Clean and Hygienic

Su Ze did not wake up until five in the afternoon.

Lying in bed, he pondered a question: What should he do next?

His goal had always been to escape Mu Kingdom. Now that he had done it, he suddenly had no idea where to go.

Evolving and growing stronger was a long-term goal.

In the short term, he needed to obtain a legal identity. No matter which country he lived in, a legal identity was essential.

Otherwise, he would be like this, clearly worth billions, yet forced to hole up in a cheap hotel.

However, Su Ze had neither connections nor leads when it came to that.

"I'll ask Liu Wenyin later."

Su Ze could tell that Liu Wenyin and Aunt Yun had influential backgrounds. Perhaps they could help him.

As long as the identity issue was resolved, with billions in assets, where in the world could he not go besides Mu Kingdom?

Su Ze got out of bed, left his room, and knocked on the neighboring door.

Before long, Liu Wenyin opened the door and said to Su Ze, "You're finally awake. Come on, go buy something to eat with me."

At her words, Su Ze suddenly felt hungry as well. He nodded. "Sure."

Whatever they needed to discuss could wait until after they had eaten.

As they walked and chatted, Su Ze asked, "How is Aunt Yun? Is she feeling better?"

"After resting for half a day, she's in much better spirits. But her body was pushed too far. Recovering naturally is practically impossible."

Liu Wenyin could not help feeling down when the topic came up.

"There'll definitely be a way. Don't think about it for now. Let's fill our stomachs first." Su Ze changed the subject. "What do you want to eat?"

Liu Wenyin's expression turned strange. "You probably haven't learned much about Luofan Kingdom's food culture. Here, eating isn't about what you want to eat, but what you can stomach."

"That bad?"

Once they stepped out of the hotel, they spotted a milk tea stall directly across the street.

Unlike the brightly decorated milk tea shops he remembered, this was just a small stand set up outside a storefront, with two pots mounted on it.

"Come on, I'll treat you to milk tea."

Su Ze headed toward the milk tea stall. Liu Wenyin hesitated slightly, but her craving for milk tea overcame her reason, and she followed him.

As they approached, they saw that one of the two large iron pots, blackened from use, was boiling milk, while the other contained a pot of unidentified brown liquid.

The inner walls of the pots were coated with a thick layer of yellow grime of unknown origin. As the liquid boiled, huge amounts of white foam churned up, mixed with crumbs and other black bits of residue.

The barefoot owner lifted the pot with one hand and held a small blackened strainer with the other, placing it over a similarly grimy kettle and pouring the unidentified liquid through it.

Finally, the owner dumped the dregs caught in the strainer back into the pot, added milk, and continued boiling it...

"This... are we still drinking it?" Su Ze turned to Liu Wenyin beside him.

Without saying a word, Liu Wenyin grabbed him and left.

Luofan Kingdom's milk tea had successfully driven away a hardcore milk tea lover.

The two arrived on a bustling street lined with countless stalls and small eateries where people could dine in.

However, after making a full round, they could not help but marvel at what an eye-opening experience it had been.

Crispy ball cakes that smelled like a toilet.

Aloe juice loaded with more than a dozen mysterious seasonings that could not be bitten through.

Fried chicken cooked in ancestral old oil.

Shaved ice with a faintly foul smell.

Meatballs kneaded by hand after scratching feet.

Hand-peeled peanuts with half a pound of saliva for every pound of peanuts.

It really was... clean and hygienic!

After wandering around for a long time, they only bought some fruit.

They simply could not bring themselves to eat the food from the stalls. They could not get past the mental hurdle.

The hygiene in restaurants was slightly better, but for some reason, Luofan people always liked turning every kind of ingredient into differently colored mush.

Yellow mush, red mush, green mush—it was enough to kill anyone's appetite.

"Let's go. I'll just have some fruit for dinner tonight." Liu Wenyin was thoroughly uninterested.

"Wait, I'll buy two grilled corns."

Before long, Su Ze returned with two grilled corns covered in charcoal ash. This was already the cleanest cooked food he could find.

Back at the hotel, Su Ze did not hurry back to his own room. Instead, he entered Liu Wenyin and Aunt Yun's room first.

Su Ze gave one of the grilled corns to Aunt Yun and ate the other himself. It was actually quite tasty.

After dinner, Liu Wenyin moved a stool and sat across from Su Ze.

The moment Su Ze saw Liu Wenyin's posture, he knew it was time for them to be honest with each other.

Their shared hardships in the Black Rock Mountain Range had built a foundation of trust, and they had also confirmed that they shared an enemy: the Netherworld Organization.

Su Ze wanted something from Liu Wenyin and the force behind her. He wanted to obtain a legal identity through them and learn more about the Netherworld Organization.

Liu Wenyin clearly had some interest in him as well. Perhaps she had taken a liking to his potential, or perhaps for some other reason, she wanted to recruit him.

But they knew too little about each other, making this honest conversation necessary.

Liu Wenyin spoke first. "What are your plans from here on out?"

"What plans could I have? I have nowhere to go, and the Netherworld Organization is hunting me. I can only beg big sister to take me in."

Su Ze answered half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"Why is the Netherworld Organization hunting you?"

"They took a fancy to one of my skills. They want to kill me and turn it into an extract."

Liu Wenyin nodded. She did not press him about what the skill was and instead said, "When I first met you, I suspected you were a rich young master from some great family who had secretly run away. But after spending the past few days with you, I feel that you both are and aren't."

"You disdain money, every skill you possess is top-tier and perfectly matched, and you know the secret affairs of Mu Kingdom's upper class like the back of your hand. All of that fits the image of a runaway rich young master. But there isn't the slightest trace of innocence or immaturity in you. You are meticulous, composed, decisive, and utterly ruthless when you kill. You're nothing like a flower raised in a greenhouse."

"Are you complimenting me?" Su Ze smiled.

"You can take it that way. But now I'm very curious. What exactly is your true identity? Is Su Ze even your real name?"

Su Ze pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you know about the case from over a month ago, where Princess Zhuzhi of Mu Kingdom was raped and murdered?"

"I've heard of it."

"The killer was Zhao Lingxiao, the only son of Zhao Yuanyi, Mu Kingdom's Minister of Finance. Because I look extremely similar to Zhao Lingxiao, the Zhao Family made me a scapegoat and wanted me to take Zhao Lingxiao's punishment in his place. But... I escaped, and Zhao Lingxiao died."

That was all Su Ze could say. His origins involved a clone body and transmigration, things that were simply impossible to explain clearly.

Liu Wenyin froze, not expecting such an answer.

Then she stared into Su Ze's eyes and said, "How can I be sure you aren't Zhao Lingxiao?"

Su Ze smiled and met her gaze without flinching. "Do you think I am?"