Chapter 20 Name The Second Pet

The fish-tailed boy was already in a state of emotional turmoil when he suddenly saw these two lines of text, and his mind went completely blank.

The system quickly output: "Look, this place is so eerie. Anyone who can live here is definitely not human. You don't need to worry about repeating the same mistake and being ambushed by humans."

[And my host doesn't have the ability to set traps. I'm not saying he's stupid! It's just that no matter what happens, he would never intentionally harm anyone.]

[You'll see after spending some time with him; my host is the best in the world!]

The system was like a rampaging typewriter, almost immediately dispelling the red mist and starting a new line as soon as it finished writing a line. If the boy hadn't been a fast reader, he probably would have been dizzy by now.

After saying a lot, it condensed more red mist into a line of large characters.

I need your help!

The boy's eyes widened in an instant.

He clasped his hands together, hesitatingly beginning to speak: "I..."

Don't rush to refuse; the terms are still negotiable.

Seeing that the system was about to launch into another long-winded explanation, the boy quickly said, "I agree!"

The system paused for a moment, then exclaimed excitedly: 【Great! Hurry, hurry, hurry!】

As it wrote with the red mist, it spoke into the little zombie's mind. So when that familiar ding sound rang out in the space, both the boy and the little zombie felt a little dizzy.

[Ding—Congratulations on obtaining a new pet]

【Quality: Exceptional】

The boy had been staring blankly at the direction of the sound, but he snapped out of his daze upon hearing the announcement: "Wait, a pet!?"

His eyebrows furrowed instantly, and his cheeks flushed red with anger: "I'm not—"

System: [This fluffy ball is a Taotie, and also my host's pet.]

The boy immediately lost interest: "Okay."

The system deliberately didn't reveal Taotie's identity beforehand, not to scare the fish-tailed boy, but because it was afraid that revealing the identities of the two furballs would attract danger, since Taotie was still a fetus and had no fighting power at all.

But now that the fishtail boy is one of us, there's no need to hide this anymore.

Do you have a name?

The boy twisted his fingers and whispered, "I am a horizontal male fish."

No, I don't mean that kind of name, I mean "name".

The boy-like fish paused for a moment, then shook its head: "No."

The system continued writing: "My recognition system includes a naming process. Essentially, the contract between you and the host is only complete when the host gives you a name, and you accept that name."

The system added: "[I suggest you think of one yourself.]"

Henggongyu immediately tensed up: "W-why? Didn't you say the host had to take it?"

The system remained silent for a moment before secretly pointing a small arrow formed from red mist at the Taotie: [That guy, the host calls him Dog.]

The Henggong fish was greatly shocked.

He immediately replied, "I will try my best to think of a good name."

【Don't make it too good either.】

The system thought of the world plane Heng Gongyu had previously inhabited, and recalled Heng Gongyu's tone of voice. It felt a headache coming on: "[It would be best to keep it simple, otherwise the host might not remember it.]"

Henggongyu: "...Okay."

Having learned about the relationship between the name and the contract, Henggongyu looked at the little zombie digging in the sand with Taotie and suddenly thought of something.

He asked the system, "System, what is your host's name?"

The system replied matter-of-factly, "Just call me Host."

Henggongyu suddenly felt a little tired: "What you told me before wasn't a name, but a surname... Does he have a surname?"

After he finished speaking, the surrounding red mist remained still for a long time, and Henggongyu immediately thought that he had said something wrong.

He quickly apologized: "I'm sorry! I was too abrupt, my name—"

Henggongyu's words were interrupted.

I never thought about this.

The characters formed by the red mist were much darker than before, as if reflecting the system's current mood.

After a long while, another line of text appeared: [The host... has no name.]

The flounder opened its mouth as if to speak, but in the end it just pursed its lips and said nothing.

A name is an extremely luxurious thing for someone like him.

A name is a contract, and most monsters will try their best not to reveal their names in order to avoid being taken advantage of by those with ulterior motives and manipulated at will.

As for the top-tier demons, they don't care. Trying to use them at will is simply courting death.

But the Henggong Fish is different from the other two. He was born alone, and over the years, the only people he has ever seen are those who have hurt him and taken his blood.

But... apart from being covered in blood, he didn't know what use he was.

Incompetent and weak, just like those inconspicuous weeds and wildflowers by the roadside. When someone sees them, they might just say, "They grow lush and beautiful," but no one would care to know what they are, let alone give a name to a single blade of grass or flower.

But that child was different.

When Heng Gongyu thought of the little child in the dark dungeon who had broken the centuries-old restrictions and entered his eyes along with the candlelight, a strong impulse suddenly arose in his heart.

He mustered his courage and said, "Please let me help him choose a name."

