Two Million Still Wasn't Enough

[Ding! Option three completed! Reward obtained: Adaptive Outfit]

[Adaptive Outfit: Fireproof, moistureproof, theftproof, bulletproof, and best-friend-proof! Can take any form. No washing required.]

Nice, nice, nice!

With a thought, Lu Li had the system turn the Adaptive Outfit into a tank top beneath his clothes. After all, changing in the middle of a crowd wouldn't exactly be a pretty sight.

"All right, let's see if we can fix this surveillance tower first."

Lu Li looked toward the surveillance tower nearby. That was where the Exiles had just tried to steal something.

"Let me see... Hmm... Is this... a tile-matching game?"

Lu Li fell into thought as he looked at the multicolored wires on the control panel.

"We just have to connect the wires with matching colors, right?" Jianxin asked.

"Wouldn't that be a little too simplistic?" Lu Li asked doubtfully. Could this thing really be that easy to fix?

The two of them were amateurs. This sort of thing was better left to Yangyang, a member of the Midnight Rangers.

"Let's give it a try first."

Lu Li connected several wires of matching colors.

Then the control panel dinged and glowed green, with a connection complete message appearing in the middle of the screen.

"Done. You really only need a pair of hands for this."

Lu Li asked in confusion, "That's strange. Something this simple wouldn't even take two minutes to fix. Do the Midnight Rangers really not have a single person to spare right now?"

"I heard fighting broke out on the front lines not long ago. They might really be short on people right now," Jianxin guessed.

Just then, Yangyang and A Piao returned.

"How did it go?"

"We handed the Exiles over to the Midnight Rangers. They said they'd punish them accordingly," A Piao explained.

Yangyang looked worried. "Things are already hectic here in the rear. The front lines must be in chaos."

"There's one surveillance tower left. Let's hurry and fix it, then head to the front."

The remaining surveillance tower was tangled in thorns. Luckily, there were Explosive Buds nearby that they could use.

The Explosive Buds looked a little like plants and could be lifted and used with the Terminal's object manipulation function.

Using that feature, they cleared away all the thorns and finally repaired the surveillance tower.

With that, the group continued toward the Fubo Formation.

On the way, A Piao sidled up to Lu Li. "You did pretty well back there."

"You're too kind. Do you know what people in our world call me?"

"What do they call you?" A Piao asked curiously.

"They call me the man among men! The dominator of men! The ruler of men! The lord of men! The terminator of men!"

Lu Li declared with utter seriousness:

"The king! The master! The heartthrob! The emperor! The demon king! The overwhelming man! The immortal pinnacle of human history!"

A Piao had covered their face from the moment Lu Li started shouting. "When are you going to stop bragging like this?"

Lu Li sighed and shook his head. "These days, nobody believes you even when you tell the truth. Society's going downhill, and people just aren't what they used to be!"

Jianxin had also heard Lu Li singing his own praises. "Master, when you're out and about, please don't tell anyone I'm your disciple!"

"Ungrateful disciple! Even you don't believe me!" Lu Li muttered, "Looks like Old Deng was right when he sang it back in the day. Being invincible really is lonely!"

Jianxin asked, "Master, that move you just used... 'Blood Shadow Follows Form'? It looked very powerful!"

Yangyang and A Piao also looked over curiously. After all, they had known Lu Li longer than Jianxin had.

They knew Lu Li had never displayed any fighting skills before. Had he been hiding his abilities all along?

Lu Li smiled faintly. "Want to learn? I'll teach you!"

Jianxin considered it for a moment. "I'm a successor to Fengyi Fist, so I'm better at fighting with my fists. I'm not very good with blades..."

"But I could tell that your swordsmanship was extremely advanced, Master. Even I couldn't follow it. I used to think you weren't skilled in martial arts, but now I feel it's my own lack of skill that kept me from recognizing your abilities..."

As Jianxin spoke, she looked at Lu Li, only to find him with his eyes closed, looking thoroughly pleased.

"...Master?"

"Jianxin, if you've got more praise, keep it coming. Your master loves hearing it."

A Piao laughed. "Jianxin, stop praising him. His head's going to swell so much he'll float into the sky."

Just then, Yangyang, who was holding her Terminal nearby, suddenly said, "Lu Li, you're on the Jinya Forum..."

Lu Li jolted at that. "Nani?! I haven't even posted yet! Did someone secretly film my dashing exploits and upload them?"

"Not quite... You should look for yourself."

Lu Li hurriedly took out his Terminal and opened the Jinya Forum, where he saw a thread getting a lot of attention.

[Topic: Exposing the truth behind 'Jinxi's Dog' and the legendary 'Lu Li'!]

Lu Li froze when he saw the title, then flew into a rage. "Oh, great! Let's see which little brat is trying to leech off my popularity!"

[Content: Yesterday, I met with the forum user known as 'Jinxi's Dog'.

[During our meeting, I learned that 'Jinxi's Dog' is none other than the very Lu Li he talks about on the forum.]

[In other words, he's been bragging about himself this entire time!]

[I hope everyone keeps their eyes open while browsing online and doesn't let anyone with an agenda fool them!]

[--Edited by: Qiushui Wuhen]

"Well, well, well. Damn you, Qiushui Wuhen. Looks like I didn't squeeze enough out of you with those two million!"

Lu Li had originally planned to reveal the truth at a crucial moment so he could gain a huge amount of fame. He hadn't expected Aalto to catch him off guard like this.

Still, although he had only made two posts, the name "Lu Li" was already getting plenty of attention.

After all, he had hyped up "Lu Li" as the person Magistrate Jin was searching for.

There were already plenty of replies beneath the post.

[Unknown user: Tch, I knew ages ago. I followed him all day, and he never even noticed me.]

Startled, Lu Li abruptly scanned his surroundings, but he didn't spot anything.

A Piao was also reading the forum and looked at Lu Li apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't notice either."

Lu Li pondered for a moment. "Whoever this is, I can't say how strong they are, but they're at least good at reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance. Hmm... They've got what it takes to be a paparazzo."

Lu Li continued scrolling.

[You Tan: You've met him? Where is he now?]

"You Tan?"

Isn't that the unidentified white creature beside Bai Zhi? Looks like this user is Bai Zhi, then. She still hasn't let me off the hook.

[Cloudtop Dragon Beard Pastry: So is he really as strong as he claims? I was hoping to spar with him!]

[--Qiushui Wuhen replied: At least judging from our brief interaction yesterday, he seems to be an ordinary person.]

[--Pure Snow Bright Heart replied: Ordinary, yet not ordinary.]

[--Qiushui Wuhen replied: Who are you? Have you met him too?]