Of course, Lu Yuan would not sell the spirit crystals.
He still needed them to charge the Evolution Cube and for cultivation.
After putting away the spirit crystals, Lu Yuan entered the underground palace once more.
This time, before Lu Yuan had even filled his War Rune Space with materials, the glowing door leading out had fully recovered.
"Is the time up?"
Lu Yuan killed a Little Stone Man with one slash and picked up the Little Stone Man's Heart from the ground.
With a thought, his vision went dark.
When his vision returned, he was already in his plain little room.
He instinctively looked out the window.
Outside was a deep blue sky, and the neon lights that had shone all night had now dimmed.
"Morning already? I stayed longer than last time."
Lu Yuan took out his phone and saw that it was already seven in the morning.
This time, he had entered Origin Land at nine, meaning he had spent ten hours inside.
Five days?
Lu Yuan smiled. Compared to yesterday, he had stayed in Origin Land for two extra days.
Naturally, his gains had been immense.
His Gene Chain Tempering Level had officially reached 20%!
That was a full 10% higher than yesterday.
And after charging the Evolution Cube with several thousand spirit crystals, he only had 342 spirit crystals left on him.
Aside from spirit crystals, there were his other gains.
There were over two hundred pieces of materials, as well as four Gene Armaments.
Two sets of leather armor had belonged to the three Catman Hunters from before, while the pair of daggers had been dropped by Sand Ants.
The remaining set of leather armor had been dropped by a Black Scorpion.
Not only that, just before coming out, he had replaced the armor he had been wearing with the Little Stone Man Battle Armor dropped by the Little Stone Men.
As for the armor he had previously obtained from the Black-Striped Graystone Beetle, it had ultimately been smashed to pieces after being attacked by countless vicious beasts.
Even the phantom within the Gene Chain had completely dissipated. It could not even be repaired.
Losing an entire set of armor meant a loss of nearly tens of thousands of dollars. It hurt just thinking about it.
The new Little Stone Man Battle Armor was ordinary quality, just like his previous armor.
However, compared to his previous armor, the Little Stone Man Battle Armor provided an even greater defense boost.
That was probably because the Little Stone Men's own Tempering Level was higher.
For Lu Yuan, that was the only thing worth being happy about.
"It's still early. I'll check the forums first, then go sell these things at Mad Wolf Materials Shop. I wonder if the owner buys Gene Armaments. If not, maybe I should just list them for sale on Battle Net."
Any Gene Warrior could open a shop and sell their own items.
Naturally, Lu Yuan was no exception.
It was just a bit troublesome. If he could sell them at the materials shop, that would be best.
Just as Lu Yuan was thinking about this and had sat down—
He heard a piercing scream coming from the room next door.
"A Wei! A Wei, wake up! What's wrong with you, A Wei?!"
Lu Yuan froze.
"That voice... the young couple next door?"
His brow furrowed slightly as he stood up and went outside.
Lu Yuan arrived at the young couple's door and knocked.
"Is everything all right?"
At the sound of knocking, hurried footsteps rang out from inside.
Soon, the door opened, and a black-haired woman of average appearance wearing a black hollowed-out nightgown appeared before Lu Yuan.
Her face was streaked with tears, and she looked utterly terrified.
Lu Yuan frowned slightly. "Ms. Ma, I heard you screaming, so I came to check. Are you all right?"
The man in the young couple was named Feng Wei, while the woman was Ma Lingling.
Though Lu Yuan knew their names, he had little interaction with them. They merely nodded and smiled whenever they met.
Still shaken, Ma Lingling shrieked when she heard Lu Yuan's words.
"Come help me! A Wei! A Wei isn't breathing anymore!"
Lu Yuan's gaze flickered, and he hurried into the room.
The young couple's room had a similar layout to Lu Yuan's, though it was slightly larger.
There was even a photo of the couple on the small desk. They were smiling happily, and beside it was a faded bouquet of plastic roses in a little vase.
At that moment, Feng Wei lay on the bed in the middle of the room. He wore only underwear, his upper body bare.
His face was pale with a bluish tint, and his body was stiff. He looked rather terrifying.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan could not help frowning as he hurried over.
Ma Lingling followed him, grabbing Lu Yuan's hand and shaking it repeatedly as she screamed.
"Little Brother Lu Yuan, I know you're a high school student. You must have a way to save A Wei, right?! Please, save him!"
Lu Yuan checked Feng Wei's heartbeat and breathing and found that both had already stopped. Even his body had begun to turn cold.
He frowned at Ma Lingling, who was gripping him, and said solemnly.
"Ms. Ma, calm down. A Wei is already dead."
