Chapter 177: Zhang Chuyan Cries Over His Horse

Zhang Chuyan: "Big Boss, how's my nephew doing over there? @Ye Fan"

Ye Fan: "He learns quickly and his hands are nimble—he'll be ready for duty after some training."

Ye Fan: "Come by sometime and pick up some resources. @Zhang Chuyan"

Zhang Chuyan: "Got it! I'm counting on you, Big Boss, to look after my nephew!"

If only he had any skills, Zhang Chuyan would sell himself.

Old Ma, old Ma, old Ma! Uncle has worn himself out worrying about your future!

I've even arranged for you to serve under Hun Tian Di—you've got to make our Eight Marvelous Techniques lineage proud, don't let those little Japanese brats and red-haired devils snatch all the weapons!

Piece-rate pay means more work, more earnings—embody the craftsman's spirit, sell more high-quality weapons.

Uncle's counting on your salary for a cut every month.

Zhang Chuyan slurped down a bowl of noodles, tears in his eyes, and told the street vendor: "Another bowl!"

Beside him, the vendor was scrolling through a short video on his phone; the man in the video wore a dark-blue Daoist robe, an old man with white hair and beard.

He looked vigorous, tall and thin—it was none other than the Old Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain, whom Zhang Chuyan knew well.

【There are no gods in this world, dear lay followers—believe in science.】 The Old Celestial Master's voice came from the phone.

"Boss, add more noodles!"

"Sorry, coming right away."

The vendor put down his phone, but clearly his mind was elsewhere.

It wasn't his fault—since Su Lin's last "grand vow" in the city below Biyou Village, both the cultivator world and the ordinary world had been thrown into chaos.

Companies and high-ups were desperately trying to control the news, but everyone in the city had seen that pillar of light and the figure with a halo stepping through the air, ascending.

Now everything was a mess: ordinary people craved these supernatural powers, but the authorities had to hold the cultivator population line and keep their existence hidden.

Lu Mingfei: 【Image】

Lu Mingfei: "What if I get kidnapped onto a pirate ship? Online waiting, urgent."

Lu Mingfei: "I get the feeling these pirates are all a bit crazy—they all seem to be their captain's fans."

In the image, behind Lu Mingfei was a black flag bearing a white skull.

Song Shuhang: 【Live Stream】

Song Shuhang: "What are you talking about?"

Song Shuhang: "By the way, Young Lady Yi Leina is drunk and throwing a tantrum, Bai Qian has gone deep-sea exploring, everyone else is passed out—how do I survive?"

Lu Mingfei clicked in and saw that on Song Shuhang's white sail was a skull wearing a straw hat; the Sun Lion was anchored near a small island.

In the sky stood a woman with gray-white hair, dressed in a knight's skirt, a black ribbon tied around her right arm, long flowing hair, no adornments, her face bare—simple, pure—it was Yi Leina.

Song Shuhang's eyes were vacant as he dodged magic bullets raining down like a storm, barely avoiding them with his talisman.

Each concentrated magic bullet exploded on the beach, in the sea, in the forest—raising sandstorms, triggering tsunamis.

Yi Leina's face flushed red as she laughed loudly in the sky: "Just one more left! Don't run!"

"My name is Song Shuhang—I never imagined my fate would be so cursed. I knew I had a knack for drawing aggro, but I never thought my greatest danger would be my own teammate."

"Senior Masters, Big Bosses, please come through and save me!"

Song Shuhang screamed in his live stream.

Su Lin: "I recommend applying for a resurrection spell—I suggest keeping your body intact, at least leave a skeleton."

Zhang Chuyan: "You didn't say anything before, but now that you've said it, he's probably dead."

A massive flash of light lit up the screen, accompanied by a sudden cutoff sound—the live stream ended.

Kleine: "May Song Shuhang find peace in the realm of the Night Goddess."

Su Lin: "@Luffy, drunk yet? When you wake up, check if Song Shuhang's still intact."

Xiao Yan: "Speaking of alcohol, Brother Su, little Xiao hasn't had immortal wine in ages."

Xiao Yan was craving it—ever since returning to One's Own World, he dreamed of it. He wasn't a drunkard, but that stuff was too good—boosted cultivation and strengthened his body; his current Dou Wang body could punch a Dou Huang.

Weigong Shilang: "And that cake too."

If he could, Weigong Shilang would really like to learn how to make that cake—Dada Liya loved sweets.

Han Li: "Though I cannot hold my liquor, Brother Su's kindness cannot be refused."

Su Lin: "?"

Su Lin: "Did I say anything strange just now?"

