235. Chapter 235: Anomaly

Dijiang Qiushui, the most expensive residential complex in the city.

It stood in the city's most central and bustling district, with the river cutting through the city on one side and the downtown area on the other.

The complex had been built by a bend in the river—city bustle on one side, flowing water on the other. It was tranquility amid the clamor, offering incomparable convenience in transportation and daily life, while also providing superb privacy and breathtaking views. Both the river scenery and the city skyline could be taken in at a glance.

Every unit in the complex was a single-apartment-per-elevator large flat. The smallest layouts started at two hundred square meters, and even the cheapest ones cost over twenty million.

Of course, putting "cheap" and "twenty million" together somehow felt wrong.

Xie Yuan stood outside the complex, looking at its grand and extravagant gates, as well as the true high walls beside them—three meters tall, with another meter of electric fencing on top—and shook his head.

These walls were almost as tall as Situ Qin's home.

Before learning the Cloud Dragon Step, getting over them might actually have taken some effort. At the very least, the crossing would have looked rather ugly.

He walked up to the wall, tapped off with his foot, and lightly sailed over the high wall and electric fence, landing steadily in the garden within.

"The King of Buildings..."

Xie Yuan looked toward the tallest building in the very center, the best-positioned and seemingly largest one, then headed straight for it.

The complex was not especially large. After all, if it were too large, there probably would not be enough wealthy people to buy into it. Yet in that short distance alone, Xie Yuan encountered two patrols of security guards, every one of them a sturdy retired soldier rather than some listless old man.

The security was more than sufficient—it was practically like a military district, on an entirely different level from an ordinary residential complex.

But it was useless against Xie Yuan.

Xie Yuan brushed past the guards without drawing any notice and reached the base of the broadest building. He counted forty-four floors and immediately found himself in a bit of a quandary.

Which floor was the King of Buildings' king? The top floor?

Forgive his ignorance; he had never been inside such a high-end residential complex.

After thinking it over, Xie Yuan had a flash of inspiration. He took out his phone, found Da Bi Ge's short-video account, and scrolled through it.

Sure enough, there were videos filmed at home.

The view outside the window was somewhat blurry, but Xie Yuan's powers of observation were so sharp they were practically comparable to image-processing software. With one look, he determined that the scenery outside was the river beside the complex, and that the angle was from this building's living room. The floor... was the top floor.

Xie Yuan nodded, put away his phone, and waited at the building entrance.

He did not have permission to enter... Climbing up the outside to the top floor would not be difficult for him, but there was no point going too early. The man was not asleep yet.

He would wait here.

The wait dragged on for quite a while. Though there were forty-four floors, there were actually only forty-three households—the first floor was a recreational area. For the moment, no residents came in or out. He saw the elevator move several times, but everyone went straight to the underground garage... Perhaps he ought to wait there too?

Forget it. He would stand around a little longer. The landscaped grounds were quite scenic.

After waiting for what felt like ages, a beautiful young married woman with a hot figure and tall, slender frame finally approached. She entered by facial recognition, and Xie Yuan hurriedly followed behind her into the elevator.

He watched the woman swipe her card and press the button for the forty-third floor, then take out her phone and rapidly tap away at messages. Soon after, she sent a voice message in a sweet, syrupy tone.

"I'm home. Are you coming over tonight?"

"Hehe, okay. I'll wash up and wait for you..."

Xie Yuan's expression turned strange. Had he just overheard something he was not supposed to?

When the elevator reached the forty-third floor and opened, Xie Yuan followed the woman out—then suddenly froze.

The elevator opened directly into her apartment?

He truly lacked experience. He had seen the grand estates of ancient noble families, but never anything like this in the modern world.

Xie Yuan had accidentally followed her straight into her home. Looking at the emergency stairwell nearby, he wanted to leave and go upstairs, but the stairwell door required a key as well. The woman was sitting on the sofa playing with her phone, so he could not get out.

Xie Yuan was at a loss for words. Since he was already here, he silently apologized in his heart and simply began touring the luxury apartment.

A six-hundred-square-meter flat—this was his first time seeing one too.

Though Xie Yuan clicked his tongue in wonder and had his horizons broadened, his expression did not change much.

He treated the place as nothing more than a novel curiosity, something to look around at. He was no longer a fresh-faced student.

If he had to speak of true shock, the first time he entered Situ Qin's residence had indeed left him rather stunned.

In the heart of Yun Province Prefecture City, a residence spanning half a street was occupied by her alone, complete with pavilions, towers, waterside halls, and landscaped gardens. What would that amount to in modern terms? He could not even imagine it.

Not long after, the young woman went to take a shower. Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly walked to the door, intending to figure out how to silently pick the lock and leave.

But before long, the stairwell door clicked and opened from outside.

Xie Yuan paused and stepped aside, watching a man walk in.

