836: Chapter 836 The Dishonest Child!

When Ye Chen approached... he realized something.

The thing wasn't big, about half a person's height, round and chubby, covered in a thick layer of white fur.

It was currently squatting in the lee of an ice hill, its two small, pitch-black eyes watching him vigilantly.

Ye Chen was taken aback for a moment.

It was actually a small bear.

A polar bear cub.

Ye Chen paused for another two seconds, then bent over and leaned in a bit closer.

Then, after examining it carefully, he could finally confirm... it was a polar bear.

Ye Chen was completely dumbfounded.

"Wait..."

"This is Antarctica, where on earth did a polar bear come from???"

The cub tilted its head, clearly not understanding what he was saying.

Ye Chen squatted down, resting his hands on his knees, and looked at it earnestly: "Tell me, why would a polar bear cub appear in Antarctica?"

The cub naturally couldn't answer; it just took steps with its short legs, waddling toward Ye Chen.

Then, it sat down on its bottom, tilted its head up, and stared at him with its two little pitch-black eyes.

That expression... it was enough to melt anyone's heart.

Ye Chen looked down and met its gaze for three seconds, feeling that something wasn't quite right.

"Hold on a second."

He squatted down, extended his right hand, pressed his palm against the ice, and closed his eyes.

The next second, [Earth Vein Tracking] unfolded silently. His perception spread like an invisible net, extending downward along the ice layer, bringing the aura around the cub into his detection range.

A moment later, Ye Chen opened his eyes.

His expression shifted from confusion to surprise, and then from surprise to... strangeness.

"A Spirit Beast?"

This thing was actually a Spirit Beast?

In an era where spiritual energy was so thin that even the old monsters of the cultivation world were nearly starving to death, things like Spirit Beasts had long since become legends.

Not to mention seeing one, he had never even heard of anyone encountering a living Spirit Beast in the wild.

Yet, this round little white bear before him had an aura inside it that, while faint, was so pure that it didn't seem like something from this era.

That aura... Ancient! Enduring! It carried an indescribable spiritual fluctuation, completely different from the turbid aura on ordinary wild beasts.

Ye Chen couldn't help but look it up and down a few times: "You little thing, you're hiding quite deep. In a crappy place like Antarctica, how could a being like you exist?"

The cub tilted its head, making a "woo-woo-woo" sound.

Then, it took a step forward, wrapped its two furry front paws around Ye Chen's lower leg, and hugged it tight.

The strength wasn't great, but it held on firmly.

Ye Chen looked down at the ball of white fluff hanging on his leg and fell silent.

"Wait..."

The corner of his mouth twitched, "Are you asking me to take you with me?"

The cub tilted its head up, gazing at him longingly.

That look was just like a lost child who had finally found an adult, both aggrieved and expectant.

Ye Chen was stared at by those eyes for three seconds before finally sighing.

"Alright, alright, don't look at me like that."

He bent down, scooped up the cub, and hoisted it onto his shoulder. "Since we're fated to meet, I'll take you along."

After being hoisted onto his shoulder, the cub didn't struggle at all. Instead, it grabbed his collar with its front paws, buried its head into the crook of his neck, and let out a comfortable purr.

Ye Chen was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

"You really know how to play the part."

The cub didn't respond, just burying its face deeper.

Ye Chen shook his head and continued walking.

The man and the bear cast a long shadow across the vast, white ice field.

He hadn't walked a hundred steps before his feet came to a sudden halt.

About fifty meters ahead, there was a protruding ice ridge beneath the snow, its color slightly different from the surrounding snow.

If he hadn't happened to glance in that direction, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes and walked toward that direction.

Upon getting closer, he saw an iron plate the size of a palm pressed beneath the ice ridge, with an ancient pattern engraved on its surface, shimmering with a dull luster in the sunlight.

A Token.

Ye Chen bent down to pick it up and flipped it over. The number "107" was engraved on the back.

"Tsk, found one just like that?"

He weighed the token in his hand, casually stuffed it into his pocket, and continued walking with the cub on his shoulder.

However, he hadn't gone twenty meters before his steps stopped once again.

It wasn't because another token had appeared ahead, but because... there was a sound of footsteps in the snow behind him.

Someone was approaching.

Ye Chen didn't turn back, but the corners of his mouth curled up.

"How long has the game even been running, and already someone is in such a rush to hand over their head?"

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow, casting a glance, and caught sight of a figure standing stiffly about a dozen meters away.

The person was a thin, gaunt middle-aged man wearing a dusty windbreaker with a short dagger tucked into his waist.

