Chapter 775: Dou Shi (3/2, extra chapter for

"I know what you're thinking, but this is my own choice. Master has shown me great kindness—no matter what he wants me to become, I'm willing."

Tian Ruichi was terrifyingly naive, but this was ultimately his private matter, so Fang Yue didn't press further.

When he returned to Dou Hongyi's side, Fang Yue learned that those black shadows had, just moments ago, all transformed into a pile of branches on the ground and gone still.

Everyone assumed Fang Yue had slain the anomaly and earned great merit.

Fang Yue glanced at Tian Ruichi, didn't deny it, and brushed it off with some made-up story.

Only to Jing Yan, Qing Chen, and Lin Ling—his own people—did he tell the truth.

"Sword Spirit… Ye Ge, how's my Comprehension? Any chance I can grasp Supreme Sword Intent from that black mist?"

"My suggestion is… drink more Six Walnuts."

"…"

Ignoring Jing Yan's pestering, Fang Yue told them to take good care of Lin Ling, then went off to find Dou Hongyi and the others.

"Chunuan City's Di He is damaged—what are your plans going forward?"

"Those black-shadow anomalies don't seem to have been after the Di He itself; they only damaged it incidentally while attacking others. So the breach isn't large. Chunuan City's warehouse still has Di He stone stock—repair will only take a day or two, at most consuming some Earth Fire. Not a big problem."

For Gu Yue Cun, a Di He destruction incident was extremely serious, but here in Chunuan City it was nothing—they had ample reserves and ample talent on hand.

As long as the anomalies didn't keep occupying the city, they could find time to repair the Di He.

The Di He is a city's foundation; without it, everyone would be eroded by the Night Cold.

【Night Cold】 was extraordinary—even Lord Han couldn't withstand it, let alone ordinary people.

Of course, Lord Han's case was an extremely severe Night Cold injury—the situation was different.

Lord Han had never mentioned how he'd been infected with such severe 【Night Cold】. Before, Fang Yue lacked the strength; now his power was climbing steadily. If Lord Han could be successfully revived, he truly wanted to ask about this matter and help Lord Han deal with his enemy.

The Rain rank still seemed impossibly distant, but Fang Yue had genuinely, step by step, moved forward on solid ground!

Chunuan City was already in ruins waiting to be rebuilt, and with Tian Ruichi's sword embryo causing a stir, quite a few people were getting the idea of leaving.

And leaving Chunuan City to settle elsewhere generally meant traveling with a merchant caravan.

Now, though, there was the better option of leaving with the Special Envoy. So all night long, a steady stream of people gathered before the Special Envoy Mansion, and in the end, for the sake of the recovering Tian Ruichi, they even handed the decision on this matter to Fang Yue to handle.

Fang Yue rolled his eyes, went offline on the spot, and left Jing Yan and the others to worry about it.

Of course, Fang Yue wasn't going offline solely because of this—someone outside was looking for him.

……

Exiting the game, Fang Yue rose from the hospital bed, then suddenly furrowed his brow.

He slowly turned over his right wrist… besides the puncture hole from the IV needle currently in place, there was another pinhole-sized hole.

And when he had first woken up, that pinhole wasn't there!

His expression shifted slightly, and great waves surged in his heart.

"Parchment!!"

【I'm here!!】

"There's an extra pinhole on my hand—what's going on? Why didn't you warn me about danger in reality? What is this pinhole? Who injected some toxin? Or did what? Run a prediction now—I need to know how much time I have to fix this!"

【Stinky Fang Yue! Always framing Zhi Zhi!】

【In my prediction, you weren't in any danger at all—same as before, no danger in reality. How could I warn you?!】

No danger? Then this pinhole is…

Never mind… Advent!

【Received!】

Boom—

The shockwave spread out, his physical attributes skyrocketed, Synchronizing to the Human-rank level of his in-game self!

The pinhole wound on his hand healed in the blink of an eye, and then… there was no "then."

Fang Yue sensed carefully—his body truly had no problems.

Could it really be that I was being oversensitive?

No! That pinhole…

Fang Yue's expression darkened slightly.

The Joint Association was far too vast, a mixed bag within—everyone had different ideas. Who knew if there were Shadow societies, or forces backing the cheaters, secretly making moves against him.

No sense of security—far too little sense of security.

In the Qing Shui district, at least everyone around him was familiar, with safety guaranteed. Here, he was truly in the dark—even if something happened, there was nowhere to turn.

Fang Yue's face grew grim, and just then…

"A… Yue? A-Yue! Thank goodness, you're finally awake! I thought—I thought… sob sob sob!"

Yuan Jie, who had been slumped by the bed, slowly woke up. Seeing Fang Yue awake, she gave a start and threw herself onto his bedsheet, crying.

This left Fang Yue a bit at a loss. He comforted her for a while before she calmed down somewhat.

Just then, Director Jiang and Qiu Dugu pushed the door open and came in.

Seeing Yuan Jie draped over Fang Yue, the two froze for a moment and silently began to back out.

"Wait! Come back!"

"Isn't that a bit… inconvenient…"

Yuan Jie came to her senses then too, hurriedly wiped the tears from her face, greeted the two with a blush, and stepped out.

She had only been worried about Fang Yue's safety, and since these two had come, they likely had serious business.

"Fang Yue, the higher-ups were very pleased with your last operation and have decided on a generous reward. How are you feeling now? If you're fine, get ready and come with us to meet the Chairmen."

"Chairmen…?"

"Yes, they all want to see you. Even for someone at my level, this is hard to imagine—being received by ten Chairmen at once means you carry considerable weight in their eyes."

Director Jiang implied something, and Fang Yue immediately understood—it meant he could ask for anything, no matter how extravagant.

Fang Yue thought for a moment, considering what he lacked and what he ought to demand.

Suddenly, he remembered something and said, "Director Jiang, Qiu Dugu, help me investigate something."

"What is it?"

Fang Yue told the two about the pinhole incident; their expressions changed instantly, turning serious.

"This is serious—it means we've been infiltrated," Director Jiang quietly clenched his fist.

"They targeted you, which means their intelligence is extremely sharp…" Qiu Dugu's face grew grim.

The two exchanged a glance, told Fang Yue to prepare slowly, then went to meet management while they themselves launched a full investigation.

Of these two, Fang Yue trusted them relatively more—especially Qiu Dugu, who would never harm him; even if Director Jiang tried to hide something, Fang Yue could still get the information he needed from Qiu Dugu.

Setting the matter aside for now, Fang Yue packed up, told Yuan Jie, and stepped out the door.

He was thinking about what reward he should ask for.

(End of Chapter)