Whether It Was or Not, It Probably Was

At dinner, Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo told Yu Xunhuan to go ask Su Yitong for information without Yu Xunge needing to say another word.

Yu Xunge advised, "But don't alert her. If she's already a player, she might think you're suspicious of her or testing her if you ask like that. It could hurt your relationship."

Yu Xunhuan nodded repeatedly.

Yu Qingshan asked more detailed questions about the game. Yu Xunge told them everything she could. She said money was hard to earn in there; she had only played for two hours and earned just 2 silver coins and a shabby little bag. She had bought that Healing Potion when she was preparing to leave the city and fight monsters, but right after buying it—before she had even bought a weapon—the game disappeared.

Yu Xunhuan said gravely, "This game should appear again. We just don't know what pattern it follows."

Yu Xunge shook her head. "You can't find anything about it online. That day, I suddenly felt like looking up World of Warcraft, the game we played back in high school, and found this one with a similar name, so I downloaded it to try it out. But this game didn't even have ads, and nobody was discussing it online."

Yu Qingshan commented, "That's normal. Who wouldn't keep something like this under wraps? At most, they'd tell their family."

Yi Qiuguo said, "Should we stockpile anything? I have a feeling things are going to get chaotic."

The whole family discussed it for a long time before finally breaking up. Yu Xunge did not know whether it was just her imagination, but she genuinely felt that Yu Qingshan and Yu Xunhuan were treating her even better. They had always been affectionate toward her, but after regaining her memories, she had always felt there was something deliberate about it whenever she listened or watched. Now, though, that affection carried the feeling that she was truly one of them.

A few days later, the family gathered at the hotel again. This time, Yu Xunhuan had brought the news: someone had cut off Su Yitong's ear.

Before Yu Xunge could speak, Yi Qiuguo said, "Then could what happened to you have been done by an enemy of the Su Family? They didn't have a chance to make a move on her before, so they could only take it out on you!"

Yu Xunhuan's expression made it clear that he thought so too, but his lips were pressed tightly together. He would not be the bad guy who made baseless assumptions about others.

Yu Xunge advised, "Whether it was or not, you'll be family soon anyway. You'll be safer at the Su Family's than outside."

Whether it was or not, it probably was. But just pretend it wasn't, all right?

Yu Xunhuan truly felt uncomfortable. He believed the Su Family must have caused trouble that implicated him, but he was also worried—if it had been done by the Su Family's enemies, did Su Yitong know about what had happened to him...?

He suddenly recalled how he had inexplicably fainted on the morning of the 6th. At the time, he had assumed it was due to his irregular routine and low blood sugar, but what if the Su Family's enemies had not wanted him to play that game...?

No, that wasn't right either. He had not even known about the game then. He had merely felt like watching some short videos to kill time.

Yu Xunhuan slumped back against the sofa as though all the strength had left him. Just as Yu Xunge had said, whether it was or not...

What else could he do?

Though everything had been going smoothly, Yu Xunge was not without worries.

Gold Casting was explicitly marked as goblin-exclusive. Even though she had learned it, it turned gray after she left the game. She had to use Disguise Skill to turn into a goblin before the skill would light up.

Disguise Skill was immensely useful, but its Cooldown was long. She could use it at most four times a day. To avoid affecting her usual use of the skill, Yu Xunge had spent the last few days turning into a green goblin ten minutes before bed, sitting at the edge of her bed to craft 3 gold coins before going to sleep. That way, when she woke in the morning, the Cooldown would have just ended.

After transforming into a goblin, she did not just craft gold coins. She would also turn invisible and use Phantom Shift to enter Su Yitong's and Liang Yuchuan's bedrooms, steal from them once each—no more than that—then return home with 60% of her health remaining to catch up on sleep.

But after only two days of stealing, she discovered that Su Yitong's bedroom—no, practically the entire Su Family residence—had been fitted with mist-spraying devices. Not only the garden, but the inside of the villa, even every room, had such equipment. The instant she noticed water mist in the room, she used Phantom Shift to leave the Su Family residence. Yet the moment she got home, she discovered that her Invisibility Potion had stopped working. She could see her own body again.

What a lavish move. How many Revealing Potions did they have to use every day?

No, weren't they afraid their furniture would grow mold?!

No matter how fine and light that mist was, no matter how expensive the furniture, it could not withstand being sprayed twenty-four hours a day, could it?

But it did not matter. She drank another Invisibility Potion and returned to the Su Family residence, this time landing directly beneath Su Yitong's bed. Even if she was revealed here, it would be fine. She would steal from her and leave.

Looking out from beneath the bed, she saw that the Su Family had not descended into chaos and finally relaxed. It seemed she had not been discovered just now.

She just did not know whether Su Yitong's bedroom had surveillance cameras. But even if she had been caught on camera, it did not matter. She was this cautious: every time, she would not only disguise herself before drinking an Invisibility Potion, she would even put on a swim cap and mask before disguising herself. Ever since she had needed to turn into a goblin to craft gold coins, she had gone to both the Su Family and Liang Family residences in goblin form every day.

Because of what had happened to the Su Family, when she went to Liang Yuchuan's home, she also shifted directly beneath Liang Yuchuan's bed... only to find herself appearing beside Liang Yuchuan's bed. Looking down, she realized the bed had been replaced, and even the space beneath it had been sealed off.

Fortunately, the Liang Family had not started using Revealing Potion mist yet. After stealing from Liang Yuchuan, she took a walk through the walk-in closet in Liang Yuchuan's bedroom, treating it as unlocking the map. Next time, she could shift directly there.

Yu Xunge insisted on checking in at the Su Family and Liang Family residences every day. Over the course of a month, she succeeded twice. She stole 1 point of Intelligence from Su Yitong and 1 point of Strength from Liang Yuchuan.

Yu Xunge's current attributes were:

Strength: 7+1

Constitution: 7

Intelligence: 10+1

Agility: 18

Luck: 10 (maximum)

Charm: 10 (maximum)

What troubled her most besides that was still her profession skills.

She knew of many pieces of equipment and items that would mutate after the Game Invasion, but there were priorities. Those things were not going anywhere. What she needed most right now was to practice Alchemy and Engineering.

These days, Yu Xunge stayed cooped up in the villa with an extremely regular schedule. She grinded Alchemy experience in the morning and Engineering experience in the afternoon. She grinded Cooking experience with all three daily meals, then deliberately made a serving of meat and placed it beside the cat bed. Ever since she had used cat toys, cats had stayed overnight in the cat bed outside her villa almost every night.

At night, she practiced Bow and Arrow on the second floor of the villa. Before bed, she read Alchemy Notes or Engineering Notes.

On weekends, she went to the lakeside in the villa district to practice fishing. After the Game Invasion, many fish in various bodies of water would mutate. Only with a sufficiently high Fishing level could she catch fish of higher quality.

Unfortunately, her Alchemy soon got stuck at Advanced (77/). After Alchemy reached Advanced, the herbs it required simply could not be replaced with anything found in reality. She could only use the ones she had bought from the game, and now all her materials had been used up.