Why hadn't he taken the elevator... Oh, he was the adulterer.

Forty-three floors was quite a climb. Did he still have any strength left after climbing all that way?

Wait... wasn't this Da Bi Ge?

Xie Yuan's eyes widened slightly, and he suddenly wanted to laugh.

No wonder. Going up to the forty-third floor was hard, but going down one floor was easy.

It looked like he had simply rented out the apartment below to his mistress?

That made perfect sense.

Xie Yuan watched Da Bi Ge with great interest as he rubbed his hands together, swayed his way over, lay down on the sofa, and then suddenly stripped completely naked.

What the fuck?

That was way too eye-searing...

Unable to bear the sight, Xie Yuan turned directly toward the wall to reflect on his sins.

After a while, the sound of water stopped. The young married woman emerged from the bathroom, saw naked Da Bi Ge on the sofa, let out a startled cry, then broke into a coquettish giggle. The two immediately embraced on the sofa and started gnawing at each other.

I shouldn't be here...

Just as Xie Yuan was considering finding somewhere to avoid them, he suddenly heard Da Bi Ge pant:

"My wife isn't home. Let's go to my place..."

?

Xie Yuan then heard the woman's hesitant voice from behind him:

"Again? Is that really okay..."

The woman screamed as Da Bi Ge hoisted her straight onto his shoulder, and the two headed for the elevator.

"What are you doing?! Take the stairs, take the stairs!"

"It's fine, no one will see us. Or better yet, maybe they will, hehehe..."

Xie Yuan couldn't understand it, but he was deeply shaken.

He fixed his eyes on his nose, his nose on his heart, and followed them into the elevator while only watching the steps of those two lumps of pale flesh from the corner of his eye.

Da Bi Ge frowned.

"Why did the elevator shake just now? Are all those property management fees being wasted? Did you hear me?!"

His last sentence was shouted directly at the camera, without caring whether anyone was watching.

The young married woman pouted coquettishly.

"Hurry up, I've practically been seen naked!"

Her voice was so syrupy it made Da Bi Ge's bones go soft. There was no shyness in her tone—if anything, she sounded a little excited.

With a smack, accompanied by the woman's soft moan, Da Bi Ge chuckled.

"Later, there'll be plenty of times when you beg me to slow down."

Xie Yuan pitifully and helplessly pressed himself into a corner of the elevator, keeping a respectful distance from the pair. Fortunately, the elevator was large enough, and he was nimble enough that he didn't have to worry about being bumped by the two swaying bodies.

Ding.

The elevator quickly reached the forty-fourth floor—Da Bi Ge's home.

The instant the elevator doors opened, the man and woman, almost fused together, rushed out and charged straight for the bedroom.

Xie Yuan followed them out, deliberately blocking his hearing as he slowly wandered around the apartment.

The top floor even came with an extra-large terrace, much bigger than the floors below. As expected of the King of Buildings.

Fine wine, cabinets crammed with luxury goods, a room specially for pets to play in, and a small room containing a Buddha statue... This guy worshipped Buddha while doing this sort of thing? Were rich people all this superstitious?

Yet only three minutes had passed. Xie Yuan hadn't even finished looking around when the commotion in the bedroom subsided.

Xie Yuan raised an eyebrow and faintly heard the two talking:

"...I'm not in great shape today. Let me rest for a bit."

"Yes means yes, no means no. What does 'rest for a bit' mean?"

"You're too seductive. I can't hold back."

"You nasty man! Fine, I'll take a shower first... Ah! Get that dog farther away from me! It looks so vicious—I'm terrified of it!"

"What are you afraid of? My dog is very well-behaved. It doesn't bite."

"Like hell I believe you."

The sound of running water rose from the bedroom. Da Bi Ge suddenly rushed out at a rapid pace, furtively rummaged through the cabinets, found a bottle of medicine hidden deep inside, poured out a small blue pill, and swallowed it.

Then he smiled smugly. Seeing the fierce large dog that had followed him out, he patted its head.

"Be good, son. Go play somewhere else later. Don't disturb Daddy while he's handling business."

Da Bi Ge played with the dog for a while. As the medicinal effect kicked in, he even started feeling that his own dog looked rather delicate and pretty. Awkwardly, he gave it a pat, shut the bedroom door, and left the dog outside.

The water stopped, then started again.

Once more, Xie Yuan silently blocked off his senses.

He looked at the enormous Tibetan Mastiff of exceptional pedigree, and something flickered in his eyes.

Tibetan Mastiffs had long since lost the craze they'd enjoyed during the old hype, but that didn't stop them from still being expensive.

Especially this one. It looked vicious, with luxuriant fur and a massive body, like a male lion—a bona fide giant ferocious dog, the very picture of a dangerous breed banned from being kept in cities.