Because of his emotional outburst, Henggongyu's voice was quite loud, immediately attracting the little zombie's attention.

He came running over, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Henggongyu: "Name, style name."

Henggongyu couldn't bear the gaze, so he quickly lowered his head, bit his lip, and was so nervous that he almost tied his fingers into knots.

A wisp of red mist drifted over: "Have you made up your mind?"

Heng Gongyu was stunned for a few seconds, then overwhelmed with joy, he said, "I've decided, I'll call him Chen Jiu!"

System: 【...Huh?】

He had only dared to speak because he was full of confidence, but when he heard what the system said, Heng Gongyu immediately deflated.

His face flushed red with embarrassment, as if it were burning, and he stammered, "Chen means treasure, and Jiu refers to a black jade-like stone, they're both...both are very good..."

When he said the last few words, his voice was so low that it was almost inaudible.

The system, however, completely disregarded the other party's feelings and bluntly stated: "The meaning is good, but it's too complicated. Change it."

The flounder was almost turned into dried fish in an instant.

"Then let's call him Xiao Jiu."

A voice rang out from behind the fish-tailed boy.

The Suanni, with its beautiful brown fur, walked gracefully towards them, completely ignoring the bunch of red text that the system had sent him. He sat down in front of the little zombie.

He looked up at the little zombie: "Little Nine."

The little zombie blinked and repeated, "Aww, little nine."

“Little, Nine, Little—Nine—” Suanni repeated it twice more at a very slow pace.

The little zombie, who looked like a child, followed suit exactly.

“Little, little…nine.”

In a fleeting moment, the red mist surrounding the little zombie shifted, and the next second he clearly and loudly proclaimed, "Little Nine!"

His voice was strangely hoarse, and even the tone was a bit odd, but it carried an undeniable vitality.

Suanni sat in front of him, Taotie lay at his feet, and Henggongyu stretched out its upper body. They were all looking at him, and their eyes, of different colors and shapes, revealed something tender.

The system was initially furiously criticizing the name Suanni for being too perfunctory, but upon seeing its host's expression, it gave up.

With his newly acquired name, Zombie Xiao Jiu became even more cheerful while digging in the sand. The fact that he only had one arm did not affect him at all, and he still turned the sand upside down as if it were a sandstorm.

The Taotie and Suanni helped from the other side of the sand dune, digging quickly and efficiently.

Heng Gongyu wanted to help, but he was already injured and so weak that he had almost no strength. Suanni simply sent him away and asked the system to explain the spatial rift to Heng Gongyu.

The system wasn't comfortable with the newly arrived Henggong fish, or Xiao Jiu and Taotie, which had clearly undergone significant changes, so it didn't plan to put them in standby mode to save power. Since they were idle now, they could act as commentators.

The spatial rift, the zombie Xiao Jiu, the ferocious beast Taotie, and the system itself—this series of events contains a lot of information. By the time we got to the Taotie, it was almost dawn.

Having just learned why the Taotie looked like this, Henggongyu asked worriedly, "Will the lightning tribulation still harm them?"

The system cannot determine this either.

Suddenly a voice rang out: "Most likely."

Henggongyu turned its head and saw that it was Suanni again.

System: [You're slacking off again!]

The Suanni nonchalantly slapped the words away and lazily yawned: "I'm not your servant. You should thank me for helping you for a little while."

That makes sense.

But seeing the Suanni's attitude, the system couldn't help but huff and puff: [You weren't slow at all when eating the grains!]

Suanni lifted his eyelids: "That was given to me by Xiao Jiu. Let me warn you, don't even think about messing with me. I'm not like Taotie or this stupid fish. If you want me to sign a contract and take orders from others, you might as well just kill me."

Although Henggongyu didn't know the identity of the brown-furred kitten in front of him, he had vaguely sensed that the kitten's origins were not simple.

Upon hearing this, he didn't refute being called "stupid," but simply sighed quietly: a great demon is indeed a great demon, its aura is truly different.

The system and the Suanni started bickering again, neither willing to give in, until a hoarse voice called out "System, Tian" from the other side, and they finally stopped fighting.

Xiao Jiu and his friends dug up the farmland.

Four small plots of land nestled in the white sand, though not very large, were covered with thriving, tender green seedlings that were so lush that just looking at them was enough to put one at ease.

Based on previous data, these sunflowers should be blooming soon.

Xiao Jiu, Taotie, and Suanni were squatting beside the farmland waiting for the flowers to bloom. The system was just about to record the energy changes at the moment of mutation when suddenly they heard a panicked shout.

"Xiao Jiu!"

They all turned around, but the fishtail boy from before was gone.

Only one fish lay on the white sand, its scales dry and its mouth struggling to open and close.

He looks like he's about to die.

A note from the author:

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