Genshin Impact: The Sharpshooter of Teyvat

Chapter 1354 The Mother Goat Paying Rent

After leaving the house, Kong didn't actually go to the Holy City of Turan; instead, he directly used the Abyss's communication network.

In just a short while, he contacted Yuan Shang, who was far away in the holy city of Turan, and briefly explained the situation.

Within five minutes, hurried footsteps could be heard outside. Yuan Shang, with his hair disheveled by the wind, rushed into the ranch residence and immediately saw Shao Yun in the living room.

"Mr. Shao Yun, you were looking for me?" he asked breathlessly, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over the object in Shao Yun's hand.

Shao Yun handed over the cipher cylinder directly, getting straight to the point.

"Here it is. Can you help me figure out how to open it?"

Yuan Shang quickly took the cipher tube and examined it closely.

This is a cylindrical letter tube with ten rotating cipher discs engraved on its body, clearly indicating a ten-digit cipher design.

He flicked the keypad with his fingertips, then tapped the metal casing, his brows furrowing as he muttered to himself.

“Interesting… The construction of this cipher disc uses the techniques of Fontaine, but the metal casing uses the gold casting techniques of Liyue. The two styles are combined so seamlessly.”

After studying it for a while, Yuan Shang's expression turned rather unpleasant.

"Moreover, this thing has a self-destruct mechanism. If you forcibly disassemble it, the letters inside will definitely be destroyed. Without the password, you can only try them one by one."

With this idea in mind, Yuan Shang immediately rubbed his hands together, looked up at Shao Yun with a serious expression, and said:

"Hmm... Looks like I'll have to resort to brute force. It's just a ten-digit password, a hundred billion combinations, right? I'll give it a try, I'm sure I can figure it out!"

Upon hearing "ten billion times," Shao Yun almost laughed in exasperation. He snatched the cipher cylinder back from Yuan Shang's hand and said irritably:

"Then you should rest and stop making a fuss here."

Ten billion attempts? What's the difference between that and talking nonsense?

Seeing that Shao Yun wouldn't let him try, Yuan Shang still wouldn't give up, so he leaned forward and said with a grin:

"Hey, Mr. Shao Yun, don't you believe me? I think I can do it. I'm fast, and maybe I'll get lucky and hit the mark in a few tries?"

Shao Yun rolled her eyes and waved him away without any mercy.

"Get lost! At your speed, by the time you open this thing, my daughter will be old enough to run errands by herself! Don't make things worse."

Yuan Shang wasn't angry after being rebuked. He just touched his nose, chuckled twice, and reluctantly stepped aside, but his eyes were still fixed on the cipher cylinder in Shao Yun's hand, clearly not having given up completely.

……

Since he couldn't rely on Yuan Shang, an unreliable fellow, Shao Yun mentally went through everyone he could think of and found that there wasn't a single person he could count on.

Ningguang is indeed clever; she can think faster than anyone else when doing business and calculating accounts. But asking her to handle this kind of delicate work that requires disassembling mechanisms and cracking codes is simply asking too much of her. She knows nothing about these mechanical structures.

Needless to say, Shen He was someone Shao Yunguang could guess from Ying's socks what she would do.

They will most likely use sheer force to open the cipher cylinder, which will inevitably trigger the self-destruct protection mechanism, instantly destroying the letters inside and rendering all their previous efforts futile.

As for Ying, she's still holed up in her study, the door locked from the inside with a "No Trespassing" sign hanging on it. Who knows what she's up to in there? If you disturb her rashly, she might glare you out.

As for Paimon, forget about it; that little white thing is still sleeping in his bedroom upstairs. He probably ate too much at lunch and got carbon monoxide poisoning...

After thinking it over, Shao Yun remembered the mother goat that had been secretly watching him!

We've been feeding and caring for her well, it's time for her to do some work!

After all, even the system couldn't defeat these devils, so cracking a small cipher cylinder should be a piece of cake for it.

However, in order to maintain the initiative, Shao Yun had no intention of lowering his stance. He put on a stern face, deliberately adopting a serious demeanor, and strode towards the dragon's lair.

He didn't want to be completely fooled by this devilish sheep.

In the dragon's den, the mother goat was kneeling on the soft hay, with the sleeping baby dragon "Potato Pancake" nestled beside her, a picture of serene contentment.

