Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 26 Moon Goddess Riders
"Brother Zhang, how have you been?"

Wu Xian greeted the other party with a joke, full of curiosity about the secrets behind Zhang Mazi.

"It's you?!" Zhang Mazi's lips twitched, his eyes looking strange. "What are you doing in the shantytown?"

"What are you saying? I live in a shantytown."

"..."

Zhang Mazi and the others looked at each other, clearly not quite believing it.

Putting everything else aside, the impressive humanoid scroll in Wu Xian's hand doesn't seem like someone who would live in a shantytown.

In fact, I had wanted to buy their goods before. Have you ever seen a business owner who buys goods living in a shantytown?
"Don't believe me? You can come to my house for a visit." Wu Xian didn't bother to explain further. He looked around and asked with concern, "By the way, are you all doing alright here?"

Zhang Mazi snorted in response, "With us here, there shouldn't be any problems for now."

"That's good," Wu Xian nodded slightly. "I just saw three soldiers from the defense force over there. I estimate that the entire shantytown will be stabilized soon."

"Hmph~ Relying on those three youngsters?" Zhang Mazi sneered. "Relying on yourself is worse than relying on anyone else."

"Isn't it a good thing that the authorities are getting involved?" Wu Xian asked, puzzled.

“The young man is still too young,” Zhang Mazi said with a hint of sarcasm and resentment in his eyes. “If the higher-ups cared even a little, they wouldn’t have sent just those three greenhorns.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Xian fell silent.

"Dad, who is this...?" the boy beside him asked curiously.

“It’s nothing,” Zhang Mazi patted the boy’s head, turned around and gestured for everyone to go back inside to hide. “He’s probably some rich kid who came down to earth to experience life. He has nothing to do with us poor people.”

Wu Xian's lips twitched slightly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

……

Sanzaigang, North Dimensional Port.

The eerie, colossal dimensional gate to the abyss, which resembled a colossal object, had its light contained and was completely sealed off.

On the vast dimensional plaza, countless adventurers who had evacuated from the dungeon fought against the monsters invading from the dimensional mirage under the call and command of the army.

Zhao He was one of them. At this moment, he was fighting alongside a temporarily formed team in the familiar North Street area.

Thanks to the excellent combat capabilities of the guardian tiger, it successfully won the appreciation of the military leader in charge.

But all he wanted was to get back to the shantytown as soon as possible to make sure his wife, children, and brothers were safe.

"Brother, this scroll is truly magnificent!" The middle-aged soldier beside him exclaimed with admiration. "Once the dimensional mirage ends, come join our army and I'll guarantee you wealth and honor."

"Thank you for your kind words, sir, but all I want to do now is go back to the shantytown and take a look," Zhao He said with a worried expression.

"Your home is in a shantytown?" The middle-aged military officer frowned.

"Hmm, I wonder how things are over there now?"

After a moment's thought, the officer solemnly reminded him, "The shantytown has been sealed off and isolated. You can only enter, not leave. You should think this through carefully."

"Lockdown and quarantine? Why?"

"The specific reasons for the orders from above are unclear, but you'd better not go back," the officer kindly advised.

But Zhao He became increasingly anxious. After thanking the officer for his appreciation once again, he rushed towards the shantytown without hesitation.

Watching Zhao He resolutely leave, the officer shook his head and sighed softly, but did not stop him.

……

The new urban area is less affected by the dimensional mirage.

With the help and reassurance of various groups, the public is gradually returning to order.

The students of Dengfeng Art Studio also participated in this rare opportunity for training under the organization of their teachers and school leaders.

Teams of trainees traversed the city, clearing out monsters and rescuing civilians, reaping a great sense of accomplishment and prestige.

Many new students felt proud and honored to be a student of the Scroll Painting program during this experience.

Of course, there are differences between freshmen as well.

For example, Xiao Wang, who drives an armored vehicle and leads a team to race in the city, doesn't get many opportunities to race in the city.

The usually congested main roads of the new urban area have now become Wang Xiaocong's personal stage.

