Chapter 95: Giving Up Being Human

……

After handing the matter of the Dragon Egg over to Daolong and Shendu, Lv Cheng returned home.

Ye Xinxia and Ding Yumian had been spending all their time at the school library lately, and Ai Tutu seemed to have business of her own, having been out for several days. With Liu Xian and Liu Ru still training with Daolong, the spacious villa suddenly felt empty, and even somewhat desolate.

"I don't remember you having a drunkard attribute."

Opening the door and walking into the living room, the first thing he saw was Mu Nujiao drinking her sorrows away.

"I'm not a drunkard." Mu Nujiao's eyes darted around as she hurriedly tried to hide the wine bottle on the table. However, perhaps because she had drunk too much and her vision was blurred, the bottle fell to the floor, spilling wine everywhere.

"Sorry, I..." Mu Nujiao stood up unsteadily, wanting to clean up the spilled wine, but with one careless slip, she toppled toward the floor.

"If you've had this much to drink, stop moving around." Lv Cheng flashed behind Mu Nujiao, scooped her up, and turned to walk toward the bedroom upstairs.

Several black shadows emerged silently from the darkness and quickly cleaned up the scene.

"Sorry..." Mu Nujiao was clearly drunk; she wrapped her arms tightly around Lv Cheng's neck, shedding her usual reserve and that slight, awkward sense of distance.

Lv Cheng lay down on the bed while holding Mu Nujiao. "What is it? Did you do something to wrong me, too?"

"No..." Mu Nujiao pursed her lips, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"Is there a problem at home?" Lv Cheng asked.

Mu Nujiao shook her head. "No, it's my own problem."

In this house, Ai Tutu is the darling of the Ai Family; she is not subject to any constraints and can live freely.

Ye Xinxia and Ding Yumian are the same; they don't need to overthink things because Lv Cheng is willing to shield them from all the wind and rain, and they are willing to set aside their worries and enjoy this protection with peace of mind.

She envied them, but she also knew that she had brought this upon herself.

From the moment she first accepted resources from her family, she had already fallen into the trap.

Lv Cheng had once warned her that in such an environment, unless one becomes the supreme controller, everyone is merely a tool; so-called freedom had ceased to exist from the moment of birth.

Everything they received in abundance would have to be paid for in the future.

She had naively thought that if she stopped asking the family for things, she might be able to break free, but reality was cruel; she had thought too much.

After returning from Jinlin, she had tentatively asked her family about this matter.

The answer she received was cold—a coldness she had never imagined.

With Lv Cheng's life or death uncertain, coupled with her questions regarding the Demon Element experiments, the Mu Family's previous plans for her had changed. The kind elders of the past were gone, replaced by warnings that were little more than threats.

During the few months Lv Cheng was missing, marriage arrangements she had never been exposed to before began to find her. She had wanted to refuse, but her family demanded she remain ambiguous about these matters.

And when Lv Cheng appeared again, now holding the titles of Honorary Councilor of the Magic Palace and Honorary Judge of the Imperial Capital Judgment Court, her family immediately helped her cut off those ambiguities and demanded she resume the previous arrangements.

She suddenly realized the truth of what Lv Cheng had said before: she had never had freedom, she just hadn't noticed it, and she had even foolishly thought she could shake off those controls.

"I told you, you can come to me," Lv Cheng said.

Mu Nujiao shook her head. "I don't want to cause you trouble."

The only way for her to leave the whirlpool of the Mu Family was to return what she had taken, multiplied several times over. What she needed to repay was not just what she had received, but also what she should have received, what she should have contributed—the interest on everything from the past, present, and future; she had to pay it all back.

From the moment she was born, the loan had already begun, and even all the interest had already been scheduled.

She couldn't run.

Unless she could become the controller of the Mu Family, freedom would always be a pipe dream.

But she couldn't even control herself right now, let alone control the Mu Family.

The great families were not idiots; if her request this time didn't yield the desired results, there wouldn't be a next time.

"I can help you," Lv Cheng said.

"Help me?" Mu Nujiao leaned close to Lv Cheng's face, her faint, wine-scented breath brushing against him.

"What's the price?"

"You said it yourself: everything has a price, and nothing is free."

"Can I afford this price?"

"You haven't even tried, how do you know you can't afford it?" Lv Cheng reached out and pinched Mu Nujiao's nose, then silently pulled back a little distance.