Shao Yun walked to the edge of the dragon's nest, cleared his throat, and deliberately called out in an impatient tone, "Hey, you sheep! Wake up!"

Startled by the shout, the mother goat slowly opened her hazy eyes, lazily looked up at Shao Yun, and spoke in human language, her tone still carrying a hint of sleepiness.

"What? I'm not going to let them graze this afternoon, I need to take a nap with Xiaolong..."

Shao Yun squatted down and looked at the mother goat with a gloomy expression.

"Look, it's time to pay the rent."

"Rent?" Upon hearing these two words, the mother goat instantly woke up from her drowsiness and abruptly raised her head.

Her previously dazed eyes were now filled with confusion as she asked, puzzled, "What rent? I don't understand what you're talking about..."

Shao Yun said quite naturally:

"Nonsense! You've been living in my house for so long, eating and drinking my food, and I cover all your expenses, including feeding the animals. You've even been occupying my little dragon's luxurious dragon den. It's not unreasonable for me to charge you some rent, is it?"

The mother goat was taken aback by the words "luxury dragon's nest" and subconsciously turned her head to look around.

This dragon's lair is clearly in the most ordinary Echo Sons tribe style, with only a thin layer of dry grass on the ground, barely enough to keep out the dampness. How can this be called luxurious?

She turned her head and retorted irritably, "You call this a luxury? Are your eyes just for venting your anger? With these conditions, it's not much different from sleeping outdoors!"

Shao Yuncai ignored all of that and resorted to his shameless ways, opening his palm to the mother goat and urging her:

"That's still better than you having to squeeze into a dormitory with my Merino sheep, right? Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and pay the rent."

The mother goat stared at Shao Yun's outstretched hand for a few seconds, then slowly lowered her head and gently placed her soft chin on his palm.

Those once clear eyes instantly welled up with a captivating, silent spring-like allure, and her voice became sweet and gentle, carrying a seductive softness.

"Then... how about I repay you with my body?"

Unfortunately, the "payment in kind" mentioned by the mother goat and the "payment in kind" imagined by Shao Yun were completely different things.

Upon hearing this, Shao Yun immediately followed her lead, a sinister smile spreading across his face. He gently pinched her chin, which was resting in his palm, and threatened her fiercely:

"Okay, no problem. Then use your two hind legs to pay for it. I'll find a knife and chop them off for you right now. We can have hot pot with mutton tonight, it'll be nice and warm."

The mother goat, who had initially maintained a somewhat naive and innocent expression, panicked instantly upon seeing Shao Yun's eyes and tone, realizing he wasn't acting at all. She nervously shrank her neck and quickly removed her chin from his hand.

"Huh? You f***ing... you don't actually want to eat me, do you?! You actually want to cook and eat such a beautiful and talented sheep like me? This is simply burning a zither to cook a crane, a terrible waste!"

Seeing that she had completely fallen for his trick, Shao Yun chuckled inwardly, but kept a straight face and casually revealed his true purpose.

"If you want to keep your leg from collapsing, then you have to do me a favor and open this thing."

As he spoke, he took out the combination lock cylinder from the backpack at his waist and waved it in front of the mother goat.

The mother goat stared at the cipher cylinder for a couple of seconds, then looked at Shao Yun, and instantly understood. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she muttered:

"So you went through all this trouble, asking for rent and food, just to get me to open this broken cylinder for you?"

"Why didn't you just tell me you needed my help? Why go through all these fancy tricks to scare the sheep? Is it really necessary?"

As she spoke, she scratched at the dry grass on the ground with her sheep hoof in dissatisfaction.

Shao Yun raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance: "I thought you knew. After all, haven't you been secretly monitoring me all along? I thought my thoughts couldn't be hidden from you at all."

The mother goat was speechless at his words. Looking at Shao Yun's irritating expression, she glared at him angrily and said through gritted teeth:

"I...I really want to bite you!"

However, her tone carried a hint of exasperated coquettishness, rather than genuine anger.

Immediately afterward, the mother goat realized that she was there to monitor Shao Yun, and that even though he had lost his "Eye of God," he was still someone she could not afford to offend.

There's no need to get angry with him over such a small thing. I should hurry up and fix this broken combination lock so I can go back to sleep.

"Fine, fine, I won't argue with you." The mother goat shook her head, finding a way to back down.

