Moving House

Yu Xunge was so moved she almost teared up – all from holding back a yawn. She was truly exhausted. "Let's go home. I found someone who might be a player, but I haven't approached them. You might even know them."

On the way, she recounted the information she'd "gathered." "It's not easy to discreetly ask about these things; everyone keeps it quiet. We didn't actually meet the person I saw this time; we were both wary of each other. Later, I changed my approach and asked if anything strange had happened, and that's how I heard about something."

"Do you know a game streamer named Yi Xue Zhi Dong? Has his gaming skill suddenly become very good recently?"

Yu Xunhuan's eyes lit up. "Yes! We're good friends, we've known each other for a long time. We were just talking about him in our game group not long ago, saying it was like he suddenly had an epiphany."

Yu Xunge: "Mm. Later, when that player was chatting with me, they also mentioned Ye Dong and suspected he had skills related to sound. I watched his stream replays. Every time he shouts 'Stand up, hold on, I believe in you!' or something similar, his team suddenly becomes much stronger."

Yu Xunhuan: What the heck?

Yu Xunge explained, "I told you about God-Bestowed Talents, right? God-Bestowed Talents are incredibly varied. I can control a person's Luck for a short time. Who knows, maybe other players can influence others through sound."

On the way home, Yu Xunge handed over the information about Ye Dong to Yu Xunhuan and didn't think about it anymore. Yu Xunhuan was still an ordinary person. This time, the ordinary person in front of Ye Dong had changed from herself to him. Whether he could go from friend to close buddy with Ye Dong would depend on his own abilities.

Yu Xunge didn't have Yu Xunhuan drive her back to the small villa. She disliked outsiders stepping into her territory. She planned to sell the villa after some time and buy a small apartment where Dungeon Entrances would appear.

Whether she traded resources with the officials or kept them for grinding dungeons, both would be good options.

After having dinner at the Yu family's place and refusing Yu Xunhuan's offer to drive her back to the villa, she returned home by herself.

Then, she began her closed-door study.

She could only say that if she wasn't a top student before, it was because she hadn't found the right major.

For the next period, Yu Xunge earnestly and almost devoutly went through all the beginner and intermediate Alchemy recipes. Each recipe came with an Alchemy video, and she diligently memorized every movement of the Undead mentor.

After she finished watching all 400 beginner and intermediate recipes, and started the second round from the beginning, she discovered that the female Undead mentor in the videos occasionally spoke a few words of explanation.

Yu Xunge: Teacher, you're helping the enemy!

Perhaps to true scholars, races other than Earthlings and Undead were indistinguishable. Just as Goblins didn't care about war and glory, only money and business, once their professional skills reached legendary levels, they only saw the inheritance of craftsmanship in their eyes.

She didn't overthink it, cherishing it all instead.

Occasionally, when she hit a dead end, she would cook for the cats outside. The Meow Meow Hostel lived up to its name; cats came and went, but none stayed for long. A cat wouldn't stay for more than three days. This villa area also had resident stray cats, but they only came for meals occasionally and didn't settle down.

Although Yu Xunge liked cats, she had no intention of keeping one. She was too busy, always going out to cause trouble. How could she have time for a pet that required constant care?

This kind of relationship was just right. All she had to do was cook a little more low-salt, low-seasoning meat when practicing her Cooking skill each day and leave it outside. She could pet and hug different cats without being responsible for them.

It was an open-ended cat-keeping relationship.

The food she made for the cats, although made with ordinary real-world meat, also had beneficial effects after consumption. Some would gain increased strength for a short period, while others would gain increased movement speed. But they all tasted great, and both the cats and Yu Xunge loved them.

Although the skills learned from the other world were also taught through videos played directly in her mind, it was still different from doing it herself while watching. After all, the former was directly projected into one's mind, skipping a reaction time, and it continuously strengthened memory.

In just half a year, Yu Xunge transformed from someone unskilled in cooking to a master chef capable of hundreds of dishes.

Once you understand one thing, you understand everything. Now, even if she didn't follow recipes, the stir-fried dishes she casually made tasted good, they just lacked the buff effects.

She hadn't ordered takeout in a long time because her own cooking was much tastier than anything she could buy. Moreover, several dishes had a "no matter what you do, you will become more focused" effect after consumption. Even though the effect lasted only a few minutes, she found that her learning efficiency during those minutes was higher. She could easily spot details in the Alchemy videos that she had previously overlooked.

Yu Xunge simply spent half a day baking over a thousand small cookies that increased focus after consumption, eating them as she studied.

In August, Yu Xunge also took time to formally terminate her contract with her company and issued a statement announcing her retirement from the entertainment industry.

Her current situation was better off staying away from the public eye. The news she'd shared with Yu Xunhuan about Ye Dong's abnormality wasn't entirely false. Look, her game group was discussing Ye Dong's changes, weren't they?

To ordinary people, such changes might only warrant a few gossip sessions, but for players, it could quickly lead their thoughts to the game.

She suspected that Ye Dong's sudden move to S City to find Yu Xunhuan in her past life was precisely because he had been discovered, and he came to find a friend he trusted to band together.

Yu Xunge's retirement news caused a stir online for a few days. People brought up the recent death at her agency and the involvement of her manager, speculating if she had suffered any harm.

Yu Xunge answered what she could. It was one thing that she didn't care about such superficial fame, but it didn't mean she was willing to bear a bad reputation or have people speculate about sordid things.

"I'm fine, I haven't been harmed. I just felt tired and wanted to rest for a while, to live the life I truly want."

"I didn't get rich overnight, nor did I marry into a wealthy family. I just calculated my savings, and they're enough for me."

"Yes, the person in the photo selling the bag is me. I never liked these things; it was just necessary for the profession of being a celebrity. Now that I've retired, I can naturally sell these unnecessary items."

"If I were truly so short on money that I couldn't live, I wouldn't have retired. Thank you all for your concern."

"The company is fine; we parted on good terms."

"I don't have a rich second-generation boyfriend, and I don't plan to date or get married. I have no interest in spending other people's money; my money is only enough for myself."

Yu Xunge said this righteously, as if she hadn't been the one who went to the Su family to snatch gold just a short while ago.