But Da Bi Ge had never put it on a leash, afraid of making his dog son feel wronged. There had been incidents where it had pounced on people, bitten them, even seriously injured them, but with his influence, he had suppressed every single one. Instead, he only grew more arrogant, even causing a huge uproar with that earlier livestream of the dog biting someone. In the end, though, the trending topic was still taken down.

Like a dog basking in its master's power, this dog ate Wagyu on livestreams every day, gnawing half and tossing the other half away. Its food expenses surpassed those of an entire ordinary family, and it had over ten million followers on Quick Shake.

Its owner doted on it dearly, even giving it a dedicated pet room. He practically raised it as a son. With its owner indulging it, the dog never restrained itself outside either. It had pounced on plenty of people and bitten even more other people's dogs to death. It was ferocious. Yet Da Bi Ge only grew prouder, believing he had raised this Tibetan Mastiff well—raised it with a fierce nature.

Birds of a feather flock together. A dog like this belonged in Pan Hong Park.

Xie Yuan watched the vicious dog lazily patrol the living room, his eyes narrowing.

Seeing that its owner had something else to play with and was not playing with it, the Tibetan Mastiff listlessly made a circuit of the living room. Just as it was about to return to its room, it suddenly sensed that it could not pass ahead. Its paw halted, and it raised its massive head.

A human figure slowly emerged from the air, standing before the Tibetan Mastiff.

The Tibetan Mastiff froze for a moment. A low growl rumbled from its throat as it abruptly raised a front paw.

Yet just as it rose, it suddenly recoiled even faster than before, letting out endless whimpers and backing away again and again until it huddled in the corner, trembling all over.

Smack—the door to Da Bi Ge's room opened again.

Not much slower than before.

Da Bi Ge opened his bedroom door and came out to the living room for water, only to suddenly spot the dog in the corner.

"Good son, what are you doing? Come here."

He called out once, but the dog, which normally obeyed him, did not move at all. It just kept trembling there.

Da Bi Ge frowned and walked over. With a grunt, he cursed:

"You damned mutt, pissing everywhere again. Are you scared I'll beat you?"

He kicked the dog, cursing under his breath, but had no time to deal with it.

Glancing back at the bedroom, Da Bi Ge sneakily took out the pill bottle again. This time, he poured out two pills and swallowed them with his head tipped back. Then he turned and glared at the Tibetan Mastiff.

"Today, I'll deal with that bitch inside first. Tomorrow, I'll deal with you!"

With a bang, the bedroom door shut, and lewd moans and filthy talk began ringing out inside again.

The huge, vicious Tibetan Mastiff cowered in the corner. Shadows slowly enveloped it, and it immediately let out a despairing whimper.

Midnight.

Da Bi Ge had been too exhausted today and slept like the dead.

Yet whether it was a side effect of the medicine or because the person beside him had drained all his energy, he felt that his sleep was not very peaceful.

It seemed someone was talking in his ear, hazily telling him to do something. Half asleep and half awake, he muttered:

"Bitch! Don't disturb me, or Daddy'll fuck you to death."

Da Bi Ge grunted and mumbled in his sleep, his brow faintly furrowing.

He just felt somewhat uncomfortable.

He reached into the bedding and touched it. It felt a little damp.

A smug smile spread across his face.

But then he realized something was wrong. He had clearly told her to change the sheets already.

She wet the bed? Fuck!

Through the faint moonlight slipping in through a gap in the curtains, his hand looked dark.

Still groggy, Da Bi Ge turned on the nightlight and discovered that the darkness covering his hand was all blackish-red blood.

He froze for a moment, then lifted the blanket and saw that the sheets were covered in blood as well.

Fuck, wasn't it the one beside him having her period? That's disgus...ting...

As he pulled the blanket all the way back, Da Bi Ge stared at the sight before him, his thoughts completely freezing.

A massive dog's head lay beneath the covers, its bloody, mangled neck stump looking as though it had been ripped off by someone's bare hands.

Da Bi Ge's eyes slowly widened, his mouth falling open.

"Ah! Aaaah! Ah—ah—"

An inhuman scream burst from Da Bi Ge's throat, echoing through the entire residential complex.

"Yes, I don't know anything. I didn't see anyone at all. You have to investigate this properly! Give my son back his life!"

Inside Da Bi Ge's luxury home, he was shouting agitatedly at several uniformed security officers.

Lao Zhou frowned as he wrote down what the man said, but there was no useful information.

Since the residential complex rented by the Xie family was not far from Dijiang Qiushui in a straight line—and was even considered part of the same community by districting—it fell under the jurisdiction of the same security station.

The fact that the wealthy and ordinary people enjoyed equal treatment in some public resources was one of this place's distinctive traits. In many countries around the world, wealthy districts had security standards much like this place, with officers all elite personnel, while not far away, poor neighborhoods were rife with guns and drugs, with barely any police to manage them.