As soon as she finished speaking, a soft white light flashed around her. The moment the light faded, the furry female goat transformed into Gan Yu's appearance.

The fluffy, white wool shed, transforming into a long, deep blue head of hair, from which two gentle, curved unicorn horns quietly sprouted.

She also changed into the elegant clothes that Gan Yu often wore, and even the cloud patterns on the hem of the clothes were lifelike.

Only her eyes retained the horizontal pupils characteristic of a goat, exuding a bewitching charm that seemed incongruous with her ethereal beauty.

The "fake" Gan Yu raised her hand, her slender fingers gently caressing herself, and looked down at her long-lost human form, muttering with a touch of nostalgia:

"Hmm, it's been a while since I've looked like this, and my hands and feet are still a little out of sorts."

After muttering to herself, she immediately lost her usual composure. She put her hands on her hips, deliberately swayed her body seductively at Shao Yun, and said in a flirtatious manner:

"Hey, what do you think about me changing my appearance next time? Like... changing to that woman named Lisa, just to give you a visual treat?"

Looking at the "fake" Gan Yu in front of him, who was wearing Gan Yu's face but was acting so frivolously, Shao Yun felt a chill run down his spine and cursed without any politeness.

"Stop joking around and get to work on this!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and threw the cipher cylinder in his hand toward the "fake" Gan Yu.

"Fake" Gan Yu raised her hand and steadily caught the cipher cylinder. She turned it around twice in the sunlight, examined it for a moment, and then muttered with a soft hum:

"I understand, I'll look into it."

Only then did Shao Yun belatedly frown, looking at her humanoid appearance that was indistinguishable from Gan Yu's, and couldn't help but remind her:

"But then again, if Sora or Ningguang sees you like this at home, how am I supposed to explain it?"

Upon hearing this, the "fake" Gan Yu extended a slender and nimble hand, waved it at Shao Yun, and said confidently:

"A sheep's hoof can't handle these intricate combination locks. Do you still want me to help you open this thing to pay your rent?"

Shao Yun was speechless, and could only shrug helplessly, waving his hand and urging, "Then hurry up, I won't waste any more words."

"Fake" Gan Yu curled her lips, not bothering to argue with him, and turned her back to bring the cipher cylinder close to her eyes.

She gently fiddled with the combination dial on the cylinder with her fingertips. In just a few seconds, a crisp "click" was heard, and the lid of the combination cylinder popped open a crack.

The "fake" Gan Yu turned around and handed the opened combination lock cylinder back to Shao Yun, saying casually, "Alright, it's open. It wasn't that troublesome."

Shao Yun looked at the easily cracked cipher cylinder, raised an eyebrow in surprise, quickly reached out and took it, and praised it as follows:

"That's good. Hopefully, the letter inside is written in Teyvat Common Tongue."

After all, this is the only script he knows. If it were the native script of other countries, he would be completely blind.

"Fake" Gan Yu looked at Shao Yun holding the opened cipher cylinder, proudly raised her chin, and asked expectantly with her horizontal pupils:

"So, the rent issue... can we call it even now?"

Shao Yun put the combination lock cylinder back into his backpack and said to her generously, "Okay, I'll pay you a week's rent."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Gan Yu immediately became displeased, her eyes widening as she raised her voice.

"I helped you solve such a difficult cipher cylinder, and you only want a week's rent in return? Alice could hear you calculating that!"

Seeing the mother goat's fur standing on end, Shao Yun couldn't help but laugh out loud. He waved at her and said humorously, "Just kidding, thanks."

"Fake" Gan Yu looked at his unreliable appearance, her eyes flickering slightly as if observing something. Then, a wicked smile curled at the corner of her lips, and she said meaningfully:

"Tch, in a few days, you might end up paying me 'rent' instead."

Shao Yun was completely confused by her words, and asked with a frown in surprise, "What do you mean? What kind of riddle are you playing now?"

The "fake" Gan Yu simply shook his head mysteriously, determined to remain a riddle teller and not revealing a single word.

"It's nothing, you'll understand when the time comes... You might even have to thank me properly."

As soon as she finished speaking, a faint white light flashed around her again, and her elegant human form vanished instantly, transforming back into the fluffy female goat.

She shook her head, slowly strolled back to the dragon's den, curled up on the haystack, tilted her head, and continued to nap with the little dragon, ignoring Shao Yun's questions.