《Cannon Fodder Cheat System》


 Chapter 1

    <strong>Chapter 1</strong>


    As all his memories came back into his mind, Jing Yang looked back at the ck stone bridge. He already couldn''t remember clearly how many times he had walked over the bridge, perhaps already over a thousand times, but at least several hundred. Every time the cycle ended, he would alwayse back here, walk over the ck stone bridge, and then remember everything.


    "<strong>Sire</strong>." A ck-robed man formed from the mist respectfully saluted to Jing Yang.


    "<strong>Hades</strong>." Jing Yang turned his head, looking at the man. "Really bothering you toe receive me every time. How many times have we seen each other?¡±


    "This is my 1365th timeing to wee Sire. Sire, please follow me back to the pce to rest a little." Hades led the way after he finished speaking.


    Jing Yang''s memory only went back to when he finished his first reincarnation and came to this ce. Besides remembering his own name being Jing Yang, he couldn¡¯t remember anything else, and then he began the seemingly endless reincarnations. Every time, Hades greets him with a very respectful attitude, so he thought that before his first reincarnation his identity should be not general, only that he had forgotten. Otherwise why would Hades, the master of the Underworld, be respectful to him for no reason.


    In Hades''s pce, there is a courtyard especially prepared for Jing Yang. Every time he finished a reincarnation, he would rest a little in this courtyard before going to the next reincarnation.


    The weariness in Jing Yang''s mind was getting more and more intense. He already didn¡¯t want to keep reincarnating to one world after another. Even if his soul flies away and scatters, that would still be better than endlessly reincarnating.


    When Hades came back to invite him to go reincarnate again, Jing Yang refused and instead asked Hades how to scatter his soul.


    Hades looked at him in shock, "Sire wants to scatter his soul?¡±


    "I am really tired of it, I no longer want to keep on reincarnating.¡±


    "Even though Sire has already reincarnated over a thousand times, after every reincarnation you won''t have any memory of it, so even though Sire feels weary now, after the memory fades you will again have a new life.¡±


    Jing Yang dispiritedly and listlessly leaned back on the armchair. "I remember that when I first started reincarnating a few hundred times, I could always live to over 80 years old. But in the most recent few hundred worlds, every time I have a shorter lifespan. This time, I didn''t even live to 15 years old when I came back. Thus, even though every reincarnation I don''t have the previous memories, but in the depths of my soul, I can remember this type of weariness. If I keep reincarnating like this, I''m afraid that I''ll have toe back right after Ie out of the womb. What''s the significance of reincarnating like this?¡±


    "But¡­" Hades hesitated a little. "Sire''s <strong>life essence</strong> isn''t in your soul right now. Even if I am Hades, I still have no way to help Sire scatter his soul.¡±


    "Why should you lie to me?" Jing Yang smiled. "In fact I have already felt it. You letting me keep on reincarnating definitely has a reason. Is it that as long as I don''t reincarnate, my soul would dissipate?¡±


    Hades''splexion changed and he didn''t respond to his question, but from his silence, Jing Yang confirmed his theory.


    "Sire, I have been entrusted with someone''smitment to borrow the Dao to have Sire reincarnate in the Underworld." Hades said with a solemn expression. "Outside the <strong>99 heavens</strong>, there is someone waiting for Sire to go back.¡±


    "This is not the first time you''ve said this to me, I''m already tired of hearing it. You help me give that person a message. Since I already don''t remember who he is, I also don''t want to go back anymore. You let him know that he no longer has to wait for me.¡±


    The first time Jing Yang said he no longer wants to reincarnate, Hades said that there is someone waiting for him outside the 99 heavens, and as long as he reincarnates enough times, he can return to outside the 99 heavens. He doesn''t remember what it is like outside the 99 heavens, but hearing this name it seems like a pretty grand ce, where the residents are people who look down on all living beings and stand at the peak of the universe, otherwise known as immortals.


    He also doesn''t remember who is constantly waiting for him to go back. At the beginning, he was pretty curious and thought that no matter who it is waiting for him, it wouldn''t be good to have him wait there in vain. But as he kept reincarnating again and again, he saw more lives and appearances and became ustomed to the vicissitudes of life. As he saw more, he became more indifferent to it. In this world, there are no feelings that are not eroded by time. As long as time passes, every emotion fades.


    Hades saw Jing Yang''s resolute attitude and didn''t keep persuading him. He invited Jing Yang to rest well in the courtyard and left alone. Jing Yang was indifferent, since he needed to kill time anyways. He just didn''t know how long he would have to wait until he can finally scatter his soul.


    The Underworld has no daytime or nighttime, instead constantly being gloomy dusk. Most of the time, Jing Yangy around in the courtyard, and when he was bored of lying around he walked around the courtyard. Don''t know after how many days, just when he was tired of strolling around his courtyard and wanted to expand the range of his walks, Hades came back to see him.


    "Sire." Hades cupped his hands in salute to Jing Yang.


    "Hades? You this¡­" Jing Yang thought that Hades had already given up persuading him to keep reincarnating, letting him stay in the courtyard to wait for his soul to scatter. He didn''t think that Hades woulde to see him again.


    "If Sire is already wearied of endlessly reincarnating, I have something here that can let Sire go back to outside the 99 heavens. Don''t know if Sire is willing to give it a try?¡±


    "Since you have a way to let me return, why wouldn''t you let me try it earlier." Now, Jing Yang is already indifferent to going back to outside the 99 heavens, since he doesn''t remember it anyways.


    "This method wasn''t possible before, but now just happens to be possible. There''s one thing I need to tell Sire, if you don''t keep reincarnating, your soul actually won''t dissipate, but instead will scatter into different worlds and each wisp of soul will carry out a different life. Then this will continue back and forth, and after a long time, not only will there be no way to recover Sire''s soul, but time and space would also be chaotic.¡±


    Jing Yang seriously and solemnly looked at Hades. "You don''t want toe frighten me like this in order to make me keep reincarnating.¡±


    "I don''t dare fool Sire. In fact, Sire definitely can''t keep borrowing the Dao to reincarnate anymore, or the consequences would be the same.¡±


    Jing Yang closed his eyes to contemte for a moment, and then opened his eyes to ask "What is this method that you mentioned?¡±


    Hades took out a piece of jade. "This jade can send Sire to different space-times and let Sire no longer have toe to the Underworld to borrow the Dao to reincarnate.¡±


    Jing Yang took the jade, and right when his finger touched it, his heart suddenly ineffably shook. Looking at the half <strong>mutton fat jade</strong> and half ck like ink jade in his hands, his heart moved. "This jade seems to be a little familiar.¡±


    "This jade was entrusted to me to give you by the person who is waiting for you outside the 99 heavens." Hades said.


    Jing Yang used his thumb to rub the jade, that type of familiar feeling made him unwilling to part with the jade. "Once I am sent to a different space-time, what do I do after that?¡±


    "Sire''s soul will enter into some person''s body, just that the ending of each of these people will be somewhat miserable.¡±


    Hearing about the miserable ending, Jing Yang frowned and asked, "Your meaning is to let me experience cmity?" He definitely has no interest in the life of a cannon fodder.


    "Really not so. This time when Sire goes to a different space-time, the circumstances are different. This time Sire will retain all of your memories, and can also change your own destiny.¡±


    "I can change my fate? This actually seems a little interesting. You''re saying that I can change whatever I want?¡±


    "This¡­" Hades hesitated a little. "This is notpletely true. After Sire goes, you can change your own fate, but you can''t change it entirely ording to your own wishes. Instead, you need to help fulfill those people''s desires. The more perfect your life is in the end, Sire will be able to receive a portion of the world''s power. Once this power umtes to a certain extent, Sire will be able to return to outside the 99 heavens.¡±


    Jing Yang nodded. "I understand your meaning.¡±


    Hades pointed at the jade in Jing Yang''s hands. "The jade that Sire is holding has very strong powers and can give Sire a helping hand.¡±


    "Oh?" Jing Yang interestedly looked at the jade. "How do I use it?¡±


    As if it could understand Jing Yang''s words, once he finished speaking, the jade changed into a ck and white light and flew into Jing Yang''s brain.


    Because of the sudden impact on his brain, Jing Yang closed his eyes. In his brain, an additional space appeared, in which countless data were rotating and then became a list of functions. He roughly swept a nce over the list, with so many powerful functions, if they can actually be used, even changing the fate of a world wouldn''t be some difficult thing. But who was it who conceived of this, helping him make it so thoroughly.


    "Why didn''t the person who gave me the jadee see me in person?" Jing Yang asked.


    "He said that if you ask about him to let me tell Sire that he misses you a lot, but he is unable toe see you because he has some difficulties that he hasn''t been able to resolve. He will always be waiting for you, so he hopes that you can return earlier. At that time, you will be able to understand everything.¡±


    Jing Yang''s curiosity was stimted again. In the end, who is it waiting for him, who is it that must wait for him to go back? Is it his parents? Or other family or friends? Or is it his lover?


    Thinking of lovers, Jing Yang suddenly remembered that in his over a thousand reincarnations, he had a lot of family and friends, but never had a lover. No matter whether he had lived until he was old, he was never in love with someone. Is this not strange?


    Jing Yang asked Hades this, but Hades responded to him "Sire''s previous reincarnations'' fates were not arranged by the Underworld. We also have no way to know Sire''s time of death, life course, and final ending, and have no way to control them. All of those fates were from your subconscious.¡±


    "I see." Jing Yang nodded and didn''t keep asking. He felt that there would be a day when he will know everything.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Sire</strong> ¨C ¸óÏÂ, could also be Your Majesty, Your Excellency, but Sire is shorter and I¡¯mzy¡­


    [2] <strong>Hades</strong> ¨C ÑÖÍõ, decided to call him Hades instead of Yama


    [3] <strong>life essence</strong> ¨C ÔªÉñ, no idea if this is what it really means¡­these soul rted things are confusing


    [4] <strong>99 heavens</strong> ¨C ¾ÅÊ®¾ÅÌìÍâ, actually when I read CFCS the first time, I had no idea what this meant, I thought it actually meant 99 days as in time, but heavens seems to make more sense. I guess the world has 99 heavens?


    [5] <strong>mutton fat jade</strong> ¨C °×ÈçÑòÖ¬, an actual type of jade, also known as white jade<hr>


    <strong>Actual random notes:</strong>


    This author uses ˵ a lot, which just trantes to say/said, and I¡¯ve been ustomed to not using that word basically at all. So in most cases I¡¯ve just been leaving out the ¡°said¡± part¡­Also I just reread this and my grammar i.e. present/past tense is getting really messed up here. I think I¡¯ll stick to past tense, since that¡¯s what I¡¯m used to.


    And after this I want to give massive props to all the trantors whose work I have read before. This stuff is hard, man. I thought it would take max 1 hour, but it actually took me 1.5 hours to trante 3k Chinese characters into about 2k English words. I can¡¯t believe this usually only takes me 5-10 minutes to read. Though this is probably because when tranting I¡¯ve mostly been directly reading the Chinese raws with liberal use of Chinese Ya (an actual godsend) so that I can understand the real meaning of the raws and then trante it directly instead of with MTL. So I guess this is actually trantion instead of MTL? I should probably transition into using the MTL more then. But yeah this is only 3k Chinese characters. Idk what I¡¯m gonna do with the 4k andter on 5k character chapters. This series has over 800k characters, kids. It¡¯s going to be a journey.


    Also, I posted this basically directly after writing it up. I¡¯ll probably only do this for the first chapter though, and then after umting some chapters schedule those for regr releases. Idk if I want to wait for arcs to umte, bc some of these can get pretty long.

 Chapter 2

    <strong>Chapter 2</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Gourmet Food Heir (Arc 1.1)</strong>


    Just when Jing Yang wanted to open his eyes, he heard the cell phone ring. Previously, every time he reincarnated he passed through to a baby and never had any memories, so he wouldn''t feel strange. But this time he brought along his memories to pass through time and space, and also transmigrated into someone else''s body, which made him a little unable to adapt.


    He hadn''t even had the time to understand everything about this body or this space-time when he got a headache from the ear-piercing rings from the cell phone. So he first picked up the call.


    "Hello.¡±


    "<strong>Bro</strong>, the auction''s going to begin really soon, have you left your house yet?¡±


    "Auction?" Jing Yang frowned. For the time being he hadn''t yet received this body''s memory, so he didn''t know what the auction that this person mentioned was.


    "Did you drink too much again yesterday, and now you still haven''t woken up from your hangover? Forget it, forget it, you wake up now and I''lle over to pick you up and go there together.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at the already hung up call on his phone, then threw it aside and looked around at the quite well decorated room. The air still smelled faintly of alcohol. Seems like this body really did drink a lotst night, no wonder he had a headache.


    Launching the system in his brain, he opened the body control function and first eliminated his headache, then opened the memory inheritance function to understand this body''s life experience.


    Lu Jingyu, male, currently 22 years old, his maternal grandfather Lu Deyuan was a famous chef in China. His ancestors also served as royal chefs.


    For his entire life Lu Deyuan deeply loved his first wife, but his first wife had an untimely death and only left a delicate daughter. However, he didn''t want to marry again and brought up his daughter by himself.


    Lu Deyuan was getting on in years and wanted to find a husband for his daughter, for one to help him take care of his daughter and second because his big family also needed someone to inherit and operate the business. When he received apprentices, he first looked at their character, and then looked at whether they could endure hardship, andstly looked at their talent, so his several apprentices all had very good character.


    He considered choosing a son-inw from his apprentices, but his daughter Lu Xuexian actually fell in love with amon kitchen hand named Zheng Jianlin.


    Zheng Jianlin''s previous generations of ancestors were also cooks, and were well-regarded for a period of time, but because his grandfather and father didn''t have enough talent and weren''t diligent, they gradually declined.


    Lu Deyuan and Zheng Jianlin''s father could be considered to have a bit of friendship, and when their (ZJL) family had financial difficulties, Lu Deyuan would often give their family some financial aid. Later, when Zheng Jianlin''s father died, Lu Deyuan let Zheng Jianlin work at their family''s restaurant as a kitchen hand. Even though for his father''s sake Lu Deyuan would give Zheng Jianlin some more care, he never wanted to let him be his son-inw, only because since childhood that man was not of upright character.


    When Lu Deyuan first found out that his daughter and Zheng Jianlin were in love, he didn''t agree to them being together. But don''t know what means Zheng Jianlin used to get Lu Xuexian dead set on being with him, Lu Deyuan still adamantly refused the marriage. Then Lu Deyuan, who had always carefully taken care of his daughter like holding her in the palm of his hand, was unable to bear his daughter''s piteous begging, and added on Zheng Jianlin kneeling in front of him vowing that he would definitely treat Lu Xuexian well and never disappoint her, finally let him reluctantly agree to the two of them being together.


    Thinking that in the future Zheng Jianlin would be his son-inw and help him manage the family business that had been handed down for generations, Lu Deyuan put great care into rigorously instructing Zheng Jianlin, not only teaching him cooking, but also severely correcting his integrity, conduct, temperament, and character.


    Zheng Jianlin''s performance was also not bad, earnest and diligent, and no longer had those crooked thoughts. This let Lu Deyuan think that he had already thoroughly changed, and not until the time when he thought he could be relieved to pass his daughter and family business to him, Lu Deyuan finally found out that Zheng Jianlin''s performance for those years were only because his acting was too good. Once he started acting then continued for over ten years, and in fact inside he was still that originally crooked and scheming person.


    Lu Xuexian was born delicate, and dated Zheng Jianlin for several years before getting married. Only after getting married for several years did she finally conceive a child, and for the purpose of conceiving this child she constantly visited the doctor and took medicine, and suffered a lot of bitterness. But she never knew that from early on Zheng Jianlin already had a lover outside, and they already had a two year old child.


    When Lu Deyuan first found out about this situation, he was almost angered to the extent of having a stroke. He was already getting old, his body gradually getting worse, even didn''t know how long he could live, then at this time finally discovered this affair. This let him have no way to be relieved to leave, since once he''s gone, his daughter would have no good life with that type of person.


    When Zheng Jianlin saw that his lover and bastard son were found by his father-inw, he was scared witless for a short time, since he felt that to marry into the Lu family, he had deviously worked for over ten years, so he definitely couldn''t just end up with nothing in the end. He secretly switched out Lu Deyuan''s medicine and when Lu Deyuan looked for him to negotiate, deliberately angered him to the point of stroke. Then, he deliberately dyed his emergency treatment, and by the time Lu Deyuan was being sent to the hospital, he had already died on the road.


    Lu Xuexian grew up being pampered by Lu Deyuan, like a greenhouse lily that needs people to take good care of it, and never experienced any suffering. Even though she had poor health since childhood, she had a father who loved her and a husband who respected her, and she thought that she was already very satisfied, and if she lived an excessively perfect life, even God would be envious.


    When her father suddenly died, this brought her a great shock, and her originally weak body became even worse. But for her newborn child, she brought out a never before seen strength and survived so that she could watch her child grow up.


    Lu Xuexian thought that her home was quite blissful, since her child was very healthy, and even though Zheng Jianlin treated her more and more coldly, she thought that there would always be a day when love would turn into familial affection, and old couples didn''t need to be as sweet as when they were young. Plus Zheng Jianlin managed their family business very well, so her father in the sky watching all this must be very gratified.


    Until the time when Lu Jingyu became 5 years old, Zheng Jianlin brought back home a 7 year old child and told Lu Xuexian that this was his own son who had previously always been raised outside but now he intended to bring him back to recognize his ancestors and take his surname Zheng. He said that he knew he had let Lu Xuexian down, but the child was innocent, constantly raising him outside <strong>doesn''t count as any good matter</strong>, so he would bring him back to teach him well, andter he would be the same as their own son.


    Lu Xuexian''s world seemed like it was crumbling, and she looked at the child who suddenly appeared like a monster. The Zheng Jianlin who stood in front of her suddenly became a stranger, she didn''t dare to believe, and didn''t want to believe, that all of this was true.


    But the reality was that Zheng Jianlin indeed had betrayed her, betrayed their love. He found a lover outside and even had a son older than Jingyu by two years. How she wished that all this was just a nightmare, and that one day she would be able to wake up from the dream and find that everything wasn''t real.


    From then on, Lu Xuexian often would be in a trance, she really wanted to be able to wake up from the dream, and already started not being able to tell whether she was in a dream or reality. But ever since that child appeared he started living in their house, and Zheng Jianlin''s lover, the child''s mother, often came to their house to visit the child, and even often as Zheng Jianlin''s assistant apanied him to attend all kinds of events. It was like she was Zheng Jianlin''s real wife, because she had given Zheng Jianlin his eldest son, and this son was also surnamed Zheng.


    Lu Xuexian thought that for her child she could endure everything, that she would definitely be able to brace herself forward. It was not until she identally overheard Zheng Jianlin and his lover''s conversation that she found out that he had caused her father''s death.


    Thinking of her previously insisting on being together with Zheng Jianlin, Lu Xuexian felt that she had really <strong>shown the wolf into the house</strong>, and caused her father''s death. Adding on to her seeing the bastard son every day and asionally seeing the mother of that illegitimate son, Lu Xuexian''s spirit began bing somewhat abnormal, and she began suffering from severe depression.


    When Lu Jingyu was 15, after Lu Xuexian <strong>stayed with her son for a final period of time</strong>, she jumped to her death.


    The fifteen year old Lu Jingyu had not yet recovered from his grief when Zheng Jianlin already married his lover Sun Qiurong and she became the mistress of the family.


    Lu Jingyu had no way to face the three people who had led his mother to suicide, so he moved out from the house to live by himself, and Zheng Jianlin also didn''t stop him, letting him fend for himself.


    Lu Jingyu''s heart was full of oppressive sorrow, he no longer went to school, made a <strong>gang of bad</strong><strong>friends</strong>, and <strong>abandoned himself to a wild life</strong> every day. Then suddenly one day he woke up to reality and thought that he must avenge his mother, and had to let the three people who had killed his mother pay the price.


    Even though Lu Jingyu was determined, but his ability was limited, even if he exhausted all methods to fight against Zheng Junming, he was still unable to contend against him, and after suffering defeat again and again, he could only use heavy<strong> drinking to a stupor</strong> to escape the pain.


    These were all what Jing Yang understood from Lu Jingyu''s perspective on the situation, and Lu Jingyu, as this world''s destined cannon fodder, being unable to contend with the other person is also <strong>inevitable</strong>.


    But since he hade and reced Lu Jingyu, since he has upied this body, he would do his best to fulfill all of the desires of this body''s original owner and reverse the current situation. Since he wanted revenge, he would help him revenge, he wanted sess, so he would help him seed. Now that he (JY) was him (LJY), so no matter whether it is for him (LJY) or for himself (JY), he would achieve the highest degree of perfection.


    Following the so-called <strong>know yourself and know your enemy and you will never be defeated</strong>, after learning the information from this body''s perspective, he needed to understand his opponent from this world''s overall perspective.


    Even though Zheng Junming was an illegitimate child before, yet he was Zheng Jianlin''s favorite and the son he <strong>is most proud of</strong>, and he showed a talent in cooking since his youth. Zheng Jianlin took the cooking knowledge that he had learned from Lu Deyuan and personally taught them to Zheng Junming, yet never thought to teach these to Lu Jingyu.


    Zheng Junming relied on his excellent appearance and outstanding cooking skills to frequently appear on all kinds of cooking programs, attractingrge numbers of fans and some friends whopletely supported him. Whenever he cooked on these programs, he would always intentionally unintentionally mention how difficult his childhood was in the Lu family, how hard it was for him learning to cook, how his father''s previous wife would always look at him with eyes like looking at a monster, and if eyes could kill, he would definitely have already died thousands or hundreds of times.


    Zheng Jianlin often mentioned in public that he married Lu Xuexian as a favor under his teacher''smand, not because of love, and he felt that he had really let his current wife and eldest son down, forcing them to endure too much unknown sadness. Now, he would do his utmost topensate them, whatever usations or insults can all be given to him, but requested them not to hurt his wife and child.


    Because every time Zheng Junming went on programs he would always implicitly reveal how much he suffered in his childhood, his fans never looked down on him for being an illegitimate son, and never used him, but instead were distressed about his bitter experiences. After all, if he could have chosen, he would not have wanted himself to be an illegitimate child, and he would have wanted his loving parents to be able to be together in an aboveboard manner. So in this matter, regardless of who is right or wrong, he would always be the most innocent person.


    Like Lu Xuexian this type of woman, even if you wanted her to do some type of malicious thing, she wouldn''t be able to do it. So in reality besides the first time she saw Zheng Junming and showed eyes of horror and of looking at a monster, in the time afterwards, she would always do her utmost to ignore his presence. For this illegitimate child that her husband suddenly brought home, even if he was only an innocent child and she couldn''t do anything to hurt him, she also had no way to bring herself to treat him well or even to care about him.


    Every time as long as Lu Xuexian saw Zheng Junming was a great torment to her, but she could endure, and in fact did keep on enduring, until Sun Qiurong kept on appearing in front of her and reminding her again and again of the facts that she always wanted to forget. She finally couldn''t keep on enduring and used suicide to seek a form of relief.


    Lu Jingyu detested Zheng Junming this pair of mother and child, and Zheng Junming simrly loathed Lu Jingyu this pair of mother and child, because since he was small Zheng Jianlin imparted into him the notion that it was only because of Lu Deyuan that he couldn''t be together with his parents in an aboveboard fashion. He carried the identity of an illegitimate son, all because Lu Deyuan forced his father to marry into the Lu family. His father and his mother were the real ones in love, and that unloved Lu Xuexian was really the third party between his parents.


    Seeing this, Jing Yang thought this was somewhat ridiculous, Zheng Junming loathed the Lu family people so much, yet calmly enjoyed everything from the Lu family, just like his father, wanting to possess all of the Lu home''s property and assets, this father and son were really simrly hypocritical and greedy.


    Because Lu Jingyu would often go against Zheng Junming, this let some of Zheng Junming''s friends despise him greatly, so much so that Zheng Junming didn''t even need to act personally. As long as heined to his friends, they would help him solve Lu Jingyu.


    After he was framed by Zheng Junming and those friends of his, he became the <strong>abandoned</strong> viin to suffer the yells and hits of everyone. His end was very miserable, wandering around the streets like a street rat yet still being chased by people, which also had the handwriting of his own biological parent Zheng Jianlin. In order to avoid the people who framed and chased him, he could only disguise himself as a tramp, and in the end still died in the middle of a street brawl.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Bro </strong>¨C¸ç, ng for a friend, not an actual brother, so I changed it to bro


    [2] <strong>doesn''t count as any good matter </strong>¨C ²»Ëã»ØÊÂÇé, really have no idea what to trante this to, guessed based on context¡­


    [3] <strong>shown the wolf into the house </strong>¨C ÒýÀÇÈëÊÒ, idiom, meaning she took the initiative to bring back trouble


    [4] <strong>stayed with him for thest period of time</strong> ¨C ÁôÏÂÁË×îºóÒ»¶ÎÓ°Ïñ, literally means left himst period of image, I''m assuming it just means she stayed with him/saw him for a while


    [5] <strong>gang of bad friends</strong> ¨C ºüÅó¹·ÓÑ, idiom for a pack/gang of rogues/scoundrels


    [6] <strong>abandoned himself to a wild life</strong> ¨C ³ÔºÈÍæÀÖ, idiom, literally means to eat, drink, and be merry


    [7] <strong>drinking to a stupor</strong> ¨C ×íÉúÃÎËÀ, idiom, literally means drinking into a trance/dream


    [8] <strong>inevitable</strong> ¨C ÀíËùµ±È», idiom, expected as a matter of course


    [9] <strong>know yourself and know your enemy and you will never be defeated </strong>¨C Ëùν֪¼ºÖª±Ë°ÙÕ½²»´ù, idiom, from Sunzi''s Art of War


    [10] <strong>most proud of</strong> ¨C ÒýÒÔΪ°Á, idiom, being intensely proud of something


    [11] <strong>abandoned</strong> ¨C ×ԸʶéÂä, idiom, means to abandon oneself?<hr>


    <strong>Random notes:</strong>


    I really should track how long I¡¯ve been spending on these. I always write things in one burst, so I would estimate I finished this in 2.5-3 hours? That¡¯s a significantly longer time than the first chapter. I¡¯m not quite sure why. This one is 4k characters, to approx 3k words, but felt significantly longer both lengthwise and timewise than the first one. I think I¡¯ve been actually tranting rather than MTLing, directly reading the raws and supplementing with liberal use of dictionary. Bless the MDBG gods. It¡¯s all bc I¡¯m pretty OCD about my writing. Really should learn to move past that so I can more efficiently use my time on more chapters.


    Decided to trante this chapter today and post it up, since I¡¯ll probably not be able to trante for around a week. I¡¯ll leave you with all the backstory for the first arc then. Side note: the pronouns in this chapter were literally so confusing, usually it makes sense, but in a couple sentences I had to put initials in. Chinese is confusing. This author is alsozy with his pronouns, which definitely doesn¡¯t help. Also, so many run on sentences~


    Thanks for all the support so far! This is one of my absolute favorite novels (I even like it more than FOD for this genre bc of more world variety), so I¡¯m d that more people can enjoy it! (£þ¨Œ£þ)/

 Chapter 3

    <strong>Chapter 3</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Gourmet Food Heir (Arc 1.2)</strong>


    Jing Yang opened the system''s numerical adjustment functions, in addition to things like appearance, temperament, and physical condition, a countless number of various skills could also be adjusted. He was toozy to go through and choose the items one by one, instead simply letting the system automatically adjust for him ording to the desires of the original owner.


    When he heard the doorbell ring, Jing Yang got up from bed and opened the door.


    Chen Rui looked at Jing Yang, who had disheveled hair and was still wearing a nightgown, and asked doubtfully, "You just got up? Didn''t you really pay attention to this auction? Earlier you even did a lot of preparation just for today, now that it''s finally here, you''re actually no longer concerned about it anymore?¡±


    Jing Yang pushed at his disheveled hair and said to Chen Rui, "You sit for a bit, I''m going to go wash up.¡±


    While Jing Yang washed up, he brought up the information rted to Chen Rui. Chen Rui was Lu Xuexian''s maternal aunt''s grandson, which meant he''s also Lu Jingyu''s distant cousin only younger than him by a few months. But his parents died early, and he was brought up by Lu Jingyu''s mother''s aunt.


    Since childhood, Chen Rui had a good rtionship with Lu Jingyu, they were ssmates and friends, as well as cousins. When Lu Jingyu was framed and chased because of offending Zheng Junming, only he (CR) still apanied and supported him (LJY), but his ending was also not great¡­


    In a man-made car ident, Chen Rui was killed while trying to protect Lu Jingyu. At that time Lu Jingyu held the blood-soaked Chen Rui waiting for the ambnce toe, but even after a long time it still didn''t show up. With hisst breath, Chen Rui told Lu Jingyu that he had to keep living well, that he should live even better than that Zheng Junming.


    At that time Lu Jingyu was endlessly grieved, he hated that his ability wasn''t enough and even needed Chen Rui to sacrifice his own life to protect him, but he didn''t even have enough ability to help Chen Rui revenge¡­


    From now on, he, Jing Yang, is Lu Jingyu, and Lu Jingyu''s every desire, he would take them as his own business toplete.


    After he finished washing up, Jing Yang opened the fridge to prepare breakfast, luckily even though the original Lu Jingyu wasn''t that great at cooking, but he still had the habit of cooking, so the fridge was pretty well stocked.


    "You''re still going to make breakfast?" Chen Rui was surprised and asked, "The auction is going to start very soon, if we don''t leave now we''re going to bete. Are you not nning to go?¡±


    "We won''t bete, and even if we did get therete, it''s no big deal." Jing Yang took out some meat and eggs, scallions, vegetables, and other ingredients. There were still some leftovers in the rice cooker, so he prepared to make some fried rice. He''s been a chef for several lifetimes, even though his cooking is pretty good, it couldn''t be considered amazing. Now he used the system to adjust his cooking skill to the highest, and wanted to test out the effect.


    Chen Rui saw him <strong>calmly</strong> actually starting to make breakfast, and was still very doubtful. He dragged over a high stool to sit across from Lu Jingyu at the table where he was cutting vegetables. "Bro, I found that you seem to be a little different today.¡±


    Putting the chopped vegetables to one side, Lu Jingyu was preparing to start cutting the meat when he raised his head to look at him (CR). "Where am I different?¡±


    "I thought that you drank too muchst night and now should have been in a hungover state, at least with a dispirited expression, but for some reason you actually <strong>look radiant</strong>, as if you¡¯ve be even more handsome than before." Chen Rui wasn''t really trying topliment him, but truly felt that he looked different, carefully observing his state, it seemed like he had changed into a different person.


    "Thanks for thepliment, but I didn''t be more handsome, rather I have always been this handsome." Jing Yang turned to face the stove and ced the ingredients into the pot.


    Lu Jingyu inherited his mother''s appearance, so naturally don''t need to mention his features being exquisite and handsome, but because he started drinking since he was in his teens, his body had long been ruined by all the alcohol, and then adding on his stifling dejection, his entire being seemed to be shrouded in depression and gloom. Obviously he was only a youth in his early twenties, yet his face was covered in ayer of vicissitudes.


    Now, however, the system had not only raised his cooking ability, but also improved the health of his body, along with even his charisma and temperament. So for Chen Rui, who was very familiar with Lu Jingyu, he would feel like he had be a different person.


    "Smells so good." Chen Rui sniffed. "What kind of fried rice did you make, why would it be so fragrant?¡±


    "Just some ordinary fried rice." Jing Yang scooped the fried rice in the pot into two tes, passing one to Chen Rui. "Try it and see how it tastes.¡±


    While he was making the fried rice, Jing Yang already felt an obvious promotion in his cooking, whether it was his chopping skills for the meat, or his control of the fire temperature and timing. There were even other techniques he had never known about that his brain would subconsciously control his body toplete.


    Chen Rui looked at the fried rice with its distinctly separated grains, the mix of vegetables and meat stimted his appetite. When he tasted a mouthful and had only chewed a few times, he closed his eyes with emotion. "It''s too good! Bro, this is definitely the best fried rice I''ve ever eaten in my life.¡±


    Jing Yang tried a couple mouthfuls and also felt totally satisfied. The rice grains looked fresh, not greasy at all, and after chewing, basically every grain of rice brought the taste of the meat juices and vegetable vor. Jing Yang had been a chef before, so he knew that the simpler the dish, the harder it is to make it especially delicious. For this fried rice, he could give himself a 10 rating <strong>without any modesty</strong>.


    As he thought about some dishes that he had wanted to do previously but never knew how to make well, the processes and details of the recipes instantly appeared in his mind. He smiled, this system was truly useful, even the dishes that were already lost in this world could be found.


    Chen Rui scraped his te totally clean, without leaving behind even a half grain of rice, and even instantly changed his habit of drinking water immediately after eating, since he couldn''t bear washing away the vor remaining in his mouth. "Bro, were you possessed by the kitchen god today? I''ve eaten your food so many times, your skill today was really really really really amazing.¡±


    "You stuttering?" Jing Yang looked at himughingly, conveniently cleaning up the kitchen.


    "I''m just using a forceful tone to express how delicious your fried rice was.¡±


    "Let''s go, weren''t we going to the auction?" Jing Yang wiped his hands clean and took his coat to leave.


    Because the fried rice was too good, Chen Rui had already forgotten all about the auction. Now he just remembered about it and hurriedly followed him out the door. The auction that Chen Rui had kept on mentioning was a property auction, and was also a trap especially set up for Lu Jingyu.


    Before Lu Xuexianmitted suicide, she found awyer to transfer all the properties that she controlled to Lu Jingyu''s name, and once Lu Jingyu came of age, he would be able to inherit them immediately, so he was currently still quite rich. It was not until he jumped into the trap that others had prepared for him that his eternal damnation started.


    As long as something was rted to Zheng Junming, Lu Jingyu would always be obsessed with it. He heard that Zheng Junming was interested in a certain piece ofnd, nning on constructing the city''srgest restaurant on it and calling it Zheng Ji Restaurant. Once he thought of that father and son using the Lu family''s cooking skills yet using the name of the Zheng family, his heart felt very ufortable.


    Under the deliberate instigation of a few of his drinking buddies, Lu Jingyu decided to take down this piece ofnd, building and operating a restaurant there himself. In order to take down this piece ofnd, he paid a very high price, spending almost all of his funds. In order to build the restaurant, he had even sold the shares and several properties that his mother had left for him.


    It was not until his restaurant had been half built that it was suddenly exposed that this piece ofnd had been a mass grave a long time ago, and underneath the ground was a pile of skeletons. The restaurant construction was forced to shut down, because even if the construction was finished, there would be no one willing to eat on top of a pile of dead bones.


    So Lu Jingyu suffered a tremendous loss, this matter was obviously a trap someone deliberately caused for him, otherwise why would the news suddenly explode only when the restaurant was almostpleted. When constructing the building, they definitely have to excavate the foundation, when excavating how would they not be able to find the skeletons. Yet this was actually concealed from Lu Jingyu, from the contractors down to the workers, not a single person told him about this matter. This was obviously a scam especially prepared for him.


    When the two got to the auction, one of Lu Jingyu''s drinking buddies Xu Peng was standing outside, wearing an anxious expression waiting for them. Once they got off the car, he immediately greeted them. "You guys finally came, the auction has already started, let''s quickly go in.¡±


    A lot of people were already sitting in the auction hall, a few of them were visibly relieved when they saw Lu Jingyue in the door. These people were sent by the Zheng family father and son, when they saw Lu Jingyu kept on not showing up, they were truly concerned that he suddenly wouldn''te today.


    When other pieces ofnd were being auctioned, Lu Jingyu seemed to be uninterested, boredly flipping through the brochure. It was not until that piece ofnd started being auctioned that he sat upright, put on a solemn expression, and showed an appearance of being <strong>determined to win</strong> thend.


    The several people that the Zheng family father and son had dispatched exchanged nces with each other and showed ridiculing smiles, at that moment the Lu Jingyu in their minds was just a stupid and gullible idiot. Their task this time was totally simple, they just needed to effortlessly sit there and raise the price, waiting for him to be fooled.


    At the beginning a lot of people were calling out prices, but the price was constantly being raised, and had already gone past its original value, so the number of people calling had slowly decreased. In the end, only Lu Jingyu and the Zheng family pair''s people were still constantly bidding.


    Because those people sat pretty far away from Lu Jingyu, and there were a bunch of people between them, they didn''t need to hide their expression, obviously revealing the joy of almost being able to seed. They shouted out onest high price and waited for Lu Jingyu to increase the bid.


    Xu Peng sitting next to Chen Rui was equally as excited as those several people, if Lu Jingyu seeds in taking down that piece ofnd this time, he would be able to receive a veryrge sum. His eyes seemingly seeing this money immediately getting to his hands, his heart was extremely excited, but because he was too close to Lu Jingyu, in order to not be revealed, he could only control his excitement.


    These people <strong>harboring evil intentions</strong> were all excitedly waiting, yet kept on not hearing Lu Jingyu''s bid. They thought this was somewhat strange and looked over there doubtfully.


    Chen Rui also looked at Lu Jingyu, using his eyes to ask him whether he was going to continue to bid. Lu Jingyu shook his head, and Chen Rui stopped yelling out a bid.


    "Jingyu, call out a bid, that piece ofnd is quickly going to be taken away." Xu Peng and Lu Jingyu were separated by Chen Rui in the middle, so he could only lean forward to whisper to Lu Jingyu.


    Lu Jingyu nced over then didn''t pay any attention to him.


    The auctioneer on stage continually asked if there were any more bids, but Lu Jingyu and Chen Rui never made any sound. On the way there, Lu Jingyu had already told Chen Rui his limit on the price, and had told him that once this price was exceeded, they definitely couldn''t continue bidding, otherwise they would be doomed. Chen Rui also felt that this price was much too high, if it became even higher, they would rather not have thisnd.


    "Jingyu?" Xu Peng anxiously looked at the auctioneer on stage, then leaned forward again to look at Lu Jingyu, worriedly saying "Quickly bid, otherwise it will be taken by someone else.¡±


    "It''s not you who wants to buy thend, what are you so worried about?" Chen Rui pushed him away to make him sit upright, he had long disapproved of Xu Peng, these drinking buddies spent all their time thinking of ways to take advantage of Lu Jingyu''s money.


    Those several people kept on not hearing Lu Jingyu bid and were already starting to worry, they couldn''t help frequently ncing over there, their hearts were like<strong> cats on a hot roof</strong>, more and more impatient and uneasy.


    Lu Jingyu had already decided his highest price before, Xu Peng had leaked this out earlier, but right now the price was not the same as the one that he had leaked. It''s not a big deal if he doesn''t get that money, but if he offends someone he can''t afford to offend that would be a big matter. If Lu Jingyu doesn''t take down this piece ofnd, he would definitely not have a good end.


    <strong>In a moment of desperation</strong>, Xu Peng''s brain heated up and he prepared to raise his hand to bid on behalf of Lu Jingyu.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>calm</strong> ¨C ²»»Å²»Ã¦, idiom, literally calm and unhurried


    [2] <strong>look radiant</strong> ¨C Èݹâ»À·¢, idiom, literally face shining/glowing


    [3] <strong>without any modesty</strong> ¨C ºÁ²»Ç«ÐéµÄ, literally what it means, I don''t think it''s in a bad way, but the English does seem to have an unfavorable connotation lol


    [4] <strong>determined to win</strong> ¨C ÊÆÔڱصÃ, idiom, literally force to certainly obtain


    [5] <strong>harboring evil intentions</strong> ¨C ÐÄ»³Øϲâ, idiom? MDBG brought me right to ¾ÓÐÄØϲâ, an idiom which has the same meaning


    [6] <strong>cat on a hot roof</strong> ¨C ÈȹøÉϵÄÂìÒÏ, idiom, means anxious/agitated


    [7] <strong>in a moment of desperation</strong>, Çé¼±Ö®ÏÂ, idiom, literally an inspiration during desperation<hr>


    <strong>Update:</strong>


    Mandatory celebratory post for finally finishing my massive exam! (??¥î?)?*:??? Honestly, an 8 hour test really takes a toll on you. At least it¡¯s all over.


    I¡¯ll probably be updating every Sunday and Thursdayish in the morning, though the schedule might change for random reasons. Schoolwork can be a liability sometimes.<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    I actually kept track of the time I took tranting this chapter. I thought it¡¯ll be interesting to see how much time I¡¯ve been spending on each chapter. For this one, it was from 3.6k characters to 2.5k words, 1:30 pm ¨C 3:30 pm. Of course, this doesn¡¯t include me formattingter and then rereading for typos and very slight edits. 2 hours isn¡¯t too bad. Luckily for the rest of the arc there¡¯s only one other chapter that has 4k characters, and a couple that have 3.8k, so most of them should be around 1.5-2 hours, at least for the first arc.


    Something I¡¯m pretty annoyed by is that I quite like this theme but the body text is just so small. But bc free WP is free, they only have 5 different text sizes, and the next one is suddenly huge. I¡¯ve been using MarsEdit to write out all the text, and then format back on WordPress. I¡¯ve only recently noticed for this chapter that when Ie back to WordPress to do the final edits on the text saved from MarsEdit, the text size seems to stay from MarsEdit. Does this mean that I can change the text size? All the possibilities! I¡¯ll have to test this out next time.


    Also, while I¡¯ve been tranting, it¡¯s be strangely satisfying connecting sentences withmas. Hopefully this doesn¡¯t ruin my English writingter (¡ä??? ` )

 Chapter 4

    <strong>Chapter 4</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Gourmet Food Heir (Arc 1.3)</strong>


    Chen Rui saw that Xu Peng was going to raise his hand to bid and immediately pressed his arm down, ring at him. "What are you doing?¡±


    "I¡­" Xu Peng''s anxiousplexion was already starting to turn pale, <strong>speaking somewhat incoherently</strong>, "This piece ofnd, I''ll help, that, thisnd is hard toe by, you guys must take it down, or else, or else it''ll be taken away by Zheng Junming''s people!¡±


    "Let him (XP) bid." Jing Yang coldly squinted at him. "No matter how much he bids, he''ll be paying with his own money. In any case it''s him bidding, it has nothing to do with me, I''m certainly unable to take out that much money.¡±


    Chen Rui shook off Xu Peng''s arm. "Since you''re using your own money, then you keep bidding, bid however much you want.¡±


    "I, I, have no money." Xu Peng said with trembling lips. "You guys obviously have money, you guys can afford it, why wouldn''t you continue bidding?¡±


    Jing Yang and Chen Rui were both toozy to pay attention to him.


    The host had already introduced this piece ofnd twice, constantly asking whether there were people to continue to bid, and so on obviously dying time. This let all of the auction participants find it somewhat abnormal, all using doubtful eyes to look at the host.


    Seeing that he could no longer keep dying, even if thest bidder was not the one the higher-ups had instructed, the host could only pound the gavel andplete the sale.


    After the auction ended, the auction participants slowly trickled outside, only leaving Xu Peng and Zheng Junming''s men sitting there distractedly, theirplexions looking considerably unsightly. With the current result, they had absolutely no way of going back to report.


    Jing Yang and Chen Rui had just walked to the door when Xu Peng rushed over and stopped them. Xu Peng had<strong> an ugly expression for being deceived</strong> and angrily interrogated them, "Lu Jingyu, did you not say that no matter how high the price, you would definitely fight over that piece ofnd?¡±


    "Whether or not I take down that piece ofnd, what does that have to do with you? Could it be that if I take it down then you will have some sort of benefits? Could it be that if I don''t take it down then you''ll get some troubles? What are you being so anxious for?" Jing Yang''s eyes were filled with irony.


    "That''s right." Chen Rui echoed. "You acting like this ispletely <strong>the observer being more anxious than the person involved</strong>, this has not the least bit to do with you, what are you being so concerned for?¡±


    "I, no, I''m thinking for your sake." Xu Peng strove to let himself stay calm. "Now thatnd was taken away by Zheng Junming''s people, so wouldn''t you have lost to him again?¡±


    "All right, if your acting skills are this bad then just stop acting." Jing Yang stepped forward and used the brochure to pat his face. "Go back and tell your master, not only did I y Zheng Junming, but also him, and you, are only my helper for ying them.¡±


    Xu Peng entirely froze in ce, Jing Yang and Chen Rui got on the car and left.


    "What really happened just now? Xu Peng''s expression was really strange." While Chen Rui drove the car, he felt the situation was really strange, he could tell that there was something wrong, but he wasn''t clear what exactly it was in the end.


    "This auction was just a trap designed by Zheng Junming and them for me, but I didn''t follow their <strong>desired n</strong>, naturally they would be anxious." Jing Yang had already understood through the system, that friend of Zheng Junming is a quite ruthless person, Xu Peng being so anxious and worried should be because he was very clear that with that person''s quite unreasonable nature, he would definitely take his anger out on him (XP). Without even needing him (JY) to act, Xu Peng would not have any good ending.


    "How did you know that it was a trap?" Chen Rui still couldn''t quite understand.


    "Guessed." Jing Yang said. "Turn right at the next intersection, I want to go back to the Lu family a trip.¡±


    "Go back for what?" Chen Rui turned his head to look at him, inwardly astonished, Lu Jingyu had already not been willing to return for a very long time. Even if earlier he had told him that the Lu home is currently under his name and belongs to him, even if someone needed to move out, it should be the Zheng family father and son and that woman moving out, but Lu Jingyu was still unwilling to go back again.


    "Go back to get some stuff." Jing Yang said.


    In the past, Lu Jingyu didn''t want to go back because he wasn''t willing to return to the ce where his mother hadmitted suicide, and also didn''t want to see that man he had called father. Even though Jing Yang was indignant for Lu Jingyu''s plight, he didn¡¯t have as heavy a mental barrier as Lu Jingyu, so for all the matters that Lu Jingyu couldn''t face or couldn''t aplish, he would help him fulfill them.


    Zheng Jianlin was sitting on the sofa with a furious expression, Zheng Junming was also sitting on the side with wrinkled brows. They had just received news that Lu Jingyu had not taken down that piece ofnd ording to their n, instead thatnd had been bought by their own people at a very high price.


    Now they have to pay arge sum of money for thatnd, but getting thend is also useless, even if they suppress the information that thend is a mass grave, they would still feel ufortable about it themselves. Opening a restaurant is also running a business, which business opening doesn''t carefully select for appropriate Feng Shui. Plus they would still need to worry if just in case one day this matter were to be exposed, the losses would be even greater.


    Seeing Lu Jingyue in, Zheng Jianlin immediately stood up, bellowing at him, "You bastard, what are you doinging back here?" He coincidentally had no ce to vent his rage, this shameful thing actually dared to appear in front of him.


    Jing Yang stood in the living room, sweeping his gaze over the two people''s faces. "This is the Lu house, you people surnamed Zheng are still thickening your faces to live here, I¡¯m surnamed Lu yet can''te back?¡±


    "You bastard¡­" Zheng Jianlin pointed at him with an lividplexion. "You actually dare to use that kind of tone to talk to <strong>me, your father</strong>.¡±


    "If it weren''t for the fact that you were my biological father, you still think that I would let you people live here?" Jing Yang said then turned to go upstairs.


    "You¡­, you stop for me!" Zheng Jianlin bellowed at Jing Yang''s back, but Jing Yang didn''t pay attention to him.


    For Lu Jingyu''s entire life, Zheng Jianlin never showed him any good face, so since he was small Lu Jingyu was very afraid of Zheng Jianlin, and when Zheng Jianlin cursed at him, he never dared to talk back, and also never dared to mention letting them move out. But now Jing Yang definitely wasn''t afraid of him, and would never just endure getting cursed at.


    The Lu family ancestral residence was constructed by Lu Jingyu''s great-grandfather,ter on his grandfather expanded it. Altogether there are two main buildings, three auxiliary buildings, as well a few courtyards, the total lot size was veryrge. In the current district, even if you had money you would still be unable to build such arge building anymore.


    Taking back the Lu family ancestral residence is one of Lu Jingyu''s dying wishes, Jing Yang would definitely help him achieve this. <strong>Speaking more objectively</strong>, even if this wasn''t one of Lu Jingyu''s desires, Jing Yang would still definitely not let those three people live in this house for long.


    "Dad, cool down, it''s not worth it to worsen your health because of anger." Zheng Junming consoled Zheng Jianlin verbally, but internally he was also very ufortable. In his mind, Lu Jingyu was always a cowardly ipetent person, even if he went against him everywhere, he still never seeded. Originally he nned to y a big trick on him, yet he never thought that he would pit himself instead. Seeing his imposing attitude today, it seems to be very different from before, could it be that he had always been pretending in the past?


    Zheng Jianlin patted Zheng Junming''s shoulder. "In Dad''s heart, you are my only son, just let Lu Jingyu fend for himself. I will leave all of my assets to you, in the future our Zheng family will all depend on you.¡±


    Jing Yang said that he wouldn''t go in for too long, Chen Rui just sat in the car waiting for him. When he saw him carrying a bag of things out, he opened the car door for him from inside. "What stuff did you take?¡±


    "Some mementos from my mother.¡±


    From the system, Jing Yang learned that Lu Xuexian had the habit of recording Lu Jingyu''s growth. One day she went out to buy thetest video camera model and came back, studying how to use it while walking into the house. When she was passing by outside Zheng Jianlin''s study, she heard him and his lover talking inside, the study door was ajar. Lu Xuexian stood at the door listening for a while, it was also then that she found out that originally her father''s death was caused by Zheng Jianlin.


    At that time Lu Xuexian''s mind was nk, somehow managing to get back to her room in a daze, even she didn''t know that her video camera had recorded down Zheng Jianlin and his lover''s entire conversation. Zheng Jianlin obviously wouldn''t go look through Lu Jingyu''s growth video, Lu Jingyu himself was too grieved over his mother''s death and was afraid to go through her things, so no one knew about the existence of this evidence.


    When Jing Yang returned to the Lu residence, besides confirming the existence of this video, he also went back to watch once again the farewell video that Lu Xuexian had left for him, because in that video there was another very important piece of evidence.


    In the video, in the ss behind Lu Xuexian, there was the reflection of half a figure. Upon magnification many times, you could tell that this half figure was Zheng Junming, hiding on the side behind a bookshelf. So when Lu Xuexian was nning tomit suicide, Zheng Junming was aware of it, he saw the entire process, yet never prevented it or told anybody else. This behaviorpletely didn''t match the good and honest image that he had painstakingly cultivated over the years.


    ~


    Jing Yang used the funds that Lu Jingyu was nning to use to buy that piece ofnd to buy a few retro styled residential buildings in a rtively remote area and prepared to transform them into a restaurant.


    His buildings were also surrounded by more retro style buildings, it didn''t seem very flourishing or lively, but the advantage was that the environment was very good, not only peaceful but also sentimental.


    Jing Yang drew the architectural designs himself and it was renovated for a few months. The three buildings'' courtyard walls were torn down and arger wall was constructed around the property. The three buildings were renovated in the ssical style, separated from the encircling wall by a courtyard. This meant not only would the restaurant not disturb the surrounding residences, but this would also allow the customers on the upper floors to enjoy the scenery. After buying the buildings and renovating, more than half of his funds were still left.


    Even though this district couldn''tpare with those bustlingmerce streets, but Jing Yang believed in the concept that <strong>quality goods need no advertising</strong>, pluspared to those restaurants that spent huge amounts of money to rent a floor in the major skyscrapers, he believed that this type of environment was what he really wanted.


    That year, Lu Deyuan''s disciples had been chased out using all kinds of methods by Zheng Jianlin, because they were harmed by Zheng Jianlin to no longer be able to keep staying in the city, they could only go to some remote small towns to open their own restaurants.


    Jing Yang <strong>adopted a humble attitude</strong> to go personally invite two people, these two people were the ones who had been made most miserable by Zheng Jianlin that year. Jing Yang was moved by their situation, and hoped that they could return to help him out.


    Originally because Zheng Jianlin had already taken control of the Lu family, as well as all of the Lu family restaurants, plus the fact that they had been ced into miserable situations by Zheng Jianlin, they were already not willing to ever return to the city. But in their hearts they had always thought of their master''s past teachings about grace, and now their master''s sole grandson came to beseech their assistance, so they had no way to refuse. So they just took it as reciprocating for their master''s kindness to them.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>speaking incoherently</strong> ¨C ÓïÎÞÂ×´Î, idiom, literally meaning talking without rhyme or reason


    [2] <strong>an ugly expression for being deceived</strong> ¨C Ò»Á³±»ÆÛÆ­µÄ±íÇé, the Chinese has a really very simple meaning, I just have no idea how to express it well in English¡­


    [3] <strong>the observer being more anxious than the person involved </strong>¨C »ÊÉϲ»¼±Ì«¼à¼±, idiom for the emperor not being worried but the eunuchs are worried to death


    [4] <strong>desired n</strong> ¨C ÍùÌ×Àï×ê, literally meaning go drill into the harness/rope, I''m just going to generalize it as a n/strategem


    [5] <strong>I, your father</strong> ¨C ÀÏ×Ó, used in anger or contempt, I usually only see this used as a joke, often in gaming novels lol


    [6] <strong>speaking more objectively</strong> ¨C ÍËÒ»Íò²½, literally the English idiom "take a step back," which means to withdraw to consider from a broader perspective


    [7] <strong>quality goods need no advertising</strong> ¨C ¾ÆÏã²»ÅÂÏï×ÓÉî, idiom, literally fragrant wine fears no dark alley


    [8] <strong>adopted a humble attitude</strong> ¨C ·ÅÏÂÉí¶Î, literally the English idiom "get off one''s high horse¡±<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    We¡¯re finally getting into the action. When I tranted to the part with the farewell video, I was reminded of one of the phrases I was pretty confused about back in chapter 2, and in this context it makes a lot more sense. So I went back and fixed it in the middle of writing this up and now I feel a lot better. Tranting is really making me read a lot more carefully than when I had read through the entire story in like 3 days a few weeks ago. Also, sometimes I find some of the transitions pretty jarring (going straight from talking about Zheng Junming to ay Jing Yang is doing some restaurant decorating), so I¡¯ll probably add some ~ subtle ~ sectioning at those points.


    Let¡¯s see, this took me a bit over 2 hours: 10:45 ¨C 11:45 pm + 1:45 ¨C 3 pm. It¡¯s actually shorter than chapter 3, only 3.1k characters to around 2.4k words, so the fact that it took longer is a little strange. Anyways, we¡¯ll be meeting the ML very soon! I¡¯m excited ~


    Also, about the random point I mentionedst chapter about being able to change font sizes from MarsEdit to here, I¡¯m pretty sure it doesn¡¯t work. Pls rely on page zoom from now on¡­ Unfortunate (¡ä-¦Ø-`)

 Chapter 5

    Today Jing Yang went to pay a visit to one of Lu Deyuan''s old friends, this elderly man has a very high status in the literary world, you could describe him as a person of high virtue and prestige.


    When this venerable Zhang was young, he really enjoyed eating Lu Deyuan''s cooking, so the two of them became friends. Why Jing Yang would go to call on him, besides the fact that he had a very good rtionship with Lu Deyuan, was because this elderly had a very extensivework, people from all walks of life would give face to him.


    When Lu Jingyu was very small, he had apanied Lu Deyuan to see Zhang gentleman a couple times, then never saw him again. So when Jing Yang suddenly came to visit him, Zhango was somewhat surprised.


    That year when Lu Deyuan suddenly died, Zhango was also very sorrowful, so when today his old friend''s only grandson came to call upon him, even though he knew that he definitely had some request, but on the basis of he and Lu Deyuan''s former friendship, he still courteously received him.


    Jing Yang also didn''t bring up the reason for his visit and only chatted with Zhango, he had already experienced over a thousand worlds, so hepletely didn''t need to worry about not having anything to talk about with Zhango. Even if it were on literary topics, his own attainments in that field also wouldn''t be worse than Zhango.


    In the process of chatting, Zhango actually admired him more and more, the two people chatted with great enthusiasm. Before, Zhango would sometimes hear people mention him, he heard that he was ignorant and ipetent, every day he would only gather his friends to drink and y, very degenerate. For this he had actually pitied his old friend for a while. But from today, it seems like rumors still couldn''t really be taken seriously.


    Zhango''s children and grandchildren all had their own activities, and he also enjoyed peace and quiet, so he did not live with his children, instead living by himself in a small mountain vi. In the vi he had a cook and two servants to help take care of his daily life. When it came time to prepare dinner, Jing Yang took the initiative to request making this dinner.


    When Zhango was young, his most favorite dish was beef stew with potatoes. Now that he''s older, his teeth aren''t as good, and eating too much meat isn''t good for his digestion, so he only eats the potatoes in the beef and potato stew. Plus he has very high standards for the potato taste and texture.


    Zhango was sitting in the drawing room drinking tea and reading the news when he smelled a great fragrance floating out from the kitchen. His saliva almost overflowed and his stomach also started rumbling. He was a famous foodie in his youth, otherwise with his aloof manner in those days, he wouldn''t have rushed to make friends with Lu Deyuan only in order to borrow the friendship to be able to eat good food at any time.


    Several decadester, Zhango could be considered to have eaten gourmet food from all over, and his standards for his food became higher and higher. His home chef''s cooking, to other people was already very good, yet when he ate it, he only thought it was ordinary. But today, for this beef stew with potatoes, just the fragrant smell was enough to strongly stimte his appetite.


    Zhango couldn''t sit still anymore and walked to the kitchen door with his hands behind his back, staring intently at the pot on the stove still stewing potatoes and beef.


    Jing Yang turned his head and saw the elderly man standing at the kitchen door. "You''re hungry? I''ll be able to serve once I make a couple of appetizers, the vegetables in your vegetable garden are really great, pretty fresh.¡±


    "En, ok." Zhango straightforwardly nodded, urging, "Not doing the other dishes is also fine, it''s only us two, we can''t eat that much. Just finish this beef and potato stew and we''ll be good.¡±


    "All right." Jing Yang agreed. "I''ve already finished making the hibiscus steamed eggs with the meat stock, once this pot of vegetable soup is done then I''ll serve dinner, I won''t make the appetizers.¡±


    "You also made hibiscus steamed eggs with the meat stock?" This was also one of Zhango''s favorite dishes, he finally couldn''t resist walking into the kitchen. "Open it and let me see.¡±


    Jing Yang opened up the steamer, after the hot air dispersed they could see a bowl of tender yellow hibiscus steamed egg. Zhango had already eaten countless numbers of hibiscus steamed eggs, just from looking at the color and degree of tenderness and softness, he could see if the bowl of steamed eggs was good or not. For the bowl of steamed eggs in front of him, its texture would definitely be not bad, he was already impatient to taste it.


    Once the dishes were served, Zhango held his chopsticks in one hand and his spoon in the other, hesitating on whether to eat the potatoes or the steamed eggs first, he wanted to eat both of them immediately.


    Jing Yang said, "The steamed egg is still too hot right now, let it sit for a bit, it''ll be better when it''s no longer so hot. You first try the potatoes, see how they taste.¡±


    "Good, good." Zhango picked up a potato with his chopsticks and bit it, and then put the entire piece into his mouth.


    "Be careful not to burn yourself." Jing Yang reminded.


    Zhango closed his eyes and chewed slowly, carefully tasting the vor, and then opened his eyes and gave Jing Yang a thumbs up. "Good, really great, the vor is even better than how your grandfather used to make it. You are really the student surpassing the master ah!¡±


    Jing Yangughed. "You tter me. You can now try out the steamed eggs, see how itpares to how my grandfather used to make it.¡±


    Zhango tasted a mouthful of the steamed eggs and nodded. "Not bad not bad, soft, slippery, fragrant, and tender, melts in my mouth, delicious juicy taste. Those hibiscus steamed eggs that I ate beforepletely can''tpete with this.¡±


    Two dishes and one soup, Zhango ate more than half of them by himself, even the meat that he had not eaten for many years was swept clean by him. Luckily Jing Yang didn''t make too much, otherwise he would really be concerned about the elderly man''s body bursting open.


    In the evening after Jing Yang apanied Zhango for a walk, he finally brought up his purpose for paying a visit. "With my cooking, what do you think about me opening my own restaurant?¡±


    Zhango put down his teacup, leaned back on the sofa and pensively said, "Speaking truthfully, the three dishes that you made today were definitely the three best dishes I''ve ever eaten. However, if you''re only relying on three dishes, I''m afraid it''ll be very difficult to support a restaurant. Of course, this also needs to look at how big your restaurant will be, if it were only an ordinary small restaurant, it''ll bepletely enough.¡±


    "I''ve already finished a prettyrge restaurant, three connected buildings in the shape of a ÃÅ (upside down U), each building has three floors, there''s a courtyard in the front and the back as well as two side courtyards. Just the lot area is already not small. If I were only able to take out today¡¯s three dishes, I would definitely not dare toe here to invite you.¡±


    "Invite me?" Zhango asked. "Invite me to do what?¡±


    Jing Yang took out an invitation and gave it to Zhango. "My restaurant will have its grand opening next month. Because I was not sensible earlier, I offended some people, I''m afraid that they will deliberatelye to discredit my restaurant, saying that my food is not good. For this reason, I wanted to invite Zhango to go guard the stage, if you could bring a few friends there, those people would definitely not dare to lie through their teeth.¡±


    Zhango opened up the invitation to see. "Lu Jingyu, you this is¡­¡±


    "Before, the Lu family restaurants were all called Lu De Ji, ever since my grandfather died, they were slowly changed to be called Zheng (Õý) De restaurant. In the current generation of youths, I''m afraid that not many people still remember Lu De Ji anymore. I want to use my grandfather''s name to revive the Lu family restaurant.¡±


    Lu Jingyu remembered that at the very beginning it was called Lu Ji restaurant, when it came to his great-grandfather''s hands, it changed to Lu Jia restaurant, and then when it came to his grandfather''s hands, it was changed again to be Lu De Ji. After Lu Deyuan died, Zheng Jianlin slowly changed those restaurants to all be called Zheng (Õý) Ji restaurant, he ultimately still had a guilty conscience and didn''t dare to directly change them to be called Zheng (Ö£) Jia restaurant. He wanted to wait until Zheng Junming inherited the family property to change it again.


    Zhango ced the invitation on the tea table at the side, lightly tapping it with his finger, and finally opened his mouth. "I received your invitation and will be there on time, I''ll just take this as giving your maternal grandfather face.¡±


    "Thank you." Jing Yang sincerely expressed his gratitude.


    Zhango raised his hand. "But I''ll warn you beforehand, I''ll only help you out for your grandfather''s sake once, if your cooking isn''t proficient and fails, you wouldn''t be humiliating only yourself but also your maternal grandfather''s reputation. Then in the future, you don''t want to ever mention me helping you again.¡±


    "If my cooking fails, I guarantee that from then on I will never appear in front of you." Jing Yang was very clear, if not for his two dishes and a soup satisfying Zhango today, he would definitely not agree to help him so easily, so he needed to continue to disy his skills to let Zhango''s mind be more certain. "I leave tomorrow at noon, so tomorrow morning I''ll make breakfast for you, you can try out my cooking again.¡±


    "That won''t do, you can only leave after you make dinner. Plus you need to make me that beef and potato stew again before you can leave." After that Zhango stood up, ced his hands behind his back, and returned to his room.


    Early the next day before the sky had turned bright, Jing Yang already got up to make breakfast. Elderly people sleep less, every day they wake up very early and eat breakfast once they finish their morning exercise. He definitely couldn''t let him keep waiting for him to finish making breakfast, since he has something to request, naturally he needs to take out absolute sincerity, plus in the future he still had a lot of ces where he needed to rely on Zhango.


    Besides soup dumplings, lean pork and century egg congee, shrimp dumplings, and other breakfast foods that Zhango enjoyed eating, Jing Yang also made some simple pastries to leave for Zhango to eat in his free time. He had already prepared most of the ingredientsst night and only needed to prepare two servings of breakfast, so he wasn''t very rushed.


    When Zhango came in, Jing Yang was also already done preparing, only what he didn''t expect was that Zhango had also brought two other people back.


    "Do you guys have some pressing matters? You came over this early in the morning." Zhango walked in the door while asking the two people behind him.


    The older one respondedughingly, "Where would we have urgent matters, it''s just that I obtained andscape painting recently and wanted you to help me appraise it. I heard that your home chef''s cooking is really good, so we came over as soon as possible to freeload.¡±


    "Then you guys really haven''t eaten good food, just my home chef''s skill is worth you guys especiallying over this early in the morning to freeload?" Zhango smelled the appetizing porridge fragrance wafting out of the kitchen. "But today you guys actually coincidentally came at a good time, you could be considered to have good luck at chancing upon good food.¡±


    Jing Yang came out and just prepared to tell Zhango that breakfast was ready when he saw the two people following Zhango and froze for a moment. In the two people, that younger one, he earlier had already used the system to understand, so he knew who he was, and was also very clear about his status.


    The two people''s gazes just happened to intersect, his (JY) heart suddenly throbbed, this made him very doubtful, could it be this body''s instinctual reaction? Normally, this shouldn''t be true, this body from inside and out, from top to bottom, alreadypletely belonged to himself, it wasn''t possible to have any reactions that didn''t belong to him.


    After breakfast was served, the middle-aged man bit the soup dumpling, inhaling the delicious smell inside and the broth that wasn''t the least bit greasy, and couldn''t resist praising it. "Your home chef''s cooking is truly awesome, you think that even this is not good enough? You might as well just give me this chef, let him go to my house to cook.¡±


    "Today this breakfast absolutely was not made by my home chef." Zhango looked at Jing Yang. "See, he made them.¡±


    The middle-aged person and young man both looked at Jing Yang. The middle-aged man with unordinary bearing asked, "Oh? You are¡­¡±


    Zhango responded, "This is my deceased old friend Lu Deyuan''s grandson, called Lu Jingyu.¡±


    When the two people heard that he was Lu Jingyu, even though their expressions remained serene and their eyes showed no waves, but Jing Yang this person who had lived for countless years knew that these people were definitely inwardly astonished, just that they were worthy of people who stood at the top, their inner mood was not expressed outwardly in the least.


    Jing Yang only prepared breakfast for two people, plus those people both could eat a lot, thus the four people had all not eaten their fill.


    This feeling of eating delicious food and then suddenly not having any more while their stomachs were still half empty was definitely notfortable. Zhango looked at Jing Yang, "How about you make some more?¡±


    "I made you some simple pastries." Jing Yang looked at those two people and then said, "But it''s probably still not enough, I''ll go make some wontons.¡±


    By the time Jing Yang served the wontons, the te of pastries was already empty, sure enough it wasn''t enough. These two people were not only really able to eat, but also totally unrestrained, eating in a very lively manner. Even though their movements were still very elegant, but their speed was definitely not slow.


    These two people both had rare excellent stature and appearance. Plus their appearance had a six points resemnce, but the two people were not father and son, but uncle and nephew.


    The younger man was called Zhao Bocheng, he was the sessor of the Zhao family conglomerate, not yet 30 years old yet already controlled the sovereignty of the Zhao family conglomerate. The Zhao family''s influence was veryrge, both in the light and in the dark, in politics, business, and the celebrity world, they have a say in all walks of life, and their authority was also quite big.


    This Zhao Bocheng could be considered as having indirectly caused Lu Jingyu''s death. Zhao Bocheng had a cousin named Qian Xiang, the son of his aunt, the Qian family could also be considered a big family and business. It was also because he had thisyer of rtionship with the Zhao family that Qian Xiang''s character was arrogant and despotic, not many people dared to offend him.


    But Lu Jingyu just happened to offend him, because this bad personality and arrogant Qian Xiang just happened to be conquered by Zheng Junming''s cooking, and was very good friends with him. Lu Jingyu opposed Zheng Junming everywhere, this naturally made Qian Xiang angry, the property auction matter was precisely a trap that Qian Xiang had joined hands with the Zheng father and son to give him (LJY).


    In the previous life Qian Xiang framed and trapped Lu Jingyu everywhere, he dispatched people to crash into his car on the street, and even manufactured the facade of a ferocious street brawl to cause Lu Jingyu''s death. What he relied on was the Zhao family''s influence, just because his cousin was the sessor of the Zhao family, so he could kill Lu Jingyu this kind of person with no one to rely on, without any scruple.<hr>


    [1] literary world ¨C Êé»­½ç, literally calligraphy and painter world


    [2] venerable ¨C ÕÅÀÏ, ÀÏ after a surname means old/venerable, but it seems a little strange to write it out in English¡­maybe I''ll write gentleman?


    [3] Zhango ¨C still on the topic in note 2. I give up, I''ll probably just keep writing [surname]o instead. If there''s a good way to express the respect in English, please lmk


    [4] old friend ¨C ¹ÊÓÑ, old friend, also deceased


    [5] ignorant and ipetent ¨C ²»Ñ§ÎÞÊõ, idiom, literally without learning or skills


    [6] aloof from politics and material pursuits ¨C Çå¸ß, also means noble and virtuous, I feel like aloof from material pursuits works well here?


    [7] impatient ¨C ÆȲ»¼°´ý, just found out it''s actually an idiom, may have missed it before, but it just means impatient/in a hurry


    [8] the student surpasses the master ¨C Çà³öÓÚÀ¶¶øʤÓÚÀ¶, idiom, literally it means blue is made out of indigo but more vivid than indigo lol


    [9] lie through their teeth ¨C Õö×ÅÑÛ¾¦ËµÏ¹»°, literally speaking drivel/lying with their eyes open


    [10] soup dumplings ¨C ¹àÌÀ°ü, I''m not quite sure what these are, but I think they''re the same as СÁý°ü?


    [11] freeload ¨C ²ä·¹, lol at least they''re honest about it


    [12] good luck at chancing upon good food ¨C ¿Ú¸£, literally like mouth fortune, they have good luck at finding/eating good food


    [13] awesome ¨C ¾øÁË, ng for awesome/dope


    [14] unrestrained ¨C ²»¿ÍÆø, literally means impolite (usually it means you''re wee but not in this case lol), but in this case it''s not really that bad, more of a unrestrained sense


    [15] arrogant ¨C ÑÛ¸ßÓÚ¶¥, literally means his eye height is too high, metaphor for being arrogant


    [16] with no one to rely on ¨C ÎÞÒÀÎÞ¿¿, idiom, literally no one to depend on or lean on<hr>


    Alright, having Chinese typos in the raws was really tripping me up this chapter. Especially in the sentence talking about the three buildings connected in the shape of a ÃÅ (ÃÅ×ÖÐÎ m¨¦n z¨¬ x¨ªng), we have instead ÃÅ×ÖÐÍ (also m¨¦n z¨¬ x¨ªng), but here ÐÍ means model and ×ÖÐÍ means font. So I kept thinking about door fonts and I was very confused. And MTL doesn''t understand these three words, so it just skipped over them lol. There were another couple confusing typos that took me a couple mins to figure out before this in the chapter as well, so that''s always fun.


    Let¡¯s see, this took me almost 3 hours: 4:30 pm ¨C 7:15 pm, but it¡¯s for around 4k characters to a little over 3k words, so that¡¯s expected. Plus all the finagling with the typos, not to fault the author, but my Chinese ability is not good enough to be tossed around like that T-T. Though it¡¯s usually fine if I decide that it doesn¡¯t make any sense and then look at the pinyin.


    So this chapter we finally see the ML, and there¡¯s an *instant connection*! (??¥î?)?*:???


    Though nothing really happens here. In the next chapter, we¡¯ll be able to see his restaurant finally opening.

 Chapter 6

    Jing Yang''s restaurant was about to have its grand opening, before the opening, he spread out some news. For example, saying that he was opening the restaurant under Lu Deyuan''s name, the restaurant would be called Lu De Ji, the food would be the most authentic Lu family dishes, and furthermore the food would definitely be better than Lu family restaurants that had already changed their names.


    Once these news spread out, it immediately attracted many people''s dissatisfaction.


    Thanks to Zheng Jianlin''s propaganda, as long as you''ve heard about Lu Jingyu, who doesn''t know that he''s just a wastrel who only knows to drink and y,pletely doesn''t know how to cook, not only doesn''t have any talent but also not willing to diligently put in the effort. So he (ZJL) had no choice but to first choose to cultivate Zheng Junming, and Zheng Junming was both hardworking and talented.


    The older people who still remembered Lu Deyuan were dissatisfied with Jing Yang using Lu Deyuan''s namesake to open the restaurant, and even boasted shamelessly that he would be able to make the most authentic Lu family dishes. They felt that thispletely was corrupting Lu Deyuan''s reputation.


    And those people who liked Zheng Junming and Zheng De Ji were even more using all types of mocking and ridiculingments, saying that he had no self-knowledge, saying that he was deliberately using sensationalism to promote the restaurant. Thesements are all considered light, there were also some who cursed quite vulgarly, as if Lu Jingyu before was their personal enemy who had murdered their fathers, hating that they couldn''t swallow him whole. These brainless fans'' abuse potential indeed was considerably strong, profanities and curses, all kinds ofnguage were brought out to scold him.


    In order to collect the ingredients that Jing Yang needed, Chen Rui spent two whole months constantly running to over ten ces, most of them were even in some extremely remote mountain viges. But after he finished arranging the purchasing points, in the future he would no longer need to personally go every time.


    In fact these ingredients could all be bought in the capital city, but Jing Yang had very picky demands for the ingredients. If he could buy free range, he would definitely not use domesticated, if he could buy ingredients caught or fished from the wild, he would absolutely not use ones kept on fodder.


    Jing Yang let people carry out a careful inspection again on the ingredients that Chen Rui had brought back, and after he ensured that there were no problems, they organized them to refrigerate. In order to preserve these ingredients, he had put in a lot of consideration. He even especially made a big warehouse that could regte temperature and air moisture, the inside was separated by ss walls so they could be organized and preserved.


    "While I was still outside, I already saw that there were a lot of people condemning you online, the cursing was really quite unpleasant. Waiting for the grand opening time, would there be peopleing to deliberately stir up trouble, purposefully saying that the food isn''t good?" Chen Rui asked somewhat worriedly, he felt that even if those brainless fans online didn''te disturb them, the Zheng family pair of father and son would definitely not watch without doing anything.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve already made arrangements, I won''t let them get away with it.¡±


    Jing Yang properly arranged everything, now they only had to wait for the day of the restaurant grand opening.


    On the day of the grand opening, they opened the doors, officially starting to wee the customers. The number of customers who came was really not small, basically all of the tables were filled. Only that the majority of them came carrying somewhat pessimistic attitudes, their main reason foring was to teach Jing Yang not to boast shamelessly.


    Some media journalists and gourmet critics also came, one side to wait for interviews and the other side waiting to be interviewed. This matter had already been heatedly debated for a while now, the heat continued to increase, on the they scolded even more enthusiastically. They just have to go along with theizens'' desires,e have a meal, and then disparage it from all kinds of perspectives.


    When he heard that Zhango had arrived, Jing Yang ced all of his matters aside and personally went to the entrance to receive them. Several white-haired elderly men came along with Zhango, these old men al had distinguished identities, in each of their individual specialties, the antique circle, the literature circle, the art circle, and many other circles, they all had considerably high status.


    The reason that Jing Yang used Lu Deyuan''s face to invite Zhango was exactly in order to let these people toe along and help him suppress the scene. In the situation that these elderly all speak well of his food, would those people still dare to go against their conscience to speak ill of him?


    Jing Yang brought the elderly men into a private room especially prepared for them, then politely left to go continue bustling around in the kitchen.


    The elderly men chatted while having tea.


    "This building was actually done quite well, simple and elegant yet unique.¡±


    "This tea is also great. If that food is truly unptable, just with this tea, it could be considered that we didn''te here in vain.¡±


    "Lao Zhang, we all know that you love to eat, and your standards are especially high, these dishes made by Lu Jingyu, are they really able to enter your eyes? You even brought us here with high spirits.¡±


    "That''s right! Everyone says a youth without facial hair cannot be relied upon, this surnamed Lu youth looks like he''s only in his early twenties, his time learning to cook should not be long, what kind of good food would he be able to make.¡±


    "You also can''t say it like that, there are some young people who can cook well. I have eaten Zheng Junming''s dishes, for his age, those were made quite well. But this Lu Jingyu¡­, then that''s hard to say, really hard to say.¡±


    "You guys¡­" Zhango ced down his teacup. "I won''t say too much to you, whether it''s good or not, you can judge after you eat. Today we''ll just take as us old fellows gathering together and casually eat some simple cooking. If you think it tastes good, you cane back in the future if you want to, if you don''t want toe then don''te, and if it doesn''t taste good then¡­, just likeo Xie said, drink some more tea. En, this tea is indeed not bad, in a while when we finish eating I''ll let that kid give me some to bring back home to drink.¡±


    "Hey hey, also give me some to bring back, even I have never drunk this type of tea before, we likely won''t be able to buy it outside." Xieo, who loves tea, promptly said.


    Zhao Bocheng also let people reserve a private room early on, this day he brought several friends toe together, waiting for their dishes in the room. He stood at the window looking at the view of the courtyard. In this not big not small ce, being able to make out such an atmosphere with special pleasing and delightful appeal is not easy.


    One of Zhao Bocheng''s friends is from a designpany, once he walked in the entrance, he constantly eximed in admiration about the interior design style. He didn''t even wait to enter the private room and already ran off to look around the ce.


    Another of Zhao Bocheng''s friends Wu Haoxun walked up to him and leaned against the other side of the window. "Bocheng, how did you think ofing here to eat? That Lu Jingyu is quickly going to be drowned in other people''s spit, speaking honestly, I also don''t believe that he would be able to make some sort of good food.¡±


    "That''s right." Someone else agreed. "He even said something about being the most authentic Lu family dishes, he likes confronting Zheng Junming so much, if he really could make good food, wouldn''t he long have crossed swords with Zheng Junming about cooking.¡±


    Zhao Bocheng''s that designpany friend quickly walked in, animatedly saying, "This ce was really done very well, I asked the manager here who designed it, you guys guess who he said.¡±


    "Guess what, we barely know any designers, you just say it directly, but even if you say it we might not know him.¡±


    "That manager said that it was Lu Jingyu himself who drew out the architectural designs, and then he found people to do it. I just thought, this restaurant of his sooner orter won''t be able to stay open, at that time I''ll think of some way to take over this ce, even if I don''t open a restaurant, doing other things here is also not bad, like making it into a studio or something. And convenient also ask if Lu Jingyu has any interest ining to ourpany to be an architect.¡±


    "How would you know that this restaurant will close down sooner orter?" Zhao Bocheng asked.


    The other people allughed. "Is this not an obvious thing?¡±


    Zhao Bocheng also smiled, and didn''t continue saying anything.


    ~


    Even though the kitchen was busy, yet it did not seem chaotic at all. Instead, everyone was neatly and tidily yet rapidly doing their respective tasks, and Jing Yang was ting dishes while loudly calling, "Start serving.¡±


    Several tens of neatly uniformed waiters and waitresses split into more than twenty small teams, each team of five started serving the customers.


    Every server''s tray held one to two dishes, once the fragrant smell dispersed, many people couldn''t resist standing up to look. Just the look and smell really raised their appetite, they just didn''t know how the taste would be in the end.


    Jing Yang was always in the kitchen controlling the situation, he had no way to leave. For Zhango''s private room, the CEO Chen Rui personally apanied the servers to bring the dishes.


    The dishes served to the several elderly were all personally made by Jing Yang, their dishes included chicken stewed in coconut soup, crab meat lion''s head, shrimp with egg, Longjing bamboo shoots, assorted mushroom goblet, and Wensi tofu. These dishes were all the ones that Lu Deyuan, when he was alive, was most proficient in making.


    Zhao Bocheng''s group''s order included Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, simmered lion''s head, shrimp tofu, beef onigiri, honey duck slices, etc.


    After the dishes for the upstairs private rooms and the first floor''s three halls were basically done, Jing Yang finally took off his apron and transferred control of the kitchen to the uncles and their disciples that he had especially invited. Then he himself went to visit Zhango''s private room to see how they were doing.


    "Jingyu has neglected you, did you eat well?" Jing Yang entered the private room and immediately saw that the several elderly men had no interactions, instead all burying themselves in their food.


    "Really neglected, neglected." Xieo raised his head and called. "Quickly make another serving of this Longjing bamboo shoots to apologize.¡±


    "Also add another serving of this assorted mushroom goblet.¡±


    "Also add another Wensi tofu.¡±


    "And the crab meat lion''s head.¡±


    Zhango said, "You might as well give us another serving of everything here, and add another beef and potato stew.¡±


    The other several fellows raised their heads to look at Zhango doubtfully. "Where is the beef and potato stew on this table.¡±


    Zhango righteously and self-confidently said, "If there''s none on the table then I can''t order it?¡±


    After Jing Yang came in he hadn''t even been able to say two sentences, just listening to the several old men ordering dishes. It wasn''t that he wasn''t willing to make them another table of dishes, but these elderly men were all getting on in years, so he didn''t want to cause some unfortunate urrences by overeating. So he advised, "How about you wait until tomorrow toe back, and I''ll make the same table of dishes for you all again, otherwise if you overeat your body will be ufortable.¡±


    "Then we''ll just only have another serving of the Longjing bamboo shoots, the others can wait until tomorrow toe and eat again. Overeating indeed will not be good." Xieo responded.


    "Why?" Guo was unwilling. "We''ll have another serving of crab meat lion''s head, the others can wait until tomorrow toe and eat again.¡±


    "Yours are all meat, eating too much will be hard to digest." Huo said. "Give us another serving of Wensi tofu, the others can wait until tomorrow toe and eat again.¡±


    "Hey hey, how could it be that you have the final say, I just want this one¡­¡±


    "What, do you fellows even know how to eat, obviously¡­¡±


    Jing Yang froze in ce for half a day, they still weren''t able toe to a conclusion, when he saw that these elderly men were almost going to start fighting, he could only go to appease them and agree to make another serving of every dish on the table. Then the several elderly finally stopped arguing.


    When Jing Yang was leaving the private room, Zhango still called out, "Remember to serve the beef and potato stew ah.¡±


    All of the big and small private rooms were all calling that they wanted to add more dishes. In Zhao Bocheng''s group''s room, these several friends were even more persistent and resolute, they definitely had to add dishes. The server had no way, these several customers seemed like they would not be good to offend, he could only call over the manager Chen Rui.


    After Chen Rui came over, he exined, "We''re really sorry, our dishes here are limited, the ingredients we prepare are limited, so even if you all want to add dishes, we also have no way to make them ah.¡±


    "Limited?" Wu Haoxun remembered, in the publicity before the restaurant''s grand opening, there really was this line. At that time there were even many people ridiculing, it wasn''t even definite that people would go, they even said that they were limited, really hrious.


    "Then what should we do?" They looked at each other.


    Zhao Bocheng said, "What else can we do, we''ll juste back tomorrow. The cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice, if there''s not enough ingredients, other people also won''t be able to make dishes.¡±


    When he finished exining to this room, Chen Rui was called by the servers again to other private rooms to exin Talking without stopping, his mouth was already dry, he didn''t even have time to drink any water.


    In fact they did have ingredients, the dishes also could immediately be made, but Jing Yang had said to him already, this was called the hunger selling method. No matter how well a dish is made, if you constantly eat it without stopping, once you overeat to the point of vomiting, then you will quickly get tired of eating it. Only when you can''t eat enough of it, when you have the feeling of wanting to eat it yet not being able to eat it, then you will be able to stay interested in a dish for a long time.


    Of the reporters who were burying their heads in the food, one of them suddenly raised his head and remembered a matter. He said to his two colleagues, "We seem to have forgotten to take pictures.¡±


    The other two people also froze, that''s right, they even forgot to take pictures, originally they wanted to first eat a bite to taste, but after they did, they couldn''t resist continuing to eat another bite, then a third¡­, and then theypletely forgot the matter of taking pictures.


    One of them said, "Quite a few reporters came today, and many food critics, they should have taken pictures,ter we''ll just ask them to borrow a picture to use.¡±


    Another one said, "That would be a waste of a favor, we might as well just order another table of dishes.¡±


    "If we order another table, would thepany reimburse us? These dishes are still pretty expensive.¡±


    "Such good dishes, even if they don''t reimburse us then we''ll just pay for it out of our own pockets. It is a little expensive, but this vor is definitely worth it.¡±


    "All right! Then we''ll decide to do that, order another table of dishes.¡±


    The sound of the first floor asking to order dishes again repeated continuously, the servers could only exin to each table individually, our restaurant''s dishes are limited, every table can order every dish only once, once they''re out then there''s no more, the kitchen already doesn''t have ingredients anymore¡­¡±<hr>


    [1] mocking and ridiculing ¨C Àä³°ÈÈ·í, idiom, literally frigid irony and scorching satire


    [2] self-knowledge ¨C ×ÔÖªÖ®Ã÷, idiom, literally knowing oneself


    [3] personal enemy who had murdered their father ¨C ɱ¸¸³ðÈË, literal meaning. I''ve seen this in English at least a few times, but I really can''t think of the proper phrasing so that it doesn''t sound this awkward. I''ve been finding that my English rapidly degenerates when I''m actually trying to trante. Maybeter on I''ll remember it ande back to edit this.


    [4] swallow him whole ¨C ÉúÍÌ»î°þ, idiom, prettymon in Chinese LNs.


    [5] brainless fans ¨C ÄԲзÛ, ng for fanboys/girls, but I don''t feel like picking either gender so we''re going with brainless instead


    [6] wild ¨C ɽÁÖºþº£Öв¶×½´òÀÌ, literally means captured or fished out from the mountains, forests,ke, or ocean, I''m just going to shorten that to the wild¡­


    [7] art ¨C Êé»­½ç, painting and calligraphy again


    [8] a youth without facial hair cannot be relied upon ¨C Õâ×ìÉÏÎÞ룬°ìʲ»ÀÎ, a quite literal proverb


    [9] you guys ¨C ÄãÃÇ°¡, I''m trying to imagine a white haired old man saying "you guys" to his friends. Maybe he''ll say "you all" instead? "You fellows"??


    [10] pleasing and delightful ¨C ÉÍÐÄÔÃÄ¿, idiom, literally warms the heart and delights the eye


    [11] crossed swords with ¨C Ò»¾ö¸ßµÍ, idiom, literally fight it out to see who is best


    [12] neatly and tidily ¨C ¾®È»ÓÐÐò, idiom, literally everything clear and in good order


    [13] shrimp with egg ¨C ÏÊÏãϺ»¬, tbqh I have no idea what this is. Literally it means fresh fragrant shrimp slippery¡­and I''ve seen trantions of »¬Ïº something to prawns with egg so¡­


    [14] assorted mushroom goblet ¨C ÔÓ¾úÖÑ, apparently they cook mushroom and then stuff them into a pumpkin¡­


    [15] Buddha Jumps Over the Wall ¨C ·ðÌøǽ, okay but this is the best food name ever, and it uses literally like almost every animal product


    [16] burying themselves ¨C ÂñÍ·¿à³Ô, idiom, burying themselves in work


    [17] righteous and self-confident ¨C ÀíÖ±Æø׳, idiom, bold and confident with justice on their side


    [18] the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice ¨C Çɸ¾ÄÑΪÎÞÃ×Ö®´¶, idiom, you can''t cook anywhere without equipment


    [19] repeated continuously ¨C ´ËÆð±Ë·ü, idiom, literally up here down there<hr>


    Before tranting this chapter, I couldn''t resist going back and rereading this arc. I actually didn''t notice as much smut/romance as I expected, did I remember wrongly? I seem to remember reading a pretty good BL fast wear with slightly more smut and romance. Maybe it''s in theter arcs. Either way, the amount of smut/romance is pretty simr to FOD so far, and I still really enjoy the worlds and plots, so it doesn''t impair my love for this novel.


    Overall this took almost 4 hours: 9:30 pm ¨C 11:00 pm, 10 am ¨C 10:30 am, 8:30 ¨C 10 am, for 4k characters to 3.3k words. It''s been a busy past couple of days, so my trantion of this chapter (the longest chapter in the arc, coincidentally) had to be split up over 3-4 days. I''m not a big fan of disjointed writing. The food dish names were really hard to trante¡­a lot of estimation was probably done.

 Chapter 7

    The several elderly who had eaten until <strong>perfectly contented</strong> were surrounded by reporters when they were leaving. They also generously epted the interviews and reviewed today''s dishes from all sorts of perspectives such as appearance, smell, taste, etc. All summed up, there was only one meaning: the dishes were made exceptionally well, it did not let them be disappointed, furthermore they had already reserved a private room for a year, because they were only allowed to reserve for a maximum of a year.


    When the diners on the side heard this, they again ran to find servers to argue. For what reason were those people allowed to reserve for a maximum of one year, yet we can only reserve for a maximum of one week, this difference was too big.


    Chen Rui could onlye out again to exin, because these several elderly men were the restaurant''s first VIP members, so only then could they enjoy the special treatment. And then the customers who hadn''t left yet again started to request bing members, but Chen Rui really wanted to say that this was actually just an excuse, even if you all became members I also have no way to let you all reserve a private room for a year. So he could only go run to consult Jing Yang on what to do.


    Jing Yang said, divide members into three levels, different levels are allowed to reserve tables for different lengths of time, and obviously the membership fees will also be different. Furthermore they needed to set up all kinds of conditions and provisions, it isn''t possible that once you be a member you would then be able toe eat whenever you want.


    Even though the three levels of membership fees were considerably high, there were still unceasing numbers of people requesting membership. In the future, Jing Yang opened more than 20 branches, and all of them became restaurants that especially received only members. But that is the future, we will not mention it at the moment.


    ~


    Besides interviewing the several elderly men, the reporters also interviewed the other diners, obtaining only unanimous positive evaluations, they all said that the vor was too amazing, extremely amazing, they would definitelye back again.


    What surprised everyone the most was that even the Zhao family corporation''s sessor Zhao Bocheng epted an interview, and furthermore even gave a very high evaluation.


    Those reporters and food critics who had been dispatched by the Zheng father and son saw that the situation was very different from what they had expected, they were even a little unsure about what to do. They had also eaten the dishes, they were indeed really good, plus they were better to a certain degree. They had epted money to do things and didn''t care about speaking without conscience, but now other people all said it was good, even several highly prestigious elderly men and the Zhao family corporation sessor all said it was good, if only they said the food wasn''t good, then that would be too obvious.


    After the media reports, theizens discovered that the results werepletely different from what they had expected, a lot of people didn''t believe that this was true, they thought that Lu Jingyu spent money to bribe all the big media and journalists, so that it would be this way.


    So then there were a lot ofizens who had gone to eat at Lu De Ji who stood in to defend the injustice against Lu Jingyu, retorting against those people who were still saying malicious words about him.


    ¡ª¡ª"You say Lu Jingyu is able to bribe the reporters, don''t tell me that he''s even able to bribe those several elderly men who have high status in all sorts of circles, as well as the Zhao family corporation''s sessor? Then he''s too rich, don''t know how much Zhao family corporation''s sessor''s fee is?¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"In the end whether the food is good or not, if you all went yourself to eat it once, wouldn''t you know? You all haven''t even gone yourself to eat it, just using conjecture and imagination to review it, you guys are obviously just brainless inte trolls.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"I have already been a food critic for over ten years, if I hadn''t gone to personally try the dishes, I would definitely note up with any sort of review. These are only the most fundamental of professional ethics. I have gone to eat at Lu De Ji, so I can say with good conscience that even though I have reviewed many dishes, but this is definitely the best dish I have ever eaten in my over 30 years of life. Whether you believe it or not, in any case I will not ept objections from those who have not gone to eat there.¡±


    The onlinementary was no longer skewed to one side, manyizens stated that they would personally go to eat there to see, and thene back toment.


    Jing Yang actually did not anticipate that Zhao Bocheng would stand out to help speak for him, don''t know in the end what he was thinking, but thanks to his appearance, none of the media dared to deliberately discredit him.


    The Zheng family father and son, facing this kind of result, their mood was in no way good.


    Zheng Jianlin had never taught Lu Jingyu cooking, and also never even knew that he actually knew how to cook. Originally he had thought that after he (ZJL) had not been able to defraud him (JY)st time, this time he (JY) had voluntarily dug a pit for himself (JY), and he (ZJL) would only need to <strong>fill the pit with dirt</strong> and that would be enough, just theizen''s saliva would drown him.


    Yet Zheng Jianlin never thought that it would be this kind of result, those people with high status all stood out to help Lu Jingyu speak, in the end when did he bribe those people, and in the end how did he do it? He felt that this matter definitely had something fishy, even if Lu Jingyu knew how to cook, yet it would be impossible for it to be as good as those people said.


    Zheng Junming''s mood was also extremelyplex. On the one hand he had no way to believe that Lu Jingyu would be able to cook well, and on the other hand he did not dare to believe that Zhao Bocheng actually would give Lu Jingyu such a high evaluation.


    Because Qian Xiang was Zhao Bocheng''s cousin, in the past he also had opportunities to make dishes for Zhao Bocheng to eat. At that time, in order to cook the dishes well, he had already started preparing from a long time ago. Every day he would repeatedly make the dish multiple times to practice, but after Zhao Bocheng ate it, he wouldn''t give even a sentence ofmentary, even his expression would still be the same cold and indifferent kind as usual.


    Since he was small, he practiced cooking with blood, sweat, and tears, yet Lu Jingyu from small to big only knew how to drink and y around. Everyone said that he had talent in cooking, even though he was young, yet he was even more powerful than many of those chefs who had cooked for several decades. How could Lu Jingyu''s dishes be better than his, for what reason had he received such high reviews?


    Zheng Junming thought of one possibility, he said to Zheng Jianlin, "Dad, I heard that Lu Jingyu found his grandfather''s apprentices and brought them back to help, could it be that those dishes were actually made by them, and they were simply not made by Lu Jingyu himself?¡±


    Zheng Jianlin contemted for a while and then nodded. "It''s very likely that it was actually this situation, cooking well can''t be done in just one or two days. If you want to cook especially well, then you even more require a very long time to learn and temper oneself. It''s impossible that he would suddenly be someone who knew how to cook.¡±


    "Then what should we do?" Zheng Junming looked at Zheng Jianlin and asked.


    "Spread out this matter outside, it will only work if we unrestrainedly broadcast it out, otherwise if we wait until Lu De Ji really has been epted by everyone, our Zheng De Ji will slowly have no reason to exist, we must think of ways to defeat Lu De Ji." He, Zheng Jianlin, had painstakingly built up the business for so many years, just to bring the Zheng family dishes to a greater height, let the Lu family be the Zheng family dishes, let the Lu family restaurants all be the Zheng family''s restaurants. Seeing that his goals were all slowly being aplished, how could he at this time be defeated in the hands of the son that he had never ced into the eye?


    ~


    Ever since the opening of Lu De Ji, the restaurant always had a full house every day, the people who scolded them online decreased, only leaving the brainless fans of Zheng Junming persisting on attacking him, and expressed that they would definitely not go to eat at Lu De Ji, calling upon the other people to boycott Lu De Ji. Yet the other people stated that you guys not going was you guys not having good food fortune, we have no animosity against good food, why would we boycott them.


    Lu De Ji''s business was flourishing, even though Lu Deyuan''s those two apprentices werepletely busy, yet they felt very happy from the bottom of their hearts. Jing Yang had said to them, there were two branches that would open in not too long, it seemed like they were seeing the liveliness of the Lu De Ji restaurant from back when their master was still alive.


    Originally when Jing Yang had invited them over, they had only agreed toe help for a period of time and then leave, but now they didn''t want to leave. They wanted to stay to help Lu Jingyu revive the most genuine Lu De Ji and Lu family dishes.


    "Jingyu ah, if you don''t mind our two brothers being handicapped, we would like to stay here in the future to help you.¡±


    At that time, Guo Long and Wang Yang were Lu Deyuan''s most favored apprentices, Lu Deyuan even considered letting Guo Long be his own son-inw. After Lu Deyuan died, Zheng Jianlin originally wanted to chase out all of Lu Deyuan''s apprentices, just these two people proved to be the most difficult to deal with, so he had one of them have a leg crippled, and the other have one eye blinded. In the end they could only leave to a foreign area, hiding in a remote ce to continue to cook, but they did teach out quite a few apprentices.


    "Guo uncle and Wang uncle, you also know, now at my side the number of people who I can use and trust is not many. If you both are willing to stay to help me, that is something that is <strong>exactly what I''m looking for</strong>, how could I ignore you?¡±


    Guo Long said, "We also didn''t expect that your cooking was so much better than our two brothers'', we could see out your grandfather''s demeanor from back then. If we could help you revive Lu De Ji and Lu family''s dishes, and defeat Zheng Jianlin that viin, we would have face to go see master in the future.¡±


    "That''s right." Wang Yang nodded.


    Jing Yang transferred the main restaurant''s matters to the Guo Wang two, he instead was busy preparing the two branches for opening.


    Jing Yang was in a private room editing his architectural ns when Chen Rui hastily rushed in holding aptop. "Quickly look at this.¡±


    "Look at what?" Jing Yang raised his head, collected his blueprints neatly and ced them to the side.


    "Online there''s people saying that you''re faking and hoodwinking the masses. They said that those dishes were simply not made by yourself, but instead were made by your grandfather''s apprentices, but you actually imed that you made them yourself. They said you simply don''t want face.¡±


    Jing Yang carefully read through the entire content, and then smiled.


    "What do we do?" Chen Rui somewhat worriedly said. "Do you want toe out and exin? Zheng Junming''s brainless fans are seriously speaking increasingly excessively. If we don''t quickly rify this situation, this will definitely adversely affect your personal reputation as well as the restaurant''s reputation.¡±


    "Just let them keep talking about it, <strong>truth will speak for itself, and history will judge if one is truly innocent</strong>." Jing Yang indifferently said.


    "Those people online who believe whatever other people say, or those who love blindly following the crowd, would never pay attention to whether you are actually innocent or guilty. If you don''te out to exin, that proves that what they said is true, once more time passes, the number of people who will believe them will only keep increasing.¡±


    "Don''t worry, not too much time will pass, very quickly there will be an opportunity for me to prove myself. So now whether or not Ie out to exin, there won''t be too much of an influence.¡±


    Chen Rui doubtfully looked at him, just when he wanted to ask what opportunity this was, a server knocked on the door and came in. "Boss, Mr. Zhao Bocheng said he wants to see you.¡±


    "Zhao Bocheng?" Jing Yang raised his head, somewhat surprisedly and somewhat doubtfully looking at that server.


    "That''s right, precisely that Zhao family corporation''s sessor, Mr. Zhao Bocheng, he''s currently right in the private room that he reserved waiting for you to go over.¡±


    Even though Jing Yang was still doubtful in his heart why this person was looking for himself, but he still decided to go see him. After all, for the current him, he was still not able to rashly offend this person who was like a big BOSS.<hr>


    [1] <strong>perfectly contented</strong> ¨C ÐÄÂúÒâ×ã, idiom, also perfectly satisfied


    [2] <strong>fill the pit with dirt</strong> ¨C Íù¿ÓÀïÌîÍÁ, often use the metaphor of a digit a pit to represent a trap or trick, now he''s just helping fill up the pit, which means he''s just helping him fall even more


    [3] <strong>exactly what I am looking for</strong> ¨C ÇóÖ®²»µÃ, idiom, literally seek but fail to get


    [4] <strong>truth will speak for itself</strong><b>¡­</b> ¨C ÇåÕß×ÔÇå,×ÇÕß×Ô×Ç, idiom/saying, literally true blue will never stain, the marks of sin will never be washed away<hr>


    <strong>Random</strong>


    A rtively light chapter this time. The trantion was surprisingly quick and simple, only taking 1.5 hours: 12:30 pm ¨C 2 pm. Only around 3k characters this time, to around 2.4k words. Most of the reason should be bc there are basically no trantor notes needed this time, so not too many idioms and phrases that I had to keep checking on MDBG. The next chapter also isn¡¯t that long, so hopefully this can keep up. I¡¯m pretty sure the first direct dialogue btw our MC and ML will happen in the next chapter! Exciting ~

 Chapter 8

    "Mr. Zhao, I heard that you were looking for me?¡±


    "There''s a matter that I want toin about." Zhao Bocheng picked up the teapot to pour himself tea, and also poured Jing Yang a cup.


    "Comint?" Jing Yang sat down across from him. "Please say.¡±


    "Besides the grand opening day, these times when I came to eat, the dishes seem to not have been made by you.¡±


    In his heart Jing Yang was somewhat surprised, he was actually able to taste the difference. It would be impossible for Jing Yang to be the same as the other chefs, constantly staying in the kitchen to cook for the customers. But every dish that was included on the menu was personally checked by him, before in the areas that Guo uncle and Wang uncle weren''t able to perfect, he also took a lot of effort to personally guide them to perfect the recipe. The vor of those dishes, even though they didn''t achieve 100% the vor that he could personally make out, but they could still show out 70 to 80%.


    "I have a lot of matters to attend to, so I''m unable to always be in the kitchen cooking. The food that my restaurant''s other chefs make, Mr. Zhao isn''t satisfied?¡±


    "Really not satisfied, I helped you say so many good words, you still use other chefs'' food to get rid of me, how could I be satisfied?" Zhao Bocheng looked at him <strong>with a smile yet not a smile</strong>. In the several times he came before, he had alwayse with friends, so even if he could tell that the dishes were not made by him, he also didn''t mention it.


    "Whichever dishes Mr. Zhao wants to eat today, I will go to make personally, we can consider this as an apology." These Zhao family people were all so overbearing, Jing Yang still didn''t want to offend him for the time being.


    Jing Yang personally went to the kitchen to make the dishes that Zhao Bocheng had ordered.


    After the dishes were served, Zhao Bocheng only tasted one mouthful, then satisfyingly nodded. "Exactly this vor, you also sit down to eat together, I have something to give you.¡±


    Something? Jing Yang sat down like he said to see what thing he would give him.


    Zhao Bocheng took out a quite refined invitation card to give Jing Yang. "Thispetition invitation letter is for you.¡±


    Jing Yang took the invitation and opened it to take a look, it was an invitation for the China Cup Culinary Competition (CCCC). This is the China country''s top culinarypetition, its fairness is also extremely high, it''s basically impossible for dirty tricks to exist. The judges were all people from many circles who had extremely high standards for food. Moreover, there''s also a segment with public evaluations, the entirepetition process would conducted as a live broadcast to the entire country.


    He had nned on participating in thispetition, because he knew that Zheng Junming would definitely attend. Zhango is one of thepetition''s judges, so he had originally nned on asking Zhango to help him write a rmendation letter. But he didn''t think that Zhao Bocheng would directly send him an invitation letter for thepetition.


    "An invitation letter this sort of small thing, how could I trouble Mr. Zhao to personally send it over?" Jing Yang knew that thispetition was always sponsored by the Zhao family corporation, but this Zhao family chairman personally sent the invitation letter. Just thinking about it, it didn''t seem very suitable ah?


    "For this time''spetition, I am one of the main judges, I rmended for you to participate in the youthpetition, and then conveniently helped you bring over the invitation letter." Zhao Bocheng looked at Jing Yang''s eyes, it seemed like he had directly looked into his heart. "You should curry favor with me well, this would be quite advantageous to your result on thepetition.¡±


    "Isn''t thispetition known as the entire country''s fairestpetition? How could it be that it would still need me to curry favor in order to have a goodpetition result?" Jing Yang looked back at him, he <strong>inexplicably</strong> felt like that pair of eyes seemed very familiar.


    "Thepetition is fair, but I don''t have to be, in any case I am also not some good person, however¡­" Zhao Bocheng smiled. "I am more willing to be partial towards you.¡±


    Based on what Jing Yang knew, Zhao Bocheng should be a particrly coldly arrogant and unsmiling person, showing an icy face to everyone. When he saw him for the first time at Zhango''s home, he also indeed thought this way. Yet ever since he saw him today, whenever he (ZBC) spoke, he would always have a smiling expression. Could it be that the information that he got was mistaken?


    From then on Zhao Bocheng came to Lu De Ji more frequently, most of the time he always came by himself, and whenever he came by himself, he would always have to eat food personally made by Jing Yang, and would also have Jing Yang sit down to apany him to eat.


    As the number of times Jing Yang saw him increased, he also increasingly felt an familiar feeling towards him. This type of feeling made him very perplexed. Logically, before he came to this world, he definitely had never seen Zhao Bocheng before, moreover Lu Jingyu''s original owner had never even spoken a word with him. Where this type of familiar feeling came from in the end, even he himself started to be curious about.


    And what Jing Yang didn''t know was that this type of feeling was actually not experienced by only him. Zhao Bocheng had recalled, earlier he had probably also seen Lu Jingyu before, but his impression of him was extremely vague. At Zhango''s home could be considered their first formal meeting, when he first looked at him, he experienced some kind of <strong>deja vu</strong> feeling.


    When they were eating breakfast together, Zhao Bocheng couldn''t resist secretly looking him over. He found that his appearance and temperament were all very in line with his preferences, it was a type that let him feel veryfortable looking at him. Especially that pair of eyes, he really liked them, extremely liked them, and whenever he saw him again afterwards, he would always have a kind of urge to kiss his eyes.


    Before Zhao Bocheng ascertained his own intentions, besides requesting Jing Yang to personally make him food and apanying him to eat with him every time he went to Lu De Ji, he didn''t make any other moves. He only had a feeling of wanting to see him every day that grew increasingly intense.


    ~


    The China Cup Culinary Competition was held once every two years and was split into the youth group, middle-aged group, and elderly group. Every group had a highest award, and then there was an overall champion.


    Zheng Junming had already received the youth champion twice, this let him collect quite a few fans, only this overall champion was always taken by the elderly group''s chefs. <strong>Old ginger is hotter than young ginger</strong>, this phrase has some logic, at least those people had cooked for several decades more, this disparity couldn''t be made up that easily.


    "Bo brother, wait for me, I''ll go with you." Qian Xiang followed Zhao Bocheng onto the car, he knew that today Zhao Bocheng would go to the culinarypetition live broadcast as a judge, so he especially came to the Zhao home to wait to go together with him. "Bo brother, I want to discuss a matter with you.¡±


    "There''s nothing to discuss." Zhao Bocheng said coldly.


    "At least first listen to what matter I want to say ba, really, this matter for you has no difficulty." Qian Xiang didn''t receive Zhao Bocheng''s response and independently continued, "You see youst time helped Lu Jingyu speak, let me have no face in front of Junming. I am very good friends with him, you are also my cousin, how could you go help that fellow who''s always going against him ne. This time Junming is attending thepetition, can you favor him a bit?¡±


    "Why should I favor him? How does whether or not you are friends with him have any rtionship with me? Also, you think that there''s only me as a judge? If he has no ability, he should just not attend thepetition.¡±


    "You can''t say that, the Zhao family sponsored thispetition for so many years already, and you''re also the Zhao family corporation''s sessor. If you favor Junming, those stubborn old fellows at least would give you face. We''re cousins at least, you just give me this face ba.¡±


    "Give you face?" Zhao Bocheng turned his head and incisively stared at him. "You think that the number of times that you relied on my reputation to <strong>run amok</strong> is still too little? I will warn you for thest time, if you still dare to rely on my name to do something, I will break your leg! If you don''t believe me then just try it and see.¡±


    Qian Xiang was suppressed by Zhao Bocheng''s imposing manner to the point of not being able to lift his head, he even more didn''t dare to go look at his face again. From small to big, he never really even feared his parents, only feared this cousin of his, if he really got angry and gave him a lesson, that would definitely not be light. But who let the reputation of this cousin of his be so useful, no matter where he went other people would always give him some face, not only because he was the Qian family young master, but even more so because he was also Zhao Bocheng''s cousin.


    Qian Xiang was very good friends with Zheng Junming because Zheng Junming''s food was very good, his appearance was also not bad, personality was also good. He felt that they were naturally supposed to be good friends, speaking more deeply then they are intimate friends. That bastard Lu Jingyu was always finding trouble for Zheng Junming, he (QX) already couldn''t bear to see him for a long time, sooner orter there would be a day when he would tidy him up.


    Qian Xiang had also let Zheng Junming make food for Zhao Bocheng, but when Zhao Bocheng had only eaten two mouthfuls he already put down his chopsticks and left without saying anything. This let him and Zheng Junming both have no face. Qian Xiang could onlyfort Zheng Junming by saying that his cousin had a golden tongue, extremely hard to please, it was not that his food wasn''t good enough, but that his cousin''s standards couldn''t be satisfied by ordinary people.


    But what he didn''t expect was that on the day of the grand opening of Lu De Ji, Zhao Bocheng not only went, but also gave Lu Jingyu a very high evaluation, this let Zheng Junming''s heart feel even more ufortable.


    Qian Xiang had promised Zheng Junming that in this time''spetition he would definitely let his cousin favor him. Even though Zheng Junming said he was very confident in his own cooking and didn''t need anyone to favor him, he would definitely not lose to Lu Jingyu, but Qian Xiang still felt like he should help him do something.


    ~


    Jing Yang was closing his eyes resting in his lounge. Thepetition was divided into semifinals, finals, and the championship, split into three days. As for what dish to make, it would only be known when thepetition started.


    The lounge door was suddenly opened, Jing Yang opened his eyes to see that it was Zhao Bocheng. In this ce, it would only be this person who could casually go anywhere without anyone daring to block him.


    Jing Yang had apanied him to eat so many times, the two people could be considered as acquaintances. He also found that Zhao Bocheng was not as difficult as he had thought. Based on the fact that Zhao Bocheng had been one of the people who had indirectly caused Lu Jingyu''s death, Jing Yang should quite dislike him, yet he actually couldn''t bring himself to dislike him, instead he had a kind of feeling of increasingly wanting to be close to him. But for Zhao Bocheng this kind of person, if he could be friends with him, it would be best to not be enemies with him.


    "Nervous?" Zhao Bocheng sat down beside him.


    "Not nervous, just a little tired." Jing Yang stretched his neck a bit, recently he had too much to do, he couldn''t even rest well.


    Zhao Bocheng raised his hand to help him massage his neck, Jing Yang stiffened for a second, but didn''t prevent him or hide away. His pressing was prettyfortable, he simply closed his eyes to enjoy it.


    This was the first time that the two of them had this kind of direct skin contact, yet these two people who always never liked having others touch them, seemed to not dislike this kind of contact.


    This was also Zhao Bocheng''s first time doing this sort of action servicing other people, Lu Jingyu''s skin felt very good. Looking at his fair neck, he actually felt his mind ripple somewhat, and moreover started bing unsatisfied with only having this kind of simple contact.


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>like a smile yet not a smile</strong> ¨C ËÆЦ·ÇЦ, idiom, ML being passive aggressive here


    [2] <strong>inexplicable</strong> ¨C ĪÃûÆäÃî, idiom, also means baffling


    [3] <strong>deja vu</strong> ¨C ËÆÔøÏàʶ, seemingly familiar/already acquainted


    [4] <strong>old ginger is hotter than young ginger</strong> ¨C ½ª»¹ÊÇÀϵÄÀ±, idiom, the older the wiser


    [5] <strong>run amok</strong> ¨C ºú×÷·ÇΪ, idiom, also tomit outrages<hr>


    Had some free time today, so I managed to pump out this chapter after thest one. Damn, when you¡¯re able to pump out two chapters in basically the same amount of time it took to trante only one chapter, there¡¯s something going on. This one took about 2 hours (4 pm to 6 pm), for a little more than 3k characters to 2.3k words. I feel like it¡¯s all bc of having fewer idioms/phrases that need trantor notes, guys. I think that when I¡¯ve been tranting this and the previous chapter, I could just read the raws and directly trante most of it, with some but less vocab that I had to look up. Those typos and food names and idioms really slow me down.


    But the next chapter is back up to close to 4k characters, plus there¡¯s gonna be some cooking and food names there. Sigh. I think there¡¯s only one chapter about thepetition though, so it¡¯ll be over after the long chapter.


    Anyways we get to see more interaction between the MC and ML here and the slow increase in their feelings! Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯ll be much more toe ?? Though not in the next few chapters.


    I¡¯ve been trying to stay at least 1-2 weeks ahead in my trantions, just in case anythinges up. Hopefully this buffer can continue.

 Chapter 9

    Thepetition started, and after the host finished firing up everyone''s excitement, he announced the topic of today''spetition¡ª<strong>Flying Dragon ys Phoenix</strong>.


    Qian Xiang was sitting in the audience, he had a lot of confidence in Zheng Junming winning thepetition. Even though he couldn''t control the judges or thepetition results, but he still had methods to control the topic writers, and under his threats and promises, the dishes that thepetitors had to make in the two rounds were all the ones that Zheng Junming was the best at.


    And he had also thought of ways to let the program organizers arrange Zheng Junming and Lu Jingyu in adjacent positions, this way the camera could film both of them at the same time. The purpose was to let Zheng Junming to show his appearance of cooking <strong>skillfully and easily</strong>, and contrast it with Lu Jingyu''s rushed and flustered appearance.


    The ingredients area had arge variety of ingredients, there were good and bad ones, thepetitors needed to go over themselves to choose their own.


    The chicken was already killed and only needed thepetitors to clean out the internal organs themselves after picking out their chicken. The fresh squid and shrimp were still alive and also needed thepetitors to handle them themselves.


    The way the chicken was raised and the food that they ate directly affects the chicken meat''s taste. In these ten or so chickens, the ones with especially good quality really weren¡¯t many, Jing Yang even saw that there was some chicken meat that had already been sitting for too long and were almost bing bad.


    After picking out all of the ingredients that he wanted, Jing Yang started to handle the chicken, Zheng Junming couldn''t resist looking over at him many times. In his heart he was very doubtful, Lu Jingyu actually dared to participate in this kind ofpetition. Those judges not only had high standards, their mouths were also very malicious, even if he had gotten the youth group champion twice, the amount of praise he had gotten was very sparse. Lu Jingyu actually wasn''t afraid of being scolded in a <strong>torrent of abuse</strong>.


    Jing Yang raised his hand and then lowered the knife, he kept on switching between therge knife and small knife to handle the ingredients, his movements were like <strong>moving clouds and flowing water</strong>. Looking at his movements it didn''t appear like he was cooking, but that he was performing a kind of motion that people were unable to see clearly, and only felt that it was a brilliant form of martial arts.


    Zhao Bocheng looked at this kind of Jing Yang, his eyes had a smiling expression and an appreciation. Ever since the first time he saw this person, he had been attracted by his each and every move.


    Because of being young and handsome and having graceful cooking movements, as well as because he went on many cooking TV programs, Zheng Junming had attracted many many young female fans.


    After all these two people had the same father, if you look closely, you could see that the two people had three points of resemnce. But right now when they were standing together like this inparison, obviously it was Lu Jingyu''s facial features that were more exquisite, it seemed that he was also more handsome and elegant, his cooking movements were also more imposing and proficient, it let people feel a sort of visual enjoyment.


    In the audience there came <strong>waves</strong> of admiring exmations, the gazes were basically all attracted over to Jing Yang.


    And Zheng Junming''s movements that had seemed pretty graceful before, uponparison with Jing Yang, obviously became sluggish and petty. Everyone says that with noparisones no harm, these two people no matter whether it was temperament or their technique in handling their ingredients, formed a distinct contrast.


    Qian Xiang sitting below looked at the stage with aplicated gaze. His original purpose was to let Zheng Junming show his superiority to Lu Jingyu, but right now he actually let Junming be defeated by Lu Jingyu. Even though he intended to favor Zheng Junming, in his heart he was also unwilling to admit, just from looking at the skill and technique exhibited, Zheng Junming was actually not able topare to Lu Jingyu.


    But there was no need to worry, Qian Xiangforted himself, and also used his gaze tofort the Zheng Junming on stage, no matter how fancy his technique was it was still useless, that part of the score was very small, the taste was still the most important part. He had eaten this dish of Zheng Junming''s before, the taste definitely had no deficiencies, and it was exactly because of this dish that they had be friends. So he believed that Zheng Junming would definitely not let him be disappointed.


    The audience below the stage began chatting by whispering into each other''s ears, even though they did their best to lower their voice, but Qian Xiang could still hear clearly some conversation content from those sitting rtively close to him.


    "So handsome! I never knew before that originally Lu Jingyu''s appearance while cooking was actually this handsome!¡±


    "Quickly take a picture, remember to turn off the sh, don''t be discovered, just take a picture of Lu Jingyu by himself.¡±


    A person on his other side said, "Hey hey, let¡¯s also take some pictures of Lu Jingyu ba.¡±


    "Didn''t you exhaust all methods to crowd in to see Zheng Junming? Didn''t you say that Zheng Junming was your husband? Changing your mind so quickly, where''s your integrity?¡±


    "I am just a <strong>face dog</strong>, whoever is handsome then I''ll like whoever, integrity this kind of thing is only worth a few dors.¡±


    "Before didn''t everyone online say that Lu Jingyu actually didn''t know at all how to cook? They even said that with confidence and evidence, I even thought that he really didn''t know how to cook. But seeing his attitude now, obviously he is very proficient.¡±


    "What use does his movements being practiced to be handsome have? If the taste isn''t good then it''s done in vain, we should still wait until the judges'' reviews and then talk about it, otherwise if you now think that he seems like he will do well, at that time your face will be hit.¡±


    Flying Dragon ys Phoenix is a soup dish, whether the soup vor is delicious is especially important, the squid and chicken''s taste needs to be mutually vorful. Not only could you not destroy their original vor, but you also needed to get an effect of <strongplementing each other</strong>, it was very demanding.


    Even ting the dish required thepetitors to choose their own tableware. Jing Yang selected a rtively t round soup bowl, and set the bowl on top of an oval te. He used his extra time to carve vegetables into a yellow dragon and a multicolored phoenix and ted it on the edge of the te. Instantly this added a somewhat imposing atmosphere to the te, precisely the same grandeur as in the dish''s name.


    Jing Yang pressed the bell to indicate to the host that he had already finished, the camera gave his dish a close up. Obviously they wouldn''t be able to see out how it would taste, but this one dragon and phoenix were carved <strong>vividly and lifelike</strong>, it seemed like they wereing alive. Even the most amateur could see that his carving skills were very powerful.


    The host dered that time was up, and all of the participants all had to immediately stop moving their hands. Because Jing Yang was the first done, he was also the first to carry his dish over to give the judges to taste.


    After the several judges finished tasting the dish, they repeatedly nodded, discussed with each other their own thoughts for a bit, and then each individually gave a score and evaluation.


    Zhao Bocheng also tasted it, and then admiringly nced at Jing Yang, Jing Yang also coincidentally looked at him face to face, the two people quicklymunicated for a while with their gazes. Jing Yang could sense his praise, Zhao Bocheng also could sense his pride.


    Zheng Junming heard the judges'' evaluations and scores and couldn''t resist bing flustered. This was his first time hearing such high evaluations and scores in the youth group, even he who had been the youth champion twice had never gotten this high of a score. This kind of score had already reached the elderly group''s standard.


    When the final result came out, even though Zheng Junming had entered the youth finals, but his score had already been shaken off a big length by Lu Jingyu, and his evaluations whenpared to Lu Jingyu, also had too big of a difference.


    When Zheng Junming was leaving thepetition site, hisplexion was extremely unpleasant. The reporters waiting outside surrounded him wanting to interview him, but he pursed his lips <strong>not saying a word</strong>, and under the protection of his bodyguards he got on the car and left.


    The people who watched the live broadcast once again started a new round of fervent discussion online, there were people who took out those remarks that had imed Lu Jingyu simply didn''t know how to cook, and questioned the people who had issued those remarks, weren''t you guys extremely sure in saying that Lu Jingyu didn''t know how to cook? Now other people''s score on thepetition had shaken off Zheng Junming by that much, now how are you going to exin that?


    The majority of the people who had earlier said that Lu Jingyu didn''t know how to cook now had no sound, but there were still a small portion of people who persisted. They felt that Zheng Junming definitely was just in a bad state today, didn''t you see that today hisplexion was not good? Could the performance from onepetition represent someone''s entire ability? The final result was still not definite yet.


    There were people who sarcasticallymented, Zheng Junming''splexion wasn''t good, don''t tell me that it wasn''t because his score had lost to Lu Jingyu by too much?


    "Congrattions, today your performance was really great." Zhao Bocheng looked at Jing Yang.


