Chapter 44: Chapter Thirty-Seven: [Gu Xiaoniang Raids the House]

Xiao Zhao followed Gu Xiaoniang out of the Limit Internet Cafe and into a nearby alley, walking about ten meters before she stopped and turned around.

Xiao Zhao’s face was full of confusion: “Uh, why did you bring me to a place like this? Is there something secret you want to say?”

Gu Xiaoniang’s pretty face was expressionless, but she slowly glanced at the wall beside her and extended her hand.

Crack!

Her slender, pale fingers plunged straight into the red brick!

Xiao Zhao’s eyes bulged!

Gu Xiaoniang pulled her hand back, then plucked a brick out of the wall with bare hands and gently rubbed it between her palms in front of Xiao Zhao.

The hard red brick instantly crumbled into dust in her hands, crumbling and falling like flour in a steady cascade.

As she crushed the brick into powder, Gu Xiaoniang calmly stared at Xiao Zhao.

In a soft, sweet voice, she whispered: “Don’t be nervous—I’m not trying to scare you. I just need your help.”

“...Sis, just say what you want,” Xiao Zhao suddenly raised his hands. “I don’t have any cash. The most valuable thing I’ve got is these coconut shoes I’m wearing—bought last month, only worn twice today. If you like ‘em, I’ll take ‘em off for you?”

Gu Xiaoniang shook her head: “I don’t steal money. I just want Chen Yan’s address.”

Chen Yan’s address?

Xiao Zhao blinked and ventured, “Does he... hold a grudge against you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“...”

Xiao Zhao suddenly spun and ran—but hadn’t taken two steps when the back of his neck tightened: “Oh shit—”

Gu Xiaoniang snatched Xiao Zhao by the neck and calmly walked him back into the alley.

“I only want Chen Yan’s address.”

“I won’t betray my friend!”

Gu Xiaoniang frowned: “Aren’t you afraid of suffering?”

Xiao Zhao gritted his teeth, his expression noble and resolute: “My brother saved my life! I, Zhao Shanhe, am a man of righteousness, loyal to the end—I—”

Gu Xiaoniang stared intently at Xiao Zhao, then raised her thumb and sincerely praised: “A true hero! Then I must apologize.”

The next instant, Xiao Zhao screamed as his body shot into the sky like a cannonball!

Gu Xiaoniang’s figure flashed, leaping into the air, then grabbing Xiao Zhao’s clothes and hurling him back to the ground.

Xiao Zhao screamed as he fell—but just before he hit the ground, less than a meter away, Gu Xiaoniang caught him again.

Xiao Zhao screamed continuously, his eyes rolling back.

Though thin, he weighed sixty to seventy kilograms, yet she tossed him around as easily as if he were a rag.

“Hero, are you ready to talk now?” Gu Xiaoniang asked calmly.

“Y-you—you’re human or ghost?!” Xiao Zhao trembled.

Gu Xiaoniang shook her head, then gripped Xiao Zhao, raising her hand as if to throw him again.

“Wait! Wait a minute!!” Xiao Zhao shrieked.

“Hmm? Ready to talk?” Gu Xiaoniang set him down.

“I... I don’t even know where my brother lives. After he moved, I never went to his new place.”

“Then what do you know?”

What do I know?

Xiao Zhao blinked: “He’s twenty-two, graduated six months ago, single, no girlfriend, doesn’t smoke or drink...”

“Say something important.”

“Important... important...” Xiao Zhao’s eyes darted: “He likes girls with big legs and big boobs—and he’s a foot fetishist.”

“He loves manga—things like Secret Teaching, Beautiful New World—he introduced them all to me...”

Hearing this, Gu Xiaoniang’s hidden face flushed faintly in the dark.

Likes big, long legs?

Hmph. That Chen boy is no good.

What even is a “foot fetishist”?

And what manga—“Secret Teaching,” “Beautiful New World”? I don’t understand, but it’s definitely not respectable!

Still, Gu Xiaoniang suddenly thought—this guy seems to know Chen Yan well. Maybe I should ask more while I can?

“Anything else?”

“There’s more...” Xiao Zhao sighed: “He’s 1.8 meters tall, blood type A, Leo, dies instantly in PUBG, always messes up his loadout in Golden Spade, sucks at League, and—oh, he has a secondary account on Douyin following over a dozen borderline accounts...”

Gu Xiaoniang’s face hardened: “Mm. Keep going... Huh?!”

She sharply turned her head toward the distant sky—sword qi?!

...How could there be sword cultivators in this world?

A strange look appeared in Gu Xiaoniang’s eyes.

Just now, in that direction, a pulse of sword qi had flashed and vanished...

Curious, she instinctively wanted to investigate—but glanced at Xiao Zhao.

Forget it. From the energy fluctuation, it’s probably just a sword cultivator who just broke through.

Priority is the matter at hand.

Chen Yan still stood frozen, dazed.

That kid brother... was gone. Left.

Yeah. He left peacefully.

The countdown ended—he pulled out a giant sword from his hand, slashed once, splitting the sky open like a seam, then vanished in a flash of light...

Just... gone!!

A fully leveled-up, peak Nascent Soul expert, a guardian master!!

Just... gone!!

Well, not entirely without gain.

At the last moment, Chen Yan, thinking fast, raised his ringed hand and shouted: “Master! Can you tell me how to use this ring?!”

The kid brother’s figure was already mid-air, yet he shot down a blade-like beam of light that swept over Chen Yan.

Then Chen Yan heard a voice in his ear—shocked.

“Such a divine artifact! This object does not belong to this realm! You must...”

And that was it. Nothing more.

The man flew into the heavenly gate—his final words unfinished.

Chen Yan was furious! His chest ached!

You had ten seconds left—why didn’t you say anything sooner?!

