Little Pink Starfish

Gu Bai arrived at the largest quarry in the imperial capital and casually glanced inside.
Holy crap, piles and piles of raw stones stacked like mountains—this was exactly the place ge wanted to be!
Time to dig out all the good stuff inside!

With his grand ambition set, Gu Bai reached into his pocket and pulled out a card.

#Stone-Gambler Certification—You Deserve It#

#The Positive Synergy Between Prestige and Power Display#

Swipe the card—wait, no, swipe the certificate—Gu Bai lifted his foot and walked right in.
Considering there wasn’t much money in his salary card, he started out in the cheapest raw stone section.
Then, he immediately released his mental power.

Like a lighthouse in the dark, that mental power worked like a cheat—finding strange stones was as easy as navigating by light. Gu Bai, face blank and aura icy, started lifting stones one by one!
Yes! Every one of these stones had strange stones inside!

He picked out a total of thirteen pieces and carried them to be cut right away.
In an instant, a bunch of eyes were blinded.

“Whoa! Level 5 strange stone!”
“Whoa! Level 4!”
“Whoa! Level 6! Level 6!”
“Whoa! Another level 5!”

All thirteen raw stones had strange stones—none empty. The weakest was level 4, the strongest level 6. The energy bursting out was eye-piercing. The onlookers went from “kind of interesting” to “I’m impressed” to “this is amazing” in less than a minute.

The stone-cutter was stunned: “Stone-gambler, sir, do you—do you want to sell?”
Gu Bai: Can you speak a complete sentence with a proper object?! Ge doesn’t sell his body, okay!

And just then, a voice with a bit of coldness interrupted: “Sell what? He’s my stone-gambler!”
Gu Bai: “……”
Why is the second male lead here? And of all things, he just had to hear that line!

A rare moment of mental sync—
But in the completely wrong place.

The cutter looked awkward: “These strange stones… are they for sale…?”
Cecil, who had just rushed over and misheard the end of the conversation: “……”
Great, I almost messed up again…

Gu Bai: “Selling.”
Come on, ge’s here to make money, alright?! Without enough cash, how’s ge gonna buy more expensive raw stones? Without expensive raw stones, how’s ge gonna dig out even more strange stones!

The stone-cutter glanced nervously at Cecil.
Cecil muttered: “Listen to him…”
Gu Bai: “Mm.”

And just like that, everyone was happy.

In the blink of an eye, people started calling out prices.
Within five minutes, all the strange stones were sold.

Swipe of a crystal card, funds transferred.
Gu Bai was gleeful on the inside and headed straight to the high-grade raw stone section.
Cecil followed closely behind.

Thus began the legend of Gu Bai, Little Strange Stone Killer, and his treasure-hunting spree.

Though he couldn’t quite remember when he read the original novel, the plot was deeply etched in his mind. Gu Bai was extremely familiar with the events that happened at this quarry.
At the moment, the key things he remembered were the strange stones Zhu Ning—the protagonist shou—had found here.

There were several level 8 strange stones, and even one that wasn’t confirmed at the time but was later revealed in the story to be a level 9 strange stone!

This time, Gu Bai’s plan was to collect all those high-grade strange stones.
Yes, dig up the rival’s foundation—can’t have too many hits on that wall!

Some of those high-grade stones were found in the premium area, others were lucky strikes from low or mid-tier zones, but either way—it was much easier to search in the premium area, right?
Very quickly, Gu Bai rushed toward several large raw stones that practically glowed in his eyes!

This one! Energy-rich! Huge strange stone! Take it!
That one! Pure energy! Fair-sized stone! Take it!
This one! Energy spilling out! Huge stone! Take it!
That one! Dense energy! Decent-sized stone! Take it!

Gu Bai wanted this one and that one and then found another one that seemed even better.
—What to do when dazzled by so many choices?
Buy buy buy!

Cecil watched as Gu Bai picked up raw stones that others had passed over. It looked like he was spending a lot, but considering the profit he made from the earlier batch, it was more than enough to afford them.
In that moment, Cecil felt a little down.

Was he doomed to heartache just because his name was Cecil?
Even spending money for the one he admired… was this hard.

But—
The way little Carlo focused while choosing raw stones was way too cute!
Made him like it so much, so much… he almost wanted to swallow him whole, merge into one.

Cecil calmed himself for three seconds.
Tried to suppress it.
He had always been an easy-going person, hadn’t he?
No, he couldn’t act like this.

Then… he kept following.

Gu Bai happily shopped for stones, noting them down and paying successfully.
While buying, he discovered even better ones—but his money started running low. So he pulled out a level 7 strange stone and sold it for more funds, then continued buying.