He was currently staring at Ye Chen's back.

Their eyes... no, the gazes of the man, the bear, and the other man met across a dozen meters of snow.

The next second, the gaunt middle-aged man saw Ye Chen's face clearly, his pupils shrank violently, and all the blood drained from his face instantly.

"Holy crap... Ye... Ye Chen???"

He turned around and ran without hesitation! Run! Running crazily! Running for his life!

He was so fast that the snow didn't even have time to fly up, his two short legs moving so quickly they were almost a blur.

But Ye Chen was faster than him.

"What are you running for?" A lazy voice came directly from in front of the gaunt middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man slammed into an invisible "wall," his whole body jolting backward as he fell into a snowdrift.

He scrambled to lift his head, seeing Ye Chen standing before him.

Ye Chen was still carrying the little white bear, his hands in his pockets, smiling gently.

"You run pretty fast; if you did that two more times, you could break a world record."

The gaunt middle-aged man sat slumped in the snow, kicking his legs against the ice to retreat three steps, his expression collapsing.

"Mr... Mr. Ye!"

"I-I-I walked into the wrong place!"

"I was just walking around! Really! I didn't see anything! And I didn't think of anything!"

"Please, just treat me like a fart and let me go!"

As he spoke, he pressed his hands together, wishing he could kowtow to Ye Chen three times on the spot.

Ye Chen tilted his head: "Walked into the wrong place?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The middle-aged man nodded like a pounding garlic, "I got lost! This ice field is too big! I originally wanted to go east, but as I walked, I ended up here!"

Ye Chen took two steps toward him.

The middle-aged man's body stiffened, and he even held his breath.

"It's fine."

Ye Chen squatted down with a smile, "It's no big deal if you walked into the wrong place. Antarctica is so big, who doesn't get lost?"

The middle-aged man had just breathed a sigh of relief when Ye Chen's next sentence made cold sweat stream down his back.

"However, since we've run into each other, that means we're fated."

"Between people who are fated to meet, shouldn't we exchange some greeting gifts?"

The middle-aged man's face stiffened, and he let out a dry laugh: "G-greeting gifts? Mr. Ye, you must be joking. A poor wretch like me, what kind of things could I have to offer..."

"You do."

Ye Chen's smile remained unchanged, "You definitely do."

The sweat beads on the middle-aged man's forehead had frozen into frost: "I... I really don't, Mr. Ye..."

"Don't be in such a rush."

Ye Chen coaxed him, "Let me ask you first, what is this round of the competition for?"

The middle-aged man couldn't hold it anymore: "To... to find tokens."

"And have you found any?"

The middle-aged man subconsciously covered his right waist pocket.

Ye Chen's gaze followed suit and landed there.

The middle-aged man's hand recoiled as if burned, and he shook his head desperately: "No, no! I haven't found a single one! Really!"

Ye Chen stood up and brushed the snow off his knees.

"Do you know what kind of children I dislike the most?"

The middle-aged man swallowed his saliva: "W-what kind?"

"Dishonest children."

Ye Chen looked down at him, "I'll ask you one more time, do you have one?"

The middle-aged man wanted to continue denying it, but Ye Chen's gaze landed on him like a mountain pressing down.

All his lies became knotted at his lips.

"I... I have one..."

He closed his eyes, pulled out a palm-sized iron plate, held it up above his head with both hands, "Just this one! Really, just this one! Mr. Ye, please don't search me! I... I'll hand it over myself!"

Ye Chen reached out to take the token, weighed it in his hand, and flipped it over to see "42" engraved on the back.

"Tsk, number 42, good number, nice meaning."

He stuffed the token into his pocket, making it neighbors with the previous number 107.

It was pretty easy to get!

He would go look in other places in a while.

What if he found another one or two, or ran into another person or two?

Combined with the ability of [Earth Vein Tracking], which token in the area could escape his discerning eyes?

It was practically prepared for him!

When the middle-aged man saw Ye Chen take the token, he was on the verge of tears.

This was one he had managed to dig up with great difficulty!

And yet... before it was even warm, he had handed it over to someone else!

But compared to being stomped to death by Ye Chen, it didn't seem like much...

Ye Chen looked down at him and patted his shoulder.

"Alright, get up, I'm leaving."

As he said this, Ye Chen actually started walking away.

The middle-aged man watched Ye Chen's receding figure and finally breathed a sigh of relief...

Damn! That menace is gone!

He had fucking survived!

Whoever dared to spread rumors again that this menace killed without blinking, he would be the first one to object!