AGN -Chapter 349 Dangkang

Qin Huai practically devoured his lunch like a whirlwind.

At first, he ate a bit absentmindedly, still shocked that Shi Dadan was actually a spirit creature who had successfully passed tribulation. Among all the spirits Qin Huai had encountered, some insisted on reincarnating (Luo Jun), some woke up on their own before completing their tasks (Chen Gong), some followed the script and awakened according to a set storyline (Chen Huihong, Qu Jing), and some had already dissipated and could never awaken again (Chen Huihui).

Qin Huai thought he had seen all kinds of spirit creatures.

And then Shi Dadan came charging in, slapped him on the shoulder, and said with a simple, honest grin: “Didn’t expect this, huh? There are ones like me who don’t follow any storyline at all—just pass the tribulation directly without even getting assigned a task. Heh heh.”

While eating the Wanfú Pork, Qin Huai’s mind was filled with one thought: according to the usual logic and development of a novel, he should be the protagonist.

Even if he couldn’t be the overpowered main character of a wish-fulfillment story, at the very least he should be the protagonist of a system novel. And system novel protagonists are supposed to get tasks from the system and complete them. So what was Shi Dadan’s situation?

It wasn’t that Qin Huai wanted Shi Dadan to fail his tribulation—of course not. He hoped all spirit creatures would succeed. But Shi Dadan’s success made Qin Huai, the supposed protagonist, feel completely irrelevant—almost redundant.

Seriously, how can there already be a spirit that has successfully passed tribulation? Is this author just being lazy and unwilling to come up with any plot?

All these thoughts flooded his mind, causing him to eat the Wanfú Pork unusually slowly. By the time he finished one piece and looked up to grab another, he found the plate already empty—nothing left but sauce.

There was still half a plate of shredded shark fin.

The abalone with pigeon eggs hadn’t been touched much, because Shi Dadan, sitting next to him, was currently devouring a bowl of shredded shark fin rice like a storm.

At that moment, Qin Huai finally understood why Cao Guixiang had told him to eat faster. Shi Dadan had actually been holding back earlier—probably because they had just met and he didn’t want to seem rude. But after joining the group chat and sending red envelopes, Shi Dadan clearly considered Qin Huai one of his own and stopped pretending—now he was unleashing his true appetite.

Only then did Qin Huai realize he couldn’t keep daydreaming. Time was running out. If he didn’t eat faster, not only would the abalone and shark fin be gone—even the rice in the cooker might run out.

So Qin Huai joined in the frenzy, grabbing his bowl and digging in. Encouraged by Shi Dadan, he surpassed himself and ate three big bowls of rice. In the end, the last bit of Wanfú Pork sauce was split between the two of them and mixed with rice.

Rice mixed with sauce—absolutely delicious!

“Burp.”

After the meal, Qin Huai, feeling twelve-tenths full—so stuffed the food was practically at his throat—collapsed into his chair and let out an unrefined burp.

“Burp.”

Shi Dadan echoed him.

Zhang Chu was washing dishes in the kitchen, while Cao Guixiang looked at the two men, clearly too full to even walk properly, and shook her head helplessly.

Although Shi Dadan had once been Cao Guixiang’s boss, from her tone it was clear she still treated him like a junior—after all, he was much younger than her.

“Xiao Qin, what time is your flight this afternoon?” Cao Guixiang asked.

“3:25,” Qin Huai replied. “I’ve already packed my luggage. I checked the travel time—leaving around 1:30 should be fine.”

Cao Guixiang nodded, about to say something, when Shi Dadan spoke up: “No need to bother with a taxi. I’ll drive you.”

He puffed out his chest confidently. “I’ve got 30 years of driving experience! I started driving at 16! Back then, if I wasn’t good at driving, no one in the village would’ve taken me out to do business.”

Cao Guixiang agreed, “That’s true. Old Shi can even drive trucks—his skills are solid. But leaving at 1:30 is too late. If there’s traffic, you might miss your flight.”

“Old Shi, take a rest now. Later, drive Xiao Qin to the airport. After that, come back to pick up the Four-Joy Tangyuan, San Ding Bao, and Fermented Rice Steamed Buns. Put them in the freezer when you get home.”

“The tangyuan are glutinous rice dumplings—don’t cook too many at once, just one pack. At your age, don’t overeat glutinous rice and end up in the hospital.”

