Chapter 415: The Fourteenth Cube

Chen Shu walked through Zhouye City, feeling that it was not much different from cities back home.

They were all modern buildings, high-rises and skyscrapers, with designs that were much the same; they even looked a bit newer than Yujing.

The cars on the road were also common brands, all driving on the right, the traffic signs were identical, and the language and script were the same. The clothing and appearance of the pedestrians coming and going also leaned toward the modern; occasionally, there were those wearing traditional clothing, which was also similar to the traditional clothing of Dayi.

One could even see Daoist priests and monks.

The only difference was that their overall height was a bit shorter.

Development came later, after all; if nutrition doesn't keep up, height will be a bit shorter. As long as protein intake keeps up, it won't take many generations for the average height to go up.

Take Dayi, for example; it achieved freedom of meat, eggs, and milk for its citizens a hundred years ago, so the average height is very high now.

Chen Shu walked and watched along the way, leisurely and carefree.

It just so happened that this late autumn morning was also cool and refreshing.

He stopped from time to time to buy some street snacks or to wander through small alleys far from the high-rises and main roads.

The differences in culture were indeed hidden in the cracks of this marketplace life, hidden in these inconspicuous places full of the smoke and fire of daily life. By looking at the local specialty fruits, the vegetables ordinary people often bought, and these snacks with their vastly different flavor styles, one could taste the difference from back home.

It was just that sometimes he would still step on a landmine.

"Handsome, come and play~"

"Boss, come and play; prices are clearly marked, it's not expensive."

"Boss, I can provide an invoice!"

Chen Shu wasn't shy; he turned his head to stare at these ladies dressed in revealing clothes. Of course, there were also older women. Most of them wore heavy makeup and liked to use blue or green eyeshadow similar to peacock feathers, reflecting a metallic luster. The makeup had a lot of local character and was actually quite good-looking.

Some of the older women had heavier accents than the young people, and what they said was unintelligible.

For example, words that sounded like "seve, thepeople" were clearly not English, and he didn't know what they meant.

Chen Shu held his snack, smiling and waving his hand at them to show his refusal, and continued walking forward.

This snack was actually quite interesting.

It seemed to be called split-leg eggplant?

When Chen Shu bought it, he watched the boss make it at the stall. She cut a whole eggplant into small strips without breaking them, coated them in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried them in a wok. After frying until crispy, she sprinkled local chili powder on them. It was 30 Yunlai Coin per skewer, which worked out to a little over 8 yuan. It supported Yi State Electronic Bank QR code payment, but if a person from Yiguo scanned the code to pay, it would cost 10 yuan. Chen Shu felt he had been ripped off, but he wasn't willing to argue with her on the side of the road. At this moment, he really missed Zhang Suannai.

If Zhang Suannai were here, she definitely wouldn't stand for it.

That person loved to get to the bottom of things; she was neither afraid of losing face nor afraid of trouble, and she could have gotten his justice back for him as well.

"Crunch..."

It was his first time eating crispy eggplant, and it was actually quite good.

Chen Shu decided to go back and make it for Qingqing.

Walking further ahead, he arrived at the famous tourist area of Zhouye City. As long as one was a foreigner visiting Yunlai, there was no one who didn't come here.

Here, he finally saw buildings with local style.

In Chen Shu's view, the style of these buildings had distinct Dayi characteristics, but they were not as elegant, restrained, or profound as Dayi architecture. Their colors were used very boldly—bright, eye-catching, and resplendent with gold and jade—full of exotic charm.

"Handsome~"

"Boss~"

Here we go again, here we go again...

Chen Shu couldn't help but sigh.

This place could be considered the core consumption area of all of Zhouye City. Most of Zhouye City's tourism revenue came from the sex industry, so the quality here was naturally the highest. It wasn't to say how beautiful these young ladies were, but at least they could guarantee they were young enough.

Some even looked like they weren't even twenty yet.

"Tsk..."

Chen Shu shook his head repeatedly, raised his Mobile Phone, and tilted the lens slightly upward.

Avoiding the people coming and going below, and also avoiding the young ladies soliciting customers, he framed half of an exotic-style building within it. Adding the tall trees nearby and a patch of blue sky with white clouds drifting by, with a "click," the scene was frozen there.

Chen Shu stopped on the side of the road, looking down and fiddling with his Mobile Phone.

Naturally, he was going to share it with Qingqing.

Then he continued to stroll and look around.

There were also many snacks here, dazzling to the eyes.

Chen Shu bought some small seafood to eat, costing over twenty yuan, which counted as his lunch.

The boss's dipping sauce was very delicious—sour and spicy. The sourness didn't seem to come from lemons, but from calamansi. Tasting it carefully, besides soy sauce, he could also taste the flavors of cilantro, green onions, bird's eye chilies, and fish sauce, all blended into a paste, so the flavor was particularly fresh and bright, plus a little bit of lingering sweetness; it was very delicious.

He felt that even dipping a shoe sole in it would be tasty.

Qingqing would definitely like it.

Chen Shu looked up, wanting to ask the boss for the recipe, but the boss only gave a vague response and refused to tell him. He could only shake his head, planning to go back and study it himself; once he figured it out, he would boil a shoe sole for Qingqing to dip and eat.

Just at this moment, his Mobile Phone rang.

Chen Shu hurriedly reached his hand into his pocket.

No need to doubt it; only Qingqing was worthy of a ringtone, everyone else was just vibration.

Qingqing: 【Image】

Qingqing: Where I am

Chen Shu tapped it open. It was the morning above the Roof of the World, with gale-force winds whipping up snow, fog and clouds obscuring the sun, and a string of footprints on the ground. Compared to the pleasant and comfortable environment in the picture he had just sent her, the difference was a tiny bit large.