    "Thank you, Mr. Zhao." Jing Yang smiled.


    "I feel like we can already be considered as quite familiar with each other, you can directly call my name.¡±


    "Name?" Jing Yang slightly froze. "You''re letting me call you Zhao Bocheng?¡±


    "Just my first name is fine, you don''t have to call my full name.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at his eyes, he always felt that there was some feeling of seeming to have even his soul being sucked into them. This person shouldn''t know some sort of sorcery ba.


    Zhao Bocheng raised his hand to help him fix his hair. "I am really looking forward to your performance tomorrow.¡±


    ~


    The topic of the youth finals was Dongpo pork.


    The finals has a portion for the public to evaluate the dishes, 50 names were randomly chosen to be the public judges, they would stay by themselves in a big dining hall waiting for the dishes. Before entering the dining hall, all of the people had to hand up their phones. These 50 people were kept not knowing about thepetition situation and not being able to keep in contact with the outside. After they were served the dishes, then they would start tasting, and then bring the bowl for the dish that they had been most satisfied with to the staff members. The bottom of those bowls would all have a white sticker with a number on it.


    Dongpo pork this dish could be said to be the dish that made Zheng Junming famous. When he was 17, he made this dish at Zheng Jianlin''s birthday feast and reaped favorable reviews from the guests, this let Zheng Jianlin feel like he had a lot of face. In his happiness, he also didn''t forget to announce publicly how good his son''s Dongpo pork was. At that time, the customers who went to Zheng De Ji to eat would all order a serving of Dongpo pork that Zheng Junming made personally.


    Because of the addition of the audience judges, the chefs participating in thepetition not only had to pay attention to quality but also had to pay attention to quantity and speed. Every person had to make 56 small servings of Dongpo pork in a set amount of time.


    There were a lot of methods to make Dongpo pork, but the main ingredients and side ingredients, as well as the final product, were all roughly the same. Usually the dish is made with half fat half lean pork, the final product should be approximately around 2 inches thick, and the color and luster should be simr to the shining red of cornelian or agate. And the most crucial was that it had to be tender but not mushy, fatty but not greasy.


    After the participants finished their dishes, the staff members carried them to the back to te and then served them to the audience judges. The tasting and voting were all recorded and live broadcasted from beginning to end.


    The judges on thepetition site here did the same thing as in the semifinals, after they finished tasting, they directly gave evaluations and scores.


    Zheng Junming was anxious to the point of having sweaty palms, this round he definitely couldn''t lose, if he lost to Lu Jingyu again, that wouldn''t only be his own dignity receiving a blow, but Zheng De Ji would also be influenced.


    When the judges on site finished all of the scoring, Zheng Junming''s mind was already nk, he lost again? How could that be possible, this was definitely not possible. Calm, he had to stay calm, there was still the final public vote, even if he lost on the overall score, as long as his public votes were rtively higher, then he would not havepletely lost to him.


    Besides the highest scoring Jing Yang who had the most close up shots, the person who received the second most close ups was the Zheng Junming whoseplexion kept changing erratically.


    The public judges finished eating and then started voting, the program host interviewed some of the public judges.


    "I just picked this one, it was too delicious, I''m currently trying to diet, there were so many servings that I didn''t dare topletely eat all of them. For every serving I only tasted a small mouthful, but only for this bowl did I finish eating the entire thing.¡±


    "Because I don''t know who made each of these dishes, I could only go with my truest feelings, I really truly felt that this one was the best.¡±


    "There were some that were a little greasy, and there were some that couldn''t show out all the vor, there was only this bowl that really achieved being fatty but not greasy. The fatty meat part truly melted in my mouth, yet after it melted it wasn''t the taste of meat oil, but the delicious vor of the broth.¡±


    "This te was truly especially especially delicious, I am an insane fan of Dongpo pork, right now I really want to know which chef made this serving of Dongpo pork. In the future I will definitely go to his restaurant to eat every day, and I will only order Dongpo pork.¡±


    "My standards aren''t high for food, I thought that all of them were quite good, but there was only this dish that was especially especially delicious.¡±


    The staff members tore off all of the white stickers from the collected bowls, and then covered them with a cloth and sent it over to the live broadcast site.


    The host first pulled open the red nnel cloth to take a look, then opened his mouth in astonishment and turned around. "I am truly too shocked, this is actually the first time in thepetition that this situation appeared.¡±


    The spectators'' curiosity were all inspired, they wanted to know what kind of situation it was in the end that let the host be this shocked.


    "I think that the spectators who are currently watching the live broadcast definitely really want to know the results, I believe that after you all find out, you will also be as shocked as I am. So everyone please first support your chin well, now I will announce, 3, 2, 1, ¡­" The host rapidly opened the red nnel cloth, using an excited voice to say, "All of the people chose bowl number 1, this is the first time that someone passed by unanimous vote! Congrattions number 1 Lu Jingyu, you have received the youth group finals first ce.¡±


    The scene sounded with enthusiastic apuse, it was actually an unanimous vote, Lu Jingyu''s this first ce was <strongpletely deserved</strong>.


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>flying dragon ys phoenix</strong> ¨C ÓÎÁúÏ··ï, this is the literal trantion. In terms of food, it seems to be chicken, shrimp, and squid with vegetables.


    [2] <strong>skillfully and easily</strong> ¨C ÓÎÈÐÓÐÓà, idiom, literally handling a butcher''s cleaver with ease


    [3] <strong>torrent of abuse</strong> ¨C ¹·ÑªÁÜÍ·, idiom, literally to pour dog''s blood on


    [4] <strong>moving clouds and flowing water</strong> ¨C ÐÐÔÆÁ÷Ë®, idiom, means natural and unforced, flowing


    [5] <strong>waves</strong> ¨C ´ËÆð±Ë·ü, literally up here, down there, meaning waves in session


    [6] <strong>face dog</strong> ¨C ÑÕ¹·, ng, fans who only care about appearance (usually self-deprecating)


    [7] <strongplementing each other</strong> ¨C ÏศÏà³É, idiom


    [8] <strong>vivid and lifelike</strong> ¨C èòèòÈçÉú, idiom, means realistic


    [9] <strong>not saying a word</strong> ¨C Ò»ÑÔ²»·¢, idiom, pretty literal


    [10] <strongpletely deserved</strong> ¨C ʵÖÁÃû¹é, idiom, literally fame follows merit<hr>


    We are back. Here¡¯s my long awaitedpetition chapter, mostly bc whenever I think back to this arc I usually just remember about the cookingpetition. This is probably bc I used to watch a bunch of Chopped and other cookingpetitions. Oh also and I read God of Cooking (also a great LN, but Korean unfortunately, so I was unable to obtain the raws and MTL it, and also bc I do not understand Korean at all) which also has a big cookingpetition. Spoiler? Oh, and I also love food.


    Alright so this was from 3.9k-ish characters to 3k words, and took me 3 hours, from 9 am ¨C 10:30 am, 3 pm ¨C 4:30 pm. I¡¯ve been on a roll for the past couple of days bc school has just started and none of my hw has been posted yet. Instead the profs are probably all going to give me all the hw at once so I can be really busy. That¡¯s great time management. Anyways~ thepetition part is done, so the plot will be moving on to focus more on romance ?? and on revenge. We¡¯ve already passed the halfway point of this arc!

 Chapter 10

    Thepetition results caused Zheng Junming to suffer a huge psychological shock, he left thepetition site with a paleplexion, which was wantonly reported by the media. Zheng Junming had no way to ept the fact that he had lost to Lu Jingyu, Zheng Jianlin also simrly had no way to believe that the son he had diligently guided to grow up actually would lose to the son that he had constantly ignored and disregarded.


    The theme of the overall championship round was spring, everything else was left up to the chef to decide. Jing Yang stunned the entire crowd with his <strong>´ºÅ¯»¨¿ª</strong> dish, and became the overall champion.


    During the course of thepetition, Jing Yang created several records, including being the first to receive an unanimous vote from the public vote, being the first youth group chef to be the overall champion, and also being the first chef whose evaluations were all positive.


    Jing Yang made a name for himself with thispetition, and Lu De Ji''s business became even more flourishing. Even the other two branches that had not even officially opened yet had already beenpletely booked.


    But just because Lu De Ji''s business was flourishing, didn''t mean that Zheng De Ji''s business wasn''t good. Even though their (ZDJ) business was somewhat influenced, they still remained in a normal business state.


    Jing Yang''s goal wasn''t to snatch back Zheng De Ji and to change them back to the original Lu De Ji. Zheng De Ji had already been controlled by Zheng Jianlin for many years, he had already cultivatedrge numbers of his own people. Even if he grabbed them back there wouldn''t be much of a meaning. Jing Yang''s purpose was actually topletely copse Zheng De Ji and the Zheng family father and son.


    Many news media wanted to interview Jing Yang, and Jing Yang agreed, simply holding a press conference the day before the grand opening of his restaurant branches.


    In order to be able to hear some more explosive topics to seize more publishing space, many reporters only wanted to ask about some possibly controversial topics. Naturally, the rtionship between Lu Jingyu and the Zheng family father and son was unavoidably asked about.


    The reporters asked some relevant questions, one of them asked, "We heard that before you were a young master who only knew how to drink and y, then may I ask when you started learning how to cook?¡±


    Jing Yang responded, "I don''t deny that I used to have the habit of drinking excessively, because the depression in my heart couldn''t be relieved, I could only rely on drinking to numb myself. I had self-studied how to cook since I was small, because no one taught me, I could only rely on the notes and Lu family recipes that my grandfather had left behind, and ponder over them bit by bit. Because I traveled a highly winding road, I wasn''t very confident in myself, and I didn''t dare to rashly show the food that I had cooked in front of others, fearing that I would lose face for my grandfather. So until I felt that my cooking was presentable, I finally thought of opening Lu De Ji and reviving the Lu family dishes.¡±


    The reporter: "You said that your drinking was because the depression in your heart couldn''t be relieved, then may I ask what was the reason that had led to your depression?¡±


    Jing Yang wiped his face and was silent for a while, then opened his mouth with some difficulty. "When I was still small, that day I went to school early, and because when I was still on the road I remembered that I had forgotten something, I had returned to the house to get it. And when I got back home¡­, I saw with my own eyes¡­, my mother, was falling right at that time, she fell on the marble floor, and so much blood flowed¡­¡±


    The scene was silent for a while, even the camera sounds also disappeared for a moment. A ten or so year old child saw his mothermitting suicide with his own eyes, that would definitely leave a psychological shadow, the gazes that the reporters looked at him with, were filled with sympathy.


    The reporter: "May I ask, was the reason that your mothermitted suicide, really because she didn''t want to divorce your father?¡±


    That year the matter of Lu Xuexian''s suicide had also <strong>caused a sensation</strong>, the way Zheng Jianlin had exined to the public was that he had requested to divorce with Lu Xuexian, but Lu Xuexian didn''t agree, and actually protested by dying. At that time Zheng Jianlin wept bitter tears, saying how he regretted, if he had known earlier that Lu Xuexian would reallymit suicide, even if he would have been trapped in the Lu family for a lifetime, he would still not mention wanting to divorce.


    In reality at that time Zheng Jianlin had not yet controlled all of the Lu family assets, there was still arge portion still controlled in Lu Xuexian''s hands. The Lu family not only opened restaurants, but also had many other investments and stocks, so at that time he had not at all mentioned divorcing Lu Xuexian.


    After Jing Yang was silent for a while, he said, "There are some words that I have concealed in my heart for many years already, to the point that now I can barely breathe. I would like to invite all reporters, to take my ce to ask that father of mine, when he was marrying my mother that year, he was only an impoverished beggar both economically and culturally. He had no assets, no skills, no rtives, he said that my grandfather forced him to marry my mother, I would like to ask for a second, in the end why would my grandfather want to marry him to his own daughter? Within my grandfather''s apprentices, he was not the best, my mother was also not ugly to the point of not being able to show herself. If he really did not want to marry my mother, why didn''t he simply just leave the Lu family?¡±


    The reporters <strong>looked at each other in dismay</strong>, this was actually a pretty big doubtful point. The other person''s family and business were bothrge, for what reason would they have fallen for some sort of beggar, and even insisted on marrying his <strong>delicate and refined</strong> daughter to you? Over so many years, no one actually mentioned this matter. If you said that Zheng Jianlin didn''t do some tricks, even if other people would believe it, these people who understood the rules of the industry would definitely not believe it.


    Jing Yang said, "My mothermitted suicide because she suffered from very severe mental depression. She was a very frail woman, yet every day she saw the child that her husband had had with his lover appear in front of her eyes, and constantly reminded her that the love that she had thought was true was actually all fake. Her heart from early on was already copsing, shemitted suicide because she wanted to seek freedom from her suffering, not because she didn''t want to divorce.¡±


    When the press conference was about to conclude, Jing Yang stood up and made some finishing remarks. "On behalf of my mother, I will give that father of mine an opportunity, I hope that he can personally say the truth about what happened that year. In the end, that year, was it my grandfather who forced him to marry my mother, or was it him taking the initiative to kneel down in front of my grandfather to beg to marry my mother? If he still has a bit of conscience, then don''t keep concealing the truth. And finally, I would like to invite all of the reporters to help me ask him, since he had said that the Lu family had trapped him, then after my grandfather and mother had died, why is their three person family still overtly living in the Lu home, and instead made me have a home that I can''t return to?¡±


    The events that urred during the press conference that Jing Yang convened was reported by the media, and instantly caused a huge sensation. All the reporters ran to interview Zheng Jianlin and Zheng Junming, wanting to hear how they would respond.


    Theizens also all wanted to know about those questions that Jing Yang had raised. At that time why did Lu Deyuan want to marry Zheng Jianlin to his daughter, what did you have that was worthy of his threats, why are you three people surnamed Zheng still living in the Lu home now, yet the person really surnamed Lu was actually living outside instead.


    "Disgraceful thing!" Zheng Jianlin smashed the remote control at the TV, furiously trembling from head to toe. He totally did not think that smelly kid who didn''t even dare to raise his head in front of him actually dared to question him on TV.


    "Jianlin, this is Lu Jingyu wanting to chase our family out of here!" Sun Qiurong was furious to the point that her face distorted. "You quickly think of a way, we definitely cannot let him have his way.¡±


    Zheng Jianlin clenched his teeth. "Hmph! He wants to confront me, he''s still much too young!¡±


    The Zheng Junming who was sitting on the sofa with his head lowered said, "Dad, we can''t always just hide in the house not making any response like this, this way those reporters would only speak increasingly unpleasantly. We should still quickly think of some response to make, only that way would most of the people believe us.¡±


    Outside the Lu home waspletely surrounded by reporters waiting to interview the Zheng family father and son. They really couldn''t always stay hiding in their home, after Zheng Jianlin finished thinking of how to respond, he went out to ept interviews from the reporters.


    A crowd of reporters <strong>fought to </strong>ask, "Mr. Zheng Jianlin, may we ask, what response do you have to the questions that your son Lu Jingyu asked you?¡±


    "I really did not expect that my own son would actuallye interrogate his father, I truly am very grieved." Zheng Jianlin put on a <strong>grieved andmenting</strong> expression. "Even if he hadn''t made something out of himself, I had never considered abandoning him, but his behavior right now is wanting to <strong>fall out with </strong>me. My matters with his mother were matters between us elders, and he as the younger generation, what qualifications does he have to ask me? I and his mother were married for many years before finally having him, what truth could he really know?¡±


    The reporters asked, "Then that year, in the end, what did Mr. Lu Deyuan use to force you to marry his daughter?¡±


    Zheng Jianlin put on a reminiscing appearance. "That year it was Lu Xuexian who took fancy to me, and she insisted on my marrying her, but she was the only daughter of the Lu family, if I was to marry her I would only be able to go live with her family. At that time, even though I was poor, I still had big ambitions, I was not willing to have my children not carry my surname in the future, and the most important thing was, I simply did not like Lu Xuexian! Originally the person had already died, so I also didn''t want to say anything, but now it was Lu Jingyu this shameful kid who stubbornly wants to expose his grandfather and mother''s disgrace ah!¡±


    "So you''re saying, you had never liked Lu Xuexian in the past, that it was Lu Xuexian who took fancy to you and then let her father force you to marry her?¡±


    Zheng Jianlin said, "No mistake, Lu Xuexian desperately insisted to her father that she wanted to marry to me, so her father forced me to marry to her, otherwise he would let me not have a ce to seek shelter. At that time I had no authority, no power, and <strong>no one to rely on</strong>, so I had no way, I could only agree. But the person I loved was always only my current wife this one person.¡±


    A reporter: "Then why do you all still want to keep living in the Lu home? ording to our understanding, this building is handed down from generation to generation by the Lu family, and now it is under the name of Lu Jingyu, yet Lu Jingyu is actually living outside, and you and your current wife as well as the son that you two had, are actually still living in here instead.¡±


    Zheng Jianlin said, "Lu Jingyu is living outside because he insisted on moving out, even if I let hime back he still wouldn''te back. He thought that I restricted him too much, interfering with his freedom to go y. I strenuously supported the business for so many years for the Lu family, could it be that I don''t even have the qualification to live in here?¡±


    ~


    "Rubbish!" Guo Long, who was currently watching TV, was angered to the point of pping the table because of Zheng Jianlin''s words. "He is simply speaking nonsense! That year how he begged master to marry Lu Xuexian to him, all of us fellow apprentices saw, and yet now he <strong>deliberately distorts the truth</strong>, he actually said that it was master who forced him to marry Xuexian! He is simply <strong>kicking his benefactor in the teeth</strong>, <strong>worse than a beast</strong>!¡±


    "Senior brother." Wang Yang said. "What kind of person this Zheng Jianlin is, we have long already known. This is also not his first time inverting right and wrong, it''s not worthwhile for you to keep getting angry at him. You might as well help Jing Yang think of some method to prove that what he said was false.¡±


    Jing Yang sipped tea leisurely on the side. "Just let him talk, I naturally have methods to handle him. There will be a day when he will regret every word that he is saying right now.¡±


    When the reporters came to interview Jing Yang again, he only replied with one sentence: I still hope that he can personally say the entire truth, and if he really waits for me toe out to speak, then between us there will no longer exist any emotions of father and son.


    And when the reporters still wanted to investigate in more detail, Jing Yang no longer appeared to make any response.


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>´ºÅ¯»¨¿ª </strong>¨C ok so I really don''t know what this is. From context this seems like it should be some dish. But the phrase itself actually means "flowers blooming during a warm spring". Take what you will.


    [2] <strong>cause a sensation</strong> ¨C ºä¶¯Ò»Ê±, idiom


    [3] <strong>looked at each other in dismay</strong> ¨C ÃæÃæÏàêï, idiom, though dismay might be too strong for this case


    [4] <strong>delicate and refined</strong> ¨C È绨ËÆÓñ, idiom, literally delicate as a flower and refined as a jade


    [5] <strong>fought to ask</strong> ¨C ÕùÏÈ¿Öºó, idiom, literally striving to be the first and fearing to be thest


    [6] <strong>grieved andmenting</strong> ¨C Í´Ðļ²Ê×, idiom, literally bitter and hateful


    [7] <strong>fall out with</strong> ¨C ·´Ä¿³É³ð, idiom, means bing enemies


    [8] <strong>no one to rely on</strong> ¨C ÎÞÒÀÎÞ¿¿, idiom


    [9] <strong>deliberately distorts the truth</strong> ¨C µßµ¹ºÚ°×, idiom, literally invert ck and white


    [10] <strong>kicking his benefactor in the teeth</strong> ¨C Íü¶÷¸ºÒå, idiom, literally to forget favors and vite justice


    [11] <strong>worse than a beast</strong> ¨C ÇÝÊÞ²»Èç, idiom, means to behave immorally<hr>


    I guess what I saidst time wasn''t entirely true, thepetition did continue for like two more "paragraphs" here. Ofc, our OP MC wins. But that''s what I want, so all is well.


    Yeah, so this chapter was basically that and an exchange of acting appearances from both our MC and that father of his, tho some more truthful than others. If I''m not wrong, the actual romance starts next chapter, so look forward to that. ??


    Finished this in our standard 1.5 hours, 3 pm ¨C 4:30 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.6k words. It felt longer though, especially with so many frickin trantor notes (idioms). I also wasted a few minutes on that first spring dish, which really confused me. So I just left it as is. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥


    Also I was on my phone looking over the few scheduled chapters I had finished before this one, and I found this one typo. And now when I¡¯m on myputer, I wanted to go back to fix that typo, but I don¡¯t know where it is now. Argh! It¡¯s frustrating me! Hopefully I¡¯ll find itter when I go look back over the chapters in the future.


    <strong>Edit:</strong> In case you missed it, I¡¯ve usually been trying to keep at least 2 weeks ahead of schedule, so all of my already tranted chapters are currently scheduled for publication. So all of these random notes are written on the day of trantion, which is usually 2 weeks earlier than the day of publication, lol. It can get a bit confusing. But anyway, I¡¯m back with an additional note a couple days before this chapter is going to be up. The entire arc 1 has been tranted! With the finish line in sight, I tranted thest 3 chapters yesterday and today. I¡¯ll probably be taking a few days off before tranting the next arc, since it¡¯s almost entirely different. But have no fear, there will be no dys in the chapter releases for Arc 1.


    And I guess I¡¯ll mention that I didn¡¯t find that typo I was talking about above. Lmk if you do. Edit: actually I just reread this chapter and found and fixed a typo. Maybe it was the one I was worrying about before??


    <strong>Edit edit: </strong>The post is up. I just wanted to give a short update: I have decided to go on a hiatus from reading LNs for the sake of my sanity and responsibility. That means that I will likely be tranting even more frequently and building up my backlog. Chapter 1 of Arc 2 has already been tranted! It was a doozy ??

 Chapter 11

    <strong>Chapter 11</strong>


    "Boss, there''s flowers for you again." The waiter carried over arge bouquet of white roses, bringing it over to Jing Yang''s lounge.


    Jing Yang took over the flowers and took out the card inside. After opening it to take a look, he smiled. Recently Zhao Bocheng would let people send over 99 white roses every day, and then on the card personally write a short love note. He was openly pursuing him.


    Jing Yang had gone through over a thousand worlds, yet had never experienced before what it felt like to love a person, and before actually it was not that there were no people pursuing him, there were both men and women, but those people''s pursuit would only let him feel repulsed.


    Zhao Bocheng was the only one who openly pursued him, and actually did not make him feel annoyed. Then since his heart did not conflict with the other person, he decided to <strong>let nature take its course</strong>. Because he had never loved before, so he also wasn''t clear what his feelings toward Zhao Bocheng really were, and in the end whether or not his feelings were considered love. But he was not tangled up on this, everything would just go along with his heart''s intentions.


    And he had been alone for so many worlds, he also wanted to experience for a time the feeling of love and of having someone to apany you.


    There were many media reporters wanting to ask Jing Yang what the truth was, but Jing Yang always didn''t speak out, and Zheng Jianlin''s side kept speaking more and more. The quarreling online also became increasingly intense, the matter of Zheng Junming being a bastard was again mentioned.


    ¡ª¡ª"Is he wrong for being an illegitimate child? There is no person who can choose their own birth. If he could have chosen, don''t tell me that he would wish that he would be born as an illegitimate child?¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"Being an illegitimate child is not his fault, then it would still be his parents'' fault ba, his mother forced the other person''s original wife to be depressed to the point of suicide. He even said that the other person''s original wife didn''t treat him well enough, could the original wife have been able to treat the son of her own husband and his lover like her own son ma?¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"Was it other people who forced her to die? Obviously it was her who insisted on forcing others to marry her, and refused to divorce <strong>regardless of life or death</strong>. But love cannot be forced, obviously it was her forcing herself, you can''t me others.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"If there''s nothing wrong with the illegitimate child, then marrying and then having a child would be wrong ma? upying someone else''s house and stubbornly refusing to leave, their face skin is really thick enough.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"That''s right, their family of three isn''t surnamed Lu, what''s going on with them living in the Lu home? Zheng Jianlin said that he bitterly supported the Lu family business for so many years, but the restaurants that had formerly belonged to the Lu family, now were all changed to be his. And Lu Jingyu also didn''t say that he wanted them back, now the Lu family restaurants were all opened by himself. You even seized his ancestral residence, that''s too inexcusable.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"I also feel that they shouldn''t live in the Lu home. Zheng Jianlin said that Lu Jingyu himself was unwilling to return home, but you think about it, his own mothermitted suicide, then his father immediately married back his lover, and then add on that they even have an illegitimate child, so only they are a proper family. If it were me, I would also not be able to stay in that house.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"Can we please not keep saying ¡®illegitimate child¡¯ every sentence? Other people''s parents have long already married, so he early on already no longer had the identity of being an illegitimate child. It''s just you all refusing to let it go, is that interesting? Love makes no mistakes, those days of when his parents obviously were in love yet couldn''t be together, have you all thought how he felt? Lu Xuexian felt ufortable when she looked at him, wouldn''t he also have felt ufortable when he saw Lu Xuexian?¡±


    Just when the online discussions were moring, Jing Yang added some fire. He published a video, taken when Zheng Jianlin and Lu Xuexian were getting married. This video had all along been locked up for many years by Lu Xuexian in a safe to collect, and that day when Jing Yang went back to retrieve some things, he had also brought this out.


    In the video, Zheng Jianlin was confessing to Lu Xuexian with deep emotion, kneeling on one knee to help her put on her ring, saying that he would love her <strong>for his entire life</strong>. Lu Xuexian was moved to tears, Zheng Jianlin also restrained his tears and emotionally kissed her.


    There was also a video of the two of them having tea with Lu Deyuan. Lu Deyuan said: even though at the beginning I did not agree to you two being together, but over these past several years I have observed you, and you could be considered to have made much progress. I hope that you will never forget the promise that you had made to me when you were seeking for Xuexian''s marriage. I hope that you can forever cherish and protect her, help her support the family, and not waste the painstaking effort I had taken to guide you.


    At the end of the video, Jing Yang left a note: This is myst time requesting you, my father, I request that you personally say the truth, as long as you admit that you had ndered my grandfather and mother, then everything can <strong>disappear</strong>. And the other matters, I can act as if they never happened, but if you <strong>obstinately persist on </strong>not speaking the truth, I will make everything public.


    ¡ª¡ª"Didn''t Zheng Jianlin say that he only married Lu Xuexian because he was forced without a choice? Then the image of him confessing with such emotion in the video, and the image of him promising in front of Lu Deyuan, were you also forced to shoot them by the father and daughter? Then I can only say that the Oscars are just missing your little gold man.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"Didn''t he say that he had never loved Lu Xuexian before? Then you still expressed such deep emotions, and in your extramarital affair you even had a mistress. And then you still even <strong>made false usations</strong> against your original wife, this is simply a g man!¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"No matter for what reason Zheng Jianlin married Lu Xuexian, please first take your mistress and that illegitimate child and roll from the Lu home okay?¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"Directly publish the entire truth ba, such a g man who <b>changes affections</b> so quickly, you really can''t count on him to have half a conscience for his original wife.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"That''s right, just directly publish the truth!¡±


    ¡ª¡ª"In favor of publishing the truth!¡±


    Even though there were many people online requesting that Jing Yang directly publish the actual facts, he again fell silent and didn''t make any kind of response, because the time had not yete.


    And after the video was published, Zheng Jianlin for some time also couldn''t find something to say to justify himself. He could only persist in saying that he only married Lu Xuexian because he was forced helpless, he never loved her, and he still rigidly insisted on not leaving the Lu house.


    ~


    Jing Yang was napping on the chaise in his lounge when he heard someone open the door and enter. He also didn''t open his eyes, he was already familiar with the sound of the footsteps, he knew who it was without even needing to look.


    Until arge palm held his ankle, slowly touched up across his silk trousers, and almost reached his forbidden area, Jing Yang finally opened his eyes and looked at him. "What do you want to do?¡±


    Zhao Bocheng''s hand lightly slid past somewhere and directly touched his face, he came close to look down at him, "What do you think I want to do?¡±


    "You want to behave like a rogue?¡±


    "I''ve pursued you for this long, yet you didn''t give me any response. It looks like I can only use force." Zhao Bocheng''s thumb rubbed his lip.


    "Oh?" Jing Yang smiled. "How are you going to use force? I have not yet been forced by anyone, you can try it and see, let me experience what it feels like. But if your skill is no good and lets me be unsatisfied, I will resist oh.¡±


    "You won''t have the chance to resist." Zhao Bocheng pressed on Jing Yang, and after he sucked his lips for a while, he extended his tongue into his mouth¡­


    When Jing Yang was entangling with his tongue, for a split second he had the feeling of having his soul being sucked away. This kind of feeling let him be <strong>inexplicably</strong> excited, he lifted his arm and hooked his shoulder, wanting to go even closer.


    Knocking came from outside, sounding pretty impatient.


    "Bro, are you inside?" Chen Rui originally wanted to directly open the door to enter, but he actually found out that he couldn''t open it, so he could only call out.


    Jing Yang pushed Zhao Bocheng away, and then responded, "I''m here." He took several deep breaths and evened his breathing with great difficulty. He looked over at the two tightly closed decoratively carved wooden doors, when Zhao Bocheng was entering the room, he actually locked the doors. But good thing he had locked them, otherwise this scene would have been like a couple being caught in the act on the bed.


    Jing Yang stood up and fixed his clothes, then quickly walked over to open the door for Chen Rui. "What matter happened for you to be so concerned.¡±


    "Some people came to cause trouble." Chen Rui said with an impatient expression.


    "Who came to cause trouble?" Jing Yang frowned.


    "That young master from the Qian family, Qian Xiang, he brought a gang of his friends over, and insisted on you personally going over to give him a cooking performance.¡±


    "Qian Xiang?" Jing Yang turned his head to nce at the Zhao Bocheng who was <strong>leisurely</strong> reclining on the chaise, and then turned back around to say to Chen Rui, "You go over first and say that I''ll be there in a bit. Oh right, help me bring over a rolling pin from the kitchen, I want thergest and longest one.¡±


    "Rolling pin?" Chen Rui looked at him with a face full of bewilderment.


    "Go, go." Jing Yang pushed him and closed the door.


    "Your cousin wants me to sell my skill, do you have any thoughts?" Jing Yang walked toward Zhao Bocheng.


    Zhao Bocheng tugged him to sit on hisp and pinched his chin. "I''ll go help you solve that smelly kid, but how will you repay me?¡±


    "How do you want me to repay you?¡±


    "How about, I''ll be the <strong>knight in shining armor</strong>, and you''ll give your heart to me?¡±


    Jing Yang coldly smiled. "Your family really has no good things, your cousin is forcing me to sell my art, and you want me to force me to sell my body.¡±


    Zhao Bocheng''s lips fit against his. "It''s also fine for me to sell my body to you, as long as you give renumeration, how about I allow you to order me around?¡±


    Jing Yang pushed him away and stood up. "You first take away your cousin, if he really makes noise and causes trouble for the other guests, then you don''t ever want to set foot in my restaurant again.¡±


    Jing Yang was wearing from top to bottom white silk clothing with dark embroidery, this increasingly set off his unearthly temperament. When he walked into the private room, Qian Xiang coincidentally raised his head and suddenly saw him, and was in a daze for a bit.


    "Oh, boss Lu." Qian Xiang came back from his daze, and then deliberately said with an ent, "I heard that not only do you make delicious food, but your appearance when cooking is also very good. My these brothers came today because we wanted to see boss Lu''s appearance when cooking. If we are satisfied, the tip will definitely not be less.¡±


    Jing Yang also didn''t speak and took over the rolling pin from Chen Rui, and just kept looking at him with the same expressionless face.


    Qian Xiang was infuriated by his appearance of seeming like he was looking at an idiot and jumped up to curse at him. But then he saw the person who came in after Jing Yang and froze. "Cou, cousin¡­, how are you also here?¡±


    "These words should be for me to say ba." Zhao Bocheng looked at him coldly. "What did youe here to do?¡±


    "I, I came here to eat, isn''t this a restaurant?" Once Qian Xiang saw Zhao Bocheng''s cold eyes, his heart also became somewhat timid.


    "How did I hear that you came to see a performance ne? You still know that this is a ce for eating?" Zhao Bocheng walked over and forcefully treaded on Qian Xiang''s leg. "Did I not tell you, if you still dare to <strong>run amok</strong> outside, I would break your leg.¡±


    Qian Xiang was toppled onto the floor by that one foot, those friends of his also immediately stood up, and none of them dared to go over to help him. On one hand cautiously looking at Zhao Bocheng''splexion, and on the other hand <strong>looking at each other in dismay</strong>. They originally came with Qian Xiang to teach Lu Jingyu a lesson, but seeing this spectacle, the person who was taught a lesson changed into Qian Xiang himself. What type of person Zhao Bocheng is, they understood very well, don''t need to mention going up to help, they didn''t even dare to go persuade him a little ah. They also didn''t know whether to continue to stay, or whether they should immediately leave.


    Qian Xiang climbed up with great difficulty, and also didn''t dare to say that it hurt, instead exining to Zhao Bocheng, "I really came to eat ah, and I also, I also didn''t use your reputation¡­, or something.¡±


    "You''re still justified aren''t you ba." Zhao Bocheng again stepped on his chest, this time he exerted much more force. Qian Xiang yelled out loudly, this time shrinking on the floor for half a day and still wasn''t able to get up.


    Zhao Bocheng turned his head to look at those already frozen friends. They trembled upon being nced at, and quickly said, "Uh, we still have some business, so we''ll just first leave, you guys slow, slow¡­, slowly something.¡±


    Qian Xiang''s friends ran away like they were fleeing from cmity, and Zhao Bocheng again kicked the Qian Xiang on the ground several times, making Qian Xiang wail, "Bo brother! Brother, you are going to kick me to death! If you really kick me to death how are you going to confess to my mother, your aunt ah?¡±


    Jing Yang raised his hand and stopped Zhao Bocheng from continuing to beat up Qian Xiang. "If you continue like this you''re going to bother the other customers. I''lle, you go stand at the side.¡±


    Zhao Bocheng looked at him for a bit, and then made an expression of letting him do as he wished.


    Jing Yang forcefully stuffed arge piece of cloth into Qian Xiang''s mouth, to the point of his eyes rolling. Then he raised the rolling pin and gave him an indiscriminate beating, hitting Qian Xiang to the point of rolling around on the floor.


    Zhao Bocheng raised his eyebrow. He really could not tell before that Lu Jingyu could dispose of him so ruthlessly. This was really the same as giving a lesson to an enemy who had killed his mother, exhausting all of his strength from his entire body. But he actually was very precise in avoiding the vital parts, so he also didn''t stop it and just kept watching his own cousin be beat.


    For the sake of the previous life''s Chen Rui and Lu Jingyu these two people''s lives, Qian Xiang being sessively beaten by two people entirely did not suffer a bit of injustice.


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>let nature take its course</strong> ¨C ˳Æä×ÔÈ», idiom


    [2] <strong>regardless of life or death</strong> ¨C ËÀ»î²»¿Ï, idiom


    [3] <strong>for his entire life</strong> ¨C Ò»ÉúÒ»ÊÀ, idiom, means an entire lifetime


    [4] <strong>disappear</strong> ¨C ÑÌÏûÔÆÉ¢, saying?, means to vanish like smoke in thin air


    [5] <strong>obstinately persist on</strong> ¨C Ö´ÃÔ²»Îò, idiom, usually doing bad or wrong things


    [6] <strong>make false usations</strong> ¨C µ¹´òÒ»°Ò, idiom, literally means to strike with a muck rake? reference from the Journey to the West apparently


    [7] <strong>change affections</strong> ¨C ÒÆÇé±ðÁµ, idiom, means to change feelings to someone else


    [8] <strong>inexplicably</strong> ¨C ĪÃûÆäÃî, idiom, also means baffling


    [9] <strong>leisurely</strong> ¨C ÓÆÔÕ, apparently means the same thing as ÓÆÔÕÓÆÔÕ, which is an idiom meaning free and unconstrained


    [10] <strong>knight in shining armor</strong> ¨C Ó¢ÐÛ¾ÈÃÀ, literally means the hero saves the beauty


    [11] <strong>run amok</strong> ¨C ºú×÷·ÇΪ, idiom, means tomit outrages


    [12] <strong>look at each other in dismay </strong>¨C ÃæÃæÏàêï, idiom<hr>


    A nice, fast, and focused trantion! That was 3.8k characters to ~2.9k words in only 2 hours, from 1 pm ¨C 3 pm. This was done straight off of finishing the first BL book (Superstar Rebirth) I read after a string of BL fast wears. I remember when my previous 3.8k chapter took 3 hours to trante. Heh we might be getting some action next chapter, after the ML was c*ckbl*cked this chapter by the cousin. Actually both cousins. The ML¡¯s cousin caused the MC¡¯s cousin to stop the ML. That¡¯s actually pretty hrious.


    Though tbh just starting from this chapter I¡¯m already not looking forward to tranting that. Like the raws for the kissing here was like the ML¡¯s lips stuck onto the MC¡¯s lips. Idk how attractive the image of sticking lips is¡­I¡¯ll have to go reread some BL smex for some context.

 Chapter 12

    <strong>Chapter 12</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    "En~, ah!¡±


    Two bodies were entangled together, besides the sound of rapid and heavy breathing, the person who was being pressed down would from time to time let out unrestrained moans.


    To Jing Yang, this type of feeling should bepletely unfamiliar, yet when hepletely sank into the pleasure, he again gradually felt a sense of familiarity to this feeling. Some simr scenes suddenly appeared in his mind, making him somewhat distracted, unclear whether this moment was reality or imagination.


    Jing Yangy on his stomach on the bed, his entire body powerless. Evidently the person who had exerted the effort wasn''t him, why would he be so tired. Zhao Bocheng pressed up against his body, kissing his back.


    Turning around his body, Jing Yang propped up his shoulder and looked at him face to face. That pair of eyes always gave him a sense of familiarity. During the time of disordered thought and crazy passion, he had felt that even the two people''s souls had been entangled together, and furthermore these two souls had been familiar with each other for a long time. It was the type of familiarity where just touching would let their hearts tremble, just like the feeling that he had gotten from the jade Hades had given him.


    Right now he had a notion, perhaps from the beginning, what let him feel familiar was actually not that pair of eyes, but the soul that he could sense prating through that pair of eyes. Perhaps there is a possibility, the souls that hade to this separate world, was actually not at all only just him.


    "What are you thinking about?" Zhao Bocheng kissed his eyes.


    Jing Yang half-closed his eyes. "I''m thinking, why would we develop into this kind of rtionship, and how long this kind of rtionship can be maintained.¡±


    "I''m very happy.¡±


    "Happy about what?" Jing Yang doubtfully looked at him.


    "We have only just begun, but you''re already <strong>thinking about the future</strong>. Doesn''t this mean that you care about me?" Zhao Bocheng smiled.


    Jing Yang wanted to refute him, yet didn''t want to say some false words right now. "I don''t know, I have never loved a person, so I don''t know how I should define the feelings I have for you.¡±


    "In that way, I am very fortunate. Even if right now you are still unclear about the feeling of loving a person, I will definitely be the first person you love. To me, all of those verbal promises don''t have too much meaning, only time can prove everything.¡±


    Jing Yang temporarily couldn''t determine his own feelings towards him, and also had no way to confirm his own conjecture in a short time, so he decided to follow what Zhao Bocheng said and to let time prove everything.


    Thebination of the physical body could let his spirit and soul all feel an iparable happiness, this was something that the Jing Yang who had passed through over a thousand worlds, had only just now discovered.


    In the past those people who had pursued him, it wasn''t like he had never thought about randomly getting together once, but just thinking about sleeping in the same bed with those people, he felt like his entire body was ufortable. If he had really gotten together with someone, that type of feeling would have been like helping someone else aplish something, yet having embarrassed and nauseated himself. Then for his entire life he would still live with a sense of nausea, so he never did this.


    Yet now not only did he entangle together his naked body with Zhao Bocheng, but also was kissed by him over his entire body, and again and again was connected intimately to his body. What was miraculous was that this let his body and heart all feel extremely delighted.


    ~


    At noon the next day, the two people finally got out of bed. Jing Yang supported his aching waist and felt that it was because this time he had no experience that he was overwhelmed by Zhao Bocheng again and again, and stillpletelycked any ability to resist. For the sake of his body, in the future he definitely could not indulge in so much debauchery.


    Zhao Bocheng embraced Jing Yang sitting on the sofa. "I''ll help you take back the Lu family ancestral residence ba, letting them keep on living there, your heart is definitely ufortable.¡±


    "No need, I will invitewyers to go over and give them 5 days of time to move out. Otherwise I will directly go to court to chase them out." His original n was to first solve Qian Xiang, making Zheng Junming have no power or influence, and then solve that father and son, and in the end take back the Lu family.


    That he and Zhao Bocheng''s rtionship would develop to this waspletely not in his anticipation, so the sequence of his n was changed. He also wanted to see to what degree Zhao Bocheng would be willing to help him.


    Thewyer went to notify Zheng Jianlin that their family needed to move out within 5 days, and was chased out by Zheng Jianlin''s roars and curses. He had lived in this house for so many years, he had long considered it as one of his own possessions. Even if this property right now was under Lu Jingyu''s name, but in his mind, there was no basis for sons chasing out their fathers from the house. If Lu Jingyu really were to do something like that, he would be <strong>disgraceful</strong>.


    Jing Yang would obviously not bother about how Zheng Jianlin thought, and also didn''t care about how other people thought. Once the five days were up, he brought thewyers and bodyguards back to the Lu home, and in front of their faces asked the three people who had persisted in living in the Lu family whether they would go out themselves or he would let the bodyguards "invite" them out.


    "Lu Jingyu! I have lived in this home for several decades, for what reason would you chase me out?" Zheng Jianlin had not thought that that he would really bring people to chase him out, interrogating Jing Yang with a facepletely flushed from anger.


    "If you are not deliberately pretending to be silly, you should be very clear who holds all of the authority over this property. This is the Lu family ancestral residence, I am the Lu family people but can''t live in it, yet let you these surnamed Zheng people live here. No matter whether we are looking at it from the legal angle or from the ethical angle, this would not be proper ba?" Jing Yang sat on the sofa in the hall looking at them, behind his back stood fivewyers and twenty bodyguards that were ready at any time to move to "invite" them out.


    "You want to <strong>talk clearly </strong>now ba? Then today I will properly speak with you clearly, I am your father, your life was given by me, and now you actually want to chase me out the house, could it be that you''re not afraid of retribution?" Zheng Jianlin roared.


    "Retribution? You''re speaking about retribution to me?" Jing Yang looked at him with surprise, and startedughing as if he had heard some especially funny joke. "Hearing the word retribution from your mouth, it''s really funny ah, I really had not thought that you would actually still believe in retribution.¡±


    When Jing Yang hadughed enough, he stood up and used chilly eyes to look at him. "So what if you are my biological father? Was it you who had carried me in your womb for ten months and then gave birth to me ma? Since I was small, have you ever brought me up, have you ever guided me? All of your fatherly love was given to Zheng Junming, have you ever given me a hair? Have you ever given me any good face? Have you ever had a bit of fatherly responsibility for me? <strong>From start to finish</strong>, you have never given me the treatment of a biological son, yet you still want me to honor you as my father, it¡¯s also only your Zheng family that would have this kind of principle. But sorry, I''m surnamed Lu, not Zheng, to me, this is really <strong>fortune from misfortune</strong>.¡±


    "I will tell you Zheng Jianlin." Jing Yang walked a few steps toward him. "Don''t mistakenly think that because we have a blood rtionship, that everything you have done to the Lu family and me, you would be able to escape any responsibility. Today I will chase out you three people, it will be the start of your three people''s retribution, and definitely will not be the end.¡±


    The bodyguards went up to drag the three people out, Zheng Jianlin struggled and yelled. "Lu Jingyu you this brute, you would chase out even your own biological father, you will not have a good result¡­¡±


    "Let go of me, let go of me!" Sun Qiurong was dragged by the bodyguard and lost a high heel, screaming loudly, "This is our home, you have no right to chase us out, let go of me, this is my house!¡±


    Zheng Junming never let out a sound from start to end, only using an wrathful gaze to re at Jing Yang.


    Some reporters who had been keeping watch outside suddenly saw that these three people were thrown out by the bodyguards, and instantly rushed forward to take pictures. After the bodyguards threw out the people, in ordance with Jing Yang''s orders, they threw out those three people''s possessions outside one by one.


    "My jewelry, my bags!" Sun Qiurong crawled on the floor to pick up all of her jewelry, without any of her usual upper-ss woman appearance.


    "Mom, get up." Zheng Junming felt that his mother''s appearance had really lost too much face, he supported her up and helped her collect all of her jewelry into a suitcase.


    "All of you look, look!" Zheng Jianlin emotionally said to the reporters who were taking pictures. "This Lu Jingyu is really not a thing, he would even throw out his own biological father, does he have any conscience? He is simply a brute, all of you record it down, record it! Let everyone know, what kind of thing he is in the end!¡±


    The three people stayed in front of the Lu family entrance for a long time, many reporters who had received the news surrounded them taking pictures and videos. Zheng Jianlin shed tears while angrily rebuking Lu Jingyu as a <strong>good-for-nothing</strong>, he had bitterly worked hard for the Lu family for so many years, he didn''t think that there would be a day when he would be chased out by his own son¡­


    Zheng Junming supported his mother and stood at the side, the mother and son showed an appearance of enduring their sorrow.


    The three people performed a y fully, until they themselves felt tired. Zheng Jianlin saw that he had scolded for this long yet Jing Yang still didn''te out to yell at him or call him back. He really didn''t have the energy to keep cursing anymore, and finally brought the Zheng Junming mother and son to leave.


    For this scene simr to a family ethics theatrical y, the media reporters carried out a very long report, but the media did not judge or take a viewpoint. In the end whether it was the Zheng family father and son who had always seized the Lu family that was wrong, or the Lu Jingyu who had chased the biological father out of the home that was wrong, everything was left for the spectators to go discuss by themselves.


    And in fact, before the media saw who the majority of the public opinion would favor, they did not want to offend the public and be scolded, so they waited for the public to judge themselves, and then they would decide which side to favor.


    After the media reports, public opinion did notpletely lean toward any side, some people believed that since you Zheng Jianlin already remarried, yet you still brought your wife and child to continue to live in someone else''s Lu family, that was in no way justifiable. And the Lu family so many restaurants were now controlled in your hand, the amount of property in your hand is definitely not small, it''s impossible that you have nowhere to live. Hanging onto the Lu family ancestral residence refusing to leave, in the end what kind of thoughts they are nning, it''s <strong>an open secret</strong>.


    There were also some whose thinking were more outdated, and some who from the start were already favoring the Zheng family who believed, chasing out your father as a son, that is disgraceful,cking any humanity.


    How other people saw his actions, Jing Yangpletely did not pay attention to, just like before, he did whatever he was supposed to do. He had thrown out those three people from the Lu family, he also finally helped Lu Jingyu out a bit, and on his behalf helped him do some of the matters that he had wanted to do yet was never able to achieve.


    <hr>


    [1]<strong> thinking about the future</strong> ¨C »¼µÃ»¼Ê§, phrase, apparently it means to worry about personal gains and losses but doesn''t really fit into this context¡­


    [2] <strong>disgraceful</strong> ¨C ´óÄæ²»µÀ, disgraceful in an unfilial manner


    [3] <strong>talk clearly</strong> ¨C ½²µ½µ×, literally it means speak to the bottom, like talking about the ultimate reason


    [4] <strong>from start to finish</strong> ¨C ×ÔʼÖÁÖÕ, idiom


    [5] <strong>fortune from misfortune </strong>¨C ²»ÐÒÖеÄÍòÐÒ, saying, something like silver lining, something gooding out of all of the misfortune


    [6] <strong>good for nothing</strong> ¨C ²»ÊǶ«Î÷, derogatory, not a thing, worthless nobody


    [7] <strong>an open secret</strong> ¨C ˾ÂíÕÑÖ®ÐÄ£¬Â·È˽ÔÖª, idiom, literally Sima Zhao''s intentions are obvious to everyone<hr>


    First chapter I¡¯ve tranted in a few days: 1.5 hours, 9 am ¨C 10:30 am. About 3k characters to 2.3k words. I reread the first Rebirth of a Supermodel (Mo Chen Huan) smex scene before tranting this, just in case I would need some reference, and instantly became sad bc the amount of smex in fast wear is just so much less. Though in my other BL I still feel like MCH has the most smex. Or at least his smex scenes are the most detailed. Sigh.


    I¡¯ve been reading other BL pretty seriously (probably not the right word to use here), so tranting has been a little slow. Good BL is just so addicting you know! I¡¯ve still been trying to stay ahead of my chapter publishing schedule though.

 Chapter 13

    Zheng Jianlin used all kinds of methods to use Lu Jingyu of not having any humanity or any conscience, heartless and unjust, and the sounds of people supporting him again showed signs of increasing. But Jing Yang remained unmoved like before, only paying attention to doing his own business, living his own life, and didn''te out to justify himself.


    The Zheng family father and son saw that using public opinion to pressure him was useless, but were still not reconciled to being chased out of the Lu family like this. So if they wanted to rob back the Lu family from Jing Yang''s hands, they could only use other methods.


    During this period of time Zheng Junming never saw Qian Xiang, the news of them being chased out of the Lu family was noisy to this extent yet Qian Xiang didn''t appear to say to help them. Then he could only take the initiative to go find Qian Xiang at his residence.


    Qian Xiang had been spending all of this time recuperating, he had nearly been crippled by his cousin and Jing Yang''s double beating, and yet all of them were inner wounds, from the outside you couldn''t see out anything. In the previous several days he had always been living in the hospital, and just returned home yesterday.


    Zheng Junming said a few words with Qian Xiang and then saw that he asionally used his hand to hold his stomach, and worriedly looked at him. "What happened? Notfortable?¡±


    "Nothing, I was careless and fell down at home, nothing big." He definitely had no face to say that he had been beaten up by his cousin and by Lu Jingyu. After all, he''s also a big man, he also wants face, how could he say out these kinds of matters.


    "My parents and I were chased out of the home by Lu Jingyu, did you know of this matter?" Zheng Junming asked.


    "Know." This matter was noisy to that extent, the media still reported on it every day, how could he not have known.


    "Can you help think of some way¡­" Zheng Junming hesitated. "I did not want to live in the Lu family since a long time ago, but my dad invested so many years for the Lu family, if he''s chased out like this, his heart is really ufortable, and he was also humiliated. My dad actually doesn¡¯t want that property, he just wanted to have something to serve as his justification, he wants to prove that his bitterness over these years was worth it.¡±


    "Don''t worry, I will solve his matter. I will make it so that Lu Jingyu will no longer be able to go against you again!" Qian Xiang wrote down the matter of Zheng Junming being chased out and himself being beaten, these ounts he would definitely settle clearly with Lu Jingyu.


    "You also shouldn''t make things too difficult for him, as long as he can politely invite my father back, that''s enough." Zheng Junming sighed. "After all, he''s also pretty pitiful.¡±


    "How is he pitiful?" Qian Xiang disdainfully curled his lip.


    "He saw his mothermit suicide with his own eyes, that''s already quite pitiful." Zheng Junming strove to make a sympathetic expression.


    "Pitiful people must have hateful reasons, plus what rtionship does his mothermitting suicide have with you, why would he only go against you and vent his anger on you?¡±


    Zheng Junming said, "Even though I didn''t live well in the Lu family when I was young, and suffered not a few looks from his mother, but my father still did his best topensate me. In the past I quite hated the Lu family, if it wasn''t for their family, my parents wouldn''t have been unable to be together, and I wouldn''t have had to bebeled as an illegitimate child. Then I thought about itter, since the people had already died, why should I still hate them? I feel that one day Lu Jingyu will understand, when people have virtuous thoughts, their lives would also change to be much more beautiful.¡±


    "You ah¡­" Qian Xiang patted his hand. "Your character is just too kindhearted and clean, but that''s also good, you should just continue to stay this way, other things I cane help you do.¡±


    If this conversation had been heard by Jing Yang, he would definitely find it very funny. Zheng Junming actually said that his childhood in the Lu family was very difficult. After Zheng Jianlin brought him back to the Lu family, his attitude towards him and the methods of instructing him, werepletely the type of treatment of setting him as the Lu family''s heir.


    And the one who suffered from unfavorable looks was Lu Jingyu. Zheng Jianlin never treated him like his own son, this left a shadow in his heart ever since he was small. Only because of this was he still so scared of Zheng Jianlin even after he had grown up.


    ~


    During this time Jing Yang always drove by himself to go out and didn''t allow bodyguards to follow him. Today when he left the house, he felt that there was a car following him. When he looked in the rearview mirror, he smiled, they finally came?


    That car sped up and drew close to him, and after it stayed a few seconds next to his car, it overtook him by half a car length¡­


    In the past Jing Yang had acted as apetitive racer before, hepletely didn''t ce this opponent''s car driving skills into his eye. On this stretch of road there were very few cars, so he would just apany the other guy to y a little, and before they arrived at the intersection, he would then solve the other man.


    The two cars kept on battling on the road, asionally passing by some other cars, which quickly emergency braked after being scared by the two cars.


    At a bend, Jing Yang pulled into a drift, the two cars scraped together. Jing Yang suddenly emergency braked, the other car bumped into the front of his car and spun out to very far away. Not stopping until it crashed into a very wide tree.


    But in this crash, the person inside would definitely have not light injuries.


    Jing Yang took out his cell phone to call Zhao Bocheng''s number and used a somewhat flustered tone to say, "A car crash happened here, can youe over?¡±


    "Where are you?" Zhao Bocheng immediately asked.


    Jing Yang told him his address, and after he hung up the phone, he just kept sitting in the car to wait.


    Zhao Bocheng very quickly brought people to rush over, and opened Jing Yang''s car door with a somewhat anxiousplexion. He kept on looking him up and down, "Are you hurt?¡±


    "I wasn''t hurt." Jing Yang pointed at that car crashed into the tree. "The person on that car should have been injured.¡±


    Zhao Bocheng supported Jing Yang out of the car, his movements were very <strong>gentle and careful</strong>, and checked all over Jing Yang''s body. When he saw that he really didn''t seem like he was injured, he tightly held him in his arms.


    Jing Yang looked over Zhao Bocheng''s shoulder and saw that Zhao Bocheng''s men had already surrounded that car, and two of them were currently contacting some people.


    Zhao Bocheng brought Jing Yang onto his own car and drove him to leave. Jing Yang asked, "You don''t need to pay attention here? I don''t need to wait for police here?¡±


    "They will solve it, you will firste with me to the hospital." Zhao Bocheng''s face was still stretched tightly, his tension had not yet alleviated.


    "I don''t need to go to the hospital, I really wasn''t hurt¡­" Jing Yang saw that Zhao Bocheng didn''t pay attention to himself and was still driving in the direction of the hospital, so he could only change to a different topic. "That car started following me since I went out and bumped into me several times. As a result I stepped on the brake in a moment of nervousness, and then he crashed into the tree by himself. He evidently came to rush at me, you help me investigate who prompted him to do this.¡±


    "Don''t worry, no matter who told him to do this, I will definitely make him pay the price." On the road here, Zhao Bocheng experienced the anxiety that he had never experienced before, he didn''t even dare to think of the image of the person sitting next to him being injured.


    Jing Yang was brought to the Zhao family''s private hospital and went through aplete physical examination. After it was confirmed that there was no problem, he was finally able to leave the hospital, and was sent back to Lu De Ji by Zhao Bocheng.


    Zhao Bocheng very seriously made clear to Jing Yang, in the future he could definitely never go out by himself, no matter where he was going, he must bring bodyguards, and he also made all of his original bodyguards resign, and he would immediately arrange new bodyguards toe over.


    Jing Yang didn''t object to Zhao Bocheng''s arrangements. The Zhao family''s bodyguards would definitely be better than the ones he had invited. He just told Zhao Bocheng that after he got the results of who had instigated this event, he had to let him know.


    ~


    The next day Zhao Bocheng came to see him, and Jing Yang knew that he already found out who had been the culprit. The Zhao family''s power was truly strong and powerful, it had only been a day''s time.


    Jing Yang apanied him to drink tea for half a day and still didn''t hear him say anything. Then he asked, "Could it be that you aren''t nning on telling me who wanted my life?¡±


    Zhao Bocheng looked at him and still didn''t say anything.


    "Even if you don''t say it I still know." Jing Yang smiled bitterly. "I thought about it <strong>again and again</strong> yesterday, besides Zheng Jianlin and Zheng Junming, there shouldn''t be anyone else who wants my life. If it were Zheng Junming, he would definitely go find Qian Xiang to help him, so the person who had crashed into me, was directed by Qian Xiang, right?¡±


    "It was Qian Xiang." Zhao Bocheng looked at him.


    "So this matter, could only be <strong>settled without being settled</strong> like this?" Jing Yang lightly tapped on the table with his finger, his face with no expression, like talking about someone else''s matters. "He is your cousin, and dying in a crash would be my fate, and not dying in that crash would be my good fortune. Only next time whether or not I would have such good fortune would be hard to say.¡±


    Zhao Bocheng ced his teacup down and said seriously, "You don''t have to say these words to make me angry, I will definitely solve his matter for you. As long as it''s someone who threatens your safety, even if he is my cousin, I will still never let him off.¡±


    Jing Yang propped his chin on his hand. "This time Qian Xiang wasn''t able to take my life, I don''t believe that he would give up just like this, he would definitely continue to arrange things. I don''t want to keep living in danger, if you aren''t able to handle him, then I wille personally. No matter what kind of methods, even if it''s mutual destruction, I still don''t want to live with fear and trepidation like this.¡±


    "I said that I will help you solve it." Zhao Bocheng solemnly looked at him and warned, "Don''t mess around, or else I''ll close you up.¡±


    After Zhao Bocheng left, he didn''t show up for several consecutive days, Jing Yang also wasn''t worried, and didn''t take the initiative to contact him. He just continued to wait like this to see how he would solve his matter. If he had <strong>made big ims and showed little results</strong>, if he just taught Qian Xiang a lesson and considered that done, then he could only personally move, and reconsider his rtionship with Zhao Bocheng.


    After several days, Jing Yang received the news that Qian Xiang was in a car ident and wasted two legs, and he was hurriedly sent overseas to recuperate.


    At night Jing Yang didn''t return to the Lu family residence and just slept on therge bed in the the lounge. The bodyguards around him had all been changed into Zhao Bocheng''s arranged people, so Zhao Bocheng was naturally very clear about his whereabouts.


    Familiarly entering into the lounge, Zhao Bocheng took off his clothes and lifted up the quilt to lie down. He hugged the person into his arms and reached his hand into his pants to fondle.


    "En~" Jing Yang didn''t stop him or resist, enjoying his caresses.


    The moonlight shone through the window into the room, it could be vaguely seen that on the spacious solid wooden bed, the bulges in the quilt were currently rapidly rocking. asionally repressed moans would disseminate, making people unable to distinguish clearly, whether the person who was making these sounds was actually in pain or pleasure.


    Jing Yangy on Zhao Bocheng''s chest and waited until his breathing smoothed with great difficulty, asking, "You forced Qian Xiang overseas?¡±


    "En, he will never have the opportunity to return, you don''t have to worry." Zhao Bocheng caressed his back.


    "He''ll nevere back? His parents agreed?¡±


    "Qian Xiang is the only heir of the Qian family, for his parents, Qian Xiang is more important than thepany. His parents will quickly go over to take care of him, his entire family will not evere back again.¡±


    Since Zhao Bocheng had said that their entire family wouldn''t return to the country, he naturally had his own methods to achieve that. Directly wasting Qian Xiang''s legs, this method was really ruthless enough.


    Jing Yang felt that ording to Qian Xiang''s personality, without his legs, hister half of his lifetime would all be in suffering, this would be even more ruthless than taking his life directly.


    But for this kind of result, he was very satisfied.


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>gentle and careful</strong> ¨C СÐÄÒíÒí, idiom, cautious and solemn


    [2] <strong>again and again</strong> ¨C ·­À´¸²È¥, also means to toss and turn when sleeping


    [3] <strong>settled without being settled</strong> ¨C ²»ÁËÁËÖ®, also means to end up with nothing definite


    [4] <strong>made big ims and showed little results</strong> ¨C ÖØÖØÄÃÆð£¬ÇáÇá·ÅÏÂ, this should be some type of saying, I''m assuming it means like you imed to do all this but in the end you just let him off lightly<hr>


    It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve tranted, I¡¯ve been mostly focusing on reading and adding to my Reading page. This took 1.5 hours, 2 pm ¨C 3:30 pm, for 3.3k characters to 2.4k words. There weren¡¯t that many idioms, but still a bunch of words I had to look up. I find tranting dialogue much faster usually, though in this case the dialogue was pretty involved. Probably bc my Chinese is at the conversational level. Dialogue usually isn¡¯t tooplicated.


    We¡¯re getting close to the end. Revenge will quickly be reported.

 Chapter 14

    When Zheng Junming heard the news about Qian Xiang being injured in a car ident, he was extremely shocked and wanted to go see him once, but he was rejected by the Qian family. He was also warned by the Qian family that in the future he would never be allowed to appear in front of Qian Xiang.


    Suddenly losing Qian Xiang this protective umbre was equivalent to losing the majority of his power for going against Jing Yang. He had no choice but to hurriedly go to discuss again with Zheng Jianlin new methods to recapture the Lu family.


    ~


    Zhango wanted to arrange a birthday feast so he reserved the entire Lu De Ji main restaurant. This let Zhango feel like he had a lot of face, no matter how much money other people had, if they wanted to reserve the entire restaurant for their birthday, Jing Yang would still not agree.


    Zhango served as today''s birthday person and leading role, so naturally he wouldn''t hide into a private room. He wore a cheongsam that was festive yet not tacky at all and sat in the lobby on the first floor to receive the blessings of the guests who hade to congratte him. Guests continued to enter in <strong>an unending stream</strong>, all of these people all definitely had a certain identity and status. Zhango''s several descendants busily received and greeted the guests, the scene was very lively.


    Yet there just had to be some people who wanted on this day to break this festive and lively asion.


    Zheng Jianlin and Zheng Junming came, and politely paid their respects to Zhango. Ever since this father and son came in, Zhango''s originally cheerful expression disappeared. Because they seemed to havee purely to offer him birthday felicitations, Zhango could not go as far as to give them no face today. However, they were followed by many reporters, they were specifically brought over by the father and son. At one nce you would know that they came with bad intentions.


    "Zheng Jianlin, today is my birthday, if you dare to cause a disturbance, you can consider the consequences yourself." Zhango ced down his teacup heavily.


    "Zhango, I have words of suffering ah, but I really had nowhere to go to reason them out, so I had to choose today to invite Zhango and everyone to give me judgment. I had no choice but to offend Zhango and everyone here, after this matter is over, no matter what scolding, beating, or punishment, I will ept for Zhango to handle to vent your anger." Zheng Jianlin said with an appearance full of anxiety.


    Jing Yang who was currently busying himself in the kitchen heard that Zheng Jianlin and Zheng Junming hade and had even brought many reporters, so he quickly brought people over to see what disturbance he wanted to make this time. Zhao Bocheng, who was sitting and chatting with his friends, heard the bodyguards'' report and worried that Jing Yang would suffer a loss, so he immediately went downstairs.


    "Today is Zhango''s birthday, what is the meaning of you bringing so many reporters here? If you want to cause a disturbance you should also wait until after today to make noise, I can apany you at any time." Jing Yang walked over withrge strides, speaking while walking.


    Zheng Jianlin pointed at Jing Yang and angrily shouted, "In your heart, do you still have any humanity or morals? I precisely want to do it today, in front of all of these people''s faces, to speak clearly with you.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him coldly. "What kind of justice do you want to speak with me?¡±


    "For the sake of the Lu family business, I invested bitterly so many years, what right do you have to chase me out? Even if the Lu family ancestral residence is now in your name, I am still your biological father! I don''t require you to give me filial piety, but I cannot endure you humiliating or dishonoring me!¡±


    "Have you forgotten what I asked you on that day?" Jing Yang responded. "Ever since I was born, have you ever experienced a bit of fatherly responsibility, have you ever nurtured me? When I was young, you never even held me, and never gave me good face once. Plus all of the matters that you have done in the Lu family, even you did want to let me give you filial piety, what qualifications do you have to make that kind of request?¡±


    "You also shouldn''t forget, no matter what you say, I gave you life, and my blood flows in your veins. If I didn''t exist, you wouldn''t exist." Zheng Jianlin pounded his chest.


    "Even if you didn''t exist I would still be Lu Xuexian''s son, and I would still be the heir to the Lu family. But you, if you hadn''t been my father, for what reason would you think that you would be able to <strong>appropriate</strong> all of the Lu family restaurants? Your <strong>greedy and insatiable</strong> personality makes you never satisfied, you want to take my current assets and the Lu family ancestral residence, andpletely bring them into your hand, then you will finally be satisfied, right?¡±


    Zheng Jianlin''s face was unpleasant, angered to the point of not being able to speak. Zheng Junming who was standing behind him opened his mouth to refute on his behalf. "You''re the one who attaches that much importance to wealth these things, don''t always think that other people will want to take your things, even being suspicious of your own biological father.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at Zheng Junming with no expression. "What qualification do you have to stand here and speak to me? I never questioned you, yet you actually came up to me. Don''t you always <strong>repeat over and over</strong> that my mother treated you badly, that the Lu family obstructed the love between your parents, that you really hate the Lu family ma? On the one hand you say that you loathe it, on the other hand you still calmly enjoy everything that the Lu family brought to you, you live in the Lu family''s house, you learn the Lu family''s cooking, and then you still unceasingly discredit the Lu family. If you don''t want the Lu family''s wealth, then why would you change the Lu De Ji into Zheng De Ji, why would you want to chase out all of my grandfather''s disciples? Isn''t it just so that there would be no one able to give support and testify for me, so that you all can properly upy the Lu family assets <strong>in an aboveboard manner</strong>?¡±


    The guests whispered to each other quietly, and some people <strong>pointed with me</strong> at Zheng Junming, their eyes were filled with disdain. Ordinary people may not be able to see the intentions of the Zheng father and son, but they were all able to understand. Their methods couldn''t be considered brilliant, they could only trick some girls online who had never seen the world. But these old foxes had already seen many methods much more clever than this.


    "Your own heart is malicious and sinister, and you still say that other people are hypocritical! Giving birth to such a shameless son like you is the biggest failure of my life!" Zheng Jianlin pointed at Jing Yang, raining curses.


    "I''ll say for thest time, either you all quickly roll out for me, or else don''t me me for not leaving you any sentiment and making everything public today!" Jing Yang gave him one final warning.


    "Good ah, it''s best for you to publish everything out, I want to see what you <strong>have to say</strong>!" Zheng Jianlin did not believe at all that he would have any real evidence, at best he would only say out the old matters that he had heard from Guo Long and Wang Yong. He had long ago thought of how he should refute those.


    Jing Yang turned around to give a key to Chen Rui. "You go to my lounge and take out the VCR from the drawer next to my bed. Also let people bring over a TV.¡±


    Even though Chen Rui didn''t know his purpose, he still followed his directions.


    Jing Yang apologized to Zhango. "We ruined your good birthday, Jingyu apologizes to you. I was really forced with no choice, I can only make some unsavory matters public today.¡±


    "Even though us old fellows are already getting on in years, but our minds are not yet muddled. Don''t hesitate to say out whatever troubles you have, after we all judge, we will naturally help give you justice." After Zhango finished speaking, the other elderly men nodded in approval.


    Jing Yang received the VCR that Chen Rui handed over, and after the TV was also ced, he turned to all of the reporters. "All of the material that I''m going to broadcast, it''ll be best for you all to record it down word for word. Then it could be considered that you didn''te with them a trip in vain.¡±


    After Jing Yang pressed the start button on the VCR, the TV showed the Lu family hall, and then the image of going upstairs. Then the image stopped in front of a wooden door. The door was open with a gap of two finger widths, you could approximately see a man and woman inside, speaking with their backs to the camera.


    Zheng Jianlin saw this scene and froze, he had a very bad premonition, but he couldn''t say clearly why he had this kind of premonition. He knew who the people were inside, but this scene, and the content of the conversation at that time, for a moment he was unable to immediately remember.


    Jing Yang turned the volume up to the maximum, and the TV transmitted the sound of the conversation between the man and women. All of the people at the scene <strong>pricked up their ears</strong> to hear every single word clearly.


    While the male and female were talking, they would often call each other''s names. The man called the woman Qiurong, the woman called the man Jianlin. The woman asked the man when he would finally be able to divorce with Lu Xuexian and then marry her. The man told the woman not to worry, Lu Xuexian still controlled arge portion of the assets in her hand, he still hadn''t been able to seize over all of them, so for the time being he still couldn''t divorce her. Until he could bring all of the Lu family assets, including the Lu family ancestral residence, under his name, he would divorce with Lu Xuexian, and then he could let her be mistress of this house.


    In the conversation, they also mentioned the process of the man causing the death of Lu Deyuan. The male voice said, at that time his affair had been found by Lu Deyuan, and he was almost chased out of the home, but fortunately he had acted quickly and had killed Lu Deyuan that old thing. He had married into the Lu family, scheming for so many years in the Lu family, he had almost <strong>failed at the final venture</strong>.


    The woman said that she frequently came to the Lu home, would it be bad for her to be seen by Lu Xuexian. The man replied that Lu Xuexian was really weak, even if she saw her she wouldn''t dare to say anything, she would definitely never mention getting a divorce.


    The man said that in the future the Lu family assets and restaurants would all change into the Zheng family''s, and the Zheng family would be given to his son Junming to inherit¡­


    After the two people <strong>bantered flirtatiously</strong> for a while, the woman asked the man if he had ever liked Lu Xuexian before. The man responded that in the past he had liked her, even though it was only for the Lu family assets that he kneeled in front of Lu Deyuan to say that he wanted to marry his daughter, but in his heart he still had some good feelings for Lu Xuexian. But now he only liked her alone, for Lu Xuexian''s constantly weak and ill body he had no interest since long ago, how could Lu Xuexianpare with her coquettishness and unrestrained manner in bed¡­


    The video disseminated the man and woman''s intimate sounds, for the people on the scene, some people used ridiculing gazes to look at Zheng Jianlin, and other used disdainful nces to look at him. Zheng Jianlin''s body swayed, his legs and feet went soft, he almost couldn''t stand anymore. That conversation, he hadpletely remembered. Zheng Junming''splexion was dreadfully unsightly, especially after the TV started transmitting his father and mother''s explicit intimate sounds.


    The image left the gap of the door, the affectionate sounds of the two people gradually faded away. Another door was pushed open and entered a warmly decorated room. The camera lens directly faced a mirror on the dressing table, in the mirror appeared a woman holding the VCR, her face was deathly pale, as if she had lost her soul. This woman somewhat resembled Lu Jingyu, the people on the scene naturally could guess who she was.


    The woman''s eyes were spiritless, she sat down in front of the dressing table. The VCR in her hand was also set down, the camera lens stayed facing a corner of the mirror.


    After that there wasn''t any significant images. Jing Yang turned off the TV and then turned to ask Zheng Jianlin, "What else do you want to say?¡±


    <hr>


    [1]<strong> an unending stream </strong>¨C Ô´Ô´²»¶Ï, idiom, means a steady flow/stream


    [2] <strong>appropriate</strong> ¨C ռΪ¼ºÓÐ, taking for oneself what rightfully belongs to others


    [3] <strong>greedy and insatiable</strong> ¨C Ì°µÃÎÞÑá, idiom, avaricious, never satisfied


    [4] <strong>repeat over and over</strong> ¨C ¿Ú¿ÚÉùÉù, idiom, to keep on saying something again and again


    [5] <strong>in an aboveboard manner</strong> ¨C ¹âÃ÷Õý´ó, honorable and fair, no tricks


    [6] <strong>pointed with me</strong> ¨C Ö¸Ö¸µãµã, means to gesticte, or to point the finger of me


    [7] <strong>have to say</strong> ¨C ʲôºÃ˵, means something relevant to say


    [8] <strong>pricked up their ears</strong> ¨C ÊúÆð¶ú¶ä, strain to hear something


    [9] <strong>failed at the final venture</strong> ¨C ¹¦¿÷Ò»óñ, idiom, ruining an entire n at the final step


    [10] <strong>banter flirtatiously</strong> ¨C ´òÇéÂîÇÎ, flirting, having fun<hr>


    A short chapter. Took 1.5 hours, 12:30 pm ¨C 2 pm, for 3k characters to 2.4k words. There¡¯s only 2 more chapters! Both of them are rtively short, and quite satisfying ??

 Chapter 15

    "It''s fake! It''s all fake!" Zheng Jianlin <strong>recovered from his shock</strong> and pointed at Jing Yang, roaring, "You took out some fake thing to harm me, you''re simply <strong>deranged</strong>!¡±


    "Whether or not it''s fake, we''ll give it to the police to judge well. I''ve already reported it to the police, if you have anything to say, you can go exin to the police ba." Before Jing Yang had showed the recording, he had already let someone report to the police, and now the police had already arrived.


    Jing Yang gave the VCR to the police, the police brought Zheng Jianlin and the VCR away together. Now technology is so developed, the police naturally had their own ways to determine whether the recording was real or fake. They only need to wait for the result toe out.


    Zheng Junming''s expression became veryplicated, when he looked at Jing Yang he still carried resentment. He quickly followed the Zheng Jianlin who was being taken away, and left together with the police car.


    The farce had finished, the reporters also left one after another. They were rushing to return to report all of the content that they had gotten today, no matter what the result of the police evaluation would be, it would still not dy their reporting of this matter. As for the police evaluation oue, that would be the follow-up.


    Jing Yang apologized to the guests and invited them to return to their own seats. They continued the birthday feast, and the kitchen started to serve the food.


    Zheng Jianlin chose to cause trouble today, even though it wasn''t under Jing Yang''s control, but he had already anticipated it. He still felt very apologetic to Zhango in his heart, so afterwards he went over to apologize to Zhango again.


    Instead Zhango consoled Jing Yang. "This was not your fault, it was themselves who thought it would be more convenient to provoke trouble at the asion of my birthday feast, so they would choose toe today. Zheng Jianlin is full of <strong>rapacious designs</strong>, he actually dared to cause the death of your grandfather, I will definitely be involved in this matter, I will not let him easily escape.¡±


    "In the end it was because of my family''s matters that ruined your birthday feast, in my heart I am really apologetic. After these matters are allpletely resolved, I will go live in your home for a while and only make food for you for a month. That could be considered as my apology.¡±


    "I saw that everyone was eating quite happily, and when they left they were all fully satisfied. As far as the eye can see, there actually wasn''t a single table with leftovers, all of these people really could eat. But youing to make me food for a month, I will still ept.¡±


    The police''s efficiency was quite fast, not long afterwards they announced the evaluation results. All of the content in the video was real, and Zheng Jianlin was prosecuted and imprisoned for murder.


    Jing Yang again convened a press conference and expressed that he also didn''t want to personally send his father to prison, so in the past he didn''t publish the video. He had always given Zheng Jianlin opportunities, hoping that he could activelye out to speak the truth, but not only did hepletelyck remorse, but also pressured him step by step, forcing him without a choice, so he could only choose to publish everything.


    In his heart he felt very guilty for his grandfather and mother because of his own ipetence and cowardly behavior, letting Zheng Jianlin nder them for so many years. All the way until today, he finally would publish the facts and truth.


    Jing Yang made public the final video that Lu Xuexian left behind, and magnified the ss behind Lu Xuexian to let the reporters see. Even though the ss only reflected half of a body, but the clothes could be seen very clearly. He found a picture of Zheng Junming wearing the same clothing topare, and very obviously this was the same person. Being able to wear these clothes and show up in the Lu family, that could only be Zheng Junming.


    Jing Yang said, this was also the reason why in the past he always gone against Zheng Junming everywhere. It was only because of Zheng Jianlin''s betrayal and Zheng Junming''s mother''s appearance that she had suffered from depression.


    At that time Zheng Junming had been in that lounge, and personally heard his mother recording a farewell video for him. He had personally seen his mother jump down. Even if he didn''t want to personally stop her, if he had randomly found a servant toe over, his mother would not have died.


    Ever since he was 5 years old, Zheng Junming had been growing up in the Lu family, everything had been provided by the Lu family, but in his heart he did not have the least bit of gratitude. Instead his heart only had resentment toward the Lu family and his mother.


    For the illegitimate child that her husband had had with another woman, his mother chose the approach of ignoring him, which was already the greatest kindness to Zheng Junming. Could it be that for an illegitimate child that had suddenly appeared, she needed to care for him just like for her own flesh and blood, and only then would she be considered a good and kind person? Then the Zheng Junming who had personally seen his mothermit suicide, yet didn''t make a sound to prevent it, could he be considered to be a good person?


    The sounds of those who had supported Zheng Jianlin and Zheng Junming disappeared in one night. Zheng Jianlin, Zheng Junming, and Sun Qiurong, were <strong>universally condemned</strong>, bing the object of the entire country''s attacks.


    Zheng De Ji restaurants were all <strongpletely empty</strong>, no one went in to eat, andizens even threatened to smash the restaurant. Not too long after, the Zheng De Ji restaurants that were located in every district''s prime locations were all closed.


    Zheng Jianlin was sentenced guilty, Zheng Junming and Sun Qiurong the mother and son both hid and didn''t dare to see anyone. Now as long as they went into the street they would be recognized and would be pointed at and used. Even stores weren''t willing to sell them things.


    Zheng Junming could only bring his mother to hide into some small remote ce. After hiding for 2 to 3 years, Sun Qiurong was found to have a terminal illness, so they finally returned to the capital and found a hospital for treatment.


    ~


    After three years, Zheng Junming went to visit Zheng Jianlin in prison for the first time. Zheng Jianlin seemed like he had changed into a different person, even though he looked neat and tidy, but his aged and dispirited appearance seemed like he had aged 20-30 years. Zheng Junming almost couldn''t recognize him at first nce.


    "Junming, Junming!" Zheng Jianlin looked at Zheng Junming across the ss, and the originally muddy and spiritless eyes showed a little light. "You finally came to see me, these several years where did you and your mother go? Why didn''t youe to see me?¡±


    "In the previous two years we couldn''t stay here anymore, so we went somewhere else to live, we only came back recently. Dad, are you okay in there?" Zheng Junming also no longer had that bright and neat appearance from three years ago, when he returned he was still afraid of being recognized by people, so he wore a hat and mask, only taking them off when he came in. Hisplexion was also not good, like he was enveloped by ayer of shadow.


    "Not good! I haven''t been doing well, wu wu¡­" Zheng Jianlin suddenly started crying, tears and mucus dripping down. "The life in here really isn''t for humans, you quickly send some money in here for me, or else I won''t be able to survive¡­¡±


    "Where would I have money, dad." Zheng Junming''s face was bitter. "My mom is sick now, it''s a terminal illness, she''s in the hospital for treatment, the money is already almost all spent, very quickly even surviving will be a problem.¡±


    "Since it''s a terminal illness, then what are you treating it for? In any case she''s already going to die, it''s better for you to give me the money and let me live a few days morefortably ah!" Zheng Jianlin dried his tears.


    "Dad!" Zheng Junming widened his eyes in disbelief. "How could you say these kinds of words, that''s my mother, that''s your wife ah! If we don''t give her treatment, could it be that you want to let me watch her wait for death?¡±


    Zheng Jianlin''s mood also became agitated. "She''s your mother, I am your father, you''re unwilling to watch her wait for death, could it be that you''re willing to watch me suffer?¡±


    "That would also need me to be able to take out the money ah!" Zheng Junming felt extremely wronged.


    "If there''s no money you can go earn money ah, I''ve taught you cooking for so many years, don''t say that it was all in vain?¡±


    "You think I don''t want to? But you did all of those matters, other people all put it on my own head, no one is willing to hire me to cook, even the small shops on the street don''t want me.¡±


    "I did those matters?" Zheng Jianlin red at him. "Didn''t I do all of those things for you? If I didn''t go scheme for the Lu family assets, would you and your mother be able to live well? Right now you''re <strong>falling out and hostile</strong> to me, when you were young how did I treat you? Seems like you''re even more <strong>cruel and unscrupulous</strong> than Lu Jingyu, if I had known earlier that it would have been like this, I originally should have nurtured him well, at least I wouldn''t have fallen to this end.¡±


    Zheng Junming''s eyes reddened from anger. "You think that only you regret ma? If it weren''t for you, I also wouldn''t have had to carry the infamy of being an illegitimate son. If I had been born in a normal household, at least I would be living better than now.¡±


    "Now you''reining about your mother and I giving birth to you? You, you this¡­" Zheng Jianlin pointed at him with a trembling finger, angered to the point of not being able to speak.


    "Zheng Jianlin, your time is up." The prison guard came over to bring away Zheng Jianlin. When he was leaving, he still ruthlessly red at Zheng Junming.


    Zheng Junming covered his face and waited until his mood calmed a little, and then stood up to leave.


    Sun Qiurong had been tormented by the serious illness to lose her body shape, she had lost weight to the extent of basically only leaving behind a skeleton. She sat up on the bed and saw Zheng Junming open the door toe in, asking, "You returned, how is your dad?¡±


    Zheng Junming said with no expression, "He''s doing much better than us, at least he doesn''t need to worry about starving to death.¡±


    Sun Qiurong said <strong>weakly</strong>, "Then, then does he have any way to help us get some money?¡±


    "He even wants to let me give him money ne, where would he have a way to get us money." Zheng Junming only had a bit of savings left, there wasn''t even enough for hospital ward expenses, so she could only live at home and eat medicine, if they could drag on for a day then they would drag for a day.


    "Didn''t you say that he''s living pretty well in there?" Sun Qiurong asked.


    Zheng Junming didn''t say anything, hey down on his own single bed to look at his cell phone. The rent in the capital was really expensive, they couldn''t even afford to live in a slightly bigger house, so they could only rent a tiny room. Even the bathroom was on the outside, it was shared by several households. The Zheng Junming who had grown up in the Lu family had never experienced these kinds of hardships before, and now that he thought about it, his life in the Lu family, was really like living in paradise.


    Zheng Junming went online on his phone to see if there was any suitable work, at least he couldn''t really wait for all the money to bepletely spent and then starve to death. Besides knowing how to cook, he had no other skills, so he could only find some work rted to cooking, and pray that when he went to go interview that he wouldn''t be recognized.


    He searched for jobs rted to restaurants and chefs and inevitably saw news about Lu Jingyu. Now Lu Jingyu this name was basically renowned in the entire country, he had already taken the overall champion of the China Cup Culinary Competition twice. Lu De Ji was also still the gourmet world''s outstanding trademark, there were already over ten branches, and still many peopleined about not being able to reserve a seat.


    Seeing the news that Lu Jingyu had been pursued by fans, Zheng Junming held his phone tightly. In his heart he had hate, he hated everyone, he hated his father and mother, and hated Lu Jingyu even more. For what reason was Lu Jingyu the Lu family heir once he was born, yet once he was born he was just the shameful bastard, why was fate so unfair to him¡­


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>recovered from his shock</strong> ¨C »Ø¹ýÉñÀ´, literally means he returned his spirit


    [2] <strong>deranged</strong> ¨C É¥ÐIJ¡¿ñ, idiom, also means demented, berserk


    [3] <strong>rapacious designs</strong> ¨C ÀÇ×ÓÒ°ÐÄ, idiom, literally meaning ambition of wild wolves


    [4] <strong>universally condemned</strong> ¨C ǧ·òËùÖ¸, literally means to be pointed at by thousands of people


    [5] <strongpletely empty</strong> ¨C ¿Õ¿ÕÈçÒ², idiom, means as empty as anything


    [6] <strong>falling out and hostile</strong> ¨C ·­Á³²»ÈÏÈË, means falling out with and then not willing to recognize somebody


    [7] <strong>cruel and unscrupulous</strong> ¨C ÀÇÐĹ··Î, idiom, literally means heart of wolf and lungs of dog


    [8] <strong>weakly</strong> ¨C ÓÐÆøÎÞÁ¦, idiom, weakly and without strength, dispirited<hr>


    I have been spurred on my enthusiasm for the end of this arc so I tranted this right after the previous chapter: 1.5 hours, 2 pm ¨C 3:30 pm, 3.1k characters to 2.4k words. We¡¯re so close to the end that I can almost taste it. The next one is thest chapter, so we¡¯ll be seeing more of the MC and ML, finally.

 Chapter 16

    Originally Jing Yang hadn''t wanted to open this many branches of his restaurant in such a short amount of time. Zhao Bocheng had helped him take back all of the stores that had originally belonged to the Lu family, but he still didn''t want to open his restaurants on the bustling streets.


    Those previous disciples of Lu Deyuan who had been chased away by Zheng Jianlin, after they found out that Zheng De Ji no longer existed and that Lu De Ji had once again revived, all came back to seek refuge with Jing Yang. They wanted to continue to serve as chefs in Lu De Ji. Some of them had opened restaurants themselves and earned quite a bit, and in order toe work for him, they had turned their own restaurants over to others. These people had culinary talent, and also had feelings for Lu De Ji. In any case Jing Yang also needed more help, so if he let them stay he also benefited.


    Therefore Jing Yang sold those storefronts that were on the bustling streets and in different cities, he chose over ten locations that had peaceful and quiet environments and other special appeal, and opened over ten branch restaurants in session.


    Jing Yang and Zhao Bocheng had lived together for over a year, but in these two to three years Jing Yang was especially busy, so the real amount of time that they could spend together was very little. For this Zhao Bocheng had manyints, so he arranged for two people to go over to help him, and not let him do everything by himself.


    The business of the branch restaurants were all on the right track, the managers were Chen Rui and the people arranged by Zhao Bocheng, and the kitchens were staffed by those disciples of Lu Deyuan. Jing Yang''s personal work became much more rxed, and he didn''t need to keep on running back and forth between all of his branch restaurants, so he had more time to cultivate feelings with Zhao Bocheng.


    Sometimes Jing Yang would go home early, finish making dinner, and wait for Zhao Bocheng toe back to eat together. Every time Zhao Bocheng returned home and saw the picture of Jing Yang just cing the dishes on the table, he would always feel especially satisfied in his heart. In the past he had always thought that he was working for the Zhao family, that he had been born to take over the family business, he had never thought before that these kinds of interactions that most people might feel to be very ordinary would make him feel so blessed. Now he had just found out that when he was together with his lover, the moremon and warm urrences, would even more let him feel happiness. This was the type of feeling that he wanted to have.


    After Jing Yang washed up he reclined on the bed reading books. Zhao Bocheng came out from the bathroom and got on the bed to hold him in his arms, lifting his chin to give him a deep kiss. Jing Yang responded warmly, throwing his book to the side, he embraced his neck and returned the kiss.


    Doing it only once a night absolutely would not satisfy Zhao Bocheng, usually the first time was merely the appetizer, and then there would be the main course, the soup dish, and the desserts. Sometimes Jing Yang had been tossed too ruthlessly, and so in the intermittent resting times he couldn''t resist biting him to vent his anger. But his muscles were too strong, the texture was too hard, if he bit too much it would be bad for his teeth, and the effect was also not big. So Jing Yang could only change tactics, and when he no longer wanted to continue, he had to throw a tantrum or beg for mercy, calling that he was tired or sore was most useful. Calling to the point of bing soft-hearted, he would no longer have the heart to keep tormenting him.


    The aftertaste of the passion hadn''t yet faded, Jing Yang powerlessly sprawled on Zhao Bocheng''s chest. Zhao Bocheng''s one sentence made him suddenly lift his head, he thought that he had heard wrong. "What did you say?¡±


    "Next month my grandfather will have his big 80th birthday, I want to bring you to go together.¡±


    "You want to bring me to go congratte your grandfather together? Are you trying to deliberately not let these elderly men have a good birthday?" His rtionship with Zhao Bocheng, the Zhao family basically all were aware, even though they had not gone public, but they also had not deliberately concealed it. This matter couldn''t be considered to be some sort of secret.


    "I''ve already told my grandfather, he also agreed." Zhao Bocheng''s parents had died early, as the Zhao family''s eldest son''s eldest son, he had been personally taken care of by his grandfather. As the Zhao family''s heir, he had taken control of the Zhao family corporation long ago, his grandfather was only nominally the chairman, and in reality he long ago stopped paying attention to the business matters, and also couldn''t control his matters.


    "He agreed?" Jing Yang was doubtful. "What did he agree to? Was it for me to apany you to go home to give birthday wishes, or was it agreeing to our rtionship?¡±


    "He agreed to all of them." Zhao Bocheng rubbed his hair.


    "How''s that possible?" Jing Yang gazed at him in amazement, they were both men, an elderly person who was almost 80 years old, how could he ept this kind of rtionship so easily.


    "How is it not possible, I naturally have my own methods.¡±


    "You shouldn''t have made some kind of deal with him ba?" Jing Yang guessed. "For example you would still get married and have a child, and that maintaining this kind of rtionship with me wouldn''t affect the Zhao family corporation''s business.¡±


    "You''re overthinking it." Zhao Bocheng patted his butt, pressed down on him and kissed him.


    Jing Yang pushed him away a little. "I''ll first tell you clearly, if you''re still going to get married and have a child, I will absolutely not continue to maintain the current rtionship with you, you also should never go and find me again. If you have rtionships with other people, and still want to continue toe entangle me, I will do whatever it takes to escape from you, even if it means leaving this world.¡±


    "I won''t give you that opportunity!" Zhao Bocheng forcefully blocked his mouth.


    When Jing Yang apanied Zhao Bocheng to go to the Zhao home, the Zhao family people all behaved very normally, and on the day of the Zhao old master''s birthday, Zhao Bocheng constantly kept him by his side. All of the guests could sense Zhao Bocheng''s attitude, and even though they felt astonished in their hearts, on the surface they still showed ttering manners.


    Jing Yang''s days actually became increasingly rxed and contented, Zhao Bocheng helped him keep off everything, troubles naturally wouldn''t be able to find him.


    One day he was idle and boredly wandering the streets, a group of inclothes bodyguards following behind him at an appropriate distance. On the side of the street, he saw a familiar face and stopped his steps, looking at the person busying himself at a small cart.


    Zheng Junming raised his head, and also just happened to see Jing Yang, he flusteredly wanted to put back on the face mask that was hanging on his ear, but he had already been discovered, so even if he put the mask back on it would still be useless. So he could only freeze there and look at him face to face.


    Jing Yang had been living too well these past several years, and his affections with Zhao Bocheng were getting increasingly strong, he had almost quickly forgotten the Zheng two father and son. Zheng Jianlin was in the prison, and under Zhao Bocheng''s "care," his days would definitely not befortable. This Zheng Junming actually started selling jian bing on the street, it should be because he could not find any other work.


    How their family three people were doing now, no longer had the least bit of rtionship with him, he had already satisfied Lu Jingyu''s wishes, and had already gained his own love. As long as his feelings with Zhao Bocheng didn''t change, then his life could be considered as very perfect, and he had no rtionship with how other people were doing.


    A ck limo stopped at the curb, and the bodyguard sitting in the front got off to open the door. Zhao Bocheng came down from the car. "What you are doing standing there?¡±


    Jing Yang turned his head. "How did youe? Didn¡¯t you have a meeting at yourpany?¡±


    "Right now I''m going to be going overseas for business, youe together." Zhao Bocheng pulled his hand and climbed back on the car.


    Zhao Bocheng''s possessive desire was be increasingly powerful, he wished that he could keep him by his side at all times. This was not his first time going overseas with him, he had already be used to it, and he didn''t feel like resisting.


    Zheng Junming saw the two people holding hands onto the car and leaving, his heart was very sour and bitter. One of them was the person he had once viewed as an enemy, one of them was the person he once strove to be close to, these two people now behaved very intimately, with one nce you would know that their rtionship was not general. Lu Jingyu had gotten everything he had wanted, yet he had gotten in such dire straits like this. With a miserable expression, he raised his head to look at the sky, why was this world so unfair to him, why did he have toe to this world.


    ~


    In the past Jing Yang never believed that there would be a love that would not weaken over a lifetime. In this life Zhao Bocheng was very good to him, extremely good to him, they loved each other very much, but he still felt that this love would still slowly dissipate with the passing of time.


    Until the two people slowly grew older, and their love for each other was still just as strong as before, Jing Yang just believed, there existed a love that would not change just because of the passing of time.


    Even though Zhao Bocheng had turned into a dashing old man, he was still that overbearing and powerful. Under his wing, Jing Yang peacefully led a smooth and steady life, the years basically didn''t leave any traces on his face.


    During this life, Zhao Bocheng very rarely promised Jing Yang anything, but he used actual actions and a lifetime to prove his love for Jing Yang.


    As mortals, their lives would inevitably fade away one day, Jing Yang felt that his life had already reached its end, this was his first time not willing to leave.


    Jing Yang had a conjecture, this world may not be limited to just his one foreign soul. He had used many different methods to test Zhao Bocheng, but evidence showed that Zhao Bocheng did not have any memories besides those of this world. He had no way to prove whether or not his guess was correct, and even more had no way to determine whether he would be able to meet him again in the next life.


    Jing Yangy in Zhao Bocheng''s arms, his breath gradually weakened, and reluctantly said, "I can''t bear to leave you¡­" This was his first world not feeling lonely, his first world experiencing love and being loved, this kind of feeling once experienced, would make people unable to give it up. He didn''t want to continue being lonely in one world after another, he didn''t want to only leave behind the memories. He had finally loved someone after so much difficulty, he was afraid that he would never be able to love anyone else.


    "Don''t worry." Zhao Bocheng lowered his head to kiss his eyes, he had done this action countless times, every single time he would still feel emotional, like he was kissing his soul. "Even time and space will not be able to separate us, in the next life, I will definitely find you.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled, but his eyes were moist. "You must remember your words, you can''t deceive me.¡±


    "I will absolutely not deceive you.¡±


    Jing Yang''s soul and system left the body and the world at the same time, in that instant, he felt that he had received an amount of power, but this power was very quickly absorbed by the system. The system seemed to have gotten stronger, but he was still the same as before.


    Hades had said, as long as every life he lived perfectly, he would be able to be a god, but the power that he received was not his own, he started to slightly doubt the authenticity of these words.


    Before he aplished all of his tasks, he had no way to return to the underworld and also couldn''t see Hades, so he had no way to personally ask him what was happening now. So he could only continue to go on to the next world.


    <hr>


    This was the shortest chapter yet, though still 1.5 hours, 1:30 pm ¨C 3 pm. Slightly less than 3k characters, to 2.3k words. No trantor notes, for the first time as well.


    Well it¡¯s over guys. The first arc is done. I feel satisfied and a little nostalgic. Truly, tranting quick wear is like tranting short individual books. We will be transitioning to an entirely new arc: the ancient China dynasty. Naturally the next chapter is the introduction of the MC¡¯s tragic past life, so it¡¯s going to be a longer one. I¡¯ll see you there.


    <strong>Edit:</strong> I¡¯m back with an update on 10/13, almost a month after I finished tranting this chapter. Thanks to my previous work at adding 9 chapters to my backlog, I was able to finish posting Arc 1 based on my usual schedule. However, I have gone around 3 weeks without tranting, partly bc of getting especially busy with school (in the middle of exams) and bc I¡¯ve been religiously watching Idol Producer. So there might be a brief hiatus at this point since I only have 3 chapters tranted in Arc 2. Probably around 2 weeks, I think. Once I get another free couple of days and trante another few chapters, I¡¯ll be able to start the ball rolling again for Arc 2. I¡¯ll see you soon.


    (speaking of Idol Producer, gotta support the best singer zhangjing check out his rap of china performance and the absolute best ship it¡¯s like an entertainment circle BL IRL)

 Chapter 17

    Jing Yang opened his eyes and saw a dark green canopy veil, turning his head, he found that he was lying down on a spacious wooden bed. Looking at this bed and the bedding style, it seemed like he had gone into ancient times this time?


    He lifted up the mosquito and got off the bed, looking around. The decorations were all ssic and exquisite, he only needed to take one look at those flower vase arrangements and could assess their value.


    Just from looking at this room, this body''s original host should have been the young master of a rich family. In the family there may be some traveling salesmen, even though the room had a desk, there were only some ount books, no literature.


    He sat down at the desk and casually pulled open a drawer, a watch? Jing Yang took out the watch and yed with it a while, and then thought of a different possibility. From the bottom of the drawer he took out a box and opened it to take a look. It was a gun, from the shape and structure of the gun, this should be the Ming Guo, it shouldn''t be wrong.


    Jing Yang had gone back to the Chinese Republic several times, but every space-time''s background history would have many differences. How this space-time would be, he would still receive the information about this body and about this world from the system ba, he''ll stop the guessing game.


    Jing Yang leaned back in the chair, his consciousness entering the system.


    This body''s original name is Cheng Junxi, he was the eldest young master of the Cheng family. The Cheng family had been merchants for four generations, the family wasrge and business was also strong, they not only had tea shops but also clothing workshops and restaurants, etc., types of business.


    The number of males in the Cheng family was low, Cheng Junxi''s father was the only son in three generations, but to Cheng Junxi''s generation, he was not the only son.


    Cheng Junxi''s mother was a youngdy of the royal family, and when she was marrying to Cheng fu, even though the royal family was already on the verge of copse, but in any case the emperor was still on the throne, and Cheng Junxi''s grandfather at that time also had a pretty high position. When she was marrying into the Cheng family, it was considered as marrying downward.


    Cheng Junxi''s grandfather knew very clearly, the Luoshi dynasty was already almost at its end, how they as officials would end up was hard to say. He had his daughter married downward into the well-off Cheng family because he had thought well of the family''s ample resources and more simple-minded people, he only hoped that his daughter would be able to live her lifetime smoothly and without any worries.


    The first few years Cheng Junxi''s parents were married, they were in loving affection of a married couple, in perfect harmony. When Cheng Junxi was around 2 years old, when Cheng fu went out for business, he fell in love with an opera singer. Not caring about the opposition of the family members, he insisted on marrying back this opera singer.


    That opera singer was surnamed Xu, her outward appearance was delicate and soft, yet she was an extremely scheming woman inside. She entered the Cheng family as a concubine, and Cheng Junxi''s parents'' rtionship became increasingly disharmonious and embarrassed.


    Cheng Junxi''s mother was a royal youngdy, she wasn''t some woman without any methods. The education that she received since she was small allowed her to maintain the dignity of a proper wife, not quarrelsome or noisy. For the Cheng fu that she had already been very disappointed with, she already no longer wanted to retrieve his heart back. She only spent her thoughts on her son, doing her best to control the family property in her hands.


    Even though Cheng fu favored the Xu concubine, but after his wife''s attitude suddenly changed, no longer focusing on his and Xu concubine''s matters, he still gave her the respect deserved of a proper wife. And the wife born from the royal family was proficient at political matters, so many of the family''s matters, as well as some of the assets, were given to her to take care of, and he was also at ease.


    Until after Xu concubine gave birth to a bastard son Cheng Jiaming, Cheng fu suddenly wanted to raise Xu concubine into an equivalent wife, and contradictions rose to the forefront. Xu concubine took great pains to convince Cheng fu to raise her into an equal wife, and after Cheng fu reflected on this many times, he felt that only he and Xu concubine were really in true love, and letting his true love be a concubine for a lifetime and making their son shoulder the status of a bastard for a lifetime, in his heart he felt very apologetic, so he agreed.


    At that time the status of opera singers couldn''t bepared to now, it was ssified as one of the lowest professions. Raising Xu concubine into an equal wife, to Cheng Junxi''s mother, it was an enormous insult. She could no longer care about dignity, her heart''s resentment thoroughly erupted, and she would not agree to this matter no matter what.


    Cheng Junxi''s paternal grandmother lived all year round in a small Buddhist temple, abstaining from meat and praying, not asking about the family''s matters. But after she found out that her son wanted to raise an opera singer into an equal wife, she came out of the Buddhist temple, and resolutely did not permit this matter.


    Cheng Junxi''s father could disregard his wife''s objections, but he could not ignore his mother''s objections and behave arbitrarily. His mother''s prestige in his heart was even stronger than his father who had already died, therefore this matter was settled by leaving it unsettled.


    Cheng Junxi''s paternal grandfather was dissolute and romantic by nature, his concubines and outside lovers even he himself may not be able to remember every single one. In this kind of situation, Cheng Junxi''s father being able to be the only son of the Cheng family, Cheng Junxi''s paternal grandmother''s methods could be seen.


    Xu concubine dared to go against Cheng Junxi''s mother, but didn''t dare to show the least bit of scheming in front of the mother-inw, so she was very well-behaved for a period of time. But her desire to be the equal wife never stopped, she just wanted to wait until her son had grown older, and the mother-inw had died, and then find opportunities to bring up this matter again.


    One day, Cheng fu brought Xu concubine and the bastard Cheng Jiaming to go out to y, and they got a chill outside. Because his body was usually quite good, he didn''t pay too much attention to it.


    Who knew that when returning home several dayster, the cold suddenly turned much more severe, every day coughing and having problems with his vitality. Even though they invited physicians to prescribe medicine, but he was unable to rest well, so the cold didn''t show any sign of improving.


    Cheng Jiaming couldn''t see his father for over ten days at a time, it was not easy to finally see each other, so he was noisy about wanting to go y in the street. Cheng fu brought his mother to go along, and when they came back there was a sudden downpour, making all three of thempletely drenched.


    Xu concubine and her son drank some ginger decoctions and didn''t have much problems afterwards, but that night Cheng fu had a fever, his entire body burned until his consciousness was hazy. Xu concubine had yed for an entire day with her son, she was extremely tired, she slept very deeply, and didn''t discover that the Cheng fu who was sleeping beside her was already burning to a scary extent.


    Until the next morning Xu concubine finally hastily had people go invite physicians, Cheng fu was already breathing very faintly, the entire family was terrified. The elderlydy guarded in the room, watching doctors look over Cheng fu one after another. After several days, there was still not the slightest improvement.


    The Cheng fu who was still in the prime of his life, suddenly died just like this. The elderlydy only had this one son, when she was young she went through so many twists and turns and finally brought him up, and he inherited such a big family business. Extremely grieved, the elderlydy also fell gravely ill, and ced all of the responsibility and me on the head of Xu concubine. Before she closed her eyes, she instructed the butler to chase the Xu concubine and son out, forever prohibited from ever entering the Cheng family doors.


    Xu concubine had originally nned well her scheme, she wanted to wait until the elderlydy died and then let Cheng fu raise her up to an equal wife. Cheng fu also favored her son, her son could also vie for the family business, and may have been able to take over the majority.


    Yet God''s ns supersede our own, Cheng fu suddenly died like this, she and her son were also chased out by the gravely ill elderlydy. Even if they had not been chased out, after the entire Cheng family hadnded into the Cheng mother''s hands, just from those matters she had done before, she would definitely not have any good days.


    Xu concubine had nowhere to go, she could only bring her son to return to her original opera troupe. Even though she was only a concubine in the Cheng family, she had lived with no difference to a noble married woman, and now that she had again fallen to the lowest, she was unable to ept this kind of disparity. So she could only ruthlessly leave her son in the opera troupe, and run away with an over 50 year old merchant.


    Cheng Jiaming was only 6 or 7 years old at that time, even though he had already started remembering things, he did not have the capability to live independently, and even more so had no way to find his mother. So he could only stay in the opera troupe doing odd jobs and learning how to perform. In the past he had been a young master of the Cheng family, he didn''t know anything, so now he went through a lot of suffering. Xu concubine did not leave him anything, only leaving behind a letter, telling him, no matter what he still had the Cheng family blood in his veins, and the Cheng family business should have his portion. She told him that in the future he definitely had to think of ways to wrest away the Cheng family business.


    This letter was Cheng Jiaming''s only keepsake, so every day he would take it out to look over it, and the content of the letter was deeply engraved in his mind, turning into the reason for his survival. Gradually, the memories about the Cheng family and Xu concubine all started to be indistinct in his mind, but from beginning to end he still remembered that he needed to return to the Cheng family, and needed to take back the things that originally should have belonged to him.


    After the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties should have been the Qing dynasty, but don''t know which butterfly pped its wing, the Qing dynasty actually didn''t exist in this world. After the Ming dynasty was the Wei dynasty, and after the Wei dynasty was the Luoshi imperial dynasty. The nation was called Qi, also known as the Da Qi Chao.


    The Luoshi imperial dynasty was overthrown and the nation sank into incessant fighting between warlords. After several years of chaos, now the Yang president came into power and had already subdued most of the warlords, but there were always still some warlords still struggling, unwilling to acknowledge allegiance.


    It was now the era of the Chinese Republic, opera was already not like during the times of feudalism, being despised like that. Even though they were still not superior, but they were considered as ordinary people. Some famous singers who sang better also received the appreciation of influential officials and the poprity from the masses, not too much difference from the celebrities nowadays.


    Cheng Jiaming had gone through nearly ten years of suffering and started revealing his outstanding talent, gradually bing a famous singer. He returned to the Li city to perform.


    Li city was an illustrious and glorious ce, Li city''s merchants and ys all had high reputations in the entire country. The city was extremely flourishing, many people here did business, there were also many wealthy people. The people in the city all enjoyed listening to the opera, even the poorest families couldment a bit on good and bad operas.


    After Cheng Jiaming returned to Li city, he established his own Cheng family troupe, and bought the Ya Garden. He not only became the famous singer who received the most praise and had the best skills in Li city, but also became friends with the local army''s tyrant Wei Tianxiong, and started his ns to take back the Cheng family property.


    Even though the Cheng family''s industries were numerous, after Cheng Junxi¡¯s father died, the world started bing chaotic and warlords were fighting everywhere. The Cheng family closed quite a few stores, only the tea shops still had quite good business. After Cheng fu died, Cheng Junxi''s mother was a woman and it was not good for her to show her face in public, but she still supported the family business with great difficulty.


    In the previous couple years, Cheng Junxi''s mother had also died, he also didn''t have much talent in business, so the Cheng family gradually declined. Fortunately after the president came to power, the world started calming down and there stopped being wars everywhere. Even if he was not adept at doing business, but relying on the Cheng family''s long-established reputation, and the umted wealth over many years, it was enough to let him live a life of high position and great wealth.


    But after Cheng Jiaming returned to Li city and was together with the local tyrant Wei Tianxiong, he started the n of plundering the Cheng family. In the past as long as Cheng family paid their taxes in a timely fashion, they would be able to exist in harmony. Butter Wei Tianxiong''s appetite increased more and more, and adding on the influx of foreign goods into the country, the Cheng family''s business became more and more difficult.


    At this time opium started entering the country. Wei Tianxiong was extremely greedy, he obviously knew the dangers of opium, but in order to rake in money, he started to sell opium. Opium dens started being set up one after another in Li city, these opium dens all acquired their stock from Wei Tianxiong, even if there were other ces to get their stock, they still didn''t dare to go.


    Cheng Junxi was someone who was happy with the status quo and didn''t have much ambition, he wasn''t even able to manage well his own family business, so he didn''t have much interest in opening an opium den. But those merchants who had opened opium dens started earning money inrge amounts, and only his shops didn''t have the least amount of movement. Under the half persuasion and half threats of the men dispatched by Wei Tianxiong, in order to give face to Wei Tianxiong, he also opened an opium den.


    Because opium dens had just became popr, the dangers were still not that obvious, and the people who really understood it were not many. Later Cheng Junxi also got into an opium addiction, his body kept on deteriorating, and the Cheng family business was slowly swallowed by Wei Tianxiong. This also had Cheng Jiaming''s handwriting in the background.


    The dangers of opium were spread outrger andrger, the men dispatched to Li city by Yang president were unable to go against Wei Tianxiong and had no way to ban opium. Later Yang president''s nephew, Yangmander, came to Li city. This person was not very old, but his ability was not low, he was an extremely powerful person. His purpose foring to Li city was precisely for dealing with Wei Tianxiong and tidying up Li city.


    Wei Tianxiong was unable to go against Yangmander and was shot dead while fleeing with his confidants. Because Cheng Jiaming had worked together with Yangmander and had good achievements, and also put a lot of effort into the campaign to prohibit opium afterwards, he remained the famous actor who had immense poprity.


    Cheng Junxi was a boss of an opium den, not to mention his store being smashed, his family business had basically been taken away by Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming these two people. The remaining family property was also confiscated and used to construct opium rehabilitation centers. Under Cheng Jiaming''s maniptions, Cheng Junxi, who had be addicted to opium, was unable to enter the rehabilitation center and was stranded in the streets. When his addiction broke out, he intruded into someone''s home, and was killed by a stray bullet by police who had rushed over.


    When Cheng Junxi had been wandering the streets, Cheng Jiaming hade over to find him and tell him the truth about everything. Cheng Jiaming hade back to Li city just to retaliate against the Cheng family, to get revenge against Cheng Junxi. He had seeded, not only had he taken back the Cheng family, but he had also be a world famous actor, receiving the adtion of everyone. And he Cheng Junxi, was only a street rat, spurned by everyone, this was precisely his retribution.


    Cheng Junxi didn''t know why his current situation was because of retribution, he didn''t owe Cheng Jiaming anything. Cheng Jiaming being chased out of the family and learning opera in the troupe, all had no rtionship with him, but Cheng Jiaming still calcted all of the responsibility and me on his head.


    He really hated, he hated Cheng Jiaming and hated Wei Tianxiong, and also hated his ownck of ability. Before he died, hisst thought was that even if he became a ghost, he would definitely get vengeance. <hr>


    [1] traveling salesmen ¨C ÐÐÉÌ, it means peddler or salesman, but the meaning probably shouldn''t be as derogatory as that in this context¡­


    [2] Ming Guo ¨C Ãñ¹ú, it refers to ÖлªÃñ¹ú, or the Republic of China, the name of the new Chinese country after the downfall of the Qing dynasty


    [3] on the verge of copse ¨C Ò¡Ò¡Óû×¹, tottering


    [4] marrying downward ¨C ϼÞ, bc ancient dynasties have more of a ss system, so she was actually marrying into a lower ss/status


    [5] in perfect harmony ¨C ÇÙɪºÍÃù, idiom, literally means qin and se sing in harmony


    [6] opera singer ¨C Ï·×Ó, apparently this means opera singer in a derogatory way, or else it means actor


    [7] rose to the forefront ¨C Ò»´¥¼´·¢, means that something could happen at any moment, it''s on the verge of happening


    [8] took great pains ¨C ·Ñ¾¡ÐÄ˼, idiom, means to rack her brains, probably to use all methods


    [9] felt very apologetic ¨C ¹ýÒⲻȥ, feel sorry for them


    [10] behave arbitrarily ¨C ÈÎÒâÍýΪ, ÈÎÒâ means to behave arbitrarily and ÍýΪ means to take rash actions


    [11] settled by leaving it unsettled ¨C ²»ÁËÁËÖ®, also means ending up with nothing definite


    [12] downpour ¨C Æ°ÆôóÓê, idiom, don''t really know the literal definition


    [13] fell gravely ill ¨C Ò»²¡²»Æð, idiom, usually never to recover


    [14] God''s ns supersede our own ¨C ÈËËã²»ÈçÌìËã, also means Man proposes but God disposes


    [15] had nowhere to go ¨C ÎÞ´¦¿ÉÈ¥, literally means no ce she could go


    [16] which butterfly pped its wing ¨C ÄÄÖ»ºûµûÉȶ¯Á˳á°ò, refers to the butterfly effect, which is when some minute change causesrge effects


    [17] Da Qi Chaozhao ¨C ´óÆô³¯, means big Qi dynasty


    [18] incessant fighting between warlords ¨C ¾ü·§»ìÕ½, basically means fights between warring states right


    [19] superior ¨C ¸ßÈËÒ»µÈ, more like in status, stillmon status


    [20] reveal outstanding talent ¨C ո¶ͷ½Ç, idiom, means to stand out as conspicuously brilliant


    [21] illustrious and glorious ¨C È˽ܵØÁé, idiom, literally means illustrious hero, spirit of the ce


    [22] show her face in public ¨C Å×ͷ¶Ãæ, apparently this is derogatory


    [23] high position and great wealth ¨C ÈÙ»ª¸»¹ó, idiom, literally means glory, splendor, wealth, and rank


    [24] taxes ¨C ÉϹ©, I honestly forget the term for this, it''s kind of like taxes but also not, it''s more like a sacrifice/offering of allegiance rather than just taxes, there''s a word that''s escaping me rn, maybe it was tribute but that''s not right either¡­


    [25] happy with the status quo ¨C °²ÓÚÏÖ×´, idiom, means to take things as they are


    [26] work together with ¨C ÀïÓ¦ÍâºÏ, idiom, means to coordinate outside and inside offensives<hr>


    Ahh, it¡¯s the start of a new arc, so I knew it was going to be a big one. 2.5 hours, 6 pm ¨C 8:30 pm. 4k characters to 3.6k words. I mean, look at this monstrosity. 26 T/Ns? I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve never even gotten close to this number (went back and checked, actually there was one with 20 but still a lot). Sure enough once you leave the nice and normal modern world it all goes bonkers.


    Okay also I have toment about this. I never noticed this when I was MTLing, but now that I''m actually reading the raws, the MC here has the êØ xi character in his name. I''m excited bc I have the exact same êØ character in my Chinese name, and I''ve never seen anyone else have it. It''s like one of the mostplicated Chinese characters to write, and I did have to write it a lot in the past. The MC and I have a connection. Who needs the ML. But also you can probably guess who¡¯s the ML from this chapter.


    Edit (day before posting): Wee back everyone! I¡¯m happy to say that after a week of catching up, I have finished tranting the entire Arc 2, so there should be smooth scheduled releases as before for the entire arc. Looking at the next arc, I do see one chapter that has 5.6k characters and another that has 5.2k, which kind of scares me a little. We¡¯ll push through!


    Also, I may or may not have picked up a fun side project! I¡¯m quite excited about this one, and will likely make it public after this second arc ispleted. It¡¯s still BL ?? Look forward to it, everyone.

 Chapter 18

    <strong>Chapter 18</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    "Young master." The housekeeper quietly called outside the door.


    Jing Yang opened his eyes. "Come in.¡±


    The housekeeper pushed open the door and walked in, followed by several servants carrying a washbasin and towel such types of items for washing up.


    Jing Yang rinsed his mouth and washed his face, and after the several servants withdrew, the housekeeper asked, "Young master, are you going to go take a look at the store?¡±


    "I will first go see the opium den." Jing Yang went behind the screen and changed into a cheongsam for going out. Right now the opium den was still being decorated and renovated and still had not officially opened yet. Even though it was said that the opium had already been stocked, there was still time for everything.


    Originally Cheng Jiaming was also a pathetic person who had been abandoned by his mother, but this didn''t mean that he didn¡¯t need to pay the price for all of those hateful things that he did. For what reason did he do so many wicked things, yet was still able to enjoy unlimited scenery in the end? Since now he had reced Cheng Junxi, then on his behalf, he would aplish all of the wishes that Cheng Junxi had made before dying. He would take back the Cheng family business and let Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming both pay the price.


    He used the system to check the ending of Xu concubine. She had been sold by that businessman''s wife to the filthiest brothel andter died of an infectious illness. She deserved this kind of result, so he didn''t need to trouble himself over changing anything.


    Jing Yang went to the opium den to check the opium, the amount was actually not small. He told the housekeeper that the opium den would not open for the time being and to transport these opium to the coast of Bincheng, get a pool, and then pour in the opium with seawater and calcium oxide. Then these opium would all be destroyed.


    "Destroyed?" The housekeeper widened his eyes in disbelief. "These opium were bought with real gold and silver ah, you spent quite a bit of money on this, how could we just destroy it like this?¡±


    "This is not some good thing, just leaving it would harm others as well as myself." Jing Yang responded calmly. "If the money was spent then that''s it, in the future we can always earn it back.¡±


    "But¡­, if the den doesn''t open and Wei officer¡¯s side starts asking questions, that won''t be easy to exin ah." The housekeeper was still somewhat hesitant.


    "The den definitely cannot be opened, it will definitely cause retribution. First just dy Wei officer''s side, if we can drag one day then drag one day." Jing Yang looked all around and whispered, "You must make sure to find people you can trust to do this task, we definitely cannot let Wei Tianxiong know about this right now.¡±


    The housekeeper was quite trustworthy, he waspletely devoted to the Cheng family and to Cheng Junxi. The old housekeeper who had chased Xu concubine out of the house was his father,ter the housekeeper also suffered Cheng Jiaming''s retaliation, and his end was very miserable.


    The housekeeper looked at the back of Jing Yang leaving with his hands sped behind his back and vaguely felt that his family young master seemed to have turned more profound. He shook his head and hurriedly followed up, this was definitely an illusion.


    ~


    "Young master, Zhang housekeeper." The restaurant shopkeeper saw the two men walking over from far away, and walked over to receive them.


    The Cheng family''s restaurants had decreased to two stores from the original five, and the teashops had turned to three stores from the original six. The other shops like the clothing workshops werepletely gone, they had all been used as gifts for Wei Tianxiong and had turned into his possessions. Even if it was like this, Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming were still not satisfied.


    In the first floor hall, a few guests were sparsely spread out. Jing Yang took a nce, walked in and sat down. The shopkeeper took out the ount books and wanted to say something but hesitated.


    Opening the ount books, Jing Yang''s finger stopped on a certain page and tapped on it.


    The shopkeeper finally started speaking. "One of the aides of Wei officer gave his mother a birthday feast, he reserved 50 tables¡­, he said that the money would first be owed and then he would return it when he had it. This is already the third time this month, we are only a restaurant, we are really unable to withstand Wei officer''s aides <strong>freeloading</strong> any more like this.¡±


    Jing Yang had plenty of methods to make the restaurant''s business improve, but looking at the current situation, no matter how good the things he could take out were, they would only be given to other people. There would be no way for himself to benefit.


    "Young master¡­¡±


    The shopkeeper still wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by the housekeeper. "That''s enougho Huang, young master already knows about this matter, you don''t need to keep mentioning it.¡±


    The housekeeper was very clear, the young master must be very helpless in his heart, but right now he also had no methods.


    Jing Yang shook the teacup in his hand and didn''t say anything. For the time being he could only let them freeload, as long as Wei Tianxiong this cause of trouble wasn''t solved, he would have no way to free himself. If he wanted to wait for that Yangmander to dispose of Wei Tianxiong, that would already have been several yearster, who knew whether other idents would ur during this period of time. Sitting there to wait for death didn''t conform with his personality, taking the initiative to attack was his style.


    Returning to the Cheng family, Jing Yang started pondering about hister ns. Killing off Wei Tianxiong was his best method, but this person''s personality was paranoid, his guards never left his side. Besides "affairs," even when he was sleeping at night his guards still kept watch inside the room, if he wanted to go close and kill him off, the difficulty was quite high.


    But that didn''t mean there wasn''t any point of breakthrough, Wei Tianxiong was an opera enthusiast, almost to the point of addiction, and was also a homosexual. Or else with his greed, he would not have given the Cheng family assets in his hand to Cheng Jiaming, and satisfied all sorts of his requests.


    This point that Wei Tianxiong was an opera addict was actually something he could exploit to get close to him, then what would he do after getting close? How he could dispose of him and still not stir up trouble for himself, and also not be taken advantage of by him¡­ The best way was to use drugs, he needed a drug that could cause hallucinations and a slow-acting poison that was incapable of being diagnosed with the current medical expertise. After he searched a bit in the system, Jing Yang smiled, this method seemed to be not bad.


    Jing Yang let the housekeeper invite the <strong>Fairview</strong> Park troupe master Wu. In Li city, the Wu family troupe had once been <strong>tremendously popr for a while</strong>. But at that time the famous singers had be old or left, and over the years he hadn''t been able to cultivate out any especially great apprentices, and slowly declined. The number of people who requested them decreased, and the number who went to Fairview Park to see them perform also decreased.


    After Cheng Jiaming came to Li city, he had unlimited scenery for a while, every time he performed it would be a <strong>full house</strong>, and the number of people who went to Fairview Park became even fewer. The Wu family troupe was now only surviving with difficulty and would dissolve in less than two years. Later on when Cheng Junxi was wandering the streets, Wu troupe master thought he was pitiful and would often bring him some food from home. Now, Jing Yang wanted to repay this grace on Cheng Junxi''s behalf.