Do you know that thing lets you draw three times per minimum purchase?! My divine status was pulled with 3,000 yuan—that's a fortune!

Su Lin glanced at his current system balance 【】.

Oh, I'm rich now—never mind then.

When I have nothing to do, I open the system store like Taobao—so satisfying; before I knew it, I even bought Amon's monocle.

But what am I supposed to do with these points now? Those one-time character cards and items look flashy, but aren't necessarily worth it.

For example, exchanging a temporary character buff worth thousands or even tens of thousands of points—you spend the money, but it only lasts a limited time. If you gain enough returns during that window, fine; if not, you're bleeding red.

For instance, in the current world's limited store, there's a strange one-time item:

【The First Alarm】 Effect: Intense convergence centered on the user, awakening the Original Creator within the body. Price: 1,000,000 (How are you as sleep-deprived as Azathoth next door?) P: If you can erase His consciousness, you may become the new Creator.

I'd only buy this if I'd lost my mind.

Zhang Chuyan: "Immortal wine? What immortal wine?"

Ye Fan: "Good stuff—just don't drink too much, or you won't know what you'll do."

Ye Fan remembered how he once rinsed the jade bottle holding the immortal wine with spiritual spring water, mixed the leftover wine with the spring, and tricked Black Emperor into working for him for over a month.

Ye Fan: "Admin, you there? Any perks?"

Su Lin: "Next time for sure."

When I'm elected administrator next time.

Su Lin chose to log off and closed the group chat; he looked at Kleine, who was frowning by the windowsill, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I feel like the pirate flag behind Lu Mingfei looks familiar," Kleine recalled how Lu Mingfei's head had blocked half the flag, yet the emblem on it struck him as oddly recognizable.

"Like… Traci?" Kleine's tone held uncertainty.

The two exchanged glances and spoke in unison:

"The Law of Anomalous Property Aggregation."

Kleine fell silent for a moment, then said with a touch of sigh:

"He was supposed to go to Bensy—how did he end up on a pirate ship?"

Su Lin was speechless, then said with slight doubt:

"Maybe witches are naturally drawn to each other."

Kleine looked up at the gloomy sky outside the window; the Storm God had previously cleared the smog over Beckland, and due to the recent strict inspections following the Beckland Smog Incident, the sky occasionally cleared—but this dull, gray sky was the norm.

He hesitated, then said to Su Lin:

"Maybe we should just tell him the truth."

"I'm afraid he'll kill me."

Su Lin tilted his head back slightly and asked, puzzled:

"Mr. Kleine, are you asking me? I don't remember being involved in this."

"In terms of seeking amusement, I'd call you the strongest."

"You were laughing just as hard that day," Kleine said, exasperated; he dropped the topic. Lu Mingfei wasn't stupid—if he took the initiative to look into it, he'd find out the next-stage effects of the Assassin's Elixir.

As long as he hasn't consumed the Sequence 7 Elixir and completed his physical transformation, we can simply use the "Cross of No Darkness" to purge the Anomalous Properties from his body.

'We can compensate him with Elixirs from another Path as an apology for this joke.'

"Has he paid any attention to you recently?" Kleine meant Adam—the survivor from the Chaos Sea, the Ancient Sun God of the Second Era, now the Angel of Imagination, Adam.

Su Lin and Zhongli's actions in Beckland were, in theory, discreet; and due to their positions, the chance of discovery was minimal. But Adam had been plotting for thousands of years, and given the unique nature of the Observer Path, detecting even a trace of irregularity was only natural.

For this reason, Kleine had previously devised countermeasures.

"Probably not. We disguised the Psychological Alchemy Society incident as the work of the Church of Night," Su Lin recalled, saying, "Even if he suspects something, as long as it doesn't interfere with his plans, he won't intervene."

"Otherwise, the person talking to you right now—though it looks like me—is actually Adam."

Kleine nodded.

"Has the Church of Night been silent? We've appeared brazenly on her territory—doesn't she want to meet these two unstable variables?" Su Lin looked at the crimson moon on the wall—the emblem of the Church of Night.

"Aside from the future's trajectory, I haven't concealed much from the Goddess," Kleine smiled. "It's also a chip to increase my own weight."

"The Goddess has granted me full discretion."

Kleine recalled the past: after he had offered the Goddess a pile of "ancient-era" luxury goods, she had appeared to him once in a dream.

Half-asleep, he saw endless darkness; at his feet grew clusters of Night Scent Grass and Deep Sleep Flowers—under such conditions, even breathing seemed to disturb the slumbering around him.

