Cheater

The end of Ku Rong Street was a wealthy district.

The Lu Estate was here as well, one among many.

The carriage traveled all the way to the end of Ku Rong Street and entered an area that resembled a sprawling garden.

Gray-white stone walls enclosed the district in a great oval.

The Lu Estate stood to the left of the entrance.

Black gates, red lanterns, and snow blanketing the two Stone Kirins at the entrance made the residence seem all the more quiet and secluded.

The carriage stopped before the Lu Estate. Lu Sheng stepped down, and the estate gates, whose attendants had long heard the approach, slowly opened. Servants waited at the entrance to welcome them.

The moment Lu Sheng and Xiao Qiao entered, they saw a handsome pair standing on the stone bridge to the right.

The man was dashing and handsome, his face like polished jade, swordlike brows above starry eyes, with the air of a refined scholar.

The woman was gentle and graceful, a soft smile ever on her lips. Her brows and eyes were like a painting, her waist slender and legs long, bearing the elegance of a well-bred young lady.

Lu Sheng's train of thought faltered briefly. Seeing the two of them lifted his spirits somewhat, and he took the initiative to walk over and greet them.

"Brother Xu, Cousin has missed you for quite some time. Why have you only come today?" he asked with a smile as he stepped onto the stone bridge.

The man turned and saw Lu Sheng as well, smiling as he replied.

"So it's Young Master Sheng. I was ordered to investigate a case before this. It was only just concluded, so I came to see Yiyi. You can't blame me for that—no one can defy an order from above."

"A case? Has there been some major case in the city lately, enough to require Brother Xu to go personally?" Lu Sheng knew Brother Xu, Xu Daoran's position well.

He was the County Commandant of Tongzhi County, under the jurisdiction of Nine Links City, responsible for overseeing all public security.

The County Commandant ranked only below the county magistrate, equivalent to the chief of police for all of Tongzhi County.

"A case in several small fishing villages, but it's over now." Xu Daoran smiled mildly. "Still, Xiao Sheng, when do you plan to come help your elder brother? You promised before that you would help me oversee the public security planning in Tongzhi."

How could Lu Sheng remember anything this body had promised before? He hastily laughed it off and quickly changed the subject.

"Fishing villages... could it be that rumor about a Water Ghost causing trouble?"

"What Water Ghost? It was just a madman. Spurred on by old grudges, he went completely insane and started murdering people everywhere. I killed him on the spot already." Xu Daoran shook his head. "The case is closed, so let's not speak of such unpleasant things. Xiao Sheng, do you remember what I promised Yiyi last time?"

"To offer incense at Red Lotus Temple, and take a spring outing while we're at it?"

Lu Sheng quickly answered with a smile.

"You remember these amusements clearly enough." Xu Daoran said helplessly. "You're not getting any younger either. You're nineteen this year, aren't you? It's time you found something to do. You can't live like this for the rest of your life, can you?"

He had watched Lu Sheng grow up. Because their families had been friends for generations, he had always regarded Lu Sheng as his own younger brother.

Unable to help himself, he offered this advice.

Lu Sheng merely shook his head with a smile.

"Brother Xu, do you want me to enter officialdom or go into business?"

"Officialdom, of course. That is your father's wish as well. Your uncle and your Uncle both hope you'll go out and help them as soon as possible.

"After all, you are the eldest son of the Lu Family."

Xu Daoran urged.

"Let's not bring this up. There's no rush, no rush. I'm still young. What family would be in such a hurry to push its eldest son out the door?"

Lu Sheng dismissed it, arguing nonsense.

Xu Daoran and Lu Yiyi were both speechless, and it was hard for them to press him further.

Not wanting to continue the subject of entering officialdom, Lu Sheng took the initiative to steer the conversation elsewhere, then led Xiao Qiao toward his bedroom.

After returning to his room, he changed clothes. Taking the Cobblestone with him, he did not go pay respects to his old father, but headed alone for the rear garden.

Xu Daoran came from the Xu Family. Like the Lu Family, they were one of the foremost great households in Nine Links City of the northern lands, with branches spread wide and family members holding important posts throughout the city.

Lu Sheng thought rather highly of Xu Daoran. The man was honest and kind, with little selfishness in him, and his feelings for Yiyi were sincere.

He treated Lu Sheng with the warmth of an elder brother as well.

Yet as Lu Sheng gripped the Cobblestone, he recalled the scene he had witnessed earlier, along with the death of the Water Ghost that he had happened to hear about at the city gates.

"Are there truly ghosts and monsters in this world? Are there immortals?"

He gazed at the garden amid the whirling snow, an indescribable frustration faintly rising in his heart.

"Perhaps, just as Brother Xu said, it was only a false rumor passed from person to person."

He shook his head, though in the end, a sliver of hope remained in his heart.

That evening, he returned to his room early, washed up, and went to sleep.

The day's events had left him unable to make heads or tails of things. Too many thoughts weighed on his mind, and he tired quickly as well.

He slept until the next morning, when the sky had only just begun to lighten.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock!!

A burst of urgent knocking sounded at the door.

Lu Sheng abruptly opened his eyes, sat upright in bed, and looked toward the door.

"Who is it?!"

"Young Master, something terrible has happened!" It was Xiao Qiao's voice.

Lu Sheng hurried out of bed and opened the door. The moment he did, he saw that Xiao Qiao's face was frighteningly pale, utterly bloodless.

The little girl's slightly chubby cheeks were trembling violently.

"Xu... Xu... Xu..."

