As Long as You're Happy

The familiar stretch of road, and even more familiar scenery.

On the way back, near the entrance to the forest, there was still that Dragon Snake Gang checkpoint.

"Did you hear? The higher-ups are furious. They want us to find the Bomb Demon within three days."

Hu Yihang, with his slightly babyish face, was a little surprised when he heard his companion say that.

".I thought it was just an excuse to squeeze out a little more. I heard that our boss's boss—that big shot from Green New—is unhappy with what we've been bringing in lately?"

"It doesn't conflict. We need to squeeze out more, and we need to find that guy too. Boss said the Bomb Demon slapped the Dragon Snake Gang in the face, slapped our Big Boss in the face, slapped all of Green New Company in the face!"

Although he had no idea how a university professor and Green New consultant had suddenly become the face of Green New Company, Hu Yihang, as a lowly lackey, naturally would not object at a time like this.

".It'll be hard. I was there when the explosion happened, and I didn't see anyone at all."

Hu Yihang had not merely been at the scene—he had been right at the center of the explosion.

He had just "taken" a batch of seeds from a cowardly Tier 0 newbie and had not even had time to inspect them before being blown straight into the air.

"Hard or not, we still have to look. But Brother Leopard said privately that if we do find him, we just need to report it. As for the big shots' business, hehe, you understand, right?"

Understand? Of course he understood. He was just a little follower—why would he risk his life fighting for the big shots?

"Got it, got it. By the way, once we're relieved, where are we going to have fun? I heard the KTV on Fallen Street to the west got a new batch of hostesses."

As he spoke more animatedly, Hu Yihang grew a little excited. It could not be helped—this was exactly his thing.

Actually, there was not much money to be made by running with the Dragon Snake Gang.

Their Big Boss was a bastard who would do anything to save money. How could he possibly pay the underlings of his underlings?

But the underlings all found ways to generate their own income.

"Did you hear? That Little Girl from last month—the busty one with the ponytail—killed herself."

"No way, right? We only took a few pictures and borrowed a little money using her face. Tch, what bad luck."

Hu Yihang froze when he heard that, but the next moment, he smiled and went along with it.

It was not like I was the one who led it. After getting photographed, then having the boss lead people to her door in the city, she could only blame her own bad luck.

"Tsk, Little Girl just wasn't satisfying enough. That beauty we ran into last time..."

The Dragon Snake Gang had its own rules. They never touched anyone above Tier 2, nor powerful Tier 1s like Calamity Fist.

So who were their targets?

The weak, newcomers, especially those students who seemed to have promising futures but were fragile.

Death in a secret realm was not the end. Once they found a suitable target, they would come knocking—photographs, extortion, debt collection, the whole package. After all, this was exactly what they had done back when they were students not long ago.

"There's no helping it. If I don't cross a few lines, how am I supposed to support a gang? Big Boss doesn't pay us."

That was what their boss said.

Anyway, the victims were weaklings, insignificant students.

So there was nothing wrong with it, right?

You were a student who had just left school, and so was I. This was nothing more than an adult version of "school bullying."

Most of what they gained in the secret realms was handed over to Big Boss in exchange for Green New Company's local manager turning a blind eye to their actions.

Hu Yihang quite liked these days. They were no different from when he used to fool around at school—if anything, they were even easier.

They called themselves a gang, but most of the time, there was no need for fighting and killing. They only had to stand there and throw out a few threats, and those good little students would shake like crazy. Whatever you wanted, they gave it to you.

Whenever he thought of that student with the single ponytail, of what it felt like to ride her, Hu Yihang felt it was such a pity.

"What a shame. Heh, she was even a student at some prestigious university, with such a promising future. What a shame. Sigh, why was she so useless? I should've gone a few more times."

Hu Yihang had always felt that continuing to run with his boss was the best decision of his life.

Otherwise, he would never have had the chance to touch a woman of that caliber in his entire life.

At first, they had been cowards too, only daring to bully lone, utterly inexperienced newcomers.

But as they grew more practiced and had more and more people on their side, their courage grew as well.