A figure descended from the suspended crimson moon or the stars; she wore a layered yet uncluttered dark gown, studded with countless brilliant points, as if she had draped the night sky and starfield over herself.

Her head was indistinct, hard to discern—only that she was female could be confirmed.

"I originally thought you had been contaminated by some unknown force."

"This item," she held a handbag, her voice calm, "was produced by the company I once managed."

"That place isn't the past, is it?"

Kleine knew: before the Goddess of Night had hung above the Source Fortress in the last age, she had been a high executive at a company in Europe.

He hadn't expected her company spanned food, medicine, women's products, finance—annual net revenue in year 0 reached 7.1 billion euros. Truly impressive.

"No," Kleine paused, then said, "Just a similar world—in the same era, but no identical people."

The Goddess of Night's projection spoke softly, like a nocturne: "How lovely."

In ripples like water, the figure before him rapidly blurred; the Night Scent Grass and Deep Sleep Flowers beneath his feet rose and scattered, filling the darkness.

Kleine awoke from his dream, the Goddess of Night's words lingering in his ears.

"Try not to bring too many things from other universes into this world. Beyond that, you may act as you wish."

Kleine returned to the present and said to Su Lin:

"When necessary, we can act under the name of the Church of Night."

Su Lin thought for a moment, then pulled out a card and handed it to Kleine.

"What's this?" Kleine asked.

"An invitation," Su Lin said slowly. "I took over a night club that dabbles in everything from the Deputy Minister of the Ruin Sifa Force—can the Church of Night help me clean it up?"

Has Ruin's judicial system become this corrupt? No—you didn't go to the followers of the Fallen Mother God?

Four days remain until the Fasack Empire's bombardment of Beckland.

In the basement of Nightingale Bar

"What are you standing around for?" Su Lin activated the vintage gear limiter switch and clapped his hands to the guests and staff below the stage:

"Keep playing! Keep dancing!"

The beat of the music rose; novel chandeliers above emitted dazzling, multicolored lights.

After taking over this underground business, Su Lin reorganized the space into two soundproofed zones: one continued the old format, the other introduced new gimmicks.

In the past two days, the shop's revenue has surged, especially sales of the new-style light beer—a product that's always a high-profit item, especially here, where all members are wealthy elites who lack nothing except novelty to spice up their lives.

Su Lin pushed through the dancing crowd; the attendants on either side of the door immediately bowed and pulled open the heavy doors.

Unlike the wild dance floor just moments ago, this area played elegant classical music; the patrons were mostly over thirty or forty, silently placing bets or whispering to companions at various gambling tables.

Su Lin looked toward a nearby Texas Hold'em table; the dealer was distributing cards. Mr. Dawn Tannese, clad in a wool coat, sat with Duren Aso and General Aemilius at the same table.

Two Sequence 4s and one Sequence 3—three Saint-level Transcendents were subtly using techniques at the poker table to harvest the other players. These three scoundrels.

Su Lin snapped his fingers, dispersing the supernatural force in this place. In an instant, the expressions in the eyes and faces of the three people each shifted slightly before returning to normal.

He gave a slight nod, preparing to go check the bills from the past few days as well as the news that had come from the Southern Continent regarding members of the Rose Sect.

"Mm?"

Su Lin's brow furrowed. Up ahead, a service worker wearing a standard-issue long dress was escorting a customer toward a private room, then closed the door behind them.

He walked over, heard the sound of clothes being removed from inside the room, pulled the door open, and saw a middle-aged man — portly, with jowls and a slightly balding head — sitting on a sofa, gazing infatuatedly at the ceiling while undressing himself, his belly exposed.

The service worker, meanwhile, was sitting on a chair not far away, eating fruit and quietly watching the scene.

She had shoulder-length golden hair, falling naturally on both sides to her shoulders, with permed ends drooping down her back. Seeing Su Lin push the door open, she first gave a start, then ducked her head as if embarrassed.

The server said timidly, "Boss, let me explain."

Su Lin sighed. "Miss Mairel, I've warned you twice already — don't hypnotize the customers."

This supernatural being was the very first one Su Lin had encountered in this tavern — a Sequence 7 psychiatrist.

"Besides, our shop no longer offers that kind of service."

After Su Lin took over this business, certain services were halted. But Miss Mairel was clearly somewhat unwilling to give them up; she would sometimes privately take bookings from regulars. Su Lin had originally assumed someone was still running illicit operations, only to discover that every time, she had been hypnotizing the customers.

"Three strikes and you're out." Su Lin shook his head, glanced at the customer who seemed to be fantasizing about some scene, and felt it was a bit of an eyesore. "Come to my office later."