Chapter 11 Side Quest Completed

[Side Quest Complete]

[Special Script Additional Reward: Current Level Experience +2%]

As Sanzo and his group were being escorted away by Officer Inunosuke, Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi heard the system prompt.

They opened the game menu to take a look; the entry for [Assist Usami in Solving the Corpse-less Murder Case] was already checked off. Judging from the results, the reward for this side quest was experience points, not skill points like in the main quest; Kuma-吉’s (Kuma-kichi’s) hatred level didn't increase as a result of solving the case either.

"Great, this quest was much easier than the main one," Feng Bujue commented, looking at the game menu.

"Yeah... Brother Jue, you really are amazing. When the situation took a sudden turn for the worse, you reversed the situation with a simple provocation," Little Tan added.

"Well... because I'm fairly familiar with the original work, I can roughly know... how to deal with the characters in this 'Hiyori Universe'," Feng Bujue said in a serious tone. "Except for a few characters with relatively normal intelligence and values... like Sora-kun (Kawai Sora), Hirata-kun (Hirata Hirao), and Imoko (Ono no Imoko)... most of the other characters have a certain degree of comical stupidity." He explained matter-of-factly, "In other words... when necessary, as long as you subtly hint at something, they will say or do things that are full of things to make people comment on."

"The so-called gag character instinct, huh..." Little Tan's expression also became inexplicably serious.

"That's right, it's like the impulse of 'seeing a banana peel and not being able to resist stepping on it and falling down in an exaggerated way'," Feng Bujue continued. "Most of the characters in this world have this attribute, including Usami... She often makes requests to Kuma-吉 in a nonchalant manner, like 'There haven't been any cases lately, why don't you jump off the building for a bit?' and her 'staring expression'... these are all characteristics that create things to comment on for the character. She herself doesn't realize the existence of this attribute at all, nor is it possible for her to change it."

"Oh..." Little Tan nodded, "I think I understand a bit... why Kuma-吉 commits crimes so frequently and gets arrested so often..."

"Neko Saburo, Hayabusa Taro, get ready to go."

Just as the two of them were communicating, Usami, Nyami, and Kuma-吉 had re-equipped themselves. At this moment, Nyami, who was closest to them, turned her head and called out to them.

"Okay, we're coming," Feng Bujue replied loudly, and then walked over with Little Tan.

"Eh? There wasn't a scene transition this time..." Wang Tanzhi said softly as he walked.

"Then that means... something else will happen next..." Feng Bujue replied softly.

...

Thirty minutes later...

The five friends arrived at a place with beautiful scenery (in terms of the world's art style).

Here, all kinds of flowers were in bloom, the water and mountains were picturesque, the breeze was gentle, and the birds sang sweetly. It was indeed a good place for a picnic.

The five of them had been walking for so long and were already a little tired, so it was a good opportunity to rest on the grass and have a meal.

"Ah! Oh no! I was in such a hurry to catch up with everyone earlier that I ran too fast, and all the honey in my bag leaked out, and everything's become sticky!"

Nyami had just spread the picnic cloth on the ground when Kuma-吉 couldn't wait to open his backpack, but... the moment he opened it, he said such a line with a look of annoyance.

"What an idiot," Usami looked down at him with a condescending gaze, "Don't expect me to share my food with you."

"Eh—" Kuma-吉 said very aggrievedly, "Too... too cold, Usami-chan!"

"Alright, alright..." Little Tan saw that Kuma-吉 was pitiful, so he patted the latter's shoulder and said, "I'll share some of my food with you."

"Ah! You're such a good person!" Kuma-吉 immediately looked at Wang Tanzhi with grateful eyes.

[Kuma-吉's Hatred Towards You -2%] At the same time, a system prompt rang in Little Tan's ears.

"Oh? So this is how you can reduce his hatred towards me..." Little Tan thought to himself, "Although I still don't know what the meaning of this 'hatred level' is, it feels like... the lower the better."

While he was thinking, he had already sat cross-legged on the picnic cloth and took off the backpack from his shoulder (after the last scene transition, backpacks appeared on Little Tan and Brother Jue's shoulders. As early as before meeting Sanzo and his disciples, the two had checked each other's backpacks, which contained ordinary food).