    When Wu troupe master had suddenly been called to the Cheng family, he had thought that the Cheng family wanted to request them for a performance. He had thought that there finally was someone willing to invite them and had been very happy in his heart.


    The housekeeper brought Wu troupe master into the study and then left, closing the door behind him. Jing Yang lifted his hand. "Please sit.¡±


    Wu troupe master <strong>half rose out of his chair</strong> and sat down on the right side of the <strong>arhat bed</strong> next to the window.


    Jing Yang took out a small wooden box and sat down on the left side of the arhat bed. He ced the box on the low table between them. "This is 200 silvers.¡±


    "This¡­" Wu troupe master looked at the silver and then looked at Jing Yang. "We don''t need this much, my troupe currently doesn''t have famous singers. Cheng young master giving us half of this would already be thinking highly of us.¡±


    "Wu troupe master has misunderstood, I don''t want to invite you toe perform." Jing Yang said.


    "You''re not inviting us to perform?" Wu troupe master froze, and looked at the silver doubtfully. "Then this¡­¡±


    "I want to go perform at your Fairview Park.¡±


    "Sing¡­, you know how to sing opera?" Wu troupe master was shocked, and didn''t understand how he would say this kind of words.


    "No mistake, I will pay you money and go to your ce to perform. Every time I sing, I will pay you 200 silvers, the revenue could also be given to you, I don''t need a cent." Jing Yang lightly tapped his finger on the table.


    Wu troupe master fell silent, the Wu family troupe truly really needed money right now, but this Cheng family young master, how would it be possible for him to know how to perform, it would be even more impossible for him to be able to sing well. In all likelihood he would only want to spend money to y a little. But this would definitely damage the Wu family troupe''s reputation, andter on there would be even less people willing to go listen at Fairview Park. For this money, it was not worth it ah¡­


    Jing Yang raised his teacup and leisurely took two sips, and then leisurely ced the teacup back down. He continued, "In the future, every month, I will give your Wu family troupe a sum of money, I can ensure that you will not copse because of not having enough money, until you cultivate the next famous singer.¡±


    Wu troupe master was moved again, Jing Yang''s promise, for him, was undoubtedly a tremendous enticement.


    "Cheng young master wants to sing how many stages?" Wu troupe master asked.


    "It depends, I am unable to say for certain right now. But I can make a guarantee, after I sing the first stage, if the reactions are not good, then I will not go sing againter on. But the subsidy that I agreed to give you, I will still give you as before.¡±


    "Good!" Wu troupe master <strong>made a tough decision</strong> and agreed. If it was only one stage, the influence shouldn''t be too big, in any case not many people came to Fairview Park right now.


    Jing Yang smiled. "However, I have a condition.¡±


    "What condition?" Wu troupe master immediately looked at him.


    "Before I am willing to expose my identity, no matter who asks you for my identity, you cannot tell anyone about my identity or about the matter of me going to sing opera.¡±


    "This is not a problem, then I will first thank Cheng young master. If in the future our troupe can be revitalized, I will definitely return you all of this money.¡±


    Jing Yang thought, Wu troupe master¡¯s this good person temperament who was unwilling to take unfair advantage of other people, should also be one of the reasons that the Wu family troupe had still not copsed ba. But ording to the ways of this world, for what reason did the good people all not have good days. He wanted to give these good people a way to survive.


    ~


    Cheng Jiaming came out of the officer''s residence, holding a small wooden case in his hands. Once he got on the car he couldn''t wait to open it and take out the property deeds and banknotes, carefully looking over them one by one. These were all the Cheng family''s things and were now in his hands. Only at this moment, he finally felt that price he paid was all worth it.


    Wei Tianxiong that boorish fellow was both beefy and fat, and even had some special hobbies. Every time Cheng Jiaming had sex with him, he would always feelpletely disgusted. But as long as he could achieve his goals, he could endure all of these, to say nothing of all of the benefits Wei Tianxiong could give him, not just limited to getting all of the Cheng family property. With Wei Tianxiong thisyer of rtionship, he could <strong>walk horizontally</strong> in Li city, no one dared to offend him.


    The car passed by the entrance of the Cheng residence, Cheng Jiaming raised his head to look at the Cheng residence sign that had shed by. He hooked up the corners of his mouth with a slight smile, the Cheng family, sooner orter would all belong to him. Cheng Junxi had enjoyed it for so many years, it should be enough, the things that belonged to him, he would take them back personally.


    "You finally came back." Liu Er ran out to help Cheng Jiaming open the car door. He was the steward that Cheng Jiaming had invited, and only helped him manage the Cheng family troupe and Ya Garden. "A full audience is all waiting for you to go on stage.¡±


    "I''m not singing today." Cheng Jiaming got off the car and walked inside.


    "Not singing? But all these people came for you ah.¡±


    "Not in the mood, you see how to arrange ba." Yesterday night he had apanied Wei Tianxiong to y for an entire night, now his waist was almost broken, where would he have the energy to go on stage.


    Liu Er was helpless, he could only help him fix the mess, Cheng Jiaming did as he pleased like this, if he didn''t want to sing then he didn''t sing, it also wasn''t the first or second time. The news had already been sent out saying that tonight the Cheng boss would be going on stage, and now he was not singing again, those people who had paid money toe in would definitely not be happy.


    But fortunately no one dared to make trouble in Ya Garden, they all knew it was supported in the background by Wei officer. Next time they spread the news that the Cheng boss would perform, those who woulde would stille. Who let only Cheng boss have the best opera skills in Li city.


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>freeload</strong> ¨C °×³Ô°×ÄÃ, literally means purely eating and drinking


    [2] <strong>Fairview</strong> ¨C ½õÐå, means beautiful, but MTL trantes this to Fairview, and I like that better than Beautiful Park


    [3] <strong>tremendously popr for a while</strong> ¨C ºì¼«Ò»Ê±, but no longer


    [4] <strong>full house</strong> ¨C ×ùÎÞÐéϯ, literally means a banquet with no empty seats


    [5] <strong>half rose out of his chair</strong> ¨C Ç·Éí, a polite gesture, though that doesn''t make sense bc he wasn''t sitting¡­


    [6] <strong>arhat bed</strong> ¨C ÂÞºº´², an interesting type of furniture, basically a Ming-dynasty style sofa, you can lie on them like a "reclining Buddha"


    [7] <strong>make a tough decision</strong> ¨C °ÑÐÄÒ»ºá, literally means to make his his mind horizontal/harsh


    [8] <strong>walk horizontally</strong> ¨C ºá×Å×ß, basically means he could do anything he wants<hr>


    Our standard 1.5 hours: 3:30 pm ¨C 5 pm, 3.3k characters to 2.6k words. I had written all of the opium dens as smoke shops originally, and in the previous chapter, so I had to go back and change them all when I finally decided that smoke shops really didn¡¯t have much to do with opium. Though when MC was nning out his strategy, I was like your system probably has tons of ways for you to just kill him quietly, why are you making it soplicated. But I guess it¡¯s for the plot.


    <strong>Edit: </strong>I¡¯ve recently been listening to a lot of Chinese music (I go through phases for my music. I listen to just Chinese for a few months and then just K-bads for a month and then just English indie/alternative/pop for the rest of the year and then change back and forth) so I thought I might make a couple recs when I find a song or two that I¡¯ve gotten addicted to! For the past week I¡¯ve been really into ÌåÃæ by Kelly Yu, as well as a cover done by a dude on Sing! China, the rebranded version of the Voice of China.


    And starting yesterday I¡¯ve been listening nonstop to a different song. Idk if all you BL lovers read too much non BL, but A Slight Smile Is Very Charming is a very popr one. I¡¯ll be the first to admit that I don¡¯t enjoy it that much. Perhaps bc it was way overhyped so I was really looking forward to it (it had all the things I wanted: an OP MC, gaming, an OP ML, beautiful people) but I guess just didn¡¯t live up to the hype. The MC was supposed to be strong and smart but when she met up with the ML her IQ would drop to like 10%. I was very disappointed. Anyways there¡¯s a really popr c-drama adaptation of it called Love O2O, which I have never watched. And this song is on the soundtrack. I actually found out about it through Spotify and then after looking carefully at the cover art I was like that album title looks familiar. So here we are. I especially enjoy ying Silence Wang¡¯s version on repeat, but the version of this song with some of the male cast is also great. Watching the MV for the male cast one also made me kind of want to suffer through the c-drama. The ML is yed by Yang Yang, who if you don¡¯t know, is also going to y Ye Xiu in the King¡¯s Avatar c-drama. I can¡¯t not like this dude. When¡¯s the TKA c-drama gonnae out??


    Ok so this edit became wayyy too long. I¡¯ll probably not do this too often¡­oops.

 Chapter 19

    Fairview Park released the news that on the evening of the 17th of the month, the first 60 peopleing to watch opera would be able to enter free of charge, and would also receiveplimentary tea, desserts, melon seeds, and fruit.


    During this era the night life originally wasn''t that varied, ordinary people of the lowest status didn''t have much spare money to listen to opera. Those who did have the money naturally were more willing to choose the better troupes to support.


    These three words "free of charge", no matter in which era, would always have enormous appeal, plus refreshments and tea could also beplimentary. Besides those people who usually don''t have the spare money to listen to opera and thus came very early to get in line, there were also some whose families did have some spare money but who naturally liked taking advantage of these types of opportunities who also came to wait at the entrance.


    These were all requirements that Jing Yang had proposed, all the expenses that the troupe incurred on the evening of the 17th, he would pay for. Wu troupe master was originally somewhat hesitant. Once they said it would be free of charge, the amount of people who came would definitely not be small, but the more people who came to listen to Cheng young master''s opera, their troupe''s reputation would suffer a greater injury.


    Jing Yang repeatedly guaranteed to him, if this time he sang badly, he would definitely not sing a second time. Wu troupe master also bit his teeth and agreed.


    For the time being Jing Yang didn''t want to let other people know he hade to sing opera, so Wu troupe master especially prepared a concealed room for him to change and do his makeup. In the entire Wu family troupe, besides Wu troupe leader, not a second person knew Jing Yang was going toe sing opera.


    "I cane help you put on makeup." Wu troupe master said.


    "No need, it''ll be fine if I just put it on myself." Jing Yang declined. "You can first go do your work, you can juste let me know when it gets closer to when I have to go on stage.¡±


    Wu troupe master''s mood was extremely uneasy, but it had already gotten to this stage, so he could only listen to everything Jing Yang said.


    After many years, Fairview Park finally had a full house, it was just that these people did not reallye for the Wu family troupe. Wu troupe master didn''t know whether he should be happy or ufortable, after tonight, he was afraid it would be even harder to have so many peoplee again.


    Jing Yang faced the mirror and started putting on his makeup. Today he was going to be singing <strong>The Drunken Beauty</strong>, this was one of Wei Tianxiong''s favorite operas. With the help of the system, he would be able to disy this opera to the pinnacle, he didn''t believe that he wouldn''t be able to attract Wei Tianxiong.


    After the warm up was over, Wu troupe master came over to invite Jing Yang. "Cheng young master, you''ll need to go on stage soon.¡±


    "In the future Wu troupe master should address me as Jun shao ba, if other people heard you call me Cheng young master, that would expose my identity in advance." The already made up Jing Yang stood up and turned around to look at Wu troupe master.


    Wu troupe master froze when he saw Jing Yang, this kind of coquettish appearance could definitely be considered worthy of the phrase <strong>capable of causing the downfall of a country</strong>, he was afraid that even the real <strong>Yang Guifei</strong> did not have such a stunning mien.


    Wu troupe master had no way to associate this person in front of him with the gentle and elegant Cheng young master. He had sung so many years of opera, and seen so many years of other people''s opera, he had seen every famous singer''s opera, but this was the first time he had seen such an outstanding appearance.


    "Wu troupe master?" Jing Yang saw that Wu troupe master hadpletely frozen and didn''t respond to him, so he called out to him.


    Wu troupe master came back to himself, and vaguely recalled that Jing Yang seemed to have said something earlier. "What did you say just now?¡±


    Jing Yang repeated that he should call him Jun shao, Wu troupe master agreed and brought Jing Yang toward the stage. When they were passing through the backstage area, Wu troupe master''s disciples all came over to surround them, their gazes when they saw Jing Yang were full of astonishment.


    After Jing Yang went onstage, some disciples curiously asked Wu troupe master, "Master, who was that ah?¡±


    Wu troupe master looked displeased. "Don''t ask about things you shouldn''t ask about.¡±


    The audience area was much livelier than onstage, besides concentrating on eating melon seeds and refreshments, the audience members were also talking and chatting loudly and arrogantly. Even when Jing Yang had already gone on stage, very few people noticed.


    When Jing Yang had just opened his mouth and sung the first sentence, the audience instantly became quiet, all eyes were finally concentrated on stage.


    The Drunken Beauty, this opera expressed Yang Guifei''s thoughts and yearning for love after drinking, and through graceful singing and dancing, it would painstakingly revealyer byyer Yang Guifei''s hopes and anticipation, disappointment, destion, and resentment.


    This opera had a lot of dancing, including <strong>Mongolian</strong> (xian bei), <strong>crouching fish</strong> (wo yu), drunken steps (zui bu), and the fan dance, the difficulty was very high. Originally Jing Yang had learned dancing over several worlds, but in order to disy the appearance of an opera singer, he needed to use the help of the system to control his current body.


    The audience below stage were watching <strong>as if they were intoxicated</strong>, those mellow and flowing vocals, that smooth, sweet, and clear voice, flowed into their ears, making them drunk. Their entire surroundings seemed to have disappeared, at this moment they seemed to have found themselves in the imperial pce courtyard, they could see the devastatingly beautiful imperial consort, who had gotten drunk to give vent to her heart''s depression when the emperor hadn''te to visit her.


    From Jing Yang''s appearance to his singing as well as his figure, he portrayed the progression from helplessly tipsy to deeply intoxicated, making the audience also be fascinated while watching. They resented the emperor along with the person on stage, why would you abandon such a charming beautiful person to be alone, and didn''te to properlyfort her.


    Wu troupe master and his disciples backstage also were dumbfounded when listening, each one of them couldn''t resist looking through the crack in the curtain to the stage.


    ~


    When Jing Yang had stopped singing and withdrawn from the stage, the audience beneath the stage was still immersed in their intoxication and hadn''t been able toe back from their daze. Wu troupe master prohibited his disciples from following him over, and returned together with Jing Yang to the room he had prepared.


    "Cheng¡­, no, Jun shao." Wu troupe master controlled his excited emotions. "May I ask who Jun shao''s teacher is? When did you start learning how to sing? You actually had such profound aplishments.¡±


    Jing Yang rapidly started removing his stage makeup and responded. "It is not convenient for me to reveal the answers to those questions to you, you only need to remember the words I said to you before. Don''t ask too much about the rest.¡±


    "¡­Yes." Wu troupe master had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions today, now he was finally somewhat calmer, but he <strong>couldn''t help quickly</strong> asking, "Then are you going toe sing tomorrow?¡±


    "I will temporarily not being tomorrow. We will first wait a few days, and when I do want toe sing, I will send people toe let you know first.¡±


    After Jing Yang finished removing all of his makeup, he walked behind the curtain to change. He put on a round hat and pulled down the brim. From the small alley on the side, he quietly left.


    After this night, the news that Fairview Park''s Wu family troupe had invited a famous singer spread widely throughout Li city. The people who had listened to that opera on that night, not a single one didn''t say good things about it. Plus the people who had earlier heard Cheng Jiaming sing said that the Drunken Beauty that person from Fairview Park sang was even better than how Cheng Jiaming from Ya Garden had sung it. But once they asked about who in the end that famous singer was, everyone shook their heads to express that they didn''t know.


    This matter was <strong>extremely skillfully</strong> propagated throughout Li city. Some people said that after listening to that y, for several consecutive nights, even in their dreams they dreamt that they were still listening to that opera, as if that voice and singing was still in their ear. Even if they <strong>had to sacrifice everything they had</strong>, they would still want to go listen to it again. But what was strange was that these days Fairview Park suddenly stopped opening.


    For these rumors, many people all didn''t believe them, they felt that the people who had spread these words definitely had received benefits from the Wu family troupe and thus would say good things everywhere.


    They even said that that person sang better than Cheng boss, if that were really true, how could there be no movement for several consecutive days?


    There were some people who had quicker tempers who saw that no one would believe them no matter what they said, and then swore to the heavens that if Fairview Park opened again, you all should go listen, if they didn''t sing as well as Cheng boss, then I will remove my head and give it to you.


    For those words that were circting outside, Jing Yang naturally was aware, this was exactly the result that he wanted. He waited several days at home, and when he felt that the time was about right, Jing Yang let the housekeeper covertly notify Wu troupe master that he would go sing opera in two days. He told him to prepare a little in advance, he could also make suitable propaganda.


    "Young master, this matter of you singing opera has already <strong>caused an uproar</strong> outside, if someone finds out that it is you, it wouldn''t be good for you or the Cheng family''s reputation ah." The housekeeper couldn''t resist advising, this matter of his family''s young master going to sing opera, for the time being only he knew in the entire Cheng family. The housekeeper didn''t know what the reason was for the young master doing this, but he was still concerned for him.


    "Zhang uncle, now is already no longer the same as the past, singing opera has long not been some contemptible career. After some more years, opera will be known as an art, many people pursue and value it. Even if other people find out that I went to sing opera, that''s not a problem, in any case I don''t want to conceal it for that long, sooner orter other people will know.¡±


    "But, in the end why are you doing this ah?" The housekeeper didn''t understand what this art he mentioned was. From how he saw it, he was a young master of a big family, there was no need for him to sing opera to try to please other people.


    "Right now I can''t tell you the reason, but in the future you naturally will understand, leave ba¡­¡±


    Jing Yang didn''t want to make extra exnations, the housekeeper also didn''t keep asking. He sighed and left.


    Once Wu troupe master heard that Jing Yang wanted toe perform again, he was <strong>unable to contain his joy</strong>. These days he had been worrying, earlier he was worried that Cheng young master wouldn''t be able to sing well and would damage the Wu family troupe''s reputation. But the result was that he sang too well, it went against his expectations too much, and instead made him even more worried. He was afraid that when the people who came to Fairview Park to listen to opera weren''t able to hear Cheng young master''s performance, they would create a disturbance and smash up the venue, this made him not dare to even open the park.


    There were not a few people who came to ask Wu troupe master who had performed that night, they were all evaded perfunctorily by Wu troupe master saying that even he himself didn''t know. And now Jing Yang was going toe to Fairview Park again, Wu troupe master also couldn''t directly say out that the Cheng young master was going toe perform opera, so he could only announce to the public that the park would have performances the day after tomorrow.


    Some people came over to ask, they found out it was still the Jun boss who had sung the Drunken Beauty, and immediately many people came to reserve seats. Because this time they had to pay for admission, and the price was quite high, the majority of people who hade were wealthy people who had note earlier. They were very curious about whether in the end this Jun boss''s opera was truly as good as those rumors outside imed. After all, they had never heard of this person before.


    Jing Yang did the same thing asst time, he waited until the sky gradually turned dark, and covertly entered Fairview Park from a side door. Together with the Wu troupe master who was waiting at the side door, they went into that especially prepared room for him.


    "Wu troupe master''s mood today seems pretty good?" Jing Yang saw the cheerful expression on Wu troupe master''s face.


    "Ever since that day Jun shao sent people to notify me that you were going toe perform, I have been quite happy." Wu troupe master smiled with some embarrassment. "It''s really been too long not having this many people especially running to our opera troupe, please don''t make fun of me.¡±


    "I can understand your mood, but I will want to remind you, I won''t constantly keep singing here. It''s possible that after singing a few times, I will no longere again. You need to make proper psychological preparation." Singing opera was really not his interest, and was also not Cheng Junxi''s interest, it was only one of his methods. After he hadpleted his vengeance, he would probably not continue singing.


    "This I am clear about, as long as Jun shaoes over out of interest, or when you have nothing to do ande out to sing, I would be very satisfied." Wu troupe master said. "It''s also not a problem if you don''te, in the future with Jun shao''s subsidies, I will definitely be able to revive Wu family troupe.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled. "It''s good that you''re able to think this way.¡±


    <hr>


    [1] <strong>The Drunken Beauty</strong> ¨C ¹óåú×í¾Æ, apparently a Qing Dynasty Beijing opera


    [2] <strong>capable of causing the downfall of a country</strong> ¨C Çã¹úÇã³Ç, idiom, means devastatingly beautiful


    [3] <strong>Yang Guifei</strong> ¨C Ñî¹óåú, famous Tang beauty, consort of the emperor, med for extravagance, also the protagonist of the Drunken Beauty opera


    [4] Ïα­¡¢ÎÔÓã¡¢×í²½¡¢ÉÈÎè ¨C honestly I have no idea how to trante any of these except for fan dance, that''s definitely right. google and mdbg is not helpful for these extremely cultural terms. Actually, I just looked up Xianbei and read a literal published paper about Xianbei being something like Mongols. Please please let me know if you know the meaning of any of these terms and I''ll fix the literal trantions¡­


    [5] <strong>as if they were intoxicated</strong> ¨C Èç³ÕÈç×í, idiom, literally means as if they were drunk and stupefied


    [6] <strong>couldn''t help quickly</strong> ¨C ÆȲ»¼°´ý, idiom, literally means impatient or in a hurry


    [7] <strong>extremely skillfully</strong> ¨C ÉñºõÆäÉñ, idiom, means brilliant or virtuosic


    [8] <strong>sacrifice everything they had</strong> ¨C ÔÒ¹øÂôÌú, idiom, willing to sacrifice everything


    [9] <strong>caused an uproar</strong> ¨C ·Ð·ÐÑïÑï, really means bubbling and gurgling/abuzz, but this seemed more relevant


    [10] <strong>unable to contain his joy</strong> ¨C ϲ²»×Ô½û, idiom<hr>


    Ughhh I knew I would get annoyed with some cultural Chinese terms. It¡¯s just so hard to trante those, you know? If it were easier to find a good source for tranting those types of specialty terms to English, my life would be a lot easier. Still, wasn¡¯t terrible. Almost two hours, 5:15 pm ¨C 7 pm, for 3.3k characters to 2.8k words.


    Hmm it seems like it¡¯s been too long since I¡¯vest tranted/typed out long pieces of writing. I type quite forcefully and quickly, so my fingers were getting a little sore. Guess I need to step up my game.

 Chapter 20

    <strong>Chapter 20</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.4)</strong>


    Once Jing Yang came on stage, the people below were instantly attracted by his appearance, and when he had just sung a few lines, there were already quite a few people looking at him with infatuated eyes.


    When he sang to the middle, suddenly some people started throwing silver onto the stage. In an instant, the audience seemed to havee out of a trance, throwing gold, silver, and jewelry at the stage one after another.


    "Good!¡±


    Jing Yang finished performing the first act of the opera, the sound of the cheers and apuse rang out, almost overturning the roof.


    Some people took the silvers on their bodies and the rings on their fingers, and threw them all on the stage, and then discovered that they hadn''t brought enough silver today. Then they turned around to look at thepanion at their side: "Do you still have anything that we can throw up there? Lend me some.¡±


    That person would rummage around and then say, "No more ah, I also threw all of mine up there, if we had known earlier we should have brought some more.¡±


    "Who is that on the stage ah? When did such an amazing opera singere to our Li cheng?¡±


    "Don''t know ah, but they really do not sing a bit worse than Cheng boss.¡±


    "What do you mean they don''t sing worse ah, clearly they are better than him by who knows how many times ah.¡±


    "Right right right, ah don''t speak anymore, after we finish listening we can discuss. Wait until he finishes singing and then we can continue our discussion.¡±


    When Jing Yang had just finished performing the third act of the opera, he suddenly met a pair of eyes on the second floor. His heart suddenly trembled, the feeling this pair of eyes gave him, felt very simr to Zhao Bocheng''s eyes. He forcefully suppressed the emotion in his heart, and his vocals and movements didn''t show a hint of change. The audience who had already been <strong>intoxicated by</strong> his singing didn''t discover the enormous waves in his heart.


    When Jing Yang took advantage of a move to look towards the second floor again, he didn''t meet with that pair of eyes again, but he was very sure, that had not been an illusion.


    After he finished singing, Jing Yang withdrew backstage and quickly returned to his room to remove his costume and makeup. He carefully recalled that pair of eyes just now, besides Zhao Bocheng, there would be no other person who would be able to give him this kind of feeling. Could it be, he really followed what he had promised, and apanied him toe to this world, and came to find him?


    In the previous world when his life hade to an end, Zhao Bocheng had said, no matter where he went his spirit would always go find him. He originally had not held too much hope in this promise, because he was already certain that Zhao Bocheng was not a soul from a different world, he didn''t have any other memories. The universe had millions of space-times, countless worlds, if he wasn''t a foreign soul who could keep his memories, how would he be able to chase after him.


    But that pair of eyes was too simr, and furthermore the feeling of heart tremors just now was also too familiar. Could it be, he had really achieved it, and especially came to chase after him?


    This kind of thought gave Jing Yang some anticipation and some excitement. If his lover had alsoe to this world, then in this world, he would also not be alone.


    Wu troupe master pushed open the door and entered the room, carrying a tray in his hands that was covered in things like gold, silver, and jade.


    Hearing the sound of the door opening, Jing Yang finally came out of his thoughts and turned around to look at Wu troupe master, "You are¡­¡±


    "These are for you." Wu troupe master put down the tray. "Normally with you being able to sing to this ability, it should be me paying you money, yet I am actually epting your money. These things I really can''t take, all of it is for you. In the future when youe to perform, you also don''t need to give me money again.¡±


    Jing Yang had discovered that he might be able to see his lover in this world, so he was in a very good mood. He smiled, "You can just take these things, you can take it as part of the subsidy that I give to your troupe." Right now he didn''tck this bit of money, and in the future even more so.


    "This¡­" Wu troupe master hesitated a bit. "Okay then, then I will take these things, but in the future when youe perform, you definitely cannot give any more money.¡±


    Jing Yang nodded and didn''t say anything else. He changed his clothes and again hurriedly left.


    ~


    After Jing Yang''s performance ended and the audience left, all of them seemed <strong>unwilling to extract themselves</strong>. His singing and figure seemed to have burned themselves in their ears and eyes.


    They reveled in their memories while discussing.


    "That singing, that figure and posture, truly awesome ah.¡±


    "Who would disagree, I had originally thought that Cheng boss''s Drunken Beauty was already awesome, I didn''t think that there truly are <strong>always more talented people in the world</strong> ah.¡±


    "In the end who is it, have you asked around?¡±


    "I''ve asked around, Wu troupe master only said that this person was surnamed Jun, he doesn''t know anything else.¡±


    "There''s actually something like this, it shouldn''t be some famous singer from outside who doesn''t want to reveal his identity ba?¡±


    "It''s possible, in any case he definitely isn''t from Li cheng, otherwise how would we not have heard of him before ne. Didn''t Wu troupe master say he also doesn''t know this person''s identity?¡±


    "Then did you ask Wu troupe master whether or not he would stille sing here? How many more times would he sing?¡±


    "¡­I really did not think of asking this¡­¡±


    "Then quickly go ask ah!¡±


    "Go go go, let''s go right now.¡±


    Jing Yang had thoroughly be famous in Li cheng, many people ran to interrogate Wu troupe master but were all unable to get any definite responses. So no one knew who this exceptionally skilled person really was, and also didn''t know when he would perform again. But the people who had heard him perform before all had the same feeling: his performance was sonorous and resounding, not diminishing even after three days.


    The people in Li cheng were all transmitting the news, Fairview Park''s Jun boss''s Drunken Beauty inparison to Ya Garden''s Cheng boss, was better by who knows how many times. At first the people who said these things were all some poormoners, so the majority of the people in Li cheng didn''t believe it and felt that they had received some benefits from Wu troupe master. Yet now even many of the wealthy also started spreading these words, those who believed in it also kept on increasing.


    These news also spread to Cheng Jiaming''s ears, he naturally didn''t believe it and also didn''t ept it. But outside it had already spread to this extent, he also couldn''t stay indifferent. He dispatched some people to ask around about who this person really was. Only after he knew the identity of the person would he be able to think of a proper response.


    "Were you able to ask clearly?" Cheng Jiaming leaned back on his rocking chair and asked the subordinate who had returned.


    "I was ipetent, I used many methods, but that Wu troupe master stuck to his im that he didn''t know who that person was.¡±


    "You didn''t know to ask other people? Fairview Park has so many people, there''s always someone whose mouth is looser." Cheng Jiaming was very dissatisfied with his subordinate''s unfavorable results.


    "I had also thought of methods to ask other people, but they all said that they didn''t know." The subordinate exined.


    "Go think of some more methods, you must find out that person no matter what!" Cheng Jiaming sat up straight and severely said.


    "But why do you need to make such an effort against someone who doesn''t even dare to show their face? His opera is also not necessarily as good as how they im, rumors will always be discredited.¡±


    "What do you know? I told you to go so just go, what rubbish are you spouting?" He definitely could not tolerate anyone seizing his limelight in Li cheng. Even if that person was deliberately mystifying themselves it was still uneptable, he had to deal with him before he could attract Wei Tianxiong''s attention.


    "Yes yes, I will go ask around again." The subordinate could tell that Cheng Jiaming had gotten angry and repeatedly agreed.


    ~


    These days Jing Yang had no mind to pay attention to the things happening outside. He only thought about how he would be able to find out who that person was, and after he found him how he could confirm whether or not he was his previous world''s lover. But even thinking back and forth he was still unable to think of any good ideas, he couldn''t just go to the streets everyday and randomly stroll around to try his luck. Right now he had no simrities to the him from the previous world, whether or not he would be able to recognize himself was still hard to say.


    There was no way, he could only let nature take its course and resign himself to fate. If it was truly that he hade to find himself, he trusted that they would be able to meet each other one day. Right now, he should still take care of the business that he needed to solve.


    After another ten or so days, Fairview Park spread the news that Jun boss would againe to perform. Not even half a dayter, the seats had already beenpletely sold out.


    That night, Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming also came together to Fairview Park, and also brought over twenty bodyguards. Wu troupe master quickly came out to wee them. Even though they hadn''t reserved seats, he still brought them to the best room on the second floor. It was fortunate that Jun shao had reminded him to leave the second floor''s best room open.


    Wei Tianxiong had been brought over by Cheng Jiaming. No matter how Cheng Jiaming''s subordinate had investigated, he was still unable to find out who this Jun boss really was. Plus people had already mentioned this person in front of Wei Tianxiong and aroused Wei Tianxiong''s interest, and he had even discussed this person with him. He might as well simply beat him at his own game and bring Wei Tianxiong over, taking advantage of him to find out who this person was.


    Jing Yang knew that Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming hade. Everything was happening urring to n, from now on, he was going to let Wei Tianxiong be interested in him, and then get closer to him step by step.


    "Do you think this Jun boss person is really as good as those people im? That he sings better than you?" Wei Tianxiong smiled and asked Cheng Jiaming.


    "I am also very curious about at what level this Jun boss can sing opera to receive such praise and fame." Cheng Jiaming maintained a calm facade, but in his heart he was disdainful. "Hopefully it''s not just some reckless rumors spread by some people who don''t understand opera and just want to watch the excitement. Officer is someone who understands opera, after you finish listening, who is better would naturally be able to distinguished.¡±


    "I just like to see your self-confident and haughty appearance." Wei Tianxiong pinched his chin and pulled over his hand to rub it.


    Cheng Jiaming wanted to pull out his hand, but was pulled by Wei Tianxiong into his arms, and his hands were running over his back. The nearby bodyguards had long gotten used to this kind of scene, motionlessly looking forward like statues.


    The two people <strong>flirted around</strong>, Cheng Jiaming put on the appearance of wanting to resist yet not actually objecting, attracting Wei Tianxiong''s excitement. He only focused on eating tofu, and didn''t even pay attention to Jing Yanging on stage.


    The sounding from the stage made Wei Tianxiong stop his movements and turn his head around to look over, and instantly froze. Cheng Jiaming followed his gaze to look over and also froze. He carefully listened a while to the person on stage''s singing, he looked at his figure and movements, and in his heart he had a very bad premonition.


    Wei Tianxiong had already let go of Cheng Jiaming and focused on starting at the person on stage. His eyes were roving over Jing Yang''s face and body, his mind had long already drifted off into who knows where.


    Hearing that mellow, sweet, and bright voice, seeing that devastatingly beautiful face, as well as that graceful and charming appearance, Wei Tianxiong''s gaze seemed increasingly obsessed, fantasizing some dirty affairs.


    Even Jing Yang on stage was able to feel that vulgar gaze from Wei Tianxiong, making him very ufortable.


    Cheng Jiaming''splexion also became increasingly unpleasant, right now he really regretted bringing Wei Tianxiong over. He had underestimated this opponent and made a wrong move.


    But even if he hadn''t brought him here, Wei Tianxiong would see this person sooner orter. He couldn''t <strong>lose his head</strong>, he needed to calm down, he could definitely handle this person. He still needed to rely on Wei Tianxiong to seize the Cheng family properties, he couldn''t let other people rece him in front of Wei Tianxiong right now.


    When he saw Jing Yang withdrawing backstage, Wei Tianxiong said to the bodyguard beside him, "Invite this Jun boss over, I want to see him.¡±<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>movement of the opera</strong> ¨C Ïα­µÄ¶¯×÷, this literally means drinking cup/title cup move, I feel like it makes more sense as an opera act


    [2] <strong>intoxicated by</strong> ¨C Èç³ÕÈç×í, idiom, literally means as if drunk and stupefied


    [3] <strong>unwilling to extract themselves</strong> ¨C ÒâÓÌδ¾¡, means to wish to continue something or seeming to have not fully expressed themselves


    [4] <strong>always more talented people in the world</strong> ¨C ÈËÍâÓÐÈË£¬ÌìÍâÓÐÌì, idiom, means that in the wider world there are people more talented than oneself/someone


    [5] <strong>sonorous and resounding</strong> ¨C ÓàÒôÈÆÁº, idiom, literally means reverberating around the rafters


    [6] <strong>flirted around</strong> ¨C À­À­³¶³¶, means something like touching hands or arms in a too familiar/intimate way


    [7] <strong>lose his head</strong> ¨C ×ÔÂÒÕó½Å, idiom, means to panic<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    It¡¯s been quite a while since Ist tranted. Almost a month by this point? I stopped reading light novels a while ago, and also took a break from tranting around that time. Good thing I had stored so many chapters in advance, or else some dys may have happened.


    Not a bad chapter, took 1.5 hours: 9 pm ¨C 10:30 pm, for 3.3k characters to 2.5k words. We¡¯ll see if I can trante 4-5 more chapters over the next week to build up my backlog again and then start posting for Arc 2.

 Chapter 21

    <strong>Chapter 21</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc</strong><strong>2.5)</strong>


    Jing Yang was walking quickly when he turned a corner and ran into someone, and his cap fell onto the ground.


    "Apologies." Jing Yang didn''t raise his head. He bent his waist, wanting to pick up his hat and leave. Yet the other person beat him to picking up his cap.


    "Many thanks." Jing Yang had no choice but to raise his head and reach out his hand to take his hat, but after he saw the other person''s appearance clearly he froze. This person, it seemed like he was a little familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere.


    That person patted the dust off of the hat and stared at Jing Yang''s face for a while, and then focused on watching his eyes attentively. Time seemed to have stopped, the two people were just mutually looking at each other. Obviously it was the first time meeting each other, yet it seemed like gazes between lovers.


    That person''s eyes contained some indiscernible thoughts, it seemed like he was examining, and also seemed like he was confirming something. He ced the hat back on Jing Yang''s head, turned around and left.


    Jing Yang watched that tall and straight back get on a car and then disappear into the streets. He used the system to quickly search, and after he found out that person''s identity, in his heart he was somewhat surprised. That person was actually the Yangmander who had disposed of Wei Tianxiong.


    Based on the development of the previous world, right now the person who should have been dispatched to Li cheng should have been someone else. That person had not been able to contend against Wei Tianxiong, and onlyter did Yang Wangkune to Li cheng. But why did he already show up here now.


    Returning to the Cheng residence, Jing Yang was still considering this question. Yang Wangkun had alreadye to Li cheng, this was a quite big matter, yet not a bit of news had been spread about it. For what reason he would appear at this ce at this time, and even bumped into him by coincidence, it was almost like he had especially waited for him.


    Then since Yang Wangkun had alreadye to Li cheng, did he need to change his ns? But matters had already developed to this step, even if he wanted to withdraw, it was already toote. Then the n could only continue, and if in the middle there urred some changes because of Yang Wangkun''s arrival, he would just have to handle it ordingly.


    ~


    Wei Tianxiong wanted to see Jing Yang, but Jing Yang had already left Fairview Park. Wu troupe master could only personally visit Wei Tianxiong to give an exnation, this Jun boss would always immediately leave after he was done singing, and he wasn''t too willing to let others know his identity.


    This kind of exnation naturally wouldn''t make Wei Tianxiong drop the matter. In this Li cheng, he was the local tyrant, he was ustomed to ruling tyrannically, and there never were any people who dared to reject him to his face. He told Wu troupe master to have the Wu troupe perform in his residence three dayster. That Jun boss had to appear, otherwise whether or not his Wu troupe was able to survive, it would be hard to say.


    Wu troupe master waspletely anxious, he had no other choice, stealthily visiting Cheng residence that night. Jing Yang told him that he didn''t need to worry, in three days he would go with the Wu troupe to themander''s residence to perform. With this, Wu troupe master was finally able to rx.


    ~


    The Wu troupe entered themander''s residence, everyone was under the containment of themander''s guards. Jing Yang wore a hat and an ordinary cheongsam, mingling in the middle of the Wu troupe. Today if he wanted to quietly leave like before it didn''t seem quite possible, so he had already made preparations to expose his identity.


    Wei Tianxiong and his ten or so concubines had already sat down and were waiting for Jing Yang to go on stage when his aide extremely hastily ran in to report. "Report tomander, Yangmander-in-chief hase to pay a visit.¡±


    "Who?" Wei Tianxiong widened his eyes. This Yangmander-in-chief, it couldn¡¯t be that Yangmander that he was thinking of?


    "Yang president''s nephew, Yang Wangkunmander-in-chief hase to pay a visit." The aide repeated.


    Wei Tianxiong instantly stood up, hisplexion changed several times in a split second, and then he rapidly turned around to walk outside.


    "Yangmander-in-chief, <strong>excuse me</strong>, excuse me." Wei Tianxiong''s fierce-looking face was filled with smiles, as if he was really happy about Yang Wangkun''s arrival.


    Yang Wangkun was suited in a ck military uniform, his hands were clothed in white gloves and holding a horsewhip. His handsome face was outlined clearly, resolute and stern. Behind him stood two squads of soldiers, full of killing air. At one nce you could tell these soldiers were <strong>experienced and seasoned</strong>, they had crawled out of piles of dead bodies, elites among elites.


    "I showed up uninvited, I hope that Weimander doesn''t take offense." Yang Wangkun saluted Wei Tianxiong.


    "How could that be, Yangmander-in-chief being able toe, your presence truly <strong>brings light to my humble dwelling</strong>." Wei Tianxiong moved to the side. "Pleasee in."


    "When did Yangmander-in-chiefe to Li cheng?" This was the question that Wei Tianxiong was most doubtful about, and also most wanted to know.


    "Just arrived this morning, my troops are still outside the city. I first came to greet Weimander and only then would it be good for me to let my troops into the city.¡±


    "Commander-in-chief also brought troops?" Wei Tianxiong was startled in his heart, yet his expression still remained calm. "Then you are nning to reside in Li cheng?¡±


    "Uncle sent me to govern Li cheng together with Weimander, in the future I hope Weimander will be patient with me and give me more advice." Yang Wangkun walked with him inside while speaking.


    "Mutual advice, mutual advice." Wei Tianxiong''s expression was already obviously no longer as natural as before. He had long guessed that Yang president would send someone over to Li cheng to weaken his power, but he had never thought that the person who came would be this evil star. Based on his information, this person should have been going to battle in the north, how could he suddenly havee to Li cheng, making him entirely unprepared.


    Hearing the percussion drifting from afar, Yang Wangkun said, "Weimander is having a celebration today? It seems that I have note at a good time.¡±


    "It''s not really a celebration, I had just invited an opera troupe to perform in my residence as amusement for my household." Wei Tianxiong had originally wanted to bring him to the main hall, but when he heard him say this, he could only lead him to the back garden. "Our Li cheng has three specialities: opera, wine, and tea,mander-in-chief really came at a good time today, you just happen to be able to hear our Li cheng''s best singer.¡±


    <strong>A singer</strong> was just warming up on stage, the concubines saw Wei Tianxiong bringing in guests and all stood up. When they saw Yang Wangkun, there were even some who were frightened by his harsh aura, yet were unable to resist being attracted by that handsome face, stealthily taking nces at him.


    "Today I am receiving honorable guests, you all first withdraw ba." Wei Tianxiong waved his hand, letting the concubines disperse.


    One after another the concubines left, there were a few who had more courage and snuck a nce at Yang Wangkun when leaving.


    Wei Tianxiong was bisexual, but was still partial towards men, those concubines were all sent as gifts to him by other people. He interacted with them very little, most of time using them just as decoration.


    Wei Tianxiong''s character was not good, and his interest towards women was also not big, those concubines also didn''t dare to act coquettishly in front of him, so they were all very lonely. But now a handsome robust soldier hade, even though his imposing manner was somewhat frightening, but his appearance and figure were all too outstanding, making them unable to control their amorous feelings.


    After he came on stage, Jing Yang saw Yang Wangkun sitting below the stage, and only then did he find out that he had alsoe to themander''s residence. Even though he was somewhat taken aback, he didn''t feel surprised. After all, they had only met a few days ago.


    Because of curiosity, Jing Yang nced at Yang Wangkun, the two people''s gazes coincidentally met. That feeling of tugging on his soul again struck. He felt extremely shocked, his mind was already incapable of concentrating on his performance, his singing and movements were already allpletely controlled by the system. Could it be that the person who had met his gaze at Fairview Park previously was Yang Wangkun? He was his lover? So only then did hee to Li cheng in advance, he especially came to look for him?


    Jing Yang had many questions in his heart, he couldn''t resist looking at Yang Wangkun many more times. The two people''s gazes intersected a few times, yet that previous feeling never appeared again. Jing Yang couldn''t understand why it would be like this.


    It didn''t matter if those concubines''s amorous feelings stirred after seeing Yang Wangkun, but now the Jing Yang who was performing on stage was also <strong>exchanging flirting nces</strong> with Yang Wangkun. When Wei Tianxiong saw this he was very ufortable.


    Wei Tianxiong was very clear about Yang Wangkun''s purpose foring to Li cheng. This person was not easy to deal with, he needed to avoid meeting him head on as much as possible, the best method was to rely on schemes to prevail over him. No matter how strong his battle prowess was, he was only a twenty something years old young man. In any case he himself was a <strong>well travelled man</strong>, whenparing schemes, Wei Tianxiong didn''t believe that he wouldn''t be able to defeat him.


    Originally Wei Tianxiong had nned to leave behind Jing Yang tonight, but Yang Wangkun had suddenly arrived, making him temporarily no longer have that time or mind. After Wu troupe finished singing, they left. Wei Tianxiong entertained Yang Wangkun for a meal, and after he sent him away, he immediately convened his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.


    When Jing Yang had just arrived home, the housekeeper rushed over to report to him with an anxious expression. "Young master, Weimander¡¯s men came over again today and asked why our opium den still hadn''t opened yet. I responded based on your words, and sent them away again with a couple banknotes. But dragging on like this won''t be possible ah, those people''s appetites are simply bottomless, no matter how we fill them they won''t be full. If we keep doing this, they will juste even more often.¡±


    Jing Yang pondered for a moment and then said, "I understand. Don''t worry Zhang uncle, they won''t be able to keep going much longer, this money doesn''t really matter, sooner orter they will spit it out.¡±


    "Young master this is¡­, you have some good methods?" The housekeeper looked at him.


    "There are naturally methods, only¡­, I still need to think about it more." Jing Yang raised his hand and indicated for the housekeeper to retire first. "You first withdraw ba.¡±


    Based on Jing Yang''s original n, today after his identity was revealed, Wei Tianxiong would definitely leave him behind. In this way, not only would he be able to poison him for the first time, but Wei Tianxiong would also not make things difficult for him in the future. And when Wei Tianxiong finally suffered from his slow-acting poison and suddenly died, those underlings of his would definitely descend into in-fighting for the position. At that time Yang president would dispatch men over, and everything would have been much simpler.


    But Yang Wangkun suddenly came to Li cheng in advance, and today he had disrupted his ns. But these things were not that important. Right now the most important matter was, how could he determine, in the end whether or not Yang Wangkun was his lover.


    Jing Yang wanted to go meet him and feel him out face to face, at least it would be better than making conjectures by himself. But he also couldn''t just brazenly go meet him, if it was known by Wei Tianxiong, he would just be <strong>inadvertently alerting an enemy</strong>.


    The news that Yang Wangkun had arrived quickly spread across Li cheng. Jing Yang still hadn''t had the opportunity to stealthily go see him when themander''s residence again spread the news that they wanted to hold a weing reception and feast for Yangmander-in-chief.


    Those with some identity or position in Li cheng all received invitations. Jing Yang also received one, but he couldn''t attend with the identity of Cheng Junxi, because Wei Tianxiong had let Cheng troupe and Wu troupee together to perform at themander''s residence.


    After Jing Yang contemted it, he felt that looking at it from every perspective, this could perhaps be an opportunity.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>excuse me</strong> ¨C ÓÐʧԶӭ, polite saying, excuse me for not going out to wee you


    [2] <strong>experienced and seasoned</strong> ¨C Àú¾­°ÙÕ½, idiom, literally means veterans of a hundred battles


    [3] <strong>brings light to my humble dwelling</strong> ¨C ÅîÜêÉú»Ô, extremely polite, this dialogue is making me cringe


    [4] <strong>a singer</strong> ¨C ÎäÉú, more specifically, a male military role in opera, but it was a little awkward to fit there


    [5] <strong>exchanging flirting nces</strong> ¨C üÀ´ÑÛÈ¥, idiom, literally means eyes and eyebrowse and go, or to make eyes at someone


    [6] <strong>well-traveled man</strong> ¨C ÀϽ­ºþÁË, he is well acquainted with the ways of the world


    [7] <strong>inadvertently alerting an enemy</strong> ¨C ´ò²Ý¾ªÉß, idiom, literally means to beat the grass to scare the snake<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Not a bad chapter, took ~2 hours (though I did something in the middle so not entirely): 8:15 pm ¨C 10 pm, for 3.1k characters to 2.3k words.


    To be honest I don¡¯t quite enjoy this arc as much as the other ones. It¡¯s just one of the bad things about the second arc of these fast wears, since it¡¯s the first time the MC¡¯s left the ML and he¡¯s still uncertain about whether the ML will really follow him over and how exactly to determine whether or not the ML is actually him. These MCs always think the MLs would keep their memories, sigh.


    I¡¯ve taken quite the hiatus from reading light novels. I was reading over my Reading page today, and got quite the urge to reread the 100k volt story, one of my only 2 6 star (5 star + 1 heart) rated BLs so far. I might just start skimming through that again. Gotta love my OP MCs, man. When is One Punch Man season 2 gonnae out?? Or TKA season 2??

 Chapter 22

    <strong>Chapter 22</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.6)</strong>


    Wei Tianxiong held a weing reception for Yang Wangkun, on the surface it was for weing him to Li cheng, but in reality it was in order to let him know, those in Li cheng who had some position in anything all stood on his side. If you Yang Wangkun wanted to make a move in Li cheng, you should still consider it well.


    It must be said, Wei Tianxiong''s excessive self-confidence, one part was brought up by the ttery of his underlings, and the other part was because he had gotten used to his <strong>tyrannical rule</strong> over Li cheng over these years, and personally thought that those people were sincerely acknowledging allegiance to him.


    Originally Wei Tianxiong had only invited Wu troupe to perform at the residence, this made Cheng Jiaming very unwilling. Even if everyone in the entire city all said that he had been beaten by Jun boss, how could he just admit defeat like this, how could he just admit that he was really worse than Jun boss.


    Cheng Jiaming <strong>cajoled</strong> Wei Tianxiong for a long time, and finally got the opportunity toe to themander''s residence to perform. He wanted to sing his most sessful <strong>The Conqueror Bids Farewell to His Favorite Concubine</strong>, he just didn''t believe, he would still be defeated by that Jun boss who didn''t even dare to show his face.


    Actually Cheng Jiaming had guessed, this Jun boss kept on not daring to reveal his real face to the public, could it be because his appearance was too bad and had to rely on outstanding makeup skills to conceal it from the public. Today Wei Tianxiong would definitely make him show up with his original appearance, he really wanted to see, what this Jun boss really looked like.


    Once Yang Wangkun arrived at themander''s residence, Wei Tianxiong personally came to wee him into the back garden. The two people sat down on opposite sides of the main table, and then the other guests sat down one after another.


    Wei Tianxiong pped three times andmanded, "Start the banquet!¡±


    The wine and food were served, on stage the opera also started performing. Cheng Jiaming came out with Farewell My Concubine, receiving a standing ovation. The guests unceasingly apuded and cheered, Wei Tianxiong also very satisfiedly followed, nodding and shaking his head to the beat. Only Yang Wangkun kept a face full of indifference.


    The guests'' mood was very enthusiastic, Cheng Jiaming was also very proud in his heart. He saw that everyone''s gazes were all concentrated on himself, but only Yang Wangkun didn¡¯t really look at him, this made his heart very unwilling, and he sang with even more effort.


    Yang Wangkun sat together with Wei Tianxiong, the two people were really <strong>entirely different</strong>, Yang Wangkun''s appearance couldn''t help but move women''s hearts. Even Cheng Jiaming this person with a male body and a female heart couldn''t resist the ripples in his mind.


    Singing and singing, he started fantasizing in his mind. He fantasized Yang Wangkun as the conqueror, and he was the concubine, the two people sincerely loved each other, and yet were parted by life and death.


    Cheng Jiaming finished singing and withdrew backstage, Liu er immediately weed him back, ttering, "Your Farewell My Concubine this time was really awesome, don''t need to say Li cheng, even if we looked over the entire country, we still wouldn''t be able to find another singer who would be better than you.¡±


    Cheng Jiaming had a proud smile on his face, earlier he had beenpletely intoxicated in it, from the start of his opera career, this was the most refreshing performance that he had put on. He took out three silvers from the box on his dressing table and casually threw it to Liu er, "Reward you.¡±


    "Thanks Cheng boss, thanks Cheng boss." Liu er held the silver with two hands, continuously bending his waist to thank him. But inwardly he was disdainful, just these few silvers, he actually made it out to be some sort of reward.


    Cheng Jiaming removed his makeup and changed his clothes, and came to Wei Tianxiong''s side, giving Yang Wangkun and Wei Tianxiong a toast. Wei Tianxiong let him sit down at his side, this let him feel he had a lot of face. Here with so many guests, only he was able to sit next to Weimander.


    In a corner separated by fabric, Jing Yang sat in the back by himself drinking tea, Wu troupe master lifted the fabric and entered. "Jun boss in front sang Farewell My Concubine, that singing skill was really quite good, receiving a standing ovation.¡±


    "Is that so?" Jing Yang rocked the teacup in his hands, and after staying silent for a while, he smiled. "Then let us also perform Farewell My Concubine.¡±


    "We''ll also sing Farewell My Concubine?" Wu troupe master froze. "Then aren''t we repeating with Cheng boss?¡±


    "Only with repetition can there beparison, who is superior or inferior will also naturally be apparent." Jing Yang said. "You can perform the conqueror.¡±


    "But¡­, we never practiced this before, if we aren''t able to coordinate well¡­" Wu troupe master hesitated.


    "Don''t worry, in the past how you sang it, just do it like that now, I''ll be able to coordinate with you." Jing Yang ced down his tea cup and began to put on his makeup.


    Wu troupe master stood there for a while, and seeing that Jing Yang had already started dressing up, he could only turn around and also start dressing up.


    When Wu troupe master came on stage and only sang two lines, the people below all froze. How could it be that Wu troupe was also performing Farewell My Concubine? The guests all looked at each other in confusion, not understanding the situation.


    At the main table, Wei Tianxiong and Cheng Jiaming were also somewhat surprised, they had all thought, Wu troupe would again sing The Drunken Beauty, and had never thought that they would sing the same opera as Cheng troupe. Even if they had previously decided to sing Farewell My Concubine, but after Cheng troupe had already sung it before them, and even sung it quite well, they actually didn''t avoid it or change to a different opera.


    Cheng Jiaming was totally disdainful in his heart, ridiculing Wu troupe for overestimating their capability. Wei Tianxiong though actually somewhat looked forward to Jun boss''s performance. Out of everyone, only Yang Wangkun''s eyes showed a trace of indiscernible thoughts, he felt that this Jun boss, definitely did it on purpose.


    Jing Yang held twin swords and stepped on stage, his dignified manner contained beauty, his lovely charm contained magnanimity. His sword dance was valiant and formidable, truly causing people to be captivated.


    "Good!" Wei Tianxiong loudly cheered, the guests below also followed with apuse.


    Different from the mellow, sweet, and clear voice of the Drunken Beauty, he took the Yu concubine''s exquisite and happy, beautiful and pleasant voice, and expressed it to perfection.


    With the previous performance asparison, who sang it better, the people there all had made a judgment in their hearts. This Jun boss, no matter whether it was his posture or vocal or movements, they were all unsurpassed ah.


    What the guests inwardly found most mystical was that every time they finished listening to Jun boss''s opera, his appearance and voice would always remain in their minds, not dissipating even after a long time. This really achieved the effect of voices reverberating around the rafters, uninterrupted even after three days. And the content that Cheng Jiaming had just sang, they were already unable to remember.


    The guests discussed while whispering to each other, eximing in admiration that Jun boss''s opera really was awesome, it was better than Cheng boss by not just a little bit. This performing the same opera one after another, the difference was even more obvious, the highs and lows were truly apparent.


    Cheng Jiaming heard the audience''s quiet discussion, and felt the gazes of the guests looking toward him, unable to conceal his unpleasant expression.


    Wei Tianxiongughed loudly with satisfaction, pping his hands. "Good good good, go invite Jun boss over, today I want to see the true identity of this <strong>Lu shan</strong>.¡±


    The guests also <strong>anxiously waited</strong>, they wanted to see in the end who this Jun boss really was, how he really looked when his makeup was removed. Would he be as charming and moving as Yang concubine, or fresh and refined as Lu concubine.


    After Jing Yang removed his makeup, he once again put on that ck cap and pushed down the brim. Lowering his head, he followed Wu troupe master to go see Wei Tianxiong.


    "Weimander, Yangmander-in-chief." Wu troupe master bent his waist to salute the two people.


    Wei Tianxiong looked behind Wu troupe master. "This person is Jun boss?¡±


    "It is precisely this person." Wu troupe master moved to the side, revealing Jing Yang behind him.


    "Come forward to let me see." Wei Tianxiong said.


    Jing Yang moved forward a couple steps, and then removed his hat and raised his head. He then saluted <strong>neither haughtily nor humbly</strong>, "Yangmander-in-chief, Weimander.¡±


    Yang Wangkun looked at Jing Yang''s face, in his heart he had some unclear, unknown thoughts, even he himself wasn''t able to understand, why he would have this kind of feelings toward a man.


    Wei Tianxiong previously had never seen Cheng Junxi before, plundering the Cheng family''s properties didn''t require he himself to appear. He had always let his underlings go take care of it. This was also his first time seeing him, the admiring expression on his face was also extremely obvious.


    In Wei Tianxiong''s eyes, this Jun boss who had removed his makeup didn''t have a thread of that female air, his manner also did not at all make people feel that he was effeminate. His clean and elegant appearance, andck of flirtatious behavior, gave him an urge to upy him.


    Cheng Jiaming was unable to recognize him at first nce, and only after carefully looking over that face, he suddenly stood up. He identally knocked over a winess on the table, it shattered on the floor, emitting the crisp sound of broken ss.


    Everyone looked toward the suddenly excited Cheng Jiaming.


    "You¡­" Cheng Jiaming pointed at Jing Yang, shouting, "Cheng Junxi! How could it be you, how could you know how to sing opera!¡±


    "Cheng Junxi?" Wei Tianxiong felt that this name was a little familiar, in a short period of time he was unable to remember who this was. The aide at his side was also shocked after seeing Jing Yang, and after he snapped out of his trance, he bent to say a few words in Wei Tianxiong''s ear.


    "Why could it not be me?" Jing Yang calmly looked at him.


    After Wei Tianxiong knew of his identity, he used a shocked gaze to look him over. "You are really Jun boss?¡±


    "No mistake, I Cheng Junxi am Jun boss.¡±


    "Impossible! Commander, he is definitely impersonating someone, how could it be possible for the Cheng family''s big young master to know how to sing opera!" Cheng Jiaming felt that this definitely was a scam, he wanted to take over the attention that Jun boss had attracted from Wei Tianxiong, and make it easier to take back the Cheng family properties. How would it be possible for he this big young master to know how to sing opera, and even be able to sing better than him, the person who had performed just now was definitely a different person.


    "Wu troupe master, you best speak truthfully with me, Cheng Junxi and Jun boss, in the end are they the same person or not." Wei Tianxiong looked toward Wu troupe master with a malicious gaze in order to have Wu troupe master speak the truth. He had already taken a fancy to Cheng Junxi this person, but if Jun boss was really another person, he didn''t mind bringing both of them together into his home.


    "I don''t dare to foolmander, Cheng young master is precisely Jun boss." Wu troupe master responded.


    "Weimander doesn''t need to make it difficult for Wu troupe master, I naturally have methods to prove whether or not it is me." Jing Yang turned around and walked on stage, and everyone''s eyes followed him.


    There were some guests who could recognize him, and all had incredible expressions. When did this Cheng family young master know how to sing opera?


    They were all the same as Cheng Jiaming, they felt that there may be something strange in this matter.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>tyrannical rule</strong> ¨C ×÷Íþ×÷¸£, idiom, means riding roughshod over people


    [2] <strong>cajole</strong> ¨C ÈíÄ¥Ó²ÅÝ, idiom, means to coax and pester


    [3] <strong>The Conqueror Bids Farewell</strong> ¨C °ÔÍõ±ð¼§, apparently this is the name of the tragic opera, there''s also a 1993 film called Farewell My Concubine with the same name, personally I like this film name better


    [4] <strong>entirely different</strong> ¨C Ìì²îµØ±ð, idiom, means poles apart


    [5] <strong>Lu shan</strong> ¨C ®ɽ, literally is a district in Jiujiang city, or a famous mountain, is this supposed to be a metaphor or something?


    [6] <strong>anxiously waited</strong> ¨C ÇÌÊ×ÒÔÅÎ, idiom, means to hold your breath in anticipation


    [7] <strong>neither haughtily nor humbly</strong> ¨C ²»¿º²»±°, other pairs include neither overbearing nor servile, neither supercilious nor obsequious<hr>


    <strong>Random</strong><strong>Notes:</strong>


    Got up bright and early to finish 2 chapters of this arc. A nice and quick trantion of a little over 1 hour: 10 am ¨C 11:10 am, for ~3k characters to 2.2k words. Quite satisfying.

 Chapter 23

    <strong>Chapter 23</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.7)</strong>


    Jing Yang walked on stage and sang a section of the Drunken Beauty. His face and body didn''t have any makeup or costume, but in his nces and movements, there were threads of natural lovely charm.


    That voice and movements, as well as that attitude, it was really undoubtedly Jun boss.


    After he finished singing a section, Jing Yang walked down from the stage, and the guests immediately became lively. Everyone was surprised and excitedly discussed amongst themselves, the Cheng family big young master actually was Jun boss, why did he run to go sing opera? And he even sang so well, in the past why did no one know about it¡­


    Cheng Jiaming''splexion was even more unpleasant, he already couldn''t say anything. No matter how unwilling he was to believe it in his heart, he had no way to deny it, Cheng Junxi was Jun boss.


    "Really good, really good, looks like you really are Jun boss. Only, why did you want to hide your identity before?" Wei Tianxiong asked.


    "Singing opera is only a small hobby of mine, I don''t need to rely on this to make a living, and also didn''t want to let others know my identity. Butmander wanted to see me, I had no choice¡­" Jing Yang didn''t finished speaking, but his meaning was already evident.


    "If it''s like this, it''s my fault." Wei Tianxiong smiled. "I apologize to you, then stay behind tonight¡­¡±


    "Weimander." The Yang Wangkun who had always been sitting at the side based on status finally opened his mouth to interrupt Wei Tianxiong.


    Wei Tianxiong this person had been blinded by greed, after seeing Jing Yang, he had already been obsessed to the point of forgetting about the asion. And now being interrupted by Yang Wangkun, he finally remembered that at the side there was still a very important person next to him, and he turned his head to look over.


    "Many thanks to Weimander for holding this wee reception for me today, I will salute you a cup." After Yang Wangkun drank a cup he stood up. "The time is no longer early, today I will first return, I wille bother again on a different day.¡±


    "Where, where, I will send Yangmander-in-chief." Wei Tianxiong heard that he wanted to leave, it was just <strong>exactly what he had been looking for</strong>, for being able to change a day to have a confrontation with Yang Wangkun, he was not urgent to do it here. In any case their previous matter were also not able to be solved in a short time, he had already prepared to have a prolonged battle against Yang Wangkun.


    Yang Wangkun looked toward Jing Yang. "Today being able to see Li cheng''s legendary Jun boss, truly outstanding. I don''t know know whether I will have the honor of sending Jun boss back.¡±


    "Yangmander-in-chief, your status is precious, how could we let you personally send him. That really is undeserving of him, I will personally dispatch people to send him and Wu troupe back." Wei Tianxiong was already unable to wait to bring the person into his hand, it would be best to be tonight, how could he just let him leave.


    Jing Yang didn''t think that Yang Wangkun would mention sending him back, he had already decided to stay behind tonight. If he returned, wouldn''t he again have missed an opportunity to give Wei Tianxiong poison?


    His eyes moved back and forth between Wei Tianxiong and Yang Wangkun, the two people were both waiting for his response.


    "Then I will trouble Yangmander-in-chief." Jing Yang looked at Yang Wangkun. He would still have opportunities to poison Wei Tianxiong in the future, in any case his identity had already been exposed now. There was a more important matter, he wanted to obtain an answer as soon as possible.


    Wei Tianxiong also didn''t anticipate that Yang Wangkun would mention sending Jing Yang back, and even more did not anticipate that Jing Yang would agree. Right now no matter whether it was Li cheng or Cheng family, they were all under his control, even if Yang Wangkun wanted to cripple his power in Li cheng, he was also not necessarily able to achieve it.


    Jing Yang and Yang Wangkun''s actions let Wei Tianxiong lose face, but the two people were already walking outside, so he could not really forcefully stop them. Otherwise, he would have to contend with Yang Wangkun face to face today.


    Jing Yang got on Yang Wangkun''s car, and after staying silent for a long time, he opened his mouth. "I would like to ask about a person withmander-in-chief.¡±


    Yang Wangkun turned his head to look at him.


    Jing Yang looked back at him, and seriously looked at his eyes. "Doesmander-in-chief know Zhao Bocheng?¡±


    "I don''t know him." Yang Wangkun immediately responded, his memorization ability was very good. He basically didn''t need to think about it, he already knew that this name didn''t exist in his memories.


    "Please, carefully think about it a bit." Jing Yang focused on his eyes, he wanted to try to sense his soul through his eyes. In the previous world, he was always able to sense his soul prating through his eyes. That so-called soul may have been only a feeling, but that kind of feeling made him want to get close.


    Yang Wangkun followed his request and seriously thought about it for a while, and then again definitively responded, "Don''t know him.¡±


    Jing Yang closed his eyes in disappointment, Yang Wangkun''s response incited a burst of disappointment in his heart. He had also not felt from Yang Wangkun''s eyes that familiar feeling. Zhao Bocheng this name, didn''t let Yang Wangkun raise the slightest bit of different thoughts, he also didn''t need to trick himself anymore.


    Even though now he was still unable to determine whether or not he was Zhao Bocheng, but at least he had proved that he had no memories rted to Zhao Bocheng.


    Yang Wangkun could tell the disappointment on Jing Yang''s face, he couldn''t understand why he felt that he would know this person. "That person is very important to you?¡±


    "Very important, extremely important." Jing Yang didn''t try to conceal his sense of loss at all.


    The car stopped outside the Cheng residence entrance, Jing Yang thanked Yang Wangkun. Without turning his head back, he got off the car and entered his home, he felt that he might need to do some heavy drinking in order to pacify his feelings.


    In the previous thousand or so worlds, he had always been living my himself, he had thought that he had long been used to being alone. But after loving and being loved he finally discovered, originally he also loathed being alone, he wished to be apanied for a long time by someone else.


    Yang Wangkun saw the Cheng residence gate open and then close, and then allowed the guard to drive away. From the first time he saw Cheng Junxi at Fairview Park, many of his actions and decisions, even he himself was unable to understand.


    ~


    The Cheng family''s young master Cheng Junxi was actually the Jun boss at Fairview Park, this matter had already turned into the liveliest topic of discussion in Li cheng. Many people were deeply moved by the Cheng young master''s <strong>deeply hidden talents</strong>, and actually there were not really any people who ridiculed him for <strong>letting himself go</strong>. After all, now opera was already not some lowly matter, and besides, he sang even better than those famous singers.


    Everyone took Cheng Jiaming and Cheng Junxi''s opera topare against each other, and everyone unanimously agreed that Cheng Jiaming was unable to defeat Cheng Junxi, and the difference was quite big.


    Cheng Jiaming had been chased out the Cheng residence with his mother when he was five years old. Not many people knew in Li cheng that he was also a young master of the Cheng family, otherwise in their leisure time, the people in Li cheng would have even more topics to chat about.


    "Roll! Roll out for me!" Cheng Jiaming chased out all of the people who hade over to console him, he had already smashed an entire room¡¯s vases and teacups in anger.


    Everyone was saying that he was inferior to Cheng Junxi, even Wei Tianxiong was obsessed with him after taking a single nce.


    And there was that Yangmander-in-chief, he wouldn''t even take on look at him, a face full of indifference and coldness, making him think that he just didn''t have any interest in men. But when Cheng Junxi appeared, his eyes never left his face, he obviously had interest in Cheng Junxi.


    He had learned opera for over ten years, he had endured so much suffering to get to this point, had Cheng Junxi suffered these difficulties? For what reason would his opera be stronger than him, and even snatched away all of the limelight that belonged to him. He also had the Cheng family''s blood in his veins, the Cheng family''s properties originally should have a portion that belonged to him. Not to mention that Cheng Junxi had seized the Cheng family properties for so many years, now he was even vying against him in opera!


    Cheng Jiaming was excessively furious, even the muscles on his face started distorting. He would definitely wrest back the Cheng family properties, and would also again be Li cheng''s best opera singer, he would definitely not let Cheng Junxi off!


    Cheng Jiaming hurriedly rushed to themander''s residence, he had to take advantage of matter not developing to the step beyond his control and take all of the Cheng family assets into his hand.


    "Commander, you had previously said that you would give the majority of the Cheng family properties to me, you wouldn''t be going back on our promise now ma?" Cheng Jiaming used wronged eyes to look at Wei Tianxiong, he deliberately pressed close to him.


    "Yang Wangkun has arrived in Li cheng, this is a big threat to me. I barely have time to handle my proper business, where would I have the time to worry about your small matters." Wei Tianxiong had previously been quite receptive of this kind of action, but now all of his attention was on thinking about how to bring Jing Yang into his hand, where did he have the mind to pay attention to Cheng Jiaming.


    Everyone says the things that cannot be gotten are the best, Cheng Jiaming this kind of person who took the initiative to throw himself into his arms, was not worth his thoughts, Wei Tianxiong also didn''t have the previous patience to handle him.


    Cheng Jiaming clenched his teeth in anger, but also felt that Wei Tianxiong was impatient and didn''t dare to be as presumptuous as before. "My small matters, of course I wouldn''t dare to inconveniencemander to personally trouble himself,mander could just do the same as before, casually send some subordinates to do it.¡±


    "You are directing me?" Wei Tianxiong''s face sank.


    Cheng Jiaming immediately exined, "Where would I dare to directmander, I am trying to requestmander.¡±


    Wei Tianxiong impatiently waved his hand. "We''ll talk about these small matterster, I will naturally have my own ns, it''s useless even if you''re anxious.¡±


    Cheng Jiaming saw that Wei Tianxiong had fallen out with him so quickly, he was extremely furious. He had been with Wei Tianxiong for almost two years, he had <strong>spared no effort</strong> to curry favor with him on and off the bed, he had even endured those unusual fetishes of his, he had never thought that he would be so quickly tired of him. But he temporarily still had no other methods, so he could only go back to make some other ns.


    ~


    Jing Yang couldn''t think of any ways to determine whether or not Yang Wangkun was his own lover. His heart was quite gloomy, so he drank some wine to vent his feelings. The Cheng family restaurant''s wine couldn''t satisfy him, so he personally brewed some wine for himself to drink.


    The housekeeper hastily came to report, he said that Yangmander-in-chief hade to pay a visit, he was totally shocked. Jing Yang stood up to personally go wee him in.


    "Yangmander-in-chief suddenly came to pay a visit, is there some urgent matters?" Jing Yang walked while speaking.


    "I came to see you." Yang Wangkun looked at him.


    Came to see me? Jing Yang was puzzled in his heart, this person said that he didn''t know Zhao Bocheng, it didn''t seem like he was tricking him, but if he didn''t have the memories of the previous world, why did he seem like he treated him differently.


    "Commander-in-chief came at a good time, this is the wine I personally brewed,mander can taste it." Jing Yang sat down and poured Yang Wangkun a cup.


    "You''re already drinking wine this early in the morning?" Yang Wangkun asked.


    "Normally early in the morning I always drink tea, but these couple days my mood isn''t great, so I changed to drinking wine." Jing Yang also didn''t cover up the truth, directly speaking frankly.


    "Why is your mood not good?" Yang Wangkun looked at him. "Is it because I said that I don''t know that person named Zhao Bocheng?¡±


    Jing Yang ced down the winess he had just raised to his lips and looked back at him. "Then doesmander really know him or not? This is myst time asking you this question, I hope thatmander will speak the truth with me, and not keep me in the dark.¡±


    "Then I will also tell you for thest time, I don''t know him." Yang Wangkun looked at him strangely. "Why do you feel that I would definitely know this person?¡±


    Jing Yang bitterly smiled, toasted and then drained the cup with one gulp. "Because you are very simr to him.¡±


    Yang Wangkun looked at him for a while, and suddenly didn''t know what he should say. He also drank a cup, and when he ced down the winess he eximed in admiration, "Good wine.¡±


    If you said that Wei Tianxiong was an opera fan, then Yang Wangkun was a wine fan, and he had never been drunk before, he was the type who became even more sober as he drank. Originally it should not have been him bringing soldiers to Li cheng, one of his trusted aides was a Li cheng man, he had spoken highly of how good Li cheng''s wine was. He had happened to pass by this ce because of some matters, so he hade to see how good the wine in Li cheng really was.


    Because he had incidentally apanied his subordinate to go to Fairview Park to listen to an opera, and seen the Jing Yang who was singing the Drunken Beauty on stage, after the two people''s gazes had met for a split second, he had kept on thinking about him, and always thought about seeing his true appearance after removing the makeup. After seeing him once, he was even more unable to forget this person. He didn''t understand why he would be interested in a man, but he this type of person, would never deliberately go against his own intentions.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>natural</strong> ¨C »ëÈ»Ìì³É, idiom, means to resemble nature, but could also mean of the highest quality


    [2] <strong>exactly what he had been looking for</strong> ¨C ÇóÖ®²»µÃ, idiom, literally means seek but fail to get


    [3] <strong>deeply hidden talents</strong> ¨C Éî²Ø²»Â¶, literally means deep hidden not exposed


    [4] <strong>letting himself go</strong> ¨C ×ԸʶéÂä, idiom, means to abandon oneself


    [5] <strong>spared no effort</strong> ¨C ½ß¾¡È«Á¦, idiom, also means to do his utmost<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Second chapter tranted today, another nice and quick one: a little over an hour, 11:15 am ¨C 12:30 pm, for ~3.6k characters to 2.6k words. This was actually much longer than the previous one, but took about the same amount of time. Probably because there weren¡¯t too many T/Ns required.


    See, this is what I¡¯m talking about with the trouble with the 2nd arc in these fast wears. But there should only be another chapter of stuff like this before they finally get together. Then the good stuff happens.

 Chapter 24

    <strong>Chapter 24</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.8)</strong>


    "Your Cheng family restaurant''s wine is different from this taste, it''s not as good as this." After he hade to Li cheng, he had tried out every restaurant''s wine once, but whenpared to this, they were all much worse. "Why are you not selling this in your restaurants?¡±


    Jing Yang swirled his winess, saying with a smile that was not yet a smile, "Right now I might not even be able to keep the Cheng family restaurants, if I really went to sell this wine there, it would only quicken their destruction.¡±


    Yang Wangkun immediately understood his meaning and promised, "It won''t be too long, you will soon be able to openly sell this wine.¡±


    "I know, I''m waiting for it." Jing Yang had drunk a bit much, his head had started bing a little faint, he could no longer pay too much attention to Yang Wangkun this guest. He stood up and wanted to go lie down on the nearby chaise.


    Because he had gotten up abruptly, his body swayed a bit, and Yang Wangkun reached out a hand to steady him. He pushed aside his hand and walked with somewhat steady steps to the chaise andid down.


    Yang Wangkun walked over to his side and lowered his head to look at the Jing Yang who had somewhat blurred eyes. "You''re drunk?¡±


    "No, I just feel a little faint." Jing Yang was really not drunk, his mind was still clear, but the aftereffects of this wine was too much, making him somewhat dizzy.


    If he had known earlier that Yang Wangkun would havee, he would not have drunk so much earlier, he still wanted to probe him out some more. Even if he didn''t have the memories of the previous world, there was still a chance that he might be his lover, because the feeling that he gave him was too simr to that of Zhao Bocheng.


    Jing Yang became more and more faint, he had already almost fallen asleep, and had no way to continue conversing with Yang Wangkun. Just when he was preparing to open his mouth to send him out, Yang Wangkun sat down next to him, the two people were very close to each other, their thighs were stuck together.


    Jing Yang''s sight was a little fuzzy, but he was still able to see whatever he needed to. When Yang Wangkun leaned over, the distance between the two people shortened, they were basically face to face. He didn''t know what he wanted to do, but he didn''t block him or push him away, just continuing to look at him like this, he wanted to see what he wanted to do.


    Yang Wangkun lifted his chin, closely gazing at his eyes. "Your eyes are very good looking.¡±


    The split second the two people''s gazes met, Jing Yang''s heart again trembled, he again felt that kind of familiar feeling. Jing Yang was not clear, him having this kind of feeling, was it because the other person''s eyes were too much like those of Zhao Bocheng, or was it because his soul was really Zhao Bocheng. This made him very perplexed.


    "In the future don''t go perform opera again, you also don''t need to get closer to Wei Tianxiong. Whatever you want, I can help you get them all." Yang Wangkun''s tone was like a warning, and was also like an order, in any case it was very serious.


    Jing Yang''s mind was already somewhat unable to think too clearly, he had to think for a while before figuring out the main point. Then he suddenly smiled, "Do you know what it is that I want?¡±


    "What you want to get from Wei Tianxiong, no matter what it is, I will always be able to give it to you. In any case, you shouldn''t get close to him, otherwise¡­¡±


    What Yang Wangkun said afterward, Jing Yang didn''t hear, because he had already fallen asleep. Before he had fallen asleep he had still been thinking, his wine brewing recipe still needed to be changed, he had only wanted to drink some wine to vent his depressed mood, and didn''t actually want to <strong>drink himself into a stupor</strong>. This wine was a little too strong, its aftereffects were strong enough that even he couldn''t stand them, how could he dare sell it to other people.


    When he opened his eyes again, it was already night, and he was lying on his own bed. Remembering the words that Yang Wangkun had said to him that morning, it seemed like he was telling him to not get close to Wei Tianxiong, what he wanted he could all give him, and so on.


    Jing Yang felt that this was a little funny, what did he think that he wanted? Money? Or those Cheng family properties that had been seized? But that also wasn''t wrong, those were all things that Cheng Junxi wanted, he needed to help him get them back. But what he himself wanted, was actually not these, what he wanted¡­, whether or not Yang Wangkun could give it to him, it was still unclear.


    He had slept too long during the day, so he was no longer able to sleep at night. Jing Yang sat down on the bed and raised his head to look at the moon. Heughed self-deprecatingly, when had he be so unnatural and restrained. Love this thing, was really the thing most able to wear down someone''s willpower, making someone indecisive.


    Unfortunately fate this thing, was something that could not bepletely controlled. When he was able to control it, he worked hard to strive for it, and when he was unable to control it, he could only let nature take its course, demands wouldn''t work, and confusion was also useless.


    If Yang Wangkun was really Zhao Bocheng, if his soul had chased him over, and it was just that he didn''t have all of his memories like himself, then he would be able to strive for their two people''s love. But if he wasn''t, no matter whether or not they were both in love with each other, he would still find a way to keep away from him.


    He also couldn''t quite understand, for over a thousand worlds he had always been <strong>someone who had chosen to follow a solitary path</strong>, why did he have to have fallen in love in the previous world. Loving someone already wounded his spirit enough, he didn''t want to bring the memories of mutual love with someone to go be with someone else. He wouldn''t be able to endure that hole in his heart, he would rather prefer to always be alone like this.


    But in the future he would no longer be tangled for this reason, if he was then he was, if he wasn''t then he wasn''t, if they could meet then they would meet, if they couldn''t meet then they wouldn''t, he was still the original free and unconstrained himself.


    ~


    The morning of the second day, Wei Tianxiong''s aide came to the Cheng residence, he said that Weimander had invited the young master to attend a soiree that night at his residence. The aide wasn''t able to see Jing Yang, and left after passing along the words to the housekeeper.


    The aide was very clear about Wei Tianxiong''s mind toward Jing Yang. This time when he came to the Cheng residence again, his attitude was much better than before, he didn''t dare to offend Jing Yang at this time, and also didn''t dare to demand that he had to see him. In any case he had already passed along the invitation.


    Jing Yang considered it for a moment, since Wei Tianxiong kept on sending opportunities to his door, he didn''t have a reason not to go. As for Yang Wangkun''s words, he didn''t really put them in his heart, if he helped him dispose of Wei Tianxiong, wouldn''t he have saved him a lot of trouble?


    At night he was going to go to a party at themander''s residence, Jing Yang had prepared everything he needed to prepare. This time there shouldn''t appear any hindrances or idents, he should be able to smoothly poison Wei Tianxiong. The dosage of the slow-acting poison was very difficult to grasp, Jing Yang used ingredients that he could find in Li cheng, and mixed up the poison himself. He needed to give him three doses, after the third dose, after only one month of time, he would die suddenly from the poison.


    Wei Tianxiong saw that Jing Yang hade over and was very happy about his tactfulness. He <strong>pampered</strong> him with a very good attitude, "I also didn''t know what you like to eat, I first let the chef casually make some, if you have something that you want to eat then let me know, I will immediately let the chef make it for you.¡±


    This was a feast only for the two of them, Jing Yang saw the table filled with all sorts of delicacies but had not a bit of appetite. He wanted to skip this step, directly going to the main subject. "Commander invited me over, it wouldn''t be that you just wanted to eat a meal with me?¡±


    "Of course we''re not just having a meal." Wei Tianxiong smiled and pped his hands, the aide brought over a wooden box, opened it and ced it on the table. "These are all your Cheng family''s things, now we will return all of them to their rightful owner.¡±


    Jing Yang took out the things in the box and flipped through them, they were all the things that he had previously seized from Cheng Junxi, plus it seemed like it wasn''tcking any of them. It should be that everything that had been taken away by Cheng Jiaming and the aide were also all in here.


    "Many thanks to Commander." Jing Yang casually put away the things, in any case these had originally belonged to the Cheng family.


    "Just some verbal thanks? There''s no other method?" Wei Tianxiong''s eyes contained undisguised desire, as if he wanted to strip Jing Yang down on the spot.


    "How does Commander want me to express it?" Jing Yang asked with an indifferent expression.


    Wei Tianxiong extended his hand, wanting to hold the hand that Jing Yang had ced on the table, but Jing Yang retracted his hand before he could be touched by him. He nced at the servants and bodyguards on the sides. "I have already eaten at home, now, I would like to and Commander alone¡­, toast two cups, I don''t know if that''s possible?¡±


    Jing Yang''s hint was already very obvious, Wei Tianxiong was naturally very satisfied, raising an eyebrow. "How could it not be possible?¡±


    The two people moved from the dining hall into a room, this room had an outer room and an inner room, the inner room was a bedroom. They were both well aware, they knew what was going to happen afterwards.


    Jing Yang took the initiative to pour wine into two cups, his technique for adding poison was even faster than the best magician. No matter how close Wei Tianxiong was to him, he would still not be able to see any mistake. He needed to first give Wei Tianxiong a hallucinogen, and then it would be easier to give him some poison.


    "I will salute Commander a cup." Jing Yang first drank a cup and showed the empty ss to Wei Tianxiong, waiting for him to also drink.


    Wei Tianxiong smiled and lifted his cup, just when he had sent the wine to his mouth, they suddenly heard some gunshots. He immediately ced the winess down heavily, suddenly standing up and walking out. "What''s the matter?¡±


    Jing Yang took a look at the wine that had been half spilled, it seemed like this time the opportunity for poisoning him had been missed again. This Wei Tianxiong''s luck was really too good, he had actually escaped again.


    The remaining wine was poured in a corner, he once again poured in half a cup into the ss. Then Jing Yang also went outside to see what had happened.


    "Co,mander!" The aide hastily ran in.


    "What happened?" Wei Tianxiong scowled.


    "Yang, Yangmander-in-chief, brought his troops and rushed in!¡±


    The aide''s words had just fallen, Yang Wangkun had already walked in with his soldiers. Wei Tianxiong''s soldiers were also retreating while holding guns pointed at them.


    "Yangmander-in-chief? What are you doing?" Wei Tianxiong had no way to maintain any good face toward Yang Wangkun, he actually brought his soldiers to directly rush in, did he want to formally dere war with him?


    "Tonight, my residence happened upon a thief, something very important was stolen. My soldiers chased them out, and coincidentally happened to see the thief run into themander''s residence, so I brought my soldiers in to search." Yang Wangkun''s expression was cold and indifferent, giving him an exnation that was full of loopholes.


    "You ran to my residence to chase a thief? Do you think a thief would be able to run into my residence?" Wei Tianxiong obviously wouldn''t believe this reason, ring at him. "Yang Wangkun, you shouldn''t take us as a fool!¡±


    "I don''t want to dispute with you, I only want to take back the thing that the thief had stolen, I am only thinking for the safety of the Commander''s residence." Yang Wangkun ced his hands behind his back. "If Weimander doesn''t mind, I would like to search around a bit.¡±


    "Impossible!" Wei Tianxiong roared.


    "My soldiers have already surrounded the entiremander''s residence, Weimander you should consider it carefully. If I can''t catch the thief today, I won''t leave.¡±


    Wei Tianxiong red at Yang Wangkun with scorching anger, if he really let Yang Wangkun search themander''s residence today, he would have lost too much face. Then in the future how could he still preserve his prestige in this Li cheng?


    "Then let''s do this." Yang Wangkun said. "Since Weimander is unwilling to let me search, then let''s just both retreat a step. We''ll just call out everyone in themander''s residence and search their bodies, if we can find the thing that I lost, I will take that person away for interrogation¡­¡±


    "And if you can''t find it?" Wei Tianxiong scowled.


    "If we can''t find it, I will offer an apology to themander, and ept any punishment from Weimander." Yang Wangkun said.


    "Good! Then you better acknowledge the debt." Wei Tianxiong lifted his hand andmanded, "Call everyone in the residence over.¡±


    Every male and female, young or old, in themander''s residence convened in the hall. The soldiers started searching through their bodies, starting from the males.


    Jing Yang was just standing in a corner watching the fun, he had still not been able to understand what y Yang Wangkun was performing, he actually brought soldiers to surround themander''s residence to chase a thief. Could it be that he had actually lost some especially important thing?


    Feeling Yang Wangkun''s eyes knife over to himself, Jing Yang couldn''t resist trembling a bit. This gaze, was really sharp enough, scraping and jolting his mind.


    "You!" Yang Wangkun pointed at Jing Yang. "Come over.¡±


    "Me?" Jing Yang pointed at himself and then walked over, not knowing the reason.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>drink himself into a stupor</strong> ¨C ×íÉúÃÎËÀ, idiom, literally means as if drunk or entranced


    [2] <strong>someone who had chosen to follow a solitary path</strong> ¨C ¹Â¼Ò¹ÑÈË, idiom, means someone who is cut off from others


    [3] <strong>pamper</strong> ¨C Ð꺮ÎÊů, idiom, literally means to enquire solicitously about his well-being<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Another chapter done, took 1.5 hours: 6:30 pm ¨C 8 pm, for 3.5k characters to 2.6k words. We¡¯re building up to the action guys. The next chapter is definitely going to be a controversial one, lots of ups and downs. Honestly I wasn¡¯t quite sure who I wanted to win for most of it, though the ending was good. And after that chapter all is well.


    <strong>Edit:</strong> Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Buildup to a controversial chapter as a gift for the holidays ?? Also in preparation for the next arc and side project, I went through all 20-something chapters and put in links to TOC and the adjacent chapters at the bottom¡­it¡¯s going to beplicated from now on¡­ I¡¯m on my holiday break so I¡¯ll be slowly starting to trante again after about another month of not doing any tranting.<hr>

 Chapter 25

    <strong>Chapter 25</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.9)</strong>


    "What are you doing?" Jing Yang walked to Yang Wangkun''s front, using doubtful eyes to look at him. He didn''t know what he wanted to do.


    "Body search!¡±


    Body search? Jing Yang still hadn''t reacted when Yang Wangkun had already started to search his body.


    Yang Wangkun''srge hands kneaded downward from Jing Yang''s shoulder along his arm, he pressed on his shoulders and helped him turn around, and then kneaded everything from his lower back to his butt down his thighs to his calves.


    Jing Yang had been struck dumb by his actions, he had not thought that he would actually search him, his entire person had be motionless.


    Finished searching the back, Yang Wangkun again turned him around to search the front, his hands stopped at his chest and pressed, then he opened his buttons and reached his hand into his clothes.


    Jing Yang finally reacted, pulling out his hand and ring at him, "What are you trying to do!¡±


    An envelope suddenly appeared in Yang Wangkun''s hands, it seemed like he had taken it out from Jing Yang''s clothes. But only Jing Yang knew, that envelope was actually not on his body, this person''s hand technique was actually even faster than his own.


    "What is this?" Yang Wangkun raised the envelope in his hands.


    Jing Yang had an inexplicable expression on his face, how would he know what that thing was, but he didn''t say anything, he wanted to see what this man really wanted to do.


    Yang Wangkun said to Wei Tianxiong, "I have caught the thief, I will bring the man back to interrogate him, then I won''t bother Weimander anymore.¡±


    "Wait!" Wei Tianxiong immediately shouted. "How could he be a thief? Tonight he was always with me, he never went anywhere else. Moreover, just relying on him, would he be able to burst into your residence and steal your things?¡±


    "Whether or not the things were stolen by himself, or if he was working with someone else, I will still have to take him back and interrogate him to find out. But now the letter was searched out on his body, and he just happened to be in your residence, how do you want to exin this?" Yang Wangkun interrogated him back.


    Wei Tianxiong was left <strong>at a loss for words</strong> by his questioning, in his heart he knew that this matter definitely had something strange, but at the moment he still had no way to prove what was strange about it.


    "This envelope contains some very important information from the president, the matters concern ssified military affairs, I think that Weimander as a fellow soldier, should know the seriousness of this matter?" Yang Wangkun spoke about it in a <strong>high-sounding</strong> and <strong>righteous</strong> manner. "I will bring the man out, many thanks for Weimander''s cooperation.¡±


    Yang Wangkun dragged Jing Yang out, until they had gone out of sight, Wei Tianxiong finally realized something, it was very possible that chasing a thief was only an excuse, bringing Cheng Junxi out should be his real motive.


    Wei Tianxiong <strong>gnashed his teeth</strong> in anger, his face became scarily gloomy. He smashed the table, scaring badly arge number of people standing close to him.


    He inwardly swore to himself, Yang Wangkun was really bullying intolerably, he really took himself Wei Tianxiong as someone who could be bullied easily. He had just gotten to Li cheng, and already dared to rush in to rob his people, hepletely did not ce him in the eye, could it be all right in the future?


    ~


    Jing Yang sat on the car, he felt the neighboring person''s cold face and gloomy mood, in his heart he was very baffled, and he also didn''t know what this person was being angry for. He himself was angry ne, this was already his third time missing a chance to poison Wei Tianxiong, all three times were because of him, and he actually still used him in public of stealing things.


    Jing Yang snatched over that envelope from Yang Wangkun''s hands, when he opened the envelope, there was nothing at all inside. He threw the envelope onto his legs, furiously asking, "Documents? Where''s the ssified military information?¡±


    Yang Wangkun nted a nce over at him, and didn''t say anything.


    This nce made Jing Yang feel like he had again been scraped by a knife, he felt even more unwilling in his heart. "Why did you bring me out, I still had proper business to do.¡±


    "Your proper business is to seduce Wei Tianxiong?" Yang Wangkun coldly and stiffly gritted out.


    "You¡­" Jing Yang originally wanted to tell him the truth, but he had some second thoughts, he didn''t really have some close rtionship with this person, why would he need to tell him. "So what if I was, what rtionship does that have with you?¡±


    Yang Wangkun turned his head again to give him a look, his eyes had be even colder, if it were a normal person, he would either have been frozen to death or scared to death. Fortunately Jing Yang''s heart was strong enough, he wasn''t afraid of him.


    Jing Yang had thought Yang Wangkun would send him back to the Cheng residence, but the car actually drove back to Yang Wangkun''s residence, it was a prettyrge house.


    Only after getting off the car did Jing Yang discover that this was not the outside of the Cheng residence. Previously he had only been focusing on being angry, the sky was also too dark, he had not really been paying attention to the road. He also didn''t know why he was this angry, he had thought that old heart of his was already very difficult to anger, he wasn''t willing to admit that this might have a rtionship with Yang Wangkun possibly not being Zhao Bocheng.


    "I want to go back!" Jing Yang turned around and walked away, but he was pulled by Yang Wangkun inside. He tried to struggle free, but was unable to go against Yang Wangkun''s strength.


    Jing Yang was pushed into the room, Yang Wangkun turned around and strongly closed the door. Jing Yang suddenly had an intense sense of crisis, <strong>just in case</strong>, he quickly mobilized the system, looking for methods of self-defense.


    Even though his system''s capabilities were strong, they still were restricted to the space-time, this also meant, he would not be able to activate some kind of power exceeding the constraints of this world. For example, right now it was the Chinese Republic, he would be able to use kung fu and marksmanship, opera performing, wine brewing, poison concocting etc. kinds of functions, but would not be able to activate any powers, immortalws, or such things that didn''t belong to this world.


    Jing Yang activated the self-defense mechanism and sent a fist toward Yang Wangkun. Yang Wangkun held Jing Yang''s fist, easily twisting it around to his back. He held his waist, asking with surprise, "You know kung fu?¡±


    Jing Yang didn''t respond to him, his arms had been confined so he used his feet. After Yang Wangkun let go, Jing Yang turned around and sent a flying kick to his chest but was blocked by his forearm. Jing Yang''s foot almost became numb, it actually hurt quite a bit, he doubted that this person shouldn''t have steel-reinforced bones?


    The two people made several maneuvers, in the end Jing Yang was pressed down on the bed unable to budge, he had already activated the system and was still actually unable to defeat this person, in his heart he was extremely doubtful and dissatisfied.


    Afterwards Jing Yang self-analyzed the reason, he felt this kind of system mechanism rted to strength, might have been restricted by his physical body. In reality this was only one part of the reason, it was only muchter that he finally understood the entire reason.


    "Let me go!" Jing Yang roared lowly, ring at the man pressing on top of him.


    "I had told you before, not to get closer to Wei Tianxiong again, you want to be taken advantage of that much?" Yang Wangkun was really angry, once he thought of this person actually taking the initiative to send himself over, he would be unable to control the rage in his heart. He wanted to give him a lesson, make him engrave it in his memory, but in his heart he still was a little loath to do so.


    "What does it have to do with you? I''m willing to let other people take advantage of me, are you able to control me?" Jing Yang was also angered in his heart, he was also unable to understand why he was this angry. Because he was angry, he was unable to control his mouth, if he wasn''t able to yell at him his heart would feel ufortable.


    "Good! Then I will help you!" Yang Wangkun was alreadypletely furious, he moved to tear open Jing Yang''s cheongsam, and then ripped open his inner clothes, he reached his hands in, and then forcefully started fondling around.


    "What are you doing? Let me go!" Jing Yang started struggling in panic, before he determined whether or not this person was the same person as in the previous world, he would definitely not allow any rtionship to happen between them.


    Jing Yang''s pants had been pulled down to his thighs, that death-inducing ce had been cupped in Yang Wangkun''s hands. He no longer dared to move about randomly, forcefully taking deep breaths and making himself calm down.


    "You calm down a bit, listen to me, I shouldn''t have talked to you like this, things are not like you think, ah! Ah¡­" Jing Yang attempted to convince Yang Wangkun to also calm down, but when Yang Wangkun applied some force in his hand, he was unable to say another word.


    Yang Wangkun blocked Jing Yang''s mouth, his tongue reached in to stir up his mouth. Jing Yang had been stirred to the point of his tongue bing numb, he tried to clench his teeth to bite him, yet his chin was pinched by him, so he could only bear it.


    Jing Yang wanted to activate his system again to look for some method to rescue himself, at the instant when he was activating it, his body trembled, his soul seemed to have been sucked out of his body, and joined together with Yang Wangkun''s soul.


    This feeling let Jing Yangpletely rx down, he couldn''t exin the reason, he determined that he was really Zhao Bocheng, even if the body was not the original him, but it was definitely the same soul.


    The blending of their souls stirred Jing Yang''s passions, the pleasure rolled over him like the tide. He started to return the kisses, and started to take off his clothes, caressing his rugged, sturdy muscles.


    Yang Wangkun could feel Jing Yang''s response, his movements were no longer that crude, but had not a bit of intention to stop, and actually started advancing even more thoroughly¡­


    Jing Yang seemed to be staying in a dreand, his desires had been aroused, he felt very hollow, but was very quickly filled up, this feeling¡­, both delighted and satisfied. He felt ashamed of the moans and shrieking sounds that he made, but was still unable to resist. When he was quickly unable to bear this kind of stimtion any longer, his desires charged to the peak, breaking open the gates, surging forward¡­


    They had originally been fighting, they didn''t think that it would actually turn into this kind of "fight." Until the sky had barely turned light, their "battle" finally concluded.


    Jing Yang even felt that his fingers had be soft, the scratches on Yang Wangkun''s back, were all his masterpiece. He had confirmed that this person was Zhao Bocheng, besides thebination of their souls, his endurance was strong to this extent, he wouldn''t be able to find another person.


    This night they basically had never stopped, he also couldn''t remember clearly how many times they had done it, he could only remember that he had several times been unable to support and fallen asleep, and after not too long he would wake up from the ache, and then again not be able to resist and fall back asleep. Just like that he was repeatedly tossed back and forth for an entire night.


    Jing Yangy with his back facing Yang Wangkun, he was held in his arms, the two people''s skin closely stuck together. Yang Wangkun''s hand was still wandering around on his body.


    He pressed down on that wandering hand, <strong>weakly</strong> saying, "Are you trying to y me to death today on this bed?¡±


    "Dying on my bed, would still be better than dying on Wei Tianxiong''s bed. He has some special fetishes, you don''t know ma?¡±


    Jing Yang inwardly sighed, in any case he had lived for over a thousand worlds, what matters had he not gone through, what spectacles had he not experienced. And yet it was just this love that he was unable to just ignore, once he loved he lost all reason, his actions and thoughts also changed beyond his control. No wonder in the past for so many worlds he was still never able to love anyone.


    "I wasn''t going to let him take advantage of me, I got close to him, because I wanted to poison him¡­" Jing Yang exined it to him from beginning to end, finallyining about how he had <strong>over and over</strong> ruined his own ns.


    Yang Wangkun epted this reason, but he still didn''t support it. No matter what purpose Jing Yang had, he was still unable to endure him getting close to Wei Tianxiong, when he thought of Wei Tianxiong''s eyes when looking at him, he was angered to the point of wanting to kill people.


    In short, Yang Wangkun did not permit Jing Yang to get close to Wei Tianxiong again, this person could be left to him to dispose of. He couldn''t stay too long in Li cheng, he would resolve the matters here as quickly as possible.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>at a loss for words</strong> ¨C ÑÆ¿ÚÎÞÑÔ, idiom, means dumbstruck and unable to reply


    [2] <strong>high-sounding</strong> ¨C ¹ÚÃáÌûÊ, idiom, also means dignified, pompous


    [3] <strong>righteous</strong> ¨C ÀíÖ±Æø׳, idiom, also means in the right and self-confident, just and forceful


    [4] <strong>gnash his teeth</strong> ¨C Ò§ÑÀÇгÝ, idiom, means fuming with rage between gritted teeth


    [5] <strong>just in case</strong> ¨C ÒÔ·ÀÍòÒ», idiom, means to guard against the unexpected


    [6] <strong>weakly</strong> ¨C ÓÐÆøÎÞÁ¦, idiom, means weakly and without strength


    [7] <strong>over and over</strong> ¨C ¼¸´ÎÈý·¬, idiom, literally means twice and then three times<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Going to do 2 more chapters today, the home stretch! Took 1.5 hours, 11:30 am ¨C 1 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.4k words. Did you feel as conflicted as I was during this chapter? But all is well. I¡¯m d that they¡¯re back together again.<hr>

 Chapter 26

    <strong>Chapter 26</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.10)</strong>


    Cheng Jiaming was carried by people from themander''s residence and sent back to Ya Garden. In his heart there was a burst of sorrow, as well as some regret and lingering fear. Last night, he had nearly left his life in themander''s residence.


    Last night Wei Tianxiong had sent people over to pick him up, in his heart he had been somewhat happy, he felt that even if he had some new target, he would still have some interest in him, at least he hadn''tpletely spurned him. Taking advantage of this opportunity, if he again swayed him through some pillow talk, even if he wasn''t able to take back the Cheng family properties, he would still be able to get some otherpensation.


    But once he saw Wei Tianxiong and his ugly expression, Cheng Jiaming knew that it was bad. The following matters he wasn''t willing to remember, Wei Tianxiong had vented all of his anger on his body, exhausting his methods to torment him.


    Cheng Jiamingy on his own bed, tears dripping out from his eyes. He didn''t feel like giving his body to Wei Tianxiong was some shameful thing, in order to achieve his goals, he would be able to endure everything. But now he hadn''t been able to achieve his goals, and still needed to suffer this kind of torment, he was really unwilling. The resentment in his heart reached the peak, no matter whether it was Wei Tianxiong, or Cheng Junxi, he would definitely think of methods to retaliate against both of them.


    Wei Tianxiong was unable to get Jing Yang, and had lost face from Yang Wangkun, his heart had been full of hatred. The men who he had dispatched to monitor the Cheng family reported back, saying that now when Cheng Junxi left and entered the Cheng home, he was always apanied by Yang Wangkun''s soldiers, and moreover he would often be sent by the soldiers to Yang Wangkun''s home.


    In a fit of fury, Wei Tianxiong sent guards to surround all of the Cheng family''s restaurants and stores, no customers dared to go in, these stores could onlypletely close down.


    Jing Yang consoled the shopkeepers and workers, he gave them all a sum of money and told them, the closure of the stores would only be temporary. When they would again open, if they were willing toe back, they would still be able to return.


    During this period of time Jing Yang would often stay the night at Yang Wangkun''s ce, the two people would use the majority of time to <strong>cultivate their feelings</strong>, and the rest of the time resting, and conveniently discuss the progress on handling Wei Tianxiong.


    Wei Tianxiong didn''t dare to fight against Yang Wangkun directly, whenparing his soldiers to Yang Wangkun''s soldiers, the odds of sess were too small. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have always not dared to re up, even when Yang Wangkun had stormed into his home, he still endured it. But he believed, in his hands he controlled all of the businessmen in Li cheng, Yang Wangkun also wouldn''t dare to rashly move against him.


    The so-called <strong>strong dragon cannot repress a snake</strong>, Wei Tianxiong thought that he had been deeply rooted in Li cheng for so many years, it was impossible for Yang Wangkun to wrest control of Li cheng from him <b>in a short period of time</b>. So he prepared to slowly wear Yang Wangkun down, he would always be able to wait for an opportunity.


    ~


    "When are you nning on acting?" Jing Yang half-sat, lying in Yang Wangkun''s arms.


    "The opium ban has already been passed, Li cheng has the most opium dens, the president hasmanded that we mustplete the opium prohibition in the shortest time possible. With the sessful model in Li cheng, the opium activities in the other ces would be a little easier.¡±


    "But Wei Tianxiong hasn''t been disposed of yet, if you first prohibit opium, those merchants will definitely be fanned by him, then it would be unfavorable for you." In the previous world it was just like this, but in the previous world it wasn''t Yang Wangkun who hade over. By the time he had gotten to Li cheng, the situation had already favored Wei Tianxiong''s side, so he cooperated with Cheng Jiaming, and set a trap for Wei Tianxiong.


    "Your Cheng family, seems to also have an opium den." Yang Wangkun hugged him from behind, lowering his head to kiss the side of his face.


    Jing Yang curled his lip. "Wei Tianxiong forced me to open that, until now it still hasn''t opened, those opium, I alsopletely destroyed.¡±


    "You think, those people who opened opium dens, how many of them were also forced like you?" Yang Wangkun asked.


    Jing Yang thought a bit. "It shouldn''t be too many ba, opening an opium den is pretty profitable, the majority of them should have been voluntary.¡±


    "With Wei Tianxiong''s level of greed, you think that the money that they earn, how much of it can really enter their own pocket. In Li cheng, the ones squeezed by him, is definitely not only the Cheng family." Yang Wangkun reminded him.


    Jing Yang suddenly realized, that''s right, how could he have forgotten this, raising troops took a lot of money, Wei Tianxiong was also known for his greed and selfishness. His underlings also followed suit, how would it possible for them to only squeeze the Cheng family.


    If it was like this, Wei Tianxiong notpletely taking away the Cheng family''s properties all at once, it was just to not let other people have misgivings about bing the second Cheng family, and then stir up their resistance. So he just slowly hollowed out the Cheng family.


    Saying this, in the previous world the Cheng family hadpletely copsed only after Yang Wangkun had arrived in the Li cheng. But now he was not the real Cheng Junxi, Yang Wangkun was definitely also not the previous world''s Yang Wangkun, otherwise how would the development of these events have such arge difference.


    The two people talked and talked,ter Jing Yang was pressed down, his half-dressed appearance was truly alluring. Their lips and tongues entangled, exchanging breaths, the two people''s bodies seemed to have been ignited by a fire, burning and making their hearts itch past endurance. They needed to use force to rub against the other person, in order to slightly alleviate the itching.


    "Report!¡±


    Yang Wangkun''s aide shouted to report outside, normally at this time, if it wasn''t some very important matter, the aide would note to bother him. He raised his head, but his hands actually didn''t stop moving. "Speak.¡±


    "Ya Garden''s Cheng Jiaming boss paid a visit, he said that he has some matters rted to Weimander, he wanted to make a suggestion to Commander-in-chief.¡±


    Yang Wangkun frowned, he didn''t need anyone''s advice, and also didn''t want to see whoever this Cheng boss was. His mood had been disturbed, right now he was very unhappy, just as he wanted to open his mouth to berate his aide, Jing Yang covered his mouth.


    "Go see him ba, I want to hear what he is going to say." Jing Yang said.


    Yang Wangkun silently looked at him and didn''t say anything, Jing Yang winked at him, his coquettish meaning was very apparent. Yang Wangkun brought down his hand and said to the outside, "Let him wait.¡±


    Jing Yang tidied up his clothes and wanted to get off the bed, but his calf was pulled and he fell back down again. Yang Wangkun lowered his head to forcefully kiss him.


    "Ah!" Jing Yang had been bitten by him, immediately pushing away his head and pulling up his pants.


    Jing Yang went outside together with Yang Wangkun, but he didn''t directly go see Cheng Jiaming. He sat in a partitioned-off area drinking tea, he wanted to hear how Cheng Jiaming was going to talk.


    "Commander-in-chief." Cheng Jiaming respectfully saluted Yang Wangkun.


    Yang Wangkun indifferently sat down. "What do you want to say? Save the nonsense, say the main point.¡±


    Cheng Jiaming had prepared a bunch of opening remarks and praises, but they were blocked in his throat by Yang Wangkun. He was extremely ufortable, but also didn''t dare to go against his wishes, and directly went to his main topic. "I have a strategy that can help Commander-in-chief handle Wei Tianxiong, it''s to use Cheng Junxi as bait¡­¡±


    "Shut your mouth!" Yang Wangkun suddenly took out a gun and pointed it at him, cutting off his words.


    "Co,mander-in-chief, you this is¡­" Cheng Jiaming looked at him with fright, he swallowed a bit, and summoned his courage. "Please Commander-in-chief let me finish.¡±


    "You are not allowed to say any more, roll!" Yang Wangkun fired two shots at Cheng Jiaming''s feet.


    "Ah!!" Cheng Jiaming was scared to death, his legs turned soft, and he fell on the ground.


    Yang Wangkun was getting ready to call people to throw him out when Jing Yang walked out from inside. Originally he had wanted to see, matters had already developedpletely differently from the previous world, what kind of strategy Cheng Jiaming would suggest to Yang Wangkun, but he didn''t think that he would actually want to let himself act as bait.


    Jing Yang was actually not as angry as Yang Wangkun, he had originally wanted to continue listening, but Yang Wangkun had already be furious, it would be impossible for him to let Cheng Jiaming finish speaking.


    "You¡­" Cheng Jiaming saw Jing Yang walk out, widening his eyes in shock. He pointed at him with a trembling finger, "You¡­¡±


    "Is it necessary to be so surprised?" Jing Yang felt that his expression seemed a little funny.


    Cheng Jiaming really never thought that Jing Yang would be here, what he was surprised about was that Jing Yang and Yang Wangkun''s rtionship had already progressed so quickly, no wonder Yang Wangkun would be so angry. The reasons and excuses that he had thought up, were all useless.


    Jing Yang said, "At that time when your mother was chased out the family, it was not caused by me, you being stranded alone to learn opera, was also not brought about by me, yet you put all of your hatred on my head, wholeheartedly opposing me. If you had only wanted some property, that wouldn''t have been much, I don''t mind giving you a portion. But not only did you want the Cheng family''s entire assets, and still wanted my life, then you shouldn''t me me for not being amodating.¡±


    Jing Yang simply spoke openly, no matter whether it was the original Cheng Junxi or the current him, they wouldn''t have cared about giving Cheng Jiaming a portion of the assets, but some people''s hearts would never know satisfaction.


    Cheng Jiaming''splexion changed over and over. "Originally you knew everything, so you deliberately went to Fairview Park to perform, to seduce Wei Tianxiong, it was to go against me.¡±


    "It was you going against me, I only counterattacked as self-defense.¡±


    "I am also a son of the Cheng family, for what reason are you the only one able to enjoy everything of the Cheng family?" Cheng Jiaming crawled up, shouting with a face full of anger. "I only want to take back everything that originally should have belonged to me, you enjoyed it for so many years, it should be my turn.¡±


    "Everything that belongs to you? You think that because you are also a son of the Cheng family, and you also endured so much suffering, the entire Cheng family should all be yours, including my life, right?" Jing Yang looked at him, full of irony.


    "No mistake!" Cheng Jiaming roared.


    "For what reason?" Jing Yang asked.


    "Because the Cheng family owes it to me! You should return it to me, the entire Cheng family should all be mine!" Cheng Jiaming had been stimted too much recently, and then today he suffered a shock, his mind had already regressed into a somewhat deranged state.


    Jing Yang self-deprecatingly smiled, he was really a little crazy, he actually attempted to talk some reason into this kind of person, could it be that he had hoped that he would repent?


    Yang Wangkun let his soldiers throw Cheng Jiaming out, Cheng Jiaming was dragged out on the ground, loudly howling, "Cheng Junxi I won''t let you go! I will definitely not let you go!¡±


    The two people returned to their room. After being disturbed like this by Cheng Jiaming, the mood was also gone. They took off their clothes, and then just hugged together, talking to each other.


    "After all the matters here are finished,e with me back to the imperial capital." Yang Wangkun said.


    "Go to the imperial capital?" Jing Yang raised his head to look at him.


    "Yes, not only the imperial capital, there are still a lot of ces we should go, I hope that you can always stay by my side." Yang Wangkun lowered his head to kiss his eyes, he recently fell in love with this action.


    Jing Yang considered it for a moment, it really was impossible for Yang Wangkun to always stay in Li cheng, and they were both unable to bear long periods of separation. In reality he didn''t have to always stay in Li cheng, when they disposed of Wei Tianxiong, he could still do business here, his shops and stores could continue to open, he also didn''t need to keep living here. He could go to the imperial capital, go to other ces to do business, and expand the Cheng family''s industry.


    "Good." Rather than <strong>feeling anxious</strong> after separating, it would be better to just always stay at his side, to stay together in life or death.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>cultivate their feelings</strong> ¨C ²øÃà, means touching in the context of emotions, I''m pretty sure this just means they''re often cuddling/having smex


    [2] <strong>strong dragon cannot repress a snake</strong> ¨C Ç¿Áú²»Ñ¹µØÍ·Éß, idiom, means a local gangster above thew


    [3] <strong>in a short period of time</strong> ¨C Ò»³¯Ò»Ï¦, idiom, literally means one morning and one evening


    [4] <strong>feeling anxious</strong> ¨C Ç£³¦¹Ò¶Ç, idiom, also means deeply worried<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Second chapter done for the day! Only took 1 hour, surprisingly: 1 ¨C 1:30 pm, 2 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.4k words. Isn¡¯t it nice that they¡¯re back together again? And so gooey as well, the ML is as possessive and sticky as ever haha. Most of the revenge will be happening in the next chapter.<hr>

 Chapter 27

    <strong>Chapter 27</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.11)</strong>


    Wei Tianxiong wanted to fight a war of attrition with Yang Wangkun, but Yang Wangkun definitely didn''t have that much time to spend on him, he couldn''t waste too much time in Li cheng. He still had many more important matters waiting for him, so he had to <strong>resolve him in the shortest time possible</strong>.


    Even though the opium ban had already been sent into Yang Wangkun''s hands, he didn''t actually immediately announce it, first suppressing it for the time being. He privately dispatched people to contact some of the more prestigious businessmen in Li cheng, and gave them some promises, telling them to incite the other businessmen to go against Wei Tianxiong together. And when Wei Tianxiong sent soldiers over to suppress them, he would have an ostensible purpose for sending troops.


    Yang Wangkun was a natural soldier, he wasn''t scared of shedding blood or sacrificing lives. Directly using military force to pacify Li cheng was the most effective method for him. But now, he couldn''t not consider the president''s reputation among the masses.


    There could be fights, there could be conflicts, but they had to be on the righteous side, they were soldiers acting on behalf of the country, on behalf of the popce.


    Wei Tianxiong and theckeys by his side had abused and bullied the people for so many years, don''t know how many people hated him to the bones, and only dared to be angry but didn''t dare to voice it out.


    If he wanted to incite those people who carried resentment in their hearts, it was very easy, he only needed a breakthrough point that could arise the sympathy of the people. The Cheng family''s stores being forced to close down, was his best breakthrough point.


    Jing Yang persuaded Yang Wangkun to let him go perform at Fairview Park again, and sing <strong>Mu Guiying Takes Command</strong> for the general public free of charge, to stir up the passions of everyone in the audience.


    After he finished singing, Jing Yang didn''t withdraw backstage to remove his makeup, directly wearing his costume to make a speech. He used the easiest to understandnguage, the most emotive wording, to denounce all of the atrocities that Wei Tianxiong and his underlings hadmitted.


    "¡­Those warlords who press down on the heads of the ordinary people, who ride roughshod over the people, are as hateful as the Huns and the Japanese pirates, they are like leeches, constantly sucking out the blood in our bodies, until they suck us all dry, not letting go of even the bones! And they don''t even allow us to resist, once you rebel you die, this is an even more horrible repression and torture! Now it is already the Chinese Republic, Yang president said that he wanted to let the entire country''s people achieve their freedom and democracy, but in Li cheng, Wei Tianxiong still wants to act as a tyrant, he wants us to act as ves that he can bully around¡­¡±


    In the audience, there were many people who had been deliberately arranged toe to Fairview Park to watch the opera. They all had a point inmon, they had all been bullied by Wei Tianxiong''s subordinates. Some of them had even be <strong>destitute and homeless</strong>, but had no way to get revenge. Jing Yang''s speech immediately aroused their sympathy. They tightly clenched their fists, their moods bing more and more excited.


    Finally Jing Yang <strong>issued a call for action</strong>: "Make Wei Tianxiong return everything that he has seized from us! We are done being bullied, being robbed! Everyone don''t be afraid, Yang Wangkunmander-in-chief and Yang president will give us justice, as long as we overthrow Wei Tianxiong, we will have good lives!¡±


    The crowd immediately responded to Jing Yang, calling out their heartfelt wishes.


    "No more bullying! No more robbing!¡±


    "Return to us everything that has been taken away! Return them to us!¡±


    Yang Wangkun''s soldiers were lying low in all corners, they were strictly prepared to protect Jing Yang''s safety. Yang Wangkun himself was also standing behind the curtain, tensely paying attention to the crowd below the stage to check whether or not there was someone wanting to harm Jing Yang.


    In the crowd, a pair of gloomy and malicious eyes stared right at Jing Yang, he slowly pressed forward. Just when he wanted to lift up the gun hidden in his sleeve, his wrist was twisted by someone beside him, and his gun was also seized.


    Cheng Jiaming immediately panicked, he wanted to yell out, but his mouth was covered, and he was roughly taken out of the crowd.


    The crowd had been incited by Jing Yang, advancing towards themander''s residence. On the streets, all sorts of big and small businessmen who had long been waiting outside also snuck into the crowd.


    "Wu wu¡­" Cheng Jiaming was brought to Yang Wangkun''s front, because his mouth had been blocked by something he could only crazily make wu wu sounds, he desperately struggled to say something, but was unable to say a word.


    Yang Wangkun coldly nced at him,manding, "Take him down and torture him.¡±


    "Yes!" The soldiers wearing inclothes again dragged Cheng Jiaming away.


    Yang Wangkun brought the soldiers to surround themander''s residence.


    Wei Tianxiong had not anticipated that matters would turn into this, he was <strong>caught unprepared</strong>, in this kind of emergency situation, he quickly called his subordinates to bring soldiers over to rescue him. Once the call got through, those underlings of his <strong>wailed </strong>and screamed miserably, saying that they had been caught, the barracks had been suppressed. Their officers had even been tortured, they wanted Wei Tianxiong to think of ways to rescue them.


    Wei Tianxiong was even powerless to defend himself, he even hoped for them toe to rescue himself, where would he have ways to go rescue them. He was anxious to the point of perspiring freely, and could only pace around nonstop in his room.


    Yang Wangkun''s soldiers fired warning shots outside and shouted, they wanted Wei Tianxiong toe out and <strong>surrender himself</strong>, and give the public a confession. Otherwise, they would rush in.


    Wei Tianxiong had no choice, he could only go out under the protection of his bodyguards and try to negotiate with Yang Wangkun.


    "Yangmander-in-chief, what is the meaning of this?" Wei Tianxiong forced himself to maintain an imposing facade, concealing the anxiety in his heart.


    "I came on behalf of the people of Li cheng, to ask for justice from Wei Tianxiong." Yang Wangkun sat on a ck warhorse, his cold, resolute, tall, and straight body seemed like a war god had descended, just his imposing manner was able to suppress the other person''s bodyguards to being unable to raise their heads.


    Wei Tianxiong forcefully breathed in and out, making the trembling of his facial muscles less apparent. "How about Yangmander-in-chief first get off your horse, some words, we can go in to slowly discuss.¡±


    "I didn''te today for personal matters, I don''t have anything to discuss with you. If you have something to say, you should say it in front of these people''s faces.¡±


    Wei Tianxiong''s face turned purple, he was angered speechless. In front of so many people''s faces, what could he say?


    Yang Wangkun said, "Since you are unwilling to speak, then you can just listen to what some of these people have to say.¡±


    In the crowd, people denounced Wei Tianxiong one after another. Over the years, his actions to take advantage of and usurp themon people in Li Cheng, exposed his true colors.


    It was the so-called <strong>taking advantage of his precarious situation</strong>, as the people spoke they became even more furious, even more excited. They hadn''t made preparations beforehand, otherwise right now they would long have started throwing rotten food and leaves. Those people who had been harmed more miserably by Wei Tianxiong''sckeys finally couldn''t resist rushing up, shouting that they wanted to <strong>take </strong>Wei Tianxiong <strong>down with them</strong>.


    Wei Tianxiong''s guards, for self-defense and to scare back the crowd that had rushed over, opened fire as a threat, and the crowd immediately rioted. Yang Wangkun''s soldiers took this opportunity to advance, protecting the people to evacuate while arresting Wei Tianxiong.


    The scene fell into chaos, Wei Tianxiong wanted to escape in the confusion, but was finally still captured alive.


    The Wei Tianxiong who was suppressed by soldiers had never thought that he would have been defeated in Yang Wangkun''s hands so quickly. He thought that he himself was also a generation''s formidable character (at least he thought so), and yet he had fallen to this kind of end.


    Yang Wangkun honored his promise, he took the assets found in themander''s residence, what he could return he returned, and for the remaining money that he had no way to determine the original owners, he used topensate those people who had been persecuted by Wei Tianxiong''s subordinates.


    After half a month, Yang Wangkun made public all of the atrocities that Wei Tianxiong and his subordinates hadmitted, posting them on the announcement bulletin, and furthermore decided to execute by firing squad Wei Tianxiong and a total of 20 of his subordinates. Using their lives, he would return a justice to the masses. For those whose circumstances weren''t as severe, who hadn''t taken human lives, but still had previously seized assets, all of their properties were confiscated and returned to their original owners, and they were sent to prison for 10 years or more.


    There was another person who was also locked in prison, Yang Wangkun personally ordered that he would be sentenced for life, that was the Cheng Jiaming who had wanted to assassinate Jing Yang. He had been beaten until he was more dead than alive and thrown into prison. In his future, most of the time he stayed in a state of insanity, every day he would sing opera in his cell, fantasizing that he was still that famous singer who received the praise and idtion of everyone. He never stopped singing, until he had ruined his throat from singing, and still kept going¡­


    ~


    After Wei Tianxiong had been executed, Li cheng''s people were <strong>overjoyed</strong> for a period of time, everyone hung upnterns and banners to celebrate, it was like the New Year.


    After the celebrations had concluded, Yang Wangkun announced the opium ban, all of the opium dens in Li cheng needed to close immediately, all of the opium also needed to be destroyed. The people who had be addicted to opium were all forced to give up smoking and enter the rehabilitation centers funded by the opium den bosses. Those who did not carry out the ban, all of their properties would be confiscated, and those who opposed with force, would directly be thrown into prison.


    Jing Yang reopened all of the Cheng family''s stores, business was very good. Even though that opium den of his never opened, he was the first businessman to hand over the money to cover the funds for the rehabilitation centers, setting an example for the other people.