"I really hope these days can go on forever."

Desire could never be satisfied. It would only keep swelling larger and larger.

"By the way, yesterday we ran into two Tier 1 gardeners. That woman was pretty good. They had two bodyguards with them, but they seemed to be newcomers too. Maybe we could..."

"We can. I've seen them a few times before and asked around. Neither of them has any backing. We can have one of the brothers wait outside and follow them..."

The supposed barrier between secret realms and reality had never truly existed, just like that seemingly existent moral bottom line.

"By the way, does killing someone in a secret realm not count as breaking the law?"

As they walked, Lu PingAn recalled something and casually asked.

"You didn't know? Oh, you can treat secret realms as 'foreign countries.' Only the holders have law-enforcement authority. No matter which country is outside, none of them have the authority to govern them. That's an unwritten rule in this line of work."

Lu PingAn was somewhat astonished. Wasn't that like a concession? Those sovereign nations could agree to that?

"There's no helping it. You haven't been to those large secret realms—there's no difference between them and real worlds. There are kingdoms and foreign races inside, and wars have even broken out before. The process was very complicated, but judging by the result alone, sovereign nations now recognize the independence of secret realms."

"So, what happens if conflicts that arise within the secret realm spill outside?"

Lu PingAn was curious. He did not believe everything would truly be confined to the secret realm.

"They're handled separately. If you kill someone inside, it's fine. Kill someone outside, and naturally someone will come after you."

"Who?"

Lu PingAn grew even more curious.

"The police and the Special Task Force of the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs. They handle all ability-related criminals."

Weren't those old acquaintances? At that moment, Lu PingAn felt a little sympathy for Xia Qin and the others.

Even these supposedly safe secret realms within the city kept producing destabilizing factors. No wonder they never seemed to stop working overtime.

They walked and chatted until they reached that familiar place—and encountered familiar people.

Heh. On both sides, at that.

". . . This?"

The pair of gardeners who looked like either a couple or classmates had become the latest victims.

Their Bodyguards were already lying on the ground. Against more than a dozen bandits who were also superpowered, even Tier 1 combat-types were useless.

The male gardener was begging for something, while the girl was surrounded by a group of people tugging at her.

If things continued as usual, she would probably be dragged into the woods.

The scene before him made Calamity Fist Xue En frown. In the end, though, he shook his head.

"Let's go. It has nothing to do with us."

"Nothing to do with us?"

"I know what you're thinking. Take a word of advice from your Senior Brother—it's useless. You can't handle all of it."

Xue En was sincere. He was upset too, but this was a bottomless swamp, endless trouble that could never be dealt with. He did not want his junior brother to get himself buried in problems.

"It's not like no one has taken them out before. A couple of days later, everything goes back to normal. If that Girl really has no choice, she'll kill herself and leave. At most, she'll lose some property."

But Lu PingAn merely smiled and shook his head.

"Senior Brother Xue En, maybe you understand this secret realm better than I do, and understand the true world of superpowered people better. But you really don't understand people—especially scum."

". . . Are you sure you want to meddle? Aren't you afraid of exposing yourself? If you offend Green New, you won't be able to come to this secret realm again."

Xue En stopped pretending. He had long since realized that Lu PingAn was the "Bomb Demon."

A High-Tier Gardener's Plant Acceleration ability was not something common. Seeing it twice in this low-tier secret realm was far too much of a coincidence.

"No, no, how can you call it meddling? Actually, I've disliked them for a long time. Uh, at least since yesterday morning."

"So, you prepared that? Even if it hadn't been for them, this scene before us would still have happened?"

"Same thing. What should happen will happen sooner or later. After all, they made me very unhappy."

Speaking with a smile, Lu PingAn took the initiative and walked over.

The Dragon Snake Gang had clearly seen Calamity Fist and waved for them to take a detour.

Lu PingAn spotted an old acquaintance.

Previously, it seemed to have been this friendly-looking chubby little man who had taken his seeds.

"Big Brother, it's you again. Here to see my new harvest?"