"What?! I don't believe it! A Wei said he was going to marry me. How could he possibly die? How could he leave me all alone?!"
Ma Lingling's face turned pale as she screamed.
Lu Yuan grabbed her shoulder with one hand, gave her a shake, and said.
"Ms. Ma, calm down. Did you notice anything unusual before this? Did he have heart disease or some other illness?"
How strong was Lu Yuan?
After being shaken by Lu Yuan, Ma Lingling regained a little clarity.
Her pupils gradually focused. She looked at Feng Wei on the bed, covered her mouth, and crouched by the bed, crying silently.
Watching Ma Lingling weep without a sound, Lu Yuan felt somewhat sympathetic as well.
The young couple seemed to have had a good relationship. He had not expected them to be separated by life and death overnight.
No one could probably accept something like that.
After Ma Lingling had cried for a while, Lu Yuan spoke.
"Ms. Ma, can you think about what happened before this? Did he have any illness?"
Ma Lingling shook her head, wiped her tears, and choked out.
"A Wei was always very healthy. He didn't have any illnesses."
"Very healthy?"
Lu Yuan frowned, feeling that this was not simple.
"Then do you have any idea who might have wanted to harm him?"
Hearing Lu Yuan's words, Ma Lingling thought for a moment. Then, as if she had remembered something, her eyes widened.
"While we were sleeping, A Wei made some sounds like he was in pain. I was half asleep and took a look. It seemed like there was a blurry Black Shadow on him. But A Wei stopped making sounds soon after, and the Black Shadow disappeared too. I-I thought I was seeing things, so I went back to sleep."
As she spoke, Ma Lingling's face turned pale. Looking at Feng Wei on the bed, she silently shrank back.
Lu Yuan's mind exploded as well.
Judging by Feng Wei's livid face, he had probably suffocated to death. Combined with the Black Shadow Ma Lingling had mentioned—
Could it be that ghostly thing?!
No way, it was back again?!
He looked gravely at Ma Lingling. "Are you sure?"
There was a trace of confusion in Ma Lingling's eyes. She nodded, then shook her head, sobbing as she said.
"I-I was too groggy at the time. I don't know if I really saw it."
Lu Yuan fell silent.
He took a deep breath and slowly said, "Ms. Ma, call the police. Let them handle this."
Ma Lingling nodded repeatedly. "Okay! Okay!!"
She hurriedly made the call.
Lu Yuan stared deeply at Feng Wei's corpse on the bed.
That Black Shadow had probably appeared again.
Last time, it had been in his room. He had not expected it to show up right next door this time.
It wasn't targeting him, was it?
That Black Shadow seemed to only appear at night. He was in Origin Land at night, so it definitely could not find him. Had it gone after the people next door instead?
Lu Yuan immediately thought of Li Qinghe.
"If that's the case, could the Black Shadow go after Qinghe Jie too?"
After the Mutation Event, almost everyone had stayed away from Lu Yuan. Li Qinghe was the only one who truly cared about him.
Lu Yuan had always regarded Li Qinghe as an older sister who cared for him.
Although that had been something from the original owner's life, Lu Yuan had inherited his memories and could empathize with him. Naturally, he did not want anything to happen to Li Qinghe.
But on second thought, Li Qinghe was usually out at night, so the chances of anything happening to her were low.
He only needed to tell her not to come back at night.
Just as Lu Yuan was thinking this, the outer door opened.
Ma Lingling, who had just finished calling the police, shuddered at the sudden sound of the door opening and grabbed Lu Yuan's clothes with one hand.
Lu Yuan glanced at Ma Lingling.
"Ms. Ma, let go. I'll go take a look."
Ma Lingling nodded and carefully released his clothes.
Lu Yuan walked out of the room and into the living room, where he saw Li Qinghe with a cigarette between her lips, closing the door with her foot.
She held a bag of steamed buns and two bags of soy milk.
When she saw Lu Yuan, she smiled.
"Yuan Didi, I knew you definitely hadn't gone out yet. Have you been busy cultivating lately and skipping class? I bought your favorite meat buns."
As she spoke, she raised the bag of buns in her hand.
Seeing the buns in Li Qinghe's hand, Lu Yuan felt warmth in his heart. He smiled.
"Qinghe Jie, I have money now too. I'll pay for my meals from now on."
"What do you mean by that, kid? Your wings have grown, huh? Your sister can still afford to treat you to a few buns."
Li Qinghe pinched the cigarette from her lips with her fingers, blew out a smoke ring, and glared at Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan smiled helplessly and was about to speak when Li Qinghe suddenly raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Wait, Yuan Didi, why are you coming out of that young couple's room?"
Before you continue