finally safe. I survived!"

With a loud *clatter*, a golden, eight-armed, severely distorted two-headed Bodhisattva abruptly crashed onto the ground behind Yuan Zhu, tumbling twice and drawing numerous gazes.

The spatial rules of the Happy Home were far stricter than those of the bubble world. The foreign object hidden in his shadow had been squeezed and rejected by the space, popping right out.

"Holy shit! That's a huge lump of gold!" Disregarding his weakness and pain, Lu Rang sprang up from what felt like his deathbed and stared in shock at behind Yuan Zhu.

Meng Xiyue also widened her eyes, shouting with envy and grievance, "Yuan, where did you get this golden Bodhisattva from? Why did we search an entire monastery and not get this lucky?! No way, Brother Yuan, please give me a share of it. My college tuition for this year is still up in the air!"

"Brother Zhu, should I kowtow to you too?" Lu Rang chimed in with an envious expression.

Yuan Zhu pressed his hands downward, wearing a beaming smile as he showed off before others: "Calm down, everyone calm down! We're teammates after all; when we attain wealth, we shouldn't forget each other. One Bodhisattva arm each to share the good fortune."

After Granny Yu's passing, at most seven arms could be harvested, and he had planned this long ago. Now he could at least save one golden arm while winning over people's hearts and projecting the image of a generous philanthropist. Quite a bargain!

Meng Xiyue had only spoken casually, not expecting an actual harvest. Overjoyed, she gave him a thumbs-up: "Zhu, you're a stand-up guy!"

Lu Rang: "Brother Zhu, you're my real big brother from now on! Once I recover from my injuries, I'm sticking with you. Ah! Captain, does our Happy Home have a healing function? I feel like I'm about to die."

The captain smiled and shook his head: "There is no healing function. However, the exchange list of the Gods Space offers pills and items for treating injuries. Now, let's settle the earnings: 10 coins and 400 points per person. This is the basic reward I am distributing to you on behalf of the King of Wool. In addition, your harvests from the bubble world can be sold to the Happy Home or put on the market in the Gods Space. Finally, based on your performance and the subsequent influence you caused in the bubble world, the Gods Space will pay an unspecified additional reward."

"In other words, if you want to reap rewards, you must either work hard to fulfill the KPI targets of the Happy Home and earn commissions from me, or act alone like Yuan Zhu and plunder the natives for big gains. But let me warn you: not every bubble world is as pliable as this one, ready for you to take whatever you want. Once your actions cross the line, you will face counterattacks and retaliation. Lastly, everyone performed well in this trial, so I will additionally gift each of you two Blood Bodhi fruits. Taking just one can heal the vast majority of injuries and greatly replenish your vitality and physical strength. You can practically use them as a 'life-saving divine medicine'."

With that, he distributed the string of blood-weeping Buddha-head fruits, giving two to each person. Then he took out seven small black cloth bags and distributed ten coins to everyone.

As Yuan Zhu accepted his reward, he sophistically argued: "Captain, I wasn't plundering; I was protecting precious cultural relics!"

The captain nodded perfunctorily: "Right, protecting a Bodhisattva statue that is completely unrecognizable, with all eight arms broken, and even dismembered."

*Drip, drip, drip...*

Reaching out to take the blood-red, slightly warm 'Blood Bodhi', the Immortal Scripture emitted a pollution peak alert far surpassing that of the green skull cocoons and red blood tomatoes. This fully demonstrated that the gold content of this fruit was far beyond what ordinary pollutants in the bubble world could compare to.

Having experienced this wondrous adventure in the bubble world, Yuan Zhu was no longer all that squeamish about the Immortal Scripture's pollution warnings.

Before being kidnapped by the King of Wool, he had somewhat of a psychological cleanliness obsession. He was extremely guarded against the pollution targets flagged by the Immortal Scripture, always carefully avoiding all sorts of contamination for fear of dirtying himself.

But now?

Having witnessed the residents of that Leaf Buddhist Kingdom—either wrapped in Buddha cocoons, turned into skeletal demon cocoons, sporting tomato heads, possessing deformed limbs, or experiencing serial head explosions—his mental threshold had vastly increased.

At this moment, playing with the 'Buddha-head Blood Bodhi' with his bare hands brought no psychological pressure at all. Wasn't it just a 'super health potion' with a unique art style? If it could trade for a life, he would eat it without hesitation.