Still, one side was the city's top-tier residential complex in a bustling district, while the other was an old complex that could neither be demolished nor rebuilt—a relic of the demolition-and-relocation era.

Watching Da Bi Ge wave his arms about in agitation, Lao Zhou frowned and said:

"Mr. Wang Dazhuang, you said there was also a woman with you at the time, correct?"

Da Bi Ge, whose real name was Wang Dazhuang, paused and said warily:

"What are you asking that for? Digging up dirt on me?"

Lao Zhou pursed his lips.

"Mr. Wang, I'm a peace officer. This is official business. I'm not interested in your private life. But this involves a criminal offense. Everyone present needs to be investigated. Please cooperate."

Da Bi Ge clicked his tongue and muttered, "That woman lives downstairs. I was learning English from her. She was on the bed at the time too..."

He rambled on, talking around the subject. But Lao Zhou was experienced enough to understand the whole story the moment he heard it.

"Have you offended anyone recently?"

"Well... you know, I offend people every day."

Da Bi Ge said it indifferently.

Given his stature and personality, whether through the massive conflicts of interest behind the scenes or his usual way of handling things, he had indeed made quite a few enemies.

Lao Zhou frowned, feeling that he would not get anything useful out of this man.

After inspecting the scene, he had already sensed that the case was far from simple and called for support from the precinct.

Dijiang Qiushui's security was exceptionally strict. To be honest, even the government compound at night did not have defenses this tight. Yet someone had silently slipped up to the forty-fourth floor, opened the door, committed the crime, and vanished without a trace?

"Lao Zhou, the surveillance footage didn't show any suspicious individuals. We checked the hallway cameras, elevator cameras, and the residential complex's cameras."

A technician reported, then gave Da Bi Ge a strange look.

Rich people really knew how to play...

"We've collected the fingerprints. We'll run a technical analysis when we get back. But I have a feeling... there may not be any results."

Another technician specially summoned from the bureau for support said.

Lao Zhou nodded. Seeing that the scene had been processed, he said to Da Bi Ge, "Mr. Wang, we'll begin the investigation immediately. Wait for our notification."

"You'd better be quick about it! I don't pay all those taxes every year for nothing! With so many cameras around, if you can't catch the culprit, I'll file a complaint against you!"

Da Bi Ge cursed and grumbled. Watching his beloved dog's body being taken away for examination, his heart twisted like a knife.

Looking at the obvious wounds on the Tibetan Mastiff's body—wounds clearly not caused by a blade—the peace officers present all fell silent.

After the peace officers left, Da Bi Ge made several calls.

"Right, don't let this blow up...

"I was fucking sleeping with what's-her-name yesterday. If this gets exposed, it'll be trouble. Keep it down!

"I haven't offended anyone!

"Mm-hmm. Pause the dog's livestream. Keep everything else going.

"Lift the ban on that game streamer first—the one called A Bing... Huh? Mm, leave them alone for now..."

Da Bi Ge froze for a moment, not knowing why he had suddenly said that.

But it was as though he had had some kind of dream. In the dream, someone had told him to stop bothering those two little streamers who had only recently started gaining popularity. Da Bi Ge had not wanted to pay it any mind, yet his subconscious kept dwelling on it. He wondered whether he had suffered this disaster because he had been too arrogant lately, so he gave the order anyway.

But if anyone said those two young people with no background whatsoever had done this to him, he would not believe it in a hundred lifetimes.

Such a move had to be the work of some big shot who had taken a dislike to him.

And that fucking tribute to The Godfather... maybe it really was an actual godfather.

Thinking about it that way, the peace officers would most likely get nowhere.

Da Bi Ge's expression shifted between light and shadow as he prepared to speak with the major investors behind him one by one, to see where he might have gone wrong lately.

At the same time, he decided to rein himself in, keep a lower profile, and stop meddling with those small streamers.

Over the next few days, the peace officers treated the case with particular importance.

It was not only because the victim possessed immense influence and social power, and mishandling the matter could cause extremely serious repercussions. It was also because the case was clearly extraordinary.

The forensic examiner had already confirmed it: the dog's head had been forcibly torn off.

It was inconceivable. No human strength could possibly accomplish it; it could only have been done by a machine.

Yet the traces did not look like they had been made by a machine, and the scene did not even provide the conditions for one.

That left them completely without a clue.

As for the technicians, they had not collected any fingerprints belonging to suspicious individuals. Instead, they found several sets of fingerprints from different women, all streamers under Da Bi Ge's company. Each had been investigated and ruled out.

The investigation hit a dead end right there. With no leads and no direction, they could only comb through Da Bi Ge's social connections.

However, his social network was extraordinarily complicated. The peace officers' leadership also immediately suspected that methods of this level might have come from an exceptionally formidable figure, leaving them hesitant about the direction of their investigation. But until they received further instructions, all they could do was continue checking bit by bit, though no one knew how long it would take to find an answer.