"Well... let me see..." Little Tan took out the things in his backpack one by one. There were two bento boxes and two boxes of drinks inside. The drinks were all in cardboard packaging, with straws attached. When Brother Jue helped Little Tan check his backpack earlier, he had analyzed it... Hayabusa Taro's "wing hands" probably couldn't unscrew bottle caps, and his bird's beak couldn't drink well through the bottle mouth, so... he could only drink drinks in this kind of packaging.

"I have two bentos, so I'll give you one," Little Tan took out all the things in his backpack and then casually picked one up and handed it to Kuma-吉.

"Too... Thank you so much!" Kuma-吉 was moved to tears, and accepted the bento, "I will definitely repay this kindness!"

"Heh... Hehe... No need, right." Little Tan replied with a dry laugh.

At this moment, he suddenly felt that, aside from all the criminal behavior... Kuma-吉 was quite a cute character.

Of course... this brief goodwill of his would soon disappear.

...

Five minutes later...

"Ah, Usami-chan, you didn't even chew the fish roe properly, and you ate the entire herring in one bite!" Seeing Usami's eating habits, Kuma-吉 couldn't help but reveal a troubled expression.

"You're eating other people's food, yet you're still criticizing their eating habits?" Usami turned her head and glared at Kuma-吉, replying in an unpleasant tone.

"Hey, hey... Kuma-吉 is eating my food, right..." Little Tan thought to himself, "Why does this guy's tone... sound like she's eating her food..."

"By the way... Kuma-吉..." Feng Bujue then said, "Since your backpack is all dirty with honey, why don't you go wash it by the stream over there? Isn't it uncomfortable to carry it on your back when it's sticky? And the longer you leave this stuff, the harder it is to wash off."

"Ah, that makes sense." Kuma-吉 was stunned for a moment, and nodded in response, "Then I'll go wash it."

With that, he stood up, picked up the backpack that was placed on the grass, and headed towards a small stream a dozen meters away.

"Brother Jue... you're..." Little Tan turned his head to look at Feng Bujue, tentatively asking.

"Minimize his contact with Usami and Nyami," Brother Jue replied in a low voice, "Lest he inadvertently reveal some more evidence of his crimes..."

"Yeah... good idea," Little Tan also replied in a low voice.

"Eh? Nyami-chan." On the other side, Usami seemed to have discovered something and said to Nyami, "Why aren't you wearing socks?"

"Oh..." Nyami frowned and replied, "Actually... my house was burglarized last night."

Upon hearing the word "burglarized," Brother Jue and Little Tan's expressions instantly turned serious. Their first reaction was... "Kuma-吉 did it, didn't he."

"Was it a robbery... Did you report it to the police?" Usami continued, "Do you need me to..."

"No need, Usami-chan," Nyami explained, "Only my socks were stolen, nothing else was lost."

As soon as these words came out, Usami's eyes became sharp again: "What did you say!" She said in a loud voice, and suddenly turned her head to look at Kuma-吉 in the distance.

Then... she got up and rushed towards the latter.

"Don't be impulsive!" Brother Jue and Little Tan reacted almost at the same time and took off in pursuit.

"You perverted bear!" Usami shouted as she ran towards Kuma-吉.

Kuma-吉, who was washing his backpack by the river, heard the voice and looked back, and was immediately startled: "Eh? What's wrong? What's going on?"

"A thief broke into Usami's house yesterday and stole her socks!" Usami said as she ran, and in the blink of an eye, she was in front of Kuma-吉.

"Hey... what does that have to do with me? Why are you looking at me with such a suspicious expression and rushing towards me?" Kuma-吉 asked, sweating profusely.

"According to my reasoning..." Usami's eyes were glowing with golden light, "It's five hundred percent that you, you stinky bear, did it!" As she said that, she stepped forward and grabbed Kuma-吉's arm, "It's on you! Hand it over!"

"No... It wasn't me... I didn't..." Kuma-吉 struggled backward as he defended himself.

Unexpectedly... seconds later, his feet slipped, and with a "plop," he fell into the river...