    Yang president dispatched men over to Li cheng, Yang Wangkun needed to return to the imperial capital, Jing Yang also was going to leave with him. Before he got on the car Jing Yang turned back to look at the Cheng residence, as well as the subordinates standing outside the gates.


    "Young master, you must take care of yourself." The housekeeper''s eyes and heart were all full of reluctance.


    "I will, you also need to take care of yourself, the family will be left to you." Jing Yang said.


    "Don''t worry young master, old ve will definitely keep good watch on the family.¡±


    "If anything happens in the stores, you and the shopkeepers can discuss how to deal with it, if you all are not able to handle it, just send a cable to me.¡±


    "Yes.¡±


    Yang Wangkun helped him open the door, and after they got on the car, he embraced his shoulder. "Reluctant to leave?¡±


    "A little." Jing Yang smiled, even though he had note to this world for a very long time, he still had developed a little attachment to Li cheng.


    "When I retire from the army, I will bring you back to settle down." Yang Wangkun promised.


    "Good." Jing Yang leaned on his shoulder.


    ~


    In this world, Jing Yang apanied Yang Wangkun to many ces. No matter what asion, Yang Wangkun would always bring him along, never avoiding letting other people know about his identity.


    After they grew old, Yang Wangkun honored his promise, and the two people returned to Li cheng to settle down. In this world they had met each other here, and they would also end here¡­


    Before Jing Yang''s soul left, he again asked the same words as in the previous world: "In the next life, will you still go find me?¡±


    Yang Wangkun held him in his arms. "I will, no matter where you are, I will always find you.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled, his smile was very relieved. In these two lives, he had honored all of the promises that he had made to him. Compared to the previous world, he had more trust in his heart, he believed, he would definitely still find himself.


    Jing Yang had always thought, there would never be something that time wouldn''t be able to whittle away, that any kind of feeling would always pass with time. But he found that after going through this life, his love for this person had be even deeper.


    His soul returned to the system, the power that he had gotten from this world only circled around him once, and then was again sucked away by the system. Jing Yang thought, if this happened every time, in the end it should be the system bing a god, not him, unless he couldpletely merge with this system.


    Earlier it was in order to free himself from the incessant reincarnations that he had epted this system. But after meeting his lover, reincarnating no longer seemed to be such a tortured matter anymore.


    Now he was actually a little worried, after his reincarnations were over, whether or not he would still be able to meet his lover. If he wasn''t, he could only go find Hades again to let him borrow the Dao to continue reincarnating.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>resolve him in the shortest time possible</strong> ¨C ËÙÕ½ËÙ¾ö, idiom, also means a blitzkrieg strategy?


    [2] <strong>Mu Guiying Takes Command</strong> ¨C ĹðÓ¢¹Ò˧, apparently Mu Guiying is a female warrior and heroine


    [3] <strong>destitute and homeless</strong> ¨C ¼ÒÆÆÈËÍö, idiom, literally means family bankrupt and people dead


    [4] <strong>issue a call for action</strong> ¨C Õñ±Û¸ßºô, idiom, means to raise your hand and issue a rousing call


    [5] <strong>caught unprepared</strong> ¨C ´ëÊÖ²»¼°, idiom, means no time to deal with it


    [6] <strong>wailed</strong> ¨C ¹í¿ÞÀǺ¿, idiom, literally means to wail like ghosts and howl like wolves


    [7] <strong>surrender himself</strong> ¨C ÊøÊÖ¾ÍÇÜ, means with hands tied and waiting to be captured


    [8] <strong>taking advantage of a precarious situation</strong> ¨C ǽµ¹ÖÚÈËÍÆ, literally means that if a wall is about to copse, everyone gives it a shove


    [9] <strong>take him down with them</strong> ¨C ͬ¹éÓÚ¾¡, mutual destruction


    [10] <strong>overjoyed</strong> ¨C »¶ÐÀ¹ÄÎè, idiom, means ted and excited<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    This chapter took a bit longer (at least it felt like it), 1.5 hours: 7:30 pm ¨C 9 pm, for 3.4k characters to 2.5k words.


    Well that¡¯s the end of the second arc guys. I¡¯m quite happy with it, I did plow through like 8 chapters in around 5 days so that I could finish the arc before I started releasing it. Just for the schedule¡¯s safety. The next arc is pretty exciting, I remember the MC is pretty OP, and there shouldn¡¯t be as much trouble with getting together with the ML. I will probably still have a brief hiatus between arcs, just so I can finish up the arc or at least most of it before releasing, and just in case I have some pauses in keeping up the backlog.


    I feel quite satisfied. I did finish rereading 100k Volts yesterday, and I also just finished another novel that I am pretty happy with today, so that will be going on the Reading page. I also added a bunch of new BL raws from jjwxc onto my TBR list, so we¡¯ll see if I continue with those.


    <strong>Edit (day before release):</strong> Hello everyone, long time no see (I haven¡¯t really written any notes recently in the recent releases). The second arc has nowe to an end. As I mentioned, I will be going on a two week hiatus. I have already tranted 5 chapters of the next arc, but there are more chapters in this arc so I¡¯ll be attempting to trante most/all of them before they¡¯re released. Also, as promised, my second project will being out at around the same time as the third arc. I will see you all in mid-December.<hr>

 Chapter 28

    <strong>Chapter 28</strong><strong>


    Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.1)


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Jing Yang had just woken up when he felt that his muscles were extremely sore. He judged that this body might have just done some severe exercise.


    He sat up and looked around at the ultra-modern design of the room and guessed that this might be a world of the future? Or else this body''s original owner was a high tech enthusiast?


    Pinching his arm muscles a bit, it was obviously pulled. Jing Yangy back down again and activated the system. He decided to repair the body''s damage first and eliminate the painful feeling.


    He started the memory inheritance function, and Jing Yang finally knew that originally this time the world he came to was an interster space-time.


    This was a cosmos power that possessed several hundred <strong>celestial bodies</strong>, the Fu Luo Wei Empire. The era of science and technology had already flourished for over a thousand years, and all sorts of high tech was used in an extensive range of functions in work and daily life. Now even ordinary daily activities were already inseparable from all kinds of high tech products.


    With the help of these high tech products, human beings had been able to aplish many things they would not have been able to do on their own. Thousands of yearster, human beings had already gotten used to this kind of life. Getting used to it also meant that things done by relying on high tech products were all not worth showing off.


    Under the situation of not relying on high tech products, using your own body to aplish certain things, would receive special poprity. Therefore a new profession emerged called <strong>DIY live streamers</strong>, and the streamers who were more popr were also called DIY Star Network inte celebrities.


    The live streamers'' live content topics were diverse, some people cooked, some did talent shows, some did travel, etc., these were all ssified as within the normal scope of live streaming. Then there were also some more unusual streamers, for example extreme sports, wilderness survival, mountain climbing or deep sea diving to catch prey, etc. In short, the material that could be live streamed was myriad and <strong>all-epassing</strong>.


    This body that Jing Yang was currently in, his name was <strong>Milton Miller</strong>, he was a wealthy young master who had inherited arge amount of money. He didn¡¯t need to worry about his livelihood, so he became an outdoors live streamer, purely due to his personal interest.


    His poprity was also quite big, if other streamers were called DIY streamer inte celebrities, Jing Yang reckoned that he should be called a ckened DIY streamer, because right now on the Star Network he was being attacked quite seriously.


    In the end what kind of matter had Milton done that had instigated the shared anger of the public, making theizens on the Star Network <strong>spare no effort</strong> to cken him in this way. Jing Yang decided that this couldn''t be understood from his personal point of view, and directly used the world perspective to understand the entire process.


    The more difficult the matter a streamer was able toplete, the more poprity he would receive, but this was based on a big premise. That was that you could not rely on high tech assistance, and could only rely on your own abilities toplete it.


    Before Milton had also been quite popr, until it had burst out that he had relied on high tech products toplete all of his previous streams. The Star Network had instantly boiled over, theizens had hurled all sort of abuse and usations at him. Because this implied that he had always been faking it earlier, and manyizens had supported him with money before, but now they actually found that it wasn''t real, naturally it attracted arge amount of dissatisfaction.


    Then whether or not Milton actually faked it, if you were being rigorous about it, it really shouldn''t be counted as fake. The tasks were allpleted by himself, but in order to ensure his safety, he used high tech equipment to provide some safeguards.


    Actually every live streamer would more or less use assistance from high tech products, the only difference was only whether or not they had been discovered. To be honest, whenparing Milton to those people, he was already considered quite real and honest.


    But this kid still suffered a bit from <strong>chuunibyou</strong>, even though he was already in his early twenties, but in some aspects, his personality was like that of an <strong>opinionated</strong> child. His character wasn''t bad, he just didn''t really understand the ways of the world, he lived entirely in his own world. When he spoke he didn''t think to restrain himself, so he would frequently publish some more offensive remarks.


    He had offended a streamer called <strong>Kedi</strong>, he was also the main reason that he had been ckened this miserably.


    Kedi was the most popr live streamer in the empire, he used the conditions ofpletely being real, not relying on any kinds of high tech products, and only using his own body''s abilities, toplete some matters that normal people would definitely not be able to aplish, and received a huge amount of poprity and fans.


    It was him who had exposed the matter of Milton faking his streams, and personally proved that the things that Milton had done in his streams werepletely unable to be done without relying on high tech products. His action had struck a blow on Milton while at the same time doubling his own fan numbers.


    This made Milton very angry, he felt that using high tech products to protect his own safety was a very normal matter. Every live streamer would do this, and every live streamer was also well aware of this. He only used the high tech products to protect his own safety, and didn''tpletely rely on it to aplish the mission, what was wrong about this?


    Milton''s argument attracted the dissatisfaction of many live streamers, they all strongly denied that they had used high tech products before. If you used it yourself then you used it, don''t drag us into the water with you.


    Milton''s mind was rtively simple, in terms of words he wasn''t able to fight Kedi, often a light and insipid <strong>simple response</strong> from Kedi would be able to infuriate Milton, and then he would spout some brainless words, and make even moreizens annoyed with him.


    Milton was attacked by Kedi''s fans, making him very angry, so naturally he thought of proving himself, and then the opportunity came.


    Along with the rise of the live stream industry, there were many professional live streamers. Watching live streams had also be one of the top methods of leisure entertainment for the masses, so as a result the first empire''s live streamerpetition was created.


    In thepetition, there were many dangerous events, there existed enormous risks, it was even possible that you could lose your life. So thepetitors were required to sign a release of liability waiver, that if in thepetition any idents urred, they couldn''t put the responsibility on the organizers.


    Thepetition''s content also had a condition that made many live streamers hesitate, that was that the entirepetition would be live streamed to the Star Network from beginning to end, and the live streamers were not allowed to use any kind of high tech products to protect their safety. At every stage of thepetition, whether inside or outside the scene, they would be monitored by the judges and referee, flying cameras would also constantly be following them around, every second would be live streamed on the Star Network.


    Just as Milton had said, whether or not the other live streamers had relied on high tech products for assistance, they were all very clear themselves. In order to not expose their own real abilities and end up with the same result as Milton, many people were unwilling to participate in thispetition.


    But after the organizers announced arge amount of money as the prize, many people were moved. If they could get this money, they wouldn''t need to worry about money for the rest of their lives, and they could live avish and pleasure-filled life. People are all full of wishful thinking, even though some people knew that their own abilities were not that great, but they still would think, what if they were lucky and were able to get first? Then in the future it didn''t even matter whether or not they still live streamed, in any case they didn''t need to worry about money anymore.


    Milton had inherited arge amount of money, he didn''tck any money, he was different from the other live streamers, he could afford to buy lots of high tech products, those products were all not cheap. So there were some live streamers who used fewer high tech products, not because they didn''t want to use them, but because they couldn''t afford them.


    So the Milton who didn''tck money, in order to reim and prove himself, resolutely signed up, and even went on Star Network to dere war on Kedi. Theizens ridiculed him that he overestimated his own abilities, supporting Kedi to wipe him out. So Kedi also took up the challenge and participated in thepetition.


    Completely losing the assistance of high tech products, the live streamers'' real abilities were instantly exposed, theparison was extremely obvious. Everyone actually all used the assistance of high tech products, this made theizens feel like they had been deceived, attracting arge amount of dissatisfaction.


    In order to redirect the attention from theizens, Kedi purposefully instigated the contradictions between himself and Milton, making thepetition of many people be the main struggle of their two people. The otherpetitors were all very appreciative of Kedi''s actions, and increasingly crowded out Milton, being more inclined towards Kedi.


    Milton actually still had some skill, in the entirepetition, he could be ced in the upper middle. But inparison to Kedi, he was still not able to be an opponent. Adding on the fact that his personality wasn''t great, in thepetition he suffered from unfair treatment from the judges, and no one helped him speak out, and even theizens felt that he deserved it.


    When thepetition was almost reaching the end, Milton had identally suffered a severe injury from an event, and could only withdraw from thepetition. He was sent to the hospital for critical care, and his life was saved, but he could only be paralyzed on the bed, relying on medical instruments to preserve his life.


    The reason for Milton''s ident was because Kedi had tampered with his parachute bag, his methods were quite brilliant, actually being able to dodge all of the cameras without leaving a bit of evidence.


    Kedi had received the first ce in thepetition, and was awarded arge amount of prize money. He even came to the hospital to visit Milton, showing off his sess to him.


    At that time Milton had been lying on the hospital bed, unable to move even a little bit, he wasn''t even able to say a word, only his eyes were able to move around. Kedi live streamed the process of his visit to Milton, expressing his regret to the camera.


    His fans cried that Kedi was really too kindhearted, that Milton had entirely deserved it. Even though Milton had already turned into this state, theizens still didn''t feel a little bit of sympathy for him, Kedi''s guidance was extremely sessful.


    Had Milton done some kind of <strong>outrageous atrocities</strong>? No. Did he and Kedi have some sort of huge enmity or major hatred? Also no.


    The entire reason, was only for his own selfish desires, Milton was only the most sessful stepping stone that Kedi had obtained, the standard cannon fodder.


    Milton''s life was only maintained for a few more years, after a few years, he passed away with his bitterness on his hospital bed.


    And the Kedi who had received arge amount of prize money, continued to be a live streamer, he had enough money and bought all kinds of advanced high tech products toplete his live streams and earn even more money. His methods were very clever, no one was able to expose him like he had exposed Milton. He became a legend in the live streaming world.


    The time at which Jing Yang transmigrated into this body, was just a few days before the start of thepetition. Milton had already started making preparations a month earlier, undergoing high intensity training.


    No wonder once he woke up, he felt that his entire body was sore and painful. He walked to the bathroom mirror and couldn''t resist wanting to whistle. He was a handsome guy with a pretty good figure ah, he even had gold hair and blue eyes. It was just that he was still a bit chuunibyou, he hadn''t done any atrocious matters, and actually ended up with that kind of miserable end.


    The bathroom was veryrge, Jing Yang pressed the remote control, and the outside wall instantly became transparent. The outside was a seascape as far as the eye could see, this was a seaside vi.


    Soaking in a massage bathtub that he could swim in, Jing Yang rxed his body and considered his future ns. First he obviously had toplete Milton''sst wishes and get the first ce in thepetition and prove that he didn''t need to rely on any high tech products.


    And then he needed revenge, the scope of this was a little wide, besides detesting Kedi, he also hated those live streamers who had also relied on high tech products yet deliberately crowded him out, and also thoseizens who had blindly followed the crowd to cken him.


    Jing Yang thought, he couldn''t just destroy the world in order to help him take revenge ba?


    The revenge n couldn''tpletely be implemented based on his thoughts, but as long as the result was what he wanted, wouldn''t that be fine?<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>celestial bodies</strong> ¨C ÐÇÇò, this means likes, but I''m guessing in this time stars can also be inhabited?


    [2] <strong>DIY live streamer</strong> ¨C ×öÖ±²¥Õß, literally means "do-something" live broadcaster, I''m thinking Do It Yourself as in yourself without a high tech


    [3] <strong>all-epassing</strong> ¨C Ó¦Óо¡ÓÐ, idiom, means that everything that should be here is here


    [4] <strong>Milton Miller</strong> ¨C Ã×ÀÕÃÖ¶û, to be exact Milton Miller is ÃÖ¶û¶Ù¡¤Ã×ÀÕ but he''s only missing one character so I''m just going to put this for convenience (also MTL just puts Milton most of the time)


    [5] <strong>spare no effort</strong> ¨C ²»ÒÅÓàÁ¦, idiom, means to do one''s utmost


    [6] <strong>chuunibyou</strong> ¨C Öжþ²¡, basically a "sickness" in teenagers characterized by more rebellious and edgy behavior


    [7] <strong>opinionated</strong> ¨C ×ÔÒÔΪÊÇ, idiom, means to believe himself infallible, probably arrogant


    [8] <strong>Kedi</strong> ¨C ¿­µÏ, pinyin is kai di, MTL makes this Kedi so I thought I would go with it


    [9] <strong>simple response</strong> ¨C ÈýÑÔÁ½Óï, idiom, means in a few words or expressed sinctly


    [10] <strong>outrageous atrocities</strong> ¨C ÉËÌ캦Àí, idiom, literally means to offend Heaven and reason<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Took around 2 hours: 5 pm ¨C 5:30 pm, 7:00 pm ¨C 8:30, for 3.3k characters to 2.5k words. Honestly I¡¯m pretty used to the first few chapters of an arc taking longer than usual bc of the new content and the increased mdbg searching.


    Hello everyone, it¡¯s been quite a while. When this is going out, it¡¯ll probably be two weeks after the end of the 2nd arc, but right now it¡¯s my Thanksgiving break, and this has been my first time tranting since I finished tranting for the second arc. It¡¯s been over a month, almost two months since Ist tranted. Wow. I¡¯ve been doing a lot of reading raw LNs as per usual, and as I hit a low in that I¡¯vee back. Plus the second arc is almosting to an end so I kind of needed to get back on track. Looking forward to this arc!<hr>

 Chapter 29

    <strong>Chapter 29</strong><strong>


    Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.2)


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    3 dayster, Jing Yang set off for the Imperial Star, and arrived at the organizers''pany assembly area.


    The organizers are the Imperial Star Network''s headquarters, they host a variety ofpetitions every year, andizens need to pay a fee in order to watch. It''s also because the show is paid-to-watch that the organizers want to ensure the brilliance and attractiveness of thepetition, and would use <b>new and original</b> methods.


    Jing Yang had just walked in the entrance when a flying camera started following him around. This meant that his live stream had already started from this very moment.


    There were already more than tenpetitors sitting in the waiting room, they sat together in twos and threes chatting. Once they saw Jing Yang appear, some people''s faces showed disdain and ridicule. Some people faintly shot him a nce, and then shifted their eyes away, showing that they didn''t want to have any rtionship with him.


    Milton''s reputation right now was truly abysmal, of those other live streamers, there were some who truly didn''t like him, and others who were afraid that having contact with him would implicate them. In short, regardless of whether they had gotten there earlier orter than him, they all kept their distance from him, obviously creating a clear dividing boundary with him.


    For this behavior Jing Yang was quite indifferent, sitting by himself on a sofa a little distance away from them. He waited for the organizers toe over and give them an exnation of thepetition procedures.


    After all of thepetitors arrived, a few organizer staff walked in. Taking the lead was an extremely astute-looking man, from head to toe he emanated the "I am an elite" feeling.


    The elite man introduced himself: "Hello everyone, I am <strong>Angus</strong>, I am the head producer of this time''spetition, and also the person in charge for thispetition. Now my assistant <strong>Ruth</strong> will be introducing the rules for thepetition.¡±


    Ruth had long red hair, and she stepped forward and said: "Thepetition''s rules are quite simple, during thepetition, you are not allowed to use any high tech products, you will have to take care of your food and drink yourself, we will not provide any ingredients or materials. Thepetition content will be temporarily confidential, you will be informed of each event''s content before thepetition starts, and the same goes for thepetition times. During thepetition process, there will exist certain risks, you might suffer injuries, and might also lose your life, so right now before thepetition starts, you all will need to sign a contract for waiving responsibility for injury.¡±


    Another male assistant passed out the contract form to everypetitor, a few participants after seeing the content of the contract in front of them, felt that the risks were too big. Some weren''t able to ept it, and their hearts were shaken.


    Jing Yang casually flipped through the contract and immediately signed Milton''s name. A few were also like him, only casually looking through it and then signing.


    Seeing that some people were still hesitating, Ruth again repeated the first ce prize money amount twice, and then used an enticing tone to say: "You can flip to page 16 of the contract, for those people who can remain until the end, we will give them constion prize money, and the second and third ces will also have prizes. The prize is the newest model limited-edition Light Beam c10 luxury car.¡±


    Ruth satisfiedly looked at the excitement and longing in their eyes, and continued to say: "However I still must remind you, for those who withdraw midway, they will not receive any money or prize.¡±


    Everyone opened the contract to the 16th page, the constion prize money amount was quiterge, for some people even if they worked hard to live stream for 2-3 years, would also not necessarily be able to earn that much. If it was just to remain until the end, for them it shouldn''t be too difficult, plus they still had the opportunity to obtain the Light Beam c10 model luxury car, this was something that they wouldn''t be able to buy even if they furiously live-streamed for ten years, the limited edition model was even more something that even money wouldn''t necessarily be able to buy.


    Everyone finished signing the contract, and there were some people who for the sake of the prize money and prizes even gave birth to a heroic spirit of <strong>doing anything for riches</strong>.


    Ruth collected all the contracts, and showed them to the biggest camera.


    Angus stood up and made the final remarks: "The entirepetition process will be done in an impartial, fair, and public manner, we will not favor any person, and will also not deliberately make things difficult for anyone. Thepetition will implement a scoring system, onlineizen voting will ount for 50% of the score, off-site judge evaluations will ount for 25% of the score, and then personal evaluations will ount for 25% of the score. Everyizen, besides having a vote for support, will also have a vote for objection, for thosepetitors who have received a certain amount of objection votes, in the final calction of the scores, they will get a corresponding amount of points deducted. Finally, good luck to everyone.¡±


    They all boarded the ship arranged by the organizers. The next morning, they were sent to a that they had never seen before.


    There were more than 10 airships and 2rge spaceships in the air, and some equipment put up on the ground. The organizers had already finished all of the preparations.


    When the live streamers did their own live streams, they were all half videos and half images, it was very easy to fake. But thepetition used the most advanced flying cameras, they could shoot the entire scene from all sorts of angles, plus in the sky there were still so many airships carrying out surveince, wanting to cheat was basically impossible.


    Ruth wore sunsses, and her long red hair was blown by the wind, fluttering behind her body. She pped and said to thepetitors looking around: "Everyone, please look over here!¡±


    All eyes concentrated on Ruth''s body, and she used an excited tone to say: "Wee everyone to the Kuluo Star, this is an extremely magical, if you are really outstanding at outdoors live stream, this ce will be heaven for you. But if you''re not, then this ce will be hell.¡±


    "Voting on the Star Network has already begun,e, let us first see your voting numbers." Ruth pped her hands, and immediately a projection of the Star Network appeared in midair, 18 people''s headshots were shown in the image.


    Thepetition had not yet officially started, the fans had already started voting to support the live streamers that they liked. Every person more or less had some supporting votes, Kedi who had thergest number of fans received the most number of supporting votes. Only Milton under his headshot had all objecting votes, this also meant that he was starting from a negative score.


    This seemed to be within everyone''s expectations, some people''s ridiculing expression became even more obvious, their eyes looking at Jing Yang seemed to be saying, thoseizens dislike you so much, even if you really do have the ability, you will still not be able to gain any support, not to mention that everyone knows that you only know how to cheat.


    "All right." Ruth continued, "Now I am going to announce the task for the first segment. The first item for surviving in the wild is to construct a livable home. The judging will be from the aesthetics, practicality, stability, etc, every aspect will be scored. Plus just the home alone will undergo two rounds of scoring, I hope that you will all take it seriously. In addition, the home must be built by the end of today, or else you will lose eligibility to be scored¡­¡±


    Seeing somepetitors reveal an awkward expression, Ruth smiled. "No need to worry, we will not make you allplete thispetition task individually. Over the course of thepetition, you will be allowed to form a team yourself, but every team cannot have more than 3 people. You can choose to be by yourself, with two people, or three people to form a team, all of these are possible. For those who team up, if your house gets 8 points, then each person will be able to get 8 points, isn''t this a lot easier? But during the course of the game, we will prepare for you all some small ¡®surprises,¡¯ so you will have to prepare yourself well oh.¡±


    Once they heard Ruth say this, thepetitors became excited again, looking around at the other people and figuring out in their minds who they wanted to team up with so that the odds would be greater.


    "You will have 10 minutes to choose your teams, after 10 minutes, each person will receive a small knife, this is the only tool that you will receive." Ruth tapped a finger in the air, and a 10 minute timer appeared in midair.


    Everyone quickly discussed with each other, some people tried to persuade other people to join their own teams, and some people were trying to persuade other people to let them join their team. Only Jing Yang was standing alone at one side, waiting for time to pass.


    Ten minutes of time was quickly over, the other people had all formed their teams, only Jing Yang and another two were left over.


    Ruth asked, "Do you three want to form a team?¡±


    A brown-haired, slightly more petite young man looked at Jing Yang with hesitation, it seemed like he kind of wanted to form a team with Jing Yang, but also didn''t dare to speak out. The other more sturdily-built young man quickly said, "We''ll be fine as a two-person team.¡±


    The reason these two people were left over, for one of them it was because his number of fans was too small, his poprity wasn''t high, and he also didn''t have any very strong aspects. The other brte youth, even though he had many fans, but he was not a wild outdoors survival live streamer, but a gourmet reviewer live streamer, just looking at his stature you could tell that he wouldn''t be able to help very much.


    Even these two people who were avoided by everyone else also didn''t really want to form a team with Jing Yang, fearing that they would be attacked because they were in a team with him.


    "All right," Ruth looked at Jing Yang with regret, "It seems that you can only be in a one person team.¡±


    Jing Yang shrugged, showing an expression of indifference.


    Havingpanions to work together, and not needing to go through thepetition alone, thepetitors were much more relieved.


    The most popr three, Kedi, Rhett, and Goodyear, formed a team, their fans were very happy to see thisbination, they felt that they would be really strong working together. Thenter in thepetition, they would be able to see the process of them crushing the other contestants, that would definitely be brilliant, they were looking forward to it a lot.


    And for no one being willing to team up with Jing Yang, theizens were <strong>mocking and ridiculing</strong>, all sorts of sarcastic and scornful remarks weremented, even some very vulgar insults were mixed in. The expectation of theizens for him was to see the degree to which he would be humiliated, they had already prepared their attacks on him.


    Thepetitors all received their only tool, each person received a small knife.


    Ruth loudly announced, "Thepetition starts! Good luck to everyone!¡±


    Thepetitors all quickly ran up along the forest, wanting to quickly seize the best ces. Only Jing Yang very slowly walked at the back by himself, appreciating the scenery along the way. The blue ocean, the white sands, the lushly vegetated forest, this was really a scenic vacation spot.


    In order to make it more convenient to shoot, the organizers had demarcated a limited range of activities, thepetitors were not allowed to build their houses outside of this range.


    Some people chose to build their houses below the trees, and some chose a rtively shorter tree and prepared to build a treehouse. Jing Yang chose an especially thick, solid, and tall tree, using his short knife to make a mark on the tree trunk to express that he had decided on this tree and wanted to construct a treehouse on it.


    Immediately people around him let out mockingughs, other people all thought that he had some kind of brain problem. Theirmon thought was that if you chose this kind of tree, you wouldn''t be able to bring the stuff up there even until the end of thepetition. They all felt that thepetition had just started, and he had already exposed hiscking IQ.


    The brte young man <strong>Jake</strong> in the two person team looked over at Jing Yang with some concern, quietly discussing with his teammate <strong>Danny</strong>, "How about we still let him join our team, he seems pretty pitiful by himself.¡±


    "Don''t mind other people''s business so much, whether or not he''s pitiful has nothing to do with you. Don''t you see that everyone else is crowding him out, if we let him join us we will also be crowded out." Danny rolled his eyes. "He will have his current result, all because it was caused by himself, being found out faking he should have apologized properly, and then stopped being a live streamer. But he actually put out ruthless words to challenge Kedi, being scolded is what he deserves, I don''t want to be implicated by him.¡±


    Jake thought a bit, and then didn''t continue speaking, lowering his head to continue his own work.


    Jing Yang treated those malicious scornfulughs as if he hadn''t heard them, walking towards the deeper areas of the forest. The forest had manymonly seen fruits, the organizers weren''t going to provide them any breakfast, if he wanted to do a day of physicalbor, he needed to first fill his stomach. Jing Yang climbed up a tree to pick some fruits, walking and eating.


    The otherpetitors who had entered the forest to look for materials also picked some fruit to satiate their hunger.


    On Star Network there were already not a fewments, because thepetition had just started, there was nothing much to discuss about. Besides fans leaving behind messages of encouragement to their favorite live streamers,ments attacking Milton took up arge portion.


    Especially after Jing Yang chose that kind of tree,ments like idiot, stupid, brain problems, and so on, were already considered quite polite. More people expressed that just seeing him would make them annoyed, they all wanted to close his individual live screen, but had no way to turn it off, so they could only make an effort to ignore it.


    The live stream screen was like this, theizens on the Star Network live stream page, would see arge streaming image in the middle, and around the biggest image would be 15 smaller live stream images, and then an overall live image. If theizens wanted to look at someone''s live stream, they just needed to drag it to the middle to expand it, but the other streams could not be closed.


    Jing Yang was just picking a red blood-colored fruit when Jake and Danny happened to pass by. Jake stopped walking and said to him, "This kind of fruit is poisonous, you can''t eat it.¡±


    Jing Yang turned around and smiled at him, and then continued to pick the fruit.


    Danny saw that Jing Yang didn''t stop his movements and pushed Jake forward, impatiently saying, "I already told you to not bother with him, being poisoned to death is also what he deserves.¡±


    The Star Networkments:


    ¡ª¡ªOther people Jake kindly reminded him, he actually still didn''t listen. Danny didn''t say anything wrong, being poisoned to death is what he deserves.


    ¡ª¡ªThat''s right, red copper fruit is poisonous, he doesn''t even know this kind of basicmon sense, why is he still being some kind of wilderness survival live streamer?


    ¡ª¡ªKedi already said very early on, this person''s brain is not normal.


    ¡ª¡ªI think he''s just stupid, and also doesn''t listen to advice.


    ¡ª¡ªDo you guys think he will want to deliberately eat the red copper fruit, manufacture an ident, and then use that as an excuse to withdraw from thepetition.


    ¡ª¡ªThat is quite possible, that seems like something he would do.


    ¡ª¡ªDon''t look at him anymore, seeing him is annoying.


    ¡ª¡ªIf it weren''t for him showing up in Jake''s stream, who would want to see him.


    Jing Yang picked the red copper fruit, if you directly eat it it really was poisonous, but if you put it with meat and cook it thoroughly, it would be able to provide seasoning, like a pungent spice. It would make the meat be even more delicious, the smell would be even more attractive, but not many people knew this.


    The first day of thepetition, everyone was very enthusiastic, once the morning passed, most of the people had already finished shaping their house structure. Working under the sun, even though they had the shade as shelter, they were still sweating like rain, some people simply took off their shirts to work.


    The fans all shouted that this was too easy on the eyes, even though some people''s body structure was really ordinary, but the fans¡¯ tinted sses made them directly overlook all of these, being able to see their idols¡¯ bodies made them very satisfied.


    Everyone elerated the speed of their work, until Jing Yang came out of the forest, the people who paid attention to him all froze.


    Jing Yang had made a wooden towing trailer, on top he had stacked a lot of material. Dragging a trailer full of materials by himself, he didn''t seem to be expending a lot of effort, instantly making it seem like the other people who had just been transporting materials using their bodies seem quite silly.


    No one knew how he had made this trailer, just making those few wheels should have been quite strenuous, he actually did it by himself.


    When Jing Yang began to saw his wood, everyone stopped to look at him, they only had a short knife, even cutting a slightly thicker tree took a lot of effort, where did this guye up with a saw?


    Some people walked a bit closer to take a look, and found that this saw seemed like a kind of tree leaf, and then turned around to discuss with their teammates a bit. Then they also went into the forest to look for this kind of tree leaf. If they had this thing, not only would it be easier for them, but they would also be able to save a lot of time.


    Very quickly some people returned with some of the saw-toothed long tree leaves, they tried to saw the wood, but found that these leaves were too soft, and basically couldn''t make any strength. Only the leaf that Jing Yang was holding was like a saw, sharp and effective.


    The other people didn''t know how Jing Yang had done it, but also didn''t want to go over to ask, so they could only continue to use the short knife to cut. As time passed, they cut until their hearts were full of frustration, and then turned around to look at the Jing Yang who seemed to be quite rxed, their moods became even more impatient.


    Theizens were also quite curious about how he had done it and opened his live stream to rewind a bit. They saw that he had picked down the sawtoothed tree leaf, and then applied some kind of nt juice to it. And then he had left it to dry under the sun, and after the nt juice had be transparent, the tree leaf had turned as hard as a saw.


    This kind of nt juice actually had this kind of effect, theizens all seemed to have suddenly had an epiphany, and then continued to watch the live stream. Seeing that the other people all didn''t know how to make the leaf hard, the fans were all anxious to death, wanting to rush in there to tell them how to do it.


    Jing Yang finished preparing all his materials under the tree, then removed the wheels from the trailer. Then dragging along a long vine, he climbed up the tree with extremely agile movements.


    Someizens saw this scene through other people''s live streams and were all attracted by his nimble movements, unable to resist opening his live stream. They felt that while he was climbing the tree, that tree seemed to have grown some invisible stairs, so that he would be able to climb up there so rxedly and quickly.


    Jing Yang stopped on a rtively thicker branch, binding the vine and the wheels to the branch, and then quickly jumped down along with the vine. He then tied the long vine to both sides of the trailer, and then pulled the vine from below, hanging the things up.


    The Star Networkments:


    ¡ª¡ªF*k, isn''t that a trailer? How did it be a crane, it''s still able to transform?


    ¡ª¡ªThis theory is pretty simple, what are those people doing just looking at it nkly? Why aren''t they making a crane like him?


    ¡ª¡ªWhat is there to make a fuss about, isn''t it just a few wheels and a long vine? I estimate that he only has this kind of skills to attract attention.


    ¡ª¡ªThat''s right, to make this kind of thing, don''t know how long he''s practiced for it. Don''t know what there is to take out to show off.


    ¡ª¡ªNow he''s using up all of his little skills,ter on when he doesn''t have anything else he''ll just be more miserable.


    ¡ª¡ªThis is only the start, let''s just wait and see what happens, no one is even willing to form a team with him, how much ability and strength would he have just by himself.


    ¡ª¡ªHe definitely secretly practiced for a long time, look at him deliberately showing a rxed appearance, really funny.


    ¡ª¡ªOther people before live streaming, wouldn''t they also practice and train? Many things, no one will be born knowing how to do it, especially now depending on high tech products, even if it''s things that are easy to make originally, making it yourself also has a certain level of difficulty.


    Finally there were some more rational people who helped Jing Yang speak, but very quickly, they were submerged in a flood of maliciousments.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>new and original</strong> ¨C ±ð³öÐIJÃ, idiom, literally means to hit on something new, to adopt an original approach


    [2] <strong>Angus</strong> ¨C °²¸ñ˹, pinyin is An Ge Si, and MTL trantes this to Angus


    [3] <strong>Ruth</strong> ¨C ¶˿, pinyin Lu Si, I feel like MTL is pretty good at assigning English names to pinyin


    [4] <strong>limited-edition Light Beam</strong> ¨C ¿îÏÞÁ¿¹â, I honestly don''t know if this is right, I''m basically writing Light Beam as the brand, and c10 as the actual model number


    [5] <strong>doing anything for riches</strong> ¨C ÈËΪ²ÆËÀ,ÄñΪʳÍö, idiom, literally means human beings will die for riches just as birds will for food


    [6] <strong>Rhett, Goodyear</strong> ¨C ÈðÌØ, ¹ÌÌس, pinyin are Rui Te and Gu Te Lu, I''m just going with the MTL for this one


    [7] <strong>mocking and ridiculing</strong> ¨C Àä³°ÈÈ·í, idiom, literally means frigid irony and scorching satire


    [8] <strong>Jake</strong> ¨C ½Ü¿¨, pinyin is Jie Ka, usually Jake is a slightly different pinyin but let''s go with it


    [9] <strong>Danny</strong> ¨C ¶ÅÄá, pinyin is Du Ni¡­I¡¯m just guesstimating to Danny<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Two hours: 10:30 am ¨C 12:30 pm, for 5.6k characters to 4k words. Honestly, took less time than I had expected.


    I¡¯m attempting to trante one chapter of each project a day during this Thanksgiving break. Hopefully that allows me to catch up at least a bit.<hr>

 Chapter 30

    <strong>Chapter 30</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.3)</strong>


    Jing Yang busied himself in the tree for a long time, after he set up the structure of the house, he let down a ropedder. After he got off the tree, he ced the wheels back on the trailer, dragging the trailer back into the forest.


    The other people saw that Jing Yang had left, and only then returned back to their senses, they had looked over at Jing Yang''s side too many times, making them waste too much time. The progress made by three people was actually even slower than the speed of one person. They quickly started to speed up, but they had already beenboring for almost a day, their bodies were extremely exhausted, even if they worked hard and wanted to go faster, they were still much slower than they had been in the morning.


    Not muchter, Jing Yang dragged the trailer back, he spread out the hay in the cabin, and thenid out some wide tree leaves that had a texture like silk. This way when he went to sleep at night it would be morefortable. Then he fastened some of the bark from the <strong>iron tree</strong> onto the roof, then he wouldn''t need to be concerned about the "surprises" from the organizers, he would be able to sleep in peace.


    Jing Yang took out the <strong>golden pheasant</strong> that he had just caught and cleaned it up in the ocean, after coating it with spices, he wrapped it up with some leaves and buried it in the dirt. Then he made a small bonfire and cut up some fruits to make a sd. Today he had used up too much physical strength, he was a little tired, so he would just eat a little more simply and then rest earlier after eating.


    Other people saw that Jing Yang was already starting to prepare his dinner, and they became even more hurried.


    The next team to finish their house after Jing Yang was Kedi''s team, the fans gave them the name Strong Combo team. For Jing Yang they gave the name Lonely Shadow team, and some people also called him the Brain Problem team.


    Before the sky turned dark, basically everyone had already finished, for those who really weren''t able to finish, they just covered the top with some bark and did some improvisation, and counted that as done, when really it was just a <strong>makeshift building</strong>.


    Everyone entered the forest to find some dinner materials, after the sky turned dark it would not be good to go into the forest again. Kedi''s team caught a white-feathered chicken, the other teams could only catch the hemp-feathered chicken, which didn''t really run and also didn''t taste as good. And then they all picked some fruit.


    A group of people tried for half a day and were still unable toe up with a fire, but they also weren''t willing to go ask Jing Yang to borrow his, so they could only worry helplessly.


    Kedi''s group finally lit their fire, the other people all went over to borrow the fire, because now it''s apetition, Kedi''s team actually didn''t really want to lend it to them in their hearts. But they were being watched by so manyizens, not letting them borrow the fire would suggest that they''re too petty, so they pretended that they were being generous and let every person borrow some fire. After those people borrowing the fire thanked them, they all disdainfully looked at Jing Yang, as if this meant that Jing Yang not taking the initiative to lend them some fire was being vile.


    Everyone roasted their chickens and ate fruits. After Jing Yang finished eating his fruit sd he rested for a while, and then dug out the pheasant from underneath the fire. Knocking off the dirt from the outside, he carefully opened the leaves, and the fragrant smell instantly sprung out into the air.


    Jing Yang used a knife to cut the entire chicken into two halves, he ced one half on a different leaf, and for the other half he wrapped it back up in the original leaf and put it to one side. He cut the half of the chicken still left out into small chunks, and then started using his hands to eat them.


    In the afternoon, everyone had seen Jing Yang bring back a golden pheasant. Wild golden pheasants could only be eaten in the fanciest restaurants, and the price was also very expensive. Most of the people here had never eaten it before, but just from smelling the fragrance, they all almost started drooling directly.


    The fragrance that wafted over from Jing Yang''s side was too fragrant, too alluring, the crowd of people who hadbored for an entire day were hungry to the point of their stomachs growling. Waiting for when their own roasting chicken was finally good to eat, they couldn''t wait to bite in, but when it entered their mouth it tasted like a sponge, very hard to swallow.


    "You''re not eating meat?" Danny asked Jake, who was currently biting into some fruit.


    "No need, it''s too hard to eat." Jake shook his head to reject it, his eyes constantly staring at Jing Yang''s side. They were located rtively close to Jing Yang, just with his naked eye, he would be able to see the meat in Jing Yang''s hands, the quality was definitely great. Plus the fragrance wafting over, he didn''t even need to taste it to know that the vor would definitely be amazing.


    "We still don''t know how long the first round of thepetition is going to continue, if you don''t eat some meat it''ll be very hard for you to keep going." Danny said.


    Jake still shook his head, the delicacies were right in front of his eyes but he was unable to eat it, for him this was a huge torment. Then if he still was going to eat some bad tasting food, he would rather just starve.


    Jing Yang extinguished his bonfire and then tidied up his area, quickly climbing up hisdder to his treehouse to rest. He propped open his window, letting in the cool, refreshing sea breeze, and theny back on the soft hay. The leaves under his body were like satin sheets, veryfortable.


    Everyone had been working hard for a day, after they finished eating, they all entered their homes to rest early. They would raise their spirits, and only then would they have the energy to continue thepetition.


    Just when everyone was hazily falling asleep, suddenlyrge gusts of wind came blowing through, raindrops the size of beans quickly fell down. Everyone was shocked awake, finding it strange that it had suddenly started raining. Some people opened the door to their cabins to peek out, looking up into the sky. Originally the winds and rain were being manufactured from the airships, this was what Ruth meant by "surprise.¡±


    The organizers wanted to test out just how strong their cabins were. This would also be within their scoring range.


    Jing Yang sat up and closed his windows, and thenid back down again. Even though the sky had already turned dark, every person''s flying camera had their own lighting, otherwise they would not be able to film. So the cabin inside was still quite bright, not dark at all. Jing Yang reached out to grab a fruit, and then put up his feet to leisurely gnaw on it.


    The wind grew bigger, the leaves started rustling from all the wind, and the weaker, thinner trees showed some signs of bending. In such arge wind, those "makeshift" cabins naturally wouldn''t be able to withstand, two teams'' roofs were directly blown away.


    "Ah! Roof, our roof!" Apetitor loudly shouted while wanting to give chase.


    "Don''t chase it, you definitely won''t be able to catch up, just leave it!" His teammate quickly tugged him back. Because he was trying to speak loudly in such wind and rain, not a small amount of water rushed into his mouth.


    "Then what do we do?¡±


    "We can only hide a bit under the tree, there''s no other way, we just need to endure tonight and then it''s over, tomorrow we will have to rebuild our house.¡±


    Danny and Jake''s house was one of those whose roofs was blown off, not only was their roof blown off, but even their wall supports had fallen, the two people were only covering themselves with somerge leaves, hiding under the tree to escape the rain.


    But the leaves and the big trees weren''t able to shelter them very much, the rain fell even more fiercely, when the drops fell on people''s bodies there even was some soreness.


    Those whose roofs had not been blown away also weren''t better than them by that much, outside their cabin there were huge rains, inside the cabin there was drizzle, all of them had gotten soaked. It was just that inside the cabin the wind would be slightly smaller, and they wouldn''t be as ufortable. Those who had built their homes in the trees also weren''t that much better off, they were being shaken like crazy, besides being worried that the house would be shaken off, they even had some sense of seasickness.


    No matter whether they were inside or outside, they all seemed to be quite miserable.


    For the fans, besides feeling bad for their favorite live streamer, when they saw other people having a hard time, they all found it quite interesting. Especially for those who had their roofs blown away, the surprised expression of thosepetitors, made them want tough. These fans were also quite busy, watching the live streampetition in the middle of the night, on one hand they felt sorry and on the other hand they felt a sense of <strong>schadenfreude</strong>, and they also felt that it was quite interesting, they also wanted to go experience it a bit.


    For those people who concentrated on ckening Milton, they suddenly thought of him, and wanted to see how miserable he would be now. They first wanted to see it and be happy, and then ridicule him a round. But when they erged his screen, they actually saw that he was very peacefully sleeping in his cabin, not only did his cabin not leak rain, but also did not even sway a bit.


    How could it be like this? Theizens all were shocked and incredulous, this totally seemed like there were two worlds, one of the worlds had howling wind and torrential rain, and another world was peaceful and calm. Theseizens all somewhat understood why he would choose a thick and tall big tree. Even though it''s said <strong>a tall tree attracts the wind</strong>, but because this tree was thick enough, and its roots were embedded enough, that big winds were still unable to shake it.


    Jing Yang peacefully slept an entire night, everything that had happened that night seemed to have no rtionship with him, in any case he had rested quite well.


    The next morning, the wind and rain had already stopped. Jing Yang opened the door and looked downwards, it actually wasn''t too messed up down there, everything that could be blown around had long ago been blown away to who knows where. Two of the cabins had their supports blown apart, it looked quite pathetic. The most miserable were Jake and Danny, their cabin''s frame wasn''t even left behind, it had already disappeared.


    Jing Yang let down hisdder and after he got off he went back into the forest. After a night of rain, the fruits had all been scrubbed into a clean luster. He picked some mung bean grains, and then collected two coconuts, one big and one small, and prepared to use the other half of the chicken fromst night to make some porridge. Then he would eat some fruit, and his breakfast would be settled.


    Coconuts were very good things, the big one would be used as a pot, and the smaller could be used as a bowl, the milk inside could also be used to boil the porridge. The chicken was cooked, the mung bean were also very easy to cook, not long afterwards the chicken porridge was done.


    The other people were both hungry and tired, the fragrance of the chicken porridge wafted over, and their stomachs instantly started growling. They also learned to cook some porridge like Jing Yang, but their porridge had no taste, it wasn''t even as good as eating some fruit.


    "Achoo!" Jake rubbed his nose, after being drenched in the rain for a night, he seemed to have a bit of a stuffy nose. But he was still able to clearly smell the fragrance of the chicken porridge.


    Jing Yang was drinking his porridge when Ruth brought three judges over. "Everyone, good morning! You all had a good rest right!¡±


    No one responded to her, because they obviously couldn''t say that they had rested well, but also couldn''t say out that they didn''t have a good rest. The only person who had rested quite wellst night, Jing Yang, was concentrating on drinking his porridge.


    Ruth didn''t seem to mind that no one responded to her, and continued to smile: "I will first make some introductions, these three are the on-site judges for thepetition, the scores that you all will be getting, will be given by them. Now, they will go examine your homes, and then give you all the first round of scores. For those teams whose homes are no more, very sorry, you will not be able to get a score. But no need to worry, the off-site judges will still give you a score based on your performance when building your homes.¡±


    When the judges had gone off to examine the homes, Ruth couldn''t wait to walk to Jing Yang''s side and crouch down: "Can I eat some? It''s really too fragrant!¡±


    Jing Yang looked at her and paused for bit, rejecting ady''s request seemed to not be good. Thinking that she was only a host and not a judge, he shouldn''t be suspected of bribing a judge, so he poured some porridge into the other half of the coconut and gave it to her.


    "Thanks! Too grateful." Ruth happily thanked him.


    "Doesn''t your airship provide you breakfast?" Jing Yang asked.


    "Of course they provide it, I already ate beforeing here. But your porridge was too fragrant." Ruth drank a mouthful and immediately praised: "Too good! Too delicious! This is definitely the best porridge I''ve ever had.¡±


    Jake looked at the porridge in Ruth''s hands, drooling in envy, he wasn''t even able to keep on eating the fruit in his hands. Forcefully sucking in a breath, the fragrance was deeply inhaled into his nose. He made a decision, walking in Jing Yang''s direction.


    Danny discovered his intention and immediately pulled him. "What are you doing?¡±


    "I''m hungry, I want to go over." Jake said.


    "Are you sick? Making contact with him, you''ll definitely be attacked by theizens, we just need tost until the end, scoring to us makes no difference, in any case we won''t be able to get a ce." Danny thought that Jake was truly too disappointing, it had only been a day and a night, and he had already been unable to endure the lure of food. If it weren''t for not wanting to be by himself in a team, he wouldn''t be trying to advise him.


    "No matter, if they want to scold then they can scold." He knew thating to participate in thispetition, he would definitely not be able to get a ce, but he was reallycking money, so he really wanted tost until the end of thepetition and get the constion prize money, and he would be satisfied. But for someone who was strongly attached to gourmet food, deliciousness being in front of their eyes but not being able to eat it, was a kind of extreme torment. He would rather withdraw from thepetition than have to keep suffering.


    "You need to think clearly, if you''re scolded because you ate his things, then even if you regret it in the future, I will still not be in a team with you." Danny seriously warned him.


    Jake looked at him, and pushed off his hand, firmly walking to Jing Yang.


    "I¡­, can I have a bit?" Jake <strong>very carefully</strong> looked at Jing Yang, scratching his hair with some embarrassment.


    Jing Yang knew that he was a gourmet review live streamer, he had gone to many differents to taste all kinds of delicacies and then review them. He was someone who was extremely unable to withstand the enticement of delicious food. Himing over to find him was within his expectations, he just didn''t think that he woulde over so fast, it had only been one day and night. But Jing Yang didn''t really care.


    "You can have all that." Jing Yang pointed at the coconut shell that was being used as a pot.


    "Really? Thank you so much!" Jake happily crouched down, lifting up the coconut husk and started drinking, and then squinted his eyes with satisfaction. It was really too delicious, especially after being hungry for one day and night, this was really a delicacy hard to find in the entire universe. Jake had his own way of distinguishing between good and bad people, from the first time he saw this person named Milton, he felt that he was a good person, at least not as bad as thements on Star Network made him out to be.


    "Save some for me ah." Ruth reached out her hand.


    Jake instantly moved back, using pitiful eyes to look at her: "You have already eaten breakfast, I''ve already been hungry for a day and night.¡±


    "¡­All right then." Ruth gave up on robbing the food, it was hard for women to be vicious to that kind of small animal-like gaze. She curiously asked, "Do you want to be in a team with Milton? Then his score would also be able to be your score, after all that pitiful little house of yours has long been blown away to who knows where.¡±


    "Oh¡­" Jake looked at Jing Yang, even though his expression showed indifference, but he had not helped even a bit with his house, so he was too embarrassed to take advantage of him. So he shook his head, "No, maybe next time.¡±


    The judges finished examining the homes, so Ruth gathered up all of thepetitors to let the judges announce their scores.


    Of the three judges, the thinner and taller one came forward and said: "We have finished examining all of the houses, and then unified all of our opinions. Now I will announce your scores. Kedi, Rhett, and Goodyear''s team, your score is 9 points, in the condition of not using any high tech products, the home you built was close to perfect, and then after experiencingst night''s wind and rain, it was not too damaged. Both aesthetics and stability were quite good.¡±


    After the congrattory apuse, the tall thin man continued: "Afterwards, the one person team of Milton, we gave the score of 7 points, from aesthetics and stability, your cabin could be considered passable. But you chose a tree that was too big and tall, this would make going up and down inconvenient.¡±


    Ruth used a shocked gaze to look at the judges, she had not thought that the judges would give Milton such a low score. Last night she had seen the entire process from the Star Network, Jing Yang''s home from no matter what aspect was definitely the best, if the judges'' eyes weren''t blind, they should be able to see that. But the reason that they gave a lower score was also notpletely unreasonable, acting as a host, she couldn''t interfere with the judges'' appraisal.


    After some sparse apuse, the judges continued to announce the other people''s scores. In the remaining four teams, there were some with 8 points, 7 pants, and 5 points. Even that team who had only the wooden supports remaining were able to get 3 points. Jake and Danny''s cabin hadpletely disappeared, so they did not get a score.


    The otherpetitors were probably unclear on Jing Yang''s situationst night, but theizens were all very clear, Kedi''s cabinst night was constantly leaking rain, even now their cabin was soaked inside. But Jing Yang''s cabin didn''t even leak a drop of rain, inside the cabin it was dry and cozy, how would the judges not be able to tell?


    The judges used the excuse of Jing Yang picking a tree too tall and big to give him 7 points, but gave Kedi''s team 9 points. You need to know, Kedi''s home not only leaked rain, but also was constantly rocking from being blown by the wind. Under this situation, would it not be true that picking a thicker and taller tree would be better?


    It was very obvious, the judges giving out scores like this, was in order to curry favor with Kedi''s team''s fans, who let those three have the most number of fans. And the judges were also selfish, in those three judges, two of them were fans of Kedi. Since they couldply with theizens'' intentions, and also satisfy their own selfishness at the same time, Kedi''s team getting the highest points, and Jing Yang getting a rtively lower score, was an inevitable result.


    Were the fans unable to see that the scoring was unfair? They were naturally able to see it, but some fans had a sort of very mysterious ability, that was that they didn''t care about what the reality was, they could find thousands of excuses to justify their favorite people, in order to persuade themselves, and also attempt to persuade others. They were even able to fantasize thousands of nonexistent matters to belittle and attack those they didn''t like.


    So in thements left on Star Network, you could see that the majority of them were all from Kedi''s team''s fans congratting them on getting the highest score. asionally there would be a couplements helping Jing Yang speak, but they might be ganged up on and attacked by fans, or they would be very quickly submerged in a flood of otherments.


    But Jing Yang''s objection votes, showed signs of decreasing.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>iron tree</strong> ¨C ÌúƤÊ÷, idk if this actually exists¡­


    [2] <strong>golden pheasant</strong> ¨C ²Ê½õ¼¦, also not sure about this. ²Ê means rainbow of sorts, but ½õ¼¦ means golden pheasant


    [3] <strong>makeshift building</strong> ¨C ¶¹¸¯Ôü¹¤³Ì, literally means built on soybean dregs


    [4] <strong>schadenfreude</strong> ¨C ÐÒÔÖÀÖ»ö, idiom, literally means to take joy in cmity and delight in disaster


    [5] <strong>a tall tree attracts the wind</strong> ¨C Ê÷´óÕзç, idiom, probably meant in its literal sense here


    [6] <strong>very carefully</strong> ¨C СÐÄÒíÒí, idiom, literally means cautious and solemn<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    This took 2 hours: 4 pm ¨C 6 pm, for 5.2k characters to 3.8k words. Yes, I am finally past the two over 5k character chapters. But the chapters in this arc are all more than 4k characters¡­I don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with this arc. Actually I won¡¯t say that bc the next few arcs will all be like this, averaging around 4k something characters. Guess the author was just being nice in the beginning. This arc isn¡¯t that bad though bc there isn¡¯t too much terminology. I just get a bit confused sometimes btw things that are IRL and things that aren¡¯t, especially animal names¡­<hr>

 Chapter 31

    <strong>Chapter 31</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.4)</strong>


    Ruth announced the task for the second day of thepetition: "Today you all will need to be carrying out two missions, one of them is to repair your home, and the second one is make your own handicraft. In the ocean in front of you, there are many beautiful things, but you will need to pick them out using your own abilities. Please pay attention, this time each one of you will need to make your own craft, the object that you manufacture, you will be able to keep. Or you can also give them to us, we will randomly choose one of the fans supporting you and gift it to them. At this time tomorrow we will return, I will remind you, tonight there will be an even bigger ''surprise.''¡±


    After Ruth and the judges left, Jing Yang walked back into the forest, using some very tenacious and strong thin vines to make a.


    Jake followed at his side, he didn''t know what he should be doing, so he took the initiative to ask: "Is there something that I should be helping you out with?¡±


    "No need, this is very easy, I''ll be done soon." Jing Yang responded.


    Jake looked at his fingers flying around, very quickly weaving the, then he hesitated for a bit and said: "For the matter yesterday, very sorry.¡±


    "What matter?" Jing Yang looked at him doubtfully.


    "That''s¡­making you be in a team by yourself, since us three people were left over, we should have been in a team, but¡­" Jake really sincerely felt sorry for this.


    "You don''t need to feel sorry about this thing." Jing Yang responded without any care. "Everyone has their own freedom of choice, nothing is required to be done.¡±


    "Then can I be in a team with you now?¡± Jake asked quietly.


    "If you want to join, it''s not like you can''t." Jing Yang simply said.


    "Really? Thanks!" Jake said happily. "If there''s anything that I can help with, don''t hesitate to tell me.¡±


    "Take this." Jing Yang gave him one of thes.


    Jake took the and the two people walked towards the ocean, Jing Yang picked a shallow area that was especially filled with rocks. Most of the people all chose to go to the deeper ocean, they all felt that the deeper the ocean, the more good things would be there.


    If today''spetition mission had been topare who would be able to catch the most valuable fish, Jing Yang would also have picked to go to the deeper sea areas. But for making handicrafts, it''s still better to pick shallower areas, because there are much more beautiful conches, mshells, and so on, and in some of the ms there may even be pearls.


    Danny also followed behind them from far away to the shallower sea areas, because his ability wasn''t great, but in order to express that he was not in a group with Jing Yang, he always kept his distance from them.


    "You can look around, under some of these stones, there will be beautiful <strong>sea crystals</strong>, we don''t want big ones, the smaller the better." Jing Yang advised.


    "Why don''t we want bigger ones?" Jake asked, he also knew about sea crystals, it''s a type of rtively cheaper gemstones. But most of the ones on the market are artificial, so that''s why it''s rtively cheaper.


    "The quality of the big ones is bad, for natural sea crystals, the smaller it is the better the quality, because the impurities are all washed out by the ocean water and the sand." Jing Yang exined.


    "So it''s like that, you know so much." Jake suddenly understood and nodded, crouching down and starting to flip the stones and look around.


    Jing Yang took a wooden stick and hiss, walking towards the bigger rocks.


    ~


    "Brother, you''ve returned." <strong>Nia</strong> personally went to the wine cer to choose a bottle, she was just preparing to bring it back to the lounge to drink while watching the live stream when she saw her elusive elder brother.


    "Well." <strong>Bowie</strong> nced at the wine in her hand and asked, "You didn''t go to school?¡±


    "During this period of time there''s the live streamingpetition, so I took some time off. Anyways I will be graduating soon, whether I go or not doesn''t make a big difference." Nia smiled, making an expression of <strong>inevitability</strong>.


    "Don''t drink too much, don''t forget you''re still a student.¡±


    "I''m just at home anyways, not outside, brother do you want toe drink a cup with me and then watch the live stream together?" Nia shook the bottle of wine and invited him. "We haven''t drunk wine together for a long time, you should also asionally rx a bit ah, this time''s live streampetition is very interesting oh. Many of my ssmates also excused themselves from school to go home and watch this, this is the privilege of being in the graduating ss, we''ve all gotten enough credits anyways.¡±


    "I''ll go change, you can first go back." Bowie had also heard his subordinates mention this time''s live streampetition, even though the reports had been sent to his office, he hadn''t looked at them.


    "Brother, take this." Nia saw her elder brothering in, immediately pouring him a ss of wine and passing it over.


    Bowie took the offered ss and then reclined on the sofa.


    "This time''spetition is really too interesting,st night there were some people''s roofs that were directly blown away, even a house that had been built for an entire day had been blown apart. That image was really too hrious, Angus is really a genius, I think that you should give him a raise." Nia excitedly said, yesterday''s scenes had made herugh for a very long time.


    Bowie drank a mouthful of wine, watching the projected scene. In the image was a gold-haired young man swimming in the shallow ocean, because of the ripples caused by the light on the water, his appearance was not too clear.


    "I feel like this person named Milton is very interesting, earlier he was scolded very miserably on Star Network, my ssmates and I all thought that when he entered thispetition he would definitely be scolded even more miserably. But I can tell that he is actually a pretty good person." Nia suddenly became somewhat indignant: "Did you know? Last night only his cabin didn''t leak rain, and also didn''t keep swaying from the wind, but the judges only gave him 7 points. Kedi''s team actually got 9 points, that cabin of his shook until my eyes were dizzy okay? Don''t know where they found those judges, not fair at all, you should cut Angus''s wages.¡±


    Bowie turned around to nce at her, she just said to let him give Angus a raise, and then said to give him a pay cut, his sister''s mood swings were really big.


    "What''s that?" Nia suddenly excitedly sat up. "Is that a natural <strong>golden ck pearl</strong>?"


    Jing Yang lifted the fortune value in the system, he found a ck m that was hard like a stone, when he opened it to take a look, inside was a golden ck pearl the size of a marble. Even though it couldn''t be considered too big, but it was very rare and valuable.


    Jing Yang emerged from the water, flinging off some of the water from his hair. That scene let not a few people stare nkly.


    Under the sunlight, the gold-haired blue-eyed handsome youth seemed more dazzling than the sun. The pure and clean blue eyes, as well as the still slightly childish eye sockets, just looking at those eyes, you would find it hard to believe that he was a bad person. His upper body emerged from the water, his well shaped and firm muscles brought out his excellent figure.


    "So handsome!" Nia clenched her fists and eximed, when she saw Jing Yang lift up the object in his hands to look at it under the sunlight, it was really a golden ck pearl. Then she called out in amazement: "My god, it''s really a natural golden ck pearl, ah~, I really want it, I also only have three of them, and they''re still not as big as his.¡±


    Bowie suddenly stood up, Nia doubtfully raised her head to look at him: "What''s the matter? You''re not watching anymore?¡±


    "I still have some matters to take care of, you can keep watching." Bowie quickly walked out the lounge.


    "Oh." Nia also didn''t pay attention to him, her brother''s state of busying himself with his matters until he wasn''t able to stop, she had long gotten used to it.


    Bowie returned to his own room,nded on Star Network, clicked open Jing Yang''s live stream image, and unceasingly erged the projection image.


    ~


    Jing Yang lifted a full of mussels and all kinds of pretty shells back, he saw that Jake was dispiritedly sitting on a rock scratching his head.


    Throwing the onto the ground, Jing Yang used a knife to knock open the two brown globes in his hands and carefully removed the inedible parts. Then he handed one to Jake, "You going to eat?¡±


    "What''s this?" Jake took it and asked curiously.


    "<strong>Sea jelly</strong>." Jing Yang responded.


    "Originally sea jelly looks like this ah." Jake said with surprise. "I''ve only eaten sea jelly in the form of desserts twice, they were ted in beautiful small crystal bowls, each serving was tiny, but so expensive.¡±


    Jing Yang ate the sea jelly in his hands and crouched down to start to look through the sea crystals.


    Jake carefully finished tasting the sea jelly, and then continued to search through the stones: "I''ve looked for so long, but still couldn''t find any, I really am too useless.¡±


    "I''lle search." Jing Yang pointed at those big stones. "Under those big stones are many lobsters, my wasn¡¯t able to fit them so I didn''t go catch them. You can go over to catch a few for our dinner.¡±


    "This I know how to do." Jake stood up and immediately picked up his to run over to those big stones.


    Jing Yang continued to enable his system, casually looking around, very quickly he found more than ten very beautiful sea crystals. Theizens were all shocked by his luck. If they hadn''t been watching Jake look for half a day and not be able to find any, they would really have thought that in that area of stones, underneath was all covered with natural sea crystals.


    Jake lifted a few big lobsters toe back, Jing Yang thought he was basically done, handling these things all needed time, he couldn''t use all the time on searching for things.


    "Ah!!!¡±


    Jing Yang and Jake, who were just preparing to walk back, heard some loud yelling and immediately turned around to look over.


    Danny was covering his face and crouching in the water, they also didn''t know what happened to him.


    Jake immediately quickly walked over to ask, "Danny, what happened to you?¡±


    Jing Yang also followed him over.


    "Really, really hurts, wu wu¡­" Danny covered his face, his words were unclear.


    "What really hurts?" Jake had only heard the two words really hurts clearly, he didn''t know what he said was hurting.


    "Take your hands down to let us see, could constantly covering it up relieve the pain?" Jing Yang said.


    Danny put down his hands, lifting his head: "Mo, mouth, really hurts.¡±


    Jing Yang froze, Jake was shocked, Danny''s lips were swollen like two hot dogs, and his face was still covered with mucus and saliva, even the people watching on Star Network through the screen all froze.


    "What did you eat?" Jing Yang asked.


    "Sea, sea¡­" Danny was already hurting to the point of not being able to speak, he picked up the shell of the sea jelly from the water and showed them. Just now he had seen Jing Yang and Jake eating this, he also just happened to pick up one, he was curious about what it tasted like, so he opened it and ate it.


    Jing Yang picked up the shell of the sea jelly and pointed it at the flying camera in the air, saying seriously: "It''s best not to randomly eat sea jelly that has not been properly dealt with, the yellow parts inside are poisonous, they definitely need to be removed before eating. As long as the yellow parts has infiltrated into the white parts even a little bit, you can''t eat it, otherwise you will be like him." The camera immediately turned to point at Danny''s mouth.


    Quite a fewizens all startedughing, Jing Yang''s serious exnation, Jake''s shocked face, and then the two hot dogs on Danny''s face, this scene was really tooical.


    "Hahahaha¡­" Niaughed while hammering the sofa, without a bit of the appearance of a virtuousdy. If her etiquette teacher had seen her, they would definitely have been tempted to take some noodles and hang themselves.


    The Bowie who always showed a cold expression also couldn''t resist revealing a smile, he didn''t feel like Danny''s hot dog mouth was amusing, but rather felt that Jing Yang''s <strong>deadpan</strong> appearance was too cute.


    Jing Yang gave the lobsters and m meat to Jake to deal with, he again entered the forest. Tonight the organizers would be giving them a "big trick," he needed to reinforce his roof in order to sleep well tonight.


    Besides getting some tree bark that seemed like rubber, he also picked some kinds of herbal medicine to go back, and then ced them into the coconut shell to hammer them into pieces. Then he brought them to Danny: "Spread it on, tomorrow your swelling will be reduced, otherwise if you wait until tomorrow, your mouth will be rotten.¡±


    Danny took it with hesitation, he used his eyes to ask him, would this really be useful?


    Jing Yang also didn''t really say anything, he turned around to go busy himself, whether or not he used it was his own matter.


    Danny used his finger to take some and smear it on his mouth, the refreshing feeling seemed to have lessened his pain, he immediately smeared the rest of the juice on his mouth. The green hot dog mouth seemed even more hrious.


    After he finished preparing the materials needed for his crafts, Jing Yang said to Jake, "Pick what you want to use.¡±


    "Thanks." Jake looked at the shells that had been polished into different shapes, as well as the conches that had already been cleaned, he felt that they were all very pretty. He had originally just nned on making a small bracelet, just stringing together a bunch of these would already be very pretty.


    "You don''t want the pearls or sea crystals? I''ve already chosen the ones I need, these are all extras." Jing Yang saw that he only picked some shells and conches, and then pushed the pearls and sea shells toward him a bit.


    Jake felt bad about taking his sea crystals, because he had not even found a single one. He saw that the number of small white pearls left was still quiterge, so he took a few.


    Jing Yang started preparing dinner, Jake crouched at one side hugging his legs. For evaluating and reviewing food he is quite proficient, but not very good at making it himself. His home has many cooking high tech products, normally he only needed to put in the ingredients and select the recipe, and then he would be able to eat delicious food. But now there was not even a single high tech product, even the most basic portioning and fire management would all be done by himself, he really didn''t know how to start.


    Jake didn''t know what Jing Yang was putting into the soup, the fragrance wafted out, he was unable to control his saliva from continually overflowing.


    The other people who had been busying themselves in the ocean for a day had just returned when they smelled the fragrance from the food, but they could only see it and couldn''t eat. Each one forcefully raised their spirits to run into the forest, they wanted to fill up their stomachs beforeing back, otherwise that fragrance was really too tormenting.


    "Delicious! Too delicious!" Jake bit the lobster meat, his upational disease took over, he faced the camera and ate while introducing: "This lobster meat is very tender, it was roasted to perfection, not even a bit tough, the blending and proportions of ingredients are also particrly delicious¡­¡±


    Jake had arge number of fans. This was because of his devotion to food, he would never falsely rmend some bad-tasting food for money. Plus he was very good at describing the vor of the food, if it was delicious it was delicious, if it didn''t taste good then it didn''t taste good. Through his rmendations, his fans were able to urately determine where they could go to eat delicious food and avoid some bad-tasting food. He had never made a misjudgment.


    So he especially needed money, because his expenses were very high, the delicious things were always especially expensive. Jake felt that being in a team with Jing Yang, was really the best decision that he had made in his life. In order to still be able to eat such delicious food after the end of thepetition, he would definitely need to cultivate a good rtionship with him, and <strong>follow all of his advice</strong>.


    To be honest Jing Yang really didn''t think of using food to conquer anyone, but as long as the situation permitted, he wouldn''t want to treat his own mouth and stomach badly. And along the way, you could torture those people who weren''t able to make delicious food once they left their high tech devices.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>sea crystal</strong> ¨C º£¾§Ê¯, literally means sea crystal stone, it should be some kind of crystal but idk if it exists irl


    [2] <strong>Nia</strong> ¨C ½Ü¿¨, more names, pinyin Ni Ya


    [3] <strong>Bowie</strong> ¨C ²©Íþ, pinyin Bo Wei, this is a very important name so I was debating about this, Bowie just doesn''t sound like a very cool name y¡¯know


    [4] <strong>inevitability</strong> ¨C ÀíËùµ±È», idiom, as if it should be by right


    [5] <strong>golden-ck pearl</strong> ¨C ½ð±ßºÚÕäÖé, would appreciate advice with this, ½ð±ß means Phnom Penh in Cambodia, but I haven''t found anything about Phnom Penh ck pearls, so I just took it literally as colors


    [6] <strong>sea jelly</strong> ¨C º£È鶳, literally means sea milk jelly? I also don''t know what this is


    [7] <strong>deadpan</strong> ¨C Ò»±¾Õý¾­, also means deadly earnest


    [8] <strong>follow all of his advice</strong> ¨C ÑÔÌý¼Æ´Ó, idiom, literally means to see, hear, and obey<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    1.5 hours: 3:30 pm ¨C 5 pm, for 4.4k characters to 3.1k words. Not bad actually, I think for the past arcs I also took about 1.5 hours. Also I recently spent about 1.5 hours tranting 3.4k characters for 100kV, so this speed is actually quite good. I think most of the words here are quite simple, so I was able to just directly trante from the raws instead of having to always keep putting phrases into MDBG. Though of course an abundant amount of MDBG was still used.<hr>

 Chapter 32

    <strong>Chapter 32</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.5)</strong>


    Jake felt his rounded stomach with satisfaction. Turning his head, he just happened to see Danny leaning against a tree to rest, his mouth was still swollen, his appearance seemed pretty pitiful.


    "Can I give the rest of the m meat soup to Danny?" Jake asked.


    Jing Yang nced over at that side and said, "Right now he can''t eat things from the ocean, otherwise it''ll get even more swollen. On the leaves next to the tree there''s still some mung bean grains, you can help him cook some.¡±


    Jake used a knife to knock open a coconut and ced it on top of the fire, and then put the mung bean grains and some vegetables in there. Very quickly, it was done.


    "Drink some." Jake brought the vegetable porridge to Danny.


    Danny wanted to thank him, but his mouth was too swollen so he had no way to make sounds properly. He could only nod at Jake and express his gratitude.


    When the sky turned dark, Jing Yang extinguished the fire, and said to Jake, "Going up?¡±


    Jake nodded, climbing up the ropedder and entering the cabin.


    Once he got in he was shocked: "This kind of cabin actually only got 7 points?¡±


    This cabin actually even had a window, it was spacious enough to amodate 3-4 people sleeping and there was still room left over. For the cabin that he and Danny had made, the two people could only sit up to sleep, they didn''t even have enough time to make it a little bigger. In here there was even a knee-high long table against the wall, not too wide, on top there were some fruit.


    Jakey down on the hay, he felt the wide and veryfortable leaves, and then repeated hismentations: "This kind of cabin actually only got 7 points, that''s really too unfair, it''s even not that much different from sleeping on the bed at home.¡±


    Someizens heard Jake expressing his innermentations. Inexplicably, they felt somewhat guilty, who knows whether they were feeling guilty about themselves, or feeling guilty about the people they supported.


    Jing Yang sat down in front of the long table and ced all the prepared materials on top, starting to make his handicraft.


    Jakey down and didn''t want to get up, he had the weakest physique out of all of thepetitors, and after going through two days and a night, he was already <strong>spent</strong>. But the things that had to be done still needed to be done, even if he was just here to muddle through, he also couldn''t do it too obviously, otherwise theizens would have things to talk about.


    He bit his teeth, then strove to climb back up. Jake sat down on the other side of the long table. At least the craft that he wanted to make was more simple, he also didn''t want to attempt to make something too difficult to torture himself.


    "Peng peng peng¡­.¡±


    Suddenly they heard a series of noises. Jake jumped from surprise, raising his head to look out the window, it was actually hailing!


    "Ah! Ah!¡±


    From down there came Danny''s vague yelling, hail the size of eggs was falling at a very fast speed, when they smashed on his body it hurt to the extent that he kept shouting.


    Jake stood at the door looking down, Danny was hugging his head and hiding under the tree, his appearance was really too miserable. The other cabins could only amodate 3 people, and even if there was some extra space, those other people would also not take the initiative to call him in.


    Jake turned around to look at Jing Yang a few times, but he felt that he couldn''t really open his mouth. After all, Danny had previously never said any good words to him. The hail fell increasingly intensely, Danny obviously had been injured. He summoned his courage to request Jing Yang, "Can we let Dannye up? He seems to have been injured.¡±


    Jing Yang continued his hand movements, while responding: "If you want to let him up, then you can just let down thedder.¡±


    "Thanks!" Jake didn''t know what kind of words he could use to express the appreciation in his heart, so he just extremely sincerely bowed a bit to Jing Yang.


    "Danny!" Jake let down thedder, and called down: "Quicklye up!¡±


    Danny heard Jake calling himself and looked up while hugging his head. He saw thedder was let down, and he no longer could care about his face or some other things, he ran over and quickly climbed up, he really was in too much pain.


    Jake pulled Danny up, the two people entered the cabin. Danny sat in a corner to rest, his entire body was sore. His swollen lips moved slightly, using a vague sound to say thanks.


    Jake also sat down, kneading his own arm. Just now when he was pulling Danny up he had been hit, not long afterward a bruise emerged. He thought, if he and Danny were still staying down there like yesterday, then by tomorrow morning they would definitely have been smashed to death. The organizers were really too ruthless.


    From the ground there asionally came some yelling, some cabins were directly smashed in, the hail punched in several holes in the roof. Then when the hail dropped in they smashed on the bodies, it was also very painful.


    Danny had already fallen asleep in the corner. He really couldn''t stay awake, he was too tired and too sleepy. After Jing Yang and Jake finished making their crafts, they also each went to one side and immediately fell asleep.


    It didn''t hail for as long as it had rained the previous night, but the destructive power was much bigger. Some cabins were smashed open directly, and the contestants covered themselves up with some wood to endure for a night. The majority of them were injured in some fashion, until the hail stopped after midnight, they finally fell asleep.


    Jing Yang was again the first to wake up. He climbed down the tree, and the hail on the ground had already basically melted.


    The people still dreaming were woken up by the fragrance of seafood porridge, they were tired and hungry and hurt, and still had to suffer this kind of torment of having delicacies in front of your eyes but still not being able to eat it. In this kind of mentally fragile state, even though for the time being no one had the thought of withdrawing from thepetition, but when they looked at the seafood porridge on the bonfire, their eyes all shone with green light.


    Jake opened his eyes with difficulty. He climbed up and looked down from the door. When he saw the seafood porridge still steaming on the fire, he immediately woke up and quickly climbed down.


    Ruth ran over with big steps and crouched down: "So fragrant, give me a bowl.¡±


    Jing Yang looked up at her with some surprise: "So early today?¡±


    Ruth pointed up at the sky: "The judges are still up there, they''re going toe only after eating breakfast. I came over early in order to freeload off of you.¡±


    "The food on the airship isn''t good?" Jake lifted the coconut shell and asked.


    "Sure it''s good, but whenpared to what Milton makes, I always feel like the taste iscking." Ruth took the porridge Milton handed her and gave him a thumbs up to express her admiration: "You are really great, in this kind of conditions, you can actually make food that tastes even better than those made by the most advanced high tech cooking products.¡±


    Ruth saw Dannying down from the tree, and asked in amazement, "Your mouth is actually all better?¡±


    Jake also turned around to look at him. "It''s really all better ah, so magical!¡±


    Danny touched his own mouth with some embarrassment, he also felt that it was pretty magical. Don''t know what kind of medicine Milton used, it actually got better so quickly.


    "Drink some?" Jing Yang handed Danny a bowl of porridge.


    "Didn''t you say that he can''t eat seafood?" Ruth quickly asked, she was afraid that if another person also needed to eat, she would have less to eat.


    "It''s alreadypletely no longer swollen, he can eat it now." Jing Yang replied.


    "Thanks." Danny took the porridge and crouched down next to Jake.


    Once Ruth saw Danny she would think of yesterday''s image, once she thought of that scene she had an urge tough. She simply turned her body, her side facing Danny.


    Seeing the harmonious atmosphere from Jing Yang''s side, Kedi and his teammates''s moods were extremelyplex. But the flying cameras were constantly filming, so they couldn''t discuss anything and also couldn''t expose their mood, so they could only quickly exchange a nce with each other.


    After the judges came down, they again examined all of the cabins, and scored the stability of their cabins. And then all of the people brought out their own hand-made crafts to let the judges score them.


    Kedi used some coral and conches to make something that resembled a wand, it looked pretty childish, kind of like a low quality toy. But everything requiredparison,pared to everyone else''s bracelets or something, he could be considered pretty creative, and also rtively better looking. So the judges once again gave him 9 points, and for their cabin stability, they once again got 9 points.


    When it finally came to Jing Yang''s turn, he took out a white m, and in front of everyone''s eyes, he opened it to reveal a golden ck pearl ne.


    "My god!" Ruth covered her mouth and eximed in admiration: "Too beautiful!¡±


    Not only the people on site, but even theizens who saw this ne through Star Network, were also stunned by this ne.


    The golden ck pearl was the main focus, on both sides he used some heart shaped and star shaped white m shells, on the m shells he iid some white pearls or sea crystals, as well as some conches with the most beautiful designs as decoration. The whole thing looked very sleek, not the least bit messy, it set off the golden ck pearl even more dazzlingly.


    In the end the judges gave Jing Yang two 8 points. Those girls who adored high grade pearls and jewelry all scolded at the projection: "Are those judges blind?¡±


    After the previous round of judging, the three judges had already been warned by the organizers to be as fair as possible. But in their eyes, if they went against the wishes of theizens, they would all be attacked by theizens. So this kind of scoring was already the greatest extent of fairness they could show.


    The judges themselves thought that they had followed theizens'' wishes, but their actions had already attracted the dissatisfaction of many people.


    Manyizens felt, from the two days of observation, that Milton was actually not as bad as they said on Star Network. He had epted Jake, who had avoided him from the beginning, and when Danny was poisoned he made some herbal medicine for him, and even let the two people stay the night in the cabin that he had made by himself. These actions at least proved that he was someone who had very good bearing.


    Plus that ne was really too beautiful, if it were ced in a high grade pearl store, there would be many upper-ssdies fighting to buy it, how could it have a lower score than Kedi''s thing that was like a toy?


    Ruth announced that the first phase of thepetition had finished, thepetitors could also return to the airship to rest, and thepetition would continue the next morning. Everyone let out a sigh of relief, they could finally rest well for a bit, this would be more beneficial for them being able to stay until the end.


    Ruth said that if anyone had something that they liked, they could go take it right now, and first bring it up on the airship to keep. Then when thepetition was over they could bring it back as a souvenir.


    After the crowd scattered, Ruth looked at Jing Yang with some apology: "I''m very sorry that I can''t help you out.¡±


    "No matter, this has no rtionship with you." Jing Yang smiled at her.


    "Can you let me take a look at the ne?" Ruth asked.


    Jing Yang handed her the ne, and then turned around to go back to the cabin to get some things.


    Ruth held the ne and really <strong>loved it too much to part with it</strong>, it was really too beautiful, plus it was a natural golden ck pearl ah! It was said that only ck gold mussels that have already lived for 200 years would have one, looking at the size of this one, it had definitely lived for more than 200 years. Right now the thing she most wanted to do, was to be able to wear this ne, wear her most beautiful clothing, and then record a 3D image. Then it would be forever recorded down.


    "So beautiful, it looks like a ne that only a royal princess would possess." Jake stood at Ruth''s side and eximed in admiration. Last night he was too tired, when he finished his own craft he directly went to sleep and didn''t go pay attention to what Milton had made. He didn''t think that he would make something that would shock people like this.


    Last night Milton had always been showing his back to the camera, so theizens also hadn''t seen what he was making. When this ne was revealed, many people were all screaming in their hearts, really want it! Really want it! Really want it!


    After Jing Yang got his things and came back down, Ruth returned the ne to him with great reluctance. "It''s really too beautiful, in the future you can give it to your love, she will definitely love you even more. Believe me, nody will be able to resist the lure of this ne.¡±


    Jing Yang ced the ne back in the m, in his heart he thought that the only person he loved was a man, how could he possibly use something like this. Plus he still didn''t know when he would be able to meet him in this world.


    "I''ll give this to you." Jing Yang spread out his hand in front of Ruth, on his palm were two bracelets.


    "Give it to me? Really?" Ruth happily took them, and immediately put one on her wrist. "This is also really pretty, so good looking! Thank you Milton!¡±


    Jake looked at the bracelet on Ruth''s hand, and then looked at the one on his own wrist. The bracelets obviously used basically the same materials, why was the one he made just like it had been randomly strung together by the ocean, but Milton''s seemed like it was sold at some high grade jewelry shop?


    Ruth wore it on her wrist and then couldn''t bear to take it off again, she used her hand to hold the bracelet and asked, "You don''t n on leaving one to send to your supporters? This could help you raise your support level oh, after all the bracelets are so pretty, there would be many people wanting them.¡±


    This was definitely a good opportunity for putting on a y, how could Jing Yang let it pass him by. He hung a slightly bitter smile on his lips, saying, "I don''t have supporters, before I used to have some, but now it seems like they''re all gone, even if I wanted to send one I also wouldn''t be able to send it out. But it wasn''t because I couldn''t send them out that I gave them to you, hopefully you don''t dislike them¡­¡±


    The bitter slight smile, the lonely eyes, made theizens'' hearts seem like they had been heavily struck. They involuntarily started to reflect on themselves. Earlier, why had they used such malicious words to attack this person who seemed quite pure? He really didn''t do any atrocious matters, but they actually ganged up to attack him like he was someone who had murdered their family members. They had maliciously fantasized and spected that he was a vicious man, but in fact was it not themselves who were truly vicious?


    Seeing his expression and eyes, Ruth felt heartache, she was a lot older than Milton, she felt like it was her own little brother suffering an immense mental trauma. She opened her arms to hug him,forting him, "Don''t be sad, it''s not that you don''t have any supporters, from today onwards, I will be your number one fan.¡±


    Bowie''s hand tightly clenched, the ss in his hands was nearly crushed into pieces by him. For no reason, he wanted to protect this person, it seemed like a responsibility that was originally supposed to belong to him.


    Seeing the expression that Jing Yang revealed, Bowie felt that his own heart was about to be shattered. It was his fault, he hadn¡¯t met him earlier, he hadn''t protected him properly, and had let him suffer the harm from others. Those people who had harmed him, all needed to pay the price!


    Then when he saw Ruth hugging Jing Yang tofort him, Bowie was both distressed and mncholy, the person hugging him in his arms andforting him should be him, and could only be him. He wanted to go see him, he wanted to use the fastest speed to see him, and then protect him. He would no longer let him suffer any kind of harm.


    Bowie made a decision, and then immediately went into action. He stood up and walked out quickly.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>spent</strong> ¨C ¾«Æ£Á¦¾¡, idiom, means spirit weary, strength exhausted


    [2] <strong>loved it too much to part</strong> ¨C °®²»ÊÍÊÖ, idiom, also means to fondle admiringly¡­<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over 1 hour: 3:30 pm ¨C 4:45 pm, for 4.2k characters to 3k words. Literally almost no T/Ns, it was quite amazing. I just feel like for this arc the trantions/raw terms are rtively easier and thus the tranting is being pretty fast. It must be my Chinese level improving, right. Obviously.<hr>

 Chapter 33

    <strong>Chapter 33</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.6)</strong>


    The first round was finished. All of thepetitors returned to the airship to rest, and the live broadcast was temporarily closed.


    Before everyone went to rest, Ruth said, "All of you will have one day and night of time to rest. The live broadcast has been suspended, so you can all rx properly for a bit. On the airship there is an infirmary room, those who are injured can go to get treatment. Each of you has a separate room to rest in, the facilities inside are quiteplete, so please don''t walk around randomly on the airship. The only area open to you is the lounge area, for other ces you will need to apply for entry. If someone breaks the rules, they will be kicked out of thepetition directly.¡±


    Ruth pped her hands. "All right! You can all go rest, tomorrow you will face an even more difficultpetition. Take advantage of this time to raise your spirits well.¡±


    The crowd dispersed, and everyone returned to their own rooms. First, of course, they all wanted to take a bath to rx their bodies.


    Jing Yang opened the door to his room to go in. Kedi paused when he was passing by Jing Yang¡¯s room, watching his back disappear into his room. Only after the door closed did he continue walking forward.


    His three personal scores were all higher than Milton''s, but he was actually not happy about it, because Milton''s reaction waspletely beyond his expectations. The judges were clearly biased towards him, but despite Milton''s easily provoked personality, he actually did not get angry, and also did not go argue with the judges.


    From the past, the more Milton argued and the angrier he got, the remarks he made would be more likely to make him hated byizens. He had never thought that Milton would be able to endure like this, and even more so did not think that Milton''s abilities would be even stronger than his. If they continued on like this, it would be very unfavorable for him.


    After Kedi finished taking a bath he immediately went over to find his two teammates. They needed to take advantage of the live broadcast being suspended to properly discuss and n.


    Ruth went back to her own room and found her most beautiful clothes to put them on. Right now she especially regretted not bringing a few more dresses over. After she changed and put on some makeup, Ruth put on the bracelet that Jing Yang gifted to her, and took many <strong>3D images</strong>. She picked a few of the best looking ones and posted them on her personal profile. Instantly quite a few peoplemented, wanting to buy the bracelet on her wrist.


    Ruth cast her own support ticket to Jing Yang, and then sent out messages to her family and friends, as well as some people pursuing her, telling them that they had to also cast a vote for Jing Yang.


    Not until she received news about a meeting did Ruth finally change back her clothes and walk out the room.


    Just when she reached the door of the conference room, she saw the three judges walk out with especially ugly expressions. Ruth quietly asked another male assistant, "What happened?¡±


    The male assistant also quietly responded, "We have receivedints from manyizens saying that thepetition is operating under the banner of fairness and impartiality, but we didn''t actually achieve it. And then, the big Boss personally gave the order to severely punish the three judges.¡±


    Ruth raised an eyebrow and looked back at the backs of those three judges. Sheughed with <strong>great </strong><b>schadenfreude</b>.


    ~


    The airship was moving the entire time. Three hourster, the airship arrived at the secondpetition site on the. And most of thepetitors, after a fulfilling meal, were currently blissfully snoring in their sleep.


    Early the next morning, all of thepetitors disembarked from the airship and discovered that they had been sent to the outskirts of a jungle. Looking from afar, this jungle revealed a somewhat grotesque atmosphere.


    "Good morning folks!" Ruth called. "The second stage of thepetition is about to start. Before thepetition begins, I need to announce a matter. Yesterday after the end of thepetition, we received manyints from theizens because the judges that we found were beingpletely unfair. Milton Miller, please step forward.¡±


    Jing Yang walked forward a few steps, not knowing what she wanted to do.


    The others were very shocked when they heard Ruth''s words. As someone hated by most of theizens, Milton actually had people willing to help him andin to the organizers because he was treated unfairly.


    Ruth didn''t continue speaking, instead turning around to look in the direction of the airship. A tall and upright man walked down from the airship, behind him followed the head organizer and some other staff members. As the man walked closer, the crowd were first attracted by his handsome appearance, and then oppressed by his imposing manner, not daring to continue looking straight at his face.


    "Let me introduce him to everyone." Ruth said, "This is the highest boss of our Star Networkpany, <strong>Earl</strong><strong>Bowie Wilson</strong>.¡±


    Immediately some people let out shocked gasps. No one had thought that they would actually have the opportunity to see the legendary Earl Wilson, it was really unimaginable.


    Jing Yang looked at Bowie. He was surprised that this man actually had a pair of golden eyes, those eyes were really too beautiful. In this space-time, there were people with brown eyes, people with blue eyes, people with ck eyes, people with cyan eyes, and then there was another very rare kind, people with golden eyes. It was said that in this empire, only those with royal blood would have golden eyes. And right now in this emperor''s generation, the number of people with golden eyes would not be more than three.


    "Milton Miller?" Bowie gazed at Jing Yang.


    "Yes." Jing Yang quickly used the system to search for this person''s information. Earl Bowie Wilson, his mother was the eldest princess of the empire (deceased), and the current emperor was his cousin, the two people''s rtionship was very good. He himself owned more than 20 differentpanies, and eachpany had several hundred branches. He was known as the master of the imperial economy, the richest man in the empire.


    "I apologize to you on behalf of Star Network Company regarding the injustice that you suffered during thepetition. I have already punished those three judges. However, the previous scores cannot be changed, so we will separatelypensate you after thepetition ends. Are you willing to ept these conditions?" From the first time he saw this man, Bowie felt a sense of long-awaited reunion in his heart. It was like he had been waiting for this person, that he had been waiting for many years.


    "I ept." Jing Yang truly really liked that pair of eyes of his, but besides liking them he didn''t sense any other feeling, and the familiar sense of twitching in his heart did not appear. But based on the experience from the previous two worlds, the appearance of that kind of feeling was very irregr. He really did not know at what time and in what kind of situation that kind of feeling would finally emerge. But being able to give him a favorable impression from the first time they met, there was a good chance that this man would be his previous worlds'' lover.


    Bowie announced, "Following this, I will serve as the head supervisor to ensure the fairness and impartiality of thepetition.¡±


    Star Network had already long been boiling, the legendary Earl Wilson actually appeared in the live broadcast, and even personally came forward to apologize, this was really¡­too handsome! Too imposing ah!


    The discussion on Star Network instantly ran astray, the number of people who worshipped Bowie was actually extremelyrge, it was only that he was too mysterious and rarely appeared. He would only asionally show up in the text of the imperial economic news, so theizens did not understand much about him. Many people were sighing that while watching live broadcast they could actually see this elusive big man, it was truly worth it!


    After Bowie finished speaking, Ruth continued to announce the content for the nextpetition: "See the jungle behind you? That is the content for the next stage of thepetition, you will need to cross the jungle and reach the foot of the hill in the middle. The first team to arrive will receive 10 points, the second team to arrive will get 8 points, the third team will get 6 points, the fourth team 4 points, the fifth team 2 points, and the teams after the fifth, 0 points.¡±


    Seeing the normal expressions on thepetitors'' faces, Ruth smiled. "Perhaps you feel that crossing the jungle is very simple, but I will remind you all, most of the nts in the jungle are poisonous, and there are even some that if you even slightly bump into them they can poison you to death. So after you all go in, you would do well not to randomly touch around, let alone randomly eating them.¡±


    Immediately some people''s expression changed. Ruth was very satisfied with this, and continued exining: "The previous stage of thepetition was only to help you all warm up, the following is the realpetition. idents can happen at any time. During the course of the game, if you cannot continue, you can choose to opt out. On each of your flying cameras there is a button, if you want to give up on thepetition, press the button, and your live broadcast will be turned off. We will then immediately dispatch people to send you back to the airship.¡±


    "Now you will have 10 minutes to reselect your teams.¡±


    Thepetitors again started to look left and right. Because of Jing Yang''s performance in the previous stage of thepetition, as well as the delicious food that he made, there were quite a few people who thought about teaming up with him. But once they remembered that being in a team with him might still cause them to be attacked by theizens, they were all not as willing anymore.


    Jake turned to ask Jing Yang, "Can I be in a team with you?¡±


    Jing Yang nodded.


    Jake happily smiled. He already didn''t really care about the other things, if theizens wanted to scold they could just do it. He just wanted to remain to the end of thepetition, get the bonus, and then continue to livestream his food rmendations. If they enjoyed watching it then they would watch, if they didn''t enjoy watching then they didn''t have to watch.


    ¡°That¡­¡± Danny walked over and asked somewhat embarrassedly, "Can I join you guys?¡±


    Jake looked at him with some surprise, and then turned to look at Jing Yang. He felt that whether or not he could join should all be based on what Jing Yang thought.


    "If you''re not afraid of being scolded, then we can go together." Jing Yang said.


    Danny didn''t say anything, but looking at his expression you could know that he had already made a decision, he felt that being scolded didn''t really matter anymore.


    Thepetition started. Each person still only had one short knife in their hands, besides that they had nothing else. They needed to take care of their own food, and there was also the problem of staying overnight in the jungle.


    Before crossing the jungle, Jing Yang wanted to first take care of breakfast. Otherwise, where would they have the energy to walk for an entire day, especially in that jungle that had danger everywhere.


    There was a river on the outskirts of the jungle, in which there were quite a few fish, so Jing Yang decided that they would eat fish for breakfast. Catching fish was a task that could not be any simpler for him: he sharpened a stick and easily stabbed several fish.


    The others saw that he did it so easily and followed suit. But reality showed that other people being able to do something easily, did not mean that you yourself would also be able to do it easily. So the results were very disappointing. Some people did not want to dy too much time, and thinking that they would always be able to find some food in the jungle, they quickly set off.


    This ce was not the seaside, so there were no coconut shells to act as bowls. But there were some things that were even better to use: <strong>bucket bamboo</strong>. The thinner ones would be as thick as a teacup, and the thickest ones were as wide as a bucket.


    Jing Yang gave the fish to Jake and Danny to handle, while he himself went into the jungle to roam around. Tasteless fish soup was definitely not good to drink, he wanted to find something to act as seasoning.


    When Jing Yang returned, he was holding some things that looked like weeds in his hand, and also dragged three bamboo of different thicknesses.


    While cooking the fish soup, Jing Yang quickly made six capped bamboo tubes that could be tied to their waist. He poured some boiled water into three of the tubes, and then Jing Yang split the six bamboo tubes into three portions, each person got two.


    Jake took the tube filled with water and the empty tube and asked, "What is this empty tube used for?¡±


    "To hold some things, when we go into the jungle you''ll know." Jing Yang used adle made out of bamboo to scoop up some fish soup and fish chunks.


    A figure appeared next to them. Jing Yang raised his head to look over, "Is there something?¡±


    Bowie lowered his head to look at him. "Ruth said you offer breakfast here.¡±


    Ruth rolled her eyes on the airship, she definitely didn''t say this, okay? Obviously it was the big boss using his powers to deprive her of the right to <strong>cadge a meal</strong>, and then taking over that privilege himself.


    Jake and Danny werepletely stunned at being able to see Bowie from this close.


    Jing Yang also froze a bit, in his heart he was thinking, the food on the airship was not that bad to eat, the vor was still pretty good. You this big shot, you''re still their immediate superior, would they dare to treat you badly? You actually ran over to mooch off of this bit of food of ours?


    Bowie crouched down next to Jing Yang. Such a noble and imposing person, because of this action, was instantly grounded.


    Jing Yang wanted to reject him. If he gave him fish soup to drink, he was afraid that he would be suspected of bribing the organizers. Plus, who knows whether or not walking too close to him would cause him to be attacked by theizens?


    Bowie seemed to have seen his thoughts. "Rest assured, I only supervise the fairness of thepetition, I do not interfere with the scoring. Eating your food would not be considered as epting bribes.¡±


    Facing that pair of golden eyes, Jing Yang was unable to voice any words of rejection. Hedled some fish soup to give him to drink, and couldn''t resist looking at his eyes.


    "What''s wrong?" Bowie discovered his gaze.


    "Your eyes are really beautiful." Jing Yang blurted out the thoughts in his heart. After he finished speaking he became vexed, those words really sounded a bit like he was flirting.


    "Thank you, your eyes are also very beautiful." Bowie looked at him with a smile.


    Of the countless people watching on Star Network, there came many chuckles, some were spitting, and also some had nosebleeds. The legendary grim earl actually knew how to smile, and smiled so handsomely, it was really too amazing! Those who spit were all people who understood Bowie''s indifferent and cold personality. And those who suffered from nosebleeds, were all ordinaryizens who didn''t understand him, they all felt that he was simply too seductive.


    Jing Yang also felt his heart tremble because of his smile, that kind of familiar feeling again hit his heart. This person should be his own lover, there was no mistake. Jing Yang secretly scolded himself for being disappointing, they were already such an old couple, yet he actually was still so easily moved.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    [1] <strong>3D images</strong> ¨C Á¢ÌåÓ°Ïñ, also stereoscopic images, but probably more high tech than the ones today


    [2] <strong>great schadenfreude</strong> ¨C ÐÒÔÖÀÖ»ö, idiom, literally to take joy in cmity and delight in disaster


    [3] <strong>Earl Bowie Wilson</strong> ¨C άɭ¡¤²©Íþ²®¾ô, wei sen ¡¤ bo wei, and ²®¾ô can either be earl or count


    [4] <strong>bucket bamboo</strong> ¨C ˮͰÖñ, literal trantion, this is definitely not a thing


    [5] <strong>cadge a meal</strong> ¨C ²ä³Ô²äºÈ, cadge means to mooch off of, didn''t know cadge was a word until just now<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Almost 1.5 hours: 1:30 pm ¨C 2:50 pm, for 4k characters to 2.8k words. It¡¯s been quite a while since Ist tranted. Hm actually not that long, maybe 2 weeks. Just from Thanksgiving break. I¡¯m here to start around a week of tranting one chapter a day to attempt tranting the entire arc before the third arc starts being published. I am also going to be tranting a chapter of 100kV every day alongside this, bc 100kV should not be having hiatuses like CFCS in the future.


    <strong>Edit (1/2/2019):</strong> Happy New Year everyone! This will be our first post of 2019, hope you will enjoy the chapters this year ??<hr>

 Chapter 34

    <strong>Chapter 34</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.7)</strong>


    The vegetation in this jungle was all very special, they were all things that could not be seen normally. Some of them grew very oddly shaped, some of them were very beautiful, but even their beauty would be very strange, just looking at them people wouldn''t dare to casually go and touch them.


    Jing Yang them could be considered to have set off rtivelyte, but while they were traveling they came across quite a few people, those people who had set off very early on actually did not make it very far. Because as soon as they entered the jungle they would lose their sense of direction, and they didn''t dare to walk around randomly, they could only slowly determine the direction of travel.


    Jing Yang''s team each carried a stalk of bamboo, pulling aside the nts and grasses that were blocking their path.


    "There are so many fruits here, could it be that there really is not a single type that can be eaten?" Jake looked at the pretty fruits, but had no desire to eat them at all. He was afraid that they would be poisonous, they had walked this far but he had actually not seen a single fruit that looked normal.


    Jing Yang reached out to pick a bunch of green fruit: "This kind of <strong>skin sleeve fruit</strong>, when it''s green you can eat it. But when it starts turning yellow or red, you can no longer eat it, you''ll get rashes all over your body.¡±


    Jake tried one, it was both sour and sweet, the vor was quite good: "Delicious.¡±


    Jing Yang gave them each a few and threw out the rest. "Eating a few of these fruits is not bad, but once you eat more your mouth might be painful.¡±


    Danny saw a fruit that looked like some bared teeth but didn''t dare to use his hand to touch it. He walked closer curiously to take a better look. "What''s this?¡±


    "<strong>Open-mouthed smile</strong>, don''t get too close, it will spray things." Jing Yang said.


    "Really?" Danny retreated a few steps, touching it with a bamboo pole from far away. The things shaped like teeth immediately opened, spraying some ck juices out. Danny quickly covered his nose, saying "So smelly!¡±


    "It really smells, let''s go, let''s go." Jake also covered up his nose and quickly walked forward. "Luckily you didn''t use your hands to touch it, otherwise it would have sprayed you in the face.¡±


    Jing Yang suddenly stopped and raised his head to look up at the sky. He turned to the right. "Let''s go this way.¡±


    "There''s no path over there, how is it possible for us to go that way?" Jake looked at the area filled with vines.


    Jing Yang crouched down underneath the vines and pushed around for a while, using the bamboo pole to dig some soil and pouring some water from his bamboo pipe down. After a while, there came a wave of rustling sounds, and all of a sudden, the vinespletely scattered, neatly dancing in the air.


    Jake and Danny both froze, theizens saw this scene and also felt that it was totally interesting and magical.


    "Let''s go, otherwise they''ll go back to normal in a bit." Jing Yang quickly threaded through the gap in the vines.


    Jake and Danny also immediately followed him, Jake walked while turning around to look at those vines still dancing in the air. "How is this possible? It''s really too amazing, what is this ce?¡±


    "These things are also in others, but they''re rtively rare. This ce probably brings together all of the strange nts in the universe, and they''re also naturally grown here." Jing Yang said.


    "How do you know so much?" Danny asked.


    "Everything''s in the botanical encyclopedia." Jing Yang said.


    "The botanical encyclopedia has a good several billions of nts, just reading through the whole thing is already veryborious. I can remember a maximum of a few dozen, but I don''t even know a single one of the nts here." Jake said.


    "I''ve spent more time out in the wild, so I''m more interested in this sort of thing.¡±


    Jing Yang walked along while giving them an introduction to some of the characteristics of the nts, attracting the interest of quite a fewizens. asionally, he would casually pick out some grasses that looked strange or ordinary and save them in his own bamboo tube.


    When the three people had be tired from walking, they sat down under a tree with strange wide and thick leaves to rest, drinking small sips of water. During this trip they had not seen any water sources, the few fruits that could be eaten also wouldn''t provide enough water, so they could only ration their water a bit.


    Kedi''s team of three walked over from a different direction. When they saw Jing Yang''s team, their eyes revealed some surprise, presumably they didn''t think that they would be able to catch up.


    Kedi''s team also stopped to rest, they saw that Jing Yang and them were carrying some bamboo tubes and drinking water. They were originally very thirsty, and seeing this their thirst only intensified.


    "Can you give us a sip?" Rhett asked, looking at Jake.


    Jake held his bamboo tube and hesitated a bit. The amount of water he had left was not much, if he gave them some to drink, he himself would not have much left.


    Rhett could tell that Jake was hesitating, and he smiled, "My fans and I will all appreciate your generosity, I know that you are not the same as those two, you are a kind person.¡±


    The implication was that if Jake did not give them water to drink, that meant he was being stingy and unkind, and his fans would attack him because Jake was not being generous.


    Jake felt like he was being coerced, he felt very ufortable in his heart, but still gave them his water.


    "Thank you, you really are different from those two." Rhett drank arge mouthful of water, and then it was forcefully taken away by Goodyear next to him.


    "This is the water that us three people share, I am not different from them. The bamboo pipe and water were all prepared by Milton, you all should thank him." Jake said very seriously.


    But the three people drinking water all acted like they couldn''t hear him. Jake felt even more irritated.


    Jing Yang asked Jake for his empty bamboo tube, using a short knife to make a cut on the very thick leaves. Immediately a lot of transparent liquid flowed out, Jing Yang quickly used the bamboo pipe to catch the fluid.


    "Can we drink this?" Jake stood next to him and asked him with some anticipation.


    "Can''t drink it." Jing Yang said, "This can only be applied externally. When we add it to the <strong>tincture grass</strong> and <strong>rust leaves</strong> I just picked, we will apply it to the skin and it can prevent us from getting bitten by the poisonous flying insects.¡±


    Jake understood and nodded, even though they couldn''t drink it, it was still very useful. In the evening, this kind of jungle would definitely have many poisonous insects.


    The sound of ridiculingughter came from the side, Jake and Danny looked over at theughing Kedi. Danny felt that these three people were really getting more and more annoying. He frowned and asked, "What are youughing at?¡±


    "I''mughing at someone seriously speaking some nonsense." Kedi said with a sarcastic smile on his lips. "The juice of the <strong>cold meat</strong> only has a cooling effect, applying it to the skin without diluting it would only give you a burning sensation. Rust leaves are also highly toxic and cannot even be applied to the skin at all, otherwise you will be poisoned.¡±


    Jake and Danny had already followed Jing Yang the entire road here, what he said they could eat, they had all eaten, and they had had no problems at all. Plus he had also exined to them the properties of all kinds of nts, and also proved that he was speaking the truth. They were willing to believe him.


    "Kedi is known as a walking botanical encyclopedia, it would be best for you two to listen to his advice, don''t listen to the nonsense from some kinds of people who don''t understand but still pretend they do. If you get poisoned, you can only withdraw from the game, and all of the struggles that you went through earlier would all have been in vain." Rhett advised them with an appearance of generosity.


    "Let''s go." Jing Yang capped up the lid and gave the tube to Jake, walking in the direction that Kedi''s team hade from.


    Jake and Danny followed him out. Jake said somewhat angrily, "Their words were really too annoying, why didn''t you refute them?¡±


    "What''s the use of refuting them, you would only be scolded more miserably by people who don''t understand the truth." Jing Yang lowered his head, in his expression and his eyes, was the silent forbearance caused by suffering harm.


    Jing Yang would not miss any opportunity to act a bit, he wanted to use this chance to portray an image of constantly suffering from grievance yet still enduring it, and in this way changing theizens'' previous views of Milton.


    Jake and Danny exchanged a nce, they also turned silent. They both thought that it was because he had retorted against Kedi on Star Network that he had been besieged by Kedi''s fans.


    That kind of forbearance for fear of suffering harm again, stung the hearts of theizens like an arrow. They all felt extremely guilty, it was because of their malicious and irrational behavior that they had hurt him.


    Considering the herbal medicine that Jing Yang had made earlier that had fixed the swelling on Danny''s mouth in a single night, theizens all no longer blindly trusted Kedi, but were still very curious about who was actually right.


    Standing on the ship, Bowie saw Jing Yang''s appearance of enduring suffering and his heart stung. He really wanted to go down to hug him,fort him, and help him block all harm.


    Bowie pressed his phone and connected to Angus''s office. "Angus, contact the Imperial Universal nt Research Institute as well as the Medicine Research Institute, let them give me results within the next 20 minutes.¡±


    25 minutester, the official spokesman of the Universal nt Research Institute left a message under thements: Mixing the juice of the meat leaves with the juice of the rust leaves can eliminate the corrosive and toxic effects of the two on the human body, and can also y a role in preventing the bites of venomous insects. The tincture grasses can have the effect of protecting skin, and its aroma can drive away all sorts of flying insects.


    The official spokesman of the Medicine Research Instituteter also confirmed the authenticity of this message, and wrote: What Kedi said was actually also not wrong, but was only the most superficialyer. Milton evidently understands pharmacology, and he has a deep understanding of the medicinal and toxic properties of nts. The range of his knowledge is also very broad.


    Star Network live broadcastments:


    ¡ª¡ªSo Kedi only knows a little bit of the superficial stuff, but where did he get the thought that he knows a lot and even taught someone else?


    ¡ª¡ªIn the end how blind was I before, not only did I feel that Kedi knew a lot but also was a warm and kind gentleman. The three of them drank Jake''s water, but did not remind them that they were going in the wrong direction. They themselves had been going that way and only went back because they couldn''t get through.


    ¡ª¡ªWhy do people who don''t understand but pretend they do seem so annoying. In the past I really thought that Kedi seemed pretty good, but now seeing his attitude toward Milton, my feeling haspletely changed.


    ¡ª¡ªI really am too guilty, I would like to apologize for the mean words that I have said before, sorry Milton.


    ¡ª¡ªI am too, once I think that I had also used my words to harm him, I really me myself. Sorry Milton!


    ¡ª¡ªI also want to apologize, I''m sorry Milton.


    ¡ª¡ªI''m sorry Milton.


    The number of objecting votes for Milton was falling rapidly, and the number of supporting votes also constantly started rising. At the same time, Kedi''s supporting votes was falling.


    Theizens had all thought that Jing Yang''s team were going the wrong way, Kedi''s team also thought the same, that they would definitely fall behind them. At this moment only Jing Yang himself knew this path was actually the shortest path, it was only that the front was blocked by long vines and Kedi''s team had no way to pass through them.


    Jing Yang and them were collecting the long vines, these kinds of long vines were very resilient and useful, they cut up several very long ones and bundled them together. After collecting enough thick and long vines, Jing Yang again picked two thinner and more stic ones and used his knife to cut a <strong>small branch</strong>, easily making a slingshot.


    He bent his waist to pick up a stone from the ground. Jing Yang aimed at the top of a huge tree trunk, cing the stone in the slingshot, he released to let the stone fly out.


    "Creak!" With a scream, arge group of ck things fell down.


    "What kind of thing fell down?" Jake jumped back in shock from the screeching sound, he had thought that what Jing Yang hit was the tree trunk. He had not thought that something would fall, and it was even a living thing.


    "Something delicious, quickly go pick it up." Jing Yang quickly trotted through the grass.


    Once Jake heard that it was something delicious, he immediately also ran over. Danny saw that they had headed over, and also followed behind them with curiosity.


    On the grass under the tree, a group of ck furry things were lying there motionless, obviously they were already dizzy. Jing Yang picked up one of the things that was about the size of a pig, the animal grew two tusks that weren''t too long. There was also a pig nose, just looking at the head, it really grew quite like a pig.


    "What kind of thing is this? Can we eat it?" Jake asked.


    "ck tree pig, when it''s roasted the vor is especially good." Jing Yang responded, "You haven''t seen it before?¡±


    "This is a ck tree pig?" Jake was both surprised and curious, he looked the ck tree pig up and down. "I have seen it before, but the one I saw was cut in pieces on a te. I have never seen its original body.¡±


    "How does it taste?" Danny asked.


    "Extremely delicious!" Jake gave a big thumbs up.


    The trio kept on walking forward, Jake curiously asked Jing Yang, "How do you know that walking this way would definitely be right?¡±


    Jing Yang said, "Before the airshipnded, I observed the terrain and directions from above, and then ording to the progress of time and changes in the sunlight, I judged it out.¡±


    "I also observed it ah." Jake grabbed his hair. "But once I came in I couldn''t tell north from south or east from west. You''re still much more powerful, fortunately I teamed up with you.¡±


    Not surprisingly, Jing Yang''s team was the first to arrive at the designated location. Beside the hill there was an open space where a cylindrical machine was ced. Jake walked over and pressed on the screen, and immediately a projection of the three people appeared. The machine gave them each 10 points and then the projection disappeared.


    Jing Yang untied the three bundles of long vines and informed the other two of the n. The three people worked together to weave arge in the shape of a spiderweb.


    When Kedi''s team arrived and saw the three people busying themselves, they were instantly stunned. They did not expect that Jing Yang''s team would arrive first, they were both surprised and angry in their hearts. These people were the weakest, how was it possible that they would still arrive first at the destination?


    Kedi could no longer cover up the mood in his heart, he very obviously revealed it on his face. His fans all saw it very clearly and had no way to justify him.


    As the sunlight slowly faded and the sky was about to darken, the other teams also all arrived.


    Jing Yang first made a fire, he slightly roasted the four ends of the long vines in the fire and then climbed up the tree, tying the four ends of the long vines to four trees. This would be where they would sleep that night.


    "Tonight we''re just going to sleep on this?" Jake asked with some worry. "What if they rain or hail again tonight?¡±


    "Impossible." Jing Yang said with certainty. "The jungle has quite a few precious nts, if they randomly rain or hail they might be destroyed, they will not be able to bear that cost.¡±


    Bowie, who was watching the stream, heard Jing Yang say this and couldn''t resistughing. This was his own private personal, everything on it belonged to him. He had approved Angus''s proposal to hold thepetition on it, but Angus definitely did not have the guts to destroy the jungle.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>skin sleeve fruit</strong> ¨C ƤÐä¹û, okay this is definitely not the right trantion for this, but very literal trantion


    [2] <strong>open-mouthed smile</strong> ¨C ¿ª¿ÚЦ, I can already foresee this time''s T/Npletely being me destroying these fruits and vegetation names


    [3] <strong>tincture grass / rust leaves</strong> ¨C ÃÔôú²Ý / ÐâÒ¶, ôú could mean tincture, so I just skipped adding the ÃÔ in front, which could mean crazy and lost¡­


    [4] <strong>cold meat</strong> ¨C Á¹Èâ, apparently the name of those thick leaves


    [5] <strong>small branch</strong> ¨C С½Ú, so all definitions I can see of ½Ú are definitely not right, maybe this is a typo? a slingshot probably has a branch or something, so I''m going to go with that<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    1.5 hours for this chapter: 2 pm ¨C 3:30 pm, for 4.3k characters to 3k words. Not a bad chapter, except for all of this exotic nt names that I have put some egregious literal trantions for. It¡¯s pretty bad, but what can you do. Part 2/8 of our journey toplete the rest of the arc.<hr>

 Chapter 35

    <strong>Chapter 35</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.8)</strong>


    Kedi''s team crossed the hill and found a source of water in the jungle on the other side. They used the bamboo tube that they had taken from Jake earlier and filled it with water, boiling it on a fire.


    The other people saw that they had managed to find water and also crossed the hill to fetch some.


    Danny picked up the two empty bamboo tubes and said, "I''ll also go to fetch some water.¡±


    Jing Yang nced in the direction of the hill and cautioned, "Be careful.¡±


    Jake picked up many dry branches and came back, cing them next to the fire. He crouched down to watch Jing Yang handle the ck tree pigs. He looked at Jing Yang''s neat and efficient technique and said admiringly, "Your knife technique is really good, just your handling of the ingredients can be considered a performance. Besides rmending food and asionally cooking on live stream, I would also like to be more skilled in my knife and cooking skills, but it''s too difficult. Once I leave the ingredients processing machine I be totally flustered and unable to deal with many ingredients properly.¡±


    Jing Yang responded, "In fact, knife and ingredient handling isn''t all that mysterious. You just need to keep practicing every day, <strong>practice makes perfect</strong>.¡±


    "Practice every single day¡­that''s too hard, I can''t help but go rely on the machine." Jake held his chin.


    Suddenly a cry came from the other side of the hill, but because it was too far away, the sound was not very clear. But Jing Yang still instantly heard it, and he immediately raised his head to look over there.


    The sounds were getting closer and closer, and Jake could also hear them. He jumped to his feet, saying nervously, "What''s going on?¡±


    The people who had gone over the hill to fetch water were all desperately running back, some were <strong>trying frantically to escape</strong>, their faces full of fear. Only after they got down the hill did they finally dare to look back, and seeing that nothing was chasing them, they finally let out a sigh of relief. But they were still wearing shocked expressions.


    Danny was also one of the people running back. He felt as though he was already safe, so both his legs went soft and he copsed on the ground, gasping for breath.


    Jake quickly walked to his side and asked, "What''s going on? What happened?¡±


    Danny''s breathing finally smoothed with great difficulty, and he responded, "There were snakes by the water! Lots of snakes!¡±


    "What did they look like?" Jing Yang asked.


    "Alternating rings of brown and yellow, their tails are very sharp. Many of us were scratched by their tails." Danny rolled up his pant leg and exposed the wound.


    Jing Yang took a look at his wound and said, "The <strong>pointed tail snake</strong> usually lives beside water that''s near lots of dead wood, but they don''t attack humans on their own initiative. Did any of you do something to provoke them?¡±


    Danny carefully thought a bit and then shook his head, "No, we got some water from the side of the pond, and no one found any snakes there. They suddenly sprang out at us.¡±


    "This kind of snake venom is not fatal, but if it is not treated immediately, the area of skin ulceration will growrger. If it''s left in for too long, it can also be dangerous. I''ll go find some medicinal herbs." Jing Yang turned and walked into the jungle.


    Jake supported Danny to the side of the fire to rest.


    The several people who had gone to fetch water just now also had their feet wounded like Danny, rolling up their pant cuffs to rest.


    Jing Yang found some medicinal herbs and returned. He cut the long bamboo tube shorter a bit, and then ced the herbs inside one by one, using a long strip of stone to mash them together.


    After Kedi watched for a while, he walked over, "You''re trying to help them prepare an antidote?¡±


    Jing Yang ignored him and didn''t even take a look at him, continuing to busy himself.


    Kedi bent over to pick up a ck dried fruit and said, "This kind of withered fruit is poisonous, did you know that? Are you trying to kill them?¡±


    Jing Yang still ignored him, but all of the other people looked over and paid attention to the two of them.


    Kedi threw the withered fruit back on the ground and smiled mockingly, then turned around to leave.


    Rhett saw that Kedi was talking to Jing Yang but Jing Yang actually did not pay any attention to him. He walked over very angrily, "Do you have a mental illness? You really think that you''re a godly doctor? You randomly collect some grasses and fruit and actually dare to let other people use it, if you kill them are you going to be responsible?¡±


    Jing Yang remained indifferent, but his silent attitude made Rhett''s anger explode. He kicked over the bamboo tube with a foot, loudly saying, "I told you not to make it anymore, did you hear it or not?¡±


    Jing Yang finally stood up, looking at him with no expression, but his eyes were filled with anger. What he wanted was exactly this kind of effect¡ªthe worse their attitude, the more theizens would be disgusted by them. He wanted to take Milton''s original situation, and exchange it with theirs.


    "What are you doing?" Jake walked over and said furiously, "You''re going too far! We''re minding our own business, what does it have to do with you?¡±


    "I can''t control what you all want to do, but I can''t watch you harm other people just because you are pretending despite your ignorance!" Rhett said <strong>justly and forcefully</strong>.


    Danny limped over and picked up the bamboo tube. He took the very little bit of medicine still remaining in the tube and applied it on his wound, and then looked at Rhett. "Even if I''m poisoned to death I am still willing, you don''t need to care!¡±


    "I am kindly reminding you all in order to help save your life. I don''t want you to be harmed by him, but you''re still giving me this attitude?" Rhett smiled angrily, pointing at Jing Yang. "You would rather believe this kind of person than believing Kedi? Could he be as strong as Kedi, could he know as much as Kedi?¡±


    Rhett again pointed at Jake and Danny, saying, "I''m telling you now, you deserve to be poisoned to death, don''t regret it!¡±


    Jing Yang had found so many herbs, theizens could tell that he obviously wanted to divide some to the otherpetitors. But now Rhett had kicked them all over, so they were basically all scattered on the floor. At this point, even if other people wanted to use it they also would not be able to.


    Rhett himself thought that his righteous actions in helping consider other people would definitely be praised by theizens. But in reality, after theizens'' views on Jing Yang changed, Rhett''s behavior in their eyes actually was a very insolent and rude performance.


    Especially after a spokesperson for the nt Research Institute again left a message confirming that the withered fruit was indeed poisonous, but that its toxins could offset many other drugs, including the poison of the pointed tail snake. Using an ancient saying, this was called using poison tobat poison.


    Theizens'' perception of Kedi and Rhett became even worse. Other people were kind enough to help make some herbal medicine, whether or not they used it was other people''s business. You guys went up and thought that you were full of knowledge, lecturing other people, and even kicked over the medicine that other people had found, and still thought that you were acting righteously. It was really ridiculous and repulsive.


    And manyizens all saw that it was when Kedi''s team had gone to retrieve water that they had provoked the pointed tail snake. Because they did not recognize the snake, they wanted to catch a few to eat, but didn''t think that they would attack so aggressively.


    They themselves actually managed to run away without injury, but when other people went to fetch some water, they actually didn''t say a word as a reminder, and now they came to pretend to be good people. Milton just asked the appearance of the snake and looked at the wound and already knew what kind of snake it was, and also could say very clearly the habits of this kind of snake. Obviously he understood more than you.


