Chapter 77: The Gap Between Rich and Poor

The netherfire fireflies that had appeared on Shen Siyuan's hands seemed to sense the tremor and woke one after another, then vibrated their wings, flew into the air, and scattered in all directions.

The hum of their vibrating wings was a constant in his ears.

But very quickly, it was accompanied by the "whoosh-whoosh" sound of piercing air.

These finger-long netherfire fireflies, like sharp swords, pierced through the void, dancing around Shen Siyuan's body.

Some landed on his shoulders, some on his lapels, and a few on the top of his head…

Shen Siyuan now felt immensely grateful that the Nine Hells Demon Lord had used the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to re-refine and cultivate these iron-eating fireflies.

Otherwise, he would not possibly be able to command these netherfire fireflies as easily as moving his own arm right now, and might even have been backlashed by them.

But the number of these netherfire fireflies was indeed a bit small—Shen Siyuan counted, and there were only seventy-nine in total.

One must remember that the Nine Hells Demon Lord had originally raised a million of them; when released, they blotted out the sky, and it was precisely by this move that he turned the tables on and killed many demon-slaying righteous cultivators.

But for some unknown reason, of the million netherfire fireflies, only this mere seventy-nine remained.

It was a pity that the Nine Hells Demon Lord had failed his Tribulation Crossing, leaving only a wisp of remnant soul, causing much of his memory to be lost; the specific reason, he had no way of knowing.

But fortunately, these netherfire fireflies could reproduce. Once he cultivated more in the future, he imagined commanding netherfire insects—that overwhelming, magnificent scene—Shen Siyuan could not help but feel a longing in his heart.

Yin Xingyue and Watching Dou Dou, who had been practicing the "Embrace-Wind Slumber" on the side, had now stopped practicing, both watching Shen Siyuan with curious faces.

"Sweet-potato Gogo, Chongchong is so cute…"

"Sweet-potato Gogo, are these popsicle fireflies…"

"Wow, Sweet-potato Gogo, the popsicle bugs all seem to listen to you…"

"Sweet-potato Gogo, can you give them to me to play with…"

……

Watching Dou Dou, that little chatterbox, seeing all the netherfire fireflies land on Shen Siyuan, finally could not help but start babbling away.

Yin Xingyue reached out to cover her mouth, but could not cover it; this little thing was simply too lively.

Shen Siyuan chuckled lightly. The two netherfire fireflies that had stopped on his shoulders suddenly flapped their wings and flew up—one landed on Yin Xingyue's shoulder, the other on top of Watching Dou Dou's head.

Yin Xingyue: →_→

Watching Dou Dou: (´◔‸◔`)

Both little ones showed adorable expressions, froze on the spot, not daring to move at all, afraid of startling the little cuties on their bodies.

"These two netherfire fireflies are for you. Take good care of them; normally you can feed them with netherfire or metal," Shen Siyuan said.

"Really?"

Watching Dou Dou was overjoyed at first, but her voice was very small, afraid of startling the bugs on her head.

And Yin Xingyue curiously stretched out her hand; a ball of netherfire appeared on her fingertip, and the netherfire firefly on her shoulder immediately landed on her fingertip and devoured that ball of netherfire.

Seeing this, Watching Dou Dou hurriedly imitated Yin Xingyue, stretching out her chubby little finger, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not produce even a wisp of smoke.

"You'd better not waste your effort. That netherfire firefly of yours is almost bursting from eating on top of your little head."

Only then did Watching Dou Dou react; with a thought, the netherfire firefly on top of her head landed on her fingertip.

"Her butt is glowing, hia~hia… its butt is glowing, hia~hia…"

Seeing her silly little look, both Yin Xingyue and Shen Siyuan could not help but laugh.

A ringtone woke the sleeping Shen Siyuan.

Without opening his eyes, he fumbled for his phone, turned off the alarm, and only then opened his eyes.

Sunlight shone in through the window, falling on the round table beneath the windowsill; a breeze blew in through the thin gauze curtain, swaying a potted green plant on the table.