Engines roared, and the armored vehicle sped off. "Didn't they say there were elite insectoid monsters here? Where are they? Where are they?" Wang Xiaocong shouted, asking his teammates.

"Turn right at the intersection ahead!" my female classmate promptly reported.

"Okay~!"

Wang Xiaocong smiled slightly, maneuvering his chariot at breakneck speed, its tail swaying wildly.

However, the moment the chariot turned right, the people inside were all dumbfounded.

Ahead, on the city street, a giant centipede, six or seven meters long, was wreaking havoc—a clear second-tier elite insect monster.

At this moment, two other teams have already beaten them to it.

"Holy crap, what the hell is that? A mechanical war god?" Wang Xiaocong exclaimed in surprise.

"It looks like Tang Tiaotiao's painting!" The female classmate next to her had a strange expression.

"Tang Tiaotiao?" Wang Xiaocong asked, puzzled. "Isn't her picture scroll a cute little white rabbit?"

"It seems like I found the inspiration while doing field research a few days ago, and I just finished making it," the female student said with surprise and doubt. "It looks pretty impressive?"

"You call this thing 'somewhat powerful'?"

Wang Xiaocong's mouth twitched violently.

Amidst the chaotic battlefield ahead, a humanoid mecha sped through the air, its entire body painted silver-white with interspersed crescent-shaped patterns. The mecha stood over three meters tall, its slender and streamlined form resembling a tall, graceful mecha goddess.

From his arms and wrists extended a pair of crescent-shaped battle blades, which slashed out with sharp moonlight blades, leaving shocking wounds on the giant centipede's body.

With the help of several teammates, they completely suppressed the giant centipede.

On the other hand, another team led by Pang Dahai was so overwhelmed by the mecha goddess and the giant centipede that they were completely unable to get past them.

"Fat Seaweed, if you don't want your tattered scroll to fall apart, get out of my way!"

Tang Tiaotiao controlled the [Moon God Rider] and hurled a moonlight blade, knocking back Pang Dahai's slow-moving humanoid mechanical turret.

After finishing, he didn't forget to give Pang Dahai a "weak" gesture.

"Impossible! How could that dead woman have drawn such a powerful mechanical scroll?"

"It's fake, it must be fake! What...what makes her think she can do this?"

The vast ocean's face was contorted, unable to accept all of this.

The key point is that I've never heard of the Tang family having such a powerful mechanical scroll inheritance.
On the other hand, Tang Tiaotiao's teammates were completely impressed, exclaiming, "Wow, Sister Tiaotiao, your Moon God Sky Rider is too powerful!"

"I feel he has the potential to break into the Mechanical Engineering Department's [Famous Scroll Hall]!"

"Absolutely. The Mechanical Engineering Department doesn't have many high-end combatants to begin with, and the Famous Scroll Hall hasn't been updated in years."

"Our Sister Tiao is absolutely a mechanical-themed scroll painting genius!"

Tang Tiaotiao was quite pleased with everyone's praise. After forcefully dealing with the giant centipede, the [Moon God Sky Rider] landed smoothly beside her, beautiful and cool. "Hehe, two hundred credits easily obtained, as expected of me."

"Let's go, let's head towards the old town. I heard there are even more dimensional monsters there!"

……

This is the shantytown area.

Wu Xian had returned home and was terrified to learn that the old men in the shantytown had been sealed off.

Fortunately, with the Chicken King and the Divine Tiger protecting the area, the dimensional monsters couldn't infiltrate. A few scattered monsters wandered around the dilapidated courtyard, not daring to approach.

Meanwhile, Wu Xian was in the house organizing and studying the monster materials he had collected along the way.

The bizarre materials in particular made his hands itch with desire, and he was itching to get his hands on them.

"With insects and eerie things around, it really does have the atmosphere of Qingming Festival."

While joking around, Wu Xian sketched a draft on the scrap paper, determining the specific style and composition of the upcoming scroll.

Since it's the "Qingming Festival," we naturally need to do something that fits the festive atmosphere.

On the drawing paper, there are two figures, one black and one white, one tall and one short, one fat and one thin, which are quite incongruous.

(End of this chapter)