Shi Dadan grinned foolishly and nodded. “Got it, Chef Cao. I know my limits. I’m not young anymore. The first time I ate your big feast, I had eight bowls of rice and ended up throwing up from being too full.”

Qin Huai: …6

Compared to Shi Dadan, Ou Yang had completely lost—utter defeat.

What a troublesome boss.

“Oh, and how much were those yellow croakers last time? I’ll have Old Zhang reimburse you,” Cao Guixiang asked.

Shi Dadan waved his hands repeatedly. “Not much, really, not much at all. I got them cheap through connections. Wild and farmed ones aren’t that different in price.”

Cao Guixiang stared at him, clearly not believing a word. “You’ve been in the seafood business for years. Do you believe that yourself? Saying wild and farmed fish cost about the same—you think you can fool my Yun Yun with that? She might not even believe it.”

“How much? Tell me.”

“Really, not much difference!” Shi Dadan stubbornly insisted, his face practically saying trust me. “I really have connections!”

“Say it.”

“Ah, Chef Cao, why don’t you believe me? How about this—if you really think those two fish were expensive, just cook me a good meal at menu price to make up for it, okay?” Shi Dadan finally revealed his true intention.

Cao Guixiang: …

Zhang Chu, washing dishes in the kitchen, silently gave Shi Dadan a thumbs-up.

Cao Guixiang was speechless for over ten seconds before slowly nodding. “Fine, I’ll cook you a good meal. But not this month—come next month. I’ll call you when I’m free.”

“Deal! If you need ingredients, just contact me anytime. Like I said—full stock, good connections, I can get anything!”

To show his sincerity, Shi Dadan grabbed Qin Huai’s suitcase—accurately picking the empty one.

As he lifted it, he looked surprised. “This one’s so light. Why did you bring two suitcases?”

“They were full of pastries before. Now they’re empty,” Qin Huai explained.

The two headed out.

The moment the door closed, Shi Dadan’s honest expression turned into a sly smile. “Didn’t get the chance to ask at the table—what do you mean you’re not a spirit? If you’re not a spirit, how do you have access to the group?”

Qin Huai smoothly repeated the explanation he had already given many times. By the time he finished, Shi Dadan had already taken two wrong turns.

“Are you really a driver with 30 years of experience?” Qin Huai asked skeptically.

“Absolutely genuine! That’s 30 years in this life alone—if you count my previous life, I’ve got at least 40!” Shi Dadan said—before making another wrong turn. He laughed awkwardly. “No wonder they say don’t chat while driving. Even experienced drivers get distracted and go the wrong way.”

“There’s still plenty of time—there’s no way there’ll be traffic today. Let’s find a place and chat slowly. Hang on, I’ll check if there’s a parking lot nearby.”

With that, Shi Dadan started searching for a parking lot on the navigation system. There happened to be one within 30 meters, so he followed the directions and drove over. Seeing that he had already explained the basics, Qin Huai simply opened his game interface to check whether the illustrated guide had updated.

As Qin Huai tapped at empty air, Shi Dadan glanced curiously and asked, “Is that the system you were talking about? You can really just tap it like that, huh?”

“Yeah.” Qin Huai opened the compendium and, as expected, found a new entry unlocked. He scrolled down.

The compendium now read (9/12).

Name: Shi Dadan
Species: Dangkang

Status: Successfully passed tribulation
Memories: 0/0
Dishes: None
Gifts: None

It’s actually a Dangkang!

Qin Huai looked at Shi Dadan in surprise and found that he matched quite well with how he imagined a Dangkang would be.

According to Classic of Mountains and Seas · Eastern Section IV: “On Mount Qin, there is a beast. It resembles a pig but has tusks. Its name is Dangkang. Its cry sounds like its own name, and when it appears, there will be a great harvest in the land.”

In more familiar terms, a Dangkang is basically a pig—something like a wild boar in appearance.

Of course, as a creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it carries a lot more prestige. Like the Wenyu fish, it is a true auspicious beast, said to only appear during times of abundant harvest. As soon as it cries, there will be prosperity.

In an agrarian era, that made it a top-tier auspicious creature—worthy of sitting at the same table as a Dangkang or a pixiu.

Shi Dadan was parking the car.

Noticing Qin Huai staring at him, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“You’re actually a Dangkang,” Qin Huai said directly.