But Xie Yuan knew there would be no answer.

With energy enveloping his entire body, naturally he had left behind no fingerprints or traces. And here, the Heaven Concealing Art was equivalent to true invisibility—even infrared detection could not detect him. As far as modern investigative technology was concerned, he had never appeared in this residential complex at all.

Unless someone here could tell fortunes and used methods from the cultivation world to solve the case, they could forget about it.

"Yuan, our traffic is back!"

A few days later, Wang Yibing called Xie Yuan excitedly, telling him to hurry over and stream.

Recently, Xie Yuan spent his mornings teaching his mother and the elderly residents in the community how to box, then cultivated on his own from afternoon until night. His days had been quite leisurely.

Hearing that there was finally a result, Xie Yuan silently nodded.

A tiny bit of psychological suggestion was enough to achieve the desired effect.

When he had stood beside Da Bi Ge's bed, he had somehow gained the ability to suggest things to him—and he hadn't found it strange in the slightest.

Thinking back on it now, this was probably what they meant by having everything in a dream.

Growing ever more lucid, Xie Yuan waited until the excited Wang Yibing arrived downstairs. After greeting Wang YaFang, he went down and got into the car.

"Xie Yuan! I'd practically lost all confidence, but I don't know what happened. When I checked the account today, it was back to normal! I tried streaming, and the popularity shot right up! But since you weren't there, everyone was cursing me..."

Wang Yibing drove as he rambled on and on.

"As long as we can stream again, that's what matters."

Xie Yuan said with a smile.

Wang Yibing pressed his lips together, unable to suppress his grin.

"Da Bi Ge must've loosened his grip. He's probably too busy dealing with his own mess."

"Is that so? We got lucky, then."

Xie Yuan chuckled.

Seeing that Xie Yuan wasn't taking the bait, Wang Yibing couldn't help asking outright.

"Do you know why he's too busy dealing with his own mess?"

"Why?"

Xie Yuan played along with his brother's act.

"There've been rumors lately that he cheated with one of his female streamers! Then, while they were getting it on, he accidentally crushed his dog to death. It's fucking ridiculous!"

Wang Yibing spoke so animatedly that spit flew everywhere.

"But that dog really hasn't been on stream for days. Tons of people have been asking about it, and he hasn't come out to respond. This probably isn't smoke without fire! And his wife posted something on Weibo. She deleted it quickly, but someone got a screenshot! She accused him of cheating—cheating while she was pregnant, hiring prostitutes, sleeping with fans, sleeping with streamers. His wife used to be his investor. Back when he hadn't made it big, she bought things for him, defended his fans, and told him not to be too high-profile. You could say she was the one who showed him the way, but now it's turned into a complete mess!

"Everyone online is talking about it. It's hugely popular, but it hasn't made the trending list! That means he's definitely working hard to suppress it. He's probably been running around like a headless chicken these past few days and has no time to bother with us. Let's hurry up and quietly make some cash! Yoo-hoo!"

Seeing Wang Yibing's excited expression, Xie Yuan smiled.

Bingzi really liked doing this. After trying so many things, he had finally found something he was good at, something he liked, something he could make a success of. If he truly couldn't do it anymore, it would inevitably be a pity.

When they reached the gaming room, the two started the stream, and Xie Yuan sat down before the computer.

"Family, Hu Hansan is back!!!"

Seeing that their popularity had recovered considerably, with 666 constantly flooding the chat while the insults had dwindled to almost nothing, Wang Yibing broke into a delighted smile.

For the following days, Xie Yuan streamed games at Wang Yibing's place. With his superhuman reflexes, coordination, and combat experience, he brought a dimensionality-reducing blow to those action games.

Aside from a few bosses with designs so awful they were complete shit, most bosses became targets for Xie Yuan's spectacular performances.

The popularity and gifts returned, and the stream titled "When I'm gaming, please refer to me as a plant!" frequently appeared on the homepage.

On top of that, Wang Yibing recorded and edited Xie Yuan's most brilliant plays, posting them to short-video sites and mid- to long-form video platforms. Their popularity, daily earnings, and gifts kept climbing.

But due to the previous impact, the momentum that had nearly swept across the entire internet was ultimately suppressed.

That day, after calculating the trend, Wang Yibing said excitedly, "Old Xie! At this rate, in one month you'll definitely be able to pay off the loan shark debt and still have some left over. Stream for three months, and you'll be able to redeem your family's old house. Or if you come for two more months, buying a new apartment over a hundred square meters won't be a problem either!"

Xie Yuan wasn't happy to hear that. He merely frowned slightly.

"That doesn't include your share, does it? We agreed on a fifty-fifty split."

Wang Yibing waved his hand.