This went on for four to five hours. Gu Bai was sweating, but his mood was sky-high.
Ge has more and more strange stones now, okay!
So much energy, okay!
Getting closer and closer to knocking that blind second male lead out with a pile of stones!

After sweeping the entire raw stone area several times and confirming he’d gotten the best of them, Gu Bai finally dusted off his hands and prepared to go back.
As for the person tailing behind like a ghost…
Wait, why was he describing him as a “ghost follower”?
Whatever, not important. If the second male lead wanted to follow, then so be it—technically he was his employer anyway, right?
For a still-suffering, secretly-in-love guy, a bit of secret satisfaction never hurt.

But—this world had a word: accident.

Just as Gu Bai finished his purchase and loaded all the stones onto the cart—
(Yes, he wasn’t planning to cut them here since the stones were too good and he didn’t want to reveal them)—
he brushed shoulders with a group of people.

And among that group, someone suddenly turned back and called out to stop him!

Gu Bai’s expression remained flat as he turned around.
Who is it, and what do you want?

Cecil frowned slightly, fingers twitching.
Then, suddenly sensing something, he relaxed.
It wasn’t the first time he’d felt the urge to kill someone…

The one who called out to Gu Bai was a group of showy, arrogant noble males and females—or “alphas and omegas,” really.
Everyone knew, in stories nowadays, keeping the protagonist’s IQ intact was already a feat; having intelligent side characters was a stretch, and when it came to cannon fodder? Intelligent ones were rare as phoenix feathers.

In this story, even the official gong’s IQ had been nerfed, and while the second male lead got a tiny boost for “swoon value,” the cannon fodder… well, you could imagine.
Firmly sub-IQ-5.

So this group of richly dressed but brainless nobles strutted in with extreme arrogance.

One female stone-gambler stomped her foot: “That one! I want that one!”
The male beastman immediately embraced her: “Okay, baby, I’ll go get it for you right now. Don’t worry.”
The female cooed: “Hurry up!”
The beastman—brawny and loud—blocked Gu Bai’s path and pointed at a massive raw stone on the cart with an air of extravagance: “How much for that stone? Is 10,000 crystals enough?”

Gu Bai calmly sensed the stone they were eyeing—it contained a level 8 strange stone.
10,000 crystals, my ass! That wouldn’t even buy stone shavings! That’s some top-tier fake-rich energy!
You think ge’s an idiot?

Gu Bai: “Not for sale.”
The beastman flared up: “Do you know who I am? A mere sub-beastman dares refuse me? I’ll make sure you can’t survive in the imperial capital! Do you hear me? If you’ve got the guts, hand over that stone! Otherwise, hmph, you’ll regret it!”

Gu Bai: “Not for sale.”
Feeling thoroughly humiliated, and egged on by the whining female beside him, the beastman’s temper flared. He reached out to grab Gu Bai and “teach him a lesson.”

Gu Bai saw that hand coming in slow motion and fell into a dilemma.
Should ge dodge left and kick him in the crotch? Or dodge right and knee him in the gut… or maybe elbow him in the ribs? Or just go for the eyes?
So many options…

But before Gu Bai could decide, a hand shot out from the side and grabbed the beastman’s wrist.
Then—crack.

Beastman: “Ow ow ow ow ow ow!”
The female shrieked: “Darling, are you okay?! What kind of lowlife dares disrespect a count’s son?!”

Cecil’s tall figure blocked Gu Bai.
His face was cold and dark, and those usually shimmering peach blossom eyes were now filled with a violent aura.

“Count’s son?” His voice was soft and cold. “Is that supposed to be impressive?”
As he spoke, he yanked the beastman forward by the fractured wrist. With his other hand pressing down on the man’s shoulder, he slowly moved his fingers up the arm.
…Each inch he moved came with a crack.
He crushed the entire arm, inch by inch.

Cecil smiled gently: “If this hand can’t behave, then you don’t need it.”
His gaze fell on the horrified, pale female next to him, and a flash of cruelty passed through his eyes. “Don’t you think so, beautiful lady?”

At that moment, the beastman’s right arm was completely limp.
During the whole process, no matter how he screamed or struggled, or even tried to cast magic, he was utterly suppressed—unable to move at all.

And so, with wide open eyes, he watched as his own arm was completely ruined.

The killing intent in Cecil’s chest was about to explode—
Even his pupils flickered with a touch of blood-red.

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Pinky says: It takes some wild imagination to visualise an orc that looks like a dude that’s acting like a brat type woman. Like it’s hard to not hear the voice as a whiny high pitched sound but instead low. But when you do… Ooohohoho. It’s fucking hilarious.