Last time, Lu PingAn had actually felt somewhat regretful.

Back then, the chips in his hand had been too few. He could only use "schemes and tricks" to kill them once.

Now, as the Young Man smiled at everyone and opened his pouch, everyone's expressions changed.

The small material pouch seemed to become an exit into another dimension. From within the Young Man's smiling hands, countless dark green tendrils surged out, spreading instantly.

The people standing closest were caught in the sudden attack at once.

Before they could react, the tendrils filling the air had touched their bodies. They immediately went numb and could no longer move!

"The taste of Poison Ivy isn't bad, is it?"

A huge number of tendrils spread madly. On the ground and across the grass, with no warning at all, every member of the Dragon Snake Gang was caught up in it.

And once touched, they were firmly gripped by the tough tendrils, while the potent toxin rendered them unable to move.

". . . How could that be Poison Ivy?! That's obviously a very fragile plant!"

"Impossible! This is a high-tier magical plant?! Big Brother, we didn't offend you, did we?!"

In truth, it really was Poison Ivy. At least, it had been yesterday.

Invest Life was used on 'Poison Ivy.' The investment item was 'Essence of a Black Iron Tier Regeneration Module (Demonized Monkey Bread Tree).' This credit target does not possess advanced intelligence. Investment failed.

The investment item cannot be recovered and has been absorbed by the credit target. The credit target has begun to mutate.

The Tier 1 magical plant 'Poison Ivy' has completed its mutation. A new species awaits naming. Preliminary assessment: this magical plant is a Tier 2 Vine Beard Monster type.

Congratulations, Host. You have successfully created a new species and gained 129 grafting experience points.

Lu PingAn smiled, took out a bottle of mineral water, and sprinkled it over the tentacles.

In an instant, the tentacles swelled and spread once more, fighting for living space in the surrounding area.

The unlucky men still struggling were squeezed until they screamed.

The upgraded Ivy Poison had already begun to rob them of their senses.

"Poison Ivy isn't actually very useful. Its venom and reach are excellent, but its vines are too fragile. In actual combat, if the target struggles even a little, they can break free of the restraints, and then the poison becomes useless."

Lu PingAn smiled and took out two more bottles of water. Instantly, the "Dragon Snakes" looked utterly miserable.

"But if you add the module of a demonized Monkey Bread Tree... Oh, you wouldn't understand. You only need to know that it's a special kind of wood that can undergo High-Speed Regeneration when given water—hard on the outside, soft on the inside."

The wildly regenerating vines had already strangled several unlucky men to death.

The remaining men were generally stronger, but they only had one breath left in them.

"...Uh, I probably need to teach it how to avoid friendly targets."

Unfortunately, the two gardeners farther away were still alive, while the companions lying beside them had been finished off as well.

But really, it didn't matter. Lu PingAn had never come here to save anyone in the first place.

"I ask, you answer?"

Still smiling, Lu PingAn stuffed a small object into the mouth of one of the gang members.

"...Do you know what you're doing? You actually dare offend the Dragon Snake Gang, offend Green New Company."

"Wrong answer! Boom!"

The sudden sound of an explosion beside his ear made the unlucky man jump.

The next moment, he realized that nothing had happened and was about to continue cursing.

"Boom!"

His entire head and upper body vanished.

Lu PingAn took a step back and narrowly avoided the rain of blood.

Smiling, Lu PingAn walked toward the next target.

"I ask, you answer."

"...Y-you, you, you're the Bomb Demon!!"

"Sigh, wrong answer."

Another snap of his fingers, another explosion.

Now they should all understand the situation, right?

Lu PingAn looked at the next target with some curiosity.

"Strange. Weren't you looking for me? Is it so strange that I showed up right in front of you?"

"I won't say anything. At worst, I'll die! I'll never betray them. What are you doing? Why are you taking off my pants?!"

Lu PingAn laughed at that and pulled out his phone.

There was no signal here, so what was he planning to do? While everyone was confused, Lu PingAn turned on the camera and began recording.

