So How Did You Catch Me?

037

Shi Jiu hung from the fishhook.

She rubbed her eyes.

A little dazed, she murmured, "Wasn't I asleep?"

"Am I dreaming about Jiang Fu again?"

Jiang Fu came to his senses.

He hurriedly reached out and scooped the slightly damp girl off the fishing rod.

Out of habit, he pulled her into his arms.

Feeling that familiar embrace,

Shi Jiu narrowed her eyes.

"So it's not a dream."

"Then... how did you catch me?"

Jiang Fu: "..."

He really had reeled her in.

But something about the way she put it sounded strange.

"I just... awakened my Sequence."

Shi Jiu's eyes lit up. "You awakened your Sequence?"

A Sequence!

Nothing else could explain something this absurd.

By then,

Shi Jiu was soaked through.

Her cream-colored home clothes clung tightly to her.

A cool breeze blew past.

She instinctively nestled deeper into Jiang Fu's arms.

Jiang Fu sat on the small stool.

The moment Shi Jiu shifted in his lap,

his expression turned awkward.

He hastily coughed to cover it up. "Yeah. My Sequence... Fishing Fanatic."

Shi Jiu looked thoughtful. "Fishing Fanatic? So that's how you caught me?"

Jiang Fu: "...I caught a sword too!"

Shi Jiu froze.

She muttered, "So it was a sword digging into me... Hey, let me see what kind of sword it is."

As she spoke,

Shi Jiu reached out before Jiang Fu could react

and grabbed the "sword" that had been pressing against her backside.

"This hilt feels nice. It should be easy to handle..."

"Hm? Wait!"

Puzzled,

Shi Jiu tightened her grip slightly, giving the "hilt" a gentle squeeze.

The next moment,

her eyes widened as she stared blankly at Jiang Fu.

Her face turned scarlet.

Jiang Fu's face flushed red. He might as well have been a statue.

Sitting on the small stool, he didn't dare move a muscle.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Shi Jiu let go.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." she blurted out.

Jiang Fu snapped back to his senses.

Why did those words sound so familiar?

It seemed... he had said the same thing in a similar situation...

Jiang Fu hurriedly stood up.

"Uh... you're soaked. You'll catch a cold!"

"I'll take you back so you can shower and change..."

With that,

Jiang Fu carried Shi Jiu back to a room on the villa's second floor in a flash.

He set her on the bed,

then fled.

Shi Jiu sat on the bed, staring blankly at her right hand.

She mumbled, "That makes us even, I guess..."

"Hm?"

Suddenly, she noticed the phone by the bed.

With a slight nudge of Psychokinesis,

the screen lit up.

It showed the victory results from her game.

"I really did fall asleep on the sofa..."

Shi Jiu pressed her lips together.

Then she broke into a smile

and stretched contentedly.

"...Being a shameless girl isn't so bad."

As she spoke to herself,

she leisurely took off her wet clothes and walked naked into the bathroom.

In the open kitchen downstairs,

Jiang Fu rubbed his face hard.

He tried to forget what he had felt just now... for those several moments.

"...Forget it. If I can't forget, I can't forget."

"Cooking skill, Multiply by Ten."

"Chef God Descends!"

Then he took ingredients from the refrigerator

and got busy in the kitchen.

"Hm?"

"The countdown on the Sequence Screen has stopped."

"So it only counts down while I'm fishing... and I don't waste any time when I stop?"

"Now that's great. Just what I'd expect from a Divine Sequence!"

Jiang Fu's mood soared.

His hands moved more briskly too.

At the same time,

he stirred his Spirit Power.

His phone floated in front of him and began scrolling through pages on its own.

...precautions for selling stolen goods.

Jiang Fu browsed for a while,

then used his Spirit Power to dial a number.

The call connected quickly.

A somewhat cold female voice answered. "Hello. Who is this?"

Jiang Fu stirred the shrimp in the pan with his spatula

as he said, "Sister Li, it's me, Jiang Fu."

The voice on the phone paused,

then warmed at once.

"Oh, Classmate Jiang. What can I do for you?"

Jiang Fu didn't beat around the bush. "Do you buy stolen goods?"

Li Yue: "..."

"...What kind of stolen goods?"

Jiang Fu: "Sister Li, you know how it is."

"When martial artists go into the Wilderness Area, they're bound to have a few run-ins, hurt each other... and leave equipment scattered everywhere."

"I got lucky and picked up a whole lot of equipment..."

Li Yue's lips twitched.

But soon,

she remembered the Silver Moon Wolves strewn everywhere yesterday

and the Storage Badge that held them.

A Storage Badge!

A creation of a Space Sequence Martial Artist.

It was not only a Storage Item, but a symbol of status and standing.

Even many Transcendent Martial Artists had no access to a treasure of that caliber.

"Classmate Jiang, what stolen goods do you have... No, I mean, what equipment?"

Jiang Fu's eyes lit up. "Combat uniforms. Low-level Combat Uniforms. I suppose they count as secondhand."

Low-level Combat Uniforms?

Li Yue breathed a sigh of relief,

though a little disappointment crept into her heart.

"All right. How many sets do you have?"

Jiang Fu's eyes lit up. He hurriedly said, "Sixty complete sets."

"And ten more without pants!"

Those eleven pant legs...

He might as well pretend they didn't exist.

Li Yue: "..."

"How many? You said how many!?"

Sixty sets?!

And ten more without pants?!

Jiang Fu coughed. "Sister Li, you know how dangerous the Wilderness Area is..."

Li Yue sighed. "All right, you don't have to explain."

"I'll buy the combat uniforms. But I can't pay full price for secondhand ones."

"We'll need to check their wear and condition before setting a final price."

"Will you bring them in, or should I send someone to collect them?"

Those two mysterious high schoolers were people even Supervisor Shen had taken pains to please.

She had no reason to pry.

...The money belonged to the Martial Artist Guild, but the favor would be hers!

Jiang Fu's eyes lit up. "You can pick them up?"

"I'm at Blue Shore Manor Residential Area in Bincheng District Nine."

Li Yue: "All right. I'll send someone over right away."

"But my people can't get into Blue Shore Manor Residential Area, so keep an ear out for their call."

"Sure, no problem."

After hanging up,

Jiang Fu breathed a sigh of relief too.

Last night, he hadn't known how things worked,

so he hadn't brought out those combat uniforms.

Just now, he had searched the Martial Artist Forum for posts about selling stolen goods.

After comparing his options,

he had decided to sell the combat uniforms to the Martial Artist Guild.

Bin City did have a so-called Martial Artist Black Market,

but that place would eat him alive.

If a rookie like Jiang Fu went there, they would pick him clean.

The black market was chaotic, full of all sorts of people.

Jiang Fu was genuinely worried that Old Wu might make a move against him there.

Li Yue's establishment, on the other hand, was an official institution of the Martial Artist Guild.

It was safer and more reputable.

Besides, Shi Jiu's Storage Badge had already left Li Yue awestruck.

Jiang Fu didn't mind continuing to ride on Shi Jiu's coattails.

When Jiang Fu arrived in the dining room, carrying the plates with his spirit power,

Shi Jiu had already showered and changed into fluffy panda loungewear.

Shi Jiu sat quietly at the dining table.