Chapter 832: Chapter 832

An old dog with wrinkled skin and no collar around its neck was shuffling down Beta Town Pedestrian Street.

Behind it followed an elder wizard in a grey robe, leaning heavily on a wooden staff.

The elder wizard had grey hair and a tall figure. He walked with an imposing air, and the long wooden staff in his hand knocked against the blue stone slab pavement, dong dong, making listeners’ hearts tremble.

If Zheng Qing were here, he would have recognized this elder wizard at a glance—he was the senior groundskeeper who used to be in charge of the night patrol around Lin Zhong Lake, old man Ferna. And the old dog, naturally, was Sir May.

For the shops on the Pedestrian Street that had been around for some years, neither Ferna nor May was a stranger. Although the old man spent most of his time at First University, he would occasionally stroll around the street to do some shopping. Over time, he became a familiar face.

"Uncle, you’ve come a bit early today," Little Master Tang of Double Tang Note poked his head out from the shop window with a smile, "How about a ’Dragon Knight Fight the Lich King?’ It’s our new product for January, not even on the market yet... I pondered for two months before deciding to use sesame candy sticks to craft the body of the Giant Dragon—white sesame for the belly scales, black sesame for the back scales, making the scales scatter with the effect quite magnificent!"

Old man Ferna stopped in his tracks, his gaze passing over the round head outside the window, and shouted gruffly, "Old Tang? Old Tang! Your son is messing up your sugar supplies again!"

Hearing this, Little Master Tang turned pale and, with a whoosh, slipped back in, disappearing behind the window in the blink of an eye.

Soon after, another round head popped out from the window—this head resembled the previous one but had more speckled white hair.

Master Tang looked at old man Ferna and cheerfully said, "You’re out quite early today... that boy loves to tinker. Just let him tinker. After all, I’ll be handing over the shop to him eventually. Once he’s done tinkering, he can roll off to make his way in the New World... Are you buying anything today?"

Old man Ferna glanced at Master Tang and, after a long pause, sighed softly, "You’re too easygoing... Is the New World even a good place to venture into? Wouldn’t it be better for that brat to run the shop safely? ...I’ll pass today. I’ve just finished eating the front hall of the candy house I bought last time... I must admit, those weeds in the front garden tasted amazing. What did you use to make them?"

"Exclusive recipe!" Master Tang’s spirits soared upon receiving Ferna’s compliment, and he excitedly replied, "All I can tell you is that I burned no fewer than three standard talisman papers in growing those plants!"

"Ho! No wonder you dare charge three jade coins!"

"The new store next door sells cheaper stuff... Their doughnuts are very sweet; you’d definitely like them." Tang nodded his head towards the neighboring Meow Meow Dessert Shop, indicating it to Ferna, "Even if you don’t fancy them, Sir May will certainly enjoy... Right, Sir May?"

As he spoke, he beamed at the old dog at Ferna’s feet.

The elder groundskeeper shook his head, "Eh, don’t have the time today, got other things to do... I’ll come check it out some other time."

As the two old men conversed, the old dog simply wagged its bushy tail without a peep, not even opening its eyes hidden beneath the wrinkled skin.

"Sir May remains as composed as ever," Master Tang smacked his lips and inquired, "What’s there so early in the morning? I thought you handled the night patrols."

"I’ve changed jobs," the groundskeeper said nonchalantly, before steering the conversation back, "It’s a student I knew before; they’ve opened a new store on the Pedestrian Street, seems to sell mice and bugs of sorts... Sent me an invitation. Just so happens these past few days, old buddy May has been craving braised mouse head. I’ll check if that new store has any in stock."

"A new store?" Master Tang paused for a few seconds, then realized, "Oh, yeah, must be Lin Guo and their new shop, something like Ding Dong Bug Catching Shop, right? Young folks come up with such peculiar names. They sent me an invitation too, but the shop’s been too swamped for me to leave."

"Perfect, you trouble yourself with this, and take this ’KOF2008 Boutique Tournament’ to them as a grand opening gift... Lin Guo has been very diligent, we must encourage him,"

During the conversation, Little Master Tang had already emerged, carrying a small gift box about a foot high, and ran out swiftly to deliver it to the old school janitor.

Through the transparent lid of the gift box, Elder Ferna could clearly see a group of figures the size of beans wrestling and fighting with each other inside.

Noticing the old janitor’s gaze, Little Master Tang immediately explained, "This box is affixed with a ’Shape-changing Talisman’ that slightly adjusted their size. When you eat them, just peel off the talisman paper, and it won’t affect the taste at all."

"This is something that little brat has recently tinkered with; it hasn’t even been officially used in the shop yet... He always does things with no sense of measure, not the slightest bit of steadiness," Elder Tang half-stood at the window, scolding with his mouth, yet filled with unmistakable pride in his tone.

Elder Ferna naturally did not fail to catch the meaning between the lines.

He took the gift box and hung it on his walking stick, nodding to the Tang masters before saying, "I won’t disturb you any further... It’s getting late, I’m going to visit their shop first, and we’ll talk about the sugar house later."

"Safe travels!" Little Master Tang bowed respectfully.

The old school janitor waved his hand and then, leaning on his walking stick, continued to stride forward.

After turning the corner and walking just a few steps, the old hunting dog May, who had been following at his feet, suddenly let out two whines and stopped, refusing to move forward.

"Is there something wrong?" the old school janitor immediately became alert, looking around, the tip of his walking stick faintly twinkling with a dim green shimmer.

May shook his tail and let out a few humming whines in his throat.

Although he didn’t bark or speak, the old janitor still easily understood his old pal’s meaning.

"You mean, it’s just because you don’t like the smell over there, so you don’t want to go?" the old school janitor raised his eyebrows, glanced at the old hunting dog at his feet, and then looked towards the newly opened shop not too far away.

The neatly arranged colorful baskets of flowers at the shop’s entrance, the bustling crowd, and the unscattered ceremonial balloons hanging overhead—all spoke clearly to the old janitor about the situation—what spoke even more clearly was that the bustling crowd, as if attacked by something, was panicking and scattering in all directions.

The old man reached into his coat and rummaged painstakingly for a moment, finally retrieving a red and black card. Looking at the gilded letters, he read out loud, "Ding Ding Finance and Pest Control Company... abbreviated as ’D&K’!"

Then the old man lifted his head, squinting to look at that shop.

Indeed, although the shop’s signboard was still covered with colorful silk ribbons, through those distractions, he could still clearly make out the name of the signboard. It was indeed the new shop he was looking for.

"Aren’t they supposed to be selling mice and bugs? Why would there be an odd smell??" the old school janitor muttered to himself, tapping his walking stick lightly on the ground: "If you don’t want to go over there, then lie down here, find a place shielded from the wind... I’m going to see if they have any good mouse heads in the shop, and incidentally, I’ll deliver Master Tang’s gift."

The old hunting dog May whined and nodded his head, moving unhurriedly a couple of steps backward to find a spot sheltered from the wind and in the sunlight, then settled down securely.