"So a secret realm without death gives you a bottom line? At worst, you die and get sent out? I don't believe you lot, after being around for so long, are still this naive. You know what macho.AVI is, right? You know what man-on-man means, right?"

"I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"You reacted so quickly that I'm starting to wonder whether you've done it before... Forget it, no difference. The result is the same anyway."

Still smiling, Lu PingAn patiently questioned them about their usual activities, and then—

"Bang!"

"Didn't he already say it? He said it all!"

The thug's furious rebuke made Lu PingAn laugh out loud.

"He said, 'We just help people with things and collect a little protection money.' Such nonsense, and you think I'd believe it? Oh, and don't think dying and getting sent out will settle this. If anyone lies, I'll come find you outside. Forget it, no matter what, I'll come find you anyway, so don't lie."

Lu PingAn shrugged. He had already seen through everything.

"...Oh, right. To make sure no one misunderstands the situation, let's record a video first."

It took a villain to deal with villains. Once Lu PingAn recorded their faces, these weak-willed little punks completely broke down.

In their desperation to beg for mercy, they eagerly competed to sell out their companions, shouting out each other's crimes.

And as they described what they had done, Xue En's previously calm expression grew increasingly strained.

At last, he clenched his fists, veins bulging across his face.

"...These scum!"

He still couldn't hold back. He crushed someone's head outright, splattering his face with blood and flesh.

The two gardeners, who had been meek and submissive all along, were filled with lingering fear.

Only now did they understand what they had nearly suffered, how just one step had separated them from utter despair.

Only Lu PingAn remained calm throughout, as if he had known everything all along.

For some people, wasn't it only natural for the weak to turn their blades on those even weaker?

"Professor Deng Anqi is outside. He gave all the orders. We were just his lackeys, just his ATM machines. We're trash—please let us go."

After Lu PingAn had bled them dry, he turned off his phone, which did not have much battery left.

It was not easy to charge it here. It would still be very important later.

He merely smiled and, before the Dragon Snake Gang members' despairing eyes, took out two more bottles of water.

"AAAAAH! You... you broke your word!"

Amid their desperate screams, Lu PingAn used five bottles of water to complete the execution. All that remained on the ground was a pile of red fragments. These magical plants seemed to have evolved some rather peculiar ability.

By the time the two gardeners hurriedly thanked him and fled, leaving only Lu PingAn and Xue En alive, the mercenary spoke first.

"Looks like I won't be earning your money anymore."

"Heh heh, perhaps."

Having offended Green New, Lu PingAn would likely never be able to enter this secret realm again. Naturally, he would no longer be able to hire Xue En.

"Feel better now? But what can you possibly change!?"

Xue En's words began with deliberate restraint, but his emotions grew increasingly turbulent, and the anger in his eyes burned ever fiercer.

Yet this sudden outburst of rage was not directed at Lu PingAn.

His clenched fist slammed into the ground, shattering a slab of rock.

That surge of negative emotion was directed at himself, at the entire industry, and even at this world.

Yes, Xue En saw it clearly. Killing them had been satisfying—but what could it change?

They were merely small fry. Even if every last one of them was traumatized into quitting, couldn't they simply bring in another batch?

What this world lacked least was scum.

"Change what? Haven't you misunderstood something?"

Lu PingAn looked at Xue En in astonishment. Had he gotten something wrong from the very beginning?

"You don't still think I came here to save people, do you?! Hahaha, there's an idiot here, everyone come laugh at him—ugh, don't hit me. You know I can't beat you, Senior Brother Xue."

As Lu PingAn began clearing the battlefield, he prepared to return to the outside world.

"I told you, from the very beginning, I only lived for myself. They provoked me, I got unhappy, so I dealt with them. That's all."

Seeing Xue En still wearing an angry expression and seeming about to say something, Lu PingAn smiled and shook his head.

Whatever happened next had nothing to do with him.

"I wasn't lying."

Lu PingAn smiled as he made his final preparations.

"When I was still a patient, waiting to die in hopeless circumstances, I made a promise: if anyone saved me, I would be willing to give up all my property. Whether it was out of gratitude or for charity, as long as it could keep me alive."