The smell of alcohol was strong, but in the current atmosphere, he couldn't be too direct.

Mu Nujiao sobered up a little, pursed her lips, and shook her head.

Any relationship requires give and take. Lv Cheng certainly had enough power to help her, but how was she supposed to repay him?

By offering herself?

She couldn't do that.

She did like him and hoped for more of a future with him, but it would absolutely not be in this way.

She wanted to stand by his side, not become a parasite on him.

Ye Xinxia is Lv Cheng's sister; she has the right to rely on him with justification.

Ding Yumian has terrifying talent; she didn't even need much help from Lv Cheng.

But as for her, lately she had become increasingly afraid. Watching everyone else make rapid progress, she doubted more and more whether her so-called talent was even real.

She didn't want to become a tool for the Mu Family to manipulate at will, and she wanted even less to become a burden to Lv Cheng.

Perhaps he wouldn't mind her being a small burden, but she couldn't accept it.

"You live too seriously," Lv Cheng said.

"You could stand to be a bit more shameless, like me."

"You?" Mu Nujiao was stunned, then burst into laughter.

"By learning from you how to sponge off a rich woman?"

Everyone said Lv Cheng got strong by sponging off rich women, but where were these rich women?

She hadn't seen them, Ye Xinxia hadn't seen them, and no one else had seen them either.

She only saw Lv Cheng's terrifying talent—a talent that felt like a joke.

The rich woman is nothing more than an excuse.

After all, no one knows how much power a rich woman who even the great clans cannot investigate truly possesses.

Therefore, no one dares to offend Lv Cheng, and even the Mu Clan's attitude toward this matter is very strange.

In the past, the Mu Clan hoped she could pull a talent like Lv Cheng into the Mu Clan; later, the Mu Clan wanted her to act as a link to bind Lv Cheng to the Mu Clan; and now, the Mu Clan has already become wary of Lv Cheng.

It is not because of his strength, but because of his untraceable background and that so-called rich woman he always talks about, yet about whom there is not a shred of information.

Honorary Councilor of the Magic Palace, Honorary Chief Judge of the Imperial Capital Judgment Court—in the eyes of others, these two identities might just sound impressive, but the Mu Clan knows very well that this is a level of prestige that even clans with a Forbidden Curse Mage sitting in command do not possess!

For the Magic Palace to make such a decision, there are two possibilities: either his talent is sufficient for the Magic Palace to make an investment of this level!

Or, Lv Cheng's background exceeds their imagination!

Regardless of which one it is, the Mu Clan is unwilling to take the risk; after all, one careless move could result in them getting themselves dragged into it.

"I want to as well, but I haven't been able to find a suitable one," Lv Cheng shrugged.

Before awakening the Summoning Element and getting involved with a Demon, his plan was to sponge off a rich woman.

Relying on that slight advantage of knowing the plot, he would sponge off every rich woman he could.

But after having the Demon, many things became simple, and he didn't even need to sponge off a rich woman anymore.

"Suitable..." Mu Nujiao smiled and shook her head.

She did not think Lv Cheng would really sponge off a rich woman; after all, he knew very well what such behavior required. Even someone like her, born into a great clan, would need to use everything she had as collateral for a loan, and Lv Cheng... rich women are not fools; the price required to sponge off a rich woman would only be greater, the interest would only be higher, and it would be more troublesome.

Lv Cheng had always been direct in his actions, which showed that he hated trouble; how could he possibly go and find such unnecessary trouble for himself?

"Jiaojiao, human ability is limited. What I have learned from my short life is that the more one plays with schemes, the more likely those schemes are to fail due to unforeseen circumstances," Lv Cheng said suddenly.

"If you want to break this damn cycle, you must become a creature that transcends humanity."

If Mu Ningxue had not run away back then, his life now would likely look quite different.

He had not expected that kind of thing to happen, but it happened nonetheless.

The more you think you have everything under control, the more reality will give you a slap in the face.

"Transcend humanity? A-Cheng, what are you talking about?" Mu Nujiao did not quite understand.

Dangerous red light flickered in Lv Cheng's eyes, and his figure changed rapidly; in just a few breaths, he transformed into a sturdy dragon-man covered in black scales.

"I am no longer human, Jiaojiao."

"..."

(End of chapter)