136: Chapter 135 Short Answer Questions

She stood there blankly, holding the inflatable hammer. That inexplicable sense of resonance and the urge to "protect" she had felt just moments ago vanished instantly upon seeing this toy hammer, like a balloon pricked by a needle—*pfft*—deflating completely.

All that remained was a deep, bone-deep sense of speechlessness.

She slowly, incredibly slowly, lifted her head (the lion headgear) and looked at the staff member holding the "Lion Kings Hammer Ready" prompt sign, then at Choi Yena, who was looking on with an expectant (?) face, and finally back down at the inflatable Lion Kings Hammer in her hand...

Then, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, under the curious (?) "gaze" of the "Soft Babies," and amidst the background noise of tourists who were nearly dying of laughter—

Kwon Eunbi (wearing a lion headgear, a little yellow duck towel draped over her shoulder, and holding an inflatable Lion Kings Hammer)—

Silently and deeply buried her face (into the fluffy chest area of the lion headgear, though she really just lowered the headgear a bit), then, covering her face (through the yarn), she slowly and with immense heaviness, squatted down.

Like a large feline that had chosen to shut itself away because its toy was too embarrassing.

Shame.

Absurdity.

Powerlessness.

And a trace of exhaustion that said, "The world might as well just end."

This was the "Lion Kings Hammer"?

This was her Constellation ultimate move?

Using an inflatable toy hammer to bash those jelly monsters?

Jiang Zhiyu... you win.

You have completely defeated the "Lionheart Sovereign" Kwon Eunbi, both physically and mentally.

At that moment, the "Soft Babies" seemed to wake up from their "appreciation" state because the music had stopped. They once again targeted the fragrant sausages and began wiggling closer...

Squatting on the ground, Kwon Eunbi heard Choi Yena's anxious cry of "Unnie! Get up! They're coming again!" and felt the weightless heft of the inflatable hammer in her hand...

She suddenly felt so tired at heart.

But the sausages... she probably still had to protect them?

After all, that was the starting point of Yena's "Sausage Saintess" career, and... they really were quite delicious.

She tightened her grip on the inflatable Lion Kings Hammer.

(Even though this thing looked completely useless.)

Choi Yena's (duck headgear + apron) anxious voice pulled Kwon Eunbi back to reality from her brief moment of self-isolation. "Unnie! Look! They're moving again!"

Through the yarn mesh, Kwon Eunbi (lion headgear, yellow duck towel, inflatable hammer) watched in despair as the group of "Soft Babies" indeed resumed their slow but determined march toward the sausages. The bath song had stopped, the "appreciation" state was lifted, and the temptation of gourmet food once again took the upper hand.

"Ha..." Kwon Eunbi let out a long sigh of resignation. Leaning on the plastic handle of the inflatable hammer (which felt cheap to the touch), she shakily stood back up. Whatever, her dignity had already been lost to outer space; one more hammer swing wouldn't make a difference.

She looked at the golden, silly-looking inflatable Lion Kings Hammer in her hand, then at the group of squishy, wiggling "Soft Babies" just a few steps away from the sausage machine. An utterly absurd but seemingly only option surfaced in her mind, which had been washed blank by shame and exhaustion.

—Use this... to hit them?

But how? These "Soft Babies" looked so squishy. Hitting them with this inflatable hammer, wouldn't it be like slapping jelly? Could it be useful? And there were so many of them...

Just as she hesitated, a relatively fast pink "Soft Baby" had already extended its gelatinous "tentacle," and was about to reach the edge of the sausage machine!

"Hey! No!" Choi Yena cried out, instinctively waving the sausage tongs in her hand to block it.

Kwon Eunbi didn't have time to think! Almost by instinct, she gripped the thin plastic handle of the inflatable hammer with both hands, aimed at the tip of the pink "Soft Baby's" extended "tentacle," and swung down with all her might (though it wasn't much, since it was an inflatable toy)!

*Thump!*

A dull sound rang out, like hitting a thick sofa cushion.

The soft head of the inflatable Lion Kings Hammer landed squarely on the pink "Soft Baby's" tentacle.

The expected result of the "tentacle" bouncing off or there being no reaction at all didn't happen.

Instead, the tentacle hit by the hammer suddenly contracted inward, and the entire squishy body shook and twisted violently, as if it had received a significant impact. It let out a high-pitched, and rather... aggrieved (?) squeal—"Pujiu!"—and then the entire "baby," like a startled snail, quickly retracted its tentacle into its body. Its whole "body" then "sprang" back more than half a meter, leaving a small wet patch (likely glycerin) on the spot, where it stood trembling, seemingly not daring to approach again.