Shen Siyuan sat bolt upright, rising straight from the bed.

He stretched, twisted his shoulders—muscles like great dragons, bones popping like beans—a continuous series of cracks.

Refreshed and clear-headed, his spirit incomparably full, his whole body seemed to have inexhaustible strength; even ordinary breathing carried a sense of exhilarating smoothness, every cell in his body seeming to cheer with brimming vigor.

This was the power brought by the completion of the Second Aspect.

He let out a long breath, expelling the stale air from his chest, and only then got up.

Yin Xingyue and Watching Dou Dou had once again run off somewhere unknown.

Of course, this was also because Shen Siyuan had not restricted their freedom—come and go as they pleased.

He picked up his phone and first sent a message to Ruan Hongzhuang.

"Good morning, are you up yet?"

But he did not receive a reply from Ruan Hongzhuang; she was probably still not up.

She was not like Shen Siyuan—she was the boss, and Shen Siyuan was a miserable wage-slave.

It was not until he was eating breakfast on his way to work that he received Ruan Hongzhuang's message; by then it was almost eight o'clock, and she had only just gotten up.

Shen Siyuan took a photo of his own breakfast and sent it over.

"It looks delicious."

"Of course. Next time I'll bring it over so we can eat together."

"Sure, when?"

Ruan Hongzhuang's personality was straightforward; she never put on Li Jiayi airs—when Shen Siyuan said he'd take her to eat, she immediately took it seriously.

"Then tomorrow morning," Shen Siyuan said.

Today was Friday, tomorrow Saturday; he had already made plans with her, so meeting early in the morning would be in time to have breakfast together.

"Then it's settled."

Ruan Hongzhuang was very pleased upon hearing this, full of anticipation for tomorrow's meeting.

She did not know why either; in short, she just felt that Shen Siyuan had a strange attraction for her. Staying by his side felt very comfortable, with a sense of soul-level compatibility.

Her feeling was actually not wrong—because Ruan Hongzhuang's own aura was attracted by Shen Siyuan's even larger aura, unconsciously wanting to draw closer to him, just like two magnets, the smaller one being drawn toward the larger.

"What are you having for breakfast?" Shen Siyuan asked casually.

Ruan Hongzhuang quickly sent over a photo.

Then Shen Siyuan fell silent.

Because the photo Ruan Hongzhuang sent showed meat sauce pasta, steak, strawberry French toast, foie gras apple sandwiches, a fruit platter...

There were seven or eight items in total; each portion was small, yet every one was exquisite.

Looking at himself: a bowl of beef offal soup, two fried dough sticks, two steamer baskets of buns, a bowl of beef rice noodles. He felt ashamed for even wanting to invite the other person to breakfast.

Seeing Shen Siyuan hadn't replied, Ruan Hongzhuang sent a question mark.

Shen Siyuan helplessly said, "Are you eating all of these alone?"

"No, there's Taozi too."

Ruan Hongzhuang sent another photo: Jiang Taozhi sitting opposite her, eating breakfast.

Noticing Ruan Hongzhuang was photographing her, she smiled and flashed a V-sign.

It turned out that after dinner last night, she hadn't gone home but had stayed overnight at Ruan Hongzhuang's house.

Yet even for two people, such a breakfast was simply too lavish.

Indeed, the world of the rich and the world of the poor are truly worlds apart.

Shen Siyuan instantly lost the desire to chat.

"Let's stop talking; I'm on my way to work."

"Alright, I'll contact you at noon today," Ruan Hongzhuang said.

Though it was merely ordinary text, for some reason, Shen Siyuan read a hint of excitement in it.

When he reached the foot of the company building, he happened to meet Lin Manzhi.

Seeing Shen Siyuan, she immediately hurried forward a few steps to greet him.

"Sister Manzhi, did you drive here today?" Shen Siyuan greeted her with a smile.

Lin Manzhi nodded, then immediately pressed on: "How did it go with Jiang Tingyu? What exactly are you thinking?"

Clearly, Jiang Tingyu must have told her something last night.