Xiao Meng (Revised)

In a side hall of the Xiao Clan stood a renovated basement. The lights flickered, leaving it somewhat dim. Inside the room, which was roughly a dozen square meters, were two tables.

The table in the corner was piled with all sorts of strange things: women's intimate personal items, glass bottles labeled "DDVP," plastic boxes labeled sleeping pills, bags labeled rat poison, small hoes, pot scrubbers, and various adult products...

The table beneath the light was much simpler. Only a large, thick blue notebook stood upon it.

The front cover of the notebook read: The Buddha holds no grudges, only a little notebook.

The back cover read: Keeping a low profile and enduring for seven or eight years—not Jesus, but Tathagata.

A youth who looked only fourteen or fifteen had one hand pressed on the book and held a pen in the other. His gaze was somewhat vacant, as though he were pondering something.

After a long while, the youth moved. He straightened the blue notebook and slowly opened it. Every page was filled with densely packed small regular script, impeccably neat—truly first-rate calligraphy.

A quick glance showed that the first page contained the following entries.

Morning, January 1st, Year 07 after transmigration: That little bastard Xiao Ning called me trash and even spat on me.

Noon, January 1st, Year 07 after transmigration: Xiao Mei glared at me and curled her lips, treating me with utter disdain.

Noon, January 1st, Year 07 after transmigration: Xiao Xun'er gave me a flirtatious look. I figured... she thought I was handsome and wanted to seduce me. This was unforgivable, though, because I was Xiao Yan's brother.

[If Xiao Xun'er knew that rolling her eyes had been interpreted by this guy as a flirtatious look, she would probably be so furious that she coughed up blood.]

Around noon, January 1st, Year 07 after transmigration: Father Xiao Zhan... actually peeked at me while I was bathing... (Note: I'll definitely peek back someday.)

This was an account book...

The youth flipped through more than two thousand pages before finally finding a blank one. He spread the notebook flat and smoothed it a few times with his hand before picking up his pen to write.

Morning, December 11th, Year 14 after transmigration: At the dining table, Xiao Yan did not greet me or call me Third Brother. This was disregard and disrespect toward me.

Morning, December 11th, Year 14 after transmigration: Xiao Xun'er gave all the tasty dishes to Xiao Yan, leaving me not full. Most hateful of all, they actually flaunted their affection right in front of me. (Curse: Couples who flaunt their love die fast!)

The youth wrote a long, flowing passage. Only after checking it three or four times and confirming there were no mistakes did he put the blue notebook away in a drawer.

After putting away the notebook and setting down the pen, the youth inadvertently glanced at the table in the corner. His mouth twitched fiercely, and he sucked in a cold breath.

His name was Xiao Meng. He came from Earth and was one of the great army of transmigrators. The place he was in was called the Dou Qi Continent—the Dou Qi Continent from Battle Through the Heavens.

Originally, he had merely been an ordinary assembly-line worker on Earth. When he left work one day, he had been reading a novel with his head down and failed to notice the stairs beneath his feet. He ended up tumbling from the ninth floor all the way to the first. But Heaven had favored him. It neither made him live the life of a cripple nor sent him off to be King Yama's companion. Instead, it made him a proud transmigrator.

Because he had transmigrated as a soul and arrived at the wrong time, he had not encountered a body he could possess or attach himself to. He could only be remade from scratch—and he had been remade in the same womb as Xiao Yan.

Since he had emerged from their mother's womb first, he rightfully became the elder brother, while Xiao Yan naturally became the younger brother.

Xiao Meng ranked third in the family and was nicknamed the Ultimate Trash, because he was even more useless than twelve-year-old Xiao Yan.

After waiting five or six years without receiving any legendary cheat, old grandpa, beautiful master, or anything else, Xiao Meng had fallen into despair.

But as a transmigrator born in the nineties, he had reread Battle Through the Heavens four or five times. While he could not recite it backward, he knew every plot point like the back of his hand.

That meant that in the near future, Xiao Yan would become the most badass Flame Emperor on the Dou Qi Continent. In other words, the future Flame Emperor would still have to call him big brother.

So he gave up on stealing Xiao Yan's old grandpa and decided to be a competent "salted fish." To that end, he had once declared before a huge crowd, "I... will never cultivate. Not in this life."