"Enough, don't talk about that. Solve your big problem first! Even if you stop streaming afterward, if the stream only retains a tenth or even a hundredth of its current popularity, it'll still be higher than what I used to get. Even living off your leftovers, I'll be making a fortune."

Xie Yuan pursed his lips. He didn't want to shortchange his brother, but he also felt that this would take too long.

He could sense that his time here would not last much longer.

The increasingly distinct sound of water around him whenever he cultivated, and the azure ripples that often appeared in the sky, were both signs that the dream was about to end.

Even if he wanted to cling to it, he wouldn't be able to.

That night.

Dijiang Qiushui Residential Complex.

Xie Yuan came again.

There were even more security guards patrolling and standing watch in the complex than before. There were practically no blind spots, and even Xie Yuan secretly nodded at their professionalism.

The only flaw with expensive things was that they were expensive.

This time, Xie Yuan didn't waste any time. He climbed straight up the outer wall of the building to the forty-fourth floor, then flipped in through the terrace.

Back when he had practiced the Cloud Dragon Step with Situ Qin on the sheer cliffs of Sword Peak, he had moved as if walking on level ground. A building full of handholds like this was even less of a challenge. He felt like Tom Cruise from Mission: Impossible, or Jackie Chan—or perhaps even better.

Xie Yuan entered the bedroom, only to find it completely empty. He paused in surprise.

Oh no, had he been too scared to stay here? Then where was he living now? How was he supposed to find him?

Xie Yuan frowned when his ears twitched. He then walked into the bedroom next door and found Da Bi Ge sound asleep.

So he just didn't dare sleep in the previous room anymore... He didn't know whether to call him big-hearted or cowardly.

Xie Yuan walked up to Da Bi Ge and looked down at this famous streamer and big boss from above.

His expression shifted. The air warped slightly, shrouding Da Bi Ge's face and making his brow furrow tightly in his sleep.

In the dream.

Da Bi Ge suddenly sat up and saw someone standing by the bed.

He wanted to scream, but no sound came out. He wanted to run, but he couldn't move.

It was like being pinned down by a ghost! Terror filled his heart as he stared at the shadowy figure before him.

The figure was dim and ghostly, its face impossible to make out. It held an axe in its hand and slowly raised it, speaking in a low voice:

"Monopolizing everything and leaving no path for others to live."

The axe came down. Da Bi Ge screamed shrilly, then jolted awake.

Just a dream...

He let out a huge sigh of relief, then his entire body suddenly went rigid.

There really was someone standing beside his bed, holding an axe.

"Y-you, what are you trying to do?"

The person said nothing. He merely slowly raised the axe and brought it down with all his strength.

"Ah—"

Da Bi Ge abruptly sat up, drenched in sweat.

Another dream?

He instinctively turned his head and found no one there, immediately breathing a sigh of relief.

But before he could finish that breath, a computer desk suddenly appeared in front of him and automatically moved closer.

Every hair on his body stood on end. He tried to move to the side, only to find another computer desk closing in from the left, and the same from the right;

In front of him, behind him, and on the ceiling, computer screens appeared all at once. They switched on automatically, displaying a livestream room—

"When I'm gaming, please address me as a plant!"

Wang Yibing's exaggerated voice rang out from the computers. Layer upon layer of overlapping voices made Da Bi Ge cover his ears instinctively as he screamed:

"Turn it down, turn it down!"

Yet not only did his screams have no effect, a ring of phones appeared around his head, all connecting at once.

"Hello? I'm not taking out a loan... Da Bi Ge?"

"Can the livestream be restored? The stream push needs to wait a little longer, right..."

"The stream push needs to wait a little longer, right..."

"The stream push needs to wait a little longer, right..."

Countless voices became a deafening echo, making Da Bi Ge's head swell with pain. He couldn't help screaming:

"Stop! Stop! No more waiting, no more waiting!"

With a bang, his soul seemed to rise upward. He saw his own head explode, turning into orange juice, while his headless dog beside him clapped.

"Woof woof woof (congratulations, congratulations)."

Da Bi Ge's eyes flew open, and he shot upright in bed, gasping desperately.

His terrified eyes darted around, his nerves stretched to the breaking point as he muttered:

"What now? Is it a dream, or is it real? Don't come again, don't come again..."

But this time, there was nothing around him. Everything was normal.

It looked like he had truly woken up.

He breathed a sigh of relief. His back was completely soaked, and when he touched the sheets, his lower body was wet too...

He shuddered. He had no time to be embarrassed about wetting the bed from fright; the damp bed itself felt like another nightmare, and he didn't even dare lift the blanket.

Da Bi Ge shook his head, got out of bed, and prepared to take a shower.

But after only two steps, he suddenly stared at the door in front of him, sensing that something was wrong.

Since when had the bedroom door been open?!