If you’d spoken earlier, I could’ve asked you more questions!!!

Like how to use the ring, or about cultivation...

I should’ve asked then!

And that last line—“You must...” Why didn’t you finish before leaving? Would one more second kill you?

Were you really that desperate?!

You must...

You must what?!

You must throw it away, right?!

You must smash it, right?!

You must eat it, right?!

Chen Yan felt his heart ache.

And where the hell is this place? Full of forests—is this even Jin Ling Prefecture?

Kid brother, you flew off—but how the hell do I get home?!

Chen Yan sighed, pulled out his phone—it was off. Either dead or broken in the quake.

After cursing a few times, he reluctantly accepted defeat, estimated a direction, and began walking slowly away.

·

In the alley, Gu Xiaoniang held Xiao Zhao’s phone; Xiao Zhao obediently gave her the unlock code.

Gu Xiaoniang hadn’t been idle these past few days—she’d secretly watched the internet cafe owner and other customers, learning basic phone operations.

She opened WeChat, asked for Chen Yan’s WeChat ID, then sent a message.

“I’m taking your phone for now. To prevent you from warning him, I have no choice but to use a little force.”

“Don’t worry—I won’t hurt you badly. Just give you a headache for a day or two.”

With a wave of her hand, Gu Xiaoniang gently blew on Xiao Zhao’s face...

Two minutes later, Xiao Zhao staggered to his feet, blinking at the cold alley around him.

“Huh? How did I end up here?”

The next second, his face paled—had he been beaten and robbed?

He patted his pockets.

Where’s my phone?

Losing the phone isn’t a big deal; a secondhand one isn’t worth much anyway.

The payment password won’t be leaked either.

Fuck, WeChat is still logged in!

And…

My browser history!!!

·

Chen Yan walked for a full half-hour before exiting the forest, finding a highway, then followed it for another twenty minutes until he spotted a small town, where he found a folk inn.

He asked around—damn… sure enough, not in Jin Ling Prefecture! Over a hundred kilometers away!

Chen Yan said a few polite words, borrowed the owner’s charger, plugged it in immediately, and got a bowl of instant noodles on credit.

After seven days of inhuman hardship, the first hot bowl of noodles he ate—its aroma made Chen Yan… not happy at all, okay?

He’d been eating instant noodles for seven days straight!

He barely ate the bowl, then turned on his phone, which had gained a little charge, used his e-ID to check in, and paid for two nights’ room fee plus the instant noodles.

He took the owner’s charger upstairs to his room.

His body felt filthy and uncomfortable, so Chen Yan ran water and took a thorough shower, then threw himself onto the bed, mentally exhausted and desperate to sleep for three days and nights.

Before sleeping, he picked up his phone for one glance.

Huh?

Xiao Zhao sent a message.

【Zhao Shanhe: Chen Yan, where are you staying now? Tell me your address—I’ll come visit when I’m free.】

What could Xiao Zhao want with me?

Chen Yan didn’t think twice—he sent his villa address right away.

Then he silenced his phone, tossed it onto the nightstand, and fell into a deep sleep.

Less than ten minutes after closing his eyes, Chen Yan suddenly snapped them open!

He barely had time to cry “Ah!” before his Yuan Qi surged wildly through his body!

The Yuan Qi Transport Technique activated automatically, beginning to circulate again and again!

Vast, overwhelming Yuan Qi—where it came from, he didn’t know—flooded into Chen Yan’s body!

Chen Yan immediately felt pressure like a mountain crushing him.

In a daze, he felt himself like a single soybean thrown into a millstone, crushed and scoured endlessly by torrents of Yuan Qi…

Chen Yan clenched his teeth with all his strength!!

He felt that as the torrent of Yuan Qi poured in, his Transport Technique spun faster and faster.

His cultivation level began to rise steadily!!

The Yuan Qi (merit) feedback from helping Lu Sisi’s fortune transformation had finally, fucking, arrived!!

Heaven saw it couldn’t kill me, so now it’s finally paying me back!!

Hahahahahaha!

Chen Yan trembled from pain, yet his heart was elated—he couldn’t help laughing out loud.

From the room, sounds of “Hahahahaha!” and “Ah fuck!” echoed back and forth.

Finally, after who-knew-how-long, Chen Yan’s vision went black and he fainted.

He didn’t know that after he passed out, a speck of golden light glowed from his forehead, flooding his entire body in golden radiance for a full minute before slowly fading.

·

Gu Xiaoniang stood in the villa’s high-ceilinged living room, gazing at its lavish furnishings.

Though no one was home, the underfloor heating had been running nonstop; outside, the night temperature had dropped below zero, yet inside the villa it remained a warm 25 degrees, springlike.

“The Chen family certainly knows how to live in luxury,” Gu Xiaoniang thought, recalling how since arriving in this world she’d gone from hunger to hunger—her chest tightened with grievance.

I sleep in the wind and eat in the dust every day, and you get four dishes and a soup every day?

No way—I can’t even think about it without wanting to cry.

She walked up and down the house but found no one, though she spotted materials for talismans and array setups.

Not home… fine.

At least I found where you live.

Now that I’ve found your house, you won’t dare not come back!

As she thought this, suddenly a deep voice rang from outside.

“You immoral bastard hiding inside the house—come out! Your Grandpa Gui is here to teach you a lesson!!!”

Gu Xiaoniang’s expression turned icy at once!

Since she’d attained cultivation, who had ever dared to curse her like this?

The last man who shouted such insults at her on the battlefield? His grave grass is already three feet tall!

And it’s even a memorial tomb—he was completely scattered by her right there on the spot!

·

【Two chapters for today completed.】

Requesting votes! Monthly votes are optional, but recommendation votes are always welcome.

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