Case in point, Lu Rang, whose nerves had also been desensitized to a thick-skinned degree, didn't hesitate to pop one into his mouth to test it out for everyone, chewing with loud smacking noises.

His originally pale cheeks rapidly regained color, and he scrambled up from the ground, exercising his limbs with a surprised expression as he exclaimed, "Eh? I'm healed. I've really recovered. Captain, this is truly miraculous! I feel my body brimming with strength."

He clenched his five fingers into a tight fist, his knuckles cracking audibly. Then he shot a malevolent look at the little goat, harboring a strong urge to rush over and beat the creature up, though he managed to hold back in the end.

At this point, the captain also reminded them: "As good as this 'Blood Bodhi' is, you must still consume it with caution. It is best not to take more than two consecutively within a short period, otherwise it will cause mild mental pollution, and your resistance to starlight and Buddhist dharma will drop drastically. You could easily be converted into Buddhism or assimilated by starlight. If anyone is interested in more, you can exchange and purchase them in the exclusive area of the King of Wool."

After all that fuss, these two were just trial products to cultivate customers, weren't they? Not only would the King of Wool sell children's clothing in the future, but it would also moonlight as a vendor of HP-recovery little tomatoes?!

Meng Xiyue chimed in to ask: "Captain, what is this 'Blood Bodhi'? It looks a lot like those 'blood tomatoes'. One has independent eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and mouth, while the other has all five facial features fully intact. Are they by any chance relatives?"

The captain answered: "I suppose you all saw that Buddha giant, didn't you? These Blood Bodhi are Buddha-fruits personally nurtured by the Omniscient Buddha-Tomato, akin to the Buddha cocoons that grow naturally near monasteries. Nourished by the Buddhist dharma and blood of the Omniscient Buddha-Tomato, and absorbing the power of the stars, they grow into perfect fruits. Rare and precious, they are considered the most valuable specialty of this bubble world. The 'blood tomatoes' you obtained earlier were degraded, low-spec versions of the Blood Bodhi, nurtured by the monks in the monastery using their own flesh and blood. After all, back then, Duo Wen had not yet attained Buddhahood."

"What? Duo Wen has attained Buddhahood? You mean that huge Buddha-Tomato?!" Lu Rang asked in shock. "Wait, something that evil can also be considered a Buddha?"

Meng Xiyue agreed: "I heard Abbot Duo Wen say back then, 'Unless I cleanse the Leaf Buddhist Kingdom, I vow never to attain Buddhahood.' Now that Naye City is swarming with demons, can that Buddha-Tomato really be considered a true Buddha?"

Seeing that everyone was full of desire for discussion, the captain elaborated a bit further: "Abbot Duo Wen has not attained Buddhahood, and the Buddha-Tomato is not Duo Wen. Moreover, it indeed possesses certain characteristics of gods and demons. It can be regarded as a native deity or demon nurtured by the bubble world, and calling it a Buddha is fine too."

At this point, Zhou Chu also joined in and asked: "Captain, do you know what actually happened in the Leaf Buddhist Kingdom? What was the cause and effect of everything tonight? I really want to know the truth."

As a Security Bureau investigator, she suffered from a compulsive disorder where she would feel thoroughly uncomfortable if she didn't get to the bottom of things.

From the perspective of product sales for the King of Wool, this short mission trial could only be described as exceptionally failed and fraught with difficulty.

From starting out lost in deep mountain forests, to slaughtering foul-bone monsters and netherworld ghouls all the way... and then entering the Leaf Buddhist Kingdom to participate in a bizarre, grotesque 'Tomato Buddha-Attainment Ceremony', before hacking and slashing their way out of the city—the entire process was simply baffling.

Though they had reaped a super golden Bodhisattva that kept Yuan Zhu from getting angry, leaving the corners of his mouth twitching upward uncontrollably, that didn't mean he was truly happy! That sense of perplexity—not knowing the true face of Mount Lu—was equally irritating, leaving his thoughts completely blocked.

If he could figure out the cause and effect of tonight's ceremony, he would feel thoroughly gratified.

Seeming to sense the resentment of the group, the captain nodded: "Alright, then I will tell you. While you were acting freely, I also secretly investigated the mystery of the Leaf Buddhist Kingdom and made some discoveries."