Chapter 144: Digest the Potion Soon

Lu Mingfei: "Bring a boyfriend home for the New Year? No, Lao Zhou can turn into whatever you like."

Su Lin: "You've been getting cheeky lately—wait till I get you, @Lu Mingfei."

I'll send those feminized photos of you to your little girlfriends and senior brothers; Su Lin had long ago had Kleine develop them and stored them in the subspace vault.

Lu Mingfei, currently cuddling with Hui Liyi in the Dragon Clan world, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and looked around in panic.

'What in this world could possibly threaten me? Just an illusion, right?' he thought.

At that moment, Lu Mingfei noticed a Private Chat Realm interface.

Kleine: "Have you digested the potion yet? I hope you haven't slacked off your cultivation, indulging in your cozy little nest."

Lu Mingfei felt a bit embarrassed—he'd just teased Lao Zhou and Su Lin, and now they were still concerned about his cultivation.

A sense of guilt quietly took root within him.

Lu Mingfei: "Digested it, hehe. I was just joking—you two are total straight guys."

Kleine: "I know. Don't mind these trivial things—I'm a gentleman, especially toward ladies, and of course toward friends too. Just internet surfing, that's all."

Kleine: "I've sent you the Sequence 8 potion. Aim to digest it soon—just reach Sequence 7."

Lu Mingfei was deeply moved to receive Kleine's potion; though Lao Zhou usually stayed holed up in his rental apartment playing games and even scanned a QR code to pay for a soda from his fridge, he was always unwavering when it came to helping others.

Lu Mingfei resolved to train hard—after finishing the new girl's story in the group, he'd read Lao Zhou's tale, find out who his enemies were, and when he gained sufficient strength, he'd definitely back Lao Zhou up!

Ye Fan: "Bro Su, can I come over to your place for the New Year?"

Xiao Yan: "Bro Su, can I come over to your place for the New Year?"

Song Shuhang: "Has Su Ge Lin already celebrated the New Year? I still have seven months to go. Happy New Year!"

Zhang Chuanyan: "Admin boss, Happy New Year!"

Zhongli: "Happy New Year. Perfect—I just finished my tribulation, and with nothing else to do, I'd like to visit your world and experience the annual festive atmosphere."

Han Li: "The new techniques and spells updated on Water Mirror Peak aren't simple—recommend you take a look."

Ye Fan: "Cultivation? Who the hell cultivates seriously?"

Xiao Yan: "You cultivate? I sure as hell won't cultivate during the New Year."

Han Li shook his head with a smile inside Wangshu Pavilion and refocused his attention on the new techniques.

He didn't know where Su Lin got them, but these techniques were quite excellent; Han Li planned to upgrade the spirit plant gardens on Water Mirror Peak again in a few days using the spirit liquid from his Palm of Heaven Vase, and plant his recent harvests as a token of gratitude to Su Lin.

Su Lin: "Come then—the teleportation gate isn't closed."

Ye Fan: "Bro Su, I've arrived at your place."

Xiao Yan: "Bro Su, I've arrived at your place too."

Su Lin, lying on the sofa, shuddered—the scene from Water Mirror Peak showed two young lads changing into modern clothes; Kleine then stepped onto Water Mirror Peak, greeted them, and walked into the teleportation gate leading to his rental apartment.

So fast?

【Yi Leina requests entry to your world. Accept?】

Oh? Su Lin told his parents he was stepping out, then went up to Water Mirror Peak.

Accept.

A figure stepped out of the teleportation gate—a girl with long gray-white hair, deep blue-purple eyes, clad in a black robe, holding a broom, wearing a witch's hat, a yellow bow tied at her chest, and a witch's brooch pinned to it.

Though Su Lin knew the real person must be quite beautiful, he still momentarily lost himself—after all, that hair color triggered his special weakness.

"Oh?" Ye Fan feigned surprise: "So this is the group's only flower, Yi Leina?"

"What do you mean 'group's only flower'?" Yi Leina scanned the group, recognizing everyone present from the pictures and livestreams posted in the group these past two days.

"You're the only girl in the group right now," Ye Fan laughed. "Not surprising—I checked your manga, and you seem to love traveling."

"That's called traveling," Xiao Yan corrected.

"Exactly—it's called traveling!" Yi Leina sighed, then her face brightened: "An alternate world! This is an alternate world! When I go back, I'll write a biography—it'll be a bestseller, hehehe."

Su Lin glanced at the woven fruit basket in Yi Leina's hand and asked curiously:

"What's that you're holding?"

A pink cloth covered it.

"Ah, this?" Yi Leina pulled back the cloth, revealing several bottles of wine with labels: "Gifts for everyone."

"Could it be..." Su Lin's lip twitched.

"Wine made by someone's dirty feet? Or did you step on them yourself?"

"If it's made by a cute girl, I wouldn't mind—might even fetch a good price," Su Lin rubbed his chin, examining the bottle; it'd definitely sell on Xianyu.

He vaguely remembered an episode where this witch visited a small wine-producing town that, like certain European villages, still crushed grapes with their feet.