    Rhett held some herbs in his hand and stood up to call loudly, "These are herbs that Kedi found, you just need to shred them and apply them to your skin. They can prevent you from being bitten by venomous insects at night. Those who want it cane to get some, otherwise you might be tricked by someone else''s herbal medicine.¡±


    The contestants couldn''t see thements on the Star Network, so they naturally chose to believe in Kedi, who had a better reputation. During Kedi''s previous live streams in the wilderness, he was able to recognize many different kinds of nts, and was called the walking nt encyclopedia by his fans.


    Except for Jake and Danny who used Jing Yang''s insect repent, everyone else went to get some herbal medicine from Rhett, and also thanked Kedi for his generosity.


    Kedi smiled very humbly and gently at the people who hade to thank him, his fans used to love to death this appearance of his. But now somehow his smile felt increasingly fake, like a mask of skin worn by a hypocritical man.


    ~


    After Jing Yang finished roasting the meat, Bowie very suddenly and punctually appeared in front of him. Jing Yang froze and looked at him, in his heart he thought, this person wouldn''t also want to mooch off of their dinner, would he?


    "I came for dinner." Bowie seemed to be answering Jing Yang''s thoughts.


    Jing Yang thought, your skin is really thick, you stayedfortably on the airship, but Ibored for an entire day and still have to portion some dinner to you.


    "It''s just a normal thickness." Bowie crouched down next to Jing Yang, inexplicably saying a sentence.


    Can this guy read minds? I couldn''t have written all of my thoughts on my face, could I? Jing Yang nced at him and used a short knife to cut the roasted meat into four parts. He divided him one of the portions.


    "I can''t read minds." Bowie took the meat and started to eat.


    How do you know what I''m thinking if you can''t read minds? Jing Yang tilted his head, not looking at him.


    "Maybe it''s because our minds are connected?" Bowie responded.


    This time Jing Yang was truly surprised, he had always thought that he was very good at hiding the truest thoughts in his heart. But it was as if this man could hear the voices in his heart, could he really read minds?


    "I can''t, but¡­" Bowie looked in Jing Yang''s eyes. He didn''t continue saying the other half of his sentence, using his eyes to convey his words to him.


    Jing Yang understood, what he was saying was, I only just happen to understand your thoughts. That''s just too incredible, okay? He didn''t even <strong>activate the system</strong> and actually couldmunicate with people wordlessly.


    Jake and Danny kept their heads down and ate their meat, slowly retreating backwards as far away as possible. They were frightened. This Earl Wilson suddenly showing up and having dinner with them was fine, they had eaten breakfast together anyways. But he kept on talking to himself, this was really too scary.


    The Star Network live broadcastments:


    ¡ª¡ªI really want to know how delicious the food that Milton makes is, even the Earl Wilson also wants to go to mooch off of them.


    ¡ª¡ªSeeing the other people''s envious and longing eyes, and the way that they keep swallowing their saliva, you''ll know how tasty the food Milton makes is.


    ¡ª¡ªWhy do I feel that the atmosphere between Earl Wilson and Milton is very fantastic, the two people inexplicably seem quite well-matched?


    ¡ª¡ªEarl Wilson talking to himself can actually have such a handsome feeling, it must be some problem with my eyes. I feel like the atmosphere between the two is really like a couple ah, it must be me thinking too much.


    ¡ª¡ªBeing able to see Earl Wilson in the stream, I am truly satisfied, if I could eat the barbecue that Milton made, I would be even more satisfied.


    ¡ª¡ªWhy do I feel like Earl Wilson''s eyes are filled with indulgence and Milton''s eyes are filled with bashfulness, there shouldn''t be something between the two, right?


    ¡ª¡ªI have already imagined over 20000 words of colored scenes, my nose has been bled dry, these two people are really shameful and shameless~


    ¡ª¡ªYou''re so well-matched, you should be together ah!


    ¡ª¡ªI feel like the air is filled with heart-shaped bubbles, ah~, how could this happen, I suddenly fell in love with this pair.


    ¡ª¡ªThere''s really such a CP feeling ah, just from being in the same image it already feels so sweet, I stan this pair.


    The sky turnedpletely dark, and the three people went to sleep on their "spider web," covering themselves withrge leaves. Jing Yang wanted to use the system to see how theizens hadmented about everything that had happened today.


    When he saw those messages that had put him together with Bowie, Jing Yang couldn''t resist spitting, what the hell are these? When did my eyes look full of bashfulness?


    Before I havepletely determined that he is my lover, could you please not casually imagine colored scenes, wait! Even if it''s determined I request that you all still do not imagine, okay? I''m not some action film actor!


    Very suddenly, and very inexplicably, Jing Yang and Bowie raised many CP fans. And the vast number ofizens saw Bowie appear in the stream many times, so besides satisfying their curiosity about this mysterious figure, they added on even more things they were curious about. They wanted to know exactly how delicious Jing Yang''s food was.


    At night, there really appeared many flying insects. Of the people who were resting on and under the trees, besides Jing Yang''s trio who had already peacefully fallen asleep, other people kept constantly making sounds to drive away the flying insects.


    Some of the flying insects would be scared away by the sounds of pping and patting, but some of them would not leave no matter what, constantly pouncing on their bodies.


    "Ah! It really hurts!" Some people could not resist falling asleep and were bitten awake by the bugs, immediately crying out.


    No matter how they pped or waved their arms, some of the insects would not leave, so some people simply just kept jumping up and down.


    Some people on the trees also could no longer keep staying there, so they climbed down the tree and jumped together with the rest of them. Once they stopped even slightly, they would be bitten.


    In the dark a crowd of people were closing their eyes and constantly jumping, some were jumping on one leg, some with both feet, and even some were waving their arms, with the asional cry of pain. Even though there were lights shining from the cameras, in the eyes of theizens, this kind of scene was really funny and bizarre.


    Only when the horizon gradually lit up did the insects go back into hiding. The crowd of people who had been jumping for an entire night were already exhausted. They truly were unable to resist the drowsiness, one by one copsing under the trees and falling asleep.


    When Jake and Danny woke up, theyy on the "spider web" and looked down at the people lying on the ground. This sudden nce was really quite frightening. Everyone was randomly sprawled on the ground, their hands and faces were <strong>tragic</strong>, they seemed like they had been poisoned to death.


    Bowie came down to share their breakfast and then went back up. Later on Ruth brought people down to wake everyone up, and after she finished announcing the content of the day¡¯spetition, she also returned to the airship.


    Thepetition content today was quite difficult, and the number of people who had been hurt more seriously was also quite high. Ruth felt that this way thepetition might not be able to continue.


    "Boss, do we really not need to postpone today''spetition? It seemed like not many people will be able to participate in the game properly." Ruth asked Bowie.


    "No need, this was their own choice, so they should properly endure. As long as Milton doesn''t have any problems, there is no need to postpone the game." Bowie responded with a cold expression. Those people were crowding out Milton, so they should bear the consequences of their choice. Plus those fellows named Kedi and Rhett, he would teach them an even deeper lesson to let them know what remorse meant.


    Ruth looked at Bowie''s back and raised her eyebrows. The big boss was protecting Milton so directly, could he really have fallen in love?<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>practice makes perfect</strong> ¨C ÊëÄÜÉúÇÉ, idiom, with familiarity you learn the tricks


    [2] <strong>trying frantically to escape</strong> ¨C Á¬¹ö´øÅÀ, idiom, not sure if it''s the literal meaning of rolling and crawling


    [3] <strong>pointed tail snake</strong> ¨C ·æβÉß, very literal trantion


    [4] <strong>justly and forcefully</strong> ¨C ÀíÖ±Æø׳, idiom, means in the right and self-confident


    [5] <strong>activate the system</strong> ¨C Æô¶¯ÏµÍ³, I''m a little confused about the meaning here, I''m not sure who and what system, the MC''s system I don''t think has the function tomunicate wordlessly?


    [6] <strong>tragic</strong> ¨C ²Ò²»È̶Ã, idiom, too horrible to endure, appalling scene of devastation<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Over 1.5 hours: 5:30 pm ¨C 7:15 pm, for 4.3k characters to 3k words. Okay, as a disimer, I was kind of doing my work intermittently while tranting, so that number is definitely notpletely true. Though this chapter was also definitely slightly harder to trante than previous ones. I actually had some work to do today, so I will probably not be getting to tranting my 100kV chapter today, unfortunately. But we still are quite ahead for that, so it¡¯s all good.<hr>

 Chapter 36

    <strong>Chapter 36</strong><strong>


    Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.9)


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Of the people who had been scratched by the pointed tail snake yesterday, besides Danny whose wound had already healed, the other people''s wounds had all started to fester. Adding on being bitten again by poisonous bugsst night, many of their bodies were covered in red and swollen patches. For some people, their old and new wounds made them unable to continue thepetition. Those who were unable to move around could only rest beside the trees, just nning to endure the day until tomorrow, when they could return to the ship for treatment.


    Danny walked to <strong>Cove</strong>, the person who had been hurt most seriously, and crouched down. "Your wound is festering so seriously, can you still hold on? If you waste a leg for the bonus, that wouldn''t be worth it.¡±


    Cove''s eyes also showed some signs of flinching. After all, there was still a day and a night of time before they could return to the airship. Daytime was fine, but the nighttime was really too difficult to bear. It was becausest night he had desperately jumped around to drive away the flying insects that the wound would worsen so badly today. If he really gave up a leg for thepetition, it was definitely not worth it. The cost of getting a prosthetic leg was very high, and wouldpletely not be as easy to use as your own leg. But because he had stayed until this point, he was a little unwilling to withdraw now.


    "How is your wound now?" Cove asked Danny somewhat curiously.


    "It''s already healed, I have no problem walking. I can even run and jump around." Danny pulled up his own pant leg and patted his original wound. He then used a slightly sorry tone to say, "If yesterday you guys had also used the herbal medicine that Milton had made, your wounds would not have deteriorated so seriously, unfortunately¡­¡±


    Danny stood up and said loudly, "Unfortunately, some people think that they are very clever and feel that other people don''t know as much as them, treating the kindness of others as maliciousness. There are other people who think that they''re being righteous and saving people, but do not know that it was exactly their stupidity that is harming people. Who you should me for your wounds bing more serious, you should be very clear about in your hearts?¡±


    "What are you saying?" Rhett heard Danny''s taunting and stood up angrily, roaring.


    "Don''t you know clearly what I''m saying?" Danny instead <strong>went for broke</strong>. He was not afraid of offending him, and even more so did not care about whether or not he would be scolded by theizens. He directly walked in front of Rhett and said, "Look at the redness and swelling on your face and neck, the medicinal grasses that the walking nt encyclopedia found for you, didn''t seem to be useful ah? Instead, us three who had used the ''poisonous'' insect repent not only did not die from poisoning, but we also did not even have a single insecte close to us. The facts have already proven everything, haven''t they?¡±


    Kedi''s expression was very ugly, Danny''s every sentence was pointed toward him, but he had no way to refute them. Everything was developing differently from what he had expected. It was impossible for Milton to be better than him, and it was even more impossible for him to know more than him. Obviously he was only a live streamer who only knew how to rely on high tech products to cheat, why would he be so strong? No! He must not let things go on like this, he needed to turn the situation around.


    Rhett looked at Kedi, he also did not know how to refute Danny''s words. Only Danny''s team''s skin was not red and swollen, and they had even peacefully slept through the night. Kedi said that the things Milton used were highly toxic, but those three people had used them and nothing had happened to them. Danny''s wounds had even healed.


    "Danny, we need to go." Jake called over. Today they still had many other things to do, but he had deliberately waited for Danny to finish talking before calling him back. Because Kedi''s team''s self-righteous appearance was really too annoying, they should destroy their arrogance a bit.


    "Coming." Danny immediately turned around and followed Jing Yang to enter the jungle.


    The anger on Rhett and Kedi''s faces, as well as their vicious eyes, were seen clearly by theizens, and the decline in support and affection for them became even more severe. And the Goodyear in the same team as them, was sitting at the side with an unchanging expression, making people unable to guess what he was thinking.


    The task for thepetition today was to go into the jungle at the other side of the hill and catch different animals. The team that caught thergest number of animals would get the highest scores. But there was a very important condition, which was that all of the animals had to be caught alive, and if an animal was injured or killed, 10 to 50 points would be deducted from their score.


    The jungle had all kinds of strange animals, most of which were aggressive and highly dangerous. Let alone catching them alive, even first killing them and then catching them would still be an extremely difficult task.


    Jing Yang nned to first make several cages, and then set off to the jungle on the other side of the hill. For him, catching a few animals alive was not that difficult.


    Jing Yang demonstrated to Jake and Danny how to use a short knife and some readily avable things to quickly make a trailer. His neat and efficient movements made Jake and Danny gasp in amazement, theizens were also amazed and admiring of his hands-on abilities.


    He also made three bows and arrows, but Jake and Danny werepletely unable to use them, so he had to make two more slingshots, which they found a little easier to use.


    The three people dragged a trailer full of materials back to the rest area and were about to start making cages when Cove came over supported by two of his teammates. He said to Jing Yang, "Milton, can I beseech you for something?¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him and didn''t speak.


    Cove continued, "Can you make again the medicine that you gave to Danny yesterday?¡±


    Jing Yang had found those herbs yesterday only in order for appearances. He had no affection for these people, if they had not opened their mouths, he would also not take the initiative to go save them. But now someone had spoken, and if he refused them, it would inevitably damage the image that he had managed to reconstruct with great difficulty.


    Jing Yang looked at the circle of people and asked, "Do you guys also want it?¡±


    All of the people who had been injured stood up and said, we also want it, please.


    Jing Yang first taught Jake and Danny the method for dealing with the materials simply, and he himself again returned to the jungle to find some herbs.


    After those people used Jing Yang''s medicine, they still couldn''t immediately do some strenuous exercise, and could only continue to rest. But they could already obviously feel that the wound was no longer as painful, and they themselves didn''t feel as ufortable. They all were somewhat regretful in their hearts and started toin about Rhett and Kedi. If they had used this medicine yesterday, they might have still been able to continue participating in thepetition right now.


    Of the other four teams, more or less all of the people were injured. Only Jing Yang and Kedi''s two teams had the entire team able to participate. Both of the teams had readied their strength, with the determination to go head to head with each other.


    ~


    Jing Yang''s team looked up, on the trunks of the many monkey trees, there were over a hundred <strong>golden monkeys</strong> climbing around at the tops of the trees and jumping back and forth between the trees by swinging on long vines. Their movements were very dexterous.


    "They look too flexible, and these trees are also too high. By the time we climb up, they would long have run away, right?" Jake felt that even though these golden monkeys did not seem very aggressive, but from the fact that they could jump to a tree over a dozen meters away, he could tell that it would not be easy to catch them.


    "If you''re just relying on climbing the trees to catch them, you won''t be able to seed even for a lifetime. They are especially fond of teasing people." Jing Yang responded.


    "Then should we go find some other animals?" Danny also felt that it was quite difficult to catch these dexterous monkeys, mainly it was that the trees were too tall.


    "Golden monkeys are social animals, they are the most numerous, and their aggressiveness is also not high. Using them to pad quantity is the most appropriate method. I have a way to catch them." Jing Yang finished exining and chose a tree to start to climb up.


    Jing Yang tightly tied the long vine that he had brought around a tree branch, and tied the other end to his waist. Standing on the tree, he leapt off and immediately caught a golden monkey that was also mid-jump in the air.


    Jake and Danny were still on the ground, their mouths falling open in surprise. They watched Jing Yang use that long vine to fly between the big trees, flipping, flying, andnding, his movements seemed to be even more flexible than those golden monkeys.


    Jing Yang used the very long tails of the golden monkeys to bundle up their four limbs so that they couldn''t struggle. He loosened the vine tied around his waist a bit and lightly threw the golden monkey to Danny. "Catch it and ce it in the cage, and then you can untie the tail.¡±


    Danny lightly received the golden monkey and hurriedly ced it in the cage, and then reached in to untie its tail. Jake picked up some monkey tree fruits that had fallen on the ground and ced them in the cage for the monkey to eat.


    Jing Yang was like the Golden Monkey King¡ªno matter which golden monkey he wanted to catch, they were all unable to escape his grasp. Very quickly he caught more than 10 golden monkeys. The cages were already unable to fit any more, so they decided to first send these golden monkeys back and thene back with more empty cages.


    When Jing Yang had justnded back on the ground, he saw Kedi''s team standing to the side. They had apparently been watching for a while. In his heart Kedi wanted to defeat Jing Yang, so he had deliberately followed Jing Yang''s team over. He had seen the process Jing Yang had just used to catch the golden monkeys, it seemed quite simple, and he was confident that he could do it better than him.


    Jing Yang''s team had originally wanted to leave, but they were in no hurry, wanting to see how Kedi''s team would act.


    Kedi also climbed onto a tree and imitated Jing Yang by tying a long vine around his waist, and then he jumped to another tree. The jump was a sess, but before he could jump to a different tree, the golden monkey had escaped long ago, making him grab at air.


    Even though he had jumped several times without sess in catching a golden monkey, Kedi felt that he had already mastered the skills, so his actions also became more bold. He leaped with strength, pouncing on a golden monkey that seemed a little more dull, and just when his hand had already touched it, the golden monkey quickly jumped away, and Kedi directly mmed into a tree.


    "Pfft!" Jake and Danny couldn''t helpughing out. Kedi''s appearance just now had seemed quite fierce, but they did not expect that he had used too much strength and also wasn''t flexible enough, directly mming into the tree.


    Kedi heard the mockingughter, and anger grew in his heart. He started jumping with even more strength and speed. A golden monkey mid-jump had already been caught by Kedi, but he did not expect that it would actually p its paw in his face. Kedi immediately cried out in pain and let go of it to cover his face.


    At this point Kedi had bepletely angered, the bruises on his face were aching, and his facial expression looked somewhat hideous. The golden monkeys seemed to know that this person was easier to bully and joined together to tease him. Some jumped on his head to grab his hair, some hit him hard on the back when he was jumping, and some directly hung on his back, and when he tried to reach back to catch them, they scratched his hands with their ws, and then quickly jumped away.


    "Ah! Ah! Ah!" Kedi seemed to have been driven crazy by those golden monkeys, swinging his arms around wildly and yelling.


    Under his vigorous swinging, the long vine around his waist suddenly broke and he fell straight down from a quite tall height. But the good thing was that the ground was covered in very thick grass, so he was only injured very lightly, he was able to sit up by himself. Rhett and Goodyear ran over to help him up, asking him if he had broken anything.


    The long vines on the monkey tree were different from the one that Jing Yang had brought over himself. Jing Yang''s vine was much stronger, and the vine on the monkey tree simply could not withstand Kedi''s such strong movements.


    Kedi''s fans saw this scene and all felt very embarrassed for him. If you''re not able to do it well don''t imitate other people''s actions, wouldn''t it be better for you to do the things you''re better at?


    Jing Yang''s team dragged the trailer back. Danny rubbed his face that had almost gone stiff fromughing too much, saying, "I really don''t understand how Kedi has so many fans, what do they like about him? Do they like his ignorance and hrity?¡±


    "Who knows?" Jing Yang responded. "Those golden monkeys have already been provoked by him, let''s quickly go check out some other ces.¡±


    The hill was between a jungle with animals and a jungle with more nts, the animals in the animal part of the jungle could not go to the other side of the hill, or else they would be very irritable. In the open space on this side of the animal jungle, the organizers had set up a collection point. They just needed to ce the animals that they had caught in their team''s own designated area.


    Soon afterward Jing Yang also caught a few <strong>farting rabbits</strong> and double-tailed foxes, both of these were animals that could spray poisonous gases. asionally they would meet some birds, and the bow and arrow that Jing Yang had made came in handy. He shot their wings with arrows, pinning them to a tree, and then he would climb up to bring them down.


    At this point Jing Yang''s team had captured thergest number of animals. Looking at the number of animals caught by the other teams, it would be very difficult for them to overtake their team. Jing Yang decided to go onest time, and then they could basically just go back to the hill to rest.


    A red-eyed gold-horned deer ran towards them. This deer''s horns were iparably hard, they could pierce through the stomach of a big ck bear and even smash rocks.


    Jing Yang immediately took out a slingshot and aimed towards its knees. The red eyed gold horned deer ran forward and then fell down. Jake and Danny immediately ran forward to press it down, while Jing Yang also quickly ran over to help, using a long vine to tie up its four limbs.


    Just when they were preparing to carry the red eyed gold horned deer back, Rhett and Goodyear suddenly jumped out. Rhett pointed at them and said loudly, "Hey! Put it down, that''s our prey!¡±


    "Your prey?" Danny stared at him with dissatisfaction. "We were the ones who caught it, all of the Star Networkizens saw it, do you want to rob us?¡±


    "We were the ones who had found it first, and chased it all the way here to capture it. As you said, all of the Star Networkizens have seen it. I have more witnesses than all three of you." Rhett was very self-confident, his meaning was that he had more fans than Jing Yang''s team added up, if they didn''t want to be scolded, it would be best for them to be a little more sensible.


    Danny still wanted to continue arguing with him, but Jing Yang pulled him back. "Forget it, we''ll just let them have this one, you guys first climb a tree.¡±


    "Climb a tree?" Danny and Jake were clueless, but subconsciously they had already felt that following what Jing Yang said would definitely not be wrong.


    Jake and Danny both climbed up a tree, and Jing Yang also followed them up. From the tree he pulled on the long vine and released the red eyed gold horned deer, freeing its limbs.


    "We''ll still leave the prey for you both, if you have the ability you can catch it yourself." Jing Yang said.


    "You¡­" Rhett did not expect that Jing Yang would still have this method, he wanted to go up to press the red eyed gold horned deer down, but it was already charging towards them, so he could only turn around and run. And hispanion Goodyear had also found a tree to climb up after Jing Yang had gone up a tree.


    "Really, who the hell is the prey here?" Jake said with a ‡å expression. "Is there any prey that chases in the back, and the hunter runs in the front?¡±


    Theizens were all angered and speechless from Rhett''s impudence. He used his own fans being more to rob other people of their prey? Did this man have any shame? What exactly did his fans like about him? Only a person as shameless as he was would like a person like him!


    Rhett''s support tickets fell drastically, and his objecting votes actually grew by arge amount.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1]<strong> Cove</strong> ¨C ¿Æ·ò, pinyin ke fu, we are back with poorly tranted names


    [2] <strong>went for broke</strong> ¨C »í³öÈ¥, also means to throw caution to the wind, to press your luck


    [3] <strong>golden monkeys</strong> ¨C ½ðÇɺò, should be a typo, also ÇÉ isn''t really applicable here so I just left the golden


    [4] <strong>farting rabbits</strong> ¨C ·ÅƨÍÃ, quite possibly the weirdest animal name I''ve written yet<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    1.5 hours: 2 pm ¨C 3:30 pm, for 4.5k characters to 3.2k words. We are well on our way to the end of this arc. Honestly tranting two chapters a day is quite a timemitment, most of the time it takes 3 hours out of my day. We should be done quite soon though.<hr>

 Chapter 37

    <strong>Chapter 37</strong><strong>


    Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.10)


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Just when the three people were preparing to go back, they saw Kedie out of a cave. He was holding a grass nest in his hands, inside of which there were five or six fluffy buns that looked like newborn kitten cubs. They were opening their mouths and whimpering, totally adorable.


    Those fluffy buns were still too small, so as Jing Yang was looking from afar, for a while he was still unable to determine what animal that was exactly. After he searched using the system for a bit, hisplexion immediately changed.


    "Put them back!" Jing Yang quickly strode over to Kedi, warning him very seriously.


    "Are you sick? I found these myself, why would you make me put them back?" Kedi red at him, holding the grass nest and leaving.


    "Put them back, do you know what kind of animal this is?" Jing Yang frowned.


    "Of course I know what they are?" Kedi turned back around. "Aren''t they just the cubs of the <strong>giant paw beast</strong>? Do you think that you''re the only one who knows? Don''t think that just because you were lucky enough to get some useful herbs that you really think only you are omniscient. Everything you know, I also know, but the things you don''t know, I also know.¡±


    "Since you know that they''re the cubs of the giant paw beast¡­¡±


    Jing Yang had not finished talking when they heard a loud noiseing from a distance. Even the ground was trembling, as if there was some giant animal running quickly in this direction.


    It was the mother beast who had been rmed by the cubs¡¯ cries!


    Kedi hugged the grass nest in his arms and turned to run, and Jing Yang also followed him running, "Quickly put them down!¡±


    Jake and Danny didn''t understand what was going on, but they also felt the danger getting closer and followed them to flee.


    The four limbs of the giant paw beast were very thick and long, their running speed was extremely fast. Seeing that it was getting closer and closer, Jing Yang turned to look at the two running behind them, saying, "You two quickly run in another direction. If you use a different route to go back to the hill, you''ll have no problems.¡±


    "What about you? You''re noting with us?" Jake called.


    "I have a way to escape! You guys don''t need to mind me, quickly run somewhere else!" Jing Yang yelled back.


    The mother would definitely chase her cubs. When Jake and Danny started running to the left, she indeed did not follow after them.


    The adult giant paw beasts possess immense strength: with just one swipe they could tear down a tree that would require several men to lift. When it was running, the ground constantly vibrated, bringing up a lot of loose dirt. Along the way, it broke quite a few trees that were in its way.


    "You''re still not putting down the cubs!" Jing Yang ran in front of Kedi, turning to yell at him.


    Seeing the mother beast''s giant paws almost mming into him multiple times, Kedi was scared out of his wits, his legs had almost gone soft. After he was reminded by Jing Yang, he used his strength to throw the grass nest backwards.


    "Don''t throw it!" Jing Yang yelled, but it was already toote. The cubs were thrown in the air, and the mother beast let out a <strong>heartrending</strong> roar.


    Jing Yang did everything he could to leap forward and try to catch the cubs, but one of them fell out of the grass nest and rolled a bit on the ground, immediately falling to its death.


    The mother beast roared in sorrow, the entire jungle shook with her cries. Jing Yang immediately got up and ran back.


    The mother beast carried the dead cub in her mouth and also turned to chase Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang ran back to the cave and ced the cubs in the grass nest at the cave entrance. When he ran away, the mother beast did not chase him. But the cries of the mother beast could still be heard from far away, crying for her dead child.


    Jing Yang returned to the hill and saw Kedi sitting under a tree to rest. He strode over and lifted him by his cor, saying, "You always say that I have a brain problem, aren''t you the real one who has a brain problem?¡±


    "What are you doing?" Kedi stood up and pushed Jing Yang away.


    The people beside them all stood up and looked at them.


    "You did it on purpose, didn''t you?" Jing Yang questioned him.


    "What did I do on purpose? How would I know the mother beast would suddenlye back?" Kedi loudly defended himself. "Besides, was I the one who made you run with me? I was also almost pped to death by the mother beast!"


    "You definitely did it on purpose! Even from the beginning!" Jing Yang pointed angrily at him. "Don''t you im to be a walking nt encyclopedia? Don''t you im that you''re omnipotent and omniscient about everything in the wilderness? Yesterday your team was the first to go to the pond to fetch water, you took the water for yourself and provoked the pointed tail snakes, but when the other people went to fetch water, you didn''t even say a word. You just deliberately want to let other people be hurt, isn''t that right?¡±


    "You''re saying nonsense!" Kedi retorted loudly.


    "Very good, then I''ll ask you, do you really not know that the withered fruit can fight poison with poison, or did you deliberately not want anyone else to treat their wounds?"


    This time Kedi had no way to respond. He did not want to admit that he did not know, and even more so did not want to admit that he did it intentionally.


    But his silence actually allowed the others to make even more inferences, and their eyes looking at him changed.


    Jing Yang put on a face full of anger and continued to roar, "Since you knew that they were the cubs of the giant paw beast, could it be that you did not know that as long as the cubs cry, the mother beast will be able to hear it no matter how far away she is? Could it be that you didn''t know that the giant paw beast cubs are so fragile that they simply can''t even leave the cave at all? I told you over and over to put the cubs down, why did you not listen? The giant paw beast didn''t p you to death a few times, did you think that it was really not able to? It was because you were carrying its children!¡±


    Kedi''s face was extremely ugly. He had no way to refute Jing Yang''s words, because he really did not know that that the giant paw beast cubs would be so fragile.


    The cries of the mother beast suddenly came over, making the crowd jump in fear. She was right on the other side of the hill, constantly calling out toward this side.


    Jing Yang had just deliberately asked Kedi those questions because he knew that he definitely had no way to respond. At this moment, it was more like he was 30% angry in his heart, but he made an appearance of being 100% angry. He wanted to properly teach Kedi a lesson, and this could also be consideredpleting one of Milton''s wishes.


    "Do you hear that? Hear that?!" Jing Yang dragged Kedi by the cor to the edge of the hill and threw him on the ground. "If it coulde over, it would p us all to death to avenge its child! It cries so heartrendingly all because of you, because you made its child fall to its death! You go over to ount for yourself!¡±


    "How would I know that those cubs would be so fragile and die just from falling to the ground!" Kedi unwillingly roared at Jing Yang. "Also, why do I need to justify myself to it? It''s just an animal, we humans kill countless animals, so what if I dropped a cub to its death?¡±


    "Didn''t you say that you know more than me? Didn''t you say that you knew whatever I knew, and you also knew what I didn''t know? Right now you''re saying that you didn''t know that the cubs would be so fragile? Then earlier when I kept on telling you to put them back, why did you not listen?" Jing Yang gave him a hard punch to his face.


    Kedi fell on the ground from his punch, he climbed up and wanted to fight back, but again fell down from Jing Yang''s punch. The people around them then came over to separate the two.


    For the cuter and more adorable animals, people always have morepassion. Even though the adult giant paw beasts were not very good-looking, the cubs were really very pink and adorable. When the cub had been thrown out of the grass nest and fell on the ground, many people had all closed their eyes and couldn''t bear to keep watching.


    When they had confirmed that the cub had been killed, and the mother beast was letting out heartrending cries, theizens all felt their hearts sting. Whether or not it was just an animal that had died, they could still feel it. It was a mother roaring and crying for her dead child.


    This time Kedi had not only angered the animal protectors, but also caused even his fans to think that his behavior had gone overboard. Plus he did not feel any remorse, which made them even angrier, so he absolutely deserved getting punched.


    Because the mother beast was constantly crying out on the other side of the hill, no one dared to go over. Today''s game could be considered automatically to be over.


    As the sky darkened, Jing Yang had no intention at all of preparing dinner, so everyone else and theizens all felt that he was mourning for the dead cubs. Jing Yang really did feel some remorse in his heart, if his movements had been a little faster, he could have been able to save that cub. Unfortunately, even though he had a powerful system, he still had no way to turn back time, and at that time he had already done his best.


    When Bowie appeared, Jing Yang nced at him and said, "There''s no dinner today.¡±


    Bowie sat down next to him. "I know. I saw everything, you did your best. It''s not your fault that you weren''t able to save all the cubs.¡±


    "More than that cub, I''m still thinking about something else." Jing Yang responded.


    "Are you willing to share your thoughts?¡±


    "Every year many people die in the wilderness or in extreme sports, and there are also a lot of rare animals that have be extinct because of some people''s ignorance. I think there''s nothing wrong with wanting to seek excitement and experience the primitive, natural way of life. But some people who have not gone through repeated practice or learning, in order to enjoy the thrill a couple times, would pay the price with their lives. That¡¯s being irresponsible to their rtives, and even more irresponsible to themselves.¡±


    "That is their own decision, and even if the government issued a decree banning it, there would still be people doing it secretly." Bowie responded.


    "I know, I was just thinking, there could be a training camp that could train for all kinds of experiences. During the course of the experience, you could receive assistance and safety measures, and they would charge different amounts for different levels of experiences. I have always felt that relying on the help of high tech products to protect your own safety is nothing wrong, but many people cannot afford those expensive tech products. If there is a training camp, you could rent those tech products out each time to those people, and they would not need to spend that much to buy one.¡±


    "You have quite excellent business acumen." Bowie looked at him with appreciation in his eyes. "Perhaps after thepetition we can have a good chat about this matter.¡±


    Manyizens also felt that this was quite a great idea. The reason wilderness survival and extreme sports live broadcasts were so popr was because there were too many people who wanted to try it out but had no way to for a variety of reasons. And of those who had really dared to take that leap, there were also quite a few who had died as a result.


    Jing Yang saying those words so seriously and earnestly caused theizens to be quite moved. It seemed that as if from the beginning of thepetition, he was always a particrly serious and calm person, and would also always consider other people. Kedi and Rhett had such a bad attitude towards him, yet they had never seen him get angry with them. It was only until Kedi had dropped the cub to its death and still felt no remorse about it that he finally got angry.


    He was happy to share the fruits of his ownbor with others, and never refused their requests. He didn''t care about what other people thought about him, and also didn''t go argue about what was right or wrong with others, only silently doing what he should do. He knew a lot of things and knew how to do a lot of things, but he never deliberately showed off or hid it privately.


    This kind of Milton waspletely different from what theizens had thought about him before. The Milton in their imagination was an impulsive and irritable, fake and justifying person. He would always be exposed by Kedi, and then desperately justify himself, and when Kedi lightly said a few words, he would be furious.


    Interpretation of words is greatly influenced by someone''s subjective imagination of another person in their minds. After learning about the true personalities of Milton and Kedi, they found that everything had turned out to be different from what they had thought. The words that Milton had used to defend himself were not flustered excuses, but serious and earnest exnations. And Kedi''s attitude was also not the light and polite appearance, but a face of arrogance and disdain, pride and ridicule.


    It turned out that from the beginning, they were the ones who had thought wrongly.


    ~


    The sky hadpletely darkened. When Jing Yang wanted to climb up to the "spider web" to rest, two contestants walked over to say, "Milton, can you give us a bit of your insect repent?¡±


    They had wanted toe over earlier, but Earl Wilson was always talking to him, and they didn''t dare to intrude. They admired Milton quite a bit for actually being able to chat so naturally with such a big man, while they didn''t even have the courage to look at him a few more times. It was only after Earl Wilson had left that they finally dared toe and ask Milton for some medicine, or else it would be difficult to get through the night.


    Jing Yang took a look at them and then turned around to say to Danny, "How about you divide up the remaining medicine between the others.¡±


    Danny took the bamboo tube and gave each person a bit of medicine. He deliberately only did not go over to Kedi''s team of three.


    Goodyear came over to Danny and asked, "Can you give me a bit?¡±


    Danny looked at him with great surprise. In his heart he was a little hesitant, but he thought that Goodyear actually did not really do anything overboard, since all of those things had been done by Kedi and Rhett. So he gave thest bit of medicine to him.


    Rhett thought that Goodyear would divide some to him and Kedi after getting the medicine, but he actually did not.


    So that night, only Kedi and Rhett these two people continued to jump for a night. The next morning, their faces were bitten until red and swollen.


    None of the contestants sympathized with them, and they all treated them with much more indifference. On Star Network, there was only a small number of brain-dead fans of the two people who said some uglyments because Jing Yang had not taken the initiative to give those two insect repent, but they were immediately surrounded and attacked by the otherizens.


    When Ruth came down, she announced the end of the second stage and released the scores of each team. Kedi had caused the death of an animal cub, so each member of their team had been deducted 50 points.


    "Why does every person get 50 points deducted?" Rhett argued unwillingly. "The cub''s death had nothing to do with me? Neither of us were there at that time.¡±


    Ruth used a very impolite tone to reply to him, "Because you are a team, when you are scored everyone gets the same score, and when points are deducted naturally every person will lose points.¡±


    "Next let us look at your votes on Star Network." Ruth pped her hands, and a projection of the Star Network appeared in front of them.


    The Star Network voting situation was originally only supposed to be shown to them at the very end, but Bowie had told them to let them see it now. Ruth also did not understand why he did this.


    Everyone first looked at their own votes, and then went to see other people''s votes.


    What greatly surprised the other contestants was that Kedi and Rhett had arge increase in objecting votes, and their supporting votes had also fallen drastically. Even though Goodyear had not done anything overboard, but because he was in the same team as them, he was also hated by manyizens. So even though his objecting votes did not increase, his supporting votes had also decreased quite a bit.


    This kind of reversal made Kedi and Rhett''s faces be quite ugly. When they hade to participate in thepetition, their biggest reliance was on theirrge number of fans, so they had been very confident that they could ce. But now that Milton''s support votes were higher than theirs and objecting votes were lower than theirs, this also meant that not only had they lost the advantage of their fan count, but had also been hated by manyizens.


    Kedi was very angry in his heart, he felt that this was all Jing Yang''s fault. If it wasn''t for him, how could he be hated like this by theizens. He had to retaliate, he needed to think of some way to turn things around.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>giant paw beast</strong> ¨C ¾ÞÕÆÊÞ, we continue our extremely literal animal names


    [2] <strong>heartrending</strong> ¨C ˺ÐÄÁÑ·Î, literally means tear the heart and rip the lungs<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A bit over one hour: 1:30 pm ¨C 2:40 pm, for 4.5k characters to 3k words. It¡¯s such a nice feeling taking less time than usual to trante a chapter. The downfall of the antag is going to speed up. I¡¯m trying to remember if the next chapter is when JY determines the ML, but I don¡¯t quite remember. We¡¯ll see!


    <strong>Edit:</strong> My memory was right. So if you¡¯re one of the ones who is averse to BL, be warned ??<hr>

 Chapter 38

    <strong>Chapter 38</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.11)</strong>


    Jing Yang ate dinner at the restaurant in the lounge area and then returned to his room to prepare to take a shower, and then go to sleep.


    The restroom was filled with mist, the warm water was flowing over his body when the bathroom door suddenly opened, startling Jing Yang. Immediately he opened his eyes to see that it actually was Bowie standing at the door.


    Jing Yang turned off the water and pulled over the bath towel to cover his waist. He looked at Bowie somewhat guardedly and asked, "What are you doing?¡±


    Bowie entered the bathroom and closed the door, leaning back on the door with his arms crossed. He looked Jing Yang over a few times and then said, "I want to chat with you.¡±


    "At this time? In this ce? Chat?" Jing Yang looked at him inexplicably. "Can you let me get out and put on some clothes first?¡±


    Bowie walked forward a few steps, and Jing Yang was forced to retreat, backing up against the wall. Bowie ced both his hands on the wall, trapping Jing Yang between his arms.


    "If you want to chat about the training camp, we can go out and slowly chat about it." Jing Yang could feel the desire in his eyes, he also really wanted to confirm right now whether or not he was his lover, but he still had thepetition tomorrow. If he were really his lover, he would definitely not be able to escape tonight.


    "We can talk about business at any time in the future, right now let''s talk about some personal matters." Bowie''s face approached closer and closer, whispering in Jing Yang''s ear, "We''ll just chat here.¡±


    Jing Yang''s ears were very sensitive, he couldn''t bear him blowing on his ears like this. He reached out to push his face away a bit, asking, "What do you want to chat about?¡±


    "From the first moment I saw you, I was attracted to you. I want to pursue you." Bowie confessed to him very directly.


    "I ept your pursuit, but everything should have its own process. Can we not first go out, and then sit down and discuss with each other our interests or something, get to know each other first." Jing Yang attempted to talk it over with him.


    "My interests are extremely simple, before I was only interested in earning money, and now I have another one, you." Bowie pinched his chin, rubbing his lips with his thumb. "Since you have already agreed, then we are lovers now, can I enjoy my welfare?¡±


    Jing Yang covered his hand, saying nervously, "I only agreed to let you pursue me, I didn''t agree to be with you. If you progress like this, are you going a little too fast?¡±


    "This is already very slow for me, did you know how much torture it was for me to only be able to see you through the projection these past days?" He stroked his reddened cheek. "Did you know how much I wanted to touch you, to hug you?¡±


    When his hand slipped over Jing Yang''s neck, Jing Yang trembled a bit. He pressed down on his hand, not letting him continue. If it had been someone else, Jing Yang would long have already beaten him until all his teeth had fallen out when he entered. But when he faced Bowie''s eyes full of his desire to devour him, his will to resist became weaker and weaker.


    Bowie cupped Jing Yang''s head, kissing him hard. He contained his lips and stretched his tongue in to wreak havoc on his mouth.


    Jing Yang was kissed dizzy, his soul <strong>became restless</strong> from longing, that empty feeling again appeared, he needed to be satisfied. This kind of familiar desire of his soul allowed him to determine that this person was his own lover, but he still used hisst thread of reason to push him away.


    "You calm down a bit, we''re moving too quickly, I can''t take it. We should still slow down a bit¡­¡­" Jing Yang desperately tried to stay clear-headed and find a reason to refuse him.


    Bowie picked him up easily and walked out of the restroom. He pressed him on the bed and kissed him while saying, "I can''t wait any more, if we slow down, I might be unable to resist charging over to pounce on you while you''repeting. I don''t mind the gazes of other people, if you also don''t care about them¡­¡­.¡±


    "Ah!" The towel around Jing Yang''s waist was ripped off, and he was startled a bit. He knew that he could no longer resist, because his body had thoroughly surrendered to him.


    ~


    Jing Yang limplyy in his arms, and Bowie hugged him, endlessly kissing his face and lips.


    "You really went overboard." Jing Yangined, he had almost fallen apart from this guy. His movements were still as domineering as before, making himpletely lose his spirit afterwards.


    "You still enjoyed it though, right?" Bowie kissed him again.


    "I still have topete tomorrow, you scoundrel." That feeling just now of his soul almost being sucked out of his body made him feel <strong>iparably sluggish</strong>. But this kind of stimting pleasure still let his heart and body feel extremely enjoyable.


    "That''s why I only did it two times, just two times. If it were not because you still needed topete tomorrow, I would not have let you go for an entire night." Bowie''s broad palms swam over his body. "I fell in love with you at first sight, ever since the moment I first saw you, I was unable to take my eyes off of you. I immediately ran over to see you, but even though we were so close, I still missed you so much. You have hooked my soul away, did you know?¡±


    "Do you want to use your loving words to submerge and then drown me to death?" Jing Yang raised his limp hand, touching his face.


    Bowie pressed him down,ying his hand on his heart. "You also like me, I can feel it.¡±


    Every time Bowie used the excuse of mooching off his food to get the opportunity to see Jing Yang, he would use immense effort to conceal his own emotions, not daring to reveal any behavior that was too out of the ordinary. He actually didn''t care about what other people thought about him, he was just afraid that it would have a bad influence on Jing Yang, who was still in the middle of thepetition.


    But even if he had already tried to restrain himself, from the gentle gaze he exposed when looking at Jing Yang, and the ambiguous atmosphere from the two men''s spiritualmunication, it was still seen by someizens. But the good news was that the number of people who hoped that they could be together was in the majority, and also because of the majesty and power of the royal family, no bad rumors were disseminated.


    ~


    The next day, Ruth announced to the contestants that the wilderness survival portion of thepetition was over. From today on, they would be entering the extreme sports challenge portion.


    In thepetition tasks, they would do an extreme sports ry race on the first day. There were three extreme sports events, and each team would decide amongst themselves how to allocate their members. The next day they would have <strong>aerial surfing</strong> performances, with each team picking a representative topete.


    Previously Kedi had so many fans precisely because he was good at extreme sports. It was also because he had exposed Milton many times using protective equipment while challenging extreme sports that he had caused Milton to be attacked so badly.


    Finally reaching thepetition content that he was best at, Kedi was full of confidence and fighting spirit. He wanted to use all possible methods to press down on Milton''s arrogance, and through his performance during this time''spetition portion, redeem his image with theizens.


    Kedi''s brainless fans also hoped that he would be able to thoroughly crush Milton this time, and even leftments saying that Milton talking to Earl Wilson about creating a training camp and saying something about using the help of high tech products wasn''t wrong, was really only him finding excuses for himself. The live broadcast of the extreme sports challenge wouldpletely expose his true strength and prove that he simply would not be able toplete those events after leaving his high tech products behind.


    The three events were whitewater speedboating, cross country obstacle motorcycling, and wall climbing. Some people''s facial expression immediately changed just listening to these three events. The danger of these events was really high, evenpleting all of them would be simply too difficult for some of them.


    But the good thing was that there were some loopholes. Ruth said that if you failed during the challenge, you could restart the challenge or give up the challenge. This also meant that they could just pretend to fail and avoid getting into danger. Anyways giving up the challenge was only not getting a score and would not be considered as withdrawing from thepetition. After all, they just couldn''tplete it, and the organizers also couldn''t just force them to die, could they?


    Jing Yang let Jake and Danny work together to challenge the whitewater speedboating, and he alone wouldplete the cross country obstacle course motorcycling and the wall climbing.


    Before he headed over to the waiting area for the next event, Jing Yang instructed them, "Go slowly, don''t be too anxious. It doesn''t matter if you''re slower a little, I can catch up afterwards.¡±


    Kedi heard Jing Yang''s arrangements next to them, and in order to be able topletely go head to head with him, he also made the same arrangement. He told Rhett and Goodyear toplete the whitewater speedboating together, and he wouldplete the cross country obstacle course and wall climbing himself.


    Despite his self-confident appearance, Goodyear actually looked at him with some distrust, asking, "Can you do it?¡±


    Kedi exposed a slight smile that seemed to suggest he <strong>had a trick up his sleeve</strong>. "As long as you guys don''t take too long, I guarantee that I will be able to shake him off an entire stage. But I think that you guys will not be unable to beat even Jake and Danny those weaklings, so this time we will definitely win.¡±


    Whitewater speedboating was indeed easier to manage with two people, one would control their bnce, and one would control their direction and speed. But they had to make sure they worked together well enough, otherwise it was very easy for them to identally overturn the boat. If they did not control well enough and hit a stone, they would be seriously injured if they were lucky, and even killed if unlucky.


    Jake and Danny acted ording to Jing Yang''s words. They didn''t pursue speed, only steadily driving forward. When they encountered a steeper slope, they directly gave up speed, making efforts to steady the speedboat. They only wanted to not overturn the boat.


    Rhett and Goodyear almost hit a rock because they were going too fast, but fortunately Goodyear, who was controlling their bnce, was able to flip the speedboat right over, and the bottom of the boat scraped past the boulder, not directly crashing into the stone. But the boat had overturned, so they could only start over from the beginning.


    Jake and Danny progressed the entire way <strong>steadily and surely</strong>, and actually did not overturn once. They even arrived two minutes earlier than Rhett and Goodyear.


    After he received the baton, Jing Yang immediately started the off-road cross country motorbike and drove up the mountain, starting off toward the next event.


    Kedi set off two minutester than Jing Yang, he immediately chased after him to catch up and wanted to pass him on the narrow uphill mountain path.


    The mountain path was very rugged and difficult to travel on, and there would also sometimes be stakes and stones rolling down on them. They had to avoid those things, otherwise they would be knocked down the mountain if they were hit.


    After Jing Yang had dodged two consecutive stakes rolling down, Kedi took the opportunity to catch up to him on the side, but he also found a giant stake that was directly heading toward him. The two people chased after each other, the atmosphere was extremely exciting and tense, the people watching could not resist their heartbeats speeding up.


    When they encountered a quagmire, Kedi directly drove right through, the mud sshed all over, his own body was also covered in mud. When Jing Yang had spotted the quagmire from afar, he already started elerating, and as he approached, he forcefully raised the front tire, directly flying above Kedi''s head over the quagmire, getting in front of him.


    Going downhill was actually even more difficult than going uphill, and also more dangerous. Obstacles constantly appeared on the road to further increase the difficulty of their biking.


    Traveling downhill also allowed Jing Yang to pull far ahead of Kedi in an instant. Jing Yang obviously was better able to use the obstacles to help himself go faster, and help him stay more stable when he was making his jumps.


    Seeing the distance between the two pull even farther, Kedi started to be anxious. But the more anxious he became, the more shaky his riding was. He had be tilted several times and nearly fallen down.


    Jing Yang arrived at thest event much earlier than Kedi. He threw down the motorbike and immediately started to climb up the stone cliff.


    The perfectly vertical stone cliff,bined with thepleteck of protective equipment, made even watching them climb up like this extremely <strong>disturbing</strong>.


    For most of the contestants, when they arrived under the cliff and looked up at the cliff, they immediately chose to give up. There were too few spots that could act as handholds or footholds, and the wall became even smoother the higher up they went. The cliff was over a thousand meters tall, if you climbed halfway and fell down, you would <strong>die horribly</strong>.


    Jing Yang was like a spider, tightly attached to the wall, his four limbs working together to climb up. Often only a single toe would have a hold on the wall, and at those times he could only use his fingertip strength and pick some small bumps on the wall to climb up.


    Kedi wanted to catch up to Jing Yang, so he was very impatient in his heart, which made his movements appear somewhat flustered. A few times he grabbed at nothing and almost fell right down, just watching him made people unable to resist breaking out into a cold sweat.


    Jing Yang''s climbing movements made the people watching him excited and exhrated, he perfectly disyed the strength and skill required for rock climbing. His climbing looked like a brilliant performance.


    And Kedi''s actions that seemed like he might fall down at any moment, besides making the people watching feel terrified and on edge, they felt no desire to keep on watching.


    By the time Kedi had climbed halfway up, Jing Yang had already made it to the top.


    The contestants were all cheering for him, and theizens were also cheering him on. Jing Yang stood at the edge of the cliff, thergest flying camera was constantly flying around him to shoot. On Star Network, all of the screens had focused on him.


    He had conquered this cliff and trampled it under his feet. Even though when looking from afar, he seemed very smallpared to the tall cliff, but at this moment his image in the other people''s minds was iparably tall. This was exactly the charm of extreme sports¡ªrelying on his own strength, hepleted something impossible. Conquering something natural and powerful was a very exciting matter.


    When Kedi returned to the gathering point, his face was extremely ugly. He felt that all of the gazes falling on him were full of sarcasm, and even his teammates Rhett and Goodyear stood far away from him after seeing his expression. No one went up tofort him.


    "It''s all your fault!" Kedi had already lost his reason from his anger. He pointed at Rhett and Goodyear to vent his anger, ming them for his loss. "If you hadn''t been so slow during the first event, how could I have lost to him? You two couldn''t even beat the two weakest people, you were actually even slower than them!¡±


    Kedi''s usation made Rhett and Goodyear''s expression immediately also be ugly. Goodyear retorted, "Please do not be mistaken, we were onlyter by two minutes, but you were thrown away half a stage by him. If you''re not as strong as other people, you should just generously admit it, putting the responsibility on someone else will not be able to cover up your ipetence.¡±


    "You said I''m ipetent?" Kedi red at him, bing even angrier. "Since you feel like I''m ipetent, then don''t be in the same team as me. Tomorrow''s aerial surfing is precisely what I am best at, the scores that I earn myself will not be counted as yours.¡±


    Goodyear mocked, "You also said that you were best at wilderness survival, you also said that you were best at identifying nts, and you also said that you were best at extreme sports. You seem to be best at many different things, but in reality you are inferior to other people.¡±


    Goodyear had voiced the thoughts in theizens'' minds, their affection for Kedi had already dropped to a negative number. Kedi''s supporting votes continued to decline, and the number of people who continued to support him, had already be very few.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>be restless</strong> ¨C ´À´ÀÓû¶¯, idiom, literally means begin to stir


    [2] <strong>iparably sluggish</strong> ¨C »º²»¹ýÀ´, I think this just means like extremely »º, which means sluggish


    [3] <strong>aerial surfing</strong> ¨C ¿ÕÖгåÀË, literal meaning, I had previously put like flyboarding since I didn¡¯t quite remember what it was, but it is aerial surfing. If you see flyboarding still left in here anywhere, please lmk!


    [4] <strong>trick up his sleeve</strong> ¨C ÐØÓгÉÖñ, idiom, means n in advance


    [5] <strong>steadily and surely</strong> ¨C ÎÈÔúÎÈ´ò, idiom, literally means to go steady and strike hard


    [6] <strong>extremely disturbing</strong> ¨C ¾ªÐĶ¯ÆÇ, idiom, hair-raising, shaking to the core


    [7] <strong>die horribly</strong> ¨C ·ÛÉíËé¹Ç, idiom, literally torn body and crushed bones<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over 1.5 hours: 2:30 pm ¨C 4:10 pm, for 4.4k characters to 3k words. This took slightly longer for some reason, I think it was bc of the extreme sports lol. That¡¯s not really a topic I delve into very often in my life, though I remember watching some videos probably about BTOB (the only kpop group I follow btw, and they¡¯re amazing check them out) where I think one of the members may have done something like the flyboarding. So I¡¯m not sure exactly if it¡¯s like jetpacking on the water or if it¡¯s actually surfing. I¡¯ll check again tomorrow when we actually get to the next chapter about it.


    Also I was right~~ the smex urs this chapter! Don¡¯t you hate that it just gets censored. Smh people, we¡¯re all adults here. Right?? They keep getting together sote every arc so far.


    <strong>Edit: </strong>Well, for at least two years BTOB was the only kpop group I followed. A month ago I started to follow SVT, mainly the China Line. I rmend Night and Rain by Xu Minghao to everyone ??<hr>

 Chapter 39

    <strong>Chapter 39</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.12)</strong>


    Jing Yang had just entered his own room when he was suddenly hugged from behind, and he almost subconsciously counterattacked. After identifying the person behind him, he helplessly said, "Do you really have to show up so suddenly every time?¡±


    Bowie pressed him against the wall and bent down, containing his lips. He forcefully sucked, that soft and tender texture made him feel like he was tasting the most delicious dessert in the world.


    "En~" Jing Yang let out a sound of protest, his tongue had almost be sore from his stirring around.


    Bowie released his lips, then kissed the corners of his mouth, then his earlobe, and then his neck.


    "Can¡¯t you let me take a shower first?" Jing Yang held down the hand that he had reached into his pants.


    Bowie picked him up and walked into the bathroom, Jing Yang leaned on his shoulder. At this moment, when he hadpletely rxed, he finally felt somewhat tired.


    The two people soaked in the bathtub together. Jing Yang leaned on Bowie''s body, closing his eyes to let Bowie help him wash up.


    "I don''t like you going to do these things." Bowie suddenly said.


    "¡­What things?" Jing Yang was somewhat <strong>lethargic</strong>, not reacting to the meaning of what he had said.


    "When I was watching you climb up the stone wall, I was really worried, I don''t want to see you suffer any kind of harm." Bowie had made people quietly prepare safety measures under the cliff, and just in case he fell down, they would immediatelyunch the emergency rescue equipment to save him. He didn''t care about the rules of the game, and could absolutely not endure him suffering the least bit of injury. When he had just started to climb up, he had the urge to terminate the game immediately.


    "Ah, I made you worried?" Jing Yang opened his eyes, reaching back to touch his face. "Truthfully it''s quite interesting. I had confidence that I would definitely be able to seed so I did it, I will not go risk my life so easily. If there is the protection of the high tech products, even if I fell down I would also not be injured. After thispetition is over, I will make sure to set up thorough measures well.¡±


    "High tech products also can''t be 100% guaranteed to protect your safety, even if it were only a 1 out of 10000 chance of danger, I would still not want you to take the risk." Bowie added force to his arms, wrapping him tightly in his chest. "Before, I had always felt that there was nothing that I could not bear, but now I finally have one, losing you is the only thing I have no way to bear.¡±


    Jing Yang could understand his emotions, because he also couldn''t be absolutely sure that the two people could meet in every world, so as long as they did, he would particrly treasure it. "Then¡­in the future I won''t y such dangerous projects, and only do some simpler and safer ones, how about that?¡±


    "I''ll help you find an excuse, you should give up tomorrow''spetition." Bowie suddenly said.


    "Why?" Jing Yang turned to look at him with surprise.


    "I''ve already said the reason earlier, tomorrow''s event is even more dangerous, you are also a verypetitive person. In order to do your best, you will definitely neglect your own safety to do some highly difficult movements¡­¡±


    Jing Yang sat up to face him. Holding his face, he said, "You have to have faith in me, it was so hard for me to finally meet you, I will definitely not neglect my own safety. Plus it''s already thest event, if I withdraw at this time, wouldn''t all my hard work from before all be in vain?¡±


    Bowie just looked at him with a nk expression, not speaking.


    He thought of the previous two worlds, that as long as he acted coquettishly to him and then requested anything of him, he would always definitely agree. Jing Yang bent to hug his shoulders, rubbing his own face on Bowie''s cheek like a little kitten, and whispered in his ear, "Okay?¡±


    Jing Yang using his coquettish trump card was really 100% sess, Bowie agreed to let him continue thepetition, but as long as there appeared a tiny bit of danger, he would immediately act.


    Jing Yang had still thought that he would once again definitely not be able to escape today, that he would be fiddled with for a while before being able to sleep. But after Bowie carried him onto the bed, he only hugged him in his arms and helped him massage his muscles, and actually did not do some intense exercise. Jing Yangy on his chest and very quickly fell asleep.


    ~


    Aerial surfing was an extremely thrilling extreme sport in the air that would <strong>make people''s blood race</strong>. It was thebination of two sports, skateboarding and skydiving.


    Thepetitors wore skateboards on their feet and a parachute on their backs. They leapt down from the airship, using their free fall time to perform various stunts in the air, as if they were surfing in the air. This kind of stunt, although magnificent, was very dangerous. Each action needed to be precisely calcted and grasped, and when they performed the move there also could not appear the slightest deviation. With just a little carelessness, they could die horribly.


    In the previous life, Milton had precisely been nted in this event. Kedi had tampered with his parachute bag, causing him to fall straight down from the sky. When he had been rescued, not a single bone or organ in his entire body had been intact. Even the help of the most advanced medical equipment had also only given him a few more years of life. Milton had carried his hatred to his death, and then Jing Yang came to this world to take his ce and help him fulfill his wishes.


    The sevenpetitor representatives were sent onto an airship and flew even higher in the sky to prepare for the event. Originally there were six teams, and there should have been six representatives, but Kedi said that he wanted to be in a team by himself, so now there were seven teams.


    All of thepetitors had already put on all of their equipment, sitting down in the seats on the airship to wait for their turn to jump down for their performance. The judges would give a personal score based on each person''s action difficulty, execution, aesthetics, and other aspects. There was a highest possible score of 30 points this time.


    After Kedi got on the airship, he kept on wanting to get an opportunity to approach Jing Yang. In this life, he still had the idea to tamper with Jing Yang''s parachute bag. Jing Yang avoided him very deliberately, and even when he came over to greet him, he also did not pay him any attention. Jing Yang ignoring him made Kedi feel very disgraced, and he also kept on not being able to find an opportunity to get close to him again.


    Jing Yang had originally thought about whether or not he should also tamper with Kedi''s things to avenge Milton properly. But when he woke up this morning, Bowie had told him something, so then he had dismissed this thought. In any case, he only needed to wait for Kedi to find his own death.


    Jing Yang had drawn the first slot. When he jumped into the open air, the skateboard faced a certain amount of resistance. After he found his bnce properly, he immediately made a gliding movement, turning a circle in the air.


    Then he continued to do some backflips, side flips, his feet seemed to really be stepping on some ocean waves, his movements skilled and smooth. He kept on maintaining his sliding motions, and would disy some stunts from time to time. In other people''s eyes, he didn''t seem to be falling, but flying.


    Whether they wereymen or insiders, they were all amazed at the elegance and precision of Jing Yang''s movements. Gravity seemed to have no influence on him: obviously he should have been falling down, but it seemed like he was flying upwards.


    The viewers'' hearts were boiling, with every action Jing Yang made, they could not help but let out exmations and cheers. Some people could no longer stay in their seats, directly expanding the projection to the max and standing in front of the projection and making some exaggerated movements, as if they were the ones who had performed those actions. After every action, they would excitedly p in celebration.


    When he was already quite close to the ground, Jing Yangpleted thest difficult action and opened his parachute, slowly floating to the ground.


    After his performance ended, the spectators all copsed on the sofa, but the excitement in their hearts still could not be quelled in a very long time, as if it were themselves who had experienced all of that.


    Star Network live broadcastments:


    ¡ª¡ªOh my god, that was really too brilliant, how is it possible for someone to be able to make such perfect movements. Even if it were with the help of high tech products, it would still not be possible right? I really do not dare to believe what I just watched was real!


    ¡ª¡ªThat was definitely the most brilliant and perfect aerial surfing performance that I have ever seen! There''s noparison!


    ¡ª¡ªI really worship Milton, he is truly omnipotent, he is the best live streamer in the wilderness survival, and also the king of extreme sports.


    ¡ª¡ªI had thought that yesterday''s rock climbing had already surpassed the limit, I didn''t think that today he would create another breakthrough.


    ¡ª¡ªMy heart rate was constantly elerating, even now it still hasn''t gone back to normal, I don''t know how I can express my inner excitement. All I can say is that because of this performance, Milton is my idol that will never change in my life, I will never forget this performance.


    Jing Yang sessfully lifted theizens'' mood, causing them to also have high expectations for the following contestants. But after watching their performances, the viewers'' moods gradually calmed down. Their performances were very ordinary. Especially after Jing Yang''s performance that had suddenly raised their appetite, the few simple movements that thepetitors afterward disyed werepletely unable to allow them to maintain their excited mood.


    Somepetitors didn''t even make any kind of moves, jumping down with their eyes closed, and after opening their parachute in mid-air, they slowly floated to the ground.


    Thest one was Kedi. After seeing Jing Yang''s performance, his mood was hard to describe. He had not thought that Milton would be so strong, he himself wouldpletely be unable to make those movements just relying on his own abilities. So he was even more convinced that he had made the right decision.


    When Kedi jumped off the airship, those few remaining brainless fans of his still held ast glimmer of expectations for him, hoping that his performance would surpass Jing Yang''s.


    His first few movements could be considered brilliant, butter on when he wanted toplete a difficult move, he failed twice in a row.


    Every second in the air needed to be grasped precisely because you would not be able to slow down yournding unless you opened the parachute, but that also would mean that your performance was over. Every mistake in your movements might create an irrevocable danger. And for these people who were participating in thispetition, besides the rescue equipment that Bowie had privately prepared for Jing Yang, if anyone else encountered danger, the organizers would not rescue them beforehand. Especially Kedi, who had already attracted Bowie''s hatred.


    Kedi''s movements kept on failing, making his face be veryplicated. There was some nervousness, some confusion, and even more anxiety and restlessness. Theizens were all quite puzzled¡ªeven if he couldn''t surpass the previous performance, he also didn''t have to perform this badly, right?


    Theizens still had not understood what was happening when Kedi had already begun his rapid descent straight down to the ground. He tried to pull open his parachute with a face full of panic, but the parachute kept on not opening.


    In thest ten or so seconds, many people directly screamed out, some people covered their mouths with their eyes open in shock, and the more timid ones directly closed their eyes, not daring to keep watching.


    Kedi''s parachute did not open. He directly crashed into the ground and lost consciousness, blood pooling under his body.


    The airship immediatelynded to rescue him, Kedi was carried onto the airship, covered in blood, and sent back to therger airship for emergency treatment.


    The otherpetitors were also sent back to the airship. Jing Yang returned to his room, and sure enough he saw Bowie waiting for him.


    "How was my performance?" Jing Yang hooked his arms around Bowie''s neck.


    "Brilliant, in the future there shouldn''t be anyone who will be able to surpass you." Bowie lowered his head to kiss his lips. This was praiseing from his heart, and not him deliberately favoring him because he loved him.


    "Then can I still y it in the future? It''s really quite fun." Jing Yang took the chance to fight for his own opportunities.


    Seeing the shining light in Jing Yang''s eyes and his heartfelt excitement, Bowie had no way to reject him as firmly as before, but at least he needed to ensure his safety. "Only when I am present.¡±


    "Good!" Jing Yang happily kissed him on the cheek.


    "Because there was an ident, we can''t hold your celebration banquet right away, or else it might have a bad effect on you. When everything is over, I will arrange the celebration for you." Bowie looked at him with some apology.


    "It doesn''t matter, I don''t care about this." Jing Yang indifferently said. "We can also not hold the celebration banquet, in any case me being the champion is already a foregone conclusion. But the prize money must be given to me.¡±


    Thepetition had already ended, and the voting had already ended. Jing Yang''s support votes were the most, and his personal scoring and off-site scoring were also the highest, so first ce was already his.


    Bowie smiled and said, "In the future all of mine will be yours, but you must be mine.¡±


    "Then won''t I be the richest man in the empire in the future?" Jing Yang deliberately made an exaggerated expression, and then asked him, <strong>beaming with joy</strong>, "Are you really <strong>extremely wealthy </strong>like the rumors say, with more money than the imperial treasury?¡±


    "On the surface the imperial treasury is controlled by the finance minister, but in secret I am the one in charge." Bowie said. "In the future you will be in charge of me, then you will be the richest man in the empire, the emperor will not be as rich as you.¡±


    "Are you sure that I will be the one in charge of you, not you in charge of me?" Jing Yang looked at him with some distrust, this person would always be much more powerful than him in every world.


    "You can decide the big matters, and I will decide the small things." Bowie coaxed him.


    "What ah?" Jing Yang was not fooled, immediately crying, "You will definitely say that there aren''t any big matters for me¡­¡±


    Jing Yang was unable to finish speaking, all of his words were swallowed into someone''s mouth. Thepetition waspletely over, they could finally indulge themselves until they werepletely satisfied.


    ~


    Kedi had gotten into an ident, it was hard to tell how he would end up, but just from that kind of direct fall, it was impossible for his condition to not be serious. He could already be considered to have fulfilled Milton''s wishes and avenged him.


    When the airship had returned to the imperial star, Kedi was still being rescued, and theizens were keen to know his situation. After all, he was still a quite famous person¡ªeven though his previously umted poprity had already basically dissipated, they were all ordinary people, so they were always very curious about the celebrities, including his situation after the ident.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>lethargic</strong> ¨C »è»èÓû˯, idiom, drowsy or sleepy


    [2] <strong>make people''s blood race</strong> ¨C ÈÈѪ·ÐÌÚ, idiom, means to be fired up


    [3] <strong>beaming with joy</strong> ¨C ü¿ªÑÛЦ, idiom, literally means brows raised in delight, eyesughing


    [4] <strong>extremely wealthy </strong>¨C ¸»¿ÉµÐ¹ú, idiom, has wealth equivalent to that of an entire nation, which makes more sense in what he''s saying here<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A bit over 1 hour: 7:45 pm ¨C 9 pm, for 4.3k characters to 2.8k words. I just went out in like <30 degree Fahrenheit weather, and my hands were freezing. Then after I typed this up, my left hand started getting a little sore. Rip. Also, aren¡¯t the two kids being together so adorable? I love them! The revenge is basically over, but you just have to tie a little bow on top, don¡¯t you?<hr>

 Chapter 40

    <strong>Chapter 40</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong><strong>Interster Inte Celebrity Live Broadcast Competition (Arc 3.13)</strong>


    After Kedi''s emergency rescue ended, the Star Networkpany headquarters announced the current status of his injury. They had rescued his life, but he waspletely paralyzed from the neck downwards, and could only rely on medical equipment to maintain his survival.


    Kedi''s end was almost the same as Milton''s from the past life, but he was a little better off than Milton, at least he was still able to speak to express his emotions and thoughts. Milton had been paralyzed over his entire body, with only his eyes able to move, he even had no way to let out any sound.


    After announcing Kedi''s injury status, the Star Networkpany also announced the cause of the ident. ording to the organizers'' investigation, besides his own mistakes in his movements, there was another reason for Kedi''s ident. The investigators found on his body a high tech product that he was using to cheat.


    In order to avoid the organizers'' search before thepetition, Kedi made sure to use a miniature form of high tech equipment, but he hadpletely misjudged the <strong>scope</strong> of this kind of miniature equipment, and after it failed to work properly it made the parachute jammed, and this caused the ident to ur.


    Kedi had be famous just because he did not rely on any high tech products, and even became hugely popr because he would often expose other people''s use of high tech products, but in the end he himself actually used high tech products in thepetition. Even if he had already suffered the consequences for his own actions, all of theizens who had liked him previously all felt extremely dissatisfied.


    In addition, they could tell that throughout the entirepetition, Kedi simply did not perform as well as in his own live broadcasts. Theizens could easily determine that Kedi must have also used high tech products in his other live streams. This kind of person was really too hypocritical, himself using high tech products while also exposing other people for using them.


    That Kedi would have this kind of result, besides Jing Yang''s agitation and pressure, as well as his own actions, Bowie also had some credit.


    Jing Yang''s acting had been too good, so that not only theizens, but even Bowie believed his deeply hurt and silently enduring appearance. The consequences of Bowie''s heartache was that some people would be out of luck. Even if Kedi had not done it himself, he would still not have been able to safely get through the end of thepetition.


    After Bowie had gotten to the where thepetition was held, he had made people keep an eye on Kedi. After discovering that he had prepared a high tech product, he did not immediately expose him. It was not until Kedi started using it that Bowie let his men fire jamming waves from the airship to make his tech product malfunction and him fall straight out of the sky. So the misjudging of the scope of the miniature equipment, was really just an excuse.


    Jing Yang was aware of all this, Bowie had already told him this matter before the start of the final event. Even though he knew, he did not sympathize with Kedi, all of this was what he should suffer.


    Jing Yang took the time to visit the hospital to see Kedi. After Kedi saw him, his mood became extremely agitated, his eyes became so bloodshot they seemed to drip blood.


    "You! What did youe here to do?" Even though Kedi could speak, his enunciation was not very clear, and his pronunciation was also quite vague.


    "I came to see you, and take the opportunity to tell you some things that you might not be too happy to know." Jing Yang sat down by the bed with a gentle and slight smile on his face, looking at him.


    "I won''t listen, you, you leave!" Kedi really wanted to yell loudly, but he simply could not yell out. Even though he could make sounds, that was already quite difficult for him, if he wanted to make his volume louder, that was basically impossible.


    "I got first ce in thepetition, tomorrow the awards banquet will be held. Even though you cannot attend, I will let the nurse help you project the entire process for you to watch." Jing Yangpletely ignored Kedi''s anger, speaking freely.


    "I won''t watch, it¡­" Kedi was angered until his breathing became uneven, he could tell that he had deliberatelye to show off. "You roll, roll!¡±


    "You seem to hate me quite a bit, why is this? We don''t seem to have any enmity, if we''re talking about hatred, it should also be me who hates you. It was you who had been going against me everywhere and making me embarrassed." Jing Yang looked at him.


    "It was all because of you, it was you, who cursed me to be like this now, this appearance. You will get retribution! Roll!" Kedi desperately yelled, but his sound was only just a little louder than normal.


    "Retribution?" Jing Yangughed. "I believe that there will be retribution in this world, you bing this way, was precisely your own retribution."


    "During thepetition, you wanted to tamper with my parachute bag. If I hadn''t avoided you, right now the one lying here would be me." Jing Yang stood up and looked down at him <strong>condescendingly</strong>. "I think you may be mistaken, the person who harmed you was not me, but yourself. Do you think that I should not have beaten you, that it was exactly because I kept on beating you, that you would use cheating methods, so I had caused you to be this way? I''ll tell you, you having these kinds of thoughts is precisely the real reason for you turning into this.¡±


    ~


    When the celebration banquet was held, everyone was present besides Kedi. Everyone had held on to the end and could receive a constion bonus. Only Kedi was disqualified because he had cheated during thepetition, and couldn''t even receive the constion bonus.


    Jing Yang leaned on Bowie''s chest, raising his head to receive his kisses. His kisses always felt so domineering, Jing Yang felt like his tongue was going to be sucked numb by him.


    Bowie released him, and looking at his rosy lips, he couldn''t resist wanting to kiss up again.


    Jing Yang immediately covered his mouth and warned him, "We should go out, we can''t just stay in the lounge all the time right?¡±


    Bowie really wanted to take him back now, but he was the main protagonist today, he still had to show his face at least a bit. Bowie hugged Jing Yang and stood up, then helped him tidy up his clothes. The two men walked out together.


    "Hey, idol, you finally came out, I had thought you weren''t going to show up." Ruth was wearing a red gown, she looked at Jing Yang and joked.


    "Milton." After Jake and Danny saw Jing Yang, they walked over. Jake said, "I thought you still hadn''t arrived yet.¡±


    "I stayed in the lounge for a while." Jing Yang smiled.


    "I really never thought that I would be able to get second ce, even now I still feel like it''s all a dream. If I had not been in a team with you, this would definitely not have been possible, I really thank you, Milton." Jake gushed gratefully.


    Danny added, "I still owe you an apology, sorry, previously I had such a bad attitude toward you, but you were still willing to let me join you. Then, thank you, because of your help, I was able to get third ce.¡±


    During thest two days of extreme sports events, all of thepetitors'' true skill levels werepletely exposed. Compared to their own live broadcasts, the difference was reallyrge. This made theizens very dissatisfied, leading to a sharp drop in support votes for the otherpetitors.


    Jake and Danny had never shown before that they were skilled at wilderness survival or extreme sports. However, during the course of thepetition, they still worked very hard toplete everything that they could do, which raised theizens'' affection for them. Because they were in the same team as Jing Yang, they also scored higher than the others, so they became the second and third ce.


    Besides worshipping Jing Yang, they were also filled with appreciation. Not only because they had been able to ce, but also because through thispetition, they had had a <strong>truly unique</strong> experience.


    "Come, you three, it''s time for you to ept your prizes. Wait until after you get the bonus and prize to chat some more." Ruth smiled at them.


    Of the entire awards banquet, only the awards section was live streamed.


    There were people arranged by Bowie in the hospital, and when Jing Yang was leaving, he had especiallymanded them to make Kedi watch through the entire awards segment. When Milton was lying on the hospital bed in the previous life, Kedi had also even gone to humiliate him. Jing Yang''s actions could already be considered quite polite.


    The projector in front of Kedi''s bed was turned on, the scene on the screen was the image of Jing Yang receiving his huge bonus. Bowie personally handed him the prize money.


    After Kedi saw the image clearly, his facial muscles twistedpletely, his lips trembled from anger, desperately shouting out small sounds, "Turn it off, turn it off, I won''t watch!¡±


    The hospital personnel who had already received their orders would obviously not listen to him, they turned the volume to the maximum and then left the ward, leaving Kedi alone inside. Even if he closed his eyes and didn''t look, he would still hear it.


    On the screen, Jing Yang was giving a speech, and the people below the stage were all pping and cheering for him. Thements left on Star Network were also all in praise and worship, all saying that <strong>he deserved to get</strong> first ce.


    Jealousy and anger rushed into Kedi''s mind like a torrent, he was unwilling and defiant, but he did not even have a chance to prove himself again. It should be him standing on that podium, receiving all of the praise and cheers! But he could only lie here motionless, unable to do anything, and unable to achieve anything.


    Even Jake and Danny were able to get second and third ce, why? Why? Those people who he was previously even toozy to look at, right now were even stronger than him, what qualifications did they have to stand there, to ept the award, ept the congrattory apuse, and evenugh so happily!


    Kedi''s face turned red with anger, his eyes were bloodshot, he opened his mouth but was unable to make a sound, only silently shouting. He kept on shaking his head, he felt very miserable, his emotions were alreadypletely out of control. But because his body waspletely immobile, even if the emotions in his brain were erupting, he could not make any noise or movements.


    ~


    Before the banquet was over, Bowie left with Jing Yang. The two men did not return to Bowie''s private residence, he directly brought him back to the earl''s mansion.


    After the car drove through the gate, they had to drive for another while before finally arriving at the main building. Jing Yang felt that this earl''s mansion was truly quite big, worthy of being the empire''s richest man''s home.


    "Brother, you''re back." Nia greeted Bowie, and after she saw Jing Yang she froze a bit, and then excitedly ran to the two people. "Idol! How did youe to my house?¡±


    "Uh¡­" Jing Yang looked at Nia''s pair of shining eyes, and then turned to look at Bowie.


    "I brought him back, we have some important things to discuss. You go back to your room first." Bowie said.


    "Then after you guys finish talking, can I talk to my idol about that golden ck pearl ne?" Nia looked at the two with beseeching eyes.


    Bowie said, "We can talk about these little thingster.¡±


    "Oh." Nia suddenly opened her arms and hugged Jing Yang. "Idol, wee to my home!¡±


    Bowie flicked her forehead with a finger to push her away, pulling Jing Yang toward his own room.


    Jing Yang turned back to nce at Nia, then turned back around. "Your little sister¡­is quite lively.¡±


    "Well, outside she pretends to be like somedy, but once she gets home she reveals her original form." Bowie also felt quite helpless about his own little sister''s excessively lively personality. "I always feel like she should have been a younger brother, and not a younger sister, that way there would be another person to help me out.¡±


    As soon as they entered the room, Bowie pressed Jing Yang down on the bed, before he kissed up, Jing Yang held his shoulder. "Didn''t you say that there was something very important to discuss when you brought me home? What''s the matter?¡±


    "The matter of us getting married." Bowie rested his forehead on his. "Your parents are gone, and mine are also gone, we will have to discuss marriage ourselves.¡±


    "Marriage?" Jing Yang was still somewhat unable to react. In the previous two worlds, even though they had always been together, and also invited their rtives and friends to hold a small yet grand wedding, it was never legal. In this world, same-sex marriage was legalized, they could be legal husbands, and could even hold a magnificent wedding and announce this matter to the entire empire.


    "Are you willing to marry me?" Bowie looked at him with deep love.


    Jing Yang smiled and responded, "I am.¡±


    ~


    This life, the two people still loved <strong>inseparably</strong>, wishing that they could be together at all times, as if they would not be tired of each other even until the end of time.


    Sometimes Jing Yang would think about it and really felt that it was quite magical. He couldn''t say the reason, he just loved this person. As if this was originally a matter of course, they were supposed to be together. asionally, he had the illusion that since very long ago, they had already been in love for a very long, very long time.


    In Jing Yang''s heart, he held the firm belief, that as long as he could meet this person, he would definitely be able to live perfectly and happily.


    When his life in this world reached its end, he leaned in Bowie''s arms. "Next time, you must also find me.¡±


    "Good." Bowie firmly responded.


    Jing Yang was somewhat doubtful, it seemed like every time he left, Bowie would always be very calm, neither sorrowful nor upset, and would also not show unwillingness, as if he was certain that he would still be able to meet him. Jing Yang was sure that he didn''t have any other memories, but he didn''t know why he would be so confident every time, as if this were not an end, but a new beginning.


    Carrying such doubts, Jing Yang returned back to the system, and the energy that he gained in this world was again sucked away by the system. He touched his chest, it seemed like there was something familiar, that hade and left.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>scope</strong> ¨C ·¶Î§, means range, scope, not quite sure what exactly this means here, I''m guessing that he did not think that it would also affect him being able to release the parachute or not


    [2] <strong>condescendingly</strong> ¨C ¾Ó¸ßÁÙÏÂ, idiom, literally means to live high and look down


    [3] <strong>truly unique</strong> ¨C ¾øÎÞ½öÓÐ, idiom, one and only, rarely seen


    [4] <strong>deserved</strong> ¨C ʵÖÁÃû¹é, idiom, means fame follows merit


    [5] <strong>inseparably</strong> ¨C ÄÑÉáÄÑ·Ö, idiom, loath to part, unwilling to separate<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over 1 hour: 8:30 pm ¨C 9:40 pm, for 4k characters to 2.6k words. Well guys, it¡¯s finally over, and my tranting marathon has finally ended. Just in time for me to get a couple days of studying in for my exams. I actually couldn¡¯t resist quickly reading through this story again, though I happened to find another raw site that had very slightly different raws for a few chapters, which contained more smex scenes. Though this did not appear in a few of the other raw sites I checked. Very confusing, but I¡¯ll be checking in the future if I¡¯m missing out on anything when I trante. I did check for these first three arcs, there wasn¡¯t any difference. No need to be concerned. ??


    <strong>Edit: </strong>Well, we havee to the end of another arc. I will see you with the next arc in two weeks ??<hr>

 Chapter 41

    <strong>Chapter 41</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.1)</strong>


    Piano sounds? The light and quick sounds of piano floated into Jing Yang''s ears. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, but was unable to find the source of the sound inside.


    He got off the bed and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. On the greenwn below, a slender young man was ying piano. Another tall young man was leaning against the piano and watching him.


    Jing Yang himself leaned against the ss doorway and activated the memory retrieval function.


    The ce he was in now was this world''s music capital, the city of Odyssey. Here was the ce that the entire world''s ssical music lovers most wanted to go, here was the shrine of music. This world''s best musicians were all gathered here.


    Every year, there would berge numbers of ssical music lovers who woulde to this city, hoping that they could find a job here and then <strong>put down roots</strong> in Odyssey. But only a very small number of people were able to stay. For the vast majority, after experiencing the wide gaps in ability, they could only leave sadly.


    There was a saying that had been circting here for many years. It was that staying here was already very difficult, but if you wanted to be an elite here, the level of difficulty was simr to relying on your own abilities to transcend the heavens.


    In this ce, it was actually not true that putting in enough effort would bring you sess. Besides desperately working hard, you also needed enough natural talent. If you have high enough natural talent, only then would your efforts have the potential to bring sess. So there was another saying here, that talent determined everything. If there was no talent, there was no hope at all.


    This time, the person Jing Yang was to rece was called <strong>Avi Deere</strong>, an eighteen year old young man.


    This person was very fortunate. His ancestors had long taken root in this city. His family was extremely wealthy, and even if he didn''t put in any effort, he would still be able to live afortable life in this city.


    But this person was also very unfortunate. His family members had all left this world, and besides a huge fortune, he did not have any rtives left.


    Where he lived now was not his own home, but it was not far from his own house. The vi next to this current residence was his home.


    Avi''s parents had died when he had just been born, and he had been raised by his elderly grandfather. When Avi had been five or six years old, his grandfather''s health was already nearing its end, and he had entrusted Avi to the <strong>Mooney</strong> family.


    The Deere family and Mooney family had been family friends for a very long time. For several generations, the two families had always had a very good rtionship, as could be seen from the two families'' vis being built so close to each other.


    Besides the two families'' rtionship being so good, Avi''s grandfather had entrusted him to the Mooney family for another reason.


    Before saying this other reason, there is a matter that must be mentioned first. That is, in this world, same sex marriage was not only legal, but through their advanced medical technology, it was also possible to have children with the DNA of both parents.


    When old Mooney had still been alive, he had liked Avi so much that he had made a verbal engagement with old Deere that when Avi turned 19, he would let Avi marry his own grandson <strong>Faith</strong>.


    After some consideration, old Deere felt that since the rtionship between the two families was so good, if Avi married Faith, the Mooney family would definitely not treat Avi badly. Even though old Mooney''s son wasn''t all that great, <strong>his son¡¯s son</strong> seemed to still be pretty good. Old Mooney''s body was also much healthier than his own, so he should have no problems watching over Avi until he reached adulthood. Based on what he understood of him over the past several decades, this old fellow''s character was quite trustworthy, and he would definitely not treat Avi poorly.


    Faith was five years older than Avi and took care of him very well. The two children had a wonderful rtionship¡ªthey would often live over in each other''s homes and y together and learn musical instruments together.


    Old Deere had asked Avi, after you grow up, are you willing to marry Faith and live in the Mooney home?


    Avi, who was still very ignorant at that time, looked at old Deere with his eyes that looked like a pair of ck pearls and asked, then I won''t be able to return home anymore?


    Old Deere responded, your home will always be here. Whenever you want to return home you cane back, and you can even bring Faith back together.


    Avi''s eyes immediately brightened and he said, I''m willing, I have already agreed with Faith that when I grow older we will get married. Old Deere had smiled with relief.


    Before he had departed from the world, old Deere had entrusted Avi''s custody and guardianship rights, as well as the Deere family''s properties, all to old Mooney.


    But God''s ns supersede our own. Only a yearter, old Mooney suddenly died.


    Avi''s custody, guardianship, and the Deere family''s properties were all taken over by old Mooney''s son, <strong>Kurt</strong> Mooney. Even though Kurt''s character was not great, but for the sake of such arge fortune, he could be considered to treat Avi all right.


    But Kurt''s ability was not enough. Not long after he had taken over the family business, a big crisis arose. Thus he thought of the idea of using the Deere family''s property. He was only keeping the Deere family''s property on Avi''s behalf, and when Avi reached adulthood, ording to thew, those properties needed to be immediately returned to Avi. If they dyed and did not return them, Avi could force them to return his properties through the court. Then if Kurt still couldn''t take them out, he could only wait to be thrown in jail.


    But Kurt thought, in any case, after Avi grew up he would get married to Faith. Then at that time the Deere family''s properties would also be their own family''s assets. So he just used the properties to resolve the crisis this time.


    Avi could be considered to be living quite well in the Mooney house. Faith had always treated him quite well and taken care of him. Because Kurt had used his property, he still felt somewhat guilty about it, and treated Avi better than before.


    Until <strong>Corrica</strong>''s appearance, everything slowly changed.


    Corrica was one of the orphans who the Mooney family had helped to raise. After he revealed his extremely high talent in piano, he was taken back to the Mooney family and became the adopted son of the Mooney family.


    This city, this country, and even this world, was fanatical in their love for ssical music. If someone in their family could perform a musical instrument outstandingly, this was a very glorious thing that could improve the status of the entire family.


    Because the number of people with very high talent was extremely low, wealthy families would often fund orphans who showed musical talent. If within those orphans that they funded they discovered one to be a brilliant musician, then a portion of this glory would also be credited to them.


    Faith didn''t have any musical talent, so when he was in his teens he had already changed to learning business management to make it more convenient for him to take over the family businesster on. Avi''s talent was actually not bad, and if he worked harder, he might be able to rise even higher in the path of music. Because of the environment they grew up in, no matter whether or not they had talent, they would always love music and instrument ying.


    At one point, Avi and Faith had followed Kurt to the orphanage to visit the children who were funded by the Mooney family and send them presents. That was their first time seeing Corrica. He was a boy, but actually grew an exceedingly beautiful face.


    Corrica <strong>cautiously</strong> ttered them and requested that they watch their children''s group pianopetition. They had agreed, and Corrica had ced in thepetition. He was very happy and his wish was that they could go see him more often.


    He won more prizes, and received many more awards. Some judges said that he might be a genius and could make great achievements in the musical world. Thus he was brought back to the Mooney home and became the Mooney family''s adopted son, living together with them.


    Corrica would always pester Faith and ask him to apany him in practicing the piano. His innocent eyes made it impossible for Faith to refuse, and Faith treated him with even more patience than with Avi. So Avi discovered that his life had gradually changed. Faith was no longer only good to him, he no longer only cared about him. He treated Corrica even better, and spent much more time with Corrica.


    When Corrica was left alone with Avi, he would always smile at him, with an appearance of wanting to have a good rtionship with him. Even though Avi could not quite adapt to these changes in his heart, he still tried to ept him, and strove to think of him as a friend.


    But once he turned his head, Faith woulde to find him and tell him to treat Corrica better. He said that Corrica was only an orphan who had no family, he was already so pitiful, why couldn''t you be a little nicer to him?


    Avi wanted to say, I didn''t treat him badly, he wanted to say, I am also an orphan without any family. But he wasn''t able to say it out. Heforted himself that Faith had said those words because he had taken himself as part of their family, and not because he had forgotten that his loved ones had also departed.


    Corrica was performing better and better in piano. He won many prizes, and many people were starting to know his name, which made the Mooney family feel like they had a lot of face. Even though Corrica was only an adopted son, he had also been raised by their family. If heter became a famous pianist, that would not only improve the Mooney family''s status in this city, but also be a great help to the Mooney family''s musical instrument business.


    Corrica would go participate in all kinds ofpetitions. He became the central figure of the Mooney family, and everything would be based on his own needs. Faith was even more amodating to him in everything, turning <strong>totally submissive</strong> to him. And his attitude towards Avi became more and more cold.


    In the face of such a shift, Avi changed from the original well-behaved sunny teenager to be more and more withdrawn and extreme. His attitude toward Corrica started to be actually bad, refusing his proximity. And when Faith used him of being bad to Corrica, he started to freeze his face and look at him in silence.


    In the dead of night, he would be particrly lonely and afraid. The fear in the bottom of his heart made him unable to help shrinking in his covers, shivering. He wanted to go find Faith, he hoped that he would be like when they were younger and apany him andfort him.


    He ran barefoot out of the room and through the hallway, but Faith was not in his room. He went downstairs to find him, and heard soundsing from the piano room. He had quietly walked over, and peeking through the crack in the door, he saw Faith apanying Corrica while he was ying the piano. The piano sounds stopped, and Corrica leaned into Faith''s arms. Faith wrapped his arms around him, then lowered his head, and the two people kissed.


    Avi had widened his eyes in disbelief. He had covered his mouth and retreated, running back to his room in a fit of panic. He had hugged his head and hidden himself in his covers, trying to convince himself that what he had just seen was not real, that it was just a dream. He wanted to fall asleep quickly, and then when he woke back up, the dream would be broken.


    He stared at the ceiling until the sky turned light, always unable to fall asleep. The appearance of the sunlight allowed him to gather up his courage and face the reality that he had seenst night. But what could he do next? He was engaged to Faith, but Faith was together with Corrica. Did that mean that he had to leave this house and that he could not be with Faith in the future?


    No! That couldn''t happen, the things that had originally belonged to him, he could not let Corrica seize them away. He needed to marry Faith.


    With this conviction, Avi wouldpete and fight against Corrica, not giving him any good face. Like this, Faith hated him even more.


    Thissted until Avi turned 19 years old. He could get married, and could take control of the assets that belonged to him.


    Faith went to tell Kurt that he wanted to cancel his engagement with Avi. He had fallen in love with Corrica, and wanted to marry him.


    Avi didn''t have much understanding of money, but he knew that he had arge amount of money that the Mooney family had been keeping on his behalf, and he also knew that the Mooney family business would face bankruptcy if they suddenly lost this money. So he told Kurt that if Faith did not marry him right away, he would ask the Mooney family to immediately return the money to him.


    Kurt hesitated. Even though Corrica would be able to bring glory to the family, and after he became famous he would be able to help the family business, but if he immediately returned the money to Avi, thepany would have no way to continue operating. In order for Corrica to be able to makerge achievements, it may take many years. If they couldn''t even manage to sustain their own family''s livelihood right now, it would be simply impossible to be able to afford Corrica''s expenses for learning piano.


    Kurt told Faith that he was required to immediately marry Avi, or else he would send Corrica away. Faith was forced into marriage by Avi, and was very angry, but also had <strong>no way out</strong>.


    On the day of Avi and Faith''s wedding, Corrica ran to gomit suicide, and actually contacted Faith to say goodbye to him. Faith paid no attention to the ongoing wedding ceremony, running to stop Corrica. Avi had also chased after them, wanting to finally rify everything and let Faith make his final choice.


    Corrica saw Avi and pulled his hand while kneeling down and crying. He told him not to take Faith away, and also not make the Mooney family bankrupt. Faith wanted to pull up Corrica and let him no longer beg him, he would definitely continue to be together with him.


    The three people broke out into argument at the edge of the cliff. With all the pulling, the three people rolled down the cliff together.


    Corrica had been protected in Faith''s arms and didn''t suffer too much injury. Faith was strong, and his movements were fast, so he had avoided injury to the vital parts. Only Avi was thrown so that his head bled.


    Faith had crawled up and only hesitated for a few seconds before choosing to first take Corrica back for treatment.


    Avi, who was still bleeding from the head, justy there like that on the ground, watching them leave. Clearly it was extremely hot, and the sun was bright enough to blind the eyes, yet he seemed to be lying in the freezing snow of winter. From his head to his toes, from inside to outside, he felt iparably cold.


    He regretted, he should not have insisted on marrying a man who did not love himself, just for that bit of obsession in his heart. He clearly could live better, could have even better achievements, why would he allow himself to be like this just for someone who had been unfaithful? If he could continue to live, he wanted to change, he wanted to discard his past, he wanted to be a better person.


    Unfortunately, Avi was unable to survive in the end. On the way to the hospital, because of missing the period for rescue, he passed away.


    Originally he could have survived, but when Kurt had received the message from his son telling him to send people to rescue Avi, he hesitated. Avi and Faith had already signed the marriage contracts, it was only that the wedding had not taken ce properly. Legally speaking, they had already bewful partners. If Avi died unexpectedly, his properties would all belong to Faith.


    Kurt thought, instead of being threatened by Avi using this property, it would be better to directly take possession of the property, and Faith could also be with Corrica like he wanted. For the Mooney family, this was <strong>the best of both worlds</strong>. So he deliberately dyed going to save Avi, and on the way back, he also deliberately told the driver to drive slowly.


    While he watched unfeelingly as Avi slowly died, he let out a sigh of relief.


    Jing Yang opened his eyes and looked at the two people on thewn. Since you two love each other so much, then in this life I will satisfy you both. I hope that you both will not regret it.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>put down roots</strong> ¨C ÂäµØÉú¸ù, quite literal, essentially means to settle down


    [2] <strong>Avi Deere</strong> ¨C µÒ¶û °¬Î¬, pinyin di er ai wei, I actually found that some politician named Avi had his Chinese name also °¬Î¬ so I just took that, and Deere is from the MTL, and I think it works fine


    [3] <strong>Mooney</strong> ¨C ÄÂÄá, pinyin mu ni, Mooney came up in the MTL and it seems pretty appropriate


    [4] <strong>Faith</strong> ¨C ·Ñ˹, pinyin fei si, Google said this, why all of these names in English are so girly idk


    [5] <strong>his son¡¯s son</strong> ¨C I would put grandson here, but that would take away from the original emphasis on the son of that bad son rather than just any grandson


    [6] <strong>Kurt</strong> ¨C ¿âµÂ, pinyin ku de, I saw on Google some trantions to Kurd, so I adjusted to Kurt so he doesn''t sound like a beancurd


    [7] <strong>Corrica</strong> ¨C ¿ÆÈð¿¨, pinyin ke rui ka, I don''t think that''s a verymon name so I just went with what MTL put


    [8] <strong>cautiously</strong> ¨C СÐÄÒíÒí, idiom, means cautious and solemn, very carefully


    [9] <strong>totally submissive</strong> ¨C ǧÒÀ°Ù˳, probably not in the dom & sub context but like aodating. lmao.


    [10] <strong>no way out</strong> ¨C ÎÞ¿ÉÄκÎ, kind of an idiom, also means has no alternative


    [11] <strong>the best of both worlds</strong> ¨C Á½È«ÆäÃÀ, idiom, satisfying contradictory demands<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Took 2 hours: 5 pm ¨C 7 pm, for 4.4k characters to 3.2k words. Once again, it¡¯s been quite a while since I have tranted. Around a month? I am nearing the end of my break, so I¡¯ll be going back to school quite soon. The n is to trante at least one chapter a day of this, so I¡¯ll get it mostly done before I go back. I¡¯ll also have to start working on 100kV too¡­we¡¯ll see how that n goes.


    This arc¡­gets on my nerves sometimes. Faith and Corrica are just so annoying. They¡¯re also not resolved until prettyte, spoiler. Looking forward to the ML though.


    Also, I have made an effort to improve my grammar to actual English instead of constant run-on sentences. Of course, I still have the asional run-on, bc I do enjoy them.


    <strong>Edit (2/9):</strong> Hello and wee back, everyone. It¡¯s the start of a new arc, and like I said, this arc definitely gets on my nerves, and will probably annoy a lot of you too. It¡¯s inevitable. I also haven¡¯tpletely finished tranting this arc yet¡­I still have two more chapters left. I¡¯ll be able to finish that up pretty soon. Then I really need to catch up on my 100kV tranting. Happy Chinese New Year!<hr>

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42


    Prince of Piano (Arc 4.2)


    In the afternoon, a servant came up to call Jing Yang down for dinner.


    When Jing Yang went downstairs, the entire family had already started eating. It was like the usual. No one waited for him, and when they saw hime down, no one greeted him.


    "Corrica, your practice during this period of time must have been really hard for you?" Faith''s mother Susan asked caringly. "I told the cooks to keep refreshments and some soup prepared. When you get hungry you must remember to let a servant bring some, by all means do not ruin your body.¡±


    "Thank you, Mom." Corrica smiled. "The Cherty Conservatory of Music entrance examination is almost going to start. As long as I can get epted, all of my hard work during this period would have been worth it.¡±


    "You''ll definitely have no problem." Faith looked at him. "After all, you were the champion of the Gardena pianopetition.¡±


    Corrica looked back at Faith and smiled at him very gently.


    "That''s right." Susan promptly echoed. "Didn''t the previous champion of thispetition very smoothly get epted into the Cherty Conservatory of Music? You''ll definitely also be able to get in.¡±


    Faith''s father Kurt continued, "When Corrica''s exam is over, the family will host a party to celebrate.¡±


    Susan smiled. "I had this idea a long time ago, who still needs you to mention this.¡±


    Corrica had always been listening with a smile on his face when he suddenly looked towards Jing Yang, as if he had just discovered that he had been ignored this whole time. He said, "Avi, let''s work hard together, if we can both be epted that would be amazing.¡±


    "That''s right, Avi is also going to take the exam, you also need to work hard ah." Susan seemed as if she had just remembered and said the single word of encouragement, and then didn''t say anything.


    Corrica used aforting tone to say, "You don''t need to feel too much pressure, even if you aren''t able to get in it''s also not a big deal. There''s still a lot of other music conservatories, you''ll always be able to get in somewhere.¡±


    Jing Yang had stayed silent the entire time in ordance with Avi''s usual attitude. It was only when he was mentioned by Corrica that he finally raised his head to nce at him. He was really such an impressive white lotus.


    Faith was very dissatisfied with Jing Yang''s attitude, only ncing at him with a frown. He then turned to console Corrica, "Leave him alone. The fact that he was able to pass the primaries was already a fluke, perhaps at that time the teacher in charge of the primary submission evaluations had been distracted and had given him a pass carelessly. How could hepare with you.¡±


    The Cherty Conservatory of Music was this country''s, and also this world''s, best music conservatory. Every year, countless numbers of music students applied. If you wanted to be epted into this conservatory, you had to be outstanding and then even more outstanding, and also had to have a very high talent in music.


    The process for the exam was to first send in a video of them performing, and after passing the primary round, they could go to the conservatory for an in-person exam. Corrica and Avi had both passed the primary round, but the Mooney family members clearly felt that Corrica would definitely be able to be epted, while Avi passing the primary round was already a fluke and he did not even have any hope of getting in.


    "Corrica, which teacher do you hope chooses you?" Susan asked.


    "En¡­" Corrica pondered quite seriously for a while. "All of Cherty Conservatory''s famous teachers are world-ss. If I could be chosen by any one of them, I would be very happy. But if possible, I hope teacher Jardina could choose me.¡±


    "I''ve already asked around." Susan said. "The previous champion of the Gardenapetition was chosen by the great pianist Dc and is now personally learning from him.¡±


    "Teacher Dc is also amazing. If I could be chosen by him, I would also be very happy." Corrica agreed.


    Faith said, "Corrica is so great, he might be chosen by several different teachers at the same time. Then at that time it wouldn''t be them choosing you but you choosing from them.¡±


    "That''s right." Susan echoed with a smile.


    Seeing the Mooney family and Corrica smiling so happily, it seemed as if Corrica had already been epted and those famous teachers were all there for his disposal. As if once he finished choosing one he could directly go and study there. It seemed that Corrica had won awards too many times and given them too much confidence. But they also never considered that of thosepetitions that Corrica attended, there was not even a single one that was of a very high level. They were all of some middling level, and asionally at some higher levelpetition he would receive second or third ce a couple times, and they would already be happy to death.


    This time getting first ce in a high levelpetition like the Gardena pianopetition made it as if he would already be able to move unimpeded in Cherty Conservatory. But they seemed to have forgotten that in ces like the Cherty Conservatory of Music, students who could win prizes at high levelpetitions were literally everywhere.


    But they just happily said it by themselves,pletely immersed in their own fantasies, and no one went to go wake them up.


    Avi had already gotten used to many years of not being able to integrate himself into this joyous and harmonious scene. Every time he wanted to join their conversation, Corrica would always be able to very quickly bring the topic back to himself. As time went by, Avi became more and more silent, so much so that he waspletely isted, neither like a member of the family nor like a guest, extremely awkward.


    "Avi." Corrica called out to Jing Yang, who was walking upstairs.


    Jing Yang turned to look at him.


    Corrica used a pleading expression to ask, "Can, can you lend me your Vichy for practice?¡±


    "No!" Jing Yang refused without hesitation, coldly looking down at him. "You obviously know that I will not agree, why would you still mention such a request?¡±


    "I, I''m sorry." Corrica again revealed his signature innocent expression. "I''m sorry.¡±


    Jing Yang turned around and continued upstairs.


    Faith walked over and stroked Corrica''s arm, looking at him with aforting gaze.


    Corrica''s face was full of disappointment and loss, looking up at Faith with eyes brimming with tears of grievance.


    Faith''s heart softened from his look, and he lowered his head to whisper in his ear, "I''ll secretly bring you over.¡±


    "Really?" Corrica''s expression immediately brightened.


    Faith saw that Corrica was happy, and smiled and nodded.


    Jing Yang stood behind his curtains and watched the two people cross thewn and enter the Deere family vi next door through the side door of the garden.


    Vichy is the name of a piano. It was not just an ordinary piano: this piano was of extremely vital significance to Avi.


    When Avi had just been born, his grandfather old Deere had spent a veryrge price to invite the extremely famous piano manufacturing master Dinivita to personally craft a piano. At that time, Dinivita had already been getting on in years, and thinking that this may be the veryst time he personally made a piano, he had invested all of his passion and life into it.


    It had taken him five years to finish picking out all of the highest quality materials. Each part was meticulously crafted, and he had exhausted thest fire of his life to create this one piano.


    Even though old Deere had already paid a huge amount of money in advance, this piano was still worth far more than the sum that he had given. It could be said that the worth of this piano could already no longer be measured with money. No matter whether it was tone, volume, or feel, this piano could match the top ten famed pianos in the world.


    Avi and his grandfather had together given the piano a name, Vichy, with the meaning representing old Deere and Avi''s hope. They hoped that Avi''s piano ability could beparable to the quality of this piano.


    Avi attached great importance to this piano, which represented the best times that he had shared with his grandfather, and also represented the hope that they had shared. In order to not let other people touch this piano, he had learned ever since he was small how to personally maintain it. He would rarely even go y this piano, wanting to wait until his piano abilities had improved and then one day he could use it in a golden performance hall to perform.


    When Corrica had firste to the Mooney house, Avi had thought that they would be good friends, so he had brought him to see this piano and told him that it was called Vichy, that it was his and his grandfather''s hope.


    Ever since Corrica had seen this piano, he would always be obsessed with wanting to y it. He repeatedly pleaded with Avi, but was always rejected.


    He said, Avi, you won''t let me y that piano, is it because you hate me. He said, Avi, we are really good friends right, let me y on that piano. He said, Avi, this time I need to participate in a very importantpetition, could you let me use Vichy to practice? Just once is enough.


    Andter on it turned into Faithing to request him. He said, Avi, pianos were made to be yed, not to be ced there. In any case you won''t y it yourself, then letting Corrica practice with it once wouldn''t be a big deal. He said, Avi, how did you be like this, Corrica is already a member of our family, you aren''t even willing to let your own family member y once on your piano? He said, Avi, Corrica has won so many awards, he is more qualified than you to use that piano.


    Avi has always been refusing, constantly refusing. That was his reverse scale, the thing that he would protect no matter what, it was the dream that he had to realize. But because he was afraid of being abandoned, he was besieged. He had no way to move forward on his path of music, because he couldn''t get out. He was afraid that once he left, he would be left with nothing.


    Corrica stroked the ck and white keys, full of excitement. This kind of feel was something that even the most expensive pianos could not give. He started ying the songs that he was preparing for the exam. The volume was even, the softness of the tone, the smoothness from the treble to the bass, this piano could be described as perfect. This was a piano that wasparable to the top ten pianos. He really, really also wanted to have one.


    Jing Yang stood right outside the door, and through the crack of the door, he could see the greed and desire in Corrica''s eyes for this piano. This kind of person, this kind of piano skill,pletely did not deserve to use this piano, not to mention that Avi was also not willing to let him use it.


    In his past life, after Avi''s death, this piano had belonged to Corrica. This was something thatpared to Corrica stealing away Faith, made Avi even more unwilling and angry, so much so that even after he had died, he still wanted to change and get revenge. So Jing Yang had taken his ce and would help himplete his wish.


    "Bang!" Jing Yang pushed open the door forcefully, and the two people inside jumped with fright.


    "Avi! I, I¡­" Corrica stood up somewhat flusteredly, looking up at Faith helplessly.


    Faith was also somewhat flustered at first, but very quickly he calmed down.


    "What are you two doing?" Jing Yang''s eyes were filled with anger, looking at them coldly. "How many times have I said that no one is allowed to touch this piano!¡±


    Corrica used begging eyes to look at Faith. Faith raised his hand and rubbed his shoulder soothingly for a bit, then turned to look at Jing Yang. "I was the one who brought him over. He''s just ying on your piano a bit, there''s no damage or injury, you shouldn''t always be so selfish.¡±


    "I''m selfish?" Jing Yang was angered to the point ofughing. "So what if I''m selfish? It''s my own things, could it be that I don''t even have the right to not let people touch it?¡±


    "Don''t quarrel anymore." Corrica pulled on Faith''s hand and looked at Jing Yang pleadingly. "I''m sorry, it''s all my fault. I really really wanted to try ying on this piano, please forgive me¡­¡±


    "Pianos were originally meant for people to y on them!" Faith interrupted Corrica''s pleading. "You yourself aren''t able to y well, and still don''t let other people y, what else could that be but selfish? Letting Corrica y on this piano is much more valuable than you just leaving it there.¡±


    Jing Yang, in turn, questioned him, "Then could it be that because he ys better than me that he has the right to seize other people''s possessions? The number of people in this world who y better than him are countless, I would rather go and let those people who are truly good at piano y, than let him this kind of person with third-rate piano skills y.¡±


    Corrica looked at Jing Yang disbelievingly, using his gaze to use, how could you say something like this to me?


    Faith red at Jing Yang angrily. "Just based on you, you actually dare to say something like this of him? If even Corrica''s piano skills are only third-rate, then you aren''t even third-rate!¡±


    "Please roll out!" Jing Yang pointed at the door. "Never show up here again, otherwise, I will report to the police that you are trespassing in private property.¡±


    "You¡­" Faith did not expect that he would say such fierce words. He shook his fist and pulled up Corrica''s hand. "Let''s go. In the future I''ll hire someone to especially make a piano that''s even better than this one for you.¡±


    "Young master." There were only three or four servants remaining in the Deere home to take care of housekeeping every day. When they had heard the sound of quarreling they had run over and were standing outside the door, carefully looking at the angry Jing Yang. Ever since childhood, Faith had always been going in and out of the Deere family, they had all be ustomed to it, and had never thought that the two of them would get in such an argument.


    "Call someone right away to rece all of the locks. In the future, no one is allowed toe in and walk around randomly without my permission." Jing Yang ordered.


    "Yes, young master." The servants readily agreed and left, closing the door to the practice room.


    Jing Yang stroked the white grand piano. It was really very beautiful, every detail was perfect. In this life, he would definitely help Avi hold on to it, and also y out its greatest value.


    Jing Yang really could not tell what there was to love about Faith this person. The disgust in his heart towards him actually made him somewhat gratified, at least proving that the chances that he was his own lover were very small.


    People were different from objects. When objects were taken away, that could be because of his own ipetence. But if a person had been robbed, that could only prove that this person originally was not worth being loved. A person who had changed his heart, even if he had been snatched back, he would still no longer have that original heart.


    ording to Jing Yang''s personality, he would be ruthless and fall out of love. If other people who had changed their hearts once again came back to find him, he would never ept them no matter what, no matter whether or not he himself was still in love with them.


    Getting revenge against the Mooney family was actually very easy: as long as he waited until Avi was 19 years old and took back all of his property, the Mooney home would immediately copse. But if he did this, he would inevitably bebeled as cruel and merciless¡ªafter all, from other people''s point of view, the Mooney family had taken care of him for over 10 years.


    When Avi was living in the Mooney family, ever since childhood all of his expenses had been paid by old Deere. He had not spent a single penny of the Mooney family. Old Deere had done this to leave Avi a way out, and also to allow Avi to live more naturally and not have to give people face.


    Old Deere had entrusted Avi to the Mooney family hoping only that the Mooney family would be able to give Avi care and love. Whether real or fake, they had really been able to do this for the first two years, but ever since Corrica was adopted, everything was gone. They seemed to have already taken for granted that Avi would not leave the Mooney family, that Avi''s things were also just the Mooney family''s things, that they had already treated him quite well.


    Jing Yang could not just not do anything and take back his property after he turned 19. He had to take the money back in apletely justifiable and perfectly logical manner, and make it so that people could not find a single w for objection.


    If he could, he did not want to ever return to the Mooney family right now. The Deere family had such a big vi just empty right here, and it was Avi''s own home, so he could live however he wanted here. But it was not possible. Before Avi turned 19, he could not live alone without permission with his guardian, Kurt.<hr>


    Trantor Notes:


    [1] Susan ¨C ËÕɺ, pinyin su shan, this is pretty standard


    [2] Cherty ¨C Ъ¶ûµÙ, pinyin xie er di, I also don''t know what this is, went with the MTL. There''s going to be a lot of random names in this chapter.


    [3] Gardena ¨C ¼ÎµÏÄÉ, pinyin jia di na, which is the same pinyin as ¼ÓµÏÄÉ which is Gardena so I''ll go with it


    [4] work hard ¨C ¼ÓÓÍ, jia you, pretty obvious what it is but I usually trante it in my head as refuel¡­I''ll probably put refuel in the future


    [5] Jardina ¨C ¼ÖÍ¡ÑÇ, pinyin jia ting ya, uhhh ¼ÖÍ¡ is Jardin for some ce so I just added an a at the end


    [6] Dc ¨C ¶ÅÀ­Ææ, pinyin du ji/qi, but apparently someone with this surname is tranted to Dc so we going with it


    [7] move unimpeded ¨C ºá×Å×ßÁË, kind of an idiom?, literally walk horizontally, or that you can do whatever you want bc you have the power/authority


    [8] very quickly ¨C ÈýÑÔÁ½Óï, idiom, means in a few words


    [9] Vichy ¨C άϣ, pinyin wei xi, apparently this is how the city of Vichy is tranted


    [10] Dinivita ¨C µÏÄáÍþËþ, pinyin di ni wei ta, basically based on the sounds


    [11] life ¨C ÉúÃü, is life but more like life energy?


    [12] reverse scale ¨C ²»¿ÉÅö´¥µÄ½ûµØ, basically means a forbidden/off-limits thing that cannot be touched


    [13] helplessly ¨C ²»ÖªËù´ë, idiom, means not knowing what to do, at a loss


    [14] ruthless, no longer in love ¨C ¾ýÈôÎÞÇéÎÒ±ãÐÝ, uhhh so this seems to be a phrase from a poem that basically means he doesn''t love him anymore?? please advise if you know a better meaning/phrasing for this<hr>


    Random Notes:


    Took almost 2 hours: 6:15 pm ¨C 8 pm, for 4.5k characters to 3.3k words. The names of ssical music is so annoying, man. That¡¯s true even forposers IRL, not to mention in this fictional world where I have no idea what they would throw out. Faith and Corrica make me so angry, it¡¯s illogical.


    I¡¯m getting the urge to reread this arc again¡­.


    Edit (2/13): Happy Valentine¡¯s Day everyone!<hr>

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43


    Prince of Piano (Arc 4.3)


    The day of the entrance exam was getting closer. Corrica would practice until veryte every day, and Faith''s parents were quite happy to see him working so hard. Aside from their happiness, the two people discussed between themselves and decided to host a small encouragement dinner party in order to let him rx a bit before the exam and be able to perform better during the exam. And after he was epted, they would host arger one.


    They invited some of their closer friends toe to their house, and they all got together to chat and talk amongst themselves. Corrica was the lead tonight, and of course everyone''s conversation topic would revolve around him.


    Jing Yang did not feel like going downstairs to participate, and Avi had also always been like this in the past several years anyways. Staying silent and not attending the dinner party was just convenient for him. During this period of time he did not practice hard like Corrica, and in this family no one would care about whether or not he practiced. Ever since Avi had turned 10 years old, he had never exhibited any especially outstanding ability, and they all felt that his path in piano had alreadye to its end and had no possibility of going any further.


    "Your family''s Corrica truly exceeds expectations¡ªhe even won first ce in the Gardena pianopetition, being epted into the Cherty Conservatory of Music is definitely not a problem." Mrs. Talise and Mrs. Mooney had been friends for many years, and she naturally knew what kind of words would be able to make this friend of hers happy.


    "This child ah, it''s just that his talent is rtively high, and he is also willing to work hard with all his might." Susan''s face was filled with pride andcency.


    "You really have such good fortune. Your son has a talent for business, and your adopted son has a musical gift. In the future your two sons will definitely have endless prospects." One of the wives who had business dealings with the Mooney family ttered.


    "Aiya, not at all, for us as parents, we only hope for them to be able to stay healthy and safe." Susan''s face was filled with acent smile, yet she deliberately made some modest remarks.


    Another one of thedies there said, "And when the Deere family''s sole heir marries Faith, that would just be the icing on the cake.¡±


    Susan sighed. "Speaking of Avi this child, I am quite anxious. When he was young he seemed to be a pretty cheerful and lively child, but now I don''t know what happened, his personality has be more and more entric.¡±


    "Perhaps a child who has no parents would have a more sensitive heart.¡±


    "I also felt like this, and thinking that he has no parents, and also has no loved ones, I would care for him a bit more, but that child is still not grateful ah. Before he would only often bully Corrica and not give Corrica any good face, but now even we don''t get any good face from him." Susan''s face was full of helplessness. "You can all see tonight''s dinner party, he also won''te down to greet everyone or talk to everyone a bit. In the end he''s still not my own child, so I also can''t really discipline him too strictly.¡±


    The severaldies exchanged nces. When they received the invitation, their family had only said that they were hosting a pre-exam encouragement dinner party for Corrica, and did not mention even a word about Avi. If it were some other child, they were afraid that they would also be unwilling to attend.


    Susan did not look at the other people''s expressions and continued speaking by herself: "Avi this child ah, his music talent isn''t high, and his personality is also not great, keeping a cold expression on his face the entire day without even a single smile. Totally different from Corrica, who stays gentle and well-mannered at all times. Because of the friendship between the two families and since he has no other close rtives, we are also forced to take care of him. But we have raised him for so many years, yet he is still not close with us. Our family also does not hope that he can repay us anything. We just feel pity that he has no father or mother and we would be more amodating to him, this could also be considered to be doing a good deed.¡±


    "Your family is indeed so benevolent.¡±


    "That''s right, that''s right.¡±


    She said it as if their family had suffered huge grievances from taking care of Avi, but who here didn''t know that because they were raising Avi their family had received a huge advantage. The Deere family''s such arge amount of properties were all held by them, whose eyes wouldn''t get bloodshot just seeing it? Without those assets, the Mooney family would long have be impoverished.


    If there was someone who really wanted to take over Avi''s custody, their family would definitely not be willing. Who knows how d the Mooney family were that Avi had no other rtives¡ªit was just because there was no one else who couldpete with them for custody that she dared to say these kinds of words.


    Faith had also invited all of his own friends over. Right now they were all sitting together to chat, and Corrica was sitting right next to Faith. Faith''s friends were all ustomed to the two people''s close and intimate behavior.


    Faith''s ssmate and good friend George said to Corrica, "No need to be too nervous, with your skill, you should have no problem being epted.¡±


    "Do you even know how to speak." Another one of Faith''s friends, Luke, pped George on the shoulder. "You should say that with Corrica''s ability, he will definitely have no problem getting epted.¡±


    "That''s right." The other people also smiled and echoed.


    "I''ll just first congratte you, in the future we will be schoolmates, please give me more guidance." Buddy raised his wine ss to Corrica.


    "It should be me asking you to give me more guidance." Corrica smiled.


    "In the future Corrica will be in the same school as you, you should help me take good care of him. If he has any problems, I will go find you to settle ounts." Faith said half-jokingly and half-seriously.


    "Rx." Buddy wore an understanding expression, and everyone else also smiled ambiguously. Corrica lowered his head in embarrassment.


    Buddy went on to say, "But I am just an ordinary music student, if Corrica bes the privileged student of a famous teacher, it should be him taking care of me.¡±


    At the Cherty Conservatory of Music, if you were chosen by a famous teacher, you could receive many privileges. For example, in manypetitions you wouldn''t need to participate in the preliminary rounds, and at school you could receive even better treatment, and for many matters you would have priority.


    All students hope to be able to be a privileged student of a famous teacher. Not only could they receive the guidance from the great masters, but it would also be a great help to their further progress in the musical path in the future. Walking in the school with thebel of a privileged student, there would be unceasing envious gazes cast over, and you would even be walking with wind. There were also some special courses at the master teachers'' level that only the privileged students could attend.


    Jing Yang was lying on the sofa reading his sheet music when he heard a knock on the door, and he stood up to open it.


    "Charley?" Jing Yang looked at the person outside the door, and then moved to the side to let him in. "Come in.¡±


    "It''s really so boring down there." Charleyined. He hade along with his mother and sat downstairs for a while. He really could not stand those people so he ran up to find him.


    "You stille every time even though it''s boring." Jing Yang poured a ss of water for him. Charley was Avi''s only friend, the two people studied with the same piano teacher.


    "Ie every time so that I can see you, okay? Otherwise who would want toe attend this kind of dinner party, you really have no conscience." Charley stared at him.


    Jing Yang smiled andy back down on the sofa with his sheet music.


    "I really can''t stand those people. The adults are all hypocritical to death, and Faith''s friends are all like demons, it seemed like they would have praised Corrica into a flower if they could." Charley rolled his eyes. "A man pretending to be even more delicate than a woman, with the appearance of naturally waiting for people to take care of him, it really makes people disgusted. But those people actually arepletely unable to tell his true colors.¡±


    "Those people, weren''t they also your friends before?" Jing Yang turned a page of his sheet music and raised his head to nce at him.


    "I definitely never had any friends like them." Charley did not admit to having been friends with them before. "He hasn''t even taken the exam yet, and they''re already talking like Corrica has already been epted, they really have way too much confidence in him. And Faith''s attitude, fortunately you didn''t go down, or else you would be angered to death.¡±


    "I would definitely not be angered to death. What kind of attitude he has has nothing to do with me, and whether or not Corrica is epted, also has nothing to do with me." Jing Yang responded indifferently.


    Charley looked at him strangely. "You seem to be somewhat different today.¡±


    "How am I different?¡±


    "Before, whenever we talk about Faith''s attitude towards Corrica, if you weren''t angry you would be sad. You were never so uncaring about it before." Charley jumped over and sat down next to him, eximing happily, "Could it be that you finally listened to my advice and no longer have any expectations for Faith that bastard?¡±


    "Yes ah, I finally listened to you." Jing Yang smiled.


    "Isn''t this good, what is there to like about Faith that kind of person. It''s just that you couldn''t open your heart and weren''t willing toe out. As long as you were able to go out, you would discover that outside the men and women who are better than Faith are everywhere. You are also so beautiful, where would you be afraid of not being able to find someone better than Faith? Corrica also only knows how to pretend to be delicate and innocent, and only those people whose brains aren''t any good wouldn''t be able to see his real colors clearly.¡±


    Charley raised his teacup to quench his dry mouth and then continued, "I never dared to tell you this earlier because I was afraid you would be sad, but in fact Faith has said many times outside that he does not acknowledge his engagement with you and he would also not marry you in the future. He said that the person he likes is Corrica, so his friends'' attitude is also as if your engagement simply does not exist.¡±


    "I know that." Jing Yang said.


    "You know?"


    "En, he also said it to my face, that our engagement was only a verbal agreement and could be cancelled at any time, so he did not recognize it, and also wouldn''t marry me. Then he told me to drop the matter.¡±


    "When did he say this?" Charley asked.


    "Just a few days ago, in front of Corrica. It should be in order to let him feel at ease and be able to perform properly at his exam.¡±


    "This person is really¡­" Charley had already been angered to the point of not knowing how to express himself. "Don''t tell me only Corrica is going to be taking the exam, that you just don''t need to take the test? Saying this kind of thing at that kind of time, he is really too excessive.¡±


    "Even I''m not angry, what are you getting angry about?" Jing Yang patted his hand. "Probably also no one thinks that I will be able to get epted.¡±


    "Teacher Lili has already said that it''s just that you haven''t untied your heart knot, so you are unable to devote your heart and soul to the music. As long as you are able to free your heart, you will definitely be able to go very far in your music journey. I believe that you will definitely be able to seed." Charley held his hand. "Even though I would really like to go to the same school as you, but I hope even more that you will be able to exceed Corrica and defeat him. Go for it!" Charley had also applied to the Cherty Conservatory of Music, but had not passed the primary round, so he could only apply to some other music schools.