The moment Lu Sheng saw her, a faint sense of dread rose in his heart.

"What happened? Catch your breath first!"

He reached out and gave Xiao Qiao a firm pat on the back.

Only then did Xiao Qiao's breathing smooth out.

With a sobbing catch in her voice, she blurted it all out in one breath.

"The Xu Family... Lord Xu's household... they're all gone!!"

Lu Sheng froze.

Xiao Qiao quickly helped Lu Sheng into his outer clothes, and without another word, the two ran out of the residence.

Lu Fang, the head of the Lu Family, stood outside the estate with his hands behind his back, his gloomy expression tinged with a tremor.

Three black double-horse carriages were parked beside him.

Together with the other cousins from the estate, Lu Sheng swiftly paid his respects to Lu Fang, and everyone climbed into the carriages.

Lu Fang and Lu Sheng sat together. Father and son looked at each other in silence, neither saying a word within the carriage.

Lu Fang was over sixty, with a white beard, a lean frame, and handsome features. He looked more like a refined scholar than a merchant.

The carriages raced without pause and soon arrived outside the gates of Nine Links City.

The moment Lu Sheng stepped down, the sight before him stunned him.

On the snowy ground to the left of the carriage road outside the city gates lay dozens of corpses, arranged in neat rows.

From old to young, from men to women.

They were all members of the Xu Family!

They wore the Xu Family's custom-made robes. Xu Daoran lay in the middle of the third row.

His face was livid, his entire body stiff, his eyes tightly shut. His expression was filled with boundless terror, as though he had seen something unimaginably dreadful.

Lu Sheng watched the constables maintaining order at the scene. He saw his father, Lu Fang, step forward and stand silently before an elderly man's corpse, his fists clenched tight.

The Prefect had come as well, having received word.

His face was as white as the surrounding snow.

Lu Sheng drew a deep breath and slowly walked over to a constable.

"How did they die?"

The constable recognized him and knew his status. He sighed.

"They were all found in their own homes, hanged from the rafters by water weeds. No one knows where those weeds came from..."

"Yi Yi! Yi Yi!!"

A startled cry suddenly rang out behind him. Cousin Yi Yi had evidently fainted.

Lu Sheng took a deep breath, recalling something Xu Daoran had said to him only yesterday.

He had only just returned from closing the case in the fishing village. The Water Ghost's strange cobblestone in that fishing village... for a moment, countless thoughts ran through Lu Sheng's mind.

In truth, he had only come to this world a few days ago and had not formed a deep bond with Xu Daoran. Thus, all he felt now was regret and shock, not the grief others might have expected.

It was not that he had never seen dead people before.

It was that he had never seen so many dead people.

"Where is the Xu Family's Red Ridge Taoist?"

He heard Lu Fang asking the constable captain.

"Elsewhere. The corpse was in several pieces, and some parts had even been gnawed on by wild beasts..." the constable captain replied in a low voice.

Silence fell.

Among the Lu Family, the Prefect, and the townsfolk gathered around the city gates, not one person spoke.

"Red Ridge Taoist's swift sword was even a cut above Uncle Zhao's." Lu Fang's voice gradually lowered.

Uncle Zhao was the strongest martial arts master employed by the Lu Family.

Red Ridge Taoist had been even stronger than Uncle Zhao, yet he too had died.

This case was no longer a simple murder. It was a major case capable of threatening everyone present! How many among them dared claim to be more powerful than the Xu Family? Not even the Prefect dared say such a thing.

Lu Sheng stood silently by the roadside. He had originally thought this world was safe, merely a replica of ancient China.

Minor differences did not matter much.

But now, it seemed otherwise. He touched the pebble in his sleeve pocket.

The pebble was scorching hot at the moment.

He took out the stone and hesitated before gently tossing it away.

This thing might bring disaster upon him.

The Xu Family, whose foundations were as deep as the Lu Family's, had actually been exterminated overnight.

It left Lu Sheng extremely agitated.

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly went back to the pebble and bent down to pick it up.

Hiss.

At some point, his index finger was accidentally cut by the weeds poking through the snow.

The grass was a distinctive kind of Blade Grass, its leaf edges as sharp as knife blades.

A gash immediately opened on Lu Sheng's finger, and a few drops of blood fell onto the pebble's surface.

"Young Master?" Xiao Qiao followed closely behind him, worried. Her little face was streaked with tears; Xu Daoran's death had clearly struck her hard as well.

Lu Sheng froze where he stood.

A string of extraordinarily strange syllables suddenly surfaced in his mind.

'Welcome to the Deep Blue Skill Cheat.'

Lu Sheng's eyes instantly went blank.

Only after a long while did he come back to himself.

He looked at the blue translucent box that had appeared before his eyes. Inside were, astonishingly, his name and the skills he had mastered.

"Isn't this the little cheat program I coded on my phone?!"

Lu Sheng felt as though he was going mad, hallucinations appearing one after another.

Being reborn and transported into the body of a powerless young master from a wealthy family was one thing.

But now he was seeing all sorts of hallucinations too! In his previous life, when he had been bored, he downloaded a small game called Chaos Sword Heroes. Because the game was too difficult, he had written himself a simple cheat that modified martial arts skills in the game.

He had named it the Deep Blue Cheat. Come to think of it, he had personally recorded that voice just now with a voice changer.

Who would have thought... Lu Sheng decisively examined the interface inside the box.

The interface was extremely simple, filled with densely packed little squares.

At the top, it read:

Lu Sheng—

Martial Arts: None.