"It's factory-produced!" Yi Leina pulled out a bottle from the basket, pointing to the label: "See this symbol? It's a house."

"That's our most famous winery."

"Thank you." Su Lin took a bottle, entered the subspace vault under everyone's gaze by inputting the password.

"What's this?" Xiao Yan leaned forward, noticing the interior was unexpectedly vast.

"My storage vault for collectibles," Su Lin explained.

"An enormous storage space," Ye Fan walked in, gazing at the individual shelves and display cases holding each item.

Ye Fan picked up a white fruit with strange patterns and said:

"This is one of Luffy's world's Devil Fruits, right?"

"Yi Leina, want a bite? It's delicious."

"Yeah, tasty fruit—eat it and gain superpowers," Xiao Yan chimed in.

"I've watched quite a few manga these past two days," Yi Leina forced a smile, reminding Su Lin of that online "Enough already" meme.

"Oh, by the way, what's that?" Ye Fan changed the subject, pointing to a large object covered by a giant curtain at a distance.

"Unicorn Gundam, produced by Black King Tech," Su Lin placed the wine bottle on a shelf and turned around.

"A robot, huh." Xiao Yan didn't really feel much about this kind of item, neither liking nor disliking it, but he recalled a movie he'd seen before transmigrating:

"Looks a lot like Transformers, if I remember right."

"Just that one can carry people, and the other can't."

"There are still some differences." Su Lin said.

Yi Leina picked up a dagger and yanked hard, but couldn't pull it out.

"Careful, if you don't have dragon bloodline and force it out, you'll cut your hand." Su Lin reminded her.

Yi Leina set down the Lust, not expecting this little knife to be so dangerous. She'd only had time these past few days to read some manga — One Piece and Under One Person.

"Then what about these?" she pointed at the pile of green paper nearby.

"Those are pounds sterling, a kind of currency in this world. This place is basically where I keep my savings — a vault ought to hold some money at least." Su Lin said.

"Real banknotes?" Xiao Yan asked.

"What else would they be!" Su Lin said, quite helpless, then his gaze sharpened and his pupils contracted. Seeing Xiao Yan walking toward a small booklet in a corner, he hurriedly urged:

"Alright, hurry up and get out, I need to close the door."

Xiao Yan could only turn back helplessly.

"What's this?" Yi Leina picked up a glass bottle and shook it. Inside was a liquid, its color dazzling yet somehow unsettling.

"Witch potion, put it down gently." Su Lin said to Yi Leina: "Drinking it turns you into a witch — a product of Miss Kelaien's world."

"Turn into someone like me?!" Yi Leina exclaimed:

"How amazing!"

Other worlds really did have everything imaginable, even something like this.

"If I'd had this back then, maybe I wouldn't have had to take the witch exam."

"Uh, that's not exactly a good thing." Su Lin explained: "Drink too much and you'll go mad."

"Not necessarily." Xiao Yan gave everyone a knowing look and said:

"Roselle once said, hehehe."

"Ahem." Ye Fan coughed twice, reminding them: "Watch it, there's a real witch right here."

Yi Leina was completely baffled.

Su Lin took the bottle of witch potion from Yi Leina's hand, ushered everyone out, and said as they walked:

"Witch potion — as the name suggests, anyone who drinks it, male or female, will turn into a witch."

"Because Miss Kelaien's world is pretty chaotic anyway. You'll understand once you read Lord of the Mysteries."

Su Lin closed the subspace vault, and the split space returned to normal.

"Speaking of which, Old Su." Xiao Yan pointed at where the vault had disappeared and said:

"What kind of storage item is this?"

"Subspace vault." Su Lin took out a grayish-white card, similar to a bank card, and flicked the circular logo on it. The pattern actually began to spin. "What's your plan for today?"

"Let's wander around." Ye Fan said.

"We can't just play mahjong all day, hahaha." Xiao Yan laughed and scratched his head, then said seriously:

"I swear in this lifetime I will never sit at a gambling table with Old Zhou."

"."

While waiting for Zhongli to arrive, Su Lin assigned Yi Leina a room and briefed her on some precautions and common knowledge. Then the group passed through the teleportation gate to the city to start wandering around, and also dragged along Miss Kelaien, whose computer had just booted up.

Han Li, well... was immersed in cultivation inside the Wangshu Pavilion.

"I originally wanted to call Pang Bo along, but he still needs to disguise himself as an old demon to go handle some things with the demon race." Ye Fan surveyed the surroundings and said: "Why is it that even though it's New Year, none of these shops are closed — they're all open everywhere."

"They've even got banners and flower baskets, what kind of '10% off everything' is that?" Xiao Yan also asked: "What's going on, could the customs be different from my original Earth?"

"I blew up the island nation's shrine, so they're probably celebrating." Su Lin wasn't surprised — this New Year was much livelier than previous years.

"And you didn't invite me along?!" Xiao Yan exclaimed.

The group walking down the street attracted quite a bit of attention. Even though everyone had changed into modern clothes, their bearing and looks still easily drew notice, and people occasionally took sneaky photos with their phones.