    Jing Yang smiled. "En, you should go for it as well!¡±


    ~


    Avi and Corrica''s exams were coincidentally arranged on the same day. Faith especially took a day off of work to apany Corrica to the exam, and Kurt let Jing Yang sit in the same car as them on the way there.


    If the Deere family driver had not been dismissed, Jing Yang would definitely not want to sit in the same car as them. But at least this car was rtively big, so Jing Yang sat down by himself looking out the window, staying as far away from them as possible.


    Corrica was still looking at his music score while on the car. Faith sat very close to him and took the sheet music from his hands to help him flip the pages.


    "I can do it myself, how heavy can a piece of sheet music be?" Corrica showed a face full of sweet helplessness at Faith''s action.


    "The music score is not heavy, but what if your finger gets scraped by the pages? Your hands are more important than anything else." Faith pinched his fingers.


    "How am I as fragile as you say?" Corrica smiled and pushed his hand. "Normally when I practice I also turn my pages myself.¡±


    "Then in the future when you practice, I''lle turn your pages if I''m there. If I''m not there then let the servants help you turn the pages. In short, your hands must be protected, these are the hands of a future great pianist after all." Faith held his hands and didn''t let go.


    Corrica looked over at Jing Yang and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Stop messing around.¡±


    "Avi, how are your preparations? Are you nervous?" Corrica seemed as if he was afraid of snubbing Jing Yang, using a concerned tone to inquire.


    Jing Yang kept on looking out the window at the scenes on the streets, ignoring him.


    Corrica revealed a somewhat wronged and awkward appearance, and Faith immediately felt heartache for him. He red at Jing Yang and then turned back around. "What are you caring about him for, whether or not he has prepared properly, the result will always be the same. He won''t be able to be epted anyways. Someone a little more self-aware would simply not even go to participate in this exam, but he only has himself to me.¡±


    "Forget it, I don''t have a problem. Stop talking about it." Corrica pushed Faith''s hands away and continued to read through his music score, his mood obviously much more downcast than before. This made Faith so angry that he constantly kept ring at Jing Yang.


    In the big hall outside the testing area, there were already many students. Most of them were apanied by their family members.


    Jing Yang found a ce to sit down by himself.


    There were already not too many empty seats left in the big hall, so Faith and Corrica sat down together somewhere not too far from Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang closed his eyes and used the system to listen to the piece that he was going to test in his mind. Suddenly, the big hall burst into an uproar, forcing Jing Yang to open his eyes and see what had happened in the end.


    As it turned out, it was the conservatory''s ten or so famous teachers who hade to select students. And the reason for such a hugemotion was that the person hailed as the King of Music, Hai Weixiu, had actually also appeared.


    The students were all struggling to contain their own excitement. Being able to be Hai Weixiu''s student, even if it was just a one-in-a-million chance, was still enough to make them madly excited.


    "Hai Weixiu! It''s Hai Weixiu, did you see that? I didn''t see wrong, did I???" Corrica gripped Faith''s arm out of excitement and could already no longer resist trembling.


    "Yes ah, I also saw, you didn''t see wrong, that is Hai Weixiu." Faith was also quite excited. This was his first time seeing Hai Weixiu himself from so close, this was the King of Music ah!


    "What to do? What to do?" Corrica suddenly looked left and right in panic. "If I had known earlier that Hai Weixiu woulde choose a student, I should have desperately practiced one of his songs. In the other people there must be ones who did.¡±


    "Don''t be nervous, don''t worry." Faith patted his back and consoled him. "You''re so excellent, even if you don''t perform Hai Weixiu''s song, your chances of being chosen will still definitely be much greater than those others.¡±


    "Right now I am really so nervous, I don''t know if I can perform normally anymore, what do I do?" Corrica was almost crying from his anxiety.


    "Even though I understand your mood very well, but seeing you bing so moved because of another man, I will still be jealous." Faith wanted to use a joke to alleviate Corrica''s anxious mood.


    "What kind of time is this, you''re still making jokes!" Corrica hammered his arm.


    "Good good good, no joking, no joking." Faith responded hurriedly.


    Watching those students bouncing and jumping from excitement, and some even crying while covering their mouths, Jing Yang felt somewhat amused.


    But this man named Hai Weixiu, was really quite legendary. He entered the Cherty Conservatory of Music when he was just 11 years old, and then monopolized the champion of all kinds of bigpetitions. He knew how to y more than five kinds of instruments, and could reach perfection in every single one, but he liked piano the best. At the age of 15 he had already be famous across the world and started topose his own music. He had alreadyposed more than 100 works, and of these most of them had already be ssic works to be circted forever.


    This person was now only 30 years old, but had already stood above the pinnacle of music in this world, with countless people obsessively worshipping him. No matter what kind of music, as long as it reached his hands, he would be able to freely control it. Adding on his astonishing grandeur while performing, the ever-changing style of his songs, and his own individuality and achievements, these factors all caused him to be crowned as the King of Music. He was someone who could truly dominate all of music.


    The music that Hai Weixiu created became more difficult as he grew older. In all kinds of high difficultypetitions, there were many people who wouldpete with the songs that he had created as a teenager.


    The song that Jing Yang had reported a couple days earlier that he would y for the exam was precisely the song that Hai Weixiu had written when he was 20 years old, <<Spring Light>>.<hr>


    Trantor Notes:


    [1] staying silent ¨C ³ÁĬ¹ÑÑÔ, idiom, means reticent or umunicative


    [2] exceeds expectations ¨C ÕùÆø, ok so this usually means to work hard for something, but also means to win credit for and live up to expectations. I felt that exceeding expectations would work better for their likely tone of exaggerated praise.


    [3] Talise ¨C Ì©ÀöË¿, pinyin tai li si, saw on Google some spa named this tranted to this in Chinese so we go with it


    [4] not at all ¨C ÄÄÀïµÄ»°, colloquially is a humble expression denying some sort ofpliment


    [5] icing on the cake ¨C ½õÉÏÌí»¨, idiom, means to make something perfect even better, another idiom gilding the lily


    [6] dared to ¨C ÓÐÊÑÎÞ¿Ö, means secure in the knowledge that she has backing/support


    [7] George ¨C ÇÇÖÎ, pinyin qiao zhi, this seems to be a standard trantion, sounds nothing like it though


    [8] Luke ¨C ÓÈ¿Ë, pinyin is you ke, apparently this is the first syble in ukulele, but uke just sounds weird so I just changed it to Luke. Luke definitely is written differently in Chinese though.


    [9] please give me more guidance ¨C ¶à¶àÖ¸½Ì, this is kind of the literal trantion, but it''s basically just some polite-talk like please take care of me


    [10] Buddy ¨C °ÍµÏ, pinyin ba di, but MTL trantes this to Buddy which is hrious but works w/e


    [11] walking with wind ¨C ×ß·Óзç, basically just means like even when you''re walking there would be wind blowing behind you, I suppose this could take the meaning of being cool/morous or being like this would speed you up and make you even lighter/faster


    [12] Charley ¨C ²éÀû, pinyin zha/cha li, I would have tranted this to Charlie but MTL put Charley and I think that just looks cooler


    [13] naturally ¨C ÀíËùÓ¦µ±, I think this is an idiom that means something like it''s natural or logical, taken for granted


    [14] heart knot ¨C ÐĽá, literal trantion but this actually means a preupation or matter that gnaws/stays on your mind


    [15] self-aware ¨C ×ÔÖªÖ®Ã÷, idiom, knowing oneself, self-knowledge


    [16] only has himself to me ¨C ×ÔÈ¡ÆäÈè, idiom, means to bring trouble through their own actions


    [17] Hai Weixiu ¨C º£ÍþÐÞ, this is just the pinyin since there is literally no really suitable English equivalent, some people just always have to be special huh


    [18] reach perfection ¨C ³öÉñÈ뻯, idiom, means a superb artistic achievement


    [19] freely ¨C ËæÐÄËùÓû, idiom, means to do as he pleases, to follow his heart''s desires<hr>


    Random Notes:


    Took quite a while, almost 3 hours: 4:45 pm ¨C 7:30 pm, for 4.8k characters to 3.7k words. Of course it didn¡¯t actually take 3 hours but more like 2.5 hours since I did eat during the time. Hopefully this arc will just calm down with the names and music terminology so that I can catch a break. Honestly, I¡¯m struggling with all of these names. Why would you give names to all of these random cannon fodder who only show up once, author?


    I also actually reread the entire arc again yesterday, haha. It is still as entertaining and annoying as I remember.<hr>

 Chapter 44

    <strong>Chapter 44</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.4)</strong>


    Every time before apetition, Corrica would still more or less get somewhat anxious, because he was very aware, that only by cing, only by achieving sess, would he have the value to continue to stay in the Mooney family.


    This time''s exam was arguably even more important than any otherpetition, and also made him even more anxious. He constantlyforted himself, he had practiced so much, from morning till night, and every day would practice so hard, he had already prepared extremely well, and he would be sure to seed.


    When he walked into the testing room and stood in front of the over 10 great master teachers, his palms could not help sweating and even trembling a bit. Especially when he saw Hai Weixiu sitting casually on the sofa, his breathing couldn''t even stay smooth.


    He sat down in front of the piano, stealthily wiping his hands on his trousers, and started his performance. He had practiced this piece for a very long time, and it was only because he had aplete grasp of it that he dared to use it for the exam. He could not fail, because he had no path of retreat.


    The Mooney family had hosted a pre-exam encouragement dinner party, which had invisibly increased his pressure even more. Every single person felt that he would definitely be able to get epted, so if he made a mistake and failed to get in, and lost face for the Mooney family, all of the effort that he had put in previously would have been drastically discounted.


    There was not a single thing that had belonged to him at the start, so he could only rely on his own ability to go fight for them. His outstanding piano ability was precisely his capital for striving for everything. The care from the Mooney family, Faith''s love for him, were all things that he had relied on himself to win over bit by bit. He knew that some of his behavior was very despicable, but he wanted to be happy, so he had to do it like this. Even if he harmed others to achieve this, he would also not care.


    If he could be Hai Weixiu''s student, that was equivalent to acquiring a <strong>means of advancement</strong> straight into the heavens. Who knows how many people <strong>longed for</strong> this, he was willing to exhaust his entire life''s good fortune to try to obtain sess this time.


    While Corrica was performing, the more than 10 master teachers each sitting in their own separate armchairs would asionally make a note on their papers. Only Hai Weixiu kept his head turned, looking outside the window at the garden. It was very obvious that his mind was already wandering and he was entirely not even listening to Corrica.


    Faith was sitting in the big hall to wait when he saw Corricae out, and he immediately stood up and walked over to him.


    "How was it?" Faith saw that Corrica''s face was somewhat ugly, so he supported him to sit down on a nearby chair.


    "I made a mistake, I made two mistakes¡­" Corrica held his chest, his breathing somewhat difficult.


    "It''s not a big deal, exams allow mistakes. Two mistakes is very normal, and won''t be considered too many." Faith rubbed his back and reassured.


    "But, but¡­" Corrica''s breathing became more and more difficult, and he was already unable to finish speaking.


    As a child, Corrica had asthma, and after he was adopted, the Mooney family had spent quite a sum in order to give him treatment and piano lessons. His asthma had not been triggered for many years¡ªperhaps it was because he had been progressing too smoothly and had suddenly be extremely stressed, and also was stimted by his own mistakes, so he would have what seemed to be an asthma attack.


    Faith hastened to support him up to walk out. "Don''t worry, you will definitely not have a problem. Let''s go, we''ll first go home to rest.¡±


    Jing Yang saw them leave. It seemed liketer he needed to go back by himself, but that was good, just to his liking.


    After Jing Yang entered the exam room, he bowed to the great teachers, and before sitting down, he quickly nced at Hai Weixiu. That person was just casually leaning back on the sofa, thatnguid kingly grandeur seemed almost palpable, truly worthy of being called the King of Music.


    <<Spring Light>> expresses emotions toward seeing the spring scenery. Spring is a season full of rain and sun, a good time for the germination of life.


    The great teachers could all feel the flourishing of life from Jing Yang''s ying, and they closed their eyes to carefully experience it, as if they were being bathed in <strong>exuberance</strong>.


    Music is the thing most able to express emotions¡ªpeople''s emotions, the emotions of all things, could all be conveyed. It all just depended on whether or not you had the ability.


    The notes flowed out from under Jing Yang''s fingers, his mouth was slightly smiling. It was very obvious that he himself could also feel the meaning of life from this song.


    His clean and handsome appearance, well-proportioned and slender figure, steady yet pleasant poise while ying, elegant and graceful yet very imposing, without the slightest bit of confusion or difort. This was a teacher''s favorite type of student, and when they brought him out they would have a lot of face.


    Spring is not only the season for nts to sprout, but also the season for animals to romance and reproduce. The ce where animals are different from humans is precisely that they never conceal their own desires, that kind of <strong>bold and confident</strong> roaring, anytime and anywhere, thirsting for expression, and wanting to be satisfied.


    Jing Yang really had to admire Hai Weixiu. Being able to create somethingbining all of these different styles, being able to perfectly express all of the emotions and images, and being able to <strong>freely</strong> control everyone''s state of mind, he was truly a born musician. Talent and creativity were really miraculous and admirable things.


    The animals chasing and arguing with each other seemed to be attacking and fighting, but were actually ying and flirting. The sunlight threaded through the leaves. After the rain, the nt buds were still adorned with beads of water, and the animals trapped by the heavy rain could finallye out to move, running freely and yfully on the grass. Truly a wonderful piece of spring light!


    Hai Weixiu seemed to finally have been awakened by Jing Yang''s ying. He retracted his gaze from outside the window and transferred it onto Jing Yang. He squinted his eyes to size up the person in front of him, his clean and fresh appearance made him feel veryfortable, and that pair of hands quickly dancing around the keys seemed very beautiful.


    Being able to appreciate the artistic concept of his works was a very easy matter, but wanting to be able to express itpletely was actually not easy, it was not something that could be done just using skill. This was the first time that someone besides himself could perfectly present all of <<Spring Light>>''s artistic concept.


    Hai Weixiu constantly stared at Jing Yang''s profile, and his mouth could not resist smiling very slightly. Actually performing <<Spring Light>> during an exam, this was really a very bold and unique person, but, this was quite interesting.


    ~


    The process of waiting always torments people. The school''s official website also temporarily did not provide any news about eptances, reportedly saying that only after the eptance notices had beenpletely sent out would the official website publish the list of students who had been epted.


    During this period Corrica had be a lot more haggard. He couldn''t eat well or sleep well, and even had no mind to practice piano, every day wallowing in tension.


    Jing Yang actually ate and slept like normal, his days were spent quite at ease. The exam was already over anyways, even if you were nervous it also wouldn''t change the results. Even if he hadn''t been epted, there were still many different ways to be famous.


    "Madam, the admission notices from the Cherty Conservatory of Music have arrived, there are two copies!" The housekeeper quickly ran in holding two envelopes.


    "Two copies?" Susan stood up excitedly and took the two envelopes from the housekeeper. "Both of them tested in? That''s really too great!¡±


    Susan happily told the housekeeper, "Quickly go, call down both Corrica and Avi, as well as Faith and his father. Quickly, quickly!¡±


    The entire family was seated at the big wooden table in the dining hall. Two envelopes were ced on the table in front of Susan, the decoration on them were exquisite, and the design was also very grand. One was pure gold, and the other was gold and red, both seals had not yet been opened. The golden red admission notice seemed to be more upscale, and the mark on the envelope signified that they had been epted as a privileged student of a master teacher.


    Susan pushed the golden red admission notice to Corrica and smiled at him. "Congrattions dear, your efforts have been rewarded. I still haven''t opened it to see which master teacher has chosen you, I think that this surprise should be opened by yourself.¡±


    Susan also ced the pure gold admission notice in front of Jing Yang. "Also congrats to you Avi, in the future you will also be one of the Cherty Conservatory of Music students. Everyone there is an elite, so even though you are only an ordinary student, you will still need to work harder in the future.¡±


    Corrica looked at the admission notice in front of his eyes and couldn''t resist clenching his fists in front of his chest. He could finally rx, but his excited mood was very difficult to contain. Which master teacher had chosen him, could it be Hai Weixiu? If it was, then he was really too lucky! Thank you, God!


    Faith held Corrica''s hand. "Open it ba.¡±


    "En." Corrica nodded and smiled.


    Corrica carefully removed the seal and opened the admission notice to see which master teacher had chosen him.


    Jing Yang also picked up the golden admission notice in front of him. He opened it very casually, reading the contents inside.


    Corrica froze. He widened his eyes in disbelief, staring forcefully at the words on the page. He felt that it was definitely that he had read wrong, impossible! It''s impossible! He must have read it wrong.


    Corrica refolded the admission notice and rubbed his eyes forcefully. Taking a deep breath, opening it again, rigidly staring at the name of the person who had been epted, his expressionpletely changed.


    "What happened, Corrica?" Faith and his parents saw that Corrica''s behavior and expression were strange, and looked at him in confusion. Could it be that he had been chosen by a teacher he didn''t like? But those were all the Cherty Conservatory of Music''s master teachers ah, no matter who you had been epted by, it would be something glorious and worthy of pride.


    "This is yours, it says your name on it." Jing Yang pushed the admission notice in his hands in front of Corrica, and then reached out his hand. "The one in your hands should be mine, please return it to me.¡±


    "No, no it''s not¡­" Corrica shook his head in a panic, his fingers tightly gripping the admission notice and refusing to let go.


    "What''s going on?" Kurt exchanged doubtful nces with his wife and son, then took over the admission notice tightly held in Corrica''s hand. Seeing Avi''s name written on top, he also froze, his eyes filled with shock. "The one who had been epted as a famous teacher''s privileged student was Avi?¡±


    "Impossible!" Faith snatched over the admission notice from his father''s hand, saw that it was really Avi''s name who had been written on top, and said disbelievingly, "This is impossible, something must have gone wrong!¡±


    Susan took both admission notices and repeatedly read them multiple times, and then checked the names and admission notice colors multiple times, before finally determining that she had not seen wrong. "The one who was epted as an ordinary student was Corrica, and the one who became a privileged student of a master teacher was Avi, this, how is this possible? Should we call the school to ask to see whether or not there''s a mistake?¡±


    "Of course!" Faith shouted. "Call right now, at this moment! Quickly, Mom!¡±


    Susan hurriedly said, "Good good good! I''ll call right here, don''t be anxious.¡±


    Jing Yang sat there expressionlessly. Seeing this family''s frantic and shocked appearance, it was as if they had suffered from some massive psychological blow.


    Corrica''s breathing had be difficult again. He pressed on his chest, breathing heavily.


    Faith frantically ordered the housekeeper to get the medicine and hugged him,forting, "Don''t be anxious, Mom is calling right now. Both of your addresses are the same, there was definitely some sort of ident in the middle, and they got your names mixed up. We will definitely rify everything.¡±


    "Wei, hello, is this the Cherty Conservatory of Music admissions office?" Susan asked the person on the other end of the phone.


    "It''s like this, there were two candidates in my family who had been epted, but the names on the admission notices seemed to have been mistaken. I wanted to ask if you could help me check it out?¡±


    "The names are Corrica Mooney and Avi Deere, the candidate numbers? Please wait a bit, I''ll check, the numbers are¡­¡±


    "Did you find it? All right, please say.¡±


    After listening to them, Susan froze for a moment and asked again, "You are sure that Avi Deere was epted as a privileged student of a master teacher, and Corrica Mooney was only epted as an ordinary student? You''re sure there''s no mistake? Oh, that¡­, okay, thank you.¡±


    After Susan hung up the phone, she was still somewhat unable to process the information, speaking dazedly, "They said that there was no mistake. Corrica was epted normally, and Avi was personally epted by Hai Weixiu.¡±


    Once Corrica heard everything, his eyes rolled and he fainted.


    "Corrica!" Faith hugged Corrica and yelled. "Quickly call the doctor!¡±


    "Corrica, is there anything wrong?" Susan and Kurt also gathered around to see Corrica''s situation.


    Jing Yang took his own admission notice and went upstairs, not paying attention to that mess of a family.


    Lying on the bed, Jing Yang opened the admission notice and carefully read it. On it it was written that the teacher who had epted him was Hai Weixiu. Even though he had only seen him once, during this period of time Jing Yang had listened to all of hisposed works, and bing his student should be very good for his music learning. It''s just that he heard that this person''s personality was entric, his temper was not great, icily arrogant and with a malicious tongue. He was not good at interacting with this kind of person ah. Whatever, he would just take it a step at a time.


    The doctor rushed over to give Corrica some emergency treatment and then left. During dinner time, Corrica stayed in his room to rest and did not appear at the dinner table.


    "Congrats ah, Avi, you were actually epted by Hai Weixiu. That is really too terrific, Aunt is truly so proud of you." Susan smiled at Jing Yang.


    "Yes, this is a great asion for our family, Avi is really amazing." Kurt looked at Jing Yang, full of satisfaction.


    "Just a fluke." Faith snorted disdainfully. "Corrica wasn''t able to perform well due to his physical condition, but he was actually lucky enough to be a privileged student of a master teacher. What is there to brag about.¡±


    "In any case, at least he has been epted, Corrica being able to be an ordinary student is also quite great. If he performs well in school, he could still have the opportunity to be a privileged student of a master teacher. You justfort him a bit more and let him not be worried. In the future there are still so manypetitions, he still has many opportunities." Susan had always gone with whatever her son wanted. Whatever he said was right, and since Faith liked Corrica, she would also be more inclined toward Corrica.


    "Two people in our family have been epted into Cherty, this is something worth celebrating. Let''s host a dinner party and invite some more people over, we can all celebrate together." Kurt felt that no matter whether it was Corrica or Avi who had been epted, either way it would be the pride of their family. Right now both of them had been admitted, of course they needed to properly celebrate.


    "What is there to celebrate. Corrica''s health isn''t good and can''t participate, so I will also not attend. If you want to celebrate you all can do it, but I will first remind you that if someone does notst long before having his master teacher''s privileged student qualifications revoked, it would be our family''s face that is lost." Faith hadn''t even finished eating when he threw down his knife and went upstairs.


    "Then, then let''s just not host the dinner party." Susan looked at her son''s back and said to Kurt. "Corrica''s body isn''t well, and Faith also isn''t in the mood to participate. Let''s just forget about the dinner party.¡±


    Jing Yang didn''t say a single word, letting them make a decision by themselves.


    Kurt saw that his son and wife both said not to hold the party, so he also didn''t insist on it. Plus what Faith said was also not wrong, it was not like there had not been privileged students of master teachers who had gotten their qualifications revoked. And Hai Weixiu was known for being harsh and difficult to get along with, who knew how long Avi couldst with his kind of skill. If he got his qualifications revoked just two days into sses, at that time it would truly be their home being humiliated.


    Being able to be an ordinary student at the Cherty Conservatory of Music was actually also an extremely glorious matter, who knows how many people wanted to get in but weren''t able to.


    If today Jing Yang had not been epted and only Corrica had been epted as an ordinary student, the Mooney family would still have celebrated, and Corrica would also not have suffered such a great stimtion.


    But Jing Yang had be the privileged student of a master teacher, yet Corrica had only been epted as an ordinary student. This kind of abnormal situation made the Mooney family somewhat unable to react. Corrica was even more unable to ept this fact. He could not be surpassed by Avi, he could not be inferior to Avi, if he couldn''t evenpare to Avi in piano, then he really did not have any capital topete with him with.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>means of advancement</strong> ¨C ½×ÌÝ, fignguage that literally means flight of steps/stepping stone


    [2] <strong>longed for</strong> ¨C ÃÎÃÂÒÔÇó, idiom, to yearn for something even in their dreams


    [3] <strong>exuberance</strong> ¨C Éú»ú°»È», means full of life or exuberance but a little weird in this context


    [4] <strong>bold and confident</strong> ¨C ÀíÖ±Æø׳, idiom, usually used in humans as self-confident


    [5] <strong>freely</strong> ¨C ËæÐÄËùÓû, idiom, means to follow your heart''s desires<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Almost two hours again: 4:45 pm ¨C 5 pm, 6:30 pm ¨C 8 pm, for 4.8k characters to 3.3k words. There weren¡¯t as many T/Ns here, but there were just so many random phrases and idioms. You¡¯re killing me, author. Hopefully things get better as we settle in a bit and I don¡¯t have to read through too much musical jargon. I know it¡¯s not going to happen though. Also, I do use famous teacher/great teacher/master teacher interchangeably, I¡¯ve been attempting to go through and change them all to master teachers when I remember, but I¡¯ve definitely missed some. Just keep that in mind ??<hr>

 Chapter 45

    <strong>Chapter 45</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.5)</strong>


    Today was Jing Yang and Corrica''s first day of school. On the car, Faith repeatedly exhorted Corrica to bring the medicine on him at all times, and whenever something happened he should immediately give him a phone call, or find one of his school <strong>buddies</strong>.


    Jing Yang rested his chin on his hand and looked out the window. If during the following year he had to sit in the same car with these two every single day, he would really need to consider getting a driver''s license in this world. He would rather buy his own car and then drive himself to school every day.


    Corrica constantly kept a slight smile on his face and listened to Faith''s lecture, asionally responding to him. He stealthily nced at Jing Yang, inwardly feeling that there was something strange. In the past when Faith was so intimate with him, Avi would always be very sad and angry, but now he actually seemed to not care a bit about it. Could it be that he was already nning on giving up on Faith?


    If Avi didn''t n onpeting for Faith with him, this would naturally be good news for him, but he still couldn''t just be defeated by Avi like this. After all, Avi had arge amount of assets as his backing, so the Mooney family would definitely not just easily give up on such arge amount of assets. That is, unless his own worth was greater than the value of those assets.


    Jing Yang first went to his two cultural sses, music appreciation and music history, then tidied up his textbooks to prepare to go to Hai Weixiu''s residence for his guidance ss.


    "Avi." Corrica picked up his backpack and walked over, saying to Jing Yang, "Are you going to guidance ss now?¡±


    "En." Jing Yang didn''t look at him, directly preparing to leave.


    "Wait a minute, Avi." Corrica chased up again. "My guidance ss was arranged over three hourster, can I go together with you to visit?¡±


    Jing Yang stopped his footsteps and looked at him. "What did you say? Come with me to visit?¡±


    Corrica hurriedly added, "I won''t disturb you both, I will stay very quiet at the side so that you won''t even feel my existence.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled sarcastically. "In front of me, do you still need to pretend? Are you not tired after pretending all these years? What kind of person you are, besides yourself, I am the clearest about it. Only when you asionally take off that false mask of yours would you not live so tiredly.¡±


    "What are you saying ah, Avi." Corrica looked at Jing Yang with an innocent expression.


    "<strong>Tut</strong>." Jing Yang impatiently turned his face away. "It seems like your mask has stayed on your face too long and won''t be able toe off for a lifetime. If you were to take it off, I''m afraid you''ll rip off ayer of skin with it.¡±


    Jing Yang walked two steps closer to him. "If you want something, you should honorably fight for it. Did you know that behaving one way in front of someone and another way behind their back really makes people disgusted with you? Please do not ever y these kinds of <strong>hypocritical friendship</strong> games in front of me again, I really do not feel like wasting this time with you.¡±


    Corrica retreated two steps, his eyes looking at Jing Yang full of grievance.


    Jing Yang turned and left. Corrica watched him gradually move farther and farther, and his gaze and expression from just now finallypletely disappeared, his expressionless appearance seeming as if he had be another person.


    ~


    Hai Weixiu lived in the forest park behind the school, where there was a vi area in which each vi was separated quite far from each other. The gardens inside were very well managed, and the scenery was particrly beautiful, the air fresh and clean and the environment peaceful. It was a very rarely found excellent area. For ordinary students, this ce was a restricted area, and even normal teachers couldn''t randomly enter. The great teachers'' privileged students could also only enter when they had ss, unless they had the homeowner''s special permission to freely enter.


    While Jing Yang waited at the entrance, Hai Weixiu''s housekeeper drove out to bring him in.


    After they reached the vi, the housekeeper exined to him, "Sir has not gotten up yet, but he has informed me that after you arrive you can first go practice in the piano room.¡±


    "He still hasn''t gotten up?" Jing Yang raised his head to look at the sky. It should already be almost noon ba.


    "You''ll get used to it in the future. Sir usually sleeps prettyte, because there''s more inspiration at night." The housekeeper exined amusedly, and then brought him inside and up the stairs.


    "Here is the piano practice room." The housekeeper introduced to him. "Sir usually uses the ck piano, that white one was just sent over a few days ago, especially prepared for you. If you have any needs do not hesitate to ask¡ªjust press that button on the wall, and a servant wille right over.¡±


    "All right, thank you." Jing Yang roughly nced around the piano practice room. It was very big, it seemed like a study or an audiovisual room, everything that might be needed was here. The wall to the outside was entirely made of ss, and not only was the field of view very wide and open, but the scenery was also extremely pleasant.


    Jing Yang sat down in front of the white piano. The housekeeper had said that he should first practice, so he would just y a piano piece specifically used for practicing.


    The fourth movement of the <<<strong>Kreutzer Etudes</strong>>> was a section especially for practicing fingering and could train finger flexibility.


    Jing Yang himself knew how to y piano, so even if he didn''t use the system he could still y very well, but he was good at some more romantic and emotional songs. He was not very good at all of those oppressive and sorrowful or morale-boosting and encouraging songs. If during thepetition he needed to use a song that he was not good at, he would still use the help of the system in order to guarantee that he would win and not lose.


    But if he was just practicing, he would still prefer to do it himself, because ying piano was also one of his interests. If he was practicing his preferred genre of music, no matter how many times he had to y it, he would still not find it tedious.


    "Too simple.¡±


    Jing Yang heard someone speaking behind him and immediately stopped ying, turning his head to look over. Hai Weixiu was currently leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. What Jing Yang found surprising was that originally that painting was actually a door, he hadpletely not discovered it earlier. This also meant that this piano practice room was directly connected to Hai Weixiu''s bedroom.


    "Teacher." Jing Yang instantly stood up. He had heard that this person''s personality wasn''t that good, so it would still be better for him to be a bit more <strong>careful</strong>. If he could avoid being revoked of the master teacher''s privileged student qualifications, he would avoid it as much as possible.


    "You shouldn''t still be practicing such a simple etude." Hai Weixiu looked at him.


    Jing Yang thought, is this simple? This is already a high difficulty etude, many music school juniors were still practicing it.


    Hai Weixiu walked to the bookshelf and took out three piano sheet music books. He ced them on the white piano, saying, "y these once for me.¡±


    Jing Yang picked up the three books and flipped through them. <<<strong>Finger Dance</strong>>>, <<<strong>Kada Etudes</strong>>>, <<<strong>Wei Ming</strong> >>, these were perversely difficult etudes, okay? Most people didn''t even dare to practice these, if they didn''t practice it properly, their fingers might be ruined.


    Jing Yang considered whether or not he should use the system. This was his first time ying these songs, so if he did too well he could be easily suspected, and if he did not do well enough he could also easily be abandoned. After he quickly thought a bit, he decided to just use the system halfway, and the other half would rely on his own ability. This way at least he could remain at around the 70 to 80% level.


    Hai Weixiu leaned against the piano. He didn''t pay attention to Jing Yang''s fingering, instead constantly staring at Jing Yang''s face. In his heart, he always felt that a familiar feeling of deja vu, especially that pair of eyes that seemed to shine like ck pearls.


    Jing Yang hadn''t finished ying yet when Hai Weixiu reached out his hand to him.


    Jing Yang looked at the hand in front of him, not understanding what he wanted. The fingers were slender and straight, they seemed like they should have quite a bit of strength. En, they were also very beautiful, with one nce it was obvious that they were the hands of a pianist.


    "Give your hand to me." Hai Weixiu said to the frozen Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang raised his head and nced doubtfully at him, but still ced his own hand on his palm.


    His hand was somewhat smaller than Hai Weixiu''s hand, just the right size to be enveloped in his palm. He watched Hai Weixiu pinch his fingers one by one, and even kneaded them in his hands. His heart trembled a bit.


    Jing Yang immediately raised his head and looked at his eyes. Could it be that this person was his own lover?


    "What are you looking at?" Hai Weixiu pinched his chin.


    "Teacher''s eyes are very beautiful." Jing Yang looked at his eyes.


    Hai Weixiu raised a corner of his mouth, and suddenly bent down to close the distance between the two. Their breaths almost mingling, he said, "Your eyes are also very pretty.¡±


    Jing Yang blinked a few times, he had the illusion that he was going to kiss himself. In his heart, he thought, if he really kisses me, should I reject him or not? If I reject him, for the time being I won''t be able to determine whether or not he''s my own lover. If I don''t reject him, the progress will be too fast, and I might appear to be very frivolous.


    Jing Yang hadn''t thought of a proper solution when Hai Weixiu had already straightened up and sat down next to him.


    He held Jing Yang''s other hand and kneaded his fingers. "These hands are also not bad, justcking tempering. Practice well these three piano books. In fifteen days, you will participate in the <strong>Dawatt</strong> Piano <strong>Skill</strong> Competition.¡±


    "Fifteen days?" Jing Yang widened his eyes. "With all due respect, teacher, this is my first time ying the songs in these three books.¡±


    "For you, fifteen days is enough. I have already been able to tell what level you''ll be able to y at right now. Tomorrow bring your luggage and stay over here, I will help you practice." Hai Weixiu propped one hand on the piano lid and pinched his chin with the other. "Participating in thepetition as my student, you must take first ce.¡±


    "What if I can''t?" Jing Yang looked at him.


    "I will let you achieve it." Hai Weixiu said in his ear. "We still have fifteen days of time. Do you hope that these fifteen days will be long? Or do you hope that they will be short?¡±


    Hai Weixiu''s voice was low and gorgeous, and even brought a mysterious feeling of luring people''s minds. Jing Yang couldn''t resist shivering a bit, and immediately pledged, "I will work hard!¡±


    "Very good, then you can start practicing right now." Hai Weixiu was very satisfied with his attitude and patted his face like he was caressing it.


    Hai Weixiu was very close to him, as long as Jing Yang tilted his head a bit, he would be able to see his pecs through his wide open cor. This person''s physique was tall and robust, he didn''t give others the feeling of being muscr, but was actually quite impressive.


    "What are you thinking about?" Hai Weixiu lightly pinched Jing Yang''s face and turned his face to face him.


    "Not thinking of anything." Jing Yang denied.


    "Do you want to see?" Hai Weixiu pulled open his robe.


    "Don''t want to!" Jing Yang immediately turned his head away.


    "Then you should concentrate a little. If you get first ce in thispetition, I will let you see enough." Hai Weixiu reached his arms around Jing Yang to flip through the book, the two people''s bodies almost affixed together.


    Jing Yang attempted to ignore the close contact between the two of them as much as possible, making an effort to engross himself in practicing.


    After eating dinner, Hai Weixiu finally let the driver send Jing Yang back home.


    When he returned to the Mooney home, Jing Yang went upstairs and walked back to his room to rest when he saw Faith standing in the hallway staring at him. Jing Yang didn''t pay attention to him, directly walking past him.


    "Stop!" Faith roared.


    "What do you want?" Jing Yang turned around, looking at him impatiently.


    "Avi, I''m warning you, if you speak to Corrica so excessively again, I won''t forgive you." Faith furiously red at Jing Yang.


    "I''m excessive?" Jing Yang looked at him with <strong>a smile that wasn''t a smile</strong>. ¡°Faith, with an IQ like yours, it really wasn''t easy to live to such an age.¡±


    "Corrica didn''t say anything bad about you, you shouldn''t think of others as being bad like you if you yourself have a bad heart.¡±


    "If he didn''t say anything bad about me, would you being to denounce me right now? But it is yourself who doesn''t have the ability to distinguish between them. How about you say it, what did he say to make you feel like I was excessive to him.¡±


    "If you didn''t want to bring him to visit, you could just directly reject him. Saying those kinds of hurtful words, could that not be considered excessive?¡±


    Once Corrica came back he closed himself in his room. Faith took a lot of effort to make him open the door, and seeing his red eyes, it was obvious that he had been crying. It was only after he questioned him closely that Corrica finally roughly mentioned some matters that had happened at school today¡ªhe had just wanted to go visit, this was also not some excessive request, if he didn''t want him to go he could just directly reject him, but he actually spoke a bunch of insulting words.


    Corrica said with tears rolling down his face, Avi definitely felt unhappy because the two of them were too intimate, and so would say these kinds of words. Even though he felt very sad in his heart, but these were all what he should bear. He both wanted to be friends with Avi and wanted Faith''s love, he shouldn''t have been this greedy. He also had such a guilty conscience and had such pain, but love just couldn''t be controlled.


    Jing Yang responded coldly, "Those words I said naturally can''t be considered excessive, because every word that I said to him was the truth.¡±


    The door to Corrica''s room suddenly opened, and he ran out from inside. He pulled Faith''s hand, begging, "How are you two quarreling again, please don''t quarrel again in the future, everything is my fault, me me¡­¡±


    "Don''t act again!" Jing Yang yelled at him. "Your acting is too fake, fake enough to disgust people. Did you think that I don''t know what you''re thinking? First mentioning the request to visit with me, could it be that you didn''t know that ordinary students can''t enter the ce where Hai Weixiu lives? You were definitely thinking that if I rejected you, you would conveniently have another opportunity toe back to cry to Faith. If I wanted to show off to you and didn''t reject you, I would be a new student going to ss for the first time who even overestimated myself and brought an extra person, and would definitely worsen Hai Weixiu''s impression of me. Then maybe even I myself wouldn''t be able to go to ss. Your scheming is really much stronger than your acting.¡±


    Corrica''s thoughts had been directly exposed. His eyes dodged a bit, but he immediately recovered his innocent and wronged expression. "Why do you always want to think of me so evilly? I know, I know that you hated me since we were small, but I really am not like what you said.¡±


    "Don''t pay attention to him." Faith hugged Corrica. "This kind of person like him, besides ndering other people, he has no other skills.¡±


    Jing Yang felt that these two people were really ridiculous. "You two people, one is hypocritical, one is stupid, you are truly a <strong>perfect </strong>match. You can think whatever you want, but please don''te disgust me in the future.¡±


    "Since you hate us so much, just leave ah." Faith stared at him. "You think that we want to see you? You''re the one obstructing our eyes!¡±


    "You think I want to live here? Could it be that I don''t have my own home to return to? Since you don''t want to see me, if you have the skill then go convince your father and let him renounce my custody. I''ll rush out of here, and that way both you and I will be satisfied. That''s right¡­" Jing Yang looked at them seriously. "Don''t forget to let your father return all of my assets to me, and we can see at that time who will be the homeless ones.¡±


    "You¡­" Faith was angered to the point of not knowing how to refute.


    "How could you say these kinds of words." Corrica looked at him disapprovingly. "The Mooney family have at least taken care of you for so many years¡­¡±


    "What qualifications do you have to lecture me?" Jing Yang interrupted him. "Do you think I''m the same as you? All these years I''ve been at the Mooney home, I have not spent a single penny of the Mooney family. If the Mooney family didn''t have my Deere family''s assets to prop them up, they would long have fallen to who knows what kind of situation. The Mooney leaving me behind, in the end whether it is in order to take care of me, or for that money, everyone is well aware.¡±


    Jing Yang turned around to return to his room, but stopped halfway there and turned his head around again to say to Corrica, "If we say that I was left in the Mooney family because of my assets, then you only have the value to stay because of your piano ying, you are very clear about that. This time''s exam, you were defeated by me, you must be very anxious in your heart? But this is only the start, we will continue to wait and see.¡±<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>buddy</strong> ¨C °ÍµÏ, actually did not realize and mdbg did not recognize this until MTL said this was buddy, that''s pretty funny


    [2] <strong>tut</strong> ¨C ßõ, an interjection of disgust in this case, basically clicking your tongue


    [3] <strong>Kreutzer Etudes</strong> ¨C ¿ËÀ³ÑŵϸÖÇÙÁ·Ï°Çú, actually found this might be a real book after Googling, also literally it trantes to piano exercises but I think etudes trantes to Á·Ï°Çú in Chinese


    [4] <strong>careful</strong> ¨C СÐĽ÷É÷, idiom, also means cautious and timid


    [5] <strong>Finger Dance, Kada Etude, Wei Ming</strong> ¨C Ö¸¼äÎè, ¿¨´ïÁ·Ï°Çú, ΢Ãù, yeah I gave up on these and I don''t think they''re real


    [6] <strong>Dawatt</strong> ¨C ´ïÍßÌØ, from the pinyin


    [7] <strong>skill</strong> ¨C ÇÙ¼¼, not exactly sure what word would work best, basically focuses more on the technicalities than like performance/emotion


    [8] <strong>a smile that wasn''t a smile</strong> ¨C ËÆЦ·ÇЦ, idiom


    [9] <strong>perfect</strong> ¨C ÌìÔìµØÉè, idiom, means a match made in heaven, meant for one another<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Took 1.5 hours: 6:30 pm ¨C 7 pm, 8:30 pm ¨C 9:30 pm, for 4.7k characters to 3.3k words. Took the weekend off of tranting, so we¡¯re behind a couple chapters in the schedule. Oh well, we¡¯ll just have to keep it up so I don¡¯t fall too behind. The chapters are getting a little easier to trante though. Like I mentioned, Corrica and Faith are just too annoying. I was angry even while typing this up. Also the ambiguity btw JY and HWX is killing me. We met him very early this time, kids.<hr>

 Chapter 46

    <strong>Chapter 46</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.6)</strong>


    During breakfast, Jing Yang carried his suitcase downstairs, stunning the Mooney family members. Faith thought that after yesterday''s argument he really wanted to move out, and looked at his father somewhat guiltily.


    Susan asked, "Avi, what are you doing?¡±


    Jing Yang ced the suitcase down at the side and sat down at the dinner table. "In fifteen days I will be participating in apetition, so my teacher told me to go live over at his ce so he could guide my practice.¡±


    "So it''s like that." Susan smiled and nodded. "Very good, good luck oh, you will have to work hard to make Hai Weixiu satisfied. That''s right, whichpetition is it that you''re going to participate in?¡±


    "The Dawatt Piano Skill Competition." Jing Yang answered.


    "Is that right?" Susan looked at Corrica. "Corrica previously also mentioned that he was going to participate in thispetition, right?¡±


    "Yes." Corrica smiled and nodded slightly.


    "Didn''t you say that you would startpeting in just three days?" Susan asked doubtfully.


    Her husband Kurt answered her, "Great teachers'' privileged students can go straight to the finals.¡±


    "Aiya, look at me, I actually forgot this matter." Susan rubbed her forehead in chagrin, she really hadn''t thought of that for a while. "This is a very importantpetition, you will both need to work hard.¡±


    Corrica''s smile became a little difficult to hold, so he hurriedly lowered his head to eat to cover up his expression. In his heart he was really very jealous, Avi was actually able to go live in Hai Weixiu''s residence after only one ss. Not only was he able to directly participate in the finals, but he could also receive the King of Music''s personal guidance. But he himself actually could only pass through round by round until he could reach the finals.


    He was <strong>unwilling</strong>, Avi''s piano skills were simply unable to bepared with his, why was he able to enjoy so many privileges, yet he himself had none. He had to win thispetition, he had to get first ce, he needed to prove to Hai Weixiu that he had chosen the wrong person.


    Today Jing Yang did not have to sit in the same car as those two, because Hai Weixiu''s driver hade over to pick him up. The driver helped him ce his luggage in the trunk and then helped him open the door.


    "Avi." Corrica called to Avi just as he was about to get on the car.


    "If you are going to say that you want to go to school in the same car as me, I reject." Jing Yang directly said.


    "No¡­" Corrica''s smile was somewhat awkward. "I just wanted to say to be careful on the road.¡±


    ~


    Before thepetition ended, Jing Yang did not need to attend any of his cultural sses, which was also one of the privileges of being a great teacher''s privileged student.


    When Jing Yang arrived, Hai Weixiu was sitting in the living room drinking coffee and watching the news.


    "Good morning, teacher." Jing Yang greeted him.


    Hai Weixiu patted the sofa, so Jing Yang walked over and sat down.


    "Do you know why I want to let you participate in the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition?" Hai Weixiu ced his arm along the back of the sofa, making it seem as if Jing Yang was leaning in his arms.


    Taking part inpetitions is naturally for winning a ce, and is also a kind of tempering. All music students would constantly participate in all kinds ofpetitions of all sizes. But Hai Weixiu had asked him such a question, so what he wanted to hear was of course not these obvious answers.


    "I don''t know." Jing Yang responded.


    "Because I hate those Dawatt School <strong>old fogies</strong>.¡±


    "Er¡­I do know that." Or he should say, everyone knew that Hai Weixiu did not like the Dawatt School.


    The Dawatt School was also known as the ssical music conservative faction. This faction of people was extremely dedicated to stubbornly pursuing the performance of skill and technique, and moreover believed that rhythm and <strong>interval</strong> should all be yed strictly following the score, and the appearance of any bit of difference would all be mistakes.


    Regarding these strict requirements of orthodoxy, the skills and technique are able to be shown, but this kind of music still seemed very rigid andcking any feeling.


    Hai Weixiu had previously criticized in public many times the rigid performance of the Dawatt School. Making music lose feelings, music thatcks feelings was just like dead water that couldn''t flow¡ªas time went on, it would emit a sour stench that disgusted people.


    But what was strange was that even though everyone knew he hated the Dawatt faction, everyone also knew that when he was in his teens, he had won first ce three times in a row in the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition.


    "When you want to criticize something you dislike, you must at the very least prove that you can do it very well, and it''s only that you are not willing to go do it. I criticize you, because I think you are inferior, not because I can''t achieve what you want." Hai Weixiu turned his head and raised Jing Yang''s chin. "You are my first student, so when you go participate in apetition, you will represent me to a certain extent. Those old fogies have been scolded by me for so many years and have been waiting all this time for a chance to scold me back, so you must get first ce and block their mouths. Only then can I continue to scold them.¡±


    <strong>ck lines </strong>appeared on Jing Yang''s face. In his heart he thought, I had thought that even though your personality is not that good, but at least you should have been a rtively proper musician, I never thought that your purpose for pursuing music was in order to scold people?


    "I feel, would they deliberately not let me get first ce no matter how well I perform because I am your student?" Jing Yang asked with some worry.


    "Rx, even though they''re some old fogies, they''re still old fogies with great integrity. They''re not like me this kind of <strong>free-willed</strong> person, judging other peoplepletely based on my own preferences." Hai Weixiu responded earnestly.


    Jing Yang looked at him speechlessly, it was his first time seeing someone saying that he had no integrity in such a <strong>bold and confident</strong> manner.


    "Come, let''s start practicing." Hai Weixiu stood up and extended his hand to Jing Yang.


    ~


    In the following ten or so days, Jing Yang finally really felt how powerful this person hailed as the King of Music truly was. The skills that he taught him were things that other people might not be able to understand even for a lifetime.


    Jing Yang slowly got used to the fact that he would stick very close to him to guide him: sometimes he would put his arms around him from behind his back when he was teaching him the correct fingering practice techniques, when he spoke his breath would blow right into his ears, and when he couldn''t resist trembling a bit, he would chuckle lightly in his ear.


    Jing Yang could tell that he was being molested, but Hai Weixiu actually seemed to show an earnest and serious appearance. He had clearly already <strong>taken advantage of him all over</strong>, but he had controlled the level extremely well, leaving Jing Yang not a single opportunity to push him away. And Jing Yang had even very shamefully, very ipetently, been moved¡ªhe hadn''t been able to resist this man''s temptation. Who let this man be so handsome that the gods were envious, and also emitted male hormones from all over his body, and when he yed piano the charm that he emitted was able to insta-kill countless males and females.


    Even though Jing Yang had not been insta-killed, he had still not been able to resist very long before falling under his chest and fingers. It was just that he felt that there was something he couldn''t quite grasp in this man.


    Hai Weixiu felt that letting Jing Yang be his own student was really an excellent decision. This child seemed quite stubborn, but hisprehension and perception abilities were extremely high. That pair of quick-witted shining ck eyes would always make him unable to resist the urge to want to kiss them.


    He liked seeing his appearance of half-leaning in his arms and shivering, so cute that his heart moved, and also ignited his desire. But in order to avoid scaring him, and also in order to better confirm his own intentions, he controlled his own desires.


    Jing Yang felt that even if he didn''t use the system, right now he could also go fight, and getting first ce would also be very likely. But thispetition was extremely important, and no matter whether it was for himself or for Hai Weixiu, he could not lose.


    This was his first time helping Avi participate in apetition, so he had to <strong>amaze the world with a single brilliant feat</strong>. This was also his first time participating in apetition as Hai Weixiu''s student, so he had to maintain the image of the King of Music and prove that not only was he himself strong, but the student that he had taught was also simrly powerful. Only this way could he continue to scold those old fogies in the future.


    ~


    Corrica smoothly entered the finals. He had actually always wanted to go the Dawatt School route, this was the style that he was best at. But the Dawatt School was not the current mainstream, and most people who liked music were more willing to listen to music performed with emotions.


    Under Hai Weixiu''s push, the Dawatt School music had turned into an existence for testing skill and technique, and not music for appreciation and enjoyment. But even if it was like this, for those who wanted to achieve higher aplishments in music, this was also a required aspect.


    Corrica''s guidance teacher also said that he was more suited to the Dawatt faction, but if he wanted to go higher, progress further, then he could not just stop here, but instead could only take it as a stepping stone. Just like him in the Mooney family, if he wanted to receive care and concern and obtain protection, piano was his means, and Avi was his stepping stone.


    Every time Corrica had apetition, Faith would always take time off to apany him, help him bring his stuff, and <strong>pamper</strong> and console him.


    In fact at this time, Corrica would prefer to stay peacefully by himself and better calm his nervous mood. Faith unceasingly chattering next to him would only make him even more distraught and chaotic. But he still showed an appearance of enjoyment andfort, because every time he saw Avi''s ugly expression he would feel a sense of aplishment. No matter how well-off you, Avi, were born, no matter how much money you have, what can you do. I can rely on myself to get everything that I want, and you can''t defeat me.


    "Are you nervous?" Faith patted Corrica''s shoulder.


    "A little." Corrica looked up and smiled at him.


    "It''s Hai Weixiu! Oh my God, Hai Weixiu is here!" Suddenly someone eximed.


    A hugemotion broke out in the big hall, and everyone stood up to look at the door.


    Hai Weixiu came in with his arm around Jing Yang''s shoulder. Several tall and strong bodyguards followed around them, and everyone automatically gave way. Even though they excitedly and curiously watched, no one dared to go closer.


    Corrica saw this scene, and he was very jealous in his heart. Hai Weixiu actually personally sent Avi to thepetition, why could Avi get this kind of love and care?


    Faith''s mood was also veryplicated. Even he himself couldn''t say why, so he just concluded that he must just be ufortable whenever he saw Avi.


    Corrica tidied up his emotions. This was a good opportunity to show his face in front of Hai Weixiu, so he at least needed to let him have an impression of himself. So he walked over with a slight smile to greet him, "Teacher Hai Wei, hello, I am Corrica, a friend of Avi''s.¡±


    "Don''t call me teacher." Hai Weixiu looked at him with a frown, cold light shing in his eyes. "You are not my student at all.¡±


    Corrica retreated two steps in fear from his imposing manner, hurriedly apologizing, "I''m sorry!¡±


    Hai Weixiu didn''t pay attention to him, raising his hand to tousle Jing Yang''s hair. "Don''t be nervous.¡±


    "En." Jing Yang responded.


    Hai Weixiu left two bodyguards behind and walked through the VIP corridor to the VIP viewing room on the second floor.


    Corrica had been scared by Hai Weixiu''s eyes just now, and even now was still somewhat flustered. Plus that scene just now was definitely seen by everyone here, which made him feel very humiliated.


    Everyone on the side was discussing quietly, and asionally would chuckle. They wereughing that that person actually dared to greet Hai Weixiu, they really overestimated themselves. Hai Weixiu''s horrible temper was <strong>well known</strong>, even if it was the head of state or another country''s royal family who wanted to see him, he would still not necessarily give them any face, let alone a small nobody like you.


    Corrica pretended that he hadn''t heard these discussions, forcibly maintaining his calm. He pulled out a gentle slight smile. "Avi, it seems that your rtionship with Mr. Hai Wei is not bad, he actually personally sent you to thepetition.¡±


    "Does it have anything to do with you?" Jing Yang looked at him expressionlessly.


    "I just feel¡­" Corrica turned his head to nce at Faith behind him, and then turned back to Jing Yang. "You are still an engaged person after all, acting so intimately with someone else in public, would that not be too good.¡±


    Jing Yang instantlyughed out. "Not only are you a ridiculous person, but even the words you say are also so ridiculous. I rmend that you go be aedian, consider it a bit, maybe you''ll be able to go even further than with piano.¡±


    Jing Yang found an empty seat to sit down. The two bodyguards stood on either side of him, and the other candidates knew that he was Hai Weixiu''s student, casting all sorts of envious, jealous, and resentful gazes at him.


    Corrica could no longer maintain the smile on his face, and Faith held his shoulder. "Go over and rest for a bit, thepetition is going to start soon.¡±


    The requirement for thepetition was for everypetitor to y three songs consecutively, and they needed to disy mastery of three different kinds of techniques.


    After Corrica went on stage, he looked at the judges and audience below and sucked in a deep breath. He had achieved everything he had now from nothing, how much effort he had put in, only he himself was the clearest. Practicing day and night, constantly practicing, in order to get more people''s recognition.


    As soon as he was born he was abandoned in an orphanage, and because of his poor health, he would often be bullied. He saw those children older than him being assisted by wealthy people after disying their outstanding music talent, and then their lives had be so much better. From that moment on, he knew that he had to work hard on something in order to change his fate.


    After he worked hard to practice piano, his fate really began to change.


    He still remembered the scenes of his first time seeing Faith and Avi, they had been wearing very beautiful clothes, holding hands toe see him. They had brought very delicious and very fun things, and even though he had smiled very happily, he was actually not happy at all.


    What he wanted was not just those delicious and fun things, he wished that person who was held by the hand was him, he wished he himself could always wear those beautiful clothes, he wished that he could forever live in those big and beautiful homes. So he needed to work even harder.


    And as he worked harder, fate changed again. He was adopted, and he finally became a member of that family, as he had wished.


    But he still felt that it wasn''t enough, he wanted even more care, he wanted even more recognition, he wanted to monopolize it all.


    It turned out that Avi''s home was right next door, that was an even bigger and even more beautiful home, in there was a white piano that he would even conjure in his dreams. Since Avi had his own home, then he could just give the entire Mooney family to himself, and since he had so much money, then he could just give Faith to himself, and it wouldn''t matter too much to him. Because he had everything ah, those people who already had so much, how could they still be so greedy and want to have even more?


    Later, he seeded, he received the love and care of everyone in the Mooney family. Seeing Avi''s sorrowful and sad expression, he felt somewhat happy. Who let you have so much at the beginning, I had relied on my own ability to snatch those from you, and you can only me your own ipetence.


    But why? Why? Just when he had thought Avi had already no longer posed a threat to him, and he had alreadypletely suppressed him, Avi actually became Hai Weixiu''s student.


    But it didn''t matter, he would just rob it again. He would prove to Hai Weixiu that he was more appropriate for being his student. The person he should be guiding, the person he should care for, was all supposed to be himself, he would prove it to him, he definitely would!


    The jealousy and anger in Corrica''s heart, as well as his strong desire to prove himself, actually let him exceed his own limits, and the judges all showed satisfied expressions.


    When he stood up to bow, Corrica''s forehead and back were all full of sweat, but seeing the judges'' expressions, as well as that warm apuse, he smiled very happily.


    "Corrica, you were really too great!" Faith came backstage to hug Corrica.


    "I did it, Faith, I am really so happy!" Corrica hugged Faith excitedly, expressing his own excitement.


    "I knew that you would definitely be able to do it! You''ve always been the best in my heart!" Faith looked at him very happily.


    Corrica smiled, and from the corner of his eye he saw Jing Yang preparing to go onstage. He immediately turned around. "Avi!¡±


    Jing Yang stopped walking and looked at him.


    "Good luck!" Corrica encouraged him with a smile on his face, but his eyes were full of provocation.


    Jing Yang smiled and continued walking up.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>unwilling</strong> ¨C Ëû²»¸ÊÐÄ, means more like not reconciled to or not resigned to but I don''t really know how to use those two in a smooth way?


    [2] <strong>old fogies</strong> ¨C ÀϹŰå, a fogy is a (usually elderly) overly conservative person, I haven''t seen this word in such a long time


    [3] <strong>interval</strong> ¨C Òô³Ì, that''s the definition given by mdbg, but I don''t actually know how that really rtes


    [4] <strong>ck lines </strong>¨C ºÚÏß, basically refers to those lines in manga when you''re just like wtf


    [5] <strong>free-willed</strong> ¨C ËæÐÄËùÓû, idiom, means following his desires or doing as he pleases


    [6] <strong>bold and confident</strong> ¨C ÀíÖ±Æø׳, idiom, means in the right and self-confident


    [7] <strong>taken advantage of him</strong> ¨C ÉÏÏÂÆäÊÖ, ok this is a little confusing bc it''s an idiom that means to raise and lower his hand as a hint, but I feel like it makes more sense as just molesting him so


    [8] <strong>amaze the world</strong><b>¡­</b> ¨C Ò»Ãù¾ªÈË, idiom, also means to be an overnight celebrity


    [9] <strong>pamper</strong> ¨C Ð꺮ÎÊů, idiom, means to inquire solicitously about how he''s doing


    [10]<strong> horrible temper</strong> ¨C È˾¡½ÔÖª, idiom, means known by everyone<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Almost two hours: 1:45 pm ¨C 2:15 pm, 4:45 pm ¨C 6 pm, for 4.8k characters to 3.4k words. There were just a bunch of weird phrases/words in here that tripped me up for a bit.<hr>

 Chapter 47

    <strong>Chapter 47</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.7)</strong>


    After Jing Yang went onstage, the judges flipping through his information exchanged nces with each other. The King of Music''s first student finally took the field. This student who had never shown any remarkable performance before, after only 15 days of being Hai Weixiu''s student, actually dared toe participate in the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition. They really wanted to see what kind of performance he could show. After all, this was a good opportunity for them to return fire on Hai Weixiu.


    The audience members were also <strong>discussing spiritedly</strong>. Avi this person was truly too unfamiliar¡ªafter some people found out he was Hai Weixiu''s student, they were all very shocked. And upon asking about his previous performance, everyone shook their heads, expressing that they had never seen him receiving an award in any of the bigpetitions.


    This kind of <strong>obscure and unknown</strong> person, in the end why he was able to be Hai Weixiu''s student, they were all very curious. Would Hai Weixiu''s almost legendary life encounter a <strong>defeat</strong> in his student? They were ready to <strong>wait and see</strong>.


    Corrica stayed standing backstage. He wanted to personally hear how Avi would humiliate Hai Weixiu. Hai Weixiu had definitely heard his performance just now, and with Avi inparison, Hai Weixiu would definitely regret having chosen Avi and not himself.


    After Jing Yang sat down, he warmed up his fingers for a couple seconds, and then started his performance.


    The first song he yed was <<Finger Dance>>. If this song was yed well, not only would the music be flowing and emotionally moving, but the fingers would also seem as if they were performing a beautiful dance. If the song was not yed well, not only would the music be chaotic, but the fingers would also get messed up and be very difficult to correct.


    The judges and audience were all stunned. This person was really audacious, he actually dared to y <<Finger Dance>> at this kind ofpetition. This is an extreme song, and if you couldn''t perform it especially well, it would definitely sound especially messy, and there would be no way to even gloss over any mistakes.


    Corrica lowered his head and rested his chin on his hand. Ridicule and disdain shed through his eyes, Avi really overestimated his own capabilities.


    Everyone perked up their ears and raised their spirits, waiting for him to make a mistake. For this kind of song, it was impossible to not have a single mistake. They wanted to properly count how many mistakes he would make.


    The light and lively music was like a <strong>fountain</strong> controlled by the instrument, first erupting sequentially and rhythmically, and then swaying in a light and graceful dance¡­


    Suddenly, over a hundred fountains simultaneously erupted, the streams of water evenly and sessively swaying in beautiful patterns. The listeners seemed to have seen a magnificentndscape in front of their eyes, with so many fountains, not a single stream was off, every single stream was expressed perfectly. Even the thickness and height of the streams were controlled perfectly, without even the least bit of error. That scene was really beautiful~


    The listeners had already forgotten to listen for his mistakes,pletely immersed in the rapidly flowing music.


    All the way until Jing Yang finished ying his first song, the listeners finally snapped out of their daze. The small music hall exploded with enthusiastic apuse.


    The audience members could already no longer distinguish whether in the end it was because they had be too engrossed in the music that they weren''t able to hear any mistakes, or whether he never made any mistakes in the first ce. But no matter what happened, his performance was extremely amazing.


    The judges pped while looking at each other in dismay¡ªthey didn''t know whether they should be happy or unhappy. They had all heard even every musical scale correctly, and this student actually did not have a single mistake.


    Corrica, who had kept his head lowered this entire time, could not resist sinking his expression. He consoled himself that it was impossible for him to perform every song so perfectly, and in theter two songs, he would definitely make errors.


    The following two songs, <<Kada Etude>> and <<Wei Ming>>, disyedplex cadences and intervals, and needed to be controlled to an extreme extent. Even theposer himself had no way to perform it perfectly every time, and they had been termed as songs that could only bepleted with the help of aputer.


    In order to ensure that thispetition would be <strong>foolproof</strong>, Jing Yang still used the assistance of the system. In this kind ofpetition and performing this kind of music, he simply did not need to invest much emotion into it, and only needed to y it urately. So his performance could be said to be extremely perfect.


    As time went on, the judges became more unsure about what kind of expression they should be revealing. They were even more unsure about whether they should say with regret that it was a pity that he was Hai Weixiu''s student, or whether they should sigh withmentation that he was really worthy of being Hai Weixiu''s student ah.


    If this student could be part of the Dawatt faction, then their school could have hope of reviving, because not only was his performance ording to the standard, but also gave other people a sense of intoxication and beauty. So they should still be regretful ba, regretful that the people who attacked the Dawatt School had gained another <strong>valiant individual</strong>.


    The entire hall got up to give him a standing ovation, the pping continued for a very long time. Jing Yang stood up several times to bow but the pping still never stopped. This treatment was something the previouspetitors had never received.


    Corrica''s expression was extremely ugly, and he couldn''t resist trembling from head to toe. He didn''t dare to believe that this was real, how was it possible that there was someone who could perform these three songspletely without a single mistake? That person was even actually Avi, it was impossible!


    Faith saw that Corrica¡¯s state wasn''t right and hugged him nervously. "Corrica, are you all right?¡±


    Corrica shook his head to say that he was fine. He consoled himself in his mind that Hai Weixiu had criticized the Dawatt School multiple times in public, so the Dawatt faction was definitely indignant in their hearts. Avi was Hai Weixiu''s student, so no matter how well he yed, those people would still definitely not let him take first ce, he himself still had hope, he didn''t need to worry, he didn''t need to be scared.


    When Jing Yang was passing through backstage, he saw Corrica weakly leaning on Faith with a paleplexion and smiled at him. "Many thanks for your encouragement just now.¡±


    Corrica looked directly at Jing Yang, but wasn''t able to say anything.


    ~


    All of thepetitors sat in the hall, waiting for the results of thepetition to be announced.


    The judges had all entered the meeting room to discuss the ranking for this year''spetition.


    The group of judges were all silent for quite a while before someone finally opened his mouth. "Should first ce be given to Avi?¡±


    A full-bodied middle-aged judge said, "ording to our Dawatt School''spetition rules, of course it should be given to him, but¡­, he is Hai Weixiu''s student.¡±


    A tall and slender middle-aged judge continued, "At that time Hai Weixiu was also around 20 years old and took first ce three times in a row, and then he began to wantonly criticize the Dawatt faction. And now his student also came to participate in thepetition, if we give first ce to him, I can already imagine what it will be like in the future.¡±


    The seven or so judges each started quietly discussing with their neighbors. This was truly a difficult question ah.


    They had still not been able toe to a conclusion after a very long time. Everyone trained their gazes toward the silent <strong>Huff Bach</strong>. "What do <strong>you</strong> think? Mr. Huff Bach.¡±


    Huff Bach spoke in an aged yet resonant voice, "There''s no need to discuss so much, naturally we should give it to whoever deserves it.¡±


    The full-bodied middle-aged judge said, "But, Hai Weixiu will definitely criticize us even more presumptuously in the future.¡±


    "Could it be that because we are afraid of his criticism, we would deliberately not follow the rules and not give first ce to his student?" Huff Bach leaned back and gravely said to the other judges, "Our Dawatt School pursues correctness and standard, rigor and justness. Could it be that everyone has forgotten? If we lose our justness because we are afraid of being criticized, the Dawatt faction would really have reached <strong>the end of its road</strong>.¡±


    Huff Bach''s words brought another long silence.


    ~


    The ranking had already been finalized, so all of thepetitors went backstage to wait for them to announce the top three and then go on stage to get their award.


    Corrica tightly clenched both hands into fists, and forcefully took deep breaths. He constantly told himself that the judges would definitely not give first ce to Avi.


    The host brought the list of the top three ces on stage and in his other hand he held the microphone. "Next, we will be awarding the top three of the finals for the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition. Now I will be announcing the third ce contestant is¡­Corrica Mooney!¡±


    Corrica walked to the front of the stage in the midst of the apuse, working hard to maintain his calm. He actually only got third ce, there were still two people in front of him, Avi would definitely not be in there!


    The host continued to announce, "The second ce contestant is¡­<strong>Christopher Conroy</strong>!¡±


    A boy wearing sses who looked quite serious and grave walked to the front of the stage and stood.


    Corrica closed his eyes and roared in his heart, no! It won''t be him!


    "Finally, the first ce that our judges unanimously agreed was the most outstanding and remarkable performance¡ªlet us give the warmest round of apuse¡ªcongrattions to Avi Deere!¡±


    In the enthusiastic and protracted apuse, Jing Yang walked to the center of the stage, and three judges came up to give him the award.


    Huff Bach gave the first ce trophy and certificate, as well as the award check, to Jing Yang, and reached out his hand to him. "Congrattions.¡±


    "Thank you." Jing Yang shook his hand.


    After the awards, once he returned backstage, Corrica had no way to restrain his difficult breathing, showing an appearance of fainting at any second. Faith hurriedly hugged him and took out some medicine to feed him, rubbing his back while consoling him in a whisper.


    Thepetitors who were walking out all looked at him strangely. He had already gotten third ce, how did he still have an appearance of getting ready to die at any second.


    When Jing Yang was passing by them he nced at the two, thinking in his heart, you are already unable to withstand something like this, even more powerful matters are stilling in the future.


    He was just about to walk to the VIP corridor when he saw Hai Weixiuing toward him. He happily strode over and raised his trophy to show him. "Teacher, look.¡±


    Hai Weixiu held his hand and pulled him into his arms, rubbing his hair. "You did well.¡±


    "Hai Wei.¡±


    Hai Weixiu turned. "Mr. Huff.¡±


    "Congrattions, this time you won again." Huff Bach said.


    Hai Weixiu looked at Jing Yang and smiled at Huff Bach. "Many thanks.¡±


    "It seems like our Dawatt School is going to have to endure even fiercer attacks from you in the future.¡±


    "Mr. Huff, I think you know that I actually really respect the Dawatt School, and also really respect you. My criticism is only for more people to attach more importance to the meaning of the music.¡±


    "The meaning of music is varied." Huff Bach looked at Jing Yang. "But I have no choice but to say that your luck has been good <strong>as always</strong>.¡±


    "Indeed." Hai Weixiu''s eyes were full of pride.


    The full-bodied middle-aged judge looked back at Hai Weixiu and Jing Yang, who had already walked far away, and said to Huff Bach, "Mr. Huff, you seem to be quite regretful.¡±


    Huff Bach sighed. "Hai Wei that kid has always been cared for by the God of Fortune, his fortune is too prosperous, and his ability too strong, this is a good thing for the entire music world. But for our Dawatt School, this is very dangerous. If I had been able to bump into that child a bit earlier, I would definitely have been able to raise him into someone who could have helped the Dawatt faction contend against Hai Weixiu, but it''s a pity that Hai Weixiu found him first and took him in as a student. It''s even very likely that he could be the next Hai Weixiu, and could be a force against the Dawatt School, what a pity ah!¡±


    Huff Bach actually gave this child named Avi such a high evaluation, this made the middle-aged judge very shocked. Then he thought about what he said again, and his face also couldn''t resist showing a regretful expression.


    ~


    Hai Weixiu poured two sses of red wine and gave one of them to Jing Yang. "You won first ce, so ording to our previous promise, I will satisfy your wish.¡±


    Jing Yang took the red wine and looked at him doubtfully. He thought, when did I ask a reward of you?


    Hai Weixiu pulled Jing Yang''s hand, and the two people walked to the pool behind the vi. Hai Weixiu put down the red wine and took off his robe. He was only wearing a pair of swim trunks underneath, and he jumped into the water.


    Jing Yang sat down by the pool and dipped his toes in the water, stealthily looking over Hai Weixiu''s body. This fellow''s physique was really too good.


    Hai Weixiu swam to Jing Yang''s side. "Didn''t you want to see? Today I will let you see enough.¡±


    "See what?" Jing Yang didn''t understand what he was saying at the beginning, but after seeing Hai Weixiu''s gaze full of banter, he finally remembered him sayingst time that if he got first ce he would let him see his chest.


    Jing Yang immediately denied, "I absolutely do not want to see.¡±


    Hai Weixiu held his hand and pulled, and Jing Yang instantly fell into the water. Hai Weixiu hugged him to his chest with one hand, the other hand lifting his chin. "I have always hated <strong>hypocritical</strong> people, but why are you so cute even when you''re being hypocritical.¡±


    Jing Yangy on his chest and couldn''t resist blushing. He struggled to get out, but was instead hugged to the center of the pool.


    "Teacher!!" Jing Yang had his shirt removed in the water, and when Hai Weixiu was about to remove his pants, he wanted to reach over to stop him. He was wearing underwear, not swim trunks!


    But he still failed in stopping him, and Jing Yang was stripped until he was only left with his underwear in the water. Hai Weixiu hugged him from behind his back, the two people''s skin tightly sticking together.


    Jing Yang wanted to escape, but wasn''t able to swim out very far before being captured back by Hai Weixiu and then encircled back in his arms. Jing Yang couldn''t escape and could only be teased by him, so he simply didn''t try to escape again and focused on resisting against him. In his heart he thought, I can''t just be blindly taken advantage of by you, what you take from me, I will definitely also take back from you.


    The two people messed around in the pool for an afternoon, and in the end Jing Yang leaned in Hai Weixiu''s arms, <strong>totally drained of energy</strong>.


    Hai Weixiu hugged him out of the pool, and also carried him all the way back to the room. When he was about to personally help him change his pants, Jing Yang jumped off him and ran into the bathroom, locking the door.


    During dinner, the two people still had a small celebration. Jing Yang drank a few extra sses, and could already barely hold up his eyelids at the dinner table.


    Hai Weixiu carried him back to the room and ced him on the bed, gently stroking his fair but slightly rosy face. That touch made him unwilling to part with it. That peaceful sleeping face, no matter how he looked at it, waspletely adorable, making him unable to resist wanting to kiss it and touch it.


    Before he could no longer control his desires, Hai Weixiu left Jing Yang''s room.


    After the door closed, Jing Yang opened his eyes, then turned his body and closed them again. He had even thought that he would have done something.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>discussing spiritedly</strong> ¨C ÒéÂÛ·×·×, idiom, means tongues are wagging


    [2] <strong>obscure and unknown</strong> ¨C ĬĬÎÞÎÅ, idiom, an outsider, a nobody


    [3] <strong>defeat</strong> ¨C »¬Ìú¬, literally means Waterloo


    [4] <strong>wait and see</strong> ¨C ÊÃÄ¿ÒÔ´ý, idiom, literally means to wipe their eyes and wait


    [5] <strong>fountain</strong> ¨C idk if you guys have been to Las Vegas, but picture this like the Begio fountains


    [6] <strong>foolproof</strong> ¨C ÍòÎÞһʧ, idiom, means surefire, absolutely safe


    [7] <strong>valiant individual</strong> ¨C Ãͽ«, literally fierce general or valiant leader, figuratively brave individual but I feel like valiant sounds better


    [8] <b>Huff Bach</b> ¨C ºÕ·ò°Í¿Ë, pinyin he fu ba ke, I''m just using MTL here


    [9] <strong>you</strong> ¨C Äú, polite you, he should be a highly respectable person


    [10] <b>the end of its road</b> ¨C Çî;ĩ·, idiom, literally means end of the road but means an impasse, a dead end


    [11] <strong>Christopher Conroy</strong> ¨C ¿µÂÞÎ÷ÌØ, I honestly give up with this one


    [12] <strong>as always</strong> ¨C Ò»Èç¼ÈÍù, idiom, means just like in the past, as before


    [13] <b>hypocritical</b> ¨C ¿ÚÊÇÐÄ·Ç, idiom, also means duplicity, probably doesn''t mean hypocritical really here but just like lying/pretending


    [14] <strong>totally drained of energy</strong> ¨C ¾«Æ£Á¦¾¡, idiom, means spirit weary and strength exhausted<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Around 1.5 hours: 6 pm ¨C 7:30 pm, for 4.4k characters to 3k words. Definitely a shorter chapter. They¡¯reing so close, guys. The ambiguity and heart atmosphere is killing me. Everything¡¯s still PG in this chapter, guys. Nothing¡¯s going on here.<hr>

 Chapter 48

    <strong>Chapter 48</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.8)</strong>


    Jing Yang lived quitefortably in Hai Weixiu''s home, to the point that he didn''t want to return to the Mooney house. Hai Weixiu would also not kick him out anyways.


    Hai Weixiu was not at all as hard to get along with as the rumors made him seem, at least he treated Jing Yang very well, just somewhat fond of taking liberties with him. Jing Yang felt that this person showed an icily arrogant and serious appearance, but was actually a rogue beneath the surface.


    Even though Jing Yang did not want to return to the Mooney family, at noon the second day after thepetition had ended, Faith personally came to pick Jing Yang up and bring him back home under his parents'' orders.


    The Mooney family car waited outside the school, and Jing Yang got on unwillingly and unresignedly, sitting down far away from Faith.


    Faith was also unwilling toe pick him up, but he couldn''t reject his parents'' orders. But Jing Yang''s silence during the entire drive and his obvious aversion actually made his heart very ufortable.


    They returned to the Mooney home in silence, where Faith''s parents were standing in the entrance to the hall to happily wee him back. This was treatment that Avi had never experienced in the Mooney family after his grandfather had died.


    "Avi, congrattions on getting first ce." Susan walked forward and held Jing Yang''s hand, her face full of smiles. "You and Corrica were both able to ce, we are all really happy for you, and also very proud of you both. Tonight we prepared a congrattory party for you two and invited many guests over. Later we''ll bring the piano out and each of you can y a piece to show off your talents."


    "Congrattions, Avi." Corrica stood to the side, his face revealing a gentle smile like always. Compared to yesterday''s appearance of being stimted until he forgot himself, he seemed like apletely different person. In the Mooney house, he had always concealed his emotions very well.


    "Thank you." Jing Yang nced at him expressionlessly and then turned to Susan. "Aunt, I''m a bit tired, so I''ll first go up and rest.¡±


    "Good good good." Susan hurriedly agreed. "If you''re tired then just first go rest a bit. When the dinner party starts you cane down, I''ll let the cooks prepare lots of your favorite dishes.¡±


    Corrica slightly lowered his head. Faith walked to his side, lightly patting his back tofort him. Corrica raised his head and smiled at him, saying that he was fine.


    ~


    As the dinner party guests began to trickle in, Susan let a servant go upstairs to ask Jing Yang toe down. Jing Yang used his body being ufortable as an excuse to reject going down to participate in the dinner party.


    After the guests arrived, they naturally began discussing Jing Yang bing Hai Weixiu''s student, and the matter of his receiving first ce in the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition.


    Having two people in the family be able to ce in such an important and bigpetition had already made Susan extremely proud, not to mention one of them bing Hai Weixiu''s student. From the guests'' envious tone, Susan received a lot of satisfaction, and fiercely showed off their aplishments.


    The guests who came this time naturally would ask why they didn''t see Avi, so Susan let the servants go upstairs to invite him down several times, but Jing Yang still did note downstairs. Susan could only exin that this child had been training and learning at Hai Weixiu''s ce for the previous period of time and was definitely tired to death from practicing. Once he came home he said that he felt ufortable, and the servant also said hisplexion wasn''t great, so he was resting in his room at the moment.


    The guests all expressed their understanding. After all, Hai Weixiu was known for being strict and harsh, and since Avi was his first student, he would naturally have even higher expectations for him.


    Everyone was discussing Avi bing Hai Weixiu''s student, and even though Corrica''s smile remained gentle and appropriate, upon closer inspection, you could still tell that his mood was low.


    Faith gave a look to his friends, and immediately someone opened his mouth to console him. "Performing abnormally during apetition is amon thing, he was just lucky and exceeded his limits one time. Besides, the result of one or twopetitions is simply unable to prove anything, you don''t need to be too disappointed.¡±


    Corrica''s smile changed for a second and then immediately reverted to normal. These kinds of words did not console him at all. In his heart he was extremely clear that no matter whether or not Avi did exceed his own limits, he himself had indeed performed better than normal, but even like that, he had still not been able to get first ce.


    Another person continued, "He''s also just won a singlepetition, and actually doesn''te down despite being coaxed and pleaded with. Right now he''s already arrogant to this extent, this kind of person will never achieve great aplishments in the future. You''re stronger than him in all aspects, and are even more modest than him, you will definitely make more achievements than him. So you don''t need to pay too much attention to the results of thispetition.¡±


    Charley was just carrying his te to get some food when he heard their conversation, disdainfully curling his lip. Right now Avi was Hai Weixiu''s student, and as for whether or not he would have achievements in the future or how many aplishments he could have, you guys don''t even have the qualifications toment.


    Looking at the seemingly delicious food, he hadpletely lost his appetite to eat, he was nauseated by those stupid and hypocritical people. Putting down his te, Charley decided he''d just stop eating and went upstairs to find Avi to chat.


    Jing Yang opened the door for Charley and saw his bad expression, asking, "What''s the matter?¡±


    "I don''t know what the brains of Faith and those friends of his were made of, making me disgusted to the point of losing my appetite." Charley''s face was full of aversion.


    Jing Yang immediately guessed that those people had definitely said something unpleasant again. "Wouldn''t it be fine if you just didn''t go pay attention to those people? Just let them say whatever they want, who can control other people''s mouths?¡±


    Charley had a straight-forward temperament, he got angry easily and also calmed down very easily. Thinking that Avi was now Hai Weixiu''s student, he curiously asked, "In private what kind of person is Hai Weixiu in the end? Is he really like in the rumors, cold and arrogant, with a bad temper?¡±


    Jing Yang thought for a bit. "I feel that those rumors were probably exaggerated. In any case, I feel like he''s quite good to get along with, he also treats me very well.¡±


    "Really? Then that''s really too great, I had still been worried that even though you bing Hai Weixiu''s student is an extremely good thing, you would definitely suffer quite a bit of grievance.¡±


    "Until now, he has not yet made me suffer any grievances. Being at his ce is much morefortable than being in the Mooney family." Jing Yang smiled.


    "This time you got first ce at thepetition, Corrica was definitely angered to death. Just now downstairs even though he seemed pretty calm I could still feel that he was actually quite unhappy." Once Charley thought that Corrica was unhappy, he immediately felt happy.


    ~


    The next day during breakfast, Susan mentionedst night''s dinner party to Jing Yang and said that many people all wanted to see him and him not appearing because his body was ufortable was really too much of a pity.


    Kurt suddenly said, "Tonight when we go to the <strong>Mikhani</strong> family dinner party, Avi wille along ba.¡±


    Corrica was immediately stunned.


    The Mikhani family was an extremely prestigious family in Odyssey city, and the Mooney family had only been able to receive their invite by virtue of Old Mooney¡¯s rtionship with them back when he had been alive. But their family could only receive ordinary invitations, and no more than four people could participate in the dinner party, or else they would be very rude.


    In the past for important banquets like these, they would always bring Corrica with them. If Jing Yang went, Corrica would have to be left behind.


    Faith nced at Corrica and said to his parents with dissatisfaction, "Didn''t we already agree to bring Corrica? How could we just change our minds all of a sudden? If Corrica doesn''t go, then I also won''t go. You guys can go by yourselves.¡±


    Kurt frowned at his son and was ready to criticize him when Susan saw that her son was unhappy and immediately said, "Then this time we''ll still bring Corrica, and next time we will bring Avi.¡±


    Kurt saw his wife give him a wink and also didn''t say anything. He thought ofst night before going to bed when his wife had said Avi''s personality was really too bad. They were elders after all, and he still didn''te out even after they let people go invite him down multiple times, not giving them the least bit of face.


    Kurt originally wanted to take advantage of Avi''s identity as Hai Weixiu''s student tomunicate with those people of higher status and allow him to expand the business. But once he thought of Avi''s personality and that he might even offend someone, he didn''t insist on it.


    ~


    When Jing Yang reached Hai Weixiu''s residence, he had still not gotten up. Jing Yang knew that he had definitely drunk some morest night, and then yed piano until veryte before finally going to sleep. The two people were already very familiar anyways, so Jing Yang directly entered his room through the piano practice room to wake him up.


    "Teacher, teacher." Jing Yang shook his shoulder. "You should get up.¡±


    "En¡­" The person under the covers was shaken awake. He turned over, squinting at the person sitting next to the bed.


    "Are you awake? Teacher." Jing Yang saw that his eyes were open, but he still didn''t seem to be quite awake, so he leaned closer to see his expression more clearly.


    When he leaned closer, Hai Weixiu suddenly reached out his hand, hugging and flipping his body, pressuring Jing Yangpletely beneath his body.


    Jing Yang was caught up in the covers and reached out his hand, wanting to struggle out. "Let go of me, teacher!¡±


    Hai Weixiu tightly hugged Jing Yang, burying his head in his neck.


    "Teacher, en~" Jing Yang''s mouth was blocked. This kind of overbearing kiss gave him such a familiar feeling. The wet and hot tongue forcefully explored his mouth, his entire mouth was licked by him, and then he entangled his tongue, refusing to let go. Jing Yang was kissed until his mind became muddled, his soul <strong>became restless</strong>, causing him to lose all ability to resist.


    He felt that pair ofrge and wide palms reach into his clothes, strongly stroking his body. And when they touched his sensitive parts, Jing Yang couldn''t resist shrinking into his arms and shuddering. Feeling like he was pleading for it, he scolded himself for being hopeless.


    "En~" Jing Yang''s body had gonepletely soft. He had thought that he wouldn''t be able to escape today, but Hai Weixiu actually did not go further. He let go of his mouth and then fixedly stared at him.


    Jing Yang forcefully blinked several times to clear the mist blocking his vision, and then looked back at him while panting.


    The two people locked gazes for a very long time, their eyes entangled together. They could feel the other person''s breathing, could feel the other person''s heartbeat, and could even more feel the strong love in the other person''s eyes.


    "I heard that you are engaged to Faith Mooney?" Hai Weixiu suddenly opened his mouth and said.


    Jing Yang''s brain had temporarily stopped working, so he was unable to react for a bit of time, nkly looking at him.


    "Immediately cancel your engagement, and if you have any problems you need to solve, just hand them over to me." Hai Weixiu said with an extremely serious expression.


    Jing Yang was stunned for quite a while before finally being able to think properly. After understanding what he was saying, he responded, "My grandfather and his grandfather had decided this engagement verbally. My grandfather said that after I grew up if I was unwilling to marry him, I could just cancel it verbally.¡±


    "Then after you go back, immediately tell them that your engagement with Faith Mooney doesn''t count, and you won''t marry him.¡±


    "It already didn''t count a long time ago, Faith has already said more than once outside that he doesn''t recognize our engagement, and also would definitely not marry me.¡±


    Hai Weixiu heavily kissed him again and then stood up. "Apany me to a banquet tonight.¡±


    Jing Yang leaned back on his elbows, watching him walkpletely naked into his dressing room.


    ~


    The banquet that Hai Weixiu wanted to bring Jing Yang to was that dinner party the Mooney family was talking about that morning. But the difference was that the Mooney family was relying on an ordinary invitation to attend the banquet and wanted to make friends with people of higher status. But Hai Weixiu was going because he had a very good rtionship with the Mikhani family and was just going to see some friends, and also brought his only student to introduce to them.


    The Mooney family arrived when the dinner party had just started, standing and chatting with some friends that they knew.


    In this kind of dinner party, it was very easy to distinguish between the different levels of interpersonal rtionships. You just needed to look at what kind of identity or status the people in the groups had and you would know.


    No matter where Hai Weixiu appeared, he would always be the focus. When he walked in the hall with Jing Yang, everyone cast their gazes over at them.


    "Xiu, <strong>what a surprise</strong>, you actually came to our banquet." The Mikhani family head personally brought his wife over to wee them.


    "You even sent over your invitation, I would feel ashamed if I didn''te."


    "Previously you never felt ashamed, why did you suddenly feel ashamed today." The Mikhani family head smiled.


    "It seems like you don''t wee me very much?" Hai Weixiu looked at him with a smile that wasn''t a smile.


    "We aren''t even able to beg you toe, how could we not wee you." Mrs. Mikhani looked at her husband with me. "He finally came over once, if you make him leave in anger, you can''t make me go with you to apologize.¡±


    Hai Weixiu and Mikhani had known each other for many years, the two people would often bicker and joke around like this. Mrs. Mikhani would always say that they were already so old and yet were still so childish.


    "This is¡­" Mrs. Mikhani looked at Jing Yang and asked. Of course she had already guessed who he was, but since Hai Weixiu had brought him over, this naturally meant that he attached a lot of importance to him, so she waited for him to formally introduce him.


    "This is my student, Avi." Hai Weixiu intimately hugged Jing Yang''s shoulder and introduced him.


    "Hello, Avi, I''m very happy to meet you." Mrs. Mikhani smiled.


    "Hello madam, I am also very honored to attend today''s banquet." Jing Yang also revealed an appropriate smile.


    "I hear that this student of yours got first ce at the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition, you''re definitely very proud ba?" Mikhani said to Hai Weixiu.


    "Of course." Hai Weixiu did not conceal in the least the proud expression on his face.


    "You all are actually chatting so happily, and didn''t evene greet us even after so long. We even had toe over ourselves.¡±


    Some of Hai Weixiu and Mikhani''s mutual friends surrounded them.


    The Mooney family stood in a not far yet not close ce, watching the normally <strong>silent</strong> and always cold-faced Avi now standing naturally and rxedly next to those people of honorable status and chatting with them with a smile on his face, without the least bit of timidity orck of manners.


    Corrica felt that he and Avi had suddenly once again be people of two different worlds¡ªhe stood together with those people of honorable status who were <strong>eminent and unapproachable</strong>, as if he was originally meant to be in the same group as them. And he himself, could only assume a posture looking up, in order to be able to see him.


    That year when he was still in the orphanage and Faith and Avi hade to see him, he had this kind of feeling. But after he left the orphanage, many years had already passed without this kind of feeling, and he had thought he had already defeated Avi. He had never thought that in the blink of an eye, Avi had once again walked to a position out of his reach.


    Corrica hid one hand behind his back, tightly clenching his fist. He was unwilling, he didn''t want to lose like this. Avi, we will wait and see!


    Faith saw Hai Weixiu acting like a <strong>patron saint</strong>, constantly hugging Avi''s shoulder, and the two people would sometimes look at each other and smile. This kind of scene made his heart extremely ufortable. He suddenly drank a sip of wine, wanting to press down the gloomy feeling in his heart¡ªhe didn''t even know why he would have this gloomy feeling.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Mikhani</strong> ¨C Ã×åÈÄá, pinyin mi jia ni, MTL


    [2] <strong>became restless</strong> ¨C ´À´ÀÓû¶¯, idiom, means that it began to stir


    [3] <strong>what a surprise</strong> ¨C ÕæÊÇÄѵÃ, means like something rare but I feel like this makes more sense conversationally


    [4] <strong>silent</strong> ¨C ³ÁĬ¹ÑÑÔ, idiom, means reticent and umunicative


    [5] <strong>eminent and unapproachable</strong> ¨C ¸ß²»¿ÉÅÊ, idiom, means too high to reach


    [6] <strong>patron saint</strong> ¨C ÊØ»¤Éñ, means protector God, I feel like this is more like a guardian angel?<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Took 1.5 hours: 4 pm ¨C 4:30 pm, 5 pm ¨C 6 pm, for 4.5k characters to 3k words. Nothing much is happening, Faith is being annoying, Corrica is being weak and annoying, MC and ML finally determine their rtionship officially¡­everything is going ording to n.<hr>

 Chapter 49

    <strong>Chapter 49</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.9)</strong>


    As the dinner party wasing to an end, Kurt wanted to bring Jing Yang back home together and take advantage of this opportunity to talk to Hai Weixiu. But before he could find the right chance to go forward, Hai Weixiu had already left with Jing Yang.


    The Mooney family returned home, and after Susan finished showering and came out of the restroom andy down on the bed, Kurt told her, "There is less than a year before Avi will turn 19 years old. We need to quickly determine his and Faith''s wedding date first, and then in a few months, we will start preparing.¡±


    Susan was silent for a while. "But¡­Faith very obviously likes Corrica, he has also said to me multiple times that he does not want to marry Avi.¡±


    "Can this kind of matter be decided by him?" Kurt responded unhappily. "If he doesn''t marry Avi, then after Avi takes away all the money, this family will go bankrupt. Then what is he going to use to allow Corrica to continue to learn piano?¡±


    "What if Faith adamantly refuses? We also can''t just forcefully pressure him to hold a wedding ah, what would that look like.¡±


    "If he isn''t willing, I will send Corrica away and let him forever never be able to think about seeing him again." Kurt revealed a hardened and strict expression on his face.


    "Then¡­our family has raised Corrica for so many years and spent so much money on him, wouldn''t we have wasted it all then?" Susan asked.


    "In today''s dinner party, you saw Avi''s behavior. Right now he is Hai Weixiu''s student, and in the future he will know many people of high status. For our Mooney family, this will be of great assistance, but if we want Corrica''s help, we still don''t know how many years we would have to wait for that to happen. If his further music development could be even greater, that would obviously be very good, and we would not have wasted all of the effort and care our family has put into him these years. But right now no matter from what perspective we''re looking at, he is not as valuable as Avi, and our family cannot copse just because of him.¡±


    Susan was silent. She felt that what her husband said was very reasonable, but she was still concerned that her son might be sad.


    "If Faith is willing to follow our ns, leaving Corrica behind is also not impossible. Even though we can''t give him any status, if they maintain a rtionship privately, I will also <strong>turn a blind eye</strong> as long as they don''t cause any problems or humiliate our Mooney family." Kurt added.


    ~


    In the afternoon the next day, Jing Yang was brought back to the Mooney family again.


    "You''ve returned, Avi." The moment Jing Yang entered, Susan walked over and pulled his hand happily toward the dining room. "We''ve already prepared dinner and we''re just waiting for you toe back. Come and look, it¡¯s all dishes that you like.¡±


    After Jing Yang sat down, they finally started eating. In the past, even if Avi was right at home, they would still never wait for him to sit down at the table before beginning to eat.


    Not too long after dinner started, Susan exchanged a nce with her husband and said to Jing Yang, "Avi, <strong>next year</strong> you will be turning 19. Your <strong>uncle</strong> and I have discussed a bit, and we will set you and Faith''s wedding day on your birthday, what do you think?¡±


    The fork in Corrica''s hand fell on his te, letting out a ringing sound. Everyone turned their gazes toward him, and he hurriedly lowered his head to conceal his own expression.


    Faith was very unhappy about his mother''s words, and just when he wrinkled his forehead and was about to say something, Jing Yang put down his utensils and spoke a step before him. "Uncle, aunt, there''s a matter that it looks like I will have to speak clearly about today. Faith and my engagement is not valid, and I will also not marry him.¡±


    Their entire family was stunned, including Faith and Corrica. They had never thought that he would say these kinds of words. Even though Faith felt that he himself did not want to marry him at all, hearing him say these words personally, he still felt very ufortable in his heart.


    "This¡­" Susan nced at her frowning husband, and said to Jing Yang with a somewhat flustered expression, "Your engagement was personally decided by your grandfather, how could it not be valid?¡±


    "That is not wrong, Faith and my engagement was really personally set by our grandfathers." Jing Yang responded calmly. "But it was also just a verbal agreement, we have not signed any engagement contracts, so we can cancel it verbally at any time.¡±


    "Avi." Kurt seriously looked at Jing Yang. "The matters that our elders decided, how could they just be canceled randomly? You marrying Faith was your grandfather''s final wish, could it be that you want to go against his dying wish?¡±


    "You''re wrong about this, uncle." Jing Yang responded. "My marriage with Faith was not at all my grandfather''s dying wish. Before my grandfather died, he had told me that if I changed my mind after I grew up and did not want to marry Faith, I also did not need to force myself to do it. He had also said that if I did not want to marry Faith, besides paying for my usual living expenses, the Deere family would also additionally pay the Mooney family a sum of money, which could be considered as thanks to your family for taking care of me over these years, but you could not force me to marry Faith. These words were all written in my custody agreement, and also has my grandfather''s signature¡ªfurthermore, it has already been acknowledged by the courts, and is supported by thew."


    Kurt and Susan''s hearts becamepletely frantic at this moment. Avi actually was unwilling to marry Faith, this waspletely out of their expectations. Based on Avi''s previous behavior, he should have liked Faith, and should have wanted to marry him. The custody agreement had really said that if Avi was unwilling to marry Faith, the Deere family would pay the Mooney family another sum of money, butpared to the Deere family''s entire assets, that sum of money was trivial.


    The Mooney parents had also believed that Avi wanted to marry Faith no matter what, but Faith actually didn''t want to marry Avi, so the power was on their side. As long as they said that they had decided to let Avi and Faith marry, Avi would definitely be very happy and grateful to them. So over the years, they had always shown an ambiguous attitude, not determining their engagement, and also letting them believe that Corrica also had hopes of marrying Faith. Plus, their care and love for Corrica had exceeded that for Avi by arge amount.


    Faith and Corrica''s feelings were also veryplex. Avi had taken the initiative to cancel the engagement, and Faith had thought that he himself should be happy about it, but he was actually not the least bit happy. Originally the feeling of being avoided and ignored would make people so ufortable.


    Corrica had also thought that Avi taking the initiative to mention that he was unwilling to marry Faith should make him happy, since this way he would have even more hope to marry Faith. But now this result was not something that he had achieved using his own ability, and not because he was better or more valuable than Avi. The thing that he desperately wanted to fight for, was something that Avi looked down upon and didn''t want.


    The Mooney family parents did not think that the situation would be like this. Avi was unwilling to marry Faith, but ording to the custody agreement, if the Mooney family did not return the Deere family assets before Avi turned 19, the court would freeze all of the Mooney family''s assets and begin forceful transfer.


    This also meant that as long as the time was up, the Mooney family was doomed to bankruptcy. This fact made the Mooney parents very anxious, but they also couldn''t think of any ideas for the moment, and could only persuade Avi to agree to marry Faith before he turned 19. This also needed Faith''s cooperation, but Faith liked Corrica, and would definitely not be willing to cooperate. This matter was extremelyplicated.


    Early the next morning, Jing Yang was brought away by Hai Weixiu''s driver, not even eating breakfast. The Mooney parents had not slept for an entire night, and were still unable to tell him the words that they had nned for an entire night.


    Hai Weixiu sat to the side and watched Jing Yang y piano. When he found that Jing Yang seemed to be ying very seriously but was actually distracted, he sat down next to him and stopped his hands. "What are you thinking about?¡±


    Jing Yang raised his head and looked at him. "Not much." He was thinking about what he should do now in order to cause the Mooney family to <strong>panic</strong> even more and then self-destruct.


    "You can''t tell me?" Hai Weixiu pinched his chin and met his eyes.


    "Really nothing." Jing Yang turned his head and broke away from his gaze.


    Hai Weixiu picked Jing Yang up and ced him on the piano, hugging his waist. "I will give you three seconds, if you don''t confess, don''t me me for forcefully extorting a confession.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him, stunned, wanting to ask how he nned to forcefully extort a confession?


    "1, 2, 3." Hai Weixiu quickly finished counting, and then picked up Jing Yang and walked into the bedroom. "You have already lost your opportunity to take the initiative to confess.¡±


    "En~" Jing Yang was pressed down on the bed and deeply kissed, he rudely stirred up his mouth, his tongue unceasingly rubbing against his. Jing Yang felt that his own lips were going to be sucked swollen by him.


    When Hai Weixiu finally released his mouth and started to suck and kiss his neck, Jing Yang''s chest violently moved up and down, panting and gulping in air. Calming down his breathing with difficulty, he felt a hand reaching into his pants, and Jing Yang propped up on his elbows, wanting to push him away a bit. "Don''t be like this, teacher.¡±


    Hai Weixiu kept kissing all the way down his body, and Jing Yang couldn''t resist flinging his head back and moaning, "En~¡±


    Jing Yang silently scolded himself for being hopeless¡ªonce he encountered this person and was kissed a few times, touched a couple times, his body immediately softened, without the least bit of ability to resist.


    Jing Yang''s appearance of wanting to refuse but still weing him, his face blushing but entire body weak, made Hai Weixiu''s animalistic nature suddenly explode. No longer able to control his own desires anymore, he fiddled with Jing Yang, forcing him to toss and turn again and again.


    Jing Yang screamed until his own throat had gone hoarse, and was still unable to get a bit of sympathy from this fellow, instead causing him to do it even more energetically. In the end Jing Yang could only open his mouth and call out soundlessly, he felt that he could no longer even close his legs.


    He forgot when he had finally fallen unconscious, and when he woke up, the sky had already turned dark.


    "Ah!" Jing Yang wanted to turn over, but when he just moved a bit, his waist and the ce below his waist started hurting unbearably.


    "Don''t move." Hai Weixiu pressed down on him from behind, helping him massage his waist and kissing his ear and face.


    "Teacher¡­" Jing Yang remembered the intense scenes from earlier, and couldn''t resist blushing again, muttering quietly, "Hoodlum, beast.¡±


    "What did you say?" Hai Weixiu strongly kissed his mouth.


    "Nothing¡­" Jing Yang buried his face in the pillow.


    "Tomorrow I will take you out of town to immersively experience the imagery and feelings that all the music want to express.¡±


    "En? We''re going to go travel? Where are we going?" Jing Yang was still quite looking forward to being able to go on a trip together, and as long as he could stay less in the Mooney home, he would be very happy.


    "You''ll know when we get there. I have already sent people over to let the Mooney family people know, and said that I will be bringing you to other ces for special training, and after the training is over I will send you back.¡±


    Jing Yang thought, it seems like his own absent-minded appearance during the day had made him think that he didn''t want to go back to the Mooney family. But he also really did not want to go back, and this just happened to be to his liking.


    Even though Kurt was Avi''s guardian, when Hai Weixiu mentioned wanting to give him special training as his guidance teacher, Kurt had no reason to object.


    Plus, he had thought thatst time the training had only been fifteen days, so this time''s should also not be too long. After Avi returned, they could properly discuss the matter of him marrying Faith.


    But he had never thought that Jing Yang and Hai Weixiu would leave for several months.


    ~


    They went to many ces.


    They went to Hai Weixiu''s private ind, ying piano on the beach, bare feet stepping on the white soft sand, and when the ocean water rushed forward again and again, it washed over their feat, like it was giving them a massage, veryfortable. Looking at the big blue sea, wide and endless, vast and boundless, this vastness was conveyed to their hearts, and through their hearts, they conveyed it to their fingers, and expressed it through their music.


    They went to a vi on the cliffs, looking down from the top of the mountain, the wide expanse of endless mountains and cliffs extending far into the distance was thrilling and magnificent.


    They yed piano below the roaring waterfall, and Jing Yang was pressed down by Hai Weixiu on the smooth rocks, opening his own body to receive his invasion. In the air birds would asionally fly across, making Jing Yang endlessly shy, as if they had been peeped on.


    They yed piano in the forest, the music that Hai Weixiu yed was able to attract the animals to listen attentively. Jing Yang saw those animals seriously listening, and felt that it waspletely amusing and adorable. At night they slept in a treehouse in the big trees, and Jing Yang''s breathing and moans attracted animals to knock on their window. Jing Yang saw the big round eyes outside their ss window, and then looked at the two people''s intertwined bodies, his face reddening until it seemed to drip blood. And this audience actually stimted Hai Weixiu even more.


    They hugged together in a ss room on top of the hills to look at the stars, the two peoplepletely naked and covered with only a single thin nket, their bodies tightly stuck together.


    They went to the permanently snow-capped mountains, and Jing Yang threw a snowball at Hai Weixiu and then ran away. He hadn''t run very far when he had been caught, and then started rolling in the snow to refuse to acknowledge that he had lost. Hai Weixiu pressed down on him and didn''t let him move around randomly, and the two people had kissed for a very long time. The cold weather and snowy ground did not cool Hai Weixiu''s lust in the least, and when Hai Weixiu started taking off Jing Yang''s pants, Jing Yang said quietly, teacher, I''m afraid of the cold, if my butt gets frozen then I won''t be able to sit and y piano anymore. Hai Weixiu said, I won''t let you be frozen, and used his coat to wrap their waists. When Jing Yang had turned muddled from his fiddling around, he wanted to say, you''ll be cold if you take off your coat, but when he felt the sweating from Hai Weixiu¡¯s forehead, he shut his mouth.


    By the time they finished their trip and turned to the city of Odyssey, it was already nearing the end of the semester.


    During their departure, the Mooney family had gone to the school every few days to ask whether they had returned or not. As the number of times they asked increased, they could not help but begin to panic. As soon as they heard that he had returned, they immediately picked up Jing Yang and took him back.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>turn a blind eye</strong> ¨C ÕöÒ»Ö»ÑÛ±ÕÒ»Ö»ÑÛ, idiom, means he''ll ignore it even though he knows it''s happening


    [2] <strong>next year</strong> ¨C Ã÷ÄêÖÐÑ®, so ÖÐÑ® apparently means middle third of a month aka the middle ten days of a month, but they didn''t even specify which month so I don''t understand what they''re trying to get at here


    [3] <strong>uncle</strong> ¨C ²®¸¸, not biological uncle but the polite way of addressing anyone your parents'' age as aunt or uncle


    [4] <strong>panic</strong> ¨C ×ÔÂÒÕó½Å, idiom, means to lose their head, fall to pieces<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    1.5 hours: 4:30 pm ¨C 6 pm, for 4.2k characters to 2.9k words. As much as I love reading smex, I don¡¯t enjoy tranting it very much. I feel like my trantions of it always feel really awkward, hopefully it¡¯s fine for you all.<hr>

 Chapter 50

    <strong>Chapter 50</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.10)</strong>


    Jing Yang had just returned to the Mooney home when he saw Faith standing in the hallway and staring at him. In his heart, he thought, I left for several months, I definitely didn''t provoke you, and also didn''t go provoke Corrica. If you want to cause trouble for me again, don''t me me for saying something unpleasant.


    "You should still remember what kind of identity you have?" Faith red at him and questioned.


    Jing Yang looked at him, <strong>baffled</strong>."What kind of identity do I have ah? I really don''t remember, please tell me.¡±


    "You are an engaged person, and actually go out alone with another man for so long, not even making a single call back. Do you know what restraint is? Even if he is your teacher, you should still know what avoiding arousing suspicion means.¡±


    "Restraint? Suspicion?" Jing Yang felt that him saying these words was truly especially amusing. He questioned back, "What qualifications do you have to lecture me? And what qualifications do you have to make a request of me?¡±


    "Because I am your fianc¨¦, I naturally have this qualification!" Faith loudly said.


    "Don''t disgust me!" Jing Yang furiously responded. "I have already said before that my engagement with you is invalid. Please never im at any time or at any ce to be my fianc¨¦, because you are not, and you don''t deserve to be.¡±


    Faith''s face turned green, angered to the point of not being able to speak.


    Jing Yang continued, "You yourself always hug and hold Corrica¡ªwhen you guys are being all intimate, why do you never feel that your behavior isn''t being restrained? When you are being intimate in public in front of so many people, why do you not know to avoid suspicious behavior? Now I have already agreed to what you both wanted and canceled the engagement, and you actually still have face toe criticize me. Where do you have the self-confidence to have such a double standard? Living under the same roof as all of you for even a second really makes people disgusted.¡±


    Jing Yang pulled his luggage and turned around to go downstairs. Susan, who had heard the sound of arguing and run over, wanted to stop him. "Avi, you just returned, where are you going now?¡±


    "I''m returning to my own home!" Jing Yang avoided Susan and quickly ran down.


    "Avi¡­" Susan wasn''t able to stop him, and hearing that he wanted to return to his own home, she thought that it was just next door and not too far, so she also didn''t go chase after him. She walked to Faith. "Didn''t I already tell you? I told you to get along properly with him, but he had just returned home and you already started quarreling with him. If you really made him angry and run off, our family will be done for, did you know?¡±


    During the period when Jing Yang had left, Susan had <strong>persuaded</strong> Faith <strong>painstakingly</strong> for a very long time. In order for the Mooney family to not go bankrupt, and in order for Corrica to be able to continue to learn piano, she told him he had to get along well with Avi no matter what, and also let Avi <strong>change his mind</strong> and agree to marry him.


    Faith had listened to Susan''s words, and wanted to try to get along well with Avi, but he had already decided to try to treat him well, yet Avi actually left for several months with another man, not even making a single call back. How could he not be angry.


    Susan saw that her son''s angry expression was quite unpleasant and immediately felt heartache for him. She held his hands and quietly consoled him, "For the Mooney family, you just need to endure some more, and firstpromise with him for the time being. For everything else, you can wait to discuss after you two get married.¡±


    Jing Yang didn''t want to live with the Mooney family, and used this argument with Faith as an opportunity to return to the Deere home to live. He would also be morefortable there.


    ~


    At the end of each year, the Cherty Conservatory of Music holds a major musicpetition, known as the Cherty Music Cup. For the music world, thispetition holds considerable weight, and is an extremely difficultpetition.


    The first ce every year would not only receive arge amount of prize money and a full year of tuition free, but would also have his picture hung up in the conservatory''s Hall of Honor for an entire year. This was an extremely high honor. For the students who received first ce four years in a row, their picture would be permanently hung in the Hall of Honor. The Cherty Conservatory of Music had been established for several hundred years, and only five people''s pictures were permanently stored, of which one of them was Hai Weixiu.


    Even though the Cherty Music Cup only allowed the conservatory''s students to participate, as a world-ss school, the students here would naturally also be world-ss musicians.


    For the final, the school sold tickets to the public, and the performance hall which could hold thousands of people was sold out immediately. Of those who coulde and watch, besides the famous musicians invited as judges, they were all wealthy and respectable people who were not only rich but also understood music.


    As third ce among the ordinary students, Corrica entered the final. The three members of the Money family came to watch thepetition, and also apanied Corrica for a while in the waiting hall, encouraging him to perform well and try to fight for a ce. If he could enter the top three in an event where privileged students of famous teachers were also participating, he would also have the opportunity to be a great teacher''s privileged student. How glorious would it be if the Mooney family had two privileged students of great teachers.


    As the Mooney couple constantly added pressure to him, Corrica still maintained his slight smile, and expressed that he would definitely do his best and perform well.


    The Mooney couple wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to go see Avi and show their concern for him, but after looking over the waiting hall multiple times, they were still not able to see him.


    Just as they were wondering, thispetition is almost going to start, how has he still not arrived, they saw him walking in with Hai Weixiu surrounded by bodyguards. The Mooney couple had not had the time to step forward and talk to him when they had already crossed the hall and entered the VIP lounge.


    Not to mention ordinary students, even other privileged students of famous teachers could not have this kind of attitude and grand style. The Mooney couple felt veryplicated, they didn''t know whether they should feel happy for Avi, or unhappy. If Avi received Hai Weixiu''s assistance and could also help their Mooney family, they would naturally be very happy. But if Avi received Hai Weixiu''s help and thus couldn''t bear to see Faith anymore and no longer wanted to marry him, then they would be very unhappy.


    Faith and Corrica were in equallyplicated moods. Faith couldn''t even understand himself what kind of feelings he now had toward Avi, and Corrica was actually in a jealous mood, like a volcano almost about to erupt.


    When the Mooney family was going to go back to the audience hall to sit down, Corrica quietly pulled at Faith. "If I get into the top 3, can you agree with one of my wishes?¡±


    If it were like before, Faith would definitely immediately agree, but now he actually hesitated, thinking for a bit before saying, "As long as I am able to do it, I will agree.¡±


    Faith''s hesitation stabbed at Corrica''s heart. During this period, he was always consoling himself that Faith had onlypromised for the sake of the Mooney family, and not because he had really changed his heart, and Faith only had himself in his heart. But Faith''s changes were bing more and more obvious, to the point that he could no longer continue to convince himself otherwise. He had used almost ten years of <strong>painstaking effort</strong> to finally be able to pull him to his side, but Avi actually only needed a few months in order to pull him back?


    Then what the hell did <strong>he count as</strong>? What did all his years of effort count as? He couldn''t just give up like this, he still had opportunities, everything could still be saved. As long as he could just prove that he was better than Avi just like before, and prove that he could bring the Mooney family more benefit.


    For thispetition, he hoped that God could take of him, and let him perform past his limits, and let him be able to enter the top 3 ces, and then be a privileged student of a famous teacher, thoroughly defeating Avi¡­


    ~


    Jing Yang sat on Hai Weixiu''sp, his hand resting on his chest. He raised his head to receive Hai Weixiu''s kisses, his tongue constantly being sucked with force, the numbing sensation making his heart itch and tremble.


    Hai Weixiu was one of the main judges for thepetition, so he wasn¡¯t able to just keep staying in the lounge to apany him. When he saw that it was almost time, he lowered his head to forcefully kiss his exposed chest, and then helped him button up his shirt. cing him carefully on the sofa, he rubbed his hair. "Don''t be nervous, just perform normally.¡±


    "En." Jing Yang looped his arms around his neck and kissed his lips again before letting go of him. "You should go quickly, thepetition''s going to start soon.¡±


    Therge audience hall was already full of people. The Mooney family had had to use their connections to be able to buy tickets for seats slightly closer to the middle. The first severalpetitors had done very well, worthy of students being able to enter the finals, their level was extremely high. When they saw Corrica go on stage, they inevitably held even more expectations for him in their hearts.


    The songs Corrica performed were <<<strong>So Da</strong>>> and <<<strong>Niesel Lake</strong>>>, these two songs were somewhat more focused on skill and technique, which he was better at.


    Corrica <strong>urately</strong> finished ying, and even though it sounded not bad, he was not better than those before him by very much. His skill and technique were disyed well, just that the emotions in his music were not able to reach the hearts of the audience. In the crowd of outstandingpetitors, he was unable to leave the audience with much of an impression.


    This made the Mooney couple unable to avoid being somewhat disappointed. They knew that Corrica spent a lot of effort and time to practice every day, and when they heard him practicing at home, they always felt that he had already yed extremely well, but nowparing with the others, it seemed like the students in this school were all able to y at a higher level than him.


    Corrica was unable to surpass his limits like he wanted, so he didn''t have much hope in entering the top three. Now he could only pray that Avi would mess up and ce lower than him.


    After Jing Yang went on stage, he first exchanged a nce with Hai Weixiu, who was sitting in the first row. Even though it was just a very fast nce, Jing Yang could still see his encouragement and smile in his eyes.


    The first song Jing Yang performed was Hai Weixiu''s <<Moonlight Forest>>. He had originally already really liked this song, and after Hai Weixiu brought him to immersively experience it, he liked it even more.


    In the night, the forest was very serene, full of mystery. Here, even the slightest rattle would be extremely obvious, the animals were all sleeping, and the pale moonlight sprinkling through the leaves in the forest was peaceful and beautiful.


    This song was full of mystical beauty, luring the listener into wanting to learn more, to discover the secret behind the beauty. The forest in the night originally should have been dangerous and scary, but that pure and holy moonlight not only pacified their hearts but also gave them the courage to venture forward and explore.


    The listeners seemed to be able to feel from the music that holy moonlight enveloping Jing Yang''s body, illuminating his pure and glossy skin, and making him look iparably noble.


    The second song Jing Yang yed was <strong>James Long</strong>''s <<<strong>Haiyang</strong>>>. James Long was Hai Weixiu''s piano teacher, and thus Jing Yang''s grand-teacher.


    The music turned into a vigorous and vibrant rhythm, and the listeners unconsciously smiled. This was the sight of a rising sun during dawn, bringing the sound of sea wavespping on the shore and seagulls flying across the sea.


    The Mooney couple were shocked. This child that they thought had no talent was actually able to perform such touching and emotional music, and use such difficult techniques sofortably. It was only then that they understood, no wonder he was able to be Hai Weixiu''s student, no wonder he could receive so much attention from Hai Weixiu. Such talent, such proficient techniques, it was definitely not just because of luck.


    Those who understand music would always unconsciously go listen for mistakes in the music, but the music that he yed could make people forget to pay attention for right or wrong, and just experience the beauty of the music with their heart and soul.


    If earlier it was pure and holy moonlight, then now it was golden sunlight. They seemed to be experiencing hallucinations, as if there were countless rays of light radiating from behind the pianist, endlessly dazzling, as if he was the son of the sun.


    Or it could be said that he was the child of the sun and the moon, not only inheriting the noble holiness of the god of the moon, but also inheriting the dazzling and glorious image of the god of the sun. He was so <strong>unattainable</strong> that people didn''t dare to carelessly desecrate him.


    Thunderous apuse resounded throughout the concert hall, that was really an auditory feast. If this weren''t apetition but his personal recital, the audience would definitely shout in unison for him to stay on stage and y another song.


    The result was that the five main judges discussed together with the 30 jury members to give a score, and Jing Yang easily took first ce.


    Hai Weixiu personally gave him the award. When the two people shook hands they exchanged a smile, endless emotions lingering in each other''s eyes. They used their gazes tomunicate, one of them saying teacher I did it, and the other saying I am proud of you.


    ~


    Naturally a private celebration was indispensable, and Jing Yangy in Hai Weixiu''s arms after he drank too much, not even knowing when he waspletely undressed.


    Hai Weixiu tightly held the person in his arms, caressing him, possessing him, confirming that he was in his own arms, determining that he belonged to himself. Thinking of his performance that day, and then lowering his head to look at him sleeping defenselessly and tenderly on his own chest, Hai Weixiu felt his heart soften endlessly, and suddenly became inspired.


    He took out some paper and a pen from the drawer next to the bed, and hugging the person in his arms, he quickly recorded down his sudden burst of inspiration on the paper.


    Continuously writing several pages of sheet music, the sky had already started turning light. He lowered his head to kiss those rosy and alluring lips again and again until Jing Yang let out a dissatisfied noise. He finally smiled softly. "Dream a good dream, your dream needs to have me, my beloved little prince.¡±


    After thepetition, Jing Yang''s picture was hung up in the school''s hall of honor. By Hai Weixiu''s request, Jing Yang''s picture was ced right next to his. The two people were both dressed in formal wear, one standing next to a ck piano, and the other standing next to a white piano. It looked like aplete wedding photo.


    Jing Yang''s photo would be hung up for a year, and as for whether or not it would stay there for the next three years, and then be permanently stored there, he and Hai Weixiu were both very confident.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>baffled</strong> ¨C ĪÃûÆäÃî, idiom, also means inexplicable


    [2] <strong>persuaded painstakingly</strong> ¨C ¿à¿ÚÆÅÐÄ, idiom, means earnestly advise, patiently persuade


    [3] <strong>change his mind</strong> ¨C »ØÐÄתÒâ, idiom


    [4] <strong>painstaking effort</strong> ¨C ·Ñ¾¡ÐÄ˼, idiom, means to rack his brains, take great pains


    [5] <strong>he count as</strong> ¨C Ëãʲô, there''s not a good way to trante this but it''s just like it means it''s trivial, what''s the meaning of something


    [6] <strong>Suo Da</strong> ¨C Ë÷´ï, literally the pinyin, literal meaning could be searching for achievements?


    [7] <strong>Niesel Lake</strong> ¨C Äá˹¶ûºþ, Äá˹ is apparently Nice, a city in France, but I just used the MTL trantion of the first three characters to Niesel


    [8] <strong>urately</strong> ¨C ÖйæÖоØ, this means conforming with the norms of society, but I find this hard to express very easily


    [9] <strong>James Long</strong> ¨C ղķʿÀÊ, apparently this is a real person''s name, came up in Google


    [10] <strong>Haiyang</strong> ¨C º£Ñô, a city in China?


    [11] <strong>unattainable</strong> ¨C ¸ß²»¿ÉÅÊ, idiom, means too high to reach, unapproachable<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Almost two hours: 11 am ¨C 11:45 am, 4 pm ¨C 5 pm, for 4.2k characters to 3k words. I was toozy to trante for a week, oops. Luckily we¡¯re almost close to the end of this arc, so I can finish up this week hopefully and then I¡¯ll have to focus on tranting more 100kV for storage.<hr>

 Chapter 51

    <strong>Chapter 51</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.11)</strong>


    Jing Yang had be thoroughly famous in Odyssey, invitation letters falling like snowkes in the Mooney home. Many people wanted to take advantage of his achievements not being too high yet to invite him to their family music salon to perform. They felt that their chances for being able to invite him were higher during this time, and the cost would also not be too outrageously high.


    The Mooney couple who had received these invitations were thrilled, picking some invitations that would be more favorable for the Mooney family while thinking of how to quickly bring Avi back from next door so that he could properly arrange his time to go to these salons and perform.


    Faith apanied Corrica to y piano on thewn in the garden. He was already a little absent-minded, and his mind quickly started to wander. He remembered the scene that day of Avi performing, which had brought him immense shock that he could not calm even now. That kind of Avi made him feel extremely strange, his noble and holy appearance was so unattainable that he could only look up to him.


    He suddenly recalled when the two of them were young, those yful and lively scenes had urred right in this garden, on this piece ofwn, as if it had just happened yesterday. When had it started, when everything had changed, and he and Avi had gradually <strong>run counter to each other</strong>, going further and further apart from each other, their hearts having no chance of intersecting again.


    "Faith, Faith?" Corrica had finished ying a song but didn''t hear him p and praise him as usual. He looked up at him, and found that he was thinking of who knows what, totally lost in thought.


    "What''s wrong?" Faith returned from his reminiscing, doubtfully looking at Corrica.


    "¡­I finished ying." Corrica looked at him.


    "Oh, then go in and rest ba, I suddenly remembered that I have some things I haven''t resolved yet, so I''ll first go upstairs." Faith said and then turned and left, not even giving Corrica another nce.


    Corrica dazedly looked at his back, his heart iparably bitter. Sure enough, were feelings that were snatched fragile <strong>to that extent</strong>?


    This time Susan asked Faith to personally go to the Deere home to bring Avi back, and Faith immediately agreed, without the least bit of reluctance. Susan saw that her son was no longer against picking Avi up and was very happy. She felt that as long as her own son was willing to cooperate, Avi would very quickly change his mind, everything would move in a good direction, and their Mooney family would be better and better.


    Faith went next door to the Deere home to pick him up, but was actually not able to seed, because Jing Yang was still living at Hai Weixiu''s ce, preparing for the year-end Odyssey Music Festival.


