CHAPTER 150: ALMOST

Five days later.

Standing atop the hill on Crab Island, Oliver gazed at the red dot dancing in his view. For the past few days, it had been steadily consuming the food he prepared.

A sly smirk spread across Oliver’s face. He was almost sure it was hooked on his cooking.

The proof?

Yesterday, no more dragon meat or silver crab went missing.

"Heh heh heh..." An evil laugh slithered from his lips.

Oliver was sure they were close to scamming—no, taming the beast.

"Next, we pose as kind gentlemen and reveal we can see it," Oliver muttered.

"Are you sure?" Root asked from the side. "I think we should wait."

"Why?"

"We might scare it if we abruptly—"

"It’s not abrupt," Oliver interjected, a hint of impatience in his voice. "We’ve been feeding it for over a week."

"Would it even know that?"

Root’s last question made Oliver pause. He considered it for a second. Realistically, expecting a beast to understand them was a long shot. Besides, their past interactions had been minimal. The chance of it not knowing was, indeed, greater. If it didn’t know they were being kind, how can they expect it to reciprocate the goodwill?

"Now that I think about it, we should test the water first." Oliver pondered deeply while speaking.

Then, another crooked idea to test the creature came to his mind. He turned to look at Root, who was sitting nearby, and smiled.

—

That evening, Oliver grilled a feast. He and Root ate their fill, making sure to stay well within the mythical beast’s line of sight.

Oliver watched the creature, a vibrant red blur, zip around their table, seemingly excited, but waiting patiently for a taste of the delicious meat.

But then, Oliver did something unimaginable.

The cruel human gathered all the leftover grilled meat and crab onto a large platter and carried it into their boat. Root, a wry smile playing on his lips, followed close behind. The boat door hissed shut, leaving the confused mythical beast hovering outside.

What just happened?

It floated in the air, slowly drifting towards the camp. Why did they take the leftover meat inside?

Like an abandoned puppy, the red dot moved sluggishly towards the boat, gently nudging the closed door. The vessel, crafted from an extremely hard and durable metal alloy, offered no way for it to sneak inside. The beast gloomily touched the rear door in confusion.

Inside, Oliver and Root watched everything unfold through their VR headsets. They had a clear view of the mythical beast’s shifting emotions. Just moments ago, it had been jovially dancing in the sky, expecting a grand feast of leftovers. Now, denied, its tiny body visibly trembled.

"It looks like a junkie who didn’t get his fix," Oliver muttered, a note of amazement in his voice. He’d never thought his cooking could have such an effect on a beast, much less a mythical one.

"As expected, my cooking is addictive," he declared, turning to Root. "Perhaps you should eat less if you don’t want to end up like that."

Root rolled his eyes. Oliver’s cooking was good, but it certainly wasn’t that good.

"What are you going to do now?" Root asked.

"Of course, we’re going to let it in. Even though it could have just snagged raw crabs, it’s still waiting patiently in front of the door. I can’t possibly turn it away."

Oliver’s gaze softened as he watched the creature. The mythical beast wasn’t violent; it was waiting like an abandoned puppy at the boat’s rear entrance. He simply didn’t have the heart to deny it food.

Placing the tray of grilled meat and crabs to the side, Oliver opened the boat’s rear entrance.

Immediately, the red streak, which had been curled up nearby, shot into the air. It saw the door slide open and zipped inside.

For a second, it even forgot about its camouflage. Due to the sudden movement, the light rippled around it, revealing its true shape. Now, Oliver and Root could see it with their naked eyes. Their VR headsets displayed the dark shadow as it flew into the boat.

By the time they realized it, the mythical beast was already inside the boat, its gaze fixed on the tray of meat.

Oliver and Root watched it with open curiosity. With its camouflage finally off, they could see exactly what it looked like.

The mythical beast was a chubby koi fish small enough to hold in their palm. Its scales were pitch black, like the midnight sky, adorned with small white patterns that moved randomly across its body.

"It’s an inverted cow pattern," Oliver muttered, a frown creasing his brow.

The fully grown one he’d seen in his previous life hadn’t looked like this. He wondered if he had made a mistake.

Was this really the fish he was looking for?

"No way, there wouldn’t be two of those, right?"

They hadn’t seen two red spots flying around the camp, so he was confident that only one existed.

"It might be its adolescent form or something..." His voice trailed off, lost in thought.

As he spoke, the fish seemed to realize its predicament. In its excitement, it had completely forgotten to maintain its camouflage.

In a flash of panic, it dashed out of the boat. It moved with incredible speed, disappearing into the darkness outside. The once visible body turned invisible and zoomed out of the camp, leaving Oliver and Root alone inside the boat.

"Scardy cat-fish. Or should I call it a cow-fish?" Oliver’s voice cut through the silence.

Root, who hadn’t expected such a sudden turn of events, stood frozen. Everything had happened too fast for him to react. When he heard Oliver’s quip, he turned and shot him a side-eye.

Oliver avoided his gaze. "Don’t blame me for that. Who could’ve expected the glutton to forget to hide itself?"

"You scared it away," Root accused.

"No, I didn’t."

"And why did you have to look at it with your squinty eyes? You could’ve just ignored it and let it eat."

"Oh! I could’ve done that, right?" Oliver nodded, a dawning realization on his face that he’d missed an opportunity. "Quick thinking." He then wore his signature devious grin and said.

Root instantly knew Oliver meant the exact opposite of what he’d just said.

Root sighed.

Oliver was the most unserious serious person he had met.

He sighed again and went towards the cockpit silently. There was no reason to argue. Like Oliver said, it was an unpredictable situation.

Now, they could only hope that it would return.

—

A few minutes later, the VR headset beeped. Oliver and Root exchanged a look, then quickly put on their headsets.

Immediately, a familiar red dot appeared, approaching the camp. This time, the mythical creature was far more cautious than they’d expected. It took its time, observing everything around it, carefully inching towards the boat.

It’s back. The thought silently passed between them.

Both had been on the verge of sleep when the creature reappeared. Now, all thoughts of rest vanished as they sat up, captivated by the red dot’s slow advance.

It took a while for the mythical beast to reach the inner area of the camp. Its caution intensified, moving only a few centimeters per second. But even at that painstakingly slow pace, its destination was clear.

"It’s going towards the table near the grill," Root said.

After the fish had dashed away, the tray of meat had been placed on that very table.

"I knew it would come. The gluttonous beast loves my cooking." Oliver practically bounced off the bunk bed where he’d been lying, then promptly headed for the door.

Root, however, dashed forward and blocked his way.

"You can’t!" Root insisted. "You’ll scare it away."

"No," Oliver countered.

"You will. Just let it be for today. Or else, it would be too scared to approach us again."

"I don’t think so."

"But, what if it happened? We have plenty of time left, we don’t have to rush." Root tried his best to convince Oliver.

Though they disagreed on the approach, Oliver finally relented and returned to his bunk. After all, it was Root’s idea to tame the beast with kindness. For now, he couldn’t do anything to break that streak. If the mythical creature disappeared as Root predicted, it would indeed be a significant loss.

Meanwhile, the cow-spotted mythical beast had reached the table. It noticed the tray of meat and devoured it instantly. Its tiny mouth acted like a black hole, pulling all the food inside. Then, it slowly made its way out of the camp without a backward glance.

The stupid creature seemed oblivious to the existence of poisons. If Oliver had truly wanted to catch it, he could have easily sedated and captured it, given that it ate everything he provided.

Like that, another day passed.

Today, Oliver was hell bent on revealing that he could see it. He wanted to know if it would still eat the meat he cooked.