"Doesn't Zhang Chulan still have one over there? Next time for sure." Su Lin used Uncle Sam's manufactured 'firecrackers' here. Small news was one thing, but for big news like this, better take it easy. He still needed to investigate this world's situation — it wouldn't take too long.

Yi Leina followed the group with a candied hawthorn stick, not paying attention to what the others were chatting about. She was curious about everything new in this world, and would sometimes take out a notebook to scribble and draw.

"By the way, what do you all think of Song Shuhang's situation?" Ye Fan took a flyer handed to him by a young lady, glanced at the Mercedes-Benz discount promotion on it, his eyes lit up, and said: "I've never seen anything this outrageous."

"The myriad worlds hold every wonder." Zhongli said as much.

"I'd wager it's one of a kind across all the myriad worlds." Xiao Yan wiped the sweat that didn't actually exist on his head.

"An enviable cultivation atmosphere." Ye Fan squeezed out such a sentence. "Those bastards over in the North Star Domain just spend all day killing each other, and when they see a genius they love to crush them in the cradle. Damn, it wouldn't be so bad without the comparison, but once you compare, I just want to curse people out."

It wasn't that Song Shuhang's world had no danger — it was that once you compared Song Shuhang's world with his own surroundings, the gap became apparent.

Miss Kelaien paused for a while at a roadside fireworks and firecracker stall, took money from his pocket, and bought some sparklers and sky rockets.

"I'm heading back to the countryside tomorrow." Su Lin said: "What about you all?"

"Is it convenient if we come along?"

"What's not convenient about it?"

Su Lin thought it over — at most he'd just set up one extra table at the farmhouse courtyard when visiting Second Aunt's place tomorrow. The costs were split among the families anyway, basically a joint hosting of relatives and friends for a get-together.

He'd pack some extra red envelopes for Second Aunt and the kids from the other families.

————————————

January 19, 3:11

Luo Shengying: 【Image】

Luo Shengying: "Today's colonel chicken nuggets were really good, too bad there's no boneless chicken strips. Thanks for the red envelope, big brother~"

Luo Shengying: "Cousin, shall we head back together tomorrow?"

Su Lin: "I'm already at my old home."

Luo Shengying: "Ah"

January 0, 09:13

Luo Shengying: "Morning, Su Lin gege."

14:17

Su Lin: "Sorry, only just saw the message."

Luo Shengying: "Are you going back to Second Aunt's place on the second day of the New Year?"

Su Lin: "Yeah."

Luo Shengying: "That's good, see you then~."

Luo Shengying: "I've always really wanted to meet you, Cousin. I wonder if you've gotten even more handsome."

Luo Shengying: "Cousin, what have you been up to lately?"

Su Lin: "Being the God of Light and cultivating immortality. I'll let you in on a little secret—my Jin Dan can sing."

Luo Shengying: "You're so funny, hahaha. Then starting today, I'll also believe in the Holy Light."

3:9

Su Lin: "That's not impossible either."

"You can't even handle yourself?!" Luo Shengying said, gripping a blue chubby doll:

"Look at this chat log—replying once every few days. Am I your spare tire!?"

"Being the God of Light? Cultivating immortality?!" Her voice rose slightly, then, afraid of disturbing her parents' rest, she suppressed it and said: "You're twenty-three years old! Why on earth are you chatting about these topics with a beautiful young lady!"

"I even wanted to release my past self's consciousness, let the two of them get to know each other properly, so that after I leave this body they could still become a couple!"

Thump thump thump

Punch after punch rained down on the blue chubby doll.

"Because of your weird behavior and your past self's chuunibyou, she doesn't want to wake up anymore!"

"What are you going to use to compensate for my broken maiden heart!!!"

"Get out here!!!"

A hand materialized from the void and caught Luo Shengying's fist.

"Listen to my explanation."

"No."

The future Su Lin emerged from the doll, sighed, and said: "I don't know what went wrong—even a sailor uniform couldn't move him."

"Are you trying to say he likes long legs now?" A solidifying aura emanated from Luo Shengying, with faint signs of a breakthrough. "The red-haired big-sister type?!"

"Maybe you should cosplay the two-dimensional character in my room—white hair, red eyes is a special attack." The future Su Lin nodded and said:

"Just kidding, but the past we're in has clearly changed."

"We're going back to the old home tomorrow. Be patient—he can't escape."

"Oh right, ask your past self if she wants a handsome older brother."

He pulled up two photos from Su Lin's QQ Zone on his phone.

One showed a sacred, flawless face, holding a Spear of Light, locked in combat with a character from a miHoYo game.

The other showed him holding the Han Bafang longsword, free and fearless, staring at the Serpent of Fate ahead.

"A bit chuunibyou, but he feels way better than the weirdo right in front of me." Luo Shengying's expression turned strange as she said to the future Su Lin: "That's what she said."

"Face-con is face-con." The future Su Lin pouted, looking at the image on the phone and said:

"I'm just too handsome."

End of chapter