It worked?!

Both Kwon Eunbi and Choi Yena were stunned.

Kwon Eunbi looked at the inflatable hammer in her hand in disbelief. This thing... could actually drive back these jelly monsters? Although the effect looked more like "scaring them off" or "bouncing them away" rather than "defeating" them.

But regardless, as long as it worked!

"Unnie! That's amazing! Keep going! Hit them!" Choi Yena instantly transformed into a hot-blooded commander, pointing at the other "Soft Babies" that were still approaching.

Kwon Eunbi's spirits also lifted. Though the method was shameful and the weapon was ridiculous, it could protect the sausage stall (and the sausages)! She raised the inflatable hammer again, her gaze (through the yarn) locked onto the next target—a blue "Soft Baby" trying to approach from the side.

"Hah!" She cheered herself on (though it lacked momentum) and swung the hammer down again!

*Thump!*

"Puji~!"

The blue "Soft Baby's" body was similarly deformed by the hit; it let out a strange cry and retreated in a panic.

The other "Soft Babies" seemed frightened by their companions' "ordeal," and their forward momentum visibly stalled. Some even swayed left and right on the spot, as if hesitating.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Kwon Eunbi began to strike the approaching "Soft Babies" with the inflatable Lion Kings Hammer—left, right, front, and back.

*Thump!* "Pujiu!"

*Thump!* "Bolu!"

*Thump!* "Puji!"

Each dull "thump" was accompanied by a "Soft Baby's" strange cry and retreat. Kwon Eunbi's movements went from clumsy and stiff to gradually becoming proficient, even gaining a bit of rhythm. Wearing her majestic (?) lion headgear, with the little yellow duck towel comically draped over her shoulder and waving a child's toy-like inflatable hammer, she moved back and forth in front of the sausage stall (though the range was quite small), like a... gag version of a berserker guarding a treasure (sausages).

And that group of "Soft Babies," after being repeatedly "hammered" back, seemed to change their behavior pattern slightly. They no longer swarmed toward the sausage machine all at once. Instead, they began to "pop up" irregularly and intermittently in the limited space in front of the stall—one moment a green one would peek its "body" out from the left, the next a yellow one would wiggle over from the right, and then two pink ones would stack together trying to break through from the front.

Kwon Eunbi had to keep her eyes and ears open (though the headgear hindered her vision and hearing), constantly adjusting her direction to "bonk" back any "Soft Baby" that popped up.

Watching Kwon Eunbi frantically dealing with the jelly monsters popping up everywhere, Choi Yena tilted her duck head and watched for a long time. Suddenly, as if realizing something, she clapped her hands (which didn't make a sound because of the plush gloves) and shouted in her muffled but wonder-filled voice:

"Unnie! Unnie! Look!"

Kwon Eunbi had just hammered back a purple one and asked, panting (it was very stuffy inside the headgear), "Look at what?"

"This... this looks like..." Choi Yena pointed at the "Soft Babies" that were rising and falling, retracting when hit and popping up elsewhere later, and at Kwon Eunbi's tense, alert posture with the hammer ready to strike. Her tone was full of the excitement of discovering a new continent:

"It looks exactly like playing 'Whac-A-Mole'!!"

Whac-A-Mole?

Kwon Eunbi's movements froze. Following the direction Choi Yena was pointing, she re-examined the battle before her:

She was holding a "hammer" (inflatable version).

The enemies were multi-colored "targets" that would "pop out" from different positions (Soft Baby version).

Her task was to use the "hammer" to "hit" them back.

The "targets" would retract (squealing) after being hit, then reappear in a different spot...

The process, the visual... except for the "moles" being replaced by "jelly monsters," the "hammer" being replaced by an inflatable toy, and the venue being in front of a sausage stall... it was exactly the same as the classic "Whac-A-Mole" game in an amusement park!!!

"They're clearly Slimes, okay?!" Kwon Eunbi couldn't help but blurt out, correcting (?) Choi Yena's analogy, but she froze after saying it. Right, by setting, these were "Star Demon Claws Variant: Soft Baby," which to some extent counted as low-end Slimes, but this interaction pattern...

"But Unnie, do Slimes also go 'pujiu' and shrink back when they're hit?" Choi Yena asked curiously; she seemed to have completely entered the "observing a novel creature" mode.

"..." Kwon Eunbi was speechless. How would she know how a Slime reacts to being hit?! She had never actually hit a Slime! This was all a setting made up by Jiang Zhiyu!