The world of Blue Star!
The outskirts of the Capital!
"Hello, I want to report a crime. Someone beat me up..."
The middle-aged man crawled up from the ground and shakily fished his phone out of his trouser pocket to call the police.
Once Qian Renxue had vented her anger, Xiao Ran took her away. As for the middle-aged man, they left him at the abandoned construction site on the outskirts and paid him no further attention.
Half an hour later, a police car arrived at the construction site, its siren wailing, and took the middle-aged man back into the city.
The Public Security Bureau!
Inside a Mediation Room!
Two public security officers sat opposite the middle-aged man and began asking him exactly what had happened.
"Mr. San Shao, we'll take your statement now. Tell us exactly what happened to you. You said you were beaten and kidnapped. Could you explain?"
Thinking of the savage beating he had suffered that day, the middle-aged man still felt a lingering dread.
"I went to ** University today to attend an event. The moment I got out of the car, someone grabbed me and knocked me unconscious. When I woke up, I was at an abandoned construction site on the outskirts."
"The person who kidnapped me was Qian Renxue. She had long golden hair and was incredibly beautiful. Several times, she beat me so badly I almost crossed over to another world, but every time I was about to cross over, she saved me."
"At first, I thought she was some hater. Later, I became certain that she was Qian Renxue from the Douluo Continent I wrote, and that she'd crossed over to Blue Star."
At those words, both officers lowered their heads, unable to keep the corners of their mouths from curling upward.
Qian Renxue from Douluo Continent had crossed over to Blue Star? Who could possibly believe that?
One officer took several deep breaths. Only after getting his emotions under control did he speak with a serious expression:
"Mr. San Shao, you've been through a kidnapping, and you're very agitated right now. We understand that, but please don't talk nonsense."
"We must respect science. Fiction is fiction, and reality is reality. A heroine from a novel isn't going to appear in the real world and beat up her author. That sort of thing doesn't happen."
"Besides, you don't have any injuries or signs of having been beaten. Could your memories be confused? Would you like to take a moment to recover before we continue taking your statement?"
The middle-aged man was close to breaking down. He shouted at the two officers opposite him:
"Were you laughing just now?"
"Neither of you believes me?"
"If it wasn't Qian Renxue, how could she have taken me from ** University to an abandoned construction site on the outskirts without alerting anyone?"
"If it wasn't Qian Renxue, how could she have beaten me half to death and then saved me so quickly? That warm energy rapidly healed my broken bones and bleeding organs. Can modern medicine do that? It had to be the effect of soul power!"
The other officer's eyes brimmed with amusement, but he kept a stiff, thoroughly serious expression.
"Mr. San Shao, please calm down. We've both received professional training. No matter how funny a situation is, we won't laugh."
"Your kidnapper was certainly capable, managing to take you from ** University to a construction site on the outskirts when the Capital is full of surveillance cameras. But this business about Qian Renxue crossing over to Blue Star must be the product of confused memories and wild imaginings."
"All right, let's end today's statement here. We aren't getting anywhere with these questions. Mr. San Shao, we will certainly investigate your kidnapping thoroughly."
"But until we have a result, please stop saying things about Qian Renxue crossing over to Blue Star. You must trust science."
The middle-aged man's eyes widened (both eyes bloodshot), and he panted heavily (like an ox).
Yet the two officers opposite him clearly didn't believe him.
Disappointed, he stood and walked out of the Mediation Room.
Then he heard the two men inside the Mediation Room burst into roaring laughter.
His expression turned ugly. He turned around and pushed open the Mediation Room door, only to find the two officers looking perfectly solemn again.
"Mr. San Shao, is there anything else?"
Having failed to catch the two officers in the act of laughing at him, the middle-aged man frowned and could only turn around and close the door again.
The next moment, another burst of roaring laughter came from inside the Mediation Room.
The middle-aged man's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Two mere public security officers dare mock me like this? You've already chosen the road to your deaths!
Qian Renxue, I'll catch you for sure. I'll remember today's beating. A character from my own novel actually dared to beat me, her creator! When I get back, I'll write the sixth installment of Douluo Continent, Endless Space-Time, and have God King Tang San return to the Douluo Continent of the past and torture you to death a hundred times, a thousand times!
Meanwhile, at a lamb hot pot restaurant on the outskirts!
In a private room inside the restaurant, a copper pot sat on the table, bubbling and steaming, surrounded by plates of freshly sliced lamb.
Xiao Ran and Qian Renxue sat beside the table. They raised their glasses together and clinked them.
"Cheers!"
The glasses held golden beer that gave off an enticing wheat fragrance.
After beating up Tang Jia San Shao, Qian Renxue was in excellent spirits and drained the wheat juice in her glass in one gulp.
"Haha, I'm so happy today! That damned dog of an author-if you hadn't healed him in time, I would've beaten him to death several times over."
"Hmph! He got lucky. It's inconvenient to be too ruthless here on your Blue Star. Otherwise, I would've made him suffer a hundred times, a thousand times worse."
Xiao Ran chuckled.
"The first time you're strangers; the second time you're old hands."
"We gave him a beating today. If that still hasn't soothed your anger, we'll go beat him up again next time."
"Here, have some meat. This lamb hot pot is another Capital specialty. Give it a try and see how authentic it is."
At the word "specialty,"
Qian Renxue remembered the fermented mung bean drink from that morning. Recalling its sour, astringent taste, even the smile on her face faded.
But for Xiao Ran's sake, Qian Renxue still picked up a chopstickful of lamb and swished it through the broth in the pot.
Once the slices turned from red to white and their edges curled slightly,
she lifted them out, coated them thoroughly in sesame paste in her bowl, and put them in her mouth. Her eyes immediately widened as the mouthful of lamb filled her mouth with savory fragrance.
"Delicious. The real deal."
"So the people of the Capital don't all have tastes as peculiar as I imagined."
Xiao Ran also cooked a chopstickful of lamb, coated it in sesame paste, and put it in his mouth, nodding in agreement.
"It really does taste good."
Xiao Ran had already broken through to the Golden Core Realm, so in principle, he could go without food. But he wasn't some old monster who had lived for decades or centuries, after all, and he still very much enjoyed satisfying his appetite.
"Dig in. We'll order more when we're finished. We're celebrating you finally getting your revenge, so we have to eat to our hearts' content."
As he spoke, Xiao Ran cooked another chopstickful of lamb.
Qian Renxue's hands moved just as quickly.
Before long, the two had polished off seven or eight plates of lamb.
Neither of them was an ordinary person, and their bodies had exceptionally powerful digestion. They ordered more after finishing and ate again after ordering, until the two of them had devoured enough for twenty people.
Only then did they pay the bill and leave, thoroughly satisfied.
Before you continue