Chen Shu: I'm out of prison today

Chen Shu: Exactly about 84 hours

Qingqing: Good morning, Mr. Chen

Chen Shu: Good morning to you too, Ms. Ning

Qingqing: Why didn't you point the lens a bit lower? Afraid I'd discover this is the famous red-light district of Zhouye City?

Chen Shu: hhh you can even figure that out

Qingqing: /smile

Chen Shu: People call it Majin Street; besides the service industry, there are also snacks and local specialties.

Qingqing: Look at the people around you; aren't you clear in your heart about what they came for?

Chen Shu hurriedly turned his head to look around.

"Emmm..."

Looking left and right, he finally found a group of children and a monk wearing yellow robes.

Yunlai also has Buddhist and Daoist traditions, which are no different from the Buddhist and Daoist teachings of Yiguo; they are branches of Yiguo's Buddhist and Daoist teachings themselves, honoring Yiguo as the orthodox, recognizing Xinzheng Temple and Yuan'an Temple as the Beast Ancestral Court, and following the guidance of both, so naturally, they must also observe the precepts.

Chen Shu hurriedly raised his Mobile Phone and took a picture of it.

Chen Shu: 【Image】

Chen Shu: 【Image】

Qingqing:...

Qingqing: Pay attention to safety.

Chen Shu: What's wrong?

Qingqing: Lest I break your legs.

Chen Shu: /eye-roll

In fact, Qingqing and he were childhood sweethearts, and she was also a Secret Sect Practitioner; she knew very well what kind of mindset he had come here with. If she activated her Secret Sect abilities, she could even see clearly what he had done here, and perhaps she had known in advance.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Shu returned to the camp.

Wu Eiwei was holding a Long Sword, standing at the entrance.

Chen Shu was stunned when he saw this: "What are you doing here?"

He then looked her up and down, seeing that her aura was normal and the dents smashed into her body had already recovered, so he said: "Are you healed? I told you that those blood and internal organs shouldn't have been spat out; swallowing them back would have allowed for recycling."

Wu Eiwei was still wearing her mask, cold and icy: "Where are you going after this? Returning to the country, or going elsewhere to continue participating in the war?"

"I'll stay here for a few days, then go elsewhere."

"I am going back to the country, just letting you know; thank you for your care these past few days."

"You're returning to the country?"

Chen Shu was somewhat surprised; this Nüxia looked like a murder maniac at first glance, so how could she let go of such a good, legal opportunity to kill?

"Yes."

Wu Eiwei nodded, hesitated for a moment, but still explained: "My Sword Dao has reached the edge of what is enough for me to break through. It is still a bit difficult for a Sixth Stage realm to participate in combat alongside High-Tier ones, so I won't continue to hold you back. When I come out again, I will be a Seventh Stage."

"Do you have a mark?"

"I do."

"Whose?"

"Sword God."

"Also the Sword God?"

"Why?"

"Nothing..."

Chen Shu couldn't help but recall—

The current Sword God's time of becoming a god is relatively vague among the gods, and it is the most vague among the native gods of Dayi because the Sword Sect never bothered to record it. However, Chen Shu had used his professional abilities to examine it, and the current Sword God is highly likely the oldest among the gods, having become a god a thousand years ago. Perhaps at that time, the Royal Court had not yet separated from the Sword Sect. Could this be the reason why this Sword God discards sectarian biases? If the mark is prepared for a successor, could it be that the old Sword God intends to let Zhang Suannai and Wu Eiwei compete with each other?

Can't figure it out, can't figure it out...

Chen Shu shook his head repeatedly.

But if the next Sword God is born in the Royal Court, the expressions of the Sword Sect Disciples will certainly be very interesting.

"Then when you reach the Seventh Stage, the mark will give you a big surprise," Chen Shu said, then waved his hand, "Alright, alright, I wish you a smooth promotion to the Seventh Stage after returning to the country, and we shall meet again if fate allows."

"Farewell."

Wu Eiwei turned and walked toward the helipad, without the slightest hesitation.

Chen Shu walked back to his room.

A few days later.

Chen Shu's Spell was basically finished.

He borrowed the base's shooting range to test it, and the performance of the Combat Rune was quite good, meeting expectations and being much stronger than the previous Tracer Technique.

It's just that the Tracer Technique is a very complex system; in the Spell structure, besides the main Combat Rune group, there are many other Runes working together to ensure its excellent performance. Chen Shu had completely changed the main combat part of the Runes, so the other Rune Groups naturally had to be modified as well to ensure its stability and overall performance.

This was also no small project.

And after the modifications were done, it still required a large amount of testing and actual combat verification to constantly adjust it.

After coming out of the shooting range, Chen Shu went to the cafeteria to eat. The television in the cafeteria was playing news on a loop. He ate with his head down, listening only with his ears, when he suddenly heard a report that interested him—

During the Xixiao counter-terrorism operations, the fourteenth Square Body appeared.

Chen Shu immediately raised his head.

It is said that several Seven-Tier Cultivators were fighting fiercely, having a great time, fighting from the ground to the sky, and from the sky into the lake, stirring up waves in the lake. Then, one of the participating Seven-Tier Cultivators discovered the Square Body in this largest saltwater lake in Xixiao, and no one knew when it had appeared.

Currently, Yiguo is joining forces with Xixiao, planning to conduct a joint excavation after the counter-terrorism ends.

Chen Shu watched the news, gradually falling into thought.

He had his next destination in mind.