Da Bi Ge swayed and collapsed directly onto the floor.

Downstairs from the residential complex.

Xie Yuan looked up at the forty-fourth floor, where every light was on, shook his head, and turned to leave.

Heaven Illusion Art: (5/1000)

"Heaven Illusion Art..."

Xie Yuan murmured it under his breath, feeling a faint warmth in his arm, then sighed.

Something new had appeared on the panel, yet for the first time, he had no interest in studying it.

He quietly returned home and lay down in his cramped, shabby room. At peace, Xie Yuan slowly closed his eyes.

The next day.

Before Xie Yuan was even out of bed, Wang Yibing's call woke him up.

"Pri—soner—Yuan!"

The moment the call connected and he heard that doglike howl, Xie Yuan immediately held his phone away from his ear.

"What?"

"Da Bi Ge personally called just now! He said he's going to push traffic to us today and told us to get ready!!! Fuck, what the hell's gotten into him?!"

Wang Yibing was practically incoherent on the other end. It wasn't just Da Bi Ge calling him—site moderators, the guild, the platform's business department, countless people had been contacting him since early morning.

It was real, and it was huge.

Xie Yuan smiled faintly.

"Is this what they call wealth poured down from the heavens?"

"Don't move! Stay in bed, don't move! I'm coming to pick you up right now! I'll personally carry you to the car!"

Xie Yuan laughed.

"I'm not actually in a vegetative state!"

"But you really are my dad!"

Xie Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Brother Bing's internet brainrot was getting absurd. If his father were here, he'd probably be furious enough to die all over again.

Wang Yibing really could make a living off this. Even if Xie Yuan stopped streaming in his room, with Da Bi Ge's traffic, Wang Yibing could still thrive.

Early that morning, Wang Yibing picked Xie Yuan up and brought him home, where they began streaming.

The livestream's popularity truly surpassed both of their expectations. Even Xie Yuan hadn't seen it coming.

The moment they went live, they shot straight to the top of the platform's popularity rankings. Quick Shake, Thunder Thunder, and Scarf all began directing traffic to them at the same time, while Thousand Poison's trending searches even revived the old story of "Young Man in Vegetative State Miraculously Awakens"—with their current stream link, unsurprisingly, included in it.

As a result, before Xie Yuan had even played a few rounds, the livestream abruptly stopped—

The traffic was too high, the viewer count too massive. The servers lagged until they could barely function, forcing the platform to urgently deploy new servers entirely for this one stream.

Wang Yibing was nearly stuttering all day, his throat dry the entire time. When had he ever seen anything like this?

Even Xie Yuan had never seen anything like this.

Before noon, Wang Yibing's streaming account had already broken one million followers. Gifts flooded the screen so fast that Wang Yibing's mouth was practically smoking from thanking people, yet he still couldn't keep up.

This was a record-breaking livestream in the streaming world.

Xie Yuan had underestimated Da Bi Ge's capabilities—or perhaps his determination. Or maybe he had underestimated the power of the Heaven Illusion Art.

When a top influencer with over fifty million followers, the boss who monopolized livestreaming and short videos, truly threw his full weight behind promoting someone, this was what the hype looked like.

In the middle of a game, Xie Yuan even got a call from his mother.

"Son, how come I'm seeing you even when I'm scrolling through Chinese medicine wellness accounts on Baijiahao?"

"Probably a coincidence... Also, stop watching those fake wellness experts online. Most wellness experts don't even live past fifty themselves."

By afternoon, even Wang Yibing was getting scared by the scale of it all and took the initiative to suggest stopping for the day.

Xie Yuan thought that was enough as well. The two thanked everyone for their gifts and ended the stream, leaving many viewers who had come by reputation dissatisfied.

Then the platform immediately produced a new trending search:

"Ambitious young men don't gobble up trash money—they only make content."

Uneasy and uncertain, Wang Yibing called Da Bi Ge.

"Hello, Da Bi Ge..."

"Bing boy, what's up? Did the stream go smoothly today?"

Da Bi Ge's hearty laughter rang out.

His sudden warmth threw Wang Yibing off completely. After a long silence, he finally said, "Bi Ge, what exactly is going on today? I haven't even signed with you guys..."

"No need! I just appreciate you two personally, so I'm gifting you a stroke of fortune, hehe. Ah, thinking back on what happened before, I was also trying to temper you young people. But now that I see you've done so well, I feel like you can make it on your own too, so I'm just giving you a push."

Da Bi Ge laughed it off, then fell silent for a moment before saying vaguely, "Recent events... perhaps they were Buddha's guidance for me. I feel like I should be able to sleep well tonight. That's all. Work hard, you two—I believe in you! Beep beep beep..."

Wang Yibing stood there with a baffled look on his face. He glanced at Xie Yuan, then hurriedly went to the backend to count the gifts.