    The Music Festival was the biggest event of the year in Odyssey, where the world''s top musicians woulde together and take turns to perform.


    Logically, right now Jing Yang was unqualified to perform at such a grand event, but because Hai Weixiu wanted to y violin on that day and let Jing Yang apany him on piano, no one would object to this, and no one would deliberately not buy tickets. Offending Hai Weixiu was a terrible thing after all, he could be so harsh that you would want to seek death.


    The Festival was held in Hero Square, and besides the section closest to the front being arranged ording to status and identity, the seats in the back were firste first serve.


    A long time before the concert began, the square was alreadypletely full of people. Besides those living in the city, there were also many people from other cities and other countries. After all, everyone performing today were world-ss musicians, these were people who you might not be able to hear even with money, not to mention being able to watch them perform for free.


    The Mooney family also came to the square very early. The Mooney couple had already made a decision that they would take advantage of today''s opportunity no matter what to bring Avi back home, and furthermore it would be best for them to let other people see Avi''s intimate rtionship with their family.


    Hai Weixiu would perform twice today, both the opening and closing performance. How important Hai Weixiu''s status as the King of Music in today''s music industry <strong>could be seen at a nce</strong>.


    The beeping signaling the start of the festival started to ring, and the <strong>hubbub</strong> in the square immediately quieted down. It was quite a spectacr sight.


    Jing Yang followed Hai Weixiu on the stage, sitting down in front of the piano. He exchanged a look with Hai Weixiu, and then started to y the prelude.


    This was a song Hai Weixiu had personally chosen, the violin concerto he hadposed himself, <<Love Like a Torrent>>. This was an extremely passionate and thoroughly sensual song.


    Jing Yang was not so much his apaniment as one of the protagonists of the performance. The intense and lively music seemed like two people entangled together, mutually expressing their love for each other. The listeners'' emotions were stirred up: following the two people''s performance, the feeling of the heart wanting to love was like a rushing torrent, that submerged and suppressed breathing gave them a feeling of suffocation, making them not want to struggle and just enjoy instead.


    In the past, Hai Weixiu would rarely perform this song. Even though he had created this song, he always felt in his heart like it was missing something. It was only after falling in love with Jing Yang that he had somewhat changed the song, adding in the two people''s fiery love, and the intense desire to make love.


    Hai Weixiu''s performance has always been able to seize people''s hearts, and when the listeners were all immersed in the music and had already forgotten where they were, only the Mooney family members had unpleasant expressions.


    Such a strong melody, full of tant love, and the two people actually cooperated so well, it gave people the feeling that they had already been in love for a very long time. The feelings put in by the two people were so real, could it be that Avi and Hai Weixiu already¡­


    The two people''s performance had already ended, and the Mooney couple exchanged a nce, both seeing the concerns in the other''s eyes. They held hands tofort each other, it was impossible, how could Hai Weixiu and Avi be in that kind of rtionship. It must have been that they had performed too well, that they would have that kind of illusion.


    Faith''s expression was also somewhat bad, but Corrica''s eyes wereplicated. No one knew what he was thinking.


    For the final closing song, Hai Weixiu performed his newest piano piece <<The Little Prince>>.


    No one had heard this song before, but from the music they could feel his admiration and endless love for his beloved person. This song was not the intense and infatuated love like in the opening song, but rather in the soothing and light melody, it was like he was describing how pure and holy, how beautiful, his own loved one was. This kind of love, like a gentle breeze blowing, like being shrouded in warm sunlight, made them uncontrobly yearn and want to approach¡­


    Even those who did not understand music would be moved by the song filled with love. Those who could be present today loved music from the bottom of their hearts, and those who understood music, would naturally be able to experience it even more.


    This was also Jing Yang''s first time hearing this song. He heard that Hai Weixiu called his song <<The Little Prince>>, and then carefully feeling the emotion contained in the music, his heart softened endlessly, and his entire person was surrounded in happiness.


    Just as everyone was still immersed in the wonderful music and unable to return to normal, the music festival had already ended, and the crowd in the square had already started to slowly disperse. Everyone was discussing thest song <<The Little Prince>>, the emotions inside were really too beautiful and moving¡ªHai Weixiu had created another ssic.


    "Avi!" Faith managed with great difficulty to find Avi, who was going to leave with Hai Weixiu, and quickly went over to stop him.


    Jing Yang and Hai Weixiu simultaneously turned to look at him. The bodyguards didn''t receive an order from Hai Weixiu, so they didn''t let Faith get close.


    Faith could only speak to Jing Yang separated by several bodyguards. "Mom and Dad asked you toe home with us.¡±


    Jing Yang was silent and didn''t answer him. Faith continued, "You have already not gone home for a very long time, Dad said that you have not turned 19 yet, so this is not very good.¡±


    Hai Weixiu frowned and looked at Faith. Before he got angry, Jing Yang pulled at his hand. "I really have not returned to the Mooney family for a very long time, so I will first go back with them today ba.¡±


    Hai Weixiu looked down at Jing Yang, his eyes full of reluctance.


    Jing Yang slightly smiled up at him. "I am not 19 years old yet, so their family has the duty and right to not let me live outside by myself for too long. I''ll first go back to their home for a few days, and then I''lle back to your ce for practice.¡±


    Jing Yang couldn''t let Hai Weixiu sh with the Mooney family right now, or else the unreasonable ones would be them. ording to the Mooney family''s greedy and selfish personality, they would definitely do something, and at that time, he could free himself of them in an aboveboard manner.


    "Give me a call." Under Jing Yang''s gaze, Hai Weixiupromised.


    "Good." Jing Yang agreed.


    Hai Weixiu lowered his head and kissed Jing Yang on the forehead, before bringing his people to leave.


    Jing Yang watched Hai Weixiu''s car start up and leave. Not even ncing at Faith, he walked toward the Mooney couple.


    The Mooney family members'' expressions were quite unpleasant. From the two songs Hai Weixiu had performed and their intimate actions, these two people were definitely already together.


    When they got back to the Mooney family, Kurt stopped Jing Yang from going back to his room. Everyone sat down in the living room, preparing to properly speak.


    "Avi, tell me the truth, do you and Hai Weixiu have any rtionship besides being teacher and student?" Kurt gravely looked at Jing Yang.


    "We are also lovers." Jing Yang said without a bit of hesitation.


    The Mooney couple exchanged a nce. Even though they had already guessed their rtionship, they had not thought that he would admit it so directly.


    "You and Faith are still engaged, your infidelity and betrayal will be condemned by other people!" Susan said hurriedly and angrily.


    "Regarding my engagement with Faith, I have already made it very clearst time that since it was only a verbal agreement, it could be verbally cancelled, and the engagement is invalid. In addition, please make it clear to yourselves that even if there were someone who was unfaithful and betrayed the engagement, it was the two of them who had started first." Jing Yang nced at Faith and Corrica. "Faith has long ago said many times in front of others that he does not recognize this engagement, so our engagement has not been valid since a very long time ago.¡±


    "Faith would only say something like that just because at that time he was still too young, and he had only been saying angry words. He has now already matured, and also knows that the person he loves the most is still you, he wants to marry you." Kurt looked at Faith and let him speak. "Faith?¡±


    As long as he thought of that scene of Hai Weixiu and Avi''s intimate interaction, Faith''s mood would be extremely bad. He nodded seriously, "I would like to marry you.¡±


    Corrica''s originally not very good facial expression immediately became even more unpleasant. His heart suddenly started throbbing with pain.


    Jing Yang could no longer be angry at this oundish family. Suppressing his urge to roll his eyes, he said, "I don''t know whether there''s a problem with my words, or if there''s a problem with your understanding. In short, I will repeat myself for the final time, my engagement with Faith is invalid, and no matter whether or not he wants to marry me, I will definitely not marry him.¡±


    "Avi, this is your home, we are all a family. Didn''t you say that you would never leave here when you were young? Only we will always be good to you, and let you feel the warmth of a home." Kurt was still trying to persuade Jing Yang.


    "Ever since my grandfather died, I have never felt the warmth of this so-called home. You have not given me this feeling previously, and I dare not expect for you to be able to give it to meter. As a child I really did think that this would forever be my home, but your family used real actions to prove to me that this could not be my home. Hai Weixiu and I have fallen in love with each other, and when I turn 19 I will marry him. In the future wherever he is will be my home.¡±


    Kurt lost his patience, suddenly standing up. "You are still young now, and will not consider the consequences of many things. As your elder, and as your guardian, I have the right and obligation to correct your mistaken behavior. Marrying Faith is the best option for you, and living together with us forever will allow us to properly take care of you and be worthy of the trust of your deceased grandfather. You will first sign the engagement contract with Faith, and after a few months, you two will immediately get married.¡±


    "Impossible!" Jing Yang also stood up and said firmly, "I would rather die than marry Faith!¡±


    Faith was angered by Jing Yang''s attitude, ring at him furiously.


    "Then from today onwards, you don''t need to go outside again. When you have finished thinking it through, you will be able to go outside." Kurt was also angered until his face turned blue, warning him, "Before you are willing to sign the engagement contract, you are not allowed to contact anyone else, and if you still haven''t figured it out before the holidays are over, I will help you withdraw from school, and you will not need to go to school in the future.¡±


    "Even if you are my guardian, you have no right to imprison me!" Jing Yang showed a very furious appearance, but this was actually the effect that he wanted.


    "Before you turn 19, I have the right to correct your behavior, and when your behavior is wrong, I also have the right to ground you." Kurt pointed upstairs. "Now, go back to your room to <strong>think about your mistakes</strong>, if you still don''t recognize your own wrong, then you don''t need to keep learning music!¡±


    "I will never yield to people like you!" Jing Yang vowed, his face full of majesty, and turned to go upstairs.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>run counter to each other</strong> ¨C ±³µÀ¶ø³Û, idiom, means to go in opposite directions


    [2] <strong>to that extent</strong> ¨C ²»¿°Ò»»÷, means unable to withstand a single blow


    [3] <strong>could be seen at a nce</strong> ¨C ¿É¼ûÒ»°ß, idiom, means to get an inkling of the whole picture


    [4] <strong>hubbub</strong> ¨C ÈËÉù¶¦·Ð, idiom, literally means a boiling cauldron of voices


    [5] <strong>think about your mistakes</strong> ¨C Ãæ±Ú˼¹ý, to face the wall and ponder about your misdeeds, usually a punishment<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Around 1.5 hours: 5 pm ¨C 6:30 pm, for 4k characters to 2.7k words. A shorter chapter, but no less emotional. The amount of disgust I have for ¡°parents¡± like these.<hr>

 Chapter 52

    <strong>Chapter 52</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.12)</strong>


    Not only did Jing Yang say that he wasn''t going to marry Faith, but he had also dered that after he became 19 years old, he would even immediately marry Hai Weixiu. These words made the Mooney family members panic, anxious to the extent that regardless of the means or the consequences, in order to make him agree to sign the marriage contract, they had already closed him up without any food or drink for over two days.


    Thews in this country stipted that one could already sign a marriage contract himself once they turned 16, which would be effective legally, but they could only officially marry when they turned 19. Whether it was an engagement contract or an actual marriage contract, once signed, wanting to dissolve the marriage contract and divorce were all extremely troublesome things.


    The Mooney couple felt that he was just a child who had never gone without food or suffered from difficulties, so as long as they closed him up for a few days and starved him for a couple days, he would no longer have the strength to persist. Then they would let Faith bring him the engagement contract and say a few nice words to him to coax him to sign, and he would definitely give in.


    Jing Yang was lying on the bed thinking about his situation. His phone had been taken away, and he had already not contacted the teacher in over two days. It shouldn''t be too long before he woulde over to find himself and determine his condition. He had to grasp this timing well.


    Faith pushed his door open and came in with a stack of papers. He looked at Jing Yang lying on the bed, and walked over to sit down by the bed.


    Jing Yang immediately got up and walked to the armchair next to the window and sat down. No matter in what way they were on the same bed, it would make him feel very ufortable.


    Faith could only walk to the other side of the bed and sit down across from him. "Have you figured it out?¡±


    "I have always thought very clearly, it''s impossible for me to marry you. Only when I get far away from your family will I be able to procure happiness." Jing Yang responded expressionlessly.


    Faith clenched his fist and pressured down his rising temper. "I know that there were some matters that I didn''t handle well before, I will change them, I promise that I will be good to youter, just like when we were kids¡­¡±


    "Late!" Jing Yang interrupted him. "I don''t care at all whether or not you''re good to me or not, and I do not value your being good to me. The person I love now is Hai Weixiu, someone whose appearance, talent, family, and wealth are all superior to you by who knows how many times. You think, with such a lover, I would still be able to see you?¡±


    "The reason you betrayed me is just because he is better than me?" Faith asked angrily.


    "Good question! This same question, you might as well ask yourself!" Jing Yang sneered at him. "The feeling of being disliked and loathed must be very bad ba? Then just think about how you treated me before, when you said that I wasn''t able topare with Corrica, that kind of despising gaze that you used to look at me, how I felt then, you should be very aware of it now?¡±


    Faith copsed like a leaking balloon. He wiped his face and used a penitent tone to exin, "I apologize for everything that I have done and said to you before, I should not have been that way to you. I really regret it, please give me another chance.¡±


    "You want me to give you another chance?" Jing Yang nced at the door and turned his eyes away. "That''s also not impossible, if you agree to send Corrica away immediately, I can actually consider it.¡±


    Corrica, who was standing at the door eavesdropping, immediately became anxious. He felt a sudden need to escape, because he was already no longer as confident as before that Faith would definitely not agree. But he ultimately still stayed behind, because he wanted to personally hear how Faith would respond. He still held a glimmer of hope for Faith.


    Faith closed his eyes and thought hard for a while. After he opened his eyes, it seemed as if he had made a veryrge decision, putting the engagement contract in front of Jing Yang. "As long as you are willing to sign this, I will immediately go let my father send Corrica away.¡±


    Standing outside the door, Corrica seemed to have been struck by lightning, his body shook from the huge shock he had suffered, identally pushing the door open.


    Faith turned to look at the door. "Corrica¡­" He wanted to exin to Corrica, but he didn¡¯t know how to exin, and in Avi''s presence, he also couldn''t exin anything.


    Corrica sadly looked at him, and then left in a daze. In the past, in order to get his sympathy, he would often fake his sadness, but this time, he really felt this sorrow from the bottom of his heart.


    Faith did not chase after him. He said to Jing Yang, "I have already promised you, so you can sign this marriage contract.¡±


    "People like you are really selfish and ruthless." Jing Yang sarcastically said. "If you had insisted on not sending Corrica away, I might not have looked down on you so much like now. Such a merciless person like you, how could I sign an engagement contract with you.¡±


    "Are you ying with me?" Faith stared at him.


    Jing Yang picked up the engagement contract and flipped through it, reading a certain item. "If after Avi Deere turns 19 he does not marry Faith, he will voluntarily waive all the property kept with the Mooney family.¡±


    Jing Yang threw the engagement contract at Faith''s feet. "This should be your family''s main purpose ba? I indeed grew up in your home, but I never used a single penny of your family. My grandfather gave my custody to your family with the hope that I could feel the warmth of home in your family. But did you achieve it? How your family treated me, you all could not be clearer about it. These things are also fine, whether you all are warm or not, if it''s not truly from your heart then there is no meaning. ording to the agreement, my family would pay you another sum for taking care of me, but you are too greedy, you want all of my family''s property, do you think that this is possible? Just because I grew up in your family, all of the wealth umted by generations of my family should all be yours?¡±


    The aspect that Jing Yang hated the most about this family, besides their hypocritical mouths and faces, was their greedy and domineering character. Their family had already made use of the Deere family''s assets for so long, just calcting the interest would already have been arge sum of money. But if the Mooney father and son had had the least bit of ability, they would not be bankrupt without the Deere family''s property, but they never thought about relying on their own ability to change their predicament, only thinking about relying on the Deere family to help them survive. Plus they even took for granted that the Deere family''s property would be their property, and felt that Avi would not be able to leave their family no matter what, and not be able to leave Faith. So whether or not they treated him well didn''t matter.


    "I don''t want to say these kinds of superfluous words with you, will you sign or not?" Faith roared out of <strong>humiliation and anger</strong>.


    "Will, not, sign!" Jing Yang stared at him. "What can you do to me? If you have the ability, just starve me to death!¡±


    "You will have to sign today, even if you don''t want to!" Faith took a step forward, stuffed the pen into Jing Yang''s hand, and held his wrist, forcing him to sign.


    "Let go of me!" Jing Yang struggled hard, knocking down the ss table between them in the scuffle. Jing Yang deliberately leaned a bit, making the two people fall at the same time. Jing Yang used his elbow to forcefully hit a certain <strong>acupoint</strong> on Faith''s body.


    "Ah!!" Faith let out a miserable scream of pain.


    Jing Yang immediately climbed up and kicked him a few times. He controlled his force very well, every foot hitting one of his acupoints, making him suffer in pain unceasingly but without any scars. Even if he went to the hospital to check, they would still not be able to find any injuries.


    Faith''s screams brought some servants over, and two or three servants ran in to help him up.


    Jing Yang looked at the traces left on his wrists by Faith, as well as the traces on his waist from being hit by the ss table. He had done it deliberately to leave some skin trauma, which just looked serious and actually didn''t really hurt. Instead, it was Faith''s "internal injuries" that would definitely haunt him for several days.


    Jing Yang was just thinking about whether or not he needed to make his injuries more serious a bit, otherwise when his teacher came over, what would he do if they had already disappeared? Suddenly he heard a bunch of noise from downstairs. He wanted to stand up to go check it out when a servant quickly ran over to close his door.


    He leaned against the door to listen for a bit. Even though the door blocked out most of the sound, listening carefully to the movements down there, it should be the teacher bringing people over to find him. He turned his head to look at his floor-to-ceiling window, and felt that he could implement his n.


    "Mr. Haiwei, what are you trying to do? Trespassing is illegal!" Kurt brought the family servants and stopped Hai Weixiu and his bodyguards.


    "Call Avi out, I want to make sure that he is okay. If your family people touched even a single hair on him, I will definitely not let you go." The coldness on Hai Weixiu''s face made them tremble with fear. Ever since he went back, he had constantly been waiting for Jing Yang to contact him, but he had already waited for two days without receiving a call from him. If nothing had happened, it would be impossible for him to not give him a call. Avi knew that he would definitely be worried.


    "Avi is doing fine now. I am his guardian, if anything happens to him I will need to be responsible, how could I possibly let him suffer. But now he is not at home, he went out to y with my son. Even if you are Avi''s teacher, you have no right to break in directly. Please leave immediately, or I will call the police." Kurt had alreadymanded the servants to not let either Avi or Faith out of their rooms. Now, he had to get this man out of here quickly, and then send Avi and Faith somewhere else to hide for a while.


    Hai Weixiu looked up in the direction of the staircase. He naturally didn''t believe Kurt''s words, but if he wanted to directly rush through all the rooms to find him, that would waste too much time. He remembered that Avi had mentioned to him before that the balcony in his room faced the side garden, and from his balcony he could see his own home.


    Hai Weixiu brought his bodyguards to the side courtyard garden. Kurt wanted to stop him but was unable to seed, blocked by his bodyguards.


    "What are you doing? Stop, I will really call the police!" Kurt loudly yelled.


    Hai Weixiu had just rushed into the side garden when he raised his head to look up at the second floor. He immediately widened his eyes and anxiously ran over. "Avi!¡±


    Kurt followed behind him, and seeing the scene, he was also startled.


    Jing Yang was hanging in midair using a rope made out of his sheets, with a shaky appearance like he would fall down at any time. Just seeing him really scared people. In fact, just this bit was really nothing to Jing Yang, but in order to achieve the effect that he wanted, he had to pretend to be terrified and powerless.


    "Teacher!" Jing Yang looked down at Hai Weixiu.


    "Avi, don''t move randomly, don''t be afraid. Just hold on for a while, I will immediately have someone go up to save you." Hai Weixiu''s palms were sweating profusely from anxiety. He was afraid that Avi would not be able to hold on and fall, hurting himself.


    Hai Weixiu''s bodyguard was already quickly running upstairs. Jing Yang powerlessly said, "Teacher, I have no strength anymore¡­¡±


    "Just hold on for a little longer, you''ll be fine soon, baby, just hold on for a second." Hai Weixiu soothed him.


    Jing Yang heard the door open and knew that Hai Weixiu''s bodyguard had already made it. If he didn''t fall now he would no longer have any time. He loosened his hand, protected his head, and fell down with his back facing the ground.


    "Avi!" Hai Weixiu quickly ran over, and didn''t know whether or not he had broken anything, so he didn''t dare to casually move him around. He loudly yelled at the bodyguard, "Quickly call an ambnce over! Hurry up!¡±


    "Avi, are you all right?" Kurt was also scared, if anything happened to Avi, he would really not be able to exin.


    "Get out of here! Don''t touch him!" Hai Weixiu''s eyes were about to spew fire. "I will not let go of your family, you better get ready to bear the consequences!¡±


    The ambnce rushed over, and after Jing Yang was carried onto the ambnce, Hai Weixiu sat down next to him, stroking his face. "Does it hurt?¡±


    Jing Yang smiled at him and gently shook his head. "I''m not hurt, don''t worry." He also couldn''t really tell him here that he had deliberately fallen down, and his posture and position had all been adjusted so that there was plenty of soft grass below him. In fact, it really didn''t hurt.


    Looking at Jing Yang''s face, Hai Weixiu felt extremely distressed. He remembered that scene of him falling down, and would feel extreme panic. He would definitely make the Mooney family pay!


    When Jing Yang was getting treatment, Hai Weixiu''s good friend the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Feng Li came to the hospital.


    "What happened? You called me over in such a hurry." Feng Li saw that Hai Weixiu''s face was not very good and asked.


    "My student was locked up by his guardian, and he has multiple bruises on his body." Hai Weixiu handed him a stack of photos. "I will not allow my student to return to that kind of ce, I will now formally sue their family and deprive them of his custody. The assets operated by their family are actually my student''s family assets, freeze all of the money in their home. In addition, imprisonment and deliberate injury can all be prosecuted, give them the worst sentence possible.¡±


    Feng Li looked at those pictures, which were all of the injuries on Jing Yang''s hands and body. "I know what to do, don''t worry. Just leave this matter to me, I will definitely give you a satisfactory result.¡±


    Feng Li looked through the ss walls into the room. "This is your little prince?¡±


    Hai Weixiu''s <<The Little Prince>> had not only be the most poprly yed track now, but was also the most hotly discussed topic. Everyone was guessing who Hai Weixiu''s little prince was, would it be that student of his. If he was, then the rtionship between the two would definitely not just be a simple student-teacher rtionship.


    "Go do your work, get this matter done as soon as possible." Hai Weixiu turned back to see Jing Yang looking at him. He didn''t pay any more attention to Feng Li, directly pushing open the door to go in.


    The doctor and the nurses had all gone out. Hai Weixiu picked up the remote control and made the ss walls opaque again. He propped his elbow on Jing Yang''s pillow and leaned over to touch his face. "Does it still hurt?¡±


    "It never hurt very much, the doctor gave me some medicine that can relieve the pain, and now it doesn''t hurt at all, really." Jing Yang originally wanted to tell him that he had fallen on purpose, but thinking that he would definitely be angry with him doing this, he didn''t dare to say anything anymore.


    "Their family actually treated you like this, why didn''t you tell me earlier? If I had known about it, I wouldn''t have let your custody be controlled by them no matter what." Hai Weixiu had always thought that since the Deere family had allowed the Mooney family to manage such arge amount of assets, their family would definitely not mistreat Avi. He had never thought that the Mooney family actually would treat him like this. He felt very remorseful, it was because he had been negligent, if he had paid a bit more attention, Avi would not have had to suffer like this.


    Jing Yang raised his hand and smoothed his brow. "Previously their family only had a bad attitude toward me, and never hurt me physically. This time it was because I refused to sign the marriage contract that they were afraid that once I turned 19 they would lose my family assets, so they became anxious.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at the traces on his hands that had still not subsided. "But this is also good, this way I canpletely get rid of their family, or else I would definitely have a reputation of being ungrateful. Those people who don¡¯t know the truth always only look at the surface and never try to think about whether or not there is any reason for it. They don''t know what kind of people the Mooney family are, and if I didn''t marry Faith and also took away all of my family assets, the person med would definitely be me.¡±


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t protect you, and made you suffer." Hai Weixiu kissed Jing Yang''s forehead.


    "No, I knew that teacher would definitelye and save me, so I was not worried or scared at all.¡±


    "I will deal with all of these things in the future, you don''t need to pay attention to them, and also don''t need to think about them. You just need to be responsible for being happy.¡±


    "En." Jing Yang smiled and responded.


    Hai Weixiu bowed his head to find his lips, kissing him gently.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>humiliation and anger</strong> ¨C ÄÕÐß³ÉÅ­, idiom, means to fly into a rage out of humiliation, ashamed into anger


    [2] <strong>acupoint</strong> ¨C Ѩλ, means acupuncture point<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 12 pm ¨C 1 pm, for 4.7k characters to 3.2k words. I¡¯m quite a ways behind for these chapters. I¡¯ll be finishing up thesest two chapters today before hopefully starting the trantions for the next arc.<hr>

 Chapter 53

    <strong>Chapter 53</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Prince of Piano (Arc 4.13)</strong>


    Jing Yang was taken away in the ambnce Hai Weixiu called over. The Mooney familypletely panicked, discussing how to deal with the situation. It didn''t take long for the police andw enforcement toe over and take everyone in their family under control before conducting a thorough search.


    The police found traces of fighting in Jing Yang''s room, and also found the engagement contract under the sofa.


    After the evidence was found, the guardian Kurt was taken away on charges of imprisonment and abuse. The Mooney family never thought that the court people woulde so quickly, and werepletely caught off guard.


    "Husband! Husband!¡±


    "Dad!¡±


    Susan and Faith saw that Kurt was going to be taken away, and anxiously held his hand.


    "Do as I said earlier, find awyer and a reporter." Kurt hurriedly instructed them before being taken away.


    The Mooney family''swyer rushed to court to defend Kurt, and Susan found arge number of reporters. In order to guide public opinion to gain sympathy, she started to cry in front of the reporters.


    "Avi and Faith''s engagement was decided by their grandfathers, and over these years, our family has always taken good care of him and treated him as our son-inw. But after he became Hai Weixiu''s student, hepletely changed, he didn''t want toe home anymore, and <strong>paid no attention </strong>to us. He said that he and Hai Weixiu had fallen in love with each other, and he wanted to marry him. We never objected, but after all he is still not 19 years old yet, so we hoped that he could just seriously reconsider, and let him stay at home to calmly reflect on the situation for a couple days before going outside. Who knew that once he saw Mr. Haiweie over, he would directly jump down from his room.¡±


    Faith said to the reporters and the cameras sadly, "I grew up together with Avi, and we had agreed to get married when he turned 19. Our lives were always very happy and joyful, and I had thought we would very smoothly get married. After Avi became Hai Weixiu''s student, I found that he had changed, and he began to change his mind. I tried to convince him toe back, but he said that my identity and my wealthpletely could not bepared to Hai Weixiu''s, and he would not recognize our engagement, and would also not marry me.¡±


    Faith wiped his face, looking like he was suffering. "I know that everything he said is true, I really cannotpare to Hai Weixiu. If that is the happiness that he wants, I can let go, I can forgive him for his betrayal, and I can even give him my blessing. But I hope that he will not deliberately create the illusion that our family imprisoned him in order to be with Hai Weixiu. After his loved ones all died, it was our family that raised him for over ten years, and given him love and warmth. If he still has the least bit of conscience, he would not ruin this family.¡±


    ~


    The doctor had already confirmed that Jing Yang didn''t have any serious injury and could just go home to recuperate. But Hai Weixiu was still not assured, so he still kept Jing Yang in a VIP room in the hospital outpatient department to observe his condition for a couple days before discharge.


    Jing Yang sat on the sofa, watching the Mooney family mother and son use him on TV. Even though he had already been mentally prepared, he was still somewhat angered by this family''s shamelessness andck of conscience.


    Hai Weixiu walked in and saw Jing Yang''s face full of unhappiness. He walked over and picked up the remote control to turn off the TV, and then hugged Jing Yang. "Do you still feel ufortable anywhere?¡±


    "My heart is ufortable." Jing Yang leaned back in his arms, saying unhappily, "That family makes me ufortable from anger, what face do they have to say that I betrayed them? Evidently it was him who had told people since very early on that he would not recognize our engagement, and now he''s pretending to be affectionate? Their entire family would always only think of how to get my family''s money and justifiably turn all of it into their own money, and actually still show an appearance of hoping that I can ept Faith and Corrica''s rtionship. Theypletely did not think about my feelings.¡±


    Hai Weixiu ruffled his hair and lowered his head to kiss his eyes. "Just have a good rest during this period of time, I will take care of everything else as soon as possible. Just let them say whatever they want right now, don''t go listen or watch them. I will definitely make them pay for their actions.¡±


    This matter very quickly spread throughout the city of Odyssey, and also began to extend into the rest of the country, because this matter was rted to the King of Music Hai Weixiu and his student, which attracted a great degree of attention.


    Whether this matter was really like the Mooney family had said, that Hai Weixiu''s student had betrayed his fianc¨¦ in order to be with him, and also tried to frame the family that had raised him for more than ten years, or if it was actually something else, the journalists and media all didn''t dare to draw conclusions easily. They knew that the court was already hearing this case, so they could only pay closer attention and wait for the court to publish the results.


    The people were also <strong>unclear</strong>, they didn''t know if the Mooney family wanted to frame Hai Weixiu and his student, or Hai Weixiu''s student wanted to frame the Mooney family. But based onmon sense, did the Mooney family have the guts to frame Hai Weixiu? Or were they anxious, and had no choice but to publicly reveal the truth? The public were also eager to know the truth, as well as the oue of this matter.


    Because this matter attracted a lot of attention, not just from the people of this country, but even people from other countries, the court quickly published the information that they had already collected.


    First published were the pictures of all the bruises on Jing Yang''s body, which the hospital had already confirmed Jing Yang could not have made by himself. Then photos of the room and thewn were released, and ording to a police investigation, the bruises on his body were all inflicted while in the Mooney home.


    The court also released that engagement contract and the Mooney family servants'' confessions, to show to the public what they had investigated of what had happened.


    In order to force Avi Deere to sign the engagement contract, the Mooney family had closed him in his room and did not let him go out, and even did not give him any food or water for two days. This was already considered imprisonment and abuse. Avi Deere was not willing to sign the engagement contract, so Faith Mooney took the contract to force him to sign. The servants had heard the scuffle and did not dare to go over to see, but listening to the sounds, Faith was hitting Avi. It was not until Faith seemed to have identally fallen while hitting Avi and screamed that they had gone in to help him up.


    ording to the results of the police investigation and the Mooney family servants'' confession, the Mooney family was convicted of imprisonment and abuse.


    The masses were in an uproar, but they still wondered why the Mooney family would do this. Was it really because they could not stand Avi Deere''s betrayal?


    Avi''s piano teacher Lili stood out to speak for him, proving that the Mooney wanted to leave Avi behind, but their real purpose was actually for the Deere family''s property. Theypletely did not care about Avi himself.


    Avi''s friend Charley found a journalist to release a bombshell. He <strong>indignantly </strong>described how vile Faith''s attitude toward Avi was, and how good Faith was to the Mooney family''s adopted son Corrica. Faith had even said many times in front of others that he didn''t recognize his engagement with Avi. Obviously it was him who had betrayed Avi, and Avi had tried to get him back but didn''t seed, so he agreed to what Faith had wanted, and admitted that the two people''s engagement didn''t count. There were many people who could prove this.


    Hai Weixiu used some means to let some of the people who had had good rtionships with the Mooney family toe forward to prove that the Mooney family actually did not treat Avi well. They said that Faith and Corrica would both have a birthday party every year, but they actually never held one before for Avi. When attending other people''s dinner parties, the Mooney couple would also only bring Faith and Corrica, and they basically never saw Avi appear. The Mooney familypany had experienced a crisis before, and had relied on the Deere family assets in order to get out of it, but the Mooney family father and son''s abilities were very mediocre, so even after so many years they still had to rely on the Deere family assets to support themselves. If they did not have the Deere family assets, they would long have gone bankrupt. They obviously would not want Avi to marry other people


    Faith''s friends also confirmed to reporters that Faith did indeed say many times that he did not recognize his engagement to Avi, and had also said that he loved Corrica and would marry Corrica in the future. One of them even released a video that was recorded by a few friends while celebrating Faith''s birthday, in which Faith was confessing to Corrica in public and kissing.


    The Mooney family had no way to justify themselves, and the public also understood what was happening. Originally, in order to not let their own family go bankrupt, they had set their sights on other people''s family assets. No wonder they would create this kind of situation. In order to force other people to sign an engagement contract, they imprisoned and abused him, they were truly worse than animals. Many people jointly appealed to the court to hand down a heavy sentence on the Mooney family.


    Jing Yang had thought that he had some evidence in his hands that he could take out at the appropriate time. But when he was forced by Hai Weixiu to rx and recuperate, and when he hadn''t even had the time to really pay attention to this matter, the situation had already <strong>been settled</strong>.


    The Mooney family was stripped of Avi''s custody rights, and all of the property that should have belonged to the Deere family was frozen and would be given back to Avi when he turned 19. The Mooney family''spany was unable to operate and quickly dered bankruptcy. Kurt was also sentenced to over ten years of prison. But Hai Weixiu nned to make him stay there even longer.


    Faith had been sued by Hai Weixiu for assault and nder. Susan sold all of the Mooney family property and paid arge fine in order to save Faith from jail.


    One night, Faith went out to drink, and was dragged into a dark alley and beat up, with one hand wasted.


    Besides Kurt who had already been locked up, the Mooney family had no way to stay in Odyssey. Their vi had already been sold, so they did not even have anywhere to live.


    They moved to many different ces, but Hai Weixiu''s fans were located all over the world. Their family had ndered Hai Weixiu and his student, and even imprisoned and abused his student, this was a matter that had long already spread throughout the cities,rge and small. Everywhere they went, they would be pointed out by people, and even some businesses would be unwilling to sell them things. Helpless, they could only settle down in some remote town, and even there some people would point fingers at them, but they already had no money to move to other ces.


    Faith had lost a hand, and had no other work experience, so he could not find anything to do in this town, spending the entire day drinking. Susan was even more so unable to earn any money, so the entire responsibility for making money to support the family was pressured on Corrica''s body.


    The Mooney family had gone bankrupt, so Corrica also had to drop out of school since no one was willing to fund him to continue his studies. He followed Faith and his mother all the way to this town, ying piano at a small bar and asionally going to tutor some children.


    The meager sry he earned was not only to provide for the cost of food and drink and shelter for the three people, but also to pay for Faith''s drinking money. He didn''t know how long he could still hold on, clearly he could have a better future, but now because of their family, he had fallen to this situation. Looking at the increasingly decadent Faith, he suddenly felt that Avi''s decision to give him up was the most right decision. If he had also been able to meet someone like Hai Weixiu and had that choice, he would definitely not have chosen Faith.


    One day Faith had gotten drunk and pped Corrica, pointing at him and scolding him. He said that if he had not intervened, if he had not deliberately seduced him, he would still be living happily with Avi, his father would not be put in jail. Everything was because of him, it was all his fault.


    This p and those usations made Corrica finally make up his mind to leave. With no remorse, he followed a middle-aged businessman who was passing by to leave, and from then on was never heard from again. It seemed as if Corrica no longer existed in this world.


    ~


    Jing Yang was Hai Weixiu''s only student in his lifetime, and when Hai Weixiu epted questions from the media, he admitted that the <<The Little Prince>> was about the love that he wanted to express to Jing Yang. Later Jing Yang won many awards, and achieved higher and higher achievements. Because of the song <<The Little Prince>>, and also because he was the King of Music''s only student, everyone called him the Prince of Piano.


    The King of Music''s student was called the Prince of Piano, everyone felt that this was perfect, and that he deserved this name.


    Backstage of Jing Yang''s firstrge-scale personal concert, Hai Weixiu proposed to him. After the two people married, they always lived very happily.


    Jing Yang leaned in Hai Weixiu''s arms and asked him, "Why did you fall in love with me?¡±


    Hai Weixiu hugged him and gave him a habitual kiss on his eyes. "From the moment I saw you, I had the feeling that I had already waited a very long time for you. Then my subconscious told myself that I had to firmly keep hold of you, and absolutely could not let you go. I could not miss you, since this would be rted to my lifetime happiness.¡±


    Jing Yang remembered that he seemed to have said these same words before. Could it be that even though he did not have the memories of the previous worlds, those experiences from their previous love had already been engraved in his soul?


    Jing Yang also could not figure out why in those few worlds they would always be able to meet each other so smoothly, or whether this was just a coincidence, or because in every world he would especially chase after him. If he had especially reincarnated based on himself, how did he do it? Since he could reincarnate together with him, why did he not have the previous memories?


    There were too many questions, and Jing Yang was unable to figure them out, like what kind of existence his lover was, what kind of secrets he held, and whether or not he would always keep on following him to reincarnate together. These questions made Jing Yang very troubled, but he had the premonition that one day he would understand the truth, he just did not know how long he would still have to wait.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>paid no attention</strong> ¨C ²»Àí²»²Ç, idiom, meanspletely ignore, not concerned about


    [2] <strong>unclear</strong> ¨C ²»Ã÷¾ÍÀï, means to not understand the situation, unaware of the details


    [3] <strong>indignantly</strong> ¨C Òå·ßÌîâß, idiom, means to feel indignant at injustice


    [4] <strong>been settled</strong> ¨C ³¾°£Â䶨, idiom, means something got sorted out, finalized<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 3 pm ¨C 4 pm, for 4.2k characters to 2.8k words. Well we¡¯ve finally finished tranting this arc. I¡¯ll hopefully be able to make some good progress on the next arc during my break, and I will see you all two weeks.<hr>

 Chapter 54

    <strong>Chapter 54</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.1)</strong>


    Pain! Jing Yang felt that his head was both dizzy and painful. He opened his eyes, but his view was still very blurry, so he could only close them again. After the dizziness stopped, he finally opened his eyes again and saw a group of people surrounding and fighting against some sort of monster he couldn''t identify.


    A man wearing white with ck hair stood at the front, suddenly turning his head to nce back at him. That face was extremely delicate and handsome, so good-looking that he didn''t seem like he could be real. But from his gaze, Jing Yang could tell that there was obvious ridicule and disdain. Subconsciously, Jing Yang extremely disliked this person, and felt that he didn''t deserve such a beautiful face.


    Jing Yang got up from the ground and watched the process of those people dealing with the monsters, as well as the weapons in their hands that were beyond the capabilities of science and technology. Could it be that this was a mysterious fantasy world? But their clothes and dress all seemed pretty modern, it would definitely not be some sort of ancient fantasy world then.


    The monster shattered like shards of ss thatnded on the ground, and simultaneously many things fell out of its body. Those people went up one by one to pick up everything that had fallen. Jing Yang watched them put the objects in their hands somewhere in midair, and those things just disappeared. He became even more certain that this was a fantasy world, and those things had definitely been ced in some sort of storage space.


    Those people left in a certain direction. Jing Yang still didn''t know for now whether or not he was together with the rest, so he was afraid that rushing forward to follow them would make them feel like he was strange, so he just stayed standing.


    A tall and strong man with blond hair and a very handsome appearance looked back at him and asked, "<strong>Noah</strong>? Why aren¡¯t youing?¡±


    "Oh,ing." It seemed like he was in a group with them, so he would go along with them first and then find a chance to be alone and inherit the memory of this world.


    "You were hit earlier, have you recovered yet?" The blonde man asked.


    "¡­A little." Jing Yang carefully responded. He used the system to retrieve a fragment of his memory and found that this person talking to him had a game name called <b>Dark me</b>, and his real name was Zhao Chao. Game name? How could this game name be important information, it was even arranged before the real name.


    The man wearing white walking in front turned around again to look at them, and Jing Yang caught the sharpness and gloom hidden in his eyes. It seemed like the original owner of this body really did not get along with this person, he just didn''t know what the reason was. In a bit he would definitely need to properly understand the situation.


    Jing Yang found that while these people''s appearances were all different, they could all be considered handsome, and their physiques were all quite good. They all seemed like meticulously crafted mannequins, giving him a sort of inexplicable strange feeling. Could it be¡­¡­, Jing Yang pinched his own arm. With that, he knew that this was definitely a human body.


    Jing Yang followed them back to a two story house with arge yard. But the weird thing was that there were no other houses around.


    "Noah, if you''re not feeling well, just rest a bit first ba." Dark me said to him with concern.


    "En." Jing Yang sat down on the sofa in the living room.


    The man wearing white also sat down across from Jing Yang. He folded his legs, sweeping a nce at Jing Yang disdainfully.


    "We were really lucky today, we actually bumped into the<strong> green foot monster</strong> outside our door, and it even dropped such a treasure.¡±


    "That''s right, it was really like it hade especially to send us treasure.¡±


    That group of people really discussed the matter about the monster they had just killed, and then took out the treasure that they had received to look over it.


    A man with dyed red hair walked over and took out a weapon that looked like a small cannon, saying to the white-clothed man, "<strong>Easy</strong>, I''m going to have to trouble you today as well.¡±


    The man in white pointed his chin. "Just put it there ba, in a bit I''ll help you fix it.¡±


    The man with dyed red hair put the weapon down and thanked him before going back to talk with the others.


    The man in white coldly said, "You are really too weak, every time you drag us down like this, do you not feel the least bit of shame?¡±


    Being mocked and not retaliating was not Jing Yang''s style, but right now he still didn''t know the cause and effect of the situation, so he couldn''t just casually open his mouth. After all, in case he said something wrong, he might arouse suspicion. Even though this face in front of him was very good-looking, he grew increasingly annoyed by it. He stood up and got ready to return to his room to understand this world''s memory.


    "If I were you, I would really not have any face to live, truly just wasting other people''s opportunity to continue living.¡±


    Jing Yang''s footsteps paused, he felt that this person wanted to deliberately irritate him, so he would definitely not let him achieve what he wanted. Intuition told him that this person was the original body owner''s enemy, and when he finished learning theplete situation, he would definitely not let him live well.


    Jing Yang retrieved a fragment of his memory and followed the route yed back from the memory to return to the original owner''s room.


    Jing Yang opened the door. It was a quite small room, and besides a bed, there was nothing else.


    Jing Yang took off his coat,y down on the bed, and opened the memory retrieval function.


    Right now he is in a game world, not a real world, no wonder he always felt some sort of strangeness.


    In this world''s reality, the rapid development of technology made it so that the earliest online games were no longer only yed on a screen with a mouse. The invention of the gamingpartment allowed humans topletely and truly experience the game.


    This time the person Jing Yang was recing was called <strong>Ding Nuoyang</strong>, his family ran a designpany and was very rich. After graduating from college, he took over the family business. He himself had talent in economics and also in design, so he made the family businessrger andrger, and earned even more money.


    In this world where same-sex marriage had already been legal for many years, it was no secret that Ding Nuoyang liked men, his family and friends all were aware. His parents did not object to him liking men, but still told him that whether he was looking for a man or a woman, that person definitely had to be a serious and dedicated person, and couldn''t be someone with a messy private life and sketchy friends.


    Ding Nuoyang was a clean and fastidious person, so even if his parents had not warned him, he would also not deal with those people who had chaotic private lives.


    He had a ssmate who had constantly pursued him since college. This was that person whose game name was Dark me and real name was Zhao Chao.


    Ding Nuoyang had no feelings at all for Zhao Chao, but Zhao Chao had tirelessly pursued him for seven or eight years, treating him <strong>very gently and cautiously</strong> and <strong>pampering</strong> him.


    Over the years, Ding Nuoyang had still not been able to meet the right person, and would inevitably feel lonely. He would asionally see other people get together and date, and also hoped that he himself would also have someone to apany himself. Many people pursued him, but not a single one could move him. But if he really had to choose one of them to try from this group, he decided to choose Zhao Chao. Zhao Chao had pursued him for so many years, and even if he was really hard-hearted, he would still be somewhat moved by his dedication.


    They decided to have a rtionship <strong>more than friends but less than lovers</strong>, and first understand each other better and try it out for a bit. Zhao Chao was very happy, and treated him even more attentively.


    Ding Nuoyang felt that since he had already decided to try to be with Zhao Chao, he should try to understand more about him. He had recalled a bit and found that even though he had known Zhao Chao for seven or eight years, he still barely knew anything about him. Usually it was Zhao Chao who would set up a meeting with him or just directly go find him, and when he didn''t have time or didn''t want to go out he would directly reject him. asionally when he did want to go out he would agree, but it would just be to eat a meal together or something.


    Zhao Chao was a professional gamer who had started ying games when he was just seven or eight. After graduating college, he became a professional gamer. He had yed for a long time, and his skills were pretty good, so even though the amount of money he made couldn''t bepared with Ding Nuoyang, he could still be considered to be making a lot of money whenpared to ordinary people.


    Ding Nuoyang wanted to better understand Zhao Chao, so he decided to start from his career. That way, the two people would at least have more to talk about. But normally besides working, during his leisure time he would just read or exercise, basically never ying games. After he told Zhao Chao that he wanted to y games, Zhao Chao very happily said that he would bring him to y together, so he bought a luxury gamingpartment and bought the most popr game at that moment to start his first experience in the gaming world.


    Zhao Chao introduced Ding Nuoyang to his teammates. This team of people were all professional gamers and relied on gaming to earn money and support their family, so Zhao Chao naturally couldn''t bring Ding Nuoyang into their team. He could only use his spare time to take him to do novice tasks and teach him some basic gaming techniques.


    Zhao Chao and his team were quite famous in this game, and the team''s overall ranking in the game was quite high. Each of the teammates'' personal ranking was also considered high. As the team captain, Zhao Chao''s fame was naturally even bigger, and many people saw him bringing Ding Nuoyang to do novice tasks. Many people knew that they were dating, and the gamers who were more familiar with Zhao Chao would also often tease them.


    When Ding Nuoyang had thought that gaming was just a pastime that would only take up very little of his time, something big suddenly happened. This gamepany''s main system became faulty, and all of the yers in the game were unable to exit the game.


    The gamingpany immediately rushed to find repair methods, but after trying all sorts of methods, they still had not found a sessful solution. They thought about simply destroying the game and forcing the yers out, but when they tried to destroy a game area, all of the gamers in that region immediately became brain dead.


    Suddenly having so many people die simultaneously made the situation immediately escte into a big problem, shocking the entire country. The National Security Department arrested all of the top executives in the gamingpany, and made the country''s best technical personnele to deal with the system''s problems and find a way to rescue all of the yers trapped in the game.


    They worked tirelessly for over ten days, and could only establish 100 escape exits in each of the game regions, this was already the limit. But in this game, every region had a maximum of tens of thousands of yers, and even the smallest region had thousands of yers. How they could choose a hundred people to first rescue from the game from all of these yers, became an extremely big problem.


    The gamers'' real bodies were all being supplemented by nutrient IVs to survive, but this was not a sustainable solution, so all of the families became even more distraught.


    The final decision was to rescue as many people as they could. As for how to choose which people to first rescue, in order to be fair, it would be decided using the game. They first cleared all of the yers'' previous points and equipment, and then removed all of the previous rankings. The top 100 yers in the final rankings would have the opportunity to escape from the game.


    This method received the consent of most gamers and their families, because at the moment there were no other methods, so they could only rely on the yer''s own ability and luck. At least in this way, everyone could have a thread of hope for survival, which would always be better than everyone dying in the game.


    When the main game system failed, Ding Nuoyang happened to be in the game, so he was naturally also trapped. He could only go together with the others topete for those 100 survival opportunities.


    In this kind of situation, basically everybody would be anxious to death, and in order for themselves to be able to survive, they wouldpletely not care about other people''s survival. After all, if they could kill another person, there would be one fewerpetitor for the top 100 ces. After the points and rankings were zeroed, those people who died in the game could no longer be revived like before, and even though their real body did not die immediately, to these gamers losing the opportunity topete for the rankings was basically equivalent to losing the chance to live.


    Zhao Yang allowed Ding Nuoyang to enter their team, which Ding Nuoyang was very grateful to him for. But in order to not make the other team members dissatisfied, Zhao Chao let Ding Nuoyang pay arge sum of money to serve as the pool of money that the team could draw from for collective team expenses. The in-game money and real-life money were equivalent, and the system was directly linked to their bank ounts, so every sum of money spent in the game would be deducted from their bank ount''s deposit.


    If he could sessfully exit the game, spending some money didn''t matter to Ding Nuoyang. But after those team members knew that he was very rich, they became greedier and greedier, making him pay for all of their expenses himself. Even the things that they should have bought themselves also became considered as collective team expenses for him to pay for, and they even thought of it as a matter of course.


    Making him pay was actually nothing, since he as a rookie following in their group of professional gamers would naturally need to pay some more. Not to mention that his life couldn''t be bought with money, so if he could survive, he could still earn more. But he felt that he had helped, he had paid for it, he didn''t just receive their protection without good cause, and that he deserved to be treated equally.


    They took his money for granted, and not only did not really protect him, but also often crowded him out and verbally insulted him. And the person who drove the other people to treat him with this attitude was precisely the person wearing white who Jing Yang had seen once he opened his eyes. His game name was <strong>Being Nobility Is Easy</strong>.


    At first Ding Nuoyang didn''t know why Easy Nobility disliked him that much. It was onlyter that he found that originally Easy Nobility liked Zhao Chao, so he would dislike him, and cause trouble for him everywhere.


    In this game there was a very special existence called the <strong>Alchemist</strong>. This profession had very low attack ability and strength, and even if you desperately trained it would still be very difficult to raise the strength. But the special characteristic of the profession was that they could make all kinds of weapons and tools, and could even increase the team members'' energy when fighting.


    The alchemist was the most difficult profession. Very few people would choose to y it, and of those who did, the majority would also give up halfway through and switch to another upation.


    If a team had a good alchemist, they would simply be treated as a national treasure, and other teams would also want to dig them away.


    When buying a weapon from the game''s refinery store, the price would be quite expensive, and the weapon might not even be easy to use. Only the famous alchemist NPCs in the game would have a certain quality assurance, but the price would not be something most people would be able to afford. Even if it was just regr repair for a weapon, it would still require arge amount of money, so generally no one was willing to offend alchemists.


    Easy Nobility had also yed games for over a decade, and had also be a professional gamer after graduating from college. He had constantly been practicing with the alchemist profession and had not given up in the middle, so now he had be a rtively known senior alchemist. Naturally, the other team members would tter him in all sorts of ways.


    Easy Nobility was also the vice-captain of the team, and his influence on the other team members was sometimes even higher than Zhao Chao this captain. He targeted and crowded out Ding Nuoyang, so naturally the rest of the team would follow him to iste Ding Nuoyang. And some of these people even had some hatred of the rich, so being able to bully a rich person like Ding Nuoyang like this would give them a sense of joy that they could not achieve in real life.


    When fighting, Zhao Chao needed to control the overall situation as the captain, and simply did not have time to take Ding Nuoyang into ount. The other people who did have free time simply did not care about him, and even if it was just a raise of their hands, no one would go help him block any attacks. He always had to rely on his own ability to dodge, and sometimes he wasn''t able to avoid it, and the others would always mock him wantonly.


    Zhao Chao''s vague attitude made Ding Nuoyang increasingly bitterly disappointed, and he began to regret choosing to try out a rtionship with this man. He had entered this game in order to understand him, it didn''t matter that he had spent quite a lot of money, but it was very likely that he might even lose his life. And the more he knew about Zhao Chao, the more he regretted it. This man did not have the least bit of courage ormitment.


    Before he had started gaming, Zhao Chao had bragged about how good he was, and that having him as his guardian, no one in the game would be able to bully him. The result was that the ones bullying him the most were those teammates of his, and no matter how he had promised to protect him and block all the damage for him, he hadpletely failed all the same.


    Later for a number of reasons, Zhao Chao and Easy Nobility had married in the game, and Ding Nuoyang hadpletely given up on Zhao Chao this person.


    Ding Nuoyang wanted to return to live in the real world, so he clenched his teeth and bore all of the suffering, but in the end he was still unable to leave the game alive. Easy Nobility had tricked him out of the home alone, and then attracted a crowd of monsters, smiling while watching him be torn apart by them.


    Even in the game, the pain of being torn apart was very real. Ding Nuoyang''s hatred for Easy Nobility was enough to explode the ss covering of the gaming cabin.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Noah</strong> ¨C ŵÑó, pinyin is nuo yang, MTL goes with Noah and I think it works


    [2] <b>Dark me</b> ¨C ÑæÚ¤, this is the direct pinyin, literally means dark me, I''m still not sure about whether I should trante the meaning or the pinyin¡ªactually I''ll probably change to trantions


    [3] <strong>green foot monster</strong> ¨C Â̽ŹÖ, ok so there are probably going to beDark me a lot of monster names that I will just literally trante, please bear with it


    [4] <strong>Ding Nuoyang</strong> ¨C ¶¡ÅµÑó, his real name, actually his game name is also Nuoyang, so I might just call him Noah when in game to separate btw the two


    [5] <strong>treating him gently and cautiously</strong> ¨C СÐÄÒíÒí, idiom, also means cautious and solemn, very careful


    [6] <strong>pampering</strong> ¨C Ð꺮ÎÊů, idiom, basically means to keep inquiring solicitously and helping him out however possible


    [7] <strong>more than friends but less than lovers</strong> ¨C ÁµÈËδÂú£¬ÓÑÈËÖ®ÉÏ, had to google this one but makes sense


    [8] <strong>Easy/Being Nobility Is Easy</strong> ¨C ×ö¹«×Ó¼òµÄÈË, quite a literal trantion,ter on his name is just Easy Nobility


    [9] <strong>Alchemist</strong> ¨C Á¶Æ÷ʦ, I actually think this is closer to a Mechanic like in Qidian''s the Legendary Mechanic, but Alchemist sounds cooler and that''s what it goes with in MTL<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About 1.5 hours: 6:30 pm ¨C 8 pm, for 5k characters to 3.6k words. Usually the first chapter takes a while, but this time it was actually not bad. It¡¯s only a week before this chapter should go up, so I definitely am very behind this time. Best of luck to me, I guess.<hr>

 Chapter 55

    <strong>Chapter 55</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.2)</strong>


    Jing Yang used the system to retrieve information about Easy Nobility. This person''s real name was Yu Jian, and he had been a student at the same university as Ding Nuoyang and Zhao Chao.


    This person had been secretly in love with Zhao Chao since college, but he had always not dared to confess to Zhao Chao, only daring to be like a voyeur, often secretly stalking and paying attention to him.


    Zhao Chao didn''t even know that this person existed, because Yu Jian really was <strong>too mediocre</strong>, he couldn''t even be considered average. No matter whether it was within a crowd or a brief encounter on the road, he would never make other people take another look at him, and even if they saw him they wouldn''t be able to remember this kind of person.


    In college Yu Jian was always <strong>unsociable</strong> and had no friends, so no one knew that he liked Zhao Chao. Zhao Chao was an athletic and handsome man, so a lot of people at school knew him, and everyone also knew that he liked Ding Nuoyang and was pursuing him.


    Yu Jian was very jealous in his heart of Ding Nuoyang, jealous that he had such an outstanding appearance, jealous that he had a good family, jealous that he was liked by Zhao Chao and so many people. If he had the same things as Ding Nuoyang, he would also be pursued by others, he would also be able to live in the sunlight, rather than just hiding in a corner to peek at them.


    Every time he looked in a mirror, he would be iparably disgusted by his own face. He knew that even if he went to confess to Zhao Chao, with such a face, he would definitely never seed. He wanted to change his own appearance, but this country prohibited cosmetic surgery, unless an appropriate department gave him an evaluation of <strong>face damage</strong>. Plus the cost of cosmetic surgery was extremely high, and he would never even be able to afford it.


    He would often stalk Zhao Chao and pretend to pass by him identally. When Zhao Chao was chatting with his friends in the school cafeteria, he would go sit in a corner and eavesdrop. He knew that Zhao Chao was ying some game, and was very happy, because he also liked to y games. They actually had the same hobbies, could this be considered some sort of fate?


    He went and bought that game, and when hey down in a gaming cabin he had borrowed, his mood became unstoppably excited. He thought about what kind of coincidental encounter he should make in order to let Zhao Chao notice him. First of all, he definitely had to have a handsome face, one that would let Zhao Chao see himself and never be able to forget it. When he thought of this, Ding Nuoyang''s exquisite face appeared in his mind.


    He considered how to design his own appearance in the game, but only high-level members could set their own appearance and image. Ordinary yers could only follow the system in setting their character based on their real appearance. There would be a certain level of beautification, but it would still not be much different from the yer''s true appearance.


    Looking at the cost of bing a high-level member, even if he took out all of his current savings, he would still be a long way off. So he desperately worked hard to save money, he obviously knew that after his parents gave him money for him to pay his tuition they would only have enough to feed themselves, but he still found all kinds of reasons to ask his family for more money.


    He finally met Zhao Chao in the game, with a face three or four points simr to Ding Nuoyang, and even designed to be even more perfect than Ding Nuoyang''s, and sessfully attracted Zhao Chao''s attention. Zhao Chao would often mention his matters in the game with his friends, and after he overheard them, he would construct all sorts of coincidences in the game and then logically became friends with Zhao Chao.


    After graduating from college, Zhao Chao became a professional gamer. This made Yu Jian very excited, becauseter on they would have even more time to interact in the game. When he began to take the game as a reality, enjoyed his ambiguous rtionship with Zhao Chao, and enjoyed being pursued by other people, Zhao Chao suddenly announced that the male god he had been pursuing for many years had finally agreed to go out with him. Zhao Chao even brought him into the game and introduced him to all of the team members.


    The Easy Nobility in the game and the Yu Jian in reality were twopletely different people. In reality, Yu Jian was the model image of a sloppy homeboy. In the game world, Easy Nobility was an aloof beauty pursued by countless people, unattainable like <strong>a mountain flower</strong>, and only in front of Dark me would he show his warmth.


    Ding Nuoyang suddenly entered the game world and stepped in between him and Zhao Chao, which made him very angry. But in the game world, he could crush Ding Nuoyang in all aspects, no matter how outstanding Ding Nuoyang was in reality, in here, he could take good care of him however he wanted.


    He personally watched Ding Nuoyang be torn apart by monsters, feeling iparably carefree in his heart. From then on, Ding Nuoyang would not only never appear in the game, but even in reality, he would also cease to exist.


    Everyone in their team very smoothly entered the top 100 ranks, thanks to the high-level equipment Ding Nuoyang had paid for. When Yu Jian had helped the team members refine weapons, he had privately taken away quite a few things, and adding on the things that he had made Ding Nuoyang buy, he traded them all in the game shop for cash, and his savings could be said to be increasing rapidly.


    The country''s best technical personnel used much effort to rescue a part of the yerster on, and in the end only a small number of people died because rescue came toote. Ding Nuoyang was one of them.


    After Yu Jian returned to reality, he deliberately destroyed his face, and then with his savings over the years, as well as the money he had gotten from his teammates and Ding Nuoyang in the game, he got a facelift, with a face six to seven points simr to how he looked in the game. And he even specifically changed his name to <strong>Yu</strong><strong>Jian</strong>.


    Previously he had always found all sorts of reasons to refuse to meet up with his teammates, but after his surgery, he finally appeared at the team party. As soon as he appeared, he immediately stunned everyone, and even though his appearance was notpletely the same as in the game, but this level had already surpassed how they had envisioned him.


    Zhao Chao had originally been immersed in sorrow over Ding Nuoyang''s death, but once he saw Yu Jian after his facelift, what sadness and sorrow were all thrown to the back of his mind. The two people in reality also quickly came together, and the teammates were even envious of Zhao Chao, saying that no matter whether it was in the game or in reality, he could embrace such a beauty.


    ~


    Jing Yang opened his eyes and looked out the window, only to find that it had already turned dark. The game time was alsoparable to the time in the real world. He raised his hand, extended his fingers and moved them slightly. It really felt quite real, all of the feelings that they would have in reality were also contained here, including wanting to sleep when tired, needing to pee, and so on.


    For Jing Yang, in the game world revenge was simply too easy. After all, killing people in the game was not illegal, he could even go kill all of his teammates right now. Plus this is the world of the strong, and collecting a group of little brothers to follow his orders would also not be some difficult matter.


    But directly killing them would really be too cheap for them, and he had never liked to avenge himself by murdering people, since that didn''t give him any pleasure. He had always felt that death was not punishment, since once someone dies, <strong>they are released</strong>, and only when they live longer would the painst longer.


    Compared to physical torture, he prefers to torment these people''s minds and hearts. Only watching them be hit, that slowly copsing appearance, would make him feel the feeling of revenge.


    Jing Yang believed that when these teammates saw the true appearance of Easy Nobility and thought back to when they used to pursue him, their expressions would definitely be very enjoyable.


    Then this time, just let hime to act as the savior,e to save the lives of those trapped in this game. But vengeance will be reported, resentment will be returned, he could save the innocent, but those people, he would definitely not let them live well.


    ~


    After dawn, Jing Yang heard a knock on the door. He went over to open the door, where he saw Dark me standing there. Jing Yang asked, "Is there something?¡±


    "We are going to the mall, you alsoe ba, see if there is anything you want to buy." Dark me said.


    This meant that they wanted to let him go be an ATM again. Jing Yang would definitely not continue to give them another penny, but he really needed to buy some things, so he would just go together with them.


    Ever since they got Ding Nuoyang this sponsor, this team would alwayse to the highest levelmercial street.


    They were just like upstarts, suddenly bing very rich made them unable to resist wanting to buy down everything they had previously only been able to look at but had no money to buy. No matter whether or not they were useful, they would first just buy it. In the envious eyes of others, they were particrly proud, with an appearance of casual extravagance, as if the person paying the money was themselves.


    Jing Yang chose some things that he needed to use, and then followed the team to shop, boredly looking at those goods.


    Easy Nobility looked at Dark me walking beside Jing Yang, filled with so much hatred his teeth started itching. Before Ding Nuoyang hade to the game, the person walking beside Dark me had always been him. He picked out several goods with sky-high prices in a row, thinking, when I empty out all of your money, I will get rid of you, and make you disappear forever from between Dark me and me.


    When they came outside the billing shop, everyone just stood at the door motionlessly, righteously waiting for Jing Yang to go in to pay while they stood outside casually chatting.


    Jing Yang went in to pay for the things he had to buy and only went out after confirming that he had received the goods. As soon as they saw hime out, everyone else immediately opened their goods reception page to see the things that they had bought.


    They looked at the empty page with nothing on it and thought there was some dy, but after they waited a while, there was still nothing.


    Dark me found that his own and everyone else''s pages were all empty, and prepared to go inside to ask what the matter was. Before he went in he first turned to ask Jing Yang, "You''re sure you paid the money, right?¡±


    Jing Yang expressionlessly said, "I only paid for my own money, for the things that you all want to buy, please pay for yourself from now on.¡±


    Everyone was stunned and looked at Jing Yang in shock. When Dark me came back to his senses, he asked, "Nuoyang, what''s wrong with you?¡±


    "Nothing, I just think that the money that I have already paid is more than enough,pletely beyond what I was supposed to pay for this team. So in the future I will not be paying a penny.¡±


    Easy Nobility sarcastically said, "In this team, only you are the onepletely being protected, and besides having some money, you have no other use. If you are not willing to pay for the team, why should we let you join us, and why would we want to protect you.¡±


    Everyone else also nodded in agreement.


    "Ha." Jing Yang scoffed coldly. "The money that I have already helped you pay ispletely enough to hire a bodyguard team here. Do you think that I only have your team to choose from? I just have to give a price now, and immediately there will be other teams lined up to let me join, and their attitude would definitely be hundreds of times better than yours.¡±


    Everyone''s expressions immediately changed, because they knew that Jing Yang was saying the truth. In the past when their equipment had been emptied, rich people would be weed wherever they went. It was just that Ding Nuoyang had never resisted before, so they also didn''t think of this matter, and now that Jing Yang had directly pointed it out, they also had no way to refute his words.


    In fact, Ding Nuoyang himself had also never thought of this point, for one because he did not understand enough about this game world, and second because it was his first time encountering such a situation. It was very likely that he may even lose his life here, so his normally very clever and calm mind would also inevitably be muddled because of the urgent situation. Thinking that life was most important, he could also just endure everything else.


    "Forget it, forget it." Dark me stood out to calm the situation, and said to the other team members, "There''s still some time until the next taskyer opens anyway, so next time we can juste back to buy the goods again. Let''s just go back today, I will talk him out of it.¡±


    They had all chosen items but didn''t pay the money, so everyone was fined a certain amount of money, and because the items they had chosen were very expensive, the amount fined was also quite high. On the way back, the team members'' faces were all not great.


    Using the transmission array to go back to the residence, Jing Yang went straight back to his room. Dark me looked at the yers, and then followed Jing Yang upstairs. "What''s wrong with you today? Everyone is a team, and if we have an internal contradiction at this time, we may all be trapped in this game. Why do you still care so much about money at this time? Being able to leave the game alive is most important, otherwise no matter how much money you have, you wouldn''t be alive to spend it. After all, you have money, so if you give the team some more, it also wouldn''t matter too much.¡±


    "Since you''re so generous, why don''t you just help them pay yourself? <strong>Being so generous with other people''s money</strong>, you really have nerve. Sure enough, <strong>birds of feather flock together</strong>, people are just like their friends, people like you are just like those teammates of yours, selfish, hypocritical, and greedy." When Jing Yang finished, he forcefully closed the door.


    "I¡­" Dark me wanted to exin to him, but was almost hit in the face by the door. After standing outside for a bit, he could only touch his nose and go downstairs.


    ~


    Almost everything in the game was based on reality as the standard, and all of the abilities would require you to slowly learn them in the game. If you learned it well then your ability would be higher, if you didn''t learn well your ability would be lower.


    Jing Yang took out the items that he had just bought and started to learn refining. The refining process was quite difficult, it was not like you could just take out the materials and design and then the finished product would automatically be made. Every weapon required the alchemist to personally know the methods for refining it, and then build it himself. If you didn''t know the method for refining something, you would definitely not be able to make it, and even if you did know the method, there would be a high chance of failure during the refining process.


    Jing Yang originally could directly just use the system to enhance his refining ability, but if his refining level suddenly rose so high, it would be very likely for him to arouse the suspicion of the technical staff back in the real world.


    When he was in the mall, he had spent quite a bit of money to buy all of the refining books at once, so he took them out and started refining some simple weapons based on what they said. It seemed like he was refining while learning, but in fact he was just using his system to control it. This way, even if it was found that he was especially good at refining, they would only feel that he was some sort of genius who could seed once he read it once, and they would not go think about some other problems.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>too mediocre</strong> ¨C Æäò²»Ñï, idiom, means nothing special to look at, unprepossessing


    [2] <strong>unsociable</strong> ¨C ¶ÀÀ´¶ÀÍù, idiom, means hees and goes alone, keeps to himself


    [3] <strong>face damage</strong> ¨C basically the government would only allow for cosmetic surgery if his face was proven to be damaged


    [4] <strong>a mountain flower</strong> ¨C ¸ßÁëÖ®»¨, this is just the literal trantion but basically means like a flower on a tall mountain, is very rare and far away and unattainable, something that can only be aspired to but out of reach


    [5] <strong>Yu Jian</strong> ¨C same pinyin but different character: ÓÚ¼ò with the same ¼ò as in Easy Nobility vs the original ÓÚ½¡


    [6] <strong>they are released</strong> ¨C Ò»ÁË°ÙÁË, means like once the main problem is solved all troubles are solved, death ends all of someone''s troubles


    [7] <strong>being generous with other people''s money</strong> ¨C ¿¶ËûÈËÖ®¿®, basically means when you''re spending other people''s money you pretend to be generous


    [8] <strong>birds of feather flock together</strong> ¨C ÎïÒÔÀà¾Û, basically just the idiom, like draws like, simr thingse together<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over 1 hour: 10:15 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4.2k characters to 3.1k words. For some reason this felt like it was way longer than yesterday, probably bc I was tranting while in ss so I felt it took forever. Doesn¡¯t the protag feel so annoying in every arc?<hr>

 Chapter 56

    <strong>Chapter 56</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.3)</strong>


    Jing Yang continuously refined three pieces of low-level weapons for a day and night, when he finally finished it was already early the next morning. He felt somewhat tired, putting everything back into his storage space, hey down on his bed and was preparing to rest when he suddenly heard a knock on his door.


    He pulled his quilt over his head and pretended not to hear it, but the person knocking outside seemed like he would not rest unless the door opened, constantly forcefully mming on the door.


    Jing Yang dragged open his quilt and quickly walked over, forcefully pulling the door open. He looked at Easy Nobility outside, very impatiently asking, "What?¡±


    "You''re someone who doesn''t even do anything, and you really can quite sleep." Easy Nobility scornfully looked him up and down. "We are about to go out to look for abat target, letting all of us wait for you, do you really feel no shame? Immediately go down and meet up!¡±


    "What does it have to do with me whether or not you all go outside?" Jing Yang said impatiently. "Did I let you all wait for me? Have I said that I will be going along with you all?¡±


    Easy Nobility knew that Ding Nuoyang had just started ying games, so he was still very unfamiliar with thebat attack skills and other simr actions, but every time they went out to fight, he would always make sure to call him out with them. During the course of the battle, as long as Ding Nuoyang was unable to avoid the monsters'' attacks and was hit to the ground, he would always feel extremely happy. Yet every single time Ding Nuoyang was very lucky and avoided fatal attacks, and would also very quickly be able to recover from his own injuries, which made Easy Nobility unceasingly resentful.


    "How?" Easy Nobility looked at him. "You are not willing to pay, and also aren''t willing to contribute, you still have the nerve to stay in our team and make us protect a trash like you?¡±


    Yesterday Jing Yang not being willing to help them pay made their hearts extremely ufortable, so when they hade back they had all discussed, and decided that they needed to let him suffer a bit before he would finally be obedient.


    Jing Yang smiled coldly and looked at him. "I am a piece of trash in the game, but you are a piece of trash in reality. You look down on me, but I despise you even more.¡±


    Easy Nobility widened his eyes to hide his guilty conscience and deliberately raised his chin, proudly saying, "Whether it''s in the game or in reality, I am better than you.¡±


    "Is that right?" Jing Yang raised his eyebrow and leaned a little closer to him. "Yu Jian, but I still remember your appearance.¡±


    "I don''t understand what you are saying!" Easy Nobility heard him call out his own real name and immediately became flustered, his eyes swirling all over the ce.


    Jing Yang watched him act like this with disdain, just with this sort of psychological strength he actually dared to run over to find trouble for him. "I remember that you lookpletely different from your current appearance, at first when I saw you I felt that your current appearance seemed quite familiar. Later on I thought, in the game, why do you look a bit like me?¡±


    "Don''t say nonsense! Who looks like you, I have never even seen you in reality, how would I know what you look like!" Easy Nobility loudly denied. "My current appearance was set by the system based on my true appearance, I look quite simr to this in real life. I don''t know who the person you just mentioned is, my real name is Yu Jian.¡±


    "You don''t have to say all this to me." Jing Yang rolled his eyes. "What the situation is, besides me, you are the clearest about it. Lies cannot be covered up by ayer of paper, they can be punctured very easily. There will always be a day when everyone will know the truth.¡±


    Easy Nobility''s expression changed greatly. Just as he was about to <strong>lose his head</strong>, someone suddenly came up the stairs and called out to him, scaring him.


    The personing up was Madman, one of Easy Nobility''s henchmen, usually he would be the one best at fawning over Easy Nobility. They had waited downstairs for quite a while but still hadn''t seen him go back down, so he just came up to see what the matter was.


    Seeing that Easy Nobility''s face wasn''t very good, he doubtfully asked, "Easy, what''s wrong with you?" Just now when he was downstairs he had been perfectly fine.


    "I''m fine!" Easy Nobility quickly said.


    "Did he say something to make you angry again?" Madman red at Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang <strong>mockingly smiled</strong> and looked at Easy Nobility. Easy Nobility quickly nced at him, and then didn''t dare to meet his gaze.


    Easy Nobility pushed Madman quickly down the stairs. "Let''s go! We should leave.¡±


    "Is he not going?" Madman doubtfully looked back at Jing Yang.


    "He won''t be going today, even if he does go he''ll just drag us down. It would be better if he doesn''te." Easy Nobility dodged the question. This exnation made Madman even more puzzled, didn''t they already agree that today they would fix Ding Nuoyang?


    Jing Yang closed his door and continued to get some sleep.


    Ever since he had gone outside Easy Nobility had constantly been distraught. Ding Nuoyang actually knew who he was in reality, even though they had met face to face several times in school, they had never greeted or spoken to each other, how could he actually remember himself. And how did he know that he was Yu Jian? He had thought that no one would know his true identity besides himself and the system, and the system had confidentiality regtions, so it was absolutely impossible for it to publish the yer''s real information.


    No matter how he thought he still couldn''t think of how Ding Nuoyang could know his identity, and he of course could not directly go ask him, otherwise it would be equivalent to him admitting that he was Yu Jian. If Ding Nuoyang told this matter to other people, then it would be over for him, so he had to get rid of him as soon as possible.


    Easy Nobility made himself calm down, he definitely could not mess up at this time. He thought, even if Ding Nuoyang told the other team members that he was Yu Jian, as long as he didn''t have evidence to prove it, his teammates would never believe him. He will not give him the chance to leave the game world alive, he would definitely keep the secret hidden.


    ~


    Jing Yang slept for a while, and then got up to continue refining until his stomach was growling from hunger. That reminded him that his hunger levels had fallen out of the normal range, and that he would start to lose his energy if he didn''t eat something.


    Taking out some ingredients from his storage space, Jing Yang went downstairs to the kitchen to make a bit of food for himself. Just as he was about to finish eating, the team came back. Judging from their sorry figures, they had definitely encountered some fierce monsters.


    Originally they had wanted to bring Ding Nuoyang out to fix him, and let him know without their protection how difficult it would be for him to survive in this game world. But Easy Nobility suddenly said not to let him go, and wouldn''t tell them the reason when they asked, so seeing that Easy Nobility didn''t seem very happy, they also didn''t dare to ask more.


    Since the original n had been cancelled, they nned to go out for a round like usual to see if they would be lucky enough to bump into a monster with many treasures that would be easy to deal with.


    Then on the way, they were suddenly mobbed by a swarm of flying poisonous spiders. This kind of poisonous spider that can fly was extremely difficult to deal with, they would alwayse in droves tounch attacks, one wave after another, and catch the resisting people off guard. And who knew what happened to Easy Nobility today, his energy supplementation was very not in ce, the shield was also unable to be maintained. They had almost been wiped out. Even though they had finally desperately been able to escape with no deaths, the team''s energy and each individual''s energy had all suffered greatly.


    They returned to the residence with serious injuries, but saw Ding Nuoyang sitting and eating very leisurely. Their hearts became even more angry, the one who originally should have been seriously injured should have been him, not them.


    Everyone took out the best medicines in their storage space to heal themselves, and even though their wounds were slowly healing and the pain was disappearing, their energy would require some time to replenish. This would also mean that theirbat effectiveness would be very low for a while.


    ck Hawk looked at his medicine box full of advanced medicines, then his slender eyes turned to look at Jing Yang sitting at the table, his eyes shing a vicious light. Before Ding Nuoyang had joined their team, he had never used advanced medicine, and most of the money he made in the game was all sent back to his hometown for his family. He had five or six siblings at home to be raised, and his mother had been bedridden for the past several years, so whether he was in the game or reality, he would always be extremely economical.


    What he hated the most were these wealthy people, doing whatever they wanted by virtue of their own money, unting their wealth. He felt that after Ding Nuoyang had joined their team, he was like all of the other rich people, constantly showing off his own wealth. Was having money so great? Since he loved showing off, it would be stupid not to take advantage of it, so what he used to buy the cheapest of, now he would choose the most expensive ones.


    For ck Hawk, besides making money, his main purpose for ying games was to kill people, the more rich people he could kill the more addictive he felt. He could not kill Ding Nuoyang for the time being, or else no one would give them a free ATM. But even if he couldn''t kill him for a while, he also didn''t want to let him live well.


    He knew that Easy Nobility liked Dark me, but in reality, Dark me was dating Ding Nuoyang. If he let him personally see his own boyfriend be with someone else, even if it was just in the game, he would definitely be very ufortable.


    "I have a proposal." ck Hawk spoke.


    The yers all turned to him, waiting for him to continue.


    "As our alchemist, Easy Nobility not only builds weapons, but can also enhance the energy of our weapons. If he marries our team captain, and the two people dual cultivate, he can boost the captain''s personal energy and the team''s overall energy. Then after a period of time when the next taskyer opens, all of the teams will be desperately fighting, so boosting our team energy will be very important for us.¡±


    "Yes, that is a good idea!" Immediately a team member agreed with ck Hawk''s words.


    "Captain, I also think this idea is not bad." Madman said to Dark me. "If you marry Easy, this is a very good thing for our team.¡±


    The other teammates all nodded in agreement, and began to take turns to persuade Dark me and Easy Nobility to get married.


    Easy Nobility was just being distracted when he suddenly heard that they were saying to let Dark me marry himself. His heart shook, and he used eyes of anticipation to look at Dark me.


    Dark me was drowned in persuasion, and even though he did not agree, he also did not firmly oppose, showing a hesitant look.


    Easy Nobility felt that Dark me not objecting meant that the hope of this matter seeding was very high. His greatest wish was to be able to marry Dark me, so it would be better to take advantage of this opportunity to persuade him.


    Easy Nobility stood up. "Dark me, I want to talk to you alone, okay?¡±


    Dark me nced at Jing Yang, and was still somewhat hesitant.


    "Dark me,e with me." Easy Nobility went over and directly pulled him up the stairs.


    Seeing the two of them walk up the stairs holding hands, the team members all cheered loudly.


    Jing Yang had finished eating a long time ago and was sitting to watch the y. In the previous world Dark me and Easy Nobility''s marriage had not been this early. Could it be that because he had refused to pay their money, this had caused theter development to change, so they had also gotten married ahead of schedule?


    But none of this had anything to do with him, after all he was already preparing to leave this team. Withdrawing from a team required the team captain to agree to confirm the application, and he was just thinking about how to make Dark mes immediately agree.


    Using not agreeing with their marriage to withdraw from the team? Then wouldn''t that make other people feel like he really loved Dark me, just thinking about it made him sick. If he then really decided to not get married for a while, wouldn''t he still need to stay some time in the team? Even if it were just for a day, he still did not want to stay with these people. It seemed like he still had to create some sort of contradiction to make the rest of the team all want to force him to withdraw from the team. With Dark me''s character, he would absolutely be unable to bear the pressure from his teammates.


    Who knew what the two people had talked about upstairs, but after they came back down, Easy Nobility announced a little shyly, "We are preparing to get married tomorrow, but because now is a special period, we will not be holding a wedding. We will just have a simple celebration together.¡±


    The team members all immediately cheered. Dark me looked at Jing Yang somewhat worriedly, and finding that he did not seem to be angry, he felt relieved but also at the same time felt somewhat unhappy with his indifferent attitude.


    "How could we not hold a wedding, this is our team''s first time holding such a happy celebration in all these years, we must definitely hold a grand wedding." ck Hawk walked to Jing Yang and said to him, "With such a big happy asion, you wouldn''t still be not giving a penny, would you?¡±


    "Of course I''ll pay, how could I not?" Jing Yang stood up and looked at him. "But since it''s the team''s big joyous asion, of course it can''t be just me giving the money, all of the yers will split the cost of holding the wedding equally. The bigger the wedding you n the better, I can pay two people''s share, after all I don''t really care about that money. But for you¡­, don''t make it so that in the end you are alive but your money is gone, that would be tragic.¡±


    "You¡­" ck Hawk red at him furiously. He most hated people saying that he was poor, and even if he said it vaguely, it would stab his sensitive heart.


    This ck Hawk was a person who hated the rich. He hated Ding Nuoyang because he was rich, but the person who took the most advantage of Ding Nuoyang''s money, besides Easy Nobility, was him. Jing Yang was very disgusted with this kind of person, so sooner orter he would give him a lesson, or else it would be difficult to resolve the hatred in his own heart.


    "After the total expenses are calcted, directly use the team cost splitting function to send me my share. Rest assured that I will certainly pay the money, just take it as me giving a gift." When Jing Yang finished he went upstairs, leaving behind a room of people frozen in ce. His reaction was really too calm, making them unable to tell whether he really did not care or if he was just pretending.


    When a group of people returned to their senses, they began to discuss the matter of the wedding. And the first to mention making the celebration bigger, ck Hawk, because he himself also needed to pay a part of the money, immediately in the course of the discussion changed his mind to say that since it was now a special period, all of the money should be spent on weapons and resources, so now they should just have a simple celebration, and if they were all able to survive, they could hold a bigger one again.


    The other people naturally also felt that spending as little money as possible was better, and the money should still be kept to buy important equipment. Sure enough, they spent other people''s money casually, and would skimp with their own.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>losing his head</strong> ¨C ¾ª»Åʧ´ë, idiom, i guess means panicking usually out of fear


    [2] <strong>mockingly smiled</strong> ¨C ËÆЦ·ÇЦ, idiom, basically means like a smile but not a smile, but I''m not too sure how to write it out, please advise<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A bit more than an hour: 10:30 am ¨C 11:45 pm, for 4.1k characters to 3k words. This trantion is actually going quite fast. Each chapter I mean, we are still so behind I¡¯m doubtful I will be able to have much stored up by the time this arc starts.<hr>

 Chapter 57

    <strong>Chapter 57</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.4)</strong>


    That evening, after he finished discussing the wedding preparations, Dark me came to knock on Jing Yang''s door.


    "Is there something?" Jing Yang opened the door and asked him.


    "Can Ie in and talk to you?" Dark me said.


    Jing Yang knew what he wanted to talk about, but didn''t really want to listen to those exnations of his. But right now making everything clear would also be good, so he moved to the side and let him in.


    Jing Yang sat down on his bed, and Dark me wanted to sit next to him, but Jing Yang immediately said, "Stand up, I still have to sleep at night, if you sat down how would I sleep?¡±


    Dark me knew that Ding Nuoyang was somewhat obsessed with cleanliness, but did not know that Jing Yang did not have this obsession, and not letting him sit waspletely because he disdained him.


    Dark me''s butt hadn''t yet reached the bed when he could only stand back up. This room didn''t even have a chair, so he could only stand by a wall and speak to him. "The matter of me marrying Easy Nobility is only to increase the likelihood of us being able to survive. I assure you, my heart has always only loved you alone from beginning to end. Anything that happens in this game world, I hope that you won''t take it to heart, can you?¡±


    "I''ll speak to you frankly." Jing Yang folded his arms and leaned against the head of the bed, looking at him. "I do not care at all who you marry, so taking advantage of this opportunity, let''s just make everything clear. No matter whether it is in reality or in the game, we will no longer have this so-called lover rtionship, we are not even friends, we could only be considered old ssmates.¡±


    "Nuoyang!" Dark me stepped forward in panic, kneeling on one knee beside the bed. "Nuoyang don''t do this, I really only agreed to marry Easy Nobility because <strong>we had no other choice</strong>. I am the team captain, so I can''t help but have to consider for the entire time. If it were normally, I would definitely not agree to marry him, but right now this is rted to our own survival ah! I want to still live and always be with you, so I could only do this.¡±


    "I also want to live." Jing Yang looked at him. "But I do not want to be with you, so if I have to choose between dying and being with you, I would still rather choose to die. I have already made my words very clear, so no matter why you married Easy Nobility, it has nothing to do with me. Afterward, you and I will only be old ssmates.¡±


    Dark me did not think he would say such heartless words, and used a disbelieving gaze to look at him. "This is the game world, everything that happens here is not real, and in order to live, you can''t even tolerate a fake marriage?¡±


    "I have nothing more to say to you. Please go out, I need to rest." Jing Yang pushed him outside.


    "Nuoyang, Nuoyang, listen to me¡­" Dark me had already been pushed out the door, but still relentlessly said, "If you really can''t ept it, I can not marry him, I''ll find a different way¡­¡±


    "It doesn''t matter to me whether or not you marry him. In short, I already have nothing to do with you!" Jing Yang forcefully mmed the door shut. He already knew that dealing with this man would be such a struggle.


    Dark me rested his hand on the door and stood there for a long time. Easy Nobility stood in his own room, watching this scene through the slit in his door, his mood veryplicated. He had just been excited that he would be able to marry Dark me tomorrow, only to suddenly hear him say that as long as Ding Nuoyang would not ept it he would not marry. He had painstakingly said so much to him, could it be that so many people, and even including his own life, were all inferior to one Ding Nuoyang?


    Easy Nobility closed the door. He would follow through with this marriage no matter what, he would definitely make Dark me fall in love with him. No matter whether it was in the game, or in reality, as long as Ding Nuoyang no longer existed, Dark me would belong entirely to him.


    ~


    The next day, the teammates decorated the house up a bit, it seemed quite festive. They even spent money to hire a mid-level chef NPC to make a two table banquet, but these dishes could only fill their hunger bar. None of them were able to raise their energy, and even the ingredients were not good, just looking at them you would know that the taste would not be anything good.


    Jing Yang looked at the dishes on the table without any appetite. He had at least paid two shares of the money, they only gave him these things to eat? He might as well just eat his own food then. Easy Nobility was really awesome, he could even embezzle from his wedding feast funds. It seemed like in order to save money for his surgery, he was really <strong>doing everything possible</strong>.


    Jing Yang ate a couple bites for appearances and returned to him room. Instead of sitting there and looking at a table of terrible food, he might as well go back to his room and use that time to learn refining. This way if heter made a particrly powerful weapon, he would not make the technicians feel like anything was strange. At least he would have a record of learning.


    "Into the bridal room! Into the bridal room!¡±


    The yers surrounded the two people as they entered Dark me''s room. This room had also been simply arranged, but actually did look quite like a wedding room.


    The crowd of people stayed behind in the bridal room, and had to watch the two people perform a kiss. Dark me was somewhat reluctant, so Easy Nobility took the initiative to embrace his neck and kiss him. The room burst into cheers.


    When those people had had enough fun and left, only the two of them were left in the room. Easy Nobility held Dark me''s face. "We have known each other for so many years, you must know my feelings toward you. Then what about you for me? Have you ever felt the least bit of attraction? Even if it was only once or twice.¡±


    "I¡­" Dark me looked at his teary eyes, and didn''t know how he should answer him. Actually he had, and more than once or twice. But he felt that he more deeply loved Ding Nuoyang. In the end the game was the game, he didn''t want to take the feelings of the game world seriously, but also really enjoyed his ambiguous feelings with Easy Nobility. He believed that any man would have his vanity, and any man would feel proud and satisfied being adored by such an outstanding man, so he didn''t think that him being attracted was anything wrong.


    "I beg you, tell me the truth." Easy Nobility pleaded with him.


    Facing such a beautiful face, pathetically begging him at this moment, he really couldn''t bear to say such words that would make him sad, so he could only tell him the truth. "For you¡­I have been moved, many times.¡±


    Easy Nobility hugged him excitedly. "I knew that my feeling was right, your heart must have me too. Even though now you definitely love Ding Nuoyang more, but that does not matter,ter on we will work together to forget him until you only have me in your heart, okay?¡±


    "I¡­¡±


    Easy Nobility covered his mouth. "Don''t talk, you also don''t need to answer me, I understand. Tonight is our wedding night, we shouldn''t waste a second of it.¡±


    Jing Yang practiced refining until the sky had begun to turn bright. He ced everything back into his storage space, pulling out his page to check his learning progress. Seeing that his intermediate refining level was already quickly bing full, he thought, this speed was a little fast, but who let time be so tight. In a few days, the taskyer may appear at any time, so after he left this team and started moving solo, in order to protect himself, he still needed to upgrade his other sills. Even if the technicians thought his progress was a little strange, he only needed to make them not be able to find any ws. After all, after leaving this game, he didn''t intend toe back again.


    Jing Yang casually flipped the page and saw that the team''s energy value had already increased a lot. It had only been a single night, these two people really worked hard enough.


    Closing the page, Jing Yang closed his eyes and began to sleep. This game was really troublesome, if they stayed online too long, their tiredness value would decrease, and if it reached the red line and they still did not sleep, their energy level would start dropping. This was really forcing people to rest. And because he was continuously learning refinery, his tiredness value dropped very quickly. But fortunately he could secretly use the system to speed up the energy recovery while sleeping, so he did not have to rest as long as the other yers.


    Before falling asleep, Jing Yang''sst thought was whether his lover would also be in this game?


    ~


    When Jing Yang went downstairs the next morning, he saw Easy Nobility and Dark me huddled together intimately.


    Easy Nobility say Jing Yang in his peripheral vision, and immediately hugged Dark me''s arm, intimately saying, "Husband, I helped you create an advanced weapon, next time when you go to fight, you can use it.¡±


    "En." Dark me looked up and happened to also see Jing Yang. Subconsciously he moved to the side a bit, pulling apart the distance between the two people, and then said to Easy Nobility, "Still call me Dark me ba, I''m not too used to other names.¡±


    Easy Nobility moved closer to him again and tightly held his arm. "Suddenly changing your greeting is really a bit strange, after all, I have already called your name for several years. Thenter we will just do the same asst night, when it''s only the two of us I will call you husband, and when there''s other people I will call your name, okay?¡±


    Dark me looked at Jing Yang, who had already gone into the kitchen, and whispered in agreement, "En.¡±


    In the kitchen Jing Yang made a simple meal and quickly finished eating it. In the game he still needed to eat and sleep, he felt it was quite troublesome. Right now his time is really tight ah.


    When Jing Yang went back upstairs, he saw Easy Nobility standing at the top of the stairs, obviously waiting for him.


    Sure enough, not out of Jing Yang''s expectations, just as he had gotten up to the second floor, Easy Nobility said to him, "I have something to say to you.¡±


    "My time is precious, I don''t have time to listen to some nonsense. Please say the point in less than a minute or something, and I''ll decide if I want to keep listening.¡±


    "Good, then I''ll just directly say the point." Easy Nobility said, "Please stay away from my husbandter.¡±


    Jing Yang scoffed. "This you canpletely rest assured, as long as you can take proper care of your so-called husband and let him note to provoke me, I will definitely never take the initiative to find him.¡±


    "You should know that Dark me still has feelings for you, he will definitely not be able to control going to find you. I hope that you can avoid him and not respond to him. If you can''t, then in this world, you will be the adulterer in our rtionship.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him with some surprise. "I have seen many faceless people, but people as faceless as you are quite rare ah. What? You''re afraid that I will tell him your true appearance, so you don''t want me to talk to him, right?¡±


    Easy Nobility had his motives revealed, so his eyes started dodging a bit, but he immediately calmed down. "If you dare to nder me without any evidence, I will make you unable to stay in this team. If you don''t believe me you can try, and see if the yers will believe you or believe me.¡±


    "I''m scared to death!" Jing Yang made an exaggerated face of fright. "You quickly make me unable to stay in this team, I really could not thank you more, and even express my heartfelt thanks to you.¡±


    Jing Yang turned back to his room, Easy Nobility looked at his back with hatred until his teeth itched, his eyes full of venom and gloom.


    Watching the start of the taskyer approach, the team members were all working to improve their equipment, but the treasure they could get from monsters was very limited, and still not as fast or efficient as going directly to themercial street to buy them. It was always said that going from frugality to luxury is easy, but <strong>going from luxury to frugality is difficult</strong>, after experiencing those days of buying whatever they wanted, when they looked at the treasure they received from the low-level monsters, they would always feel that the grade was not enough, and the use was not great.


    So some team members again mentioned to go to themercial street to buy goods, the implicit meaning was all to say that this time Jing Yang had to pay.


    "I don''t have anything I need to buy right now, so I don''t have to go to the mall." Jing Yang directly refused.


    ck Hawk red at him. "You don''t have anything to buy, but our team has things we have to buy. If you aren''t willing to pay, then go and fight the monsters yourself and hand in the items.¡±


    "Why do I have to buy the things that this team needs myself?" Jing Yang said.


    "Because you are aplete trash on this team, and only drag us down. Paying money is the only thing you can do." Madman responded.


    Jing Yang was also not angry, speaking not fast nor slow, "Then you can tell me, how many times I have dragged you down, exactly where and when, and also tell me who and when had saved me. Just say one, and I can pay the money for one item, no matter what you buy.¡±


    Everyone looked at each other, but no one could say anything.


    Easy Nobility said, "You are aplete rookie, and if you weren''t in ourpletely professional team, you would long have already been killed by the other crazy yers.¡±


    "For this issue, I have already said before that with the extent of my wealth, no matter which team I go to I will always be weed. After all, at this kind of time, having money means having a weapon, and the better the weapon, the higher the chance of survival. Plus the money that I have already paid for this time ispletely beyond the value of what you have done for me.¡±


    "You don''t need to say this crap." Easy Nobility said. "Did you think that if you went to a different team you wouldn''t need to pay? Either pay or quit the team, you only have these two options.¡±


    Dark me who had always stayed silent opened his mouth to advise him, "Nuoyang, this time you just pay the money first ba, it''s pointless to keep arguing like this, just consider it as for your own¡­¡±


    "I choose to quit your team!" Jing Yang loudly interrupted Dark me''s persuasion.


    "You¡­, what did you say?" Dark me thought he had misheard.


    Jing Yang looked at him, and said word by word, "I said, I want to withdraw from your team.¡±<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>we have no other choice</strong> ¨C ÆȲ»µÃÒÑ, idiom, means to have no alternative,pelled by circumstances


    [2] <strong>doing everything possible</strong> ¨C ÎÞËù²»ÓÃÆ伫, meansmitting all manner of crimes,pletely unscrupulous


    [3] <strong>going from luxury</strong> ¨C ÓɼóÈëÉÝÒ×£¬ÓÉÉÝÈë¼óÄÑ, idiom, basically literal<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Almost an hour: 11:30 am ¨C 12:30 pm, for 4.1k characters to 2.8k words. I actually was very productive yesterday so I¡¯ll attempt to trante two chapters of this today. Catch up the least bit.<hr>

 Chapter 58

    <strong>Chapter 58</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.5)</strong>


    Everyone was stunned by Jing Yang''s words, they had all never thought that he would really choose to quit.


    Only Easy Nobility was suppressing his inner excitement. Members of the same team were unable to kill each other, but if Ding Nuoyang withdrew from their team, it would be much easier for him to kill him. He wouldn¡¯t even need to think too much to arrange it, he could just make it seem like he had died from an ident.


    Jing Yang pulled out the withdrawal application page and did not hesitate to press down the Confirm button. Right now as long as the team captain Dark me agreed to his application, he would no longer be a member of this team.


    "Nuoyang, don''t be impulsive. If you leave our team, you will definitely not be able to find a better choice, and I am this team''s captain, I will protect you." Dark me said.


    "You protect me?" Jing Yang nced at him, sarcastically smiling. "No need, I have already decided, I am not willing to stay in this team for even another minute. As for what kind of result I will have after I leave, you do not need to worry about it.¡±


    Seeing Dark me''s reluctant and unwilling appearance, Easy Nobility felt very angry. Today he would drive Ding Nuoyang from this team no matter what.


    "If he doesn''t go, then I will leave. Dark me, you choose yourself." Easy Nobility also pulled out his own page and pressed to withdraw.


    "You guys¡­" Originally Dark me had been struggling, and now he did not know what to do even more. The team members were forcing him, Nuoyang was forcing him, and now Easy Nobility was also forcing him. "Do you all have to fight like this?¡±


    "If Easy Nobility leaves this team, I will leave with him.¡±


    "Me too¡­¡±


    "I will also leave with Easy.¡±


    The team members all pulled out their pages to force Dark me to make a choice. Under these circumstances, a senior alchemist like Easy Nobility was really very important. Even if they did not actually really want to withdraw from the team, in order to force Dark me to choose, they still had to make these appearances.


    Dark me bowed his head and pulled his hair. Right now he was very entangled. If he really let Nuoyang withdraw from the team, he would very likely no longer have the chance to get Nuoyang back, because it was unknown if Nuoyang would even be able to survive back to reality. But if he insisted on not letting Nuoyang withdraw, the team''s internal contradictions could not be resolved, and how could an unstable teampete for those 100 chances to live. It was very likely that even he himself would not necessarily be able to return to reality alive.


    "Dark me." Easy Nobility knelt down in front of Dark me, holding his hands. "You are a good captain, we are all willing to follow you. Our hope for survival is extremely high, but you have to make a decision, whether to choose him, or to choose us.¡±


    In the end, Dark me''s desire to survive overcame his feelings for Ding Nuoyang. He clenched his fist, closed his eyes and pressed the OK on Jing Yang''s withdrawal application page.


    Jing Yang''s rtionship with this team terminated, and he returned to the state of being without a team. Besides himself, Easy Nobility also let out a breath of relief.


    Jing Yang stood up. "From now on, I will have no rtionship with your team. I''ll say the ugly words first, in the future if we meet again, I will also not have any affection for you all.¡±


    Easy Nobility said sarcastically, "I really do not know where you have the self-confidence to say this kind of thing. You''re still talking about affection with us, as long as you leave here, don''te back crying to make us agree to add you back. We do not need any of your affection.¡±


    "Very good, I hope that you can maintain this confidence until the end of the game." Jing Yang turned and walked out.


    "Nuoyang!" Dark me called at him.


    Jing Yang did not stop, and did not turn back.


    Easy Nobility watched his confident departure, and really wanted to rush up right then and kill him, but he did not want to kill him in front of Dark me. He would never let him survive back to the real world, and if he was lucky enough not to die in the hands of a monster, he would definitely take care of him personally.


    ~


    After Jing Yang left that team, he felt much more refreshed. Now the first thing he had to solve was the ce to live. He was toozy to choose a house, which was too troublesome, so he simply found a high-ss hotel to stay in.


    Jing Yang stayed in the hotel for three days,pleting all of his studies from low-level refining to senior refining, so even though he had still not be a senior alchemist, he was still able to make all of the weapons. But for Jing Yang, all of this learning was nothing but a pretense. Even if he did not be a senior alchemist, he could still make any weapon that he wanted.


    His alchemy level had already been raised, so what he needed to do now was raise his force level, and then take advantage of the time left to make a few powerful weapons to protect himself.


    Jing Yang flipped through theprehensive collection of weapons and decided which ones he wanted to make. He went to themercial street and bought all of the materials that he needed. But he still had notpleted his preparations, because even though he could already make the weapon with what he already had, the lethality and other aspects would still be much worse.


    For things like barite that could increase energy level and strength, shops only had limited amounts in stock, and when Jing Yang wanted to go buy it, they had long been sold out, and would only be restocked next month. But by next month, the battle for the 100 escape spots would very likely have already ended.


    There was only one way to get something that couldn''t be bought in the store, which was to find the monster with those things, and when defeating the monster, they had the chance to receive the item.


    Jing Yang opened his map and used his system to search through it. Right now the entire map did not have any monsters that would be useful for him. He was just considering what kind of methods to use in order to bump into useful monsters when he suddenly saw the game system release a group attack task.


    Jing Yang immediately opened the task. Stone monsters had appeared on Barite Mountain, there would be a reward to each brave warrior who helped destroy the stone monster. As long as you helped, the mountain owner would hand out rewards. The stone monster would swallow treasures, and those would belong to the ones who had destroyed the monster.


    This was exactly the task that Jing Yang wanted. The reward money that the Barite Mountain owner didn''t matter to him, but among those treasures swallowed by the stone monster, there would definitely be barite. Plus it was a group attack, so as long as he found the opportunity to make the finishing blow, he should not expose his ability too much.


    Seeing the marks moving on his map, there were already many people rushing toward that side. This was a task like sending money to the yers, so many people would all want to go take advantage of it. But the stone monster was particrly difficult to deal with, the danger level was extremely high, and if their equipment was poorer or their team had less energy, they would only dare to wait and see, and would not dare to participate.


    Jing Yang directly used the hotel''s transmission array to reach the vicinity of the Barite Mountain. One of the advantages of a high-ss hotel was that their transmission array could send you to any location that was already open, and at a much faster speed than a normal array.


    By the time he arrived, there was already a team dealing with the stone monster. They had arrived even earlier than him, it seemed like these people had used an even better transmission array.


    After this team started attacking the monster, gravel flew all over the sky. Jing Yang immediately opened his protective shield.


    These stone monsters were extremely aggressive, and were very prone to counterattacking using self-explosion. Plus they could even regenerate very quickly. Only by finding its stone heart among the countless stones would it finally be destroyed.


    As Jing Yang was standing and watching at the side, more teams continued to arrive. Everyone who had joined the group attack mission had a teambel on their bodies. Only he was a solo yer, provoking repeated sidelong nces from the people passing by him.


    "Nuoyang, why are you here?¡±


    Jing Yang turned to see who had called him. Dark me''s team had arrived, he did not pay attention to Dark me speaking to him, instead continuing to look forward to watch the constantly scattering and reforming stone monster, waiting for the opportunity to attack.


    "Do you even still need to ask?" ck Hawk sarcastically said. "He overestimated himself and ran to this kind of ce, and even by himself, he definitely came to die ah.¡±


    "Nuoyang, quickly leave here. The stone monster is very dangerous, even if it is only a fragment from the self-explosion, it would still be extremely lethal.¡±


    For Dark me''s persuasion, Jing Yang waspletely indifferent. He stood there like a statue, he was observing with great concentration to find where the stone monster had hidden its stone heart.


    "Dark me, we should start attacking, or else other people might first destroy the stone monster." Easy Nobility pulled Dark me''s hand, turning back to re viciously at Jing Yang.


    Arge crowd of people surrounded the stone monster, the scene was extremely chaotic, but because more people were attacking, the stone monster''s attack energy had weakened a lot.


    Found it! Jing Yang noticed that a rock had flown out from the main body, it was just a normal piece of stone, but even though its location had always kept changing, it had never left the main body.


    Jing Yang took out the intermediate-level weapon that he had refined himself, the Phantom Umbre, and using his flying function, he flew up.


    The Phantom Umbre was a defensive weapon, and when Jing Yang had created it, he had not only raised its defensive properties many times, but also increased its far range attack energy. Under the cover of so many people, using his enhanced version of the phantom umbre, he could easily dodge the stone monster''s attacks.


    Jing Yang unfurled his phantom umbre, his figure quickly moving like a phantom sh. Very quickly he approached his goal. He took out a standard tracking gun and was preparing to shoot when suddenly wind crazily blew, sand and gravel flying everywhere. The sky was filled with yellow sand, instantly dimming the world.


    Jing Yang had not been on guard, and was almost blown away. Only under the double protection of his own shield and the phantom umbre did he barely stand up under the wind and sand. But his vision could only reach less than a meter away, so Jing Yang simply could not see what had happened.


    There was no way, at this time he couldn''t not cheat. He used his own system to check it out, originally that yellow sand had been ejected from the stone monster''s mouth. Most of the yers had been blown away by this sand, and some had been hit by rocks and died directly while they were flying away. Unlike before, those people who had died had no chance of resurrecting in the game.


    Continuing to attack in this kind of situation was not very possible, there was too much wind and sand, and all firearms would be affected. Jing Yang could only firstnd and crouch on the ground holding his umbre, waiting for the wind and sand to pass by.


    The wind blew for a long time before finally stopping. Although the yellow sand had notpletely dispersed yet, his vision was still much clearer than before. Just now the people attacking the monster had all been blown away by the wind and sand or were lying on the ground. For the time being, no one was attacking.


    Jing Yang knew that this was not a good time to attack, but when the yellow sandpletely dispersed, the opportunity to attack would be even worse. He quickly flew toward the target, when a string of flying stones about to explode flew headfirst toward him. Jing Yang was startled, he could not avoid this string of flying stones, so he had to attack them, or block them. But right now among his weapons he did not have one that could attack back at those exploding flying stones.


    Seeing those exploding flying stones getting closer and closer to him, he could no longer care about hiding his strength at this time. He wanted to use the system to raise his shield strength to the highest, and endure this string of exploding flying stones. As long as he didn''t get injured it would be fine.


    Suddenly a string of thunder cannons shed over his head and hit those exploding flying stones that were already almost about to reach him into the distance, where they exploded together. The loud explosions rattled in Jing Yang''s ears, and he was just about to turn to look back at who had saved him when a ck-clothed figure quickly flew past him. He only had the chance to see that person''s upright back.


    Although he didn''t really need to be saved, that person really had saved him. Jing Yang saw that he was also by himself, though he did have a team mark on his body. His teammates must have also been blown away by the wind. So he followed him to see if he needed some help, and find a chance to pay him back for saving him. He was not used to owing others, especially irrelevant strangers.


    After the two of them got close to the stone monster''s main body, the stone monster actually released a stone array and surrounded them. This stone monster was actually this powerful, but this had never happened before. It seemed that he had not only swallowed barite but also some even more powerful treasures.


    The man wearing a long ck windbreaker was extremely skilled, quickly breaking half of the stone array by himself. Jing Yang felt like he simply did not need himself to help him.


    Suddenly he felt something strange behind his back. Jing Yang turned back to look, a <strong>humongous</strong> storm of fireballs was actually falling right down at them. Are you kidding me! If they were hit by these fireballs, they would definitely be directly burned to death. What was this thing guarding to actually force such an intense fight?


    Jing Yang immediately opened his shield and blocked those fireballs. Those fireballs made a loud noise when they hit his shield, but the shield had been strengthened by the system and remained motionless.


    The ck windbreaker man quickly looked back, a sh of surprise in his eyes. Who knew whether he was surprised at the sky full of fireballs, or that Jing Yang''s shield was actually that strong.


    Jing Yang could tell that if they did not destroy this stone monster as soon as possible, there would definitely be something even strongerter to deal with them. They were now isted in here by the fireballs and couldn''t get out, and other people had been blocked outside by the fireballs and couldn''te in. They would either have to destroy the stone monster in here or die here. Jing Yang''s road to vengeance had just begun, how could he just die here, that would be too embarrassing.


    Jing Yang propped up his shield while turning to quickly fly to that man''s side. He directly used his body to release his powerful energy, adding some energy to the ck windbreaker man while directly using his energy to clear out a path. This was very dangerous for Jing Yang, but it was also very effective.


    The man in ck felt a steady stream of energy being instilled in his body. He did not resist, directly absorbing the energy, and burst out, using the path that Jing Yang had used his energy to open to rapidly approach the stone heart.


    The man in ck took out a battle-axe used for melee fighting, and hacked down at the stone heart with all of his power. For a moment, the entire world started shaking. The main body of the stone monster slowly broke up and began to copse, disseminating into ashes after it fell on the ground.


    Those stones and fireballs and other things all disappeared in an instant without leaving a trace. The world immediately restored to how it was before, as if those things had never happened.


    The stone monster''s heart had been destroyed by the man in ck, so naturally he also owned the treasures. Even if he did not give any to Jing Yang, Jing Yang also didn''t have anything to say. But he had spent so much effort, so he still wanted to see what he had done it all for.


    More than ten huge barite stones were stacked on the ground. This kind of volume and number was really a bit exaggerated. If they were exchanged for cash, they could let a pauper immediately be rich, just like winning a big lottery. No wonder there was such a big battle.


    Just as Jing Yang thought that these things were all of the stone monster''s treasures, two things as dazzling as small suns surfaced from the bottom of the ground and slowly rose to swirl in mid-air.


    The sun barite! It was actually the sun barite!


    Weapons made using the sun barite could simply be called divine weapons, even the toughest monster could be finished with one blow. It could even destroy the game world and take all of the treasures from the monsters and other yers, and only the yers not in the game would be able to escape. But because this thing was so perversely strong, it could only be used once. And now there were two pieces, that meant it could be used twice. But the lightning that surrounded it needed to be resolved before it could be used, which was also very difficult to handle.


    Jing Yang suddenly also somewhat envied that man, not for the value of those treasures, but because those two sun barites were really too cool ah!


    The people who had not died or weren''t blown away now came over. Seeing those treasures, their envious eyes were almost bleeding.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>humongous</strong> ¨C ÆÌÌì¸ÇµØ, idiom, literally means hiding the sky and covering the earth, earth-shattering<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 12:30 pm ¨C 1:30 pm, for 4.8k characters to 3.2k words. This has been a great tranting session. Things are moving along quickly. Also, surprisingck of T/Ns this time. Maybe I¡¯m getting a bitzy ??<hr>

 Chapter 59

    <strong>Chapter 59</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.6)</strong>


    The ck-clothed man was surrounded by his teammates, who were <strong>chattering continuously</strong>, expressing their admiration toward those treasures.


    "Boss, what kind of luck do you have ah! These are two sr barites ah, you can''t even buy these with money, but you actually got them so easily.¡±


    "These are really good things, but how do we even use them ah, you even have to deal with the lightning. I heard that you have to dispel that lightning before being able to use them, do any of you know the method?¡±


    The others all shook their heads to show that they didn''t know.


    "Anyway, we got the things, we can slowly investigate how to use them, there will definitely be a way. Otherwise what would the gamepany be doing putting out these things?" A man whose muscles seemed a little exaggerated said.


    Seeing that the ck-clothed man had already ced all of the treasures into his storage space, Jing Yang thought that there wasn''t much to do with him anymore, so he was preparing to leave when the ck-clothed man suddenly turned to look at him and walked over to him.


    Jing Yang froze for a bit. He finally saw clearly how he looked, his face was extremely handsome, and it didn''t seem as fake as the other yers. This should be quite simr to how he looks in real life.


    The ck-clothed man pulled out a page and split the treasures into two equal portions. Then he swiped toward Jing Yang and sent him one of the portions, saying, "Receive it.¡±


    "You''re giving it to me?" Jing Yang looked at him with surprise. Hepletely did not think that this person would be so generous, directly giving half of the things to him.


    "We worked together to get it, so of course we should give you half.¡±


    "Oh, oh¡­" Jing Yang still had not been able to reactpletely. He had encountered too many unreasonable people, so suddenly bumping into such a reasonable person made him feel a little out of sorts.


    Jing Yang opened his own page and pressed the button to receive the items. Seeing half the treasures enter his storage space, he still felt that it was a little hard to believe. Along the way, he took a look at the other person''s game name, he was called Qi Feng.


    "Ding Nuoyang, is that your real name?" Qi Feng looked at Jing Yang and asked.


    "That''s right." When Ding Nuoyang had entered the game, he just put his own real name as his game name, because at that time he had not finished thinking of what his game name should be. Originally he had nned to decideter and then change his name, but he never had the chance.


    "You don''t have a team?" Qi Feng had just seen the shield that he had propped up, which was extremely strong. It should be impossible for this kind of yer to not have a team invite him to join.


    "It hasn''t been long since I withdrew from my original team, so for the time being I still haven''t entered another one." Jing Yang said.


    "Then do you want to join us?" Qi Feng invited him.


    Jing Yang looked at him with some surprise, and then turned to look at those teammates of his. His teammates'' expressions seemed extremely calm, and did not show any kind of dissatisfaction. Jing Yang bowed his head to make the appearance of thinking, but used the system to quickly check out the important information about these people.


    Those onlookers still had not left, so they had all seen Qi Feng divide half of those treasures to Jing Yang, and Jing Yang was also an alchemist with no team protecting him. Then whoever took the opportunity to kill him would have the chance to get his treasures. Even if you weren''t able to get the treasures, killing him would leave you one lesspetitor.


    "Nuoyang." Dark me saw that Jing Yang was considering joining another team, and after quickly asking for his teammates'' opinions, he walked toward Jing Yang. "Nuoyang, return to our team ba.¡±


    Jing Yang turned to look at him, expressionlessly saying, "Impossible!¡±


    "Don''t be willful, Nuoyang, do you know how much danger you are in right now?" Dark me gestured around at the people around them. Once he was by himself, those people would immediately surround him like they had sieged the stone monster. "Don''t worry, I have asked the team members, and they all agreed for you toe back.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at those team members, who had no less greed in their eyes than those other gamers. Agreed to let him go back? They must be afraid thatter if the scene became too chaotic, the other people would be able to seize the treasures.


    Those yers in Dark me''s team, ever since Jing Yang had left, had had to be very careful every time they bought something. For a lot of things that they needed to use, they could no longer select the best like before, and most of the time they could only buy the poorest quality items. They no longer dared to randomly spend money, concerned that if they used up most of their money now,ter on if they needed something more important they would no longer be able to afford it. This made them extremely miss those days when they could be casually profligate, and all felt somewhat regretful for driving him out of the team too early.


    And now Jing Yang even had a sr barite, so as long as they could refine the lightning outside the barite, it would be equivalent to mastering the fate of all of the other gamers. If the sun barite could belong to their team, as long as they mastered the method of usage, they would definitely be able to leave the game.


    Jing Yang looked up at Qi Feng. "I would like to join your team.¡±


    "Nuoyang!" Dark me eagerly shouted at him.


    Jing Yang ignored him, directly opening a page to submit his membership application.


    Qi Feng also did not muck around, directly clicking OK and pulling him into the team list.


    This team was called A team. Jing Yang had used the system to get a little introduction to them, and knew that these people were definitely reliable.


    Even though Jing Yang had joined a team, there were still many people who were still relentless, their eyes shining with <strong>restlessness</strong>.


    "Let go, return." Qi Feng brought Jing Yang to the transmission array.


    Those people who were hesitating on whether to rush forward all stopped after seeing the advanced weapons the A team had taken out. If it had been previously, they would have rushed forward to try it out even if they would lose a few lives, it didn''t take too much money to resurrect. But right now they only had one life, and if they were dead there was no chance for resurrection.


    Dark me saw Jing Yang leaving with those people, tightly clenching his fists.


    Jing Yang followed them back to their residence. He saw that it was a huge three-story vi with a garden and a pool, but to tell the truth, he was not surprised at all. This ce''s vi was the best and most expensive house in the game,pletely on a different level from that small two-story building in the suburbs that Dark me''s team was living in.


    They held a wee banquet for Jing Yang and introduced themselves to him.


    What surprised Jing Yang the most was that these people did not have the least bit of concern for their lives like the other yers. Usually, the less people had, they would be less scared. But these people were all ones who had a lot in reality, some were the people in power ofrge groups, some were future heirs. If they died in the game, everything they had in reality would be gone, but they didn''t seem to worry at all that they wouldn''t be able to live.


    Jing Yang suddenly felt that this might be the self-confidence of those who really stood at the summit. That no matter when or where, they would always have a grasp of their own destiny, and even if they unfortunately failed, they would still have the courage to bear the consequences. Instead of taking the time to worry about whether or not you would live, it was better to work harder to live, the so-called <strong>doing one''s best and leaving the rest to God</strong>.


    Lying down on a widefortable big bed, Jing Yang used the system to pull out the team''s details and go through it again.


    In the game, very few people know about this team, not because they were not strong, but because they were too low-key. They were like capable people outside the world, extremely skilled, but they never participated in any rankings, and after the tasks they never went to retrieve their points, so their names would basically never appear on the leaderboards.


    For these people, ying games was simply for when they became tired of ying all kinds of things in reality, they woulde to the game to experience a kind of thrill they could not get in reality. Usually they were all very busy people, so they would only show up very rarely in the game. They had all gotten together once in the game with great difficulty, and actually all got trapped in the game.


    In the previous world, these people had all sessfully managed to leave the game alive, and thanks to them,ter many people also survived. Besides their being strong enough, Jing Yang had joined them for some other reasons.


    ~


    The next day, Jing Yang was sitting at the dining table, drinking coffee while looking through all the important information about the game world.


    Suddenly he heard a bang. Turning around to look, that exaggeratedly muscled man whose game name was called <strong>Make Solid</strong> was pointing at the weapon he had just thrown on the table and loudly scolding, "The tenth time! This is already the tenth time! Once we get to a critical moment it starts spitting snowkes, if it weren''t for me reacting quickly, I would already have died ten times. You say, a properly good weapon, what is it doing being all romantic with the monsters? Nauseating or not?¡±


    Dragon Seven sitting beside him threw him a nce, coldly saying, "I told you to throw that thing away a long time ago, but you had to say that that thing hadmemorative meaning so you had to keep it. The amount of money you''ve smashed into constantly fixing that thing is enough for you to buy five or six better weapons.¡±


    Jing Yang walked over and said to him, "I''ll help you fix it up and see ba." Since he had now joined this team, he should do his part to help the yers repair their weapons. Plus these people were all very friendly to him, so he naturally should repay them a bit.


    "Take it and y ba, do whatever you want." Solid handed over his own weapon to Jing Yang. "From today on, I need to give up on this weapon.¡±


    Jing Yang took his weapon out of the room andpletely disassembled it for a look. This was an ice system weapon, and the power it emitted could freeze the opponent to death. It was very suitable for use against monsters who use fire, so when Solid said that it would spray out snowkes once they go to a critical moment, it was likely because when the <strong>transforming stone</strong> came in contact with heat for too long it would fail.


    Jing Yang returned to his room and modified the ice gun''s internal structure a bit, and then changed a few things. Less than an hourter, he was done fixing it.


    He took the ice gun and gave it back to Solid.


    "So quick? Thanks a lot." Solid took his weapon back and looked at it again. He had said that he would give up on this weapon, but he was still a little reluctant in his heart. Usually when he sent it to the repair shops for urgent repair it would still take five or six hours, he never thought that Jing Yang would fix it so quickly.


    Qi Feng walked down from the second floor and said, "Last time the volcano monster that ran off appeared again. The original ce, inform everyone to gather, and we will immediately set off.¡±


    "It finally appeared again!" Solid ced the weapon back in his space, viciously saying, "This time I will definitely ice him up in vengeance!¡±


    The nine team members, including Jing Yang, gathered in the backyard as quickly as possible, directly arriving near the volcano using a transmission array.


    Because that volcano monster had escaped from their teamst time, it had already been marked, so none of the other teams could attack it. When they arrived, they saw that volcano monster spraying fireballs, and every fireball that rolled down on the ground turned into a small fire monster. At this moment, there was a mountain full of small fire monsters looking at them.


    Qi Feng began to assign tasks and confirmed each person''s attack direction and cover position. He turned and said to Jing Yang, "Expand the shield, and add energy depending on the situation.¡±


    "Understood." Jing Yang responded.


    Qi Feng had just walked out two steps when he turned back to Jing Yang. "Add energy <em>as appropriate</em> depending on the situation.¡±


    "¡­Got it." Jing Yang could hear that he deliberately emphasized the two words "as appropriate", and knew that he must have felt thatst time when he had added energy to him he had overdone it. But wasn''t that time a special circumstance?


    Jing Yang watched them quickly fly up and move forwards, knowing that it was not that they trusted him, but Qi Feng. In this team, Qi Feng had absolute authority and leadership, so when he had brought himself into this team, no one had expressed any dissatisfaction. And no one had questioned his ability.


    The teammates'' fights with those small fire monsters was red-hot, and facing those small fire monsters who were gnashing their teeth but had no way to get close to them, these people were still able to take advantage of short gaps of time to chat with each other. "This shield is really strong, it''s even stronger than Goose Over and Liang Ren''s shields added together.¡±


    "My speciality originally should not even have been used to shield this team, just being able to barely hold up was already pretty good. How could it bepared to the shield that an alchemist has propped up." Goose Over was dissatisfied about being criticized.


    "Can you continue your discussion after the fight is over?" Solid roared loudly. "It''s rare for us to be able to fight so gratifyingly,o zi won''t care about you all anymore, I''m going to rush forward!!¡±


    "Solid is killing until his eyes are red ah, Dragon Seven you watch him a bit, if he lets that volcano monster escape again this time, boss will definitely not let him go!" Goose Over loudly reminded.


    Solid directly rushed out of the shield and killed to the front of the volcano monster. Just when he was going to start meleeing with the volcano monster, that volcano monster''s head suddenly started shaking wildly, splitting into three heads.


    Solid was hit far away by the heat wave that the three heads spewed out at the same time. Qi Feng quickly flew over from above, and a lightning bolt swung out from the weapon in his hand, one of the volcano monster''s heads falling down. The other two heads spewed out another heat wave, forcing him to retreat and return to the shield for the time being.