He placed the treasure into a box and happily tied a bow around it.

"...But no one ever saved me. Sigh, so I could only accept my fate."

He pondered for a moment, then combined ten unranked Life Fragments into a Black Iron Grade magical plant module.

Then he repeated the process three times!

"Investment, investment, investment. Right, what was I saying? Mm, back then, I had already begun waiting for death. I took out a notebook..."

In a daze, Lu PingAn recalled that period of time.

Like the other patients, he had taken out a notebook and used it as a bucket list.

He tried to write down the "things I most want to do in life," planning to complete them one by one before he died.

"...But it was pretty funny. I stopped after doing only a few. Because I truly didn't know what was interesting. It was completely unfun."

Completing the items on his "bucket list" one by one only made Lu PingAn feel bored and empty.

It was not the fear of approaching death, but simply the emptiness of feeling that even after accomplishing all of it, there was still no meaning at all.

"Would anyone be happy if I did those things? I wasn't even happy myself, so why should I do them?"

In the end, Lu PingAn tore up the notebook and waited on his hospital bed for his end to come.

"Sigh, I really want to keep living. If I get another chance, another life, I'll definitely live happily."

"Mm, I have to be happy every day. Every day I live is a day earned—how could I not be happy? How could I waste those precious days?"

When death truly arrived, he understood.

All life suffered from a terminal illness—the terminal illness called "death."

From the very beginning, life had no value. All lives were destined to reach their end.

Sooner or later, what difference did it make?

The moment he closed his eyes, Lu PingAn regretted only the journey.

What he regretted was that his past had not been exciting enough, that even his memories of it felt flavorless.

"I really wanted to live happily, even if only for one day."

Holding a small box, Lu PingAn smiled as he looked at the familiar shop before him.

He was dressed like an ordinary delivery guy, and smiled like a child.

"So, since I've been given another life, I decided long ago that if anyone makes me unhappy, I'll make them even more unhappy."

He rang the doorbell, lowered his head, and leaned closer.

"A delivery for Professor Deng. Is he here? Oh, can I deliver it to him directly?"

It was great that there was hardly anyone around at this hour.

"Who is it? I'm Deng Anqi."

Having received a response, Lu PingAn quickly walked inside.

Once he confirmed that his target was still there, he smiled again.

"How nice it is to be happy. How nice it is to smile. Life is already so hard—why take things so seriously? Hehe, hahaha, hahahahaha."

The Young Man desperately covered his cheeks. If he really laughed out loud now, it would not be as fun.

After setting down the package, he lowered his head and hurried away to avoid bursting into laughter.

"Really interesting. I'm so looking forward to it—thirty Touch-Me-Not Mines, plus three Touch-Me-Not Mine explosive modules."

Just as he left the shop and headed toward the crowd—

"BOOM!"

Flames lit up behind him. The violent explosion formed a shockwave, while the tremors spread far into the distance.

"What Brilliant Fireworks!!"

Lu PingAn was blasted into the air, but he could no longer hold himself back and burst into wild laughter.

"Hahahahahaha!"

At that moment, he recalled a short poem he had remembered earlier. Perhaps it suited the occasion.

So he recited it.

Unfortunately, it was far too noisy for anyone to hear him.

Green New Company's rear residence was completely blown into the sky. Rubble soared through the air, and the company sign became flying garbage.

But this was still only the beginning.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

Two more super-Tier 2 pure explosive magical plants of equal strength were detonated in succession!

Flames and screams mingled together, accompanied by wild laughter from who knew where.

The entire building was utterly finished. Screams began to spread, panic began to pass from person to person. For countless years, no one had challenged the greatest authority here.

The building collapsed, the flames rose, and the Young Man smiled as he blended into the crowd.

Time was limited. There were still a few pieces of trash to deal with.

Oh, right, he still had to recite the poem. The poem.

"These violent delights have violent ends."

"And in their triumph die, like fire and powder."

Well, to keep things coherent, I posted three chapters' worth together.