"Ten thousand, a hundred thousand... Holy shit, I took in two hundred thousand in gifts in just half a day today!"

Wang Yibing felt his breathing quicken and immediately asked customer support:

"When can I withdraw this gift money? I can withdraw it, right? It won't be confiscated, will it?"

"You can withdraw it anytime you want, streamer."

"Anytime? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Rules can be changed."

Wang Yibing stared at that line and fell completely silent.

Xie Yuan quietly watched everything from the side, then looked at the flickering cyber Buddha statue outside.

Rainbow light shimmered at the upturned corners of the Buddha's mouth, as though it were silently mocking the mortal world.

Though the livestream no longer enjoyed the grand spectacle of its first day, it still brought in at least tens of thousands in gifts every day, on top of livestream revenue splits, advertising deals, and commercial sponsorships...

A week later, Wang Yibing anxiously withdrew the money successfully.

"Ding—1189458.34 RMB has been deposited into your ICBC savings card account ending in 9527. Your current balance is 1192533.19 RMB."

Wang Yibing counted it over and over, confirming he had not miscounted. Then he collapsed into his gaming chair and grinned foolishly.

"So much money. I've never seen this much money before."

After giggling stupidly for a while, he said to Xie Yuan:

"Come on, let's go to the bank and transfer the money to you—my online banking doesn't have that kind of limit..."

After arriving at the bank, Wang Yibing had initially intended to transfer Xie Yuan a million outright. Xie Yuan insisted on splitting the money fifty-fifty, then went to Boss Tian's loan company and paid back the debt.

Boss Tian did not really want to accept the repayment, but even he had heard about Xie Yuan's popularity these past few days.

Realizing that Xie Yuan was no longer some bottom-rung nobody who could be bullied at will, Boss Tian readily closed out the contract. The process was more proper than many private companies hiring employees.

When Xie Yuan returned home, he held up the IOU and contract he had retrieved from Boss Tian's place and said to the utterly bewildered Wang YaFang:

"Mom, I've paid off the usury loan. Next, I'll pay back the money we owe our relatives and friends, and then we'll redeem the house."

What was her son talking about?

Wang YaFang carefully read through the contract several times. After confirming it was real, she sat stunned for a long while before asking nervously:

"Son, where did you get the money?"

"From livestreaming. Look how popular my streams have been these past few days..."

Xie Yuan had long known his mother would worry. He had already organized his earnings records and trending searches, explaining them to her one by one so that she could understand his current situation.

Wang YaFang slowly relaxed, but her expression grew more and more complicated, more and more bewildered.

This feeling was too unreal... Her son had suddenly become a huge internet celebrity and could make so much money in just a few days?

It was completely beyond anything she had known in her entire life.

Wang YaFang was so shocked she could barely speak. Her heart was filled with a sense of unreality, and her reaction was not particularly dramatic.

"Oh, oh. That's good."

It was not until time slowly passed and evening arrived that Wang YaFang, scrolling through her phone, finally accepted the reality. Her face was full of joy she could not suppress.

"My son has made something of himself!"

When Xie GuoLiang came home near midnight, Wang YaFang could not stop pulling the children's father into conversation. Xie GuoLiang, too, wore a blank expression and took a long while to react.

Lying in bed, Xie Yuan listened to the constant whispers coming from the next room. Hearing those voices brimming with delight, he smiled in satisfaction.

"I'll make sure Dad doesn't have to work so hard anymore. During this last stretch, I'll teach him some boxing too and build up their health. That should be about enough..."

One month later.

Xie Yuan was cultivating in his room when the gurgling sound of water kept reaching his ears.

Over this past month, his cultivation had improved enormously.

But to him, the most important thing was that he had remained by his family's side.

Suddenly, Xie Yuan's body jolted. He vaguely saw that enormous crystal again, its entire body giving off a lustrous glow.

Before he could think further, he saw a figure floating nearby, one that looked somewhat familiar.

This Taoist priest looked familiar... Zhang Junyi?

Xie Yuan opened his eyes and saw Zhang Junyi smiling, as though he too were having some beautiful dream.

Yet his face was pale, his breath weak. He was already on the brink of death.

Xie Yuan was instantly startled and instinctively tried to save him. But when he stretched out his hand, it struck the corner of the table beside him.

Xie Yuan came back to himself and found that he was still in his own room. His brows immediately furrowed slightly.

After pondering for a moment, he settled his mind and resumed cultivating. Sure enough, the faint sound of water emerged around him once more.

This time, Xie Yuan saw more.

He saw the crystal, saw Zhang Junyi beside it, swollen almost to bursting, and saw the entire Seeing Truth Lake glittering brightly. Eleven other figures floated in various places, bobbing up and down. Other than Qian Yangsheng, all wore smiles on their faces, yet every one of them had weak breaths. Two of them had even stopped breathing entirely!