Chapter 39

The person wearing the copper dragon mask looked in the direction Li Yao had left and suddenly asked, "Have any of you ever seen an Object Manipulation 'servant'?"

No.

They had never heard of any servant displaying abilities resembling supernatural powers at such a low level. Yet the aura emanating from him did not seem like that of a Traitorous Disciple who had killed his "Contract Master." It was a little strange. So the Copper Dragon Warrior shook his head. "Forget it. Better not look into it."

Anyway, he was not an enemy.

They only needed to keep an eye out for now. Given the current situation, it was unwise to create additional complications.

The Copper Dragon Warrior said, "Call the relevant authorities and have them come clean this up."

Little Wang Mask nodded. "Alright."

Li Yao carried Lin Xiaoxi to the road at the foot of Azure Dragon Mountain. The area was desolate, making it hard to catch a taxi. Fortunately, there was a bus stop here, though the wait would be rather long.

While waiting at the bus stop, Li Yao was anxious.

What if those Masked Men drove by from the other direction, took one look, and went, "Oh my!"

"Isn't that the guy in the mask from earlier? So he's waiting for the bus here? Is he really this down-to-earth?" That would be fucking awkward.

If that really happened, Li Yao would want to kill them to silence them—why did they have to speak such harsh truths?

Fortunately, the bus arrived and the Masked Men never showed up. There was scarcely any sign of human life on this desolate road, and so the Masked Men narrowly escaped disaster.

Mm, pretty lucky.

After returning to the city, Li Yao did not take Lin Xiaoxi back to his apartment. It was filled with magic stones, alchemical tools, and an alchemy table, making it look like the workshop of a medieval wizard. So he rented a hotel room downtown instead. As for whether bringing in an unconscious girl would attract attention... it did not. The front desk merely assumed Lin Xiaoxi was drunk.

Luckily, Lin Xiaoxi had brought her identification with her, saving them quite a bit of trouble.

After checking in, Li Yao tossed Lin Xiaoxi onto the bed, then collapsed onto the sofa to rest.

Not only was his body exhausted now, but his mind was exhausted too.

That whole performance on Azure Dragon Mountain had nearly drained his mana dry.

...He was still too weak.

If he advanced to become a Formal Mage and engraved a Magic Source within his soul, he could greatly increase his mana capacity.

Unfortunately, this was something that could only be done step by step. There was no rushing it.

As Li Yao rubbed his brow, his phone vibrated. He unlocked the screen and saw a message from Lin Xiaowei: "What happened to my sister???"

Li Yao replied, "Your sister has a death wish."

Lin Xiaowei replied, "Watch your tone. What gives you the right to talk about my sister like that!"

"???"

Li Yao exploded. "You're already defending her? Do you know what she did? She got herself dragged into the conflict on Earth's mysterious side through her own investigation. If I hadn't gotten there in time, she'd be dead by now, you know that?"

Lin Xiaowei immediately felt terribly guilty. "Oh, she... might not be my biological sister."

Li Yao: "..."

So which one of you was not biological, you or your sister? Lin Xiaowei protested, "I was just teasing you like usual. Why are you so worked up? Honestly."

Li Yao rolled his eyes. Fuck, if I hadn't been clever, I'd be dead too, alright?

Lin Xiaowei relented. "Alright, alright, I know my sister is mischievous. I'll apologize to you on her behalf! Once I officially advance to a mage, I'll send you something nice as compensation. Oh, right, I can send you some alchemy knowledge. Actually, I could use the Mage Tower to anchor coordinates and send you something now, but the risk would be too great."

She still remembered the coordinates she had anchored last time.

Every time they transported supplies, Earth would be one step closer to exposure! Li Yao let out a long sigh. "Alright, alright. I was just complaining."

Lin Xiaowei replied, "Okay, let me see my sister. She's alright, right?"

Li Yao recorded a short video of Lin Xiaoxi sleeping soundly and sent it to Lin Xiaowei. Then Lin Xiaowei exploded:

"You slept with my sister???"

Li Yao's face instantly darkened. "What the hell are you looking at? Can't you see she's still wearing clothes?"

Lin Xiaowei replied, "Why didn't you get another room? Do you have designs on my sister?"

Li Yao pursed his lips. "She was drugged and needed someone to look after her, damn it. Fine, I'll get another room. I'm done serving you!"

Being a person was really hard! Lin Xiaowei replied, "...Don't be like that. I believe in your character!"

Li Yao replied, "I don't even believe in it myself!"

Lin Xiaowei sent a crying emoji. "Daddy, I was wrong. I lost my composure. After all, you haven't even slept with me, and my sister's figure isn't as good as mine. You definitely wouldn't sleep with her."

Li Yao: "???"

Fuck, so if her figure were better than yours, I could sleep with her?

Thinking about it...

That was impossible!

Feelings were too damaging. Absolutely not.

After reading too much Mi Meng and all sorts of Pastoral Feminism rhetoric, Li Yao now regarded women as floods and savage beasts... He wanted to fall in love too, but dating was really exhausting.

Women these days...

Were ridiculously troublesome.

Li Yao took a deep breath and replied, "Don't overthink it. Your sister's fine. It's just that your sister is really strange. Her luck is insanely good... I haven't run into nearly as many bizarre things as she has. How does she keep encountering them?"

Lin Xiaowei fell into thought. "Maybe that's the difference between paying players and ordinary players."

Li Yao replied expressionlessly, "So I'm an ordinary player?"

Lin Xiaowei replied, "Without me, you'd definitely be an ordinary player."

Li Yao replied with a dark face, "That hit me right in the heart, buddy."

Lin Xiaowei replied, "Don't worry. With Daddy around, you'll be a cheat-code player from now on. No need to be scared! I'm so damn awesome I need to put my hands on my hips and rest for a bit. JPG."

Li Yao replied, "Look at you showing off! Oh, right, send me the knowledge related to alchemy. I'm pretty interested in that stuff."

Lin Xiaowei replied, "Sure! I'll study it over first, then send it to you in a couple of days!"

Li Yao replied, "Alright, that's it then."

Lin Xiaowei replied, "I'm logging off, then. Cross-world communication drains so much damn battery!" With that, Lin Xiaowei's avatar grayed out.

Li Yao lay back down on the sofa again, looking like Ge You had possessed him.

Ah~ So comfortable.

All this fighting and killing was way too tiring.

Wouldn't it be nice to be a leisurely, wealthy couch potato? That was practically the most wonderful thing in the world! So Li Yao made up his mind not to get involved in similar incidents in the future. They were too dangerous! Just as he was thinking that, Lin Xiaoxi slowly woke up. She was a little dazed. Looking around, she found herself in an unfamiliar environment, and... it seemed to be a hotel? Then she looked at Li Yao on the sofa and saw that he looked exhausted, sprawled there as if he had been completely drained.

After thinking for a moment, she suddenly felt a bolt of lightning flash through her mind! "Li Yao, did you fucking sleep with me???"

Li Yao did not even have the strength to lift his head. "Could you check whether you're wearing clothes before you start yelling?"

Just two updates today. I admit it, this is a huge case of eating my own words. My brain feels completely drained from thinking. There's still time, but if I keep writing, I'll just be half-assing it. I don't half-ass things. Please forgive me.