That sentence overturned everyone's worldview.

As for the lofty ambition of dominating the Dou Qi Continent and battling in all directions, he would let Xiao Yan, his little brother, accomplish it for him. And he was in no hurry over his grand dream of a harem of three thousand beauties, either.

Once Xiao Yan became a Dou Di, would there even be enough Xiao Clan men left to share around? The answer was no. So he had to choose carefully, preferring quality over quantity. He would never imitate those idiots who had several damn children while still so young.

Then... eight years ago, his life changed.

He obtained a system called Fishing the Heavens. The system was quite simple: besides a certain number of fishing attempts available during fixed periods, completing corresponding missions could also earn fishing attempts.

Through fishing, he could obtain items from other worlds. As for which worlds they came from, that depended entirely on luck.

The things on the table in the corner were what he had obtained through fishing. There were simply too many eye-searing items among them, leaving him utterly speechless.

He could tolerate DDVP, rat poison, hoes, and the like. But those utterly insane condoms, along with women's intimate items... he only wanted to look to the heavens and ask, "Who else?"

Just as he was wordlessly questioning the heavens, a voice suddenly sounded in his mind:

Ding, time to take your medicine.

Xiao Meng was already accustomed to this voice. Expressionless, he stood up, walked over to the table in the corner, and picked up a broken porcelain bowl used by beggars.

In less than five seconds, he mixed together more than a dozen medicines, including DDVP, sleeping pills, and rat poison.

The speed of his movements was beyond imagination.

Xiao Meng tilted back his head and gulped. With a few gurgles, he drained over half a bowl of medicine.

After setting down the porcelain bowl, he habitually wiped the remaining medicine from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. He could not help grumbling inwardly, This damn taste really isn't great.

Yet he had been taking these medicines for eight years, three times a day. He was already used to them.

For immunity to all poisons!

So he could not stop taking medicine.

Though the things on the table were all strange, they each served different purposes. For example, condoms could collect Rootless Water, chamber pots... were naturally for urinating, and those women's intimate items were even more impressive—they could collect Fire Essence.

All in all, Xiao Meng admired the system's wild imagination so much that he was utterly impressed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, a faint knock sounded. Xiao Meng frowned, then quickly left the basement and heard a woman calling for him outside.

"Third Brother, Third Brother! Are you there? Uncle Xiao wants you to come eat."

Creak!

Xiao Meng opened the door and saw a young girl in a purple dress. A gentle smile spread across her youthful face.

Her black hair cascaded like a waterfall. She was graceful and ethereal, with curved brows, watery eyes, and crystalline, snow-white skin that shimmered with a faint luster. She was extraordinarily beautiful.

"Xun'er, it's you?" Xiao Meng was quite surprised. Xiao Yan had always come to call him for meals, so why had Xiao Xun'er come today?

"I happened to pass by, so I called you along the way. That saves Xiao Yan from making another trip," Xiao Xun'er said gently.

Xiao Meng's lips twitched, and his expression turned rather unpleasant.

"You go ahead. I'll be there shortly," Xiao Meng said expressionlessly.

"Okay! But Third Brother, you'd better hurry!" With that, Xiao Xun'er turned and left.

Watching that peerless departing figure, Xiao Meng sighed inwardly.

That night, Xiao Yan had beaten him to it. By the time he arrived, he had happened to see Xiao Yan coming out of Xun'er's room.

At that moment, he understood. His Xun'er would no longer belong to him from then on.

At that thought, Xiao Meng's expression turned savage. With a bang, he slammed the door shut, hurried back into the basement, opened his account book, and let his pen fly across the page with forceful strokes.

Xiao Meng snorted coldly and put away the notebook. He then walked to the other table, tucked the small hoe into his belt, took out an old piece of cloth, bundled up many things from the table, and slung them over his shoulder.

"Don't want to trouble Xiao Yan with another trip, huh? I'll make him take that trip anyway—and make it a wasted one."

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Meng slammed the door and left.

He was a ruthless one. Just to make Xiao Yan take a wasted trip, he even skipped the meal and headed straight for the Xiao Clan's back mountain.