Chapter 4: The Deity That Devours Everything
As Xu Le's words faded away, his surrounding senses transformed once again. A soft, moist sensation enveloped his entire body, making Xu Le feel warm all over.
However, when this sensation infiltrated his nostrils, he suddenly covered his mouth!
Was he really drowning?
"Dong dong qiang, dong dong qiang, wa ya ya ya..."
In his hazy senses, Xu Le seemed to hear the musical sounds of an amateur theater troupe taking the stage.
These sounds were truly incongruous. Xu Le didn't know if it was his own hallucination or if he was actually hearing such sounds.
Forcing his wet eyes open, although still blurry, he could roughly make out a very tall figure blocking his way.
The place where it touched his skin felt a bit slimy, which made Xu Le feel somewhat nauseous!
However, the appearance of this fellow also gradually stabilized Xu Le's senses.
This person turned its head to look at him and asked in a gentle voice:
"Really? Can you really give it to me?"
But when Xu Le clearly saw the appearance of the person in front of him, he instinctively wanted to take a step back.
However, there was a wall behind him, and he had nowhere to retreat.
This person... no, it wasn't human at all. Its massive upper body was like a swollen balloon.
Under the golden skin, it was filled with numerous bulges, covered by black patterns.
Two legs as thin as chopsticks made its entire body appear disharmonious.
Its right hand held a steel trident, and in its bloody huge mouth, it was actually biting a cigarette!
This was a giant, ugly... toad? And it was the thin-legged variety.
Looking at the bizarre toad in front of him, Xu Le inexplicably felt a sense of security.
He instinctively wanted to say a few words, but quickly stopped himself.
"This is not the time to write a composition."
Pushing aside the composition that had come to mind, Xu Le carefully pondered the reason for the toad's appearance, as well as its words just now.
It had been actively approaching him, offering conditional help.
And that last sentence, "Really? Can you really give it to me?"
The hidden meaning in this sentence was that he really had an offering, an offering that the toad very much wanted to obtain!
The problem now was, Xu Le didn't even know where the so-called offering was...
He hadn't considered the value of the offering. No matter its worth, it couldn't be more valuable than his own life.
If he didn't let the toad help him, perhaps he would have already died of suffocation earlier.
Having organized his thoughts to this point, Xu Le basically understood what he should do next.
"Really, I can really give it to you!"
After Xu Le agreed, the toad still didn't move, but it wiggled its body in front of Xu Le, mainly wiggling its bottom.
"Then what is this offering you mentioned?"
If it were a woman making this movement, it would naturally be no problem.
But for a toad to make such a movement, the scene was extremely absurd.
Xu Le strongly endured his discomfort and began to think about what to say next.
Regarding the question of what toads like... how could he, an author in the late stages of literary cancer, possibly know what toads like?
While Xu Le was struggling, the monster in front of him had already furrowed its brow and repeated:
"What is this offering you mentioned?"
Panic made Xu Le particularly flustered, and the toad in front of him began to distort in his vision.
[Gua - Golden Toad, bearer of faith, ancient deity that devours all offerings, Ancient God Level 3.]
Xu Le paused slightly. A deity that devours all offerings...?
This toad was actually a god?
Xu Le immediately became serious:
"Earthworms, Great Golden Toad, if you help me get rid of the ghost.
In addition to the regular offerings, I will specially offer you earthworms."
This was a bit tricky. Xu Le didn't know what the toad wanted, he just said that besides the regular offerings, he would additionally provide earthworms.
Toads should like earthworms, right?
Xu Le had once seen a host feeding earthworms to toads in some science program, so that's why he said this.
He didn't know if the toads here liked earthworms or not.
In fact, he didn't even know if this place had earthworms at all.
He agreed to what the toad wanted first, the rest was just nonsense.
Everything else could wait until he was out of danger.
Just when Xu Le thought the toad was going to refuse, the toad actually nodded:
"Good!"
In fact, it also didn't know why Xu Le's offering was different from others. The offerings it had received before were usually meat, fruits, and paper money for cakes.
How could it possibly eat earthworms, things from the soil?
It was just curious seeing Xu Le speak so assertively.
"After resolving this, I want ten earthworms as offerings."
"Certainly."
After getting confirmation, the toad didn't waste words. It turned its body and blew out a breath of turbid air.
The sour smell made Xu Le cover his mouth, but this turbid air also blew the ghost in front of him away.
The toad weighed the steel trident in its hand, muttering:
"Weapon - Fight, Water Style - Spirit Fixing."
The steel trident was suddenly thrown out.
Whoosh! Ding!
The materialized steel trident could actually pierce into the ghost's body.
The ghost let out a series of howls, the piercing screams like waves of sonic attacks.
Xu Le hurriedly covered his ears, but even with his ears covered, he still felt dizzy and lightheaded.
Ugh!
Everything he had just eaten came rushing back up.
The toad paid no attention to Xu Le's unsightly state. It strode forward with its thin legs, walking leisurely.
It pulled down the steel trident along with the ghost on it.
Then it put it into its own mouth, tearing and chewing.
Its enormous body shook with the chewing, and occasionally weak screams could be heard.
Xu Le couldn't see the chewing scene, but hearing those strange sounds basically dispelled any desire to take a look.
A toad eating a ghost, just thinking about it felt absurd.
After chewing for a while, the toad slowly turned to look at Xu Le.
In its dreamy little eyes, there was some friendliness and expectation.
If it weren't for half a ghost's head still hanging from the corner of its mouth, Xu Le would definitely have thought it was a benevolent deity.
"Alright, so... can you give me your offering now?"
Xu Le looked at it, considering the huge size difference between them, the toad's formidable power when killing the ghost earlier, or even just judging from its appearance alone, he had absolutely no room to resist.
So regarding the matter of the offering, he absolutely agreed.
The problem now was, how to give it to the other party?
"Great Golden Toad, can you take it yourself?"
"You're unwilling?"
The toad might not look much like a human, but its brain wasn't rigid at all.
As it said this, it took another step towards Xu Le.
This step instantly brought the pressure to Xu Le's side.
(End of chapter)