Shi Dadan laughed and neatly parked the car. “I wasn’t really convinced earlier that you had some kind of system—I’ve never even heard of such a thing. But now I believe you. That system of yours can actually tell what species I am.”

“Among us spirit creatures, unless we’re the same type or clan, even if we know the other is a spirit, we can’t tell what species they are.”

“You don’t read novels?” Qin Huai asked.

Shi Dadan shook his head vigorously. “Nope. Reading gives me a headache. When I first came to the human world, learning to read nearly drove me crazy. I hate books the most. I’ve barely studied in this life—only finished primary school.”

“At the time, the teacher in our village thought I had good grades and came to my house to tell my parents to send me to middle school. My parents even tried to scrape together money for it. No way I was going. I refused no matter what.”

“My grades were good not because I was good at studying, but because I hadn’t completely forgotten my past life. If I really had to start from scratch—with my allergy to words, I’d never manage it. The books might recognize me, but I wouldn’t necessarily recognize them.”

Qin Huai: …

It could be said that Shi Dadan was probably the most book-averse spirit Qin Huai had ever met. Other spirits aside, even An Youyou—who only had a middle school education—loved reading novels, especially those about rich protagonists.

She would even sneak in reading during lunch breaks whenever she had time. Qin Huai had seen it several times.

“So what reincarnation are you on now?” Qin Huai asked.

Shi Dadan held up two fingers and grinned. “Second life.”

“I never expected that after failing my tribulation in my first life, I’d succeed in the second. I thought I was done for—that I’d fail again in the human world and never be able to go back.”

“When I was just reborn in this life, I really felt like the sky had fallen. Being poor wasn’t the issue—everyone was poor. The real problem was not having staple food to eat.”

“I didn’t even expect to eat white rice every meal. Some coarse cornbread or porridge would’ve been fine. Actually, my family was considered relatively well-off in the village—otherwise my parents wouldn’t have thought about sending me to middle school. But back then, as fishermen, it was hard to get staple foods. Even white rice was something we only had during the New Year.”

“We had cornmeal—we’d cook it into porridge and eat it once a day. The rest of the time, we just ate whatever we could. Small fish, shrimp, all kinds of shellfish—boiled in plain water. Thank goodness seafood has a bit of saltiness, otherwise I really wouldn’t have wanted to live.”

Shi Dadan’s face was full of Dangkang-style sorrow.

Qin Huai: …Putting himself in the shoes of a Dangkang, not being able to eat staple food really was suffering.

“So when did you succeed in your tribulation in this life?” Qin Huai asked curiously.

“The day the restaurant closed,” Shi Dadan said. “It’s a bit embarrassing, but since I’ve already succeeded, I don’t mind saying it. The reason I failed my tribulation in my first life was because I thought I was too stupid.”

Qin Huai: ?

Shi Dadan sighed. “When I first came to the human world, I spent over a year learning to read and understand the rules. I never quite understood all the twists and turns of human rules, but I figured I was doing okay—at least I knew what a normal person should know.”

“Plus, I got lucky and met a kind-hearted spirit who helped introduce me to a job—driving. In my first life, I was a truck driver.”

“And then?” Qin Huai asked.

“And then I ran someone over and killed them,” Shi Dadan sighed. “You said you can gain memories by completing tasks, and from those memories get recipes to help spirits awaken.”

“And you also said you’ve been studying the double-crab bun recently. So I believe you should know Master Jing from Gusu.”

Qin Huai nodded.

“In my first life, I was a truck driver at a textile factory in Gusu. The person I ran over—you might know who it was.”

Qin Huai: ?

He looked confused.

“I ran over and killed Factory Director Xu’s youngest son, Xu Nuo.”

Qin Huai: !!!

Holy—what?!

Qin Huai blurted out, “What? Factory Director Xu’s youngest son was killed in a car accident—and it was you who hit him?!”

Among all the strange rumors Dong Shi had gathered back then, there had never been anything about a car accident.

So it was actually an accidental death.

Shi Dadan sighed again. “It wasn’t really an accident. Someone wanted Xu Nuo dead—I was just stupid enough to become the one who actually killed him.”

“That’s why I failed my tribulation. Back then, Xu Nuo and I had a pretty good relationship. I never imagined I’d end up killing my own friend.”

“I felt like I was too stupid. I couldn’t properly understand words, and I couldn’t see through people either. Since I had already failed the tribulation, I thought I might as well atone with my life—so I reset directly.”