    "This monster actually mutated!" Solid loudly shouted. "No wonder it dared to appear again, but, even if you mutated I will still never let you go!¡±


    Seeing that Solid had taken out that ice gun of his again, Goose Over loudly called, "Don''t take out that toy of yours again, what are you doing always being so romantic with those monsters?¡±


    Solid had movedpletely habitually, and when Goose Over had not even finished speaking, he had already aimed and fired at the volcano monster''s head.


    They only heard a bang, and a sh of cold bitter chill instantly hit the head of the volcano monster and shredded into ice g along with the head of the monster, even smashing a lot of small fire monsters as they were falling to the ground.


    Everyone froze, and even Solid himself was stunned, looking at his ice gun in disbelief.


    Goose Over came back to his senses and asked Solid, "Did you change to a new ice gun? When did you get it, it''s actually so strong!¡±


    "No, no change ah, it''s still the original one, I just let Nuoyang help me fix it a bit." Solid said.


    "What are you being stunned there for?!" Dragon Seven yelled at him. "It''s going to grow a new head soon, hurry up!¡±


    "Oh, yes! Right away!" Solid again aimed at the volcano monster''s head, bang bang bang continuously firing three shots. He hit off the head that had just grown out, as well as the one that still remained.


    The volcano monster''s three heads had been knocked off at the same time, and its body turned from red to green. Solid <strong>continued his efforts</strong>, and before the volcano monster could regenerate, he fired several shots in the row, turning the body of the volcano monster into broken ice g.


    The small fire monsters allpletely disappeared. No one paid attention to the treasures fallen all over the ground, all running over to surround Solid and express their admiration. "Solid, could it be that you also mutated? How did you suddenly be so strong?¡±


    "Ah haha, just general, just normal strength." Solid smiled very proudly.


    "Stop being proud!" Dragon Seven kicked him. "It''s not you who''s strong, it was definitely because Nuoyang had helped you change your ice gun, or else it would still spray snowkes today.¡±


    Solid did not care at all about being criticized by Dragon Seven, touching his ice gun like touching a treasure. Then he walked to Jing Yang and said, "I had asked a senior alchemist to repair this gun ten times, and he still did notpletely repair it. You only used one hour of time topletely repair it, and even increased its energy by more than 10 times. Even though I don''t know how did you did it, I still can''t help but say that you are really too powerful. Today I will give you all of my treasures as my gratitude.¡±


    "Line up." Qi Feng said to the team. "Let''s gather up all of these things, and we''ll discuss the rest when we get back.¡±


    The volcano monster was killed by Solid, so Solid would get most of the treasures today. But Solid had given all of his treasures to Jing Yang as a thank you gift, so most of the treasures today had actually been given to Jing Yang.


    Everyone walked toward the transmission array, and Qi Feng said to Jing Yang, "Let''s go.¡±


    "En." Jing Yang turned and walked forward next to him.


    Qi Feng looked at Jing Yang''s profile, an inexplicable sudden wave of love washing over his heart, even he himself felt it was very mysterious. He didn''t think that he would actually have a good feeling toward someone in the game, but he knew that what he liked was definitely not that face, but the feeling that he gave himself.


    Jing Yang felt that he was looking at him, and turned to ask, "What''s wrong?¡±


    "Nothing." Qi Feng said.


    Jing Yang smiled at him. His smile was only out of courtesy for his response, but he didn''t know that this smile of his made Qi Feng''s heart tremble.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>chattering continuously</strong> ¨C ÄãÒ»ÑÔÎÒÒ»Óï, I think it means like you say something then immediately I say something


    [2] <strong>restlessness</strong> ¨C ´À´ÀÓû¶¯, idiom, means beginning to stir, bing threatening


    [3] <strong>doing one''s best</strong> ¨C ¾¡ÈËÊÂÌýÌìÃü, idiom/phrase, basically means like do all you can and leave the rest to fate?


    [4] <strong>Make Solid</strong> ¨C ×ö¹ÌÌå,mest literal trantion ever but what can you do


    [5] <strong>transforming stone</strong> ¨C ת»¯Ê¯, literal trantion, assuming it''s some sort of material for use in constructing the ice gun


    [6] <strong>Goose Over</strong>, <strong>Liang Ren</strong> ¨C Ñã¹ýºÍÁºÈË, yeah one is literal and one is just the pinyin, these game names are aplete mess


    [7] <strong>continued his efforts</strong> ¨C ÔÙ½ÓÔÙÀ÷, idiom, means to continue his struggle, persist, unremitting effort<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About 1.5 hours: 8:30 pm ¨C 10 pm, for 4.9k characters to 3.5k words. This was quite a long chapter, with a bunch of badly tranted names. Also, hello, new character ??<hr>

 Chapter 60

    <strong>Chapter 60</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.7)</strong>


    Back at the residence, the team members were still discussing Solid''s huge explosion of power today, andmented that they finally had a reliable shield. Last time, if not for their group shield being too weak, they wouldn''t have been blown away by the wind, so that the boss could only go by himself to deal with the stone monster.


    But the boss was still the boss, <strong>eyesight still incisive as always</strong>, he had casually gone to fight a monster and was even able to bring back such a treasure.


    It was almost time for the taskyer to open, and they all felt that going to an alchemist would definitely be toote now. But Solid had mentioned that Jing Yang had only taken one hour to help himpletely transform his weapon, so they all one by one took out their own most familiar weapons and let Jing Yang help them improve them a bit.


    These people all did notck money in the least, so they were all very generous. They naturally wouldn''t let Jing Yang work for nothing, and opened their own storage spaces, letting Jing Yang take out what he needed casually. Jing Yang also did not have the habit of taking advantage of other people''s kindness, so he only took out the items that he would need to improve their weapons. Plus there would be some items that someone else might need but didn''t have, but another person did have, and Jing Yang knew that these people all had good rtionships and firm loyalty, so after obtaining their consent, he would use the items for each other.


    Jing Yang heard a knock on the door and went to open it. He saw it was Qi Feng and thought he had something to say, so he let him in.


    "You haven''t rested yet?" Qi Feng saw his table filled with weapon parts.


    "En, I''m still not too tired. There''s not much time left, so I want to promote everyone''s weapon power to the highest as soon as possible." Jing Yang sat down on the chair at the table.


    "Don''t work too hard, even though it''s in the game, your body and brain will still be tired. Don''t force yourself.¡±


    "I know." Jing Yang smiled. "When I feel tired I will go to rest.¡±


    "I opened an entry for you in my storage space, there''s all of my personal and the team''s items in there. If you need something you can get it yourself."


    Jing Yang was very surprised, this person actually waspletely not on guard against himself? Even if it were friends with a very good rtionship, they would still not have an entry for essing each other''s storage. Even partners would rarely do so.


    He joked, "Aren''t you afraid that I will sell all of your stuff for cash? That''s quite a big amount of money, very worth the risk.¡±


    Qi Feng subconsciously wanted to say that all of mine is yours, even if you want to take it all you can, but he suddenly remembered that they had only met for a few days, so if he said this it might not be appropriate and might even scare him off. So he very formally said, "You have already joined us, so then our fates are linked together. I have always been <strong>someone who trusts my team</strong>, so since I took the initiative to let you join, I will never doubt you, you don''t have to worry.¡±


    "Thank you for letting me join your team, and thank you for your trust in me." Jing Yang expressed his gratitude very sincerely.


    Qi Feng lifted his hand and rubbed Jing Yang''s hair. The two people were stunned at the same time. Qi Feng hadpletely unconsciously done this move, as if it were something he had done countless times before, natural to the point that it did not even process in his mind before his body had already automatically reacted.


    Jing Yang was very familiar with this action. Only one person would make this sort of move on him, and only one person could make this move on him without making him reject it. Could it be¡­¡­


    Their four eyes met each other, each person wanted to find something from within the other person''s eyes. Their eyes entangled together, even causing the hearts in their bodies in the real world to start beating erratically.


    Qi Feng stiffly brought his hand away from Jing Yang''s head, but his fingers were still very reluctant to leave. Suppressing those inexplicable feelings, Qi Feng said, "Rest early.¡±


    "En." Jing Yang constantly stared at his eyes, wanting to find that familiar feeling from his eyes. But his prying failed, that familiar feeling never appeared.


    Watching Qi Feng go out and close the door, Jing Yang still felt somewhat disappointed. But it didn''t matter, heforted himself, in the past it was also not like he could feel it every time. If he was his own lover, he would definitely have a chance to prove it.


    ~


    Jing Yang only spent less than two days of time to help each team member transform one or two weapons. The team members all took out the weapons he had changed to try them out, and the intensity of their power really shocked them all, and then they felt that using them felt too refreshing. It was simply the feeling of having a divine weapon in their hands, making them invincible under the heavens.


    At night a group of people sat and chatted together, spitting about how themercial street alchemy shops and repair shops were too unreliable. They were all known alchemists, it was nothing that the cost was so expensive, they all did not really care about spending more money, but you should still return the equivalent effect of the money ah, smashing so much money in and you still could easilye up with tons of problems.


    Suddenly, there was a roar of thunder and wind in the sky outside. Everyone looked out the window at the same time, it didn''t look like it was going to rain.


    Everyone walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked up at the sky. The wind had scattered all of the clouds in the sky, and they could faintly see a city in the clouds. The first mission city had finally opened.


    After the lightning and wind disappeared, everyone received a message from the game system, publishing the content of the task. This time the new taskyer was the Blood Monster Forest, and early tomorrow morning, yers would be able to enter the taskyer. They still had one night to prepare.


    The severalrgemercial streets were filled with people, almost all of the yers were going to buy the items that they would need to fight the blood monsters. The originally very spacious streets were now teeming with people.


    The A team members all followed the crowd slowly moving through the street. Jing Yang walked at Qi Feng''s side, surrounded by the teammates in the middle.


    They entered the special fruit store to buy the blood serum fruits that could resist blood poison corrosion. No more than three could be bought at a time, and now there were only three left.


    Qi Feng pressed the purchase button on the screen, but it did not seed. A red light lit up on the screen.


    Jing Yang looked at the screen with some doubt. Below the red light a tooltip showed that someone else had pressed the purchase button at the same time as them, so they were now waiting for one side to give up on the purchase.


    The team all went around the column in the middle and looked toward the other side, and the other people also happened to turn around to look at them.


    Jing Yang thought, this was truly <strong>enemies on a narrow road</strong>.


    Dark me''s team had long gotten to this shop, but they had entered through a different door. The cost of the blood serum fruits was extremely high, and there were only three. So in order to decide whether or not to buy them, and who would use it after buying them, they had discussed for half a day. When they finally decided to first buy them, Qi Feng''s team had just happened toe in, and they had pressed the purchase button at the same time as them.


    "Nuoyang." Dark me instantly saw Jing Yang standing slightly behind Qi Feng.


    Easy Nobility also saw him, his eyes immediately bing gloomier.


    Jing Yang felt ufortable from Dark me''s eager gaze, so he moved behind Qi Feng''s back. Right now he did not want to interact with these people at all.


    Dark me looked at Qi Feng. "We arrived here a long time ago. Since you all cameter, please give up your purchase.¡±


    Things like quarreling and arguing naturally did not require this team''s boss to personallye out, because it was too cheap. So Qi Feng did not open his mouth, and Goose Over stepped forward. "Who said that the person who came first would get it first, in here only who buys first would get the item. Since both sides pressed buy at the same time, then ording to the rules, we will enter the auction process, the higher bidder gets the item.¡±


    Dark me''s team had originally been less unified because the price of the blood serum fruits was too high, so if they entered the auction process, the price would definitely be even higher. But now since the other side had no intention of backing down, if they gave up on the purchase, they would be quite disgraced.


    "We are the smoke squad." Dark me said.


    "So what?" Goose Over said. "Is that amazing?¡±


    Everyone was vying for the 100 chances to live on, and many teams were already considering joining forces with other teams, so the stronger the team, the more teams wanted to join forces with them. Their smoke squad was a teampletely made up of professional yers, and would often enter the top five in the team rankings. Recently they had received news from a lot of teams wanting to join their team, which made them quite proud. Dark me had thought that when he said his own team name, the other side would definitely give them face.


    "Less nonsense!" Qi Feng said impatiently.


    Goose Over turned around immediately, pressed the auction button on the screen, and quickly entered his price.


    Now it was Dark me''s team''s turn to bid. If they didn''t bid within the next 20 seconds, Qi Feng''s team would automatically receive the items.


    Dark me looked back at his teammates. Their expressions were all not very good, they didn''t want to pay more for nothing, but also didn''t want to lose face here.


    Dark me entered an amount on the screen. Today he did not want to lose to this man, no matter what.


    Goose Over immediately entered a new amount.


    Dark me immediately entered a new amount again.


    And so on back and forth seven or eight times. As the price kept on getting higher, the smoke team members'' facial expressions were getting uglier and uglier.


    "Don''t go too far!" Easy Nobility red at them and said.


    "Too far?" Goose Over looked at him doubtfully. "It''s always the highest bidder who gets the item in an auction, I''m just bidding and still going too far? What kind of logic are you spouting? If you can afford it then keep bidding, if you can''t afford it just give up, the concept is just this simple.¡±


    "Is it so great that you all have money?" Easy Nobility said this to Jing Yang. He and the rest of their team members all thought it was Jing Yang paying the money.


    "Of course it''s great to have money, could it be that you feel that you all not having money is more amazing?" Good Over sneered. "We are just some obscure nobodies, so poor that we only have money, how can we bepared to your famous team.¡±


    Goose Over was satirizing them for Dark me just trying to intimidate them with their team name.


    "Very good, you all have money right!" Easy Nobility pushed Dark me aside and entered a very high amount on the screen. Then he defiantly looked over at Goose Over.


    Goose Over smiled indifferently, and continued to enter a bid.


    Watching the price on the screen get higher and higher, it was already enough to buy 30 blood serum fruits. Goose Over was preparing to enter another price when Jing Yang stopped him. "The herbal medicine store hasrk grass back in stock. We don''t need this anymore, just let them buy it and we can go buy therk grass.¡±


    Easy Nobility was preparing to enter a bid two more times and then stop. Letting the other side spend over 10 times the original price to buy the fruits would also bring their teammates some sort of relief. Suddenly hearing that Jing Yang didn''t want it anymore, he was immediately furious, deliberately stimting them. "What? Aren''t you all so poor you only have money left? But now you feel that the price is too high, and you can''t afford to raise the price?¡±


    Jing Yang said, "This price ispletely enough to buy three stems ofrk grass, and the effect ofrk grass is so much better than the effect of the blood serum fruit. So we will just let you all have the blood serum fruit, don''t thank us too much.¡±


    On the screen the countdown for bidding was over, so the smoke team had gotten the blood serum fruits. Because this was an auction, they could not go to the purchase shop to pay for it, but instead had to pay for it right there.


    Jing Yang did not have any intention to leave immediately. Therk grass was so expensive, there would definitely not be many people wanting to buy it. Whether Easy Nobility and the rest would pay the money or not, he still found it very enjoyable to see them being angry.


    Qi Feng looked at Jing Yang, and seeing his appearance of wanting to wait to see a good show, his gaze unconsciously revealed some spoil and pampering.


    Easy Nobility punched the counter angrily. He had been fooled by the other side, and Ding Nuoyang was also with the people who had fooled him. In the presence of so many people, this was his first time being humiliated like this. Right now he really wanted to pounce on Jing Yang and swallow him alive.


    The screen was constantly reminding him to pay, or it would deduct 15% of the price as a penalty fee.


    Easy Nobility would naturally not going toe out with the money, and the other team members were all avoiding his gaze, looking in other directions. It was very obvious that no one was willing to help him pay this money, and Dark me also did not have any intention of paying for him.


    Easy Nobility rigidly did not pay the money. Because Dark me had used the team money to pay for the blood serum fruit at first, this penalty fee was directly deducted from their team funds.


    They had not sessfully bought the blood serum fruit, so it returned to the shop shelves. Qi Feng immediately pressed the purchase button again, and the blood serum fruits smoothly entered their purchase list.


    The smoke team members'' faces were all extremely ugly. They had lost such arge amount of money for absolutely no reason, and in the end did not even get anything for it. Easy Nobility was even angry enough to spit blood, viciously staring at Jing Yang, his eyeballs about to pop out his sockets.


    "Let''s go." Qi Feng hugged Jing Yang''s shoulder and walked out. "Let''s go buy therk grass.¡±


    Today they had cooperated very well. Jing Yang knew that they were all ruthless characters in the real business world, so how could they suffer in the hands of people like Easy Nobility. He had only deliberately stepped out to stop Goose Over from continuing to bid because he was very clear that Easy Nobility was most defiant against and hated Ding Nuoyang the most, so being yed by Ding Nuoyang would make him more furious than by any other person.


    This was just a small small surprise. The real good drama would only start now.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>eyesight still incisive</strong> ¨C Ä¿¹âÈç¾æ, literally means vision like a torch, I''m assuming this is referring to him managing to discover and bring back Jing Yang and not the sr barites but idk


    [2] <strong>as always</strong> ¨C Ò»Èç¼ÈÍù, idiom, means just like in the past, as before, continuing as always


    [3] <strong>someone who trusts my team</strong> ¨C ÒÉÈ˲»ÓÃÓÃÈ˲»ÒÉ, basically means if you doubt someone don''t employ them, if you employ them, don''t doubt them


    [4]<strong> enemies on a narrow road</strong> ¨C Ô©¼Ò·խ, idiom, means an inevitable sh between opposing factions<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10:30 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4.0k characters to 2.9k words. These game names are going well as usual. Also, the start of some drama, in both senses.<hr>

 Chapter 61

    <strong>Chapter 61</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.8)</strong>


    Every taskyer in the game world would always be a separate world, where there would be time restrictions on entering and leaving. Once theyer entrance closed, no yer could forcibly enter or leave.


    Transmission arrays could not be used within the taskyer, and all yers would need to rely on flying in order to move around. Even though flying did not consume theirbat energy, it would still consume their physical energy. So if it wasn''t absolutely necessary, basically no one would casually fly.


    The sky had just started to brighten when the entrance to the taskyer opened. Everyone rushed in before the entrance would close.


    They would be staying here for two days and one night. Everywhere here was filled with the poisonous blood miasma that was emitted by the blood monsters, and the poison would be especially deadly at night. Those who did not want to die would all not sleep outside at night, everyone was busily looking for a ce to live.


    There were no high-ss hotels here, only family hotels. A team went straight to the best hotel here and reserved the best few rooms. Just as they finished checking in, they happened to see the smoke team peoplee in.


    The previous matter had caused these two teams to have a sort of vendetta. The smoke team members red at them for half a day, but the A team didn''t even give them another nce.


    When they got to their rooms they had a simple meeting to discuss theirbatter, and then went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Afterwards they would be able to set off to the Blood Monster Forest.


    There was only one cafeteria, but it was separated into two sections of different levels. On the left it was a very simple setup of long wooden tables. The section on the right was half a meter higher than the left, the decoration was very stylish, and had round dining tables covered in spotless white tablecloths. Those sitting near the windows could even look out into the courtyard, but only the guests living in the best rooms could sit and eat on the right side.


    When A team arrived at the cafeteria, the smoke team members were already halfway through their food. They watched the A team members sit down on the right side of the cafeteria, and then order arge pile of energy-replenishing food.


    "So <strong>cheap</strong>!" ck Hawk chewed his tasteless food and viciously said, "When he was in our team, he would bepletely unwilling to pay for us, but now that he switched teams, isn''t he still giving other people money to eat the best and live in the best.¡±


    Dark me turned to see Jing Yang sitting together with Qi Feng, his mood extremelyplicated.


    The other members of the smoke team also had the same thoughts as ck Hawk, they felt that if it weren''t for Ding Nuoyang not being willing to help them pay, they would also not force him to withdraw from the team. Then the people now eating the best food, living in the best rooms, would have been them.


    ~


    "Nuoyang." Dark me waited at the entrance to the cafeteria, and seeing the A team walk out, he said to Jing Yang, "I have something to say to you alone.¡±


    "I have nothing to say to you, and I also don''t want to hear your crap." Jing Yang said.


    "Nuoyang, I really have something very important to say to you." Dark me went up and wanted to pull Jing Yang''s hand.


    Solid and Liang Ren immediately went up and blocked his way. "What are you doing?!¡±


    "You step aside, I am his boyfriend, you have no right to stand in my way!¡±


    The team members were all somewhat surprised. Solid and Liang Ren looked at each other, and then turned to look at Jing Yang, and then turned their gazes to Qi Feng.


    Qi Feng squinted and his gaze toward Dark me became as cold and sharp as des of ice.


    Jing Yang rolled his eyes. "As a married person, what kind of face do you have to im to be my boyfriend? You can''t even be considered an ex-boyfriend, okay? I have already told you that my rtionship with you is only as old ssmates, not even friends.¡±


    "I know that you are still angry at me for marrying Easy Nobility, when we survive and leave the game world, you can punish me any way you want." Easy Nobility eagerly said, "But right now, I really have something very important to tell you.¡±


    Jing Yang thought a bit, and then said to Qi Feng, "Can you all wait in front for me for a moment?¡±


    Qi Feng frowned at him and did not speak, without any intention to leave.


    "Just two minutes." Jing Yang used a pleading expression to look at him.


    Qi Feng felt as if his brain had been hit by something, and facing such a gaze, he could not form any rejection.


    Qi Feng brought the rest of the team forward thirty or forty meters and then stopped, watching Jing Yang and Dark me. He needed to guard against any harmful behavior Dark me would make toward Jing Yang.


    "Speak, you only have two minutes. Whether you''re done talking or not, I will not keep listening after that." Jing Yang said.


    "Nuoyang, you''re paying all of those people''s money, right?" Dark me asked.


    "What does it have to do with you whether or not I''m paying?" Jing Yang frowned.


    "I am concerned that you are being cheated by them." Dark me made an appearance of thinking for his sake. "Those people definitely only allowed you on their team for your money, and when theypletely cheat you out of your money and after you have no more use to them, they will definitely drive you out of the team, and might even kill you.¡±


    Jing Yang sneered. "Those words should have been said by those teammates of yours ba, you bunch of people are really ridiculous, do you think that everyone is as shameless as you all? Those words you just said are simply <strong>judging others based on yourself</strong>, using your own dirty thoughts to specte on what other people think.¡±


    "Nuoyang, when you were in our team, even though you also had to spend money, but as long as I was there, I would not let them harm you. You''re spending money in both cases, but being able to survive would still be better than not being able to survive ba.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him like he was a retard. "Ever since I joined my current team, I have not paid a penny, believe it or not. Talking to people like you is really just an insult to my IQ.¡±


    Dark me watched Jing Yang quickly walk away, full of disbelief. How could it be possible that he had not paid a penny? He was just a rookie who had just started ying games, if it weren''t because he had money, how could those people possibly let him join their team.


    ~


    They entered the Blood Monster Forest to look for blood monsters. The further they went in, the thicker the miasma became, and they had to be even more careful, it would be very dangerous if they got separated.


    The main goal of this time''s mission was to get the blood monster king at the very center of the Blood Monster Forest. In order to be able to enter the blood monster king''s array and attack it, they needed to first bring down the blood monster troops and get the summoning stone.


    The blood monster troops <strong>appeared very unpredictably</strong> and were very difficult to find. After finding the blood monster troops, they needed to kill them all within a specified time frame. As long as one was not dead, they would have failed the task, and would have to restart.


    Attacking the blood monster troops was done in turns. Those who arrived first would attack first, and those who came afterward could not rush in and attack, they had to wait until the team before them finished their task. The teams who had failed their task would get back in line at the end, and could only reattempt the task after all of the teams in front of them finished.


    The smoke squad hadpleted many Blood Monster Forest missions before, so they were very experienced at finding the blood monster troops. So when A team arrived, they saw that they had already arrived and started fighting, so they just stood at the side and waited for them to finish their task.


    Before, the smoke squad had defeated the blood monsters without the blood serum fruits, but the situation now was obviously notparable with before, since dying used to not be a big deal. In the absence of resurrection, and without the blood serum fruits, they were much more concerned about their safety than any of the previous times. Every time they rushed out of the shield to attract the blood monster troops, they would have already retreated back into the shield before the monsters had even gathered.


    When their attack time ran out, the smoke team still had not killed a bit less than half of the blood monster soldiers, so they could only leave the attack range and wait for their next chance.


    Seeing the A team, the smoke team members were all disdainful. They felt that they had never seen or heard of this team, and they would even bring Ding Nuoyang thispletely new yer to fight, so this team must definitely have not yed the game very long. They must have just relied on Nuoyang''s money to buy some better weapons and then felt that they could strive for those 100 chances to survive. No matter how good their weapons are, if the person using it doesn''t have enough skill or technique, they would still not be able to disy much power.


    Jing Yang stood at the rear, watching the team members aggro the blood monster troops and collect all of the scattered groups of soldiers together.


    The smoke team members allughed disdainfully. This kind ofbat technique was precisely due tock of experience, for these blood monster troops, you could only gather and destroy them bit by bit. If you concentrated them together and allowed them to feel theirpanions¡¯ power, their attack power would increase by over 10 times.


    Being collectively attacked by the boosted blood monster soldiers, their shields would be very difficult to support. Could it be that they even expected Ding Nuoyang this most elementary alchemist to help them prop up the shield to resist? He couldn''t even unfold a team shield. These people would definitely die, they really deserved it.


    The blood monster troops were all gathered together. Those blood monster soldiers all felt a great deal of energy from theirpanions, and were preparing to attack in a storm when all of the A team members retreated. Jing Yang immediately opened his shield and separated the team from the blood monster troops.


    The team members raised their weapons and from inside the shield violently attacked those blood monster troops crashing into the shield. These blood monster troops were just like dominoes over a meter tall, uninterruptedly rapidly falling down inrge swathes.


    The smoke team members all widened their eyes, absolutely stunned. This was their first time seeing this kind of fighting, how could those weapons in their hands be so strong?! How did they do that? Even if they spent more money, it was still impossible to raise the power of their weapons so high ah!


    What shocked them even more was that Ding Nuoyang actuallyunched a team shield, and the range was actually evenrger than Easy Nobility''s shield. They saw with their own eyes that a group of blood monsters had attacked his shield together more than two times, and his shield was actually still motionless.


    He was just the most elementary alchemist, how could he do that? It was absolutely impossible!!!


    The person in the most disbelief was Easy Nobility. He felt that everything in front of his eyes was all his own hallucination, how could it possible for Ding Nuoyang to suddenly be able to prop up such a strong shield, he must be dreaming, it was definitely not real!


    The blood monster troops were very quickly all wiped out. The A team set the shortest task clear time record, easilypleted the task, and took the summoning stone and left.


    The smoke team members were like statues,pletely frozen in ce. Even when the A team members walked past them, they still did not react in the least.


    ~


    Jing Yang returned to his room to rest when he suddenly felt that his chest was somewhat ufortable. He couldn''t help butment that this game was really too realistic, even when he had just inhaled a bit more blood miasma in the Blood Monster Forest, his body would feel difort. Jing Yang opened the medicine box in his storage space and found a drug to take. Lying down for a bit, he felt much better.


    But Jing Yang still felt that there was some wet and sticky difort on his body, which would not disappear even after he showered. This hotel had some hot springs that could be used by the guests living in the high ss floors. Jing Yang decided to go soak a bit in there and see if it would improve.


    The hot springs had more than one room, with four or five pools, each separated using nks. Jing Yang chose the smallest one, which was empty at the moment. He took off his trousers and ced them in the cupboard, tied the bath towel around his waist, and went in to soak in the sauna.


    Jing Yang closed his eyes and let out a long long breath, sure enough he felt much morefortable. Thinking of the entire smoke team''s petrified appearance earlier today, Jing Yang thought it was pretty funny. With just this they could be shocked to this extent, he didn''t know how they had been professional yers for so long.


    "What are youughing at?¡±


    Jing Yang instantly opened his eyes and raised his head to look at the speaker, he was stunned by the fright. When had this persone in, he actually did not feel it at all.


    "Did I scare you?" Qi Feng got into the water and sat down next to Jing Yang. He looked at him and said, "Sorry.¡±


    "You¡­" Jing Yang came back to his senses and saw the muscles right in front of his eyes. He obviously knew that this was not his real body, but still felt a little embarrassed, so he immediately tilted his head to the other side. "When did youe in, how did you not make any sound.¡±


    "I just came in, it''s pretty normal to not make a sound when barefoot ba, or maybe you had been too invested in thinking about something, so you didn''t feel meing in." Qi Feng asked, "What happy thing did you think of? Can you share it?¡±


    "It¡­, it''s not anything particrly happy." Jing Yang said. "I had just thought of how those smoke team people had looked, and felt that it was a little funny.¡±


    When he mentioned the smoke team, a cold bitter light shed through Qi Feng''s eyes, but it soon disappeared. He asked, "That man called Dark me, why did he say that he was your boyfriend? Didn''t you say that he was already married?¡±


    "Oh." Jing Yang slid down a bit, soaking his chin in the water. He exined, "He and I are college ssmates, and he had pursued me ever since college. I saw that he had pursued me for so many years and still not given up, so I decided to first get to know him a bit. Strictly speaking, he is not my boyfriend¡­¡±


    Then Jing Yang talked to him about why he hade into this game, and what he had experienced afterward.


    When Qi Feng heard him say that he had not officially begun to date Dark me, his eyes softened a lot. But once he heard how the smoke team had treated him, he immediately frowned slightly again, inexplicably feeling angry and heartache.


    The two people soaked in the sauna for a long time. Jing Yang saw that Qi Feng did not have any intention of leaving first, so he could only stand up himself and prepare to leave. It may have been because he had soaked for too long and had gotten up too quickly, but Jing Yang suddenly felt his legs soften, and when he had thought he would fall into the water, a pair of arms caught him, and he leaned into a broad and strong chest.


    Jing Yang felt somewhat dizzy. He already didn''t want toment the realistess of this game, and only felt that this body was really too weak. When he went back he needed to use the system to strengthen it a bit.


    Jing Yang looked up and wanted to thank him, but froze when he met Qi Feng''s eyes. Those deep eyes held some things that he wanted to catch but was unable to grasp.


    Suddenly he heard a "pa" sound, and Jing Yang came back to his senses, feeling that his lower body was missing something. Looking down, his bath towel had fallen into the water after bing too heavy from the water.


    Jing Yang immediately bent down to pick up his bath towel, but his bending motion caused the hand that Qi Feng had ced on his waist to slide to his butt. He quickly straightened back up, retreated two steps to the side, and retied his bath towel around his waist. Jing Yang felt that his face was going to burn up.


    "Then, then¡­" Jing Yang didn''t dare to look up, or it could be said he was too embarrassed to look up. "Thank you, uh¡­I''ll go back first.¡±


    Jing Yang stepped out of the hot spring and quickly left.


    Qi Feng looked at his glossy back and his faintly discernible butt, his gaze turning very deep.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>cheap</strong> ¨C ¼ú, means inexpensive or lowly, which I''m guessing is referring to how Nuoyang eventually refused to pay for the smoke team''s stuff


    [2] <strong>judging others based on yourself</strong> ¨C ÒÔ¼º¶ÈÈË, means something like you judge everyone as if they would act like you


    [3] <strong>appeared very unpredictably</strong> ¨C Éñ³ö¹íû, idiom, literally means Gods appear and devils vanish, means appear and disappear unpredictably<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Took 1.5 hours: 7 pm ¨C 8:30 pm, for 4.5k characters to 3.1k words. Took quite a while. I¡¯m catching back up, with 6 chapters now in storage. Pretty happy with my speed now.<hr>

 Chapter 62

    <strong>Chapter 62</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.9)</strong>


    Back in his room, Jing Yang rolled around on his bed a few times in annoyance, just now that feeling of direct skin contact was really too real. He hadn''t even determined whether or not Qi Feng was his own lover, and he had already touched his butt, and even touched it while he was naked, and it was even he himself who had brought it upon himself!


    What if Qi Feng wasn''t his own lover? Then wouldn''t he have gotten a big <strong>piece of tofu touched</strong> for no reason? When his own lover appeared, how would he face him ah? The key is that when he was touched he actually didn''t feel disgusted ah!!


    Jing Yang suddenly sat up. He had decided, rather than just being confused by himself like this, he had to find the opportunity to confirm whether or not he was his lover. If he was, being touched a couple times, kissed a few times, or something else, would all not be a problem. But if he wasn''t, then he definitely needed to keep his distance from him and draw a line.


    When he came to the cafeteria in the morning, they again bumped into the smoke squad, but today those people used somewhat different eyes to look at him. Previously it was disdain, but now it was dissatisfaction. The smoke squad people couldn''t figure out no matter how they thought why those people would be so powerful. The only possible exnation was that they had definitely smashed a lot of money in order to get their weapons to release so much power.


    They felt that Ding Nuoyang had even more money than they had thought, or else he wouldn''t be able to ascend in levels so quickly. Plus the shield that he hadunched yesterday proved that right now he was definitely already a senior alchemist.


    So they all felt dissatisfied. We are all relying on ability, and only you all are relying on money, why do you have a higher chance of survival just because you have money.


    Many teams had already reached the center of the Blood Monster Forest, but no team had started to attack. Everyone was watching, wanting to wait for other people to weaken the blood monster''s energy and then look for opportunities to attack. But right now everyone couldn''t afford to die, and the blood monster''s attacks at the beginning were the strongest. No one was willing to go act as cannon fodder to help other people get an advantage.


    The battle to attack the Blood Monster King was based on a <strong>cumtive attack system</strong>, teams that injured the Blood Monster King more would receive more points, and the team that gave the king the fatal blow would not only receive higher points, but also receive the Blood Monster King''s treasure.


    When A team arrived, they had already expected that the situation would be like this. Since everyone did not attack, they just directly went up.


    Qi Feng gave the blood serum fruit to Dragon Seven, Solid, and Goose Over, and let those three serve as the <strong>side DPS</strong>, he himself would be the main DPS, and everyone else would cover them from within the shield.


    When the smoke team members saw that the shield that Jing Yang deployed could actually even support the Blood Monster King''s attacks, their shock was no less than yesterday.


    Easy Nobility clenched his teeth and looked at Jing Yang''s back, his vicious eyes were like invisible arrows. In his mind, he had already <strong>ripped </strong>Jing Yang <strong>to shreds</strong> countless times.


    Everyone was waiting for A team to be beat back and seize the chance to rush in and attack, but the A team fought more and more bravely, and the Blood Monster King was obviously at a disadvantage. Their power was so strong that everyone else involuntarily became a little afraid, how could there be a team that would actually never be beat back under the Blood Monster King''s attacks.


    If things went on like this, when the Blood Monster King was wiped out by the A team, they would all have made a trip here in vain.


    Easy Nobility pulled ck Hawk aside and quietly whispered a few words to him. ck Hawk nodded, his eyes shing a vicious light.


    ck Hawk had raised a biting rat that could bite through any material, even making holes in shields. Easy Nobility had ck Hawk let out his biting rat to bite a hole in Jing Yang''s shield, and then ck Hawk could go in and kill Jing Yang. Then they could take advantage of this opportunity to take care of both the A team and the Blood Monster King.


    This kind of sneak attack while other people were fighting would be condemned and despised by others, and any team that would do this kind of thing would also be ostracized by the other yers. But Easy Nobility felt that now was a special period, and everyone was acting unscrupulously for their survival. Plus as long as they could kill off Nuoyang, even if others thought they were despicable it wouldn''t matter.


    Jing Yang was observing which yers needed more energy when he suddenly felt something unusual happening in his shield. He used his system to take a look and saw a biting rat gnawing on his shield. Jing Yang squinted his eyes, this was ck Hawk''s biting rat. He could basically guess what they wanted to do. Since you sent yourself up to the door to find death, then I will satisfy you.


    ck Hawk practiced Bone Shrinking methods, and could drill through even tiny holes. Seeing that the biting rat had basically finished biting a hole, he smiled viciously and quickly drilled into Jing Yang''s shield, immediately firing a shot at the back of Jing Yang''s head.


    Just as he was about to reveal a smile of sess, that artillery shell suddenly stopped behind Jing Yang''s back. He still hadn''t understood what had happened when that shell had already been bounced back by the secondyer of shield that Jing Yang opened.


    ck Hawk quicklyy down on his back, and the shell thrillingly scraped right past his nose and flew out Jing Yang''s shield, a bloody mark appearing on his nose.


    The other A team members found something wrong and immediately turned and pointed their weapons at ck Hawk.


    The other smoke squad members all froze for a moment, they had also never thought that ck Hawk would suddenly enter another team''s shield. But right now ck Hawk was lying on the ground and aimed at by the opposing team, so they subconsciously also took out their weapons and pointed it at the other team.


    ck Hawk came back to his senses with great difficulty, quickly standing up from the ground and taking out a weapon to aim at Jing Yang''s still turned back.


    Jing Yang said to the other team members, "You all keep attacking, just give him to me.¡±


    The other team members looked at each other and then ording to Jing Yang''s words, turned to continue to cover for the team members still fighting against the Blood Monster King.


    Jing Yang turned and walked toward ck Hawk. ck Hawk''s face was ferocious, continuously firing three shells at him, but they were all bounced back by the second shieldyer that Jing Yang had unfurled.


    ck Hawk had not understood just now why his own shell would have bounced back, but now seeing Jing Yang again unfurl that second shieldyer, he finally revealed a disbelieving expression. Only the top alchemists were able to deploy twoyers of shields, and even Easy Nobility wasn''t able to do it now.


    The other smoke squad members were all as shocked as ck Hawk. Ding Nuoyang actually could expand two shieldyers, how could that be possible?!


    Jing Yang took out the weapon he had just created recently, the million thorn whip. On this whip there were 10 thousand thin venomous thorns, and as long as you were whipped once, the pain would be like having thousands of thorns piercing your heart. He actually wanted to see how manyshes ck Hawk could withstand.


    Jing Yang viciously gave ck Hawk ash of his whip.


    "Ah!!" ck Hawk screamed bitterly in pain, he viciously looked at Jing Yang, pulled out his own best weapon and started to attack him.


    Jing Yangshed out again with his whip, raising ck Hawk into the air, and then forcefully smashing him to the ground.


    ck Hawk immediately spit out a mouthful of blood, and before he coulde to his senses, Jing Yang continuously quickly whipped his body. Those thorns pierced his flesh, so painful that he almost bit off his own tongue.


    "Ah!! Ah!!" ck Hawk had no way to return fire, and could not dodge Jing Yang''s whipping. The pain like thorns in his heart made him scream and roll around wildly, his body and the ground dyed red by his blood.


    "Stop it!" Dark me yelled at Jing Yang. "Nuoyang! Quickly stop!¡±


    Jing Yang did not pay any attention to Dark me, continuing to whip ck Hawk. ck Hawk already had no more energy left to roll around, and could only lie there on the ground twitching. Every one of Jing Yang''s whips brought out a spurt of blood, this scene to everyone else lookedpletely brutal and bloody.


    "Nuoyang! If you don''t stop your hand, don''t me me for attacking you!" Dark me threatened Jing Yang with his weapon. "Quickly stop! Or else I will attack you!¡±


    ck Hawk had continuously been spitting blood from his mouth. He used hisst bit of strength to reach out to his teammates for help. "Save, save me¡­¡±


    Dark me was flushed with anxiety, if he just watched his own teammate be whipped to death in front of his face, how could he maintain his status in his team? Nuoyang, why do you have to force me like this?


    Just as Dark me was nning to attack, Easy Nobility had already started to attack before him, and the rest of the team immediately used their weapons to attack Jing Yang''s shield.


    Jing Yang finally paused, he looked at those smoke squad team members, sneered in disdain, and then continued to whip ck Hawk.


    The smoke team members attacked for a while but still failed to shake Jing Yang''s shield. Easy Nobility''s expression was extremely ugly, he had never thought that Jing Yang''s shield would be strong to this extent, and also guessed that Jing Yang had deliberately allowed the biting rat to bite a hole in his shield just now.


    ck Hawk''s life bar appeared above his head, and he would die in the game as long as Jing Yang swung his whip again. ck Hawk looked at Jing Yang in horror, if he weren''t unable to speak right now, he would definitely open his mouth and beg for mercy, for Jing Yang to let him go. If he died, he would have no chance of returning to reality alive, and he didn''t want to die.


    Jing Yang took his time giving him hisst whip. The smoke squad members were still attacking his shield, and he paused and looked at them provocatively.


    Dark me saw that Jing Yang had already stopped, and their attacking for half a day had been useless. So he let the team members stop attacking and started to negotiate with Jing Yang. "Nuoyang, if you beat him to death now, then you would really have killed somebody. At least previously you were teammates with him, is your heart really so vicious?¡±


    "Ridiculous!" Jing Yang sneered. "Could it be that I invited him into my shield? What he wanted to do whening in, you should all be very clear about ba. How? You only allow him to want to kill me, but don''t allow me to hit him back?¡±


    "After all, he didn''t hurt you, you have already beaten him into this, do you really need to beat him to death?" Dark me said.


    "Because I am not as generous as you all, I am just so vicious. If you have the ability thene and avenge him ah." Jing Yang sarcastically returned, and after speaking he waved his whip and ended ck Hawk¡¯s life in this game world.


    Qi Feng and the rest had also just finished wiping out the Blood Monster King and received the King''s treasure. All of the team members surrounded Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang took back his shield, and the smoke squad members all ran over to look at the bloodied ck Hawk. Easy Nobility looked at Jing Yang with an expression of <strong>grief</strong>, "You killed him! You actually killed him! You must pay for him today, all of our smoke squad members will definitely not let you go!¡±


    Easy Nobility was not the least bit sad about ck Hawk''s death, him showing this appearance was because he was afraid in his heart. He had always felt that in this game world, Ding Nuoyang was just like an ant, and as long as he wanted, he could kill him off at any time.


    But now Jing Yang had even killed ck Hawk, how could he not be afraid. He knew that now with his own ability, it would be very difficult to kill Jing Yang off, so he needed to use the anger of the entire team to allow the yers to kill him together.


    "I really did not think that you were actually this kind of person." Dark me looked at Jing Yang furiously. "At least you have also stayed in our team before, you actually don''t have the least bit of affection?¡±


    "I say, what are your brains made out of ah?" Goose Over came forward. "Your man snuck in while we were fighting against the Blood Monster King, and being killed is exactly what he deserves. Did you ever think about that bullshit affection when you killed other people? You''re actually asking people to do things that you can''t even do, your skin must be so thick that even shells can''t break it ba?¡±


    "Ding Nuoyang! You must pay for ck Hawk today!" Easy Nobility took out his weapon and aimed at Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang waved his whip and Easy Nobility screamed. His weapon fell to the ground, and a bloody mark immediately appeared on his hand. Jing Yang looked at him. "Don''t worry, it''s your turn next.¡±


    Easy Nobility was shocked, covering his hand while endlessly furious in his heart. Remembering that scene just now of ck Hawk being whipped to death, he trembled in fear, afraid that he would also end up like ck Hawk.


    "Nuoyang, I did not think that we would end up in this kind of situation. If you don''t recognize your own mistakes, and give all of us a confession, then from now on, we willpletely <strong>have a clean break</strong>." Dark me looked at Jing Yang with grief and anger.


    Jing Yang coldly said, "Exactly what I want.¡±


    "If you don''t admit your wrong, you must die!" Dark me raised his weapon and aimed at Jing Yang, and the rest of the smoke squad members also raised their weapons.


    Qi Feng blocked Jing Yang behind himself and said to Dark me, "Stop with all the nonsense, directly start fighting! Aren''t you all very famous? Is your fame all relying on your mouth?¡±


    When Dark me and Qi Feng faced each other, his momentum was obviously much less than Qi Feng''s. Qi Feng''s own momentum could suppress their entire team.


    The A team members also raised their weapons. The smoke squad people had all seen how powerful their weapons were, and they immediately became timid. For the sake of an already dead ck Hawk, they were naturally unwilling to sacrifice their own lives. They also wanted to keep themselves alive and survive to get out of the game world.


    Dark me looked back at the team members'' expressions, and also understood their thoughts. In fact, he and the rest of the team''s thoughts were the same, but just now it was more in order to show an appearance in front of the team members.


    "Nuoyang, this is thest time I will leave you for our previous sentiment. When we meet again, we will be enemies." Dark me spoke and turned, taking the team away.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>touched tofu</strong> ¨C Ãþ×ßÁËÒ»¿é´ó¶¹¸¯, basically ng for getting taken advantage of, usually just by feeling


    [2] <strong>cumtive attack system</strong> ¨C ÇÀ¹¥ÖÆ, almost literal trantion, exined in the text


    [3] <strong>side DPS</strong> ¨C ¸±¹¥, basically people who still focus on DPS but not the main one


    [4] <strong>ripped to shreds</strong> ¨C Íò¼ý´©ÐÄ, idiom, literally means to have his heart pierced by thousands of arrows


    [5] <strong>grief</strong> ¨C Í´Ðļ²Ê×, idiom, bitter and hateful, grieving andmenting


    [6] <strong>have a clean break</strong> ¨C Ò»µ¶Á½¶Ï, idiom, literally means single cut into two segments<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A bit over 1 hour: 10:30 am ¨C 11:45 am, for 4.1k characters to 2.8k words. I¡¯ve been tranting here and there to attempt to keep up. We have like 4 chapters in storage now.<hr>

 Chapter 63

    <strong>Chapter 63</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.10)</strong>


    The Blood Monster King had been wiped out, and the first task level of the mission ended. A team not only ranked first in points, but also left all of the teams far behind.


    Back in the vi, Jing Yang started to study the treasures that they had received from the blood monster king. This game world having problems had a very direct rtionship with these treasures, and Jing Yang felt that it was time to start solving these problems.


    Jing Yang went to knock on Qi Feng''s door. When Qi Feng opened the door, he was topless, and his lower body was only covered by a towel, as if he had juste out of the bathroom.


    Jing Yang entered the room, but Qi Feng seemed like he wasn''t nning on putting on any clothes. He handed Jing Yang a bottle of water and asked him if there was anything wrong.


    Looking at his beautiful muscles, Jing Yang, who had originally not been thirsty, suddenly felt like his mouth was getting dry. He opened the bottle and sipped some water, before exining, "When I was refining, I found that there were some problems with the blood <strong>dripstones</strong>. I have an idea and a guess: could the problems in the game system be connected to the problems in these treasures?¡±


    Qi Feng''s eyes became serious. "Continue.¡±


    Jing Yang took out his refinery tool and directly showed him.


    During the refining process, every material added in would disy a variety of values¡ªthere would be values associated with the treasure, as well as values for after the fusion. Jing Yang rapidly typed on his screen, and those values immediately turned into a string of code.


    Every alchemist could see these code, but very few people knew how to see it, and even if they identally managed to type it out, no one would go bother about it, because they couldn''t understand it. Jing Yang also had to rely on the system in order to know where the problem came from, or else if even the game''s technical staff couldn''t find the problem, he would also certainly not be able to find it.


    Jing Yang highlighted the problematic code that he had found to show Qi Feng. "I was able to increase the energy of the weapons so high because I inadvertently found these erroneous code, and then modified them. These erroneous codes should have originally been designed by the game''s technical staff to make the treasures slightly weaker, so that the weapons made from those treasures wouldn''t be too strong. Those technicians definitely did not find that when refining there would be problems, and it is likely that these erroneous code would cause the game system to fail, and make us unable to exit the game.¡±


    Qi Feng looked at those highlighted lines of code, thought for a moment, and then sent a message for all the team members to gather in the conference room.


    Qi Feng changed his clothes and went with Jing Yang to the conference room. Because Qi Feng had sent an emergency gathering order, when they arrived, the rest of the team was already sitting in the room.


    The team members saw Qi Feng''s serious expression and knew that there was definitely some big matter. They all changed their usual rxed and joking attitudes, seriously waiting for Qi Feng to start the meeting.


    Qi Feng let Jing Yang repeat everything that he had said earlier to the rest of the team.


    After his exnation, Qi Feng said, "Dragon Seven,e over and take a look.¡±


    Dragon Seven was an internationally ranked hacker, and in the previous world it was also he who after leaving the game had been invited to the gamepany and had found the problem. Even though he had not been able to save all of the yers, he had still been able to rescue the majority of them from the game.


    Dragon Seven couldn''t operate on Jing Yang''s screen, so he let Jing Yang operate based on his direction. At first his expression was quite solemn, but then he seemed to have a big realization. "No mistake, the problem should have been caused by these things. Even if I can''t be 100% certain right now, I still have 90% certainty.¡±


    "Can it be fixed?" Qi Feng asked.


    "In theory, it can be solved, but this is something that only alchemists can do, it''s not convenient for me." Dragon Seven suggested to Jing Yang, "How about I teach you how to do it? It''s just that the process will definitely be very troublesome.¡±


    "No need." Jing Yang responded. "We can do this. When I''m refining, I will iste and save the erroneous parts of the code, and then give you the fixed weapons. You can then retrieve and remove the erroneous parts, and then return the weapon to me to continue the transformation.¡±


    Dragon Seven considered it for a bit before agreeing. "We can try that first.¡±


    Qi Feng said to the others, "In your spaces, open an entry for Nuoyang and let him try to find some more error codes. If Dragon Seven canpletely identify and solve these problems, we will contact the technical staff.¡±


    Jing Yang and Dragon Seven busied themselves for two days in a row, and until the second task level opened, they finally temporarily stopped their work.


    ~


    The second task level was in Snake City, a city with countless venomous snakes. The task was to find the city lord of Snake City, and they could get points when fighting it, while the team that killed the Snake City lord would get the highest amount of points. The task stipted that no one could fly in Snake City, and also could not use heavy artillery, only <strong>personal weapons</strong>.


    After entering the task level, the A team members split up into groups of two or three, and looked around separately for the whereabouts of the Snake City lord.


    Snake City was filled with a sense of destion and decay, the buildings broken and dpidated, as if they had been abandoned for a long time. Many of the taller buildings were all half copsed, or had no walls.


    The Snake City lord was a snake demon who could change into a variety of appearances, very difficult to find. Even though the city was uninhabited, he could not only turn into snakes, but could even change into the appearance of a yer and walk around.


    Plus after entering Snake City you needed to be especially wary of those snakes. They might seem soft and just lie around, but their attacks were extremely strong. They could jump out of a corner and attack at any time, and as long as you were bit by one, the other snakes would all pounce up as well. If the victim didn''t take an effective antidote within half an hour, they would immediately die.


    Jing Yang and Qi Feng walked along the streets, surrounded by snakes, with quite a few spitting at them. Qi Feng held a <strong>magma sword</strong>, while Jing Yang held a purple lightning sword. These were both new weapons that Jing Yang had just created, and their power was definitely not less than that of an heavy artillery weapon.


    Jing Yang felt that the yer who had just turned the corner in front of them was somewhat strange. He pulled Qi Feng, and the two people quickly chased after him. Those originally motionless snakes all suddenly pounced at them, and Qi Feng quickly hugged Jing Yang with one arm, and chopped all the snakes attacking them to the ground with the other arm.


    When they looked in the direction of the yer again, that person had long already disappeared. If earlier he had only felt that that person was strange, now Jing Yang was already certain that the person was the Snake City lord.


    Jing Yang''s back was affixed to Qi Feng''s chest, and he could basicallypletely feel the shape of his muscles. He looked down at the arm still hugging his waist, suddenly felt his heartbeat elerating, and then secretlymented about his hopelessness.


    Qi Feng held Jing Yang''s hand and continued to walk forward, not letting go even after they had walked through two streets. Jing Yang was just considering whether or not he should tell him to let go when Qi Feng suddenly pulled him to run forward.


    Qi Feng shed at a fleeing snake, but the snake very rapidly dodged. But Qi Feng and Jing Yang''s speeds were also not slow, and they tightly chased behind it.


    Jing Yang had already collected his whimsical thoughts and chased after that snake with Qi Feng while also cutting down those other snakes pouncing at them.


    After they chased the snake to an abandoned building, that snake disappeared. Qi Feng stood there and looked around in all directions, then motioned for Jing Yang to follow him upstairs.


    This building and staircase were all very strange, there were no walls and no shelter, and no snakes. The two walked up the stairs together, one facing the left side, and the other facing the right side.


    When they had almost reached the sixth floor, they suddenly heard someone cry out. The two exchanged nces, and sped up to get to the sixth floor.


    Arge snake at least two meters long was spitting at a female yer sitting on the ground. That female yer''s beautiful face was full of fear and horror, continuously retreating until her back bumped into a post and she could no longer retreat.


    The female yer saw Qi Feng and Jing Yang, and with a weeping and sobbing appearance, she pathetically begged, "Help me, please help me.¡±


    Qi Feng walked over. That snake turned to look at him, and not even two movester, Qi Feng solved that snake.


    "Thank you, thank you both." The female yer gratefully said, and then slowly stood up.


    Jing Yang looked that female yer up and down, this waspletely the prime example of an angelic face and a devilish figure. Under the miniskirt a pair of long white legs was taking a step towards them.


    Qi Feng waved the sword in his hand, and the female yer barely dodged it, rolling once on the ground. She looked up in confusion and asked Qi Feng, "What are you doing?¡±


    Qi Feng raised his hand again, and the female yer wanted to escape along the side, but Jing Yang raised his sword to stop her.


    "You, you two big men, want to bully a girl?" The female yer moved back, her face full of horror. "Don''t do this, please.¡±


    Jing Yang saw this act, and wondered why he felt somewhat ufortable in his heart. This was the first time he had done such a rogue act of bullying an innocent woman.


    The female yer watched Qi Feng and Jing Yang slowly approach her, and pleaded with them, "As long as you don''t kill me, you can do whatever you want. If you just want my body, I can give it to you.¡±


    Qi Feng waved his knife and sliced at her again. Sensing his fierce momentum, the female yer could only resist. Even though she resisted with all her power, she was still cut twice by Qi Feng. But she actually didn''t die after being sliced by Qi Feng, so just now she was really just pretending.


    "I was discovered by you?" The female yer retreated while quickly healing her wounds.


    "Snake demon, your acting is not very good." Jing Yangmented.


    "Since you already know my identity, and I can''t defeat you, I can only be ughtered by you. But¡­" The snake demon looked at them teasingly. "Before you kill me, you might as well have a good time with me, I promise I will make you veryfortable.¡±


    Qi Feng was expressionless, while Jing Yang could only make a ‡å‡å expression.


    The snake demon slowly untied her clothes. "Even though this is in a game, every touch and feel is real, do you really not want to try it out with me? Don''t worry, I will not hurt you. After all, I am only a bunch of data, if I die then I''ll just be dead, andter I will have countless opportunities to be resurrected. I just see that both of you look so handsome, so I want to do it once with you both, and then you can dispose of me as you want.¡±


    "I don''t like women, I have no feeling towards women." Jing Yang said.


    Qi Feng turned and looked at Jing Yang. "Me too.¡±


    "Uh¡­" The snake demon froze, and thenughed. "I miscalcted, but that does not matter, since you both do not like women, I can also change into a man.¡±


    As soon as the snake demon finished, it changed into an extremely handsome man.


    "That is not the type I like." Qi Feng said.


    "Then what type do you like, I can change into anything." The snake demon was unfazed.


    "I like the type like him." Qi Feng looked at Jing Yang, and then turned back to the snake demon. "But even if you change to look like him it would also be useless, a fake is still fake, it would never be as good as the real one.¡±


    Jing Yang couldn''t resist blushing, this fellow actually took advantage of this time to confess.


    "It turns out you are lovers." The snake demon''s mouth twitched. "No wonder all of the tricks I tried were useless. This time was my bad luck, I won''t y with you anymore!¡±


    The snake demon originally wanted to use beauty to tempt them, but who knew that this time it had kicked an iron te. He knew that he couldn''t beat them, so he turned into a snake and quickly escaped.


    The two people quickly chased up. Jing Yang took out a bundle of demon locking material and threw it. The fleeing snake demon was immediately tied up and turned back into the appearance of the female yer just now, falling to the ground.


    Qi Feng and Jing Yang also jumped down along a steel cable, and just as they were about to get rid of the snake demon, two people suddenly appeared and shouted, "What are you doing?¡±


    Jing Yang looked up, it was actually Dark me and Easy Nobility.


    The snake demon seemed to have seen a savior, struggling to move toward them. "Save me, they want to kill me.¡±


    "The two of you are men, you''re actually even going to bully a woman?" Dark me looked at them with disdain.


    "Get out of here, or die with her!" Qi Feng coldly said.


    "You¡­" Dark me was furious, but still was cautious, not daring to move up.


    "In here, they can''t use heavy artillery." Easy Nobility reminded Dark me.


    Dark me finally remembered, even though the A team members'' heavy artillery weapons were extremely frightening, they weren''t allowed to use them in Snake City, so then these people wouldn''t necessarily be their opponent.


    "The previous debt, we will collect it right now." Easy Nobility dered.


    Dark me took out his sword and attacked Qi Feng, but Qi Feng easily blocked it and began to counterattack, the two people starting to fight.


    Easy Nobility held his sword, viciously looking at Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang changed his sword into the million thorn whip, sneering at him. "You want to experience ck Hawk''s dying method?¡±


    Easy Nobility saw the million thorn whip and remembered the pain of being whipped by it, his heart trembling. He expanded his shield and raised his sword, attacking Jing Yang.


    Jing Yangshed out with his whip, and Easy Nobility''s shield immediately shattered, scaring him to back up several steps.


    Even ck Hawk had been killed by this million thorn whip, Easy Nobility knew that he couldn''t deal with Jing Yang by himself, so he immediately contacted the other team members to let theme over.


    Jing Yang just stood there to wait for him to contact the rest, and then whipped him right in the face.


    "Ah!!" Easy Nobility''s face was immediately bloodied into a mess. He fell to his knees in pain and wanted to cover his face, but even just touching it slightly made it more painful.


    Qi Feng also just happened to kick Dark me in the chest, and Dark me spewed out a mouthful of blood, falling by Easy Nobility''s side.


    "I hate when other people imitate my face." Jing Yang said. "How about I just ruin your face today?¡±


    Easy Nobility trembled, looking at Jing Yang in horror.


    "That¡­" The snake demon lying on the ground carefully said, "When you kill me, can you not use that long thorned whip, and just give me a chop?¡±


    The snake demon didn¡¯t think that these two people would be so weak and be half-dead after just a few hits. Seeing that they were barely able to stay alive, it would be impossible for them to protect himself. That long thorned whip looked too terrible, even smashing a face with just onesh. She didn''t want to die in such an ugly manner, if she had to die, she still wanted to die beautifully.


    "Some other people are in a hurry to die first, so they rushed over and plugged themselves into your team. After we solve them first, we cane to discuss how you want to die." Jing Yang responded.


    "¡­Good." The snake demon quietly said.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>dripstones</strong> ¨C µÎʯ, this is what I got from mdbg, just seems like a special type of stone


    [2] <strong>personal weapons</strong> ¨C ±øÆ÷, basically like individual weapons used by soldiers, like swords or maybe simpler guns versus cannons


    [3] <strong>magma sword</strong> ¨C µØ»ðµ¶, i''m assuming µØ»ð, which is literally ground fire, would be described as magma<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Over an hour: 4:15 pm ¨C 5:30 pm, for 4.5k characters to 3k words. Unfortunately, I have and will be quite busy with exams for the next weeks, so for the first time ever I have literally zero chapters in stock. This is being done the day before it¡¯s going up. Hopefully I¡¯ll be able to keep up with the schedule, but don¡¯t be surprised if some chapters go upte.<hr>

 Chapter 64

    <strong>Chapter 64</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.11)</strong>


    When the smoke squad members rushed over, Dark me and Easy Nobility were left with only a breath remaining, the two peopley on the ground, covered in blood. Easy Nobility''s face had turned into a pile of mushy meat, and it was impossible to tell his original appearance. Some of them were frightened, and began wondering whether they should rush up to avenge them or just bring the two barely alive people and quickly run away.


    The A team members also just happened to arrive at this time. Seeing this scene, Goose Over spoke, "Boss, with such a good y to watch, why didn''t you let us know earlier.¡±


    "Should we let those people standing around also lie down with them?" Solid warmed up his arm, he was already prepared to do it.


    "Let them go." Jing Yang said.


    Qi Feng turned to look at Jing Yang. Ever since Jing Yang had told himst time about how these people had treated him, Qi Feng had always been thinking about how he could properly teach these people to avenge him. Right now they had sent themselves up to the door, so it was a great opportunity to teach them, how could he just let them go like this.


    "Leave them ba, only if they''re still alive can they continue to suffer. If they just die then it would be over." Jing Yang looked at him. His thought was that since he had already decided to rescue all of these yers, even if they killed these people now,ter on they would still be able to survive back to reality. Instead of letting them die and wait to be saved, it would be better to leave them, and thenter they could continue to torture them, until he has properly avenged Ding Nuoyang.


    Qi Feng nced at Goose Over. Goose Over understood and stepped forward. "You have five seconds to disappear immediately, or we will let you all disappear from this game world.¡±


    The smoke squad members did not hesitate, directly lifting up the barely breathing Dark me and Easy Nobility and immediately leaving their sight.


    "Now, let''s take care of this." Jing Yang looked at the snake demon still sitting on the ground.


    "Who is she?" Solid asked.


    "Handsome." The snake demon winked at Solid. A purple light appeared in her eyes, she was using a bewitching skill. "This chain capturing me is so painful ah, you help me untie it, okay?¡±


    Dragon Seven went over and stepped on her face. "Blindly tossing around those bewitching eyes for what, he isn''t interested in big-chested females like you, he likes t-chested males like me.¡±


    Solid could tell that she was using the bewitching skill on himself just now, and raised his eyebrow. "This is the legendary Snake City snake demon lord?¡±


    "That''s right." Jing Yangughed.


    The snake demon''s heart suffered 10,000 points of injury. Her bewitching skill was more useful the more lustful and emotional the person was, but today she didn''t know what bad luck had befallen her, everyone she met already had lovers and weren''t easy to provoke, and even liked males. Could it be that right now male-male rtionships were the main trend? The snake demon secretly determined that if she had another chance to appearter on, she would definitely first change into a male and then use her bewitching magic.


    In the end, the snake demon as expected received her happy ending. Dragon Seven raised his hands and cut her into two halves. After she changed back into a snake, a silver snake hairpin appeared next to her body.


    The Snake City task ended. A team firmly ranked first, and their distance away from the other teams was even further.


    Jing Yang and Dragon Seven continued to study the erroneous code, and Dragon Seven had alreadypletely determined that the problems in the game system were rted to these codes. If they wanted to solve these problems, they also needed some technical staff to open an operating page for them to connect to the main system.


    Qi Feng contacted the technical staff and told them about the problems that they had found. With his status in the real world, his words naturally immediately attracted their attention. The technicians informed the leaders, and after the leaders found out that Qi Feng''s group had found a way to save everyone, they immediately let all of the technical staff use their full effort, even if there was only a glimmer of hope, to try it out.


    Qi Feng directlymunicated with the leaders, and after the two sides came to an agreement, they both agreed that before they seeded, they would first not announce it to the other yers. If they weren''t able to seed, then it wouldn''t cause any unnecessary trouble.


    The technicians would do as they directed in the real world, but in the game world, they could only rely on themselves.


    Jing Yang watched Qi Feng finish taking care of everything with the other side, and then close the contact page. He stood up and said, "I think that if I can finish refining the lightning on the sun barite, it will be more favorable for my future actions.¡±


    "En." Qi Feng nodded. "Do you have a n? Do you need me to find a technician and let them send us the method for refining it.¡±


    "No need." Jing Yang smiled. "I know the method, I will take care of it as soon as possible. Then I''ll first return to my room.¡±


    "I''ll send you." Qi Feng also stood up.


    Jing Yang looked at him doubtfully. His room was just a few steps away, was there a need to send him over?


    They walked to the door, Jing Yang turned around and just wanted to say that he could just return to his room himself when Qi Feng suddenly put both his arms on the door, looking down at Jing Yang, who he had enclosed in his arms.


    Qi Feng''s gaze was very deep, like a bottomless dark abyss. Jing Yang felt that he was almost sucked in his eyes, with the suffocating feeling of his heartbeat elerating.


    Qi Feng slowly lowered his head, and Jing Yang did not avoid him. He wanted to determine whether or not Qi Feng was his own lover.


    The friction between their lips, the tip of the tongue forcefully stretching into his mouth to entangle with him, Jing Yang carefully felt. His kiss made him feel a strong sense of familiarity. But¡­why did the previous feelings, never appear?


    Jing Yang forcefully pushed Qi Feng away, his eyes somewhat flustered. Under Qi Feng''s gaze, he opened the door and ran out.


    Back in his room, Jing Yang paced around <strong>in a mess</strong>, and theny down on the bed with his head in his arms. Why was this happening? He himself had obviously been moved, he had thought that he would be his own lover, but that soul attraction feeling did not appear, could he have loved the wrong person?!


    Jing Yang made himself calm down, there must be some problem somewhere, maybe it was like with the gazes, that kind of feeling might not appear every time.


    Or maybe¡­that''s right! Jing Yang suddenly widened his eyes. He had thought of a possibility, this was in the game, and their bodies were all not real. Then no matter how real their senses or feelings might be, they would still be conveyed through the gamingpartment. In the game world, they were all imagesposed from data and code, of course they couldn''t perceive each other''s soul.


    Jing Yang felt that there should be nothing wrong with this idea, but if so, before leaving the game, he still had no way to confirm whether or not Qi Feng was his own lover. He had already been moved, but what if Qi Feng wasn''t? He couldn''t stand falling in love with two different people at the same time.


    Before determining whether or not Qi Feng was his lover, Jing Yang decided to keep a certain distance from him. If he wasn''t, then he would find a way to disappear, so that he could never find himself.


    ~


    Before the next task level opened, there was still a period of time. Jing Yang had already removed the lightning protectionyer from the sun barite, and the system had released the message, so that the other yers were also aware of this.


    In order to find more error codes, they had decided to ept more people into the team, with the condition that all of the yers who joined had to open a special channel in their space so that Jing Yang could enter at will, and allow him to take away anything that he wanted. And A team''s promise was that everyone who joined them was guaranteed to be able to leave the game alive.


    Once this news was released, quite a few yers were moved. After all, A team has two sr barites, this guarantee ensuring that the people who joined them would be able to leave alive, for them it wouldn''t be just some <strong>random im</strong>.


    It''s just that this request for them to open up their own space and let other people take their things still made some yers somewhat hesitant. They were worried that if the A team just swept up all of the treasures in their spaces and then chased them out of the team, wouldn''t they just be waiting around for death.


    A team didn''t insist or force them, they gave all of the yers the chance to join voluntarily.


    Some of the weaker teams felt that their chances of getting out alive had already been slim, and joining A team would only improve their chances of survival. In any case they didn''t have many weapons or treasures, just using them as a gamble was still very cost-effective.


    For all of the teams that hade to join, Qi Feng let his teammates go over to make their conditions very clear. The original team captains were responsible for managing their own yers, and as long as one person dared to make trouble or not follow the rules, even their entire team would be kicked out of the team.


    The number of people in the A team very quickly expanded to several dozen people, and seeing other people join, more and more people were moved and wanted to join.


    The smoke squad members became more and more impatient. They had long had an irreconcble vendetta with A team, so A team naturally wouldn''t let them join. But if A team''s members increased to more than 100, then wouldn''t they no longer have the chance to survive?


    Dark me and Easy Nobility were still recovering, they had used all of the possible medicines that they had, and all of the teammates had also given them a few of their medicines, but they still had notpletely recovered. Especially Easy Nobility''s face, he needed to use Snow Mountain fresh nectar in order to repair it, but the price was really too high. Easy Nobility didn''t want to buy it, he still wanted to keep his money to give himself a facelift when he went back to the real world.


    "We can''t go on like this, ck Hawk is dead, and Dark me and Easy Nobility still haven''tpletely recovered. Our team''s strength has already been weakened very badly, it would be very difficult to evenplete the missions in the task level, let alone going against the A team." Madman said anxiously.


    "Even if we do finish the task, would it even be useful to get more points? A team''s two sun barites have already been released, and those of us not under their protection all have to die.¡±


    "If we hadn''t feuded with them before, maybe we could join them now.¡±


    "It was because of Ding Nuoyang that we had a feud with them, if we hadn''t driven Ding Nuoyang out of the team before, this situation wouldn''t have happened.¡±


    "Could it be that we can only wait for death? Quickly think of some other methods ah!¡±


    The smoke squad members were all discussing anxiously, very worried about their current situation.


    Easy Nobility wore a mask over his face, that scene of Jing Yang whipping his face with the million thorn whip was still engraved in his mind like a nightmare, making him afraid, angry, and resentful. He definitely needed to find an opportunity to carry out his vendetta, if he didn''t have an opportunity then he would create one. He would personally tear him up, and make him feel his pain million times over.


    "We can cooperate with the other teams." Easy Nobility''s voice passed through his mask. "There are only 100 avable ces for leaving the game world, and since they have said that the people who join them can live, they cannot have more than 100 people. There are thousands of people in our game area alone, of course no one will be so willing to die. We can join the rest of the teams to go against the A team, so that at least there is a chance to live.¡±


    The team members looked at each other and felt that it was the only method to try at the moment. But¡­, after joining forces, what could they do? A team has two sun barites in their hands.


    Dark me sat on the sofa, covering his still painful chest. "First contact the other teams, and then we can all discuss a feasible countermeasure together.¡±


    Smoke squad sent out the news, and quite a few teams actually responded to them. Even though no one had any good methods at this time, no matter what, they would juste together first and then talk about it. Just having morepanions for more courage was also good.


    A team soon reached 100 people, and many people began to regret their hesitation.


    For more convenient management, A team rented out all of the residential areas near the suburbs of Dongcheng, which were, of course, paid for by the yers living there.


    Those yers who had already joined the A team originally were somewhat concerned that A team would trick them. But after a period of time, they found that A team only required them to not cause any trouble or any internal conflicts, with no other requirements.


    What surprised them even more was that even though many treasures had been removed from their spaces, not long afterward, those treasures would be returned as already refined weapons. They had tried out these weapons, which were stronger than their previous ones by who knew how many times. This way, when they had joined A team, they had not only not suffered, but also gotten a lot of benefits. The A team members not only guaranteed that they would be able to leave alive, but also helped them to build such strong weapons, and their attitude toward them was also extremely polite. What else did they have to worry about or guard against, they just needed to follow them.


    The teams that banded together to fight A team gave themselves a name, called the joint counterattack team.


    When the third task level finally opened, they decided to take the opportunity to surround A team. Those who had joined the joint counterattack team all had ulterior motives, they felt that even if they couldn''t wipe out the A team headquarters, they could at least reduce their numbers. This way, in the end they might also have the chance to join the A team.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>in a mess</strong> ¨C ÐÄ»ÅÒâÂÒ, means confused, rattled, flustered


    [2] <strong>random im</strong> ¨C ÐÅ¿Ú¿ªºÓ, idiom, means to speak without thinking, something careless and blurted<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A bit over 1 hour: 1:15 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 4k characters to 2.7k words. We are getting closer to the end of the arc. Also, so much rtionship drama.<hr>

 Chapter 65

    <strong>Chapter 65</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.12)</strong>


    The third task level was the Labyrinth Array. The array was filled with all sorts of mechanisms and traps, and thebyrinth array was veryrge, with only one exit.


    If you were able to sessfully avoid a mechanism or a trap, you could collect a small amount of points. If you found one of the fourbyrinth pirs and took down the four-colored gems on them, you could collect arge amount of points. Once all four pirs were found, the task would be over.


    Thebyrinth array was surrounded by mountains, and those entering the array could easily be attacked by people ambushed in the mountains. Plus once you enter thebyrinth array, all weapons would be unavable, which was the perfect opportunity for those outside in the mountains to attack. The yers in the joint counterattack team had already discussed this n, and took advantage of this opportunity to try to wipe out all of the people in A team.


    Qi Feng assignedbat tasks to the team. The original A team members would split into groups and enter thebyrinth array, and the new team members would go into the mountains. Anyone who met someone hiding in the mountains wanting to ambush them from a distance did not have to be polite to them and should directly kill them off.


    As soon as the taskyer opened, the A team original members entered as quickly as possible, and the others split into teams to quickly upy the surrounding mountains and wait for those people attempting to ambush them.


    At the entrance of thebyrinth, Qi Feng said to Jing Yang, who was standing a little far away from him, "You go with me.¡±


    "I¡­," Jing Yang hesitated. "I will still go with Goose Over ba.¡±


    Qi Feng frowned, and Goose Over immediately said, "You should still go with boss, just think of it as for our sake, don''t be in a group with us.¡±


    "Quickly go." Goose Over urged the others. "Hurry up and finish the task and go back earlier, hurry, hurry!¡±


    The other team members quickened their pace and hurried away, leaving only Qi Feng and Jing Yang two people still standing there. Qi Feng motionlessly stood, looking at Jing Yang, and Jing Yang was helpless. He could only thicken his face and say, "Then let''s also go in ba.¡±


    Thebyrinth walls were about twice their height, and the passage was quite spacious, Jing Yang followed behind Qi Feng. Looking at his upright back, Jing Yang actually felt quite ufortable in his heart. He had been deliberately avoiding Qi Feng recently, and he definitely must have felt it. But if their encounter was wrong, he didn''t want to deepen this mistake.


    Next to them the wall suddenly shifted forward. Qi Feng quickly retreated a couple steps to protect Jing Yang, and those walls constantly moved around, changing their position. They couldn''t use any weapons in thebyrinth, and could only hide when they encountered a mechanism or trap.


    Qi Feng turned and hugged Jing Yang''s waist, quickly avoiding the walls that were still moving and squeezing toward them. The two men''s bodies tightly clung together until those walls stopped moving. Qi Feng pressed Jing Yang against the wall, looking down at him.


    Jing Yang pushed at him but he didn''t move, and said while looking downward, "We, can keep moving forward now.¡±


    "Why are you avoiding me?" Qi Feng stared at him.


    "Right now we are in a task, can we talk about this after we go back?" Jing Yang still did not look up to meet his gaze.


    "The task is not as important as my question." Qi Feng raised his chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. "Answer me, why are you avoiding me?¡±


    "I¡­" Jing Yang wanted to deny that he was avoiding him, but this kind of obvious lie had absolutely no meaning. "I just feel that we shouldn''t be so close and should keep a proper distance away from each other, which would be good for everyone.¡±


    "Reason? Why would it be best for everyone?" Qi Feng frowned.


    Jing Yang opened his mouth, and finally decided to tell him his thoughts. "This is in the game, I don''t want that kind of virtual feelings where I can''t tell the other person''s real thoughts. If I do start a rtionship, I hope that it will be in reality.¡±


    Qi Feng thought about the meaning of his words, and asked, "Is it because that person called Dark me hurt you, and gave you a psychological shadow for feelings in the game world?¡±


    "Uh¡­" Jing Yang was a little speechless, this misunderstanding was really big. "Dark me that kind of person could not cast any psychological shadow for me, I never liked him.¡±


    When Qi Feng heard him say this, he inexplicably felt somewhat happy, and was even not so angry anymore about Jing Yang avoiding him.


    "In the game world, we won''t be in a rtionship, and everything will wait until we go back to reality, okay?" Jing Yang looked at him very sincerely.


    "I can promise you." Qi Feng seriously said. "But you must also promise me, when we go back to reality, you cannot continue to avoid me. Otherwise, even if I have to force you, I will not let you hide from me.¡±


    This domineering character was really exactly the same as that of his lover. Jing Yang said, "Wait, wait until we return to reality and see¡­¡±


    Qi Feng was very unsatisfied with his answer, but Jing Yang refused to relent, not promising him. They also could not always stay here, the task still had to continue.


    Qi Feng thought, since he insisted on not getting into a rtionship in the game, then he would wait until they returned to reality. Then no matter what, he would definitely get him. In short, this person was his!


    ~


    Those people who had wanted to climb into the mountains and ambush A team from afar had just gotten halfway up the mountain when they were first attacked by the new A team members. As soon as their weapons swept across them, arge group of people would fall down. Those people were originally preparing to push forward and attack, but seeing that everyone who went up would die, no one dared to send themselves to die.


    "What the hell is going on here?!" The captain of the silver dragon team furiously grabbed Dark me''s cor, roaring, "What kind of crap n did you set! More than half of our team died!¡±


    Dark me pushed him away, covering his still painful chest. "I also didn''t think that their weapons would be so powerful ah!¡±


    "You didn''t think? If you didn''t think of it, why didn''t you let your team members rush forward!" The silver dragon squad captain threw Dark me to the ground with a single punch.


    The smoke squad members immediately went up to stop him, and then lifted Dark me up from the ground.


    Dark me was endlessly resentful, the n had been set by Easy Nobility, but he was the captain, so naturally he had toe forward to consult with the other team captains. Now that the n had failed, and even caused quite a few people to die on the joint counterattack team, he would have to take responsibility for all of it. But with so many people''s lives, how could he take responsibility?


    They all knew that the original A team members had very powerful weapons, but no one thought that those yers who had just joined A team would also have such strength, how did they achieve this?


    The teams in the joint counterattack team had originally all had their own <strong>ulterior motives</strong>, cooperating on the surface but with different ideas in their hearts. They all hoped that the other teams would rush in the front, while they themselves could enjoy the benefits <strong>without effort</strong>. After this fiasco, they would never unite together, no one was willing to go risk their lives again. Even if they were able to seed in the end, it would still be other people profiting from it, and no one wanted to sacrifice their own lives for other people.


    After passing through all kinds of knife and arrow, fire and ice mechanisms and traps, A team sessfully retrieved all four four-colored gems, and thebyrinth array task was over.


    Back at the residence, Jing Yang and Dragon Seven rushed to continue to deal with the problem. They separated out the error code from the four-colored gems, and then through the page connected to the main system, they attempted to repair the error codes, and if they couldn''t fix it, they would try to delete it.


    A few dayster, they informed the rest of the team that they could continue to add people into the team.


    Jing Yang and Dragon Seven had finally solved the error code, and had not only fixed part of the problem, but could also open more escape channels.


    The news that A team was continuing to recruit members was released, and all of the other gamers were shocked, especially those who had already joined the team. They involuntarily became nervous, feeling that as more people entered the team, their chances of survival would decrease.


    Those yers who had still not joined would definitely not care about how those yers who were already in the team would think, no one was willing to miss the chance to live. In order to be able to join A team, no matter what conditions the team mentioned, they all agreed.


    A team <strong>weed everyone</strong>, and everyone who wanted to join would be epted as long as they were willing to behave. But those who had just joined couldn''t help but worry about how they wouldpete for those 100 spots with the others who were already considered as part of the team.


    It didn''t take long before everyone received a system notice that the number of escape channels had increased, and the number increased was exactly the current amount of yers in A team.


    The shock in the yers'' minds couldn''t be expressed in words, even though they did not know why this would be the case, at this time they could not bother to go find out. yers flocked to join A team, and the number of escape exits was also increasing at the same time.


    The veteran yers in A team finally exined the situation to the other yers in order to stabilize their spirits and not disturb the current situation. They exined that the reason why as long as more people joined A team, the number of escape exits would also increase ordingly was because they had found a way to deal with the game system failure and had joined forces with the game technicians to try to free all yers from the game.


    The gamers received a system message in which the technical staff confirmed the words of A team''s veteran yers. So all of the yers could rx, and were all full of joy at being able to survive without having topete with each other, full of gratitude to A team for rescuing them.


    The only team in aplicated mood, both happy and unhappy, was the smoke squad.


    Everyone has the opportunity to leave the game alive, and they obviously also wanted this chance, but they still had a feud with A team, which would likely keep them from this opportunity. Then the end would very likely be that only they would die in the game, which would really be tragic.


    "No matter what, we all have to survive, even if we have to kneel and ask for forgiveness that would still be fine. No matter what you all think, I will definitely go join A team. I don''t want to die in the game.¡±


    "Who wants to really die in the game? No one wants to, what I''m worried about is that even if we are willing to let go of everything and beg them for forgiveness, they also won''t ept it.¡±


    "But¡­, in fact, A team and us don''t really have that much hatred ah, the person who made a sneak attack on them was ck Hawk, and ck Hawk has already been killed by Ding Nuoyang. We haven''t been able to take anything from them, right?¡±


    The rest of the team thought about it, and found out that it was really true. This was originally something that they were unwilling to admit, but now it had actually turned into their salvation.


    "The one we have really offended is Ding Nuoyang, and we can tell that the A team members are all very protective of him. If he is not willing to forgive us, I''m afraid the other A team members would also not ept us.¡±


    The team members all fell silent again.


    "We just have to return all the things that we made Ding Nuoyang pay for, sincerely apologize to him, and then agree to whatever requests he has, then he should¡­, probably, forgive us.¡±


    "I also feel that it won''t be too difficult for us to ask for forgiveness, but¡­" Someone looked at Dark me and Easy Nobility. "It''s hard to say.¡±


    The other team members also felt that with how excessively Dark me and Easy Nobility had treated Ding Nuoyang before, it would be somewhat difficult for him to forgive them, and it may also cause the rest of the team to also be less likely to be forgiven.


    "I will go ask for Nuoyang''s forgiveness, no matter what kind of requirements he has, as long as they let all of us join, I will do it." Dark me could also tell the others'' meaning, and knew that if he didn''t take a stand, the other members would definitely remove him and Easy Nobility. He had married Easy Nobility in order to survive, and had caused him to end up in this kind of situation, naturally he was willing to seek forgiveness in order to live. And that person was Nuoyang, as long as he could forgive himself, he could do anything.


    Easy Nobility had never expected that things would end up like this, he had thought that with the game system failure and everyone being trapped in the game topete for 100 survival spots, this would be a huge opportunity for him. He thought that he could take advantage of this chance to make Ding Nuoyang disappearpletely, and could take advantage of this chance to get Dark me, and could get a new and beautiful life, like being reborn.


    But no, he had nothing, he had lost very thoroughly. No matter how much hatred and jealousy he had in his heart for Ding Nuoyang, in order to be able to live, he had to apologize to him and ask for his forgiveness. And even return all of those things to him, he was unwilling! He was really unwilling, he definitely did not want to! But he had no choice, because he didn''t want to die, so even if he had to give up his dignity, he still wanted to survive. Only if he was still alive would he have hope.


    The smoke squad members took out everything that they had previously had Ding Nuoyang buy them from their spaces. For the items that they had already used and couldn''t return, they substituted other items to make up for it, and gave them all to Dark me, letting him go apologize as their representative and ask for the chance to enter A team.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>ulterior motives</strong> ¨C ¸÷»³ÐÄ˼, basically means each team has their own ideas, mostly secret


    [2] <strong>without effort</strong> ¨C ×øÏíÓæÎÌÖ®Àû, means like a fisherman, enjoying the profits without lifting a finger


    [3] <strong>weed everyone</strong> ¨C À´Õß²»¾Ü, idiom, means refusing nobody, allers wee<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 8 pm ¨C 9 pm, for 4k characters to 2.7k words. Are all of y¡¯all annoyed with JY, bc I am. MC, do you think you¡¯re that charming, such that someone who¡¯s not the ML would just fall in love with you just like that? I apologize for him, ML!<hr>

 Chapter 66

    <strong>Chapter 66</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.13)</strong>


    "Yo, the smoke squad people came." Goose Over looked at the screen and said. "I had thought that they would hold out until the end, and <strong>rather die than submit</strong>.¡±


    Solid smiled in disdain. "They don''t look like people who aren''t afraid of death. Even though we can still save the yers who died in the game, this matter hasn''t been announced yet, so theming over was a certainty.¡±


    "Then let''s see how they''re going to talk their way in." Goose Over sent a message to the team on gatekeeping duty today, letting them bring the people over.


    Dark me brought the smoke squad team members into the hall, looking around, he didn''t see Jing Yang. Then he said to Goose Over, "I want to see Nuoyang, I hope that I can apologize to him in person, and seek his forgiveness.¡±


    Goose Over and Solid exchanged nces. They felt that letting Jing Yange over personally to vent a bit was not a bad idea. Goose Over sent a message to Jing Yang saying that the smoke squad people had arrived, and wanted to apologize to him face to face.


    Jing Yang very quickly responded to him, saying that he didn''t have time to see them right now. He told Goose Over that letting them take care of it was fine, but they should definitely leave them until the very end and not let them die off in the game, especially Dark me and Easy Nobility.


    After Goose Over read his message, he said to Dark me, "Nuoyang doesn''t have time right now to see you, he is busy saving the yers in the entire game, and your so-called apology is not at all important to him.¡±


    Dark me turned and looked at the rest of the team, and then continued, "We came very sincerely to apologize, then if Nuoyang doesn''t have time to see us, please help us convey the message.¡±


    Dark me pulled out a page. "These are all the things that Nuoyang helped us buy before, and now we are returning all of them to him. As long as he is willing to forgive us, we agree to any conditions that he gives, and handing over all of our items is also fine.¡±


    Goose Over looked down the list of items on the page. "There are really quite a lot of things here, and also quite expensive. You all are really greedy enough, so many things, at such a high price, you let him pay by himself.¡±


    "Please help us say sorry to Nuoyang, and for the previous matters, we are genuinely regretful, please let us join the A team." Dark me and the other team members all lowered their heads and showed an appearance of being truly penitent.


    "I will first take all of these items for Nuoyang and then transfer them to himter." Goose Over said. "You are all very lucky foring at this time to join us. Right now everyone is busy, we don''t have the time or energy to properly educate you. Nuoyang said that we can let you join. However, since you havee here, if you dare to disobey even the least bit, the consequences will be very miserable. Please be psychologically prepared.¡±


    "As long as you let us join, we are willing to do anything you want us to do, we will definitely follow your requirements, and will definitely not dare to resist or cause trouble." Dark me dered.


    "That would be for the best." Goose Over sent a message to the Long River team captain Water Ghost, and asked him toe over.


    After Water Ghost arrived, Goose Over said to him, "These people will be given to your team to manage, tell them the rules here and take care of everyone. Also, the house on the furthest west edge will be for them, tell them to hand in the entire rental fee. For future tasks, they will be following you.¡±


    "Okay, I understand." Water Ghost replied.


    Water Ghost brought away the smoke squad people and arranged a ce for them to live, then told them the rules.


    "Can I ask you a question?" Dark me said.


    Water Ghost: "Speak.¡±


    "Why are all of your weapons especially powerful after you all entered A team? Is it because the technicians helped you all raise them?" They had never been able to figure out this question, and the only reason they coulde up with was this.


    "Not a technician, it was Ding Nuoyang who helped us raise the energy of our weapons while he was refining them." Water Ghost felt that since they had already joined A team, there was nothing to hide from them about this question.


    "Nuoyang?" Dark me stared in disbelief. "Him¡­how is that possible?¡±


    The other smoke squad team members were equally incredulous. They looked at each other, everyone in shock.


    "You will have a chance to understand these matters, you don''t have to cling to those things of yours, the original A team members will not take advantage of you. Ding Nuoyang may take some things out of your storage space, but it¡¯s all to find erroneous code in the program, and when he finishes making the weapon he will put it back. Plus, the weapons thate out of his hands are countless times better than those made by the best alchemist NPC.¡±


    Those terribly fierce weapons were actually made by Ding Nuoyang, this answer caused the smoke squad members to suffer a huge impact. It could be said that originally this was an advantage that could have belonged to them, but had been fiercely pushed away by themselves.


    When Water Ghost walked out of the house, the Whirlwind team captain Sharp Arrow quickly walked over to his side and asked, "What are they doing here? What is going on?¡±


    "Goose Over told me to bring them over and arrange them to live here." Water Ghost said doubtfully. "What''s the matter? Right now everyone is joining A team, it''s not strange that they woulde and join. Who actually wants to die?¡±


    "Don''t you know? They are the smoke squad!" Sharp Arrow widened his eyes.


    "Of course I know they are the smoke squad, there aren''t many teamsposed entirely of professional yers. They''re one of them, and had been pretty famous before.¡±


    "Seeing your appearance, you must not have known the matter of Ding Nuoyang being driven out of their team ba?" Sharp Arrow said.


    "What?!" Water Ghost looked at him in shock, and then carefully recalled. "I seem to have a bit of an impression of this matter. I don''t know who I heard talk about this, at that time I didn''t really pay attention and felt that it wasn''t something important, and forgot. Once you mentioned it, it seems like there really was such a matter.¡±


    "Our two teams joined A team rtively early on, we are all very clear about what kind of person Ding Nuoyang is. He is very kind to everyone, and has never taken advantage of anyone, and also has real skill. They actually were able to offend someone like this, it can be seen that they are really quite something.¡±


    "Even though the smoke squad is pretty famous, their reputation has always not been very good. By virtue of their team being entirely professional yers, they have done quite a bit of bullying, and their means have always been very dirty.¡±


    "So ah, they have offended Ding Nuoyang, and the old A team members definitely don''t look upon them favorably, and it was entirely out of morality that they let them join. If we can avenge Ding Nuoyang privately, this could also be considered as thanking him for his salvation, and as long as we aren''t too obvious about it, the veteran A team members will certainly not speak up for them.¡±


    "En." Water Ghost nodded. "You have a point, they know that they themselves were wrong, and will definitely not dare toin.¡±


    Sharp Arrow and Water Ghost reached a consensus, and soon also informed the other team captains, so the smoke squad would not have a good time in the future.


    In order to find even more error codes, they needed to retrieve a variety of treasures from monsters. The technicians couldn''t make changes to the original game settings, or else it would just make the situation even messier. Then to get the treasures, they could only fight themselves.


    Every team would receive abat mission every day. Everyone was working toward the same goal, so their <strong>cooperation</strong> was very smooth and <strong>effective</strong>.


    There was only one team that was isted by all of the other teams. When they fought, the other teams would just coldly watch from the side, and seeing them being injured by the monsters, they wouldn''te to their rescue, but just stand at the side andugh. What they were going through right now was almost exactly the same as Ding Nuoyang''s experience when he had just joined their team.


    The smoke squad members could feel the hostility from all of the other yers, but they didn''t dare to show any dissatisfaction, and even more so did not dare to resist. They could only endure it to be able to leave the game.


    Of course the smoke squad members felt angry in their hearts, but they didn''t dare to speak out about it, so they just transferred the anger in their hearts to Easy Nobility. They felt that if it weren''t because Easy Nobility had always targeted Ding Nuoyang since the beginning, they wouldn''t be facing their current situation. If not because Easy Nobility had first suggested to have Ding Nuoyang leave the team, then the team that would now be respected and thanked, and be begged to join, would be them.


    Easy Nobility had never thought that he would be treated like this in this team. The majority of the people in this team had been pulled in by him, but now the people stepping most strongly on him were those people. He was just like a street rat, suffering everyone''s disdain, and even those he had thought were his own people, all rejected him now.


    ~


    The system repair finally entered the final phase, with the technicians also adding the yers already dead in the game into A team. Then, Jing Yang and Dragon Seven would control the system in the game world and let all of the yers exit from the game.


    All of them gathered in one area, teams standing in groups in a specific order. Every yer had to stand in their own team with their own team members. This condition was mentioned by Jing Yang, and no one had asked for the reason and just followed the instructions, even confirming that all of their team members had arrived, and then reporting their status. Doing this had no effect at all on exiting the game, but Jing Yang had his own purpose.


    Jing Yang and Dragon Seven operated simultaneously on two pages, and after a while, all of the buildings and the environment around them disappeared into a pure white space. Then all of the yers'' game appearances disappeared, and everyone turned into what they looked like in reality. Not only their looks and stature, but even the clothes they were wearing, were exactly the same as in reality at that moment.


    Everyone looked around in curiosity, seeing what the teammates that they had never met in reality looked like.


    Easy Nobility found that the mask on his face had disappeared. He nervously touched his face, he didn''t feel those bumpy scars, but the feel was also not like his previously smooth and delicate skin. He looked up and found that everyone next to him had turned into real people, and froze from fear.


    "You¡­" Zhao Chao looked at Yu Jian with some uncertainty. "You are Easy Nobility?¡±


    "No! No, I''m not!" Yu Jian was full of panic, hurriedly shaking his head in denial.


    Zhao Chao looked around. This team had been formed for a few years already, and he had also held team parties quite a few times already, he had seen everyone else, and could properly match their ounts. There was only this one person who he had never seen in reality, and only Easy Nobility had never appeared in reality. But, he also said that he wasn''t, and Zhao Chao also felt that Easy Nobility would not be so ugly, then who was Easy Nobility? Zhao Chao looked around in puzzlement, but no one around matched the true appearance of Easy Nobility in his imagination.


    A page appeared above everyone''s head that showed their game name. On the page above Yu Jian''s head, it clearly wrote: yer Easy Nobility, are you sure you want to exit the game.


    "You really are Easy Nobility?!" Zhao Chao stared at Yu Jian in shock.


    "No¡­, I, I¡­" Yu Jian didn''t know what excuse he could find to deny it, the game name had already appeared, even if he kept denying it it was still useless.


    "Didn''t you say that your appearance in the game was automatically set up by the system?" A yer looked at Yu Jian, his face full of revulsion. "It turns out you actually look like this in reality, and you actually even said that you don''t look very different from in reality. How on earth were you not embarrassed saying something like that?¡±


    "That''s right, this is literally theplete opposite, okay? There is not even a trace of simrity.¡±


    "You are literally a fraud,pletely deceiving our feelings, okay? And we even held you up so high.¡±


    The smoke squad members continued to vent their anger, each one attacking him verbally one after another. They felt that the Yu Jian in reality and in the game was really too different, making them feel seriously deceived. If they had known earlier that he would turn into this, who would be so good to him, and even support him everywhere ah.


    "s, us being tricked isn¡¯t much. The most pitiful one is Dark me, the tall, rich, and handsome boyfriend in reality actually turned into this kind of thing.¡±


    Zhao Chao remembered that he had actually slept with this kind of person so many times, and his stomach couldn''t help but turn. Remembering the scene of him delicately snuggling in his arms, thinking of his appearance when pathetically calling himself husband, when the face from that time turned into this face in front of him, it really made him disgusted.


    "Why did you want to trick me? Why did you lie to me?!" Zhao Chao grabbed his arm and angrily questioned him. He actually lost Nuoyang because of this kind of person.


    "I didn''t, I didn''t!" Yu Jian shook his head and still wanted to continue denying it, and looked at Zhao Chao in tears, trying to win his sympathy.


    Perhaps Yu Jian had forgotten that when he cried with his face in the game, he would be a <strong>teary beauty</strong>, and it was very easy to gain people''s sympathy. But when crying with this face, it would only make others even more disgusted.


    Zhao Chao viciously pushed him away, Yu Jian fell to the ground and didn''t dare to look up. He didn''t dare to face those sarcastic and disgusted eyes.


    The button to confirm to exit also appeared on the page, many yers were very excited and couldn''t wait to press to exit the game. They could finally leave here, and live back to reality!


    Jing Yang looked at Qi Feng''s face that was not much different from the game and said, "I''m going back.¡±


    "I will find you." Qi Feng carefully looked over his face and engraved it in his mind, not missing a single detail.


    "¡­Okay, I will wait for you." Jing Yang said.


    "When I find you, you are not allowed to hide from me again." Qi Feng required.


    Jing Yang avoided his gaze a bit, and immediately lowered his head and no longer looked at him.


    "Nuoyang! Nuoyang!" Zhao Chao ran toward Jing Yang eagerly.


    Jing Yang turned to nce at Zhao Chao and then looked up at Qi Feng. "I''m leaving, goodbye.¡±


    Zhao Chao had not reached Jing Yang when Jing Yang had already left the game, disappearing from this white world.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>rather die than submit</strong> ¨C ÄþËÀ²»Çü, idiom, pretty literal definition


    [2] <strong>cooperation</strong> ¨C ÆëÐĺÏÁ¦, idiom, means to work as one, united in a concerted effort


    [3] <strong>effective</strong> ¨C Ê°빦±¶, idiom, means literally means half the work, twice the effort, or the right approach saves effort and leads to better results


    [4] <strong>teary beauty</strong> ¨C À滨´øÓê, idiom, literally like raindrops on a pear blossom, figuratively a tear-stained face of a beauty<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A bit over an hour: 4:15 pm ¨C 5:30 pm, for 4.4k characters to 2.8k words. Luckily I managed to trante this in time.<hr>

 Chapter 67

    <strong>Chapter 67</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Survival Games (Arc 5.14)</strong>


    When Jing Yang left the game and returned to reality, he found that he was in a hospital with an IV in his arm. After waking up, he stayed in the hospital observation unit for two days, and Ding Nuoyang''s parents were always apanying him. Only after they confirmed that he had nothing wrong did they finally let him be discharged from the hospital.


    Jing Yang refused to go back home with Ding Nuoyang''s parents and repeatedly assured them that his body already had no problems and he could take care of himself, before Ding Nuoyang''s parents finally reluctantly agreed to let him go. Jing Yang went alone back to Ding Nuoyang''s own residence. His father was going to take care of thepany for the time being and he didn''t have to worry about it, just making sure to rest well during this period of time.


    Jing Yang now also had no energy to spend on caring about these other things. Qi Feng had said that he woulde to find him, and he was waiting. As for what he should do after he found him, and if he wasn''t his own lover, what he should do¡ªall of these things, Jing Yang had already finished thinking about what his n would be. He was just waiting for him to appear.


    The second day back in his home, Jing Yang was still somewhat anxious and restless, because if Qi Feng was really not his lover, he¡­didn''t know how he would feel. If he was really sad and sorrowful, wouldn''t that prove that he had already <strong>fallen in love with someone else</strong>, then how could he face his lover in the future?


    Jing Yang suddenly didn''t want to cook anymore, so he changed and went out to a Western restaurant that Ding Nuoyang often used to go to.


    Halfway through the meal, the waiter came over with a cart and gave him a steak tter and a bottle of red wine. Jing Yang looked at the waiter pouring wine for him and said, "I did not order these things.¡±


    "A gentleman helped you order this." The waiter took out arge bouquet of white roses from under the dining cart. "These were also gifted to you by the gentleman.¡±


    "Did he say what his name was?" Jing Yang wrinkled his brow, looked at thatrge bouquet of white roses, and didn''t take it.


    "That gentleman said that he is surnamed <strong>Feng</strong>." The waiter responded.


    Feng? Hearing thisst name, Jing Yang thought for a bit, and took the roses without much hesitation. Feng Qi was Qi Feng''s real name, and Jing Yang had already checked using the system, Feng Qi was the vice president of the Feng corporation, the second young master of the Feng home.


    How did he know that he liked white roses? Jing Yang smiled self-deprecatingly, how could he possibly know, Ding Nuoyang didn''t like white roses, this was just a coincidence. Jing Yang began to reminisce, when did he himself start liking white roses. It seemed like it had started from Zhao Bocheng in the first world, he had always loved to send himself white roses, and from that time, he started liking them.


    "Do you like it?" Feng Qi''s voice came from behind Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang turned and looked at him. "Are you asking about the white roses or the red wine.¡±


    "Both." Feng Qi sat down across from him and picked up the knife and fork, beginning to eat the steak that the waiter had just delivered.


    Jing Yang took a sip of red wine. "I like all of them.¡±


    "As long as you like them.¡±


    "Is this a coincidental encounter? Or¡­" To tell the truth, Jing Yang didn''t believe that this would be idental. After all, the city was too big, and the poption was sorge, the chances of identally meeting were too low.


    "I especially came to find you." Feng Qi didn''t conceal his actions.


    "How did you know I was here?" After Jing Yang asked he felt that he was simply saying nonsense. As the second young master of the Feng family, he naturally would have his own methods to find him.


    Feng Qi nced at him and didn''t speak, because he could tell that Jing Yang definitely understood in his heart what methods he had used to find him.


    At the end of the meal, Jing Yang said, "I''m going back, thank you for the wine, as well as the flowers.¡±


    "I''ll send you." Qi Feng said.


    "No need, I drove here myself." Jing Yang refused, he was still somewhat anxious in his heart, and didn''t want to confirm too quickly whether or not he was his lover.


    "Then you send me ba." Qi Feng said.


    Jing Yang looked at him, and seeing his attitude of definitely following him today, he fell silent for a bit. He thought, in any case he needed to know sooner orter, then if it was today then they would just do it today. If he confirmed it earlier, it would also save him from being so <strong>anxious</strong>. "Then you still send me over ba.¡±


    Feng Qi sent Jing Yang to his door, and didn''t have any indication of leaving, so Jing Yang just <strong>went along</strong> and invited him in.


    When Feng Qi sat down in the living room, Jing Yang turned to the bar and poured two sses of wine, then secretly took out a white granule and dropped it in the wine. Watching the white particles melt into the wine, Jing Yang swished the ss, and then brought them to the living room.


    Jing Yang ced the sses on the coffee table and sat down next to Feng Qi.


    Feng Qi raised his hand and was about to take that wine ss when Jing Yang held his hand. "Wait a bit¡­" Until he had determined whether or not Feng Qi was his own lover, Jing Yang couldn''t let him drink that ss of wine that he had already added powder in. Kissing was the fastest way to confirm whether or not he was his lover, so he hugged his neck and kissed him.


    Feng Qi held Jing Yang''s waist, and after being stunned for a couple seconds, he immediately mastered the initiative, forcefully sucking on his lips, his tongue bullying its way into his mouth, and entangling with his tongue.


    "En~" Jing Yang was pressed down on the sofa, theck of oxygen making his brain somewhat hazy. Among the haze, a fiery desire seemed to break out, his body fiercely trembled, his soul seeming like it was being sucked out of his body.


    Jing Yang felt that familiar feeling and almost shed tears. He had not loved the wrong person, this was his own lover. No matter how long it took, no matter which world they were in, even in the most uncertain circumstances, the person he fell in love with, was always him. Jing Yang felt that he had been mired in this love, just like being caught in a swamp. The more he struggled, the deeper he sank, and letting himself sink down further was the only thing he could do.


    That ss of red wine was already useless, Jing Yang naturally wouldn''t let Feng Qi drink that anymore. From now on, no matter what happened, no matter what Feng Qi did to him, Jing Yang would still ept.


    Jing Yang''s body suddenly felt very empty, with an extreme need to be filled. He opened his legs and entangled Feng Qi''s waist, rubbing against him.


    Feng Qi pulled back a bit from him and looked at Jing Yang''s face. "You are much more passionate in reality than in the game.¡±


    Jing Yang blushed a bit, hooked his neck, pulled his head down, and whispered in his ear, "Go to bed, hold me.¡±


    Feng Qi smiled softly and kissed his earlobe. "I will obey.¡±


    Pants were randomly thrown beside the bed, and on the bed the two people entangled, their passion like fire. Jing Yangpletely opened his body, going along with his fiddling and collisions, that kind of painful excitement and stimtion, made him very satisfied, very happy.


    "Don''t! Ah~ Ah~!" Jing Yang resisted verbally, but his body extremely honestly pandered to him.


    ~


    Jing Yang was awakened by something heavy pressing down on him, the weight on his back made him somewhat breathless. Because he was lying face down on the bed, and Feng Qi was lying on his back, the two people''s bodies were tightly clinging to each other, Feng Qi still kissing his back.


    Jing Yang wanted to flip over but couldn''t move, so he reached back to push at Feng Qi. "Don''t press on me, I want to go take a shower.¡±


    "Let''s go together." Feng Qi kissed his cheek.


    "No." Jing Yang didn''t believe that he would honestly just take a bath with him, and if he kept doing him, his bones were going to fall apart.


    Jing Yang pushed him away and ran into the bathroom, locking the door. The water flowed down his body, and looking down at the love marks on his body, Jing Yang could only smile helplessly. Why was it that whenever he met this person, they would love each other so crazily? Without even the least bit of self-control.


    When Jing Yang came out of the bathroom, Feng Qi was blocking the doorway with his arms crossed, looking at him with disgruntled eyes.


    Jing Yang smiled and hooked his neck, taking the initiative to send up his lips to let him contain them. The two people kissed for a while, and before Feng Qi couldn''t control himself anymore, Jing Yang said, "You also quickly go take a shower, I''m hungry, so I''ll first make breakfast and wait for you.¡±


    Just as he finished making two helpings of a simple breakfast, Jing Yang heard the doorbell. He wondered about who woulde find him at this time, it shouldn''t be Ding Nuoyang''s parents ba. He nced at the bathroom with some guilt, and thought that if it was really Ding Nuoyang''s parents, how he should exin Feng Qi''s identityter. After thinking a bit, there was no need to make any excuses or conceal anything, Ding Nuoyang''s parents knew his sexual orientation anyway, so it would be fine to just directly say that he was his boyfriend.


    Jing Yang opened the door, and seeing the person outside, he froze for a second. "What are you doing here?¡±


    "Nuoyang, I, I came to apologize to you." Zhao Chao carefully looked at Jing Yang.


    "No need, everything that I needed to say I already made very clear to you in the game. Just consider it as us never knowing each other, and don''te find me in the future." Jing Yang looked at him expressionlessly, he really did not want to have any kind of interaction with this scum man, and did not even want to talk to him.


    "Nuoyang, I know I was wrong, I''m sorry, I''m really sorry. Please give me another chance, as long as you are willing to forgive me, I am willing to do anything." Zhao Chao pleaded with him eagerly.


    "You will really do anything." Jing Yang asked.


    "I swear, as long as you forgive me, I will do anything you ask!" Zhao Chao hurriedly assured.


    "Okay, then as long as you leave immediately, and then never appear in front of me again, I will forgive you." Jing Yang said.


    "I¡­" Zhao Chao awkwardly looked at him, and continued to beg, "Don''t do this to me Nuoyang, please, give me another chance! For the sake of all the years I''ve been pursuing you, please!¡±


    "Who came?" Feng Qi came out of the bathroom, and seeing that Jing Yang was standing at the door, he walked over, stood behind Jing Yang, and pulled open the half-open door. Seeing the man outside the door, Feng Qi immediately frowned.


    "You, you are?" Zhao Chao looked in surprise at Feng Qi wearing a bathrobe. "You are Qi Feng?!¡±


    "How could he be here?" Zhao Chao stared at Jing Yang and asked.


    "Does it have anything to do with you?" Jing Yang rolled his eyes.


    "You, you¡­" Zhao Chao looked at the two people wearing bathrobes, and angrily used Jing Yang, "You actually betrayed me!¡±


    Jing Yang couldn''t helpughing. Trying to talk reason into someone as mentally confused as this guy was really a waste of his saliva. "Whatever you think.¡±


    Jing Yang closed the door and went to the kitchen to serve breakfast. Zhao Chao stood outside and vigorously hit the door, but he was not affected in any way.


    Feng Qi walked into the bedroom, found his cell phone under the bed, typed a few times, and then went to the dining hall to sit with Jing Yang and eat breakfast.


    A couple minutester, the knocking on the door disappeared.


    Zhao Chao returned home battered and bruised, and just as he reached his house, he saw the person standing at the door. Originally he was already irritated, and his anger finally exploded. "I told you to note find me! You don''t understand human speech, do you?!¡±


    "Dark me, what happened to you?" Yu Jian saw Zhao Chao''s injury, and asked with heartache, "Who hit you?¡±


    "It''s none of your business!" Zhao Chao pped away the hand Yu Jian was reaching over. "I have already told you, do note find me again, and do not call me Dark me again. I see you and feel disgusted, don''t you know!¡±


    "We are already married, you are my husband, I can''t note see you ah." Yu Jian said with a face full of sorrow.


    Zhao Chao vigorously rolled his eyes, roaring, "We are now in reality, and everything in the game world is already over! Plus everything that happened in the game was fake! Fake! In reality, we are not married, and I am not your whatever husband!¡±


    "We can go get married, that way we will be the same in reality as in the game." Yu Jian looked at Zhao Chao with hope.


    "Don''t dream! I don''t like you at all, I don''t even want to see you!" Zhao Chao pointed at his nose. "This is myst warning to you, don''t show up in front of me again, or I will hit you every time you show up!¡±


    "Dark me! Listen to me¡­" Yu Jian eagerly grasped Zhao Chao''s hand.


    "Roll!" Zhao Chao pushed him away hard, opened the door, and mmed it shut.


    Yu Jian was pushed to the ground. He didn''t pay attention to the pain in his arm, immediately getting up to knock on the door. "Dark me, you open the door, you listen to me. Right now I am trying to save money, I will change my appearance, you just give me a little time, I will definitely turn myself into the same appearance as in the game.¡±


    ~


    Feng Qi brought Jing Yang to a party, where Jing Yang saw everyone in A team. Their appearances weren''t far from those in the game, at least their faces were all right on. It was only Solid who in reality did not have such exaggerated muscles.


    "I am Solid, real name Gu Bin." Gu Bin saw Jing Yang''s gaze and knew what he was thinking. "You must be wondering why my figure isn''t as exaggerated as in the game ba? In fact, there is a reason for this, that is, because the reason is too long, I won''t exin it in detail. To put it simply, for a bet with these bastards, I had especially adjusted my body, but when I had just entered the game, the system had problems, so everyone was stuck in the game, and I could only keep this exaggerated physique.¡±


    Jing Yang nodded in understanding.


    "Don''t listen to his nonsense, it was obviously himself being angry and then changing to this appearance, and then when he had just done this, the game had problems, so he couldn''t change it back." <strong>Long Qi</strong> exined and then introduced himself to Jing Yang. "I am Dragon Seven, real name Long Qi.¡±


    "Hello sister-inw, I am Goose Over, real name Ke Yan." Ke Yan reached out to Jing Yang but was patted away by Feng Qi. He smiled and said, "I can prove that Gu Bin was being jealous about Long Qi, so he made himself like that in his anger.¡±


    Jing Yang was stunned for a bit because of being called sister-inw.


    "Lao zi was not being jealous!" Gu Bin argued somewhat unnaturally. "Obviously it was you bastards deliberately stimting me, so that I would make myself like that.¡±


    "Ai ai, that''s right, in the future Nuoyang will be our sister-inw,ee, everyone salute sister-inw a cup." Liang Ren took the lead to raise his ss.


    Jing Yang was made somewhat embarrassed by them, he turned to look at Feng Qi. Feng Qi had been hugging his shoulder the entire time, almost half-hugging him into his arms, and raised his wine ss toward him.


    Jing Yang could only also raise his ss, and touch cups with everybody.


    These people had all basically grown up with Feng Qi, and it was clear that Feng Qi was not only the boss of this group in the game, but also in reality.


    Jing Yang learned that the yers trapped in the other game areas were still being rescued, but with them as a precedent, saving yers from the other areas was much easier. The only thing was that there were no alchemists in the other areas as strong as Jing Yang, so the process would take a lot longer.


    The crowd chatted andughed together, talking business along with joking, scattering only when it had be veryte.


    Once they got on the car, Feng Qi pulled down the partition and hugged Jing Yang in his arms, kissing him the whole way.


    Jing Yang felt that his lips had be swollen and his tongue numb, and his brain had also be hazy fromck of oxygen, so he could only weakly lean in Qi Feng''s arms.


    Until the car stopped outside a vi, Feng Qi carried Jing Yang out of the car, and he found out this wasn''t his house. He asked in a daze, "Where are we ah?¡±


    "It was my home before, and in the future it will be our home." Feng Qi carried him into the house.


    Afterward, Zhao Chao never appeared in front of Jing Yang again. Jing Yang guessed that Feng Qi had definitely done something, otherwise with Zhao Chao this kind of person, how could he just give up that easily. As for what Feng Qi had done, Jing Yang didn''t care, and didn''t want to know. In any case, someone would help take care of these messy things for him, so he would just enjoy his love.


    Every world''s encounter was a miracle for Jing Yang, so he would particrly cherish every little moment of the two people being together. Even if it were only an ordinary kiss, or every time they hugged and slept, they all became his precious memories.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>fallen in love with someone else</strong> ¨C ÒÆÇé±ðÁµ, idiom, means change of affection, shift of love


    [2] <strong>Feng </strong>¨C this is actually ·â, which is different from the ·ç in ÆÝ·ç, his game name


    [3] <strong>anxious</strong> ¨C ÌáÐĵõµ¨, saying, means very scared and on edge


    [4] <strong>went along</strong> ¨C ˳ˮÍÆÖÛ, idiom, literally means to push the boat with the current, means to take advantage of the situation


    [5] <strong>Long Qi</strong> ¨C ÁúÆé, same pinyin as Dragon Seven (ÁúÆß)<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 3 pm ¨C 4 pm, for 4.7k characters to 3.3k words. Well, this arc is finally over, everyone. I¡¯m quite sad they only got together for a chapter, but a pretty good arc ising up next. They¡¯ll have many chances to be together soon. I will see you all in two weeks.<hr>

 Chapter 68

    <strong>Chapter 68</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.1)</strong>


    Jing Yang could feel the rocking from rolling wheels, without opening his eyes he knew that he was definitely in a carriage right now. Opening his eyes and looking around, sure enough. But it was not an ancient Eastern carriage, but a ssic Western carriage with ss windows.


    He looked out the window, outside there were soldiers on horseback. Based on the clothes and appearance of the soldiers, this should be a ce simr to the ancient Western European continent.


    Then looking down at himself, he was wearing all old clothing, the simplest possible white robe. It really formed a sharp contrast with this rtively high-end carriage.


    After looking at the views outside the window for a while, Jing Yang adjusted into a morefortable position leaning against the back of the seat, and closed his eyes to open his memory intake function.


    This is a world where the human race coexists with demons, called the <strong>Sabio</strong> continent, where there has always been a legend about the holy light.


    The demons are fierce and brutal, and pose a great threat to mankind. Thousands of years ago, when mankind was almost forced into extinction by the demons, suddenly one day the continent suffered three consecutive months of torrential rain. The water demolished the magic hall of the demons, causing the magic power of the demons to be greatly reduced.


    When the heavy rain stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, and a column of light fell from the sky, causing all of the demons in the human realm to disappear.


    After the beam of light disappeared, a flowing spring suddenly appeared. Humans built a temple where the beam of light had shone, and all of the newborn children would be baptized and blessed in the temple in hopes of being sheltered by the holy light. Mystical things happened again, and some of the children who had been cleansed in the springs grew up with the power of light, which could purify the magic of the demons. Since then, humans finally had the strength topete against the demons.


    With thousands of years of change and development, mankind gradually grew up and established the human empire, with soldiers that could fight against the demons.


    The person Jing Yang was recing this time was called <strong>Sylvie Graham</strong>. His grandfather was the temple elder, known as the holy one, and was valued by the royal family, with the respect of the people. His grandfather not only had strong light powers, but also had the powers of divination.


    One day 20 years ago, Sylvie''s grandfather had divined that there was a powerful demon soul born in the human world, which would bring great disaster to mankind.


    The royal family and entire empire''s temples sought hard, it took five years to finally find this child, and the emperor ordered the child to be killed. Sylvie''s grandfather pleaded for the child, saying that he could not force sins that had not yet urred on a child, and that he hoped that he could bring the child back to the temple, purify the demon magic in his body, and make him into a normal human being.


    This child''s name was <strong>Carnia</strong>, he grew up in the temple until he was twelve years old. Just when the demon magic in his body was about to dispersepletely, he suddenly disappeared without a trace. Sylvie''s grandfather and the emperor had dispatched people to find him, but no one could find his trail.


    During a battle between the humans and the demons, the eldest prince and war god <strong>Orede</strong> was injured while fighting against the demon king. Powerful demon magic invaded his body, causing severe trauma to his body and mental strength.


    Sylvie''s grandfather rushed to the border to help clear the demon magic for the great prince, but the demons took the opportunity to continually attack the troops. The great prince had forced himself to fight and Sylvie''s grandfather had used the power of light to help the great prince in hisbat, but suddenly died on the battlefield. When the great prince lost the assistance of the power of light, he suffered the first defeat in his life.


    After the great prince was unable to continue fighting, the second prince who had escorted Sylvie''s grandfather to the border led the soldiers to defeat the demons and force them to withdraw.


    The biggest reason why the second prince was able to defeat the demons was because there was a man who appeared by his side with extremely powerful light powers, and that person was the Carnia who had disappeared for three years.


    Carnia''s light powers could repel all of the mighty demons, and even the demon king was afraid of his power, so the demons retreated, and were even willing to sign a peace treaty with the humans, and never invade the other again.


    The second prince and Carnia became the heroes of the empire, returning to the capital with the exultation of the people.


    Carnia exined to the emperor where he had been for the past few years, along with why he had fled from the temple. He said that there was no demon magic in his body at all, but instead an extremely strong light power. He said that it was because Sylvie''s grandfather had been afraid that his strong light powers would be discovered and would impact his position that he had said that his body had demon magic and imprisoned him in the temple.


    The second prince confirmed Carnia''s words, and also said that it was with his help that Carnia had escaped from the temple, and in the past few years it was he who had protected Carnia from being discovered.


    Carnia even said that Sylvie''s grandfather''s light powers had actually long started deteriorating, and because he had discovered his secret, Sylvie''s grandfather had wanted to kill him, so he had fled. And Sylvie''s grandfather''s sudden death on the battlefield, was the best evidence.


    After Sylvie''s grandfather had died, it was Carnia who had the strongest light power in the empire. So when they returned to the capital, Carnia, helped by the supporters of the second prince, very smoothly entered the temple and became the holy lord of the temple.


    And for Sylvie and his parents, because of the mistakes made by his grandfather, the second prince suggested that the emperor execute them. The emperor looked at the affection for Sylvie''s grandfather who had served the empire and the royal family for so many years, and did not execute them, but instead sent them to a small remote temple and imprisoned them.


    Five yearster, the already not very healthy emperor became weaker and weaker. The great prince had always been kept in the capital temple to be purified because of the extremely strong invasion of demon magic, and before the demon magic in himpletely disappeared, he could not walk out of the temple. The second prince gradually took over the state affairs, his supporters increased, and he became very likely to rece the great prince to be the heir to the throne.


    Humans and demons had been living in peace for more than five years, and more and more people believed that as long as the second prince and Carnia were there, humans and demons would no longer have to go to war, they no longer had to be afraid, and no longer needed to suffer the pain of their loved ones dying in battle.


    The demon king demanded from the human emperor that in order to show the sincerity of humans wanting to coexist peacefully with the demons, they would send a warcraft from their demon beast halls to the capital of the human empire, and every year, the humans had to sacrifice a human with the power of light to the warcraft, that is, to be eaten by the warcraft.


    When this request was made, some officials objected to it, but some endorsed it, all of whom were the second prince''s supporters. They believed that it was worthwhile to use one life to guarantee the peace of the people in the entire empire for a year.


    After a period of debate, the final decision was to use those guilty of crimes as sacrifices for the warcraft, which would satisfy both sides. Carnia made a strong request to let the grandson of the former holy one to serve as the first sacrifice.


    Sylvie and his parents had been sent to a remote temple to be imprisoned, and had not been less bullied by those worshippers of Carnia. In order to protect him, Sylvie''s parents had suffered a lot, and one year ago, both of them had died. Now, Sylvie was being escorted back to the capital by the people of the second prince.


    As for why he was being escorted in a carriage that could be considered quite good, it was because when the emperor had awakened and known of this matter, he had said that since he was already going to be sacrificed, no one was allowed to embarrass him or treat him badly until his sacrifice.


    Jing Yang now knew everything about the current situation, but it was only the cover-up. Then what was the real situation?


    The now highly respected Carnia, in fact, did not have the least bit of light power. The reason why he was able to destroy any powerful demon, was because he and the demon king had made a contract, and all of this was his and the demon king''s plot.


    After Carnia had been brought back to the temple by Sylvie''s grandfather, he had lived a much better life than before, but this good life made him even more unsatisfied. Even if the demon magic in his body was being gradually purified, there was no way to change the twisted nature he had been born with in his bones.


    It was indeed the second prince who had helped take Carnia out of the temple, but during the years of his disappearance, the second prince simply had no idea where he had been, because he had always been with the demon king.


    Carnia had gone to the demon realm and was hidden by the demon king. They had made a n together for the total destruction of mankind.


    Carnia fell in love with the demons and demon king, they were lovers, but after returning to the human race, he also had a rtionship with the second prince and became lovers with him.


    In the previous world, Carnia had helped the second prince get the throne, but the demon magic in his body had elerated the death of the second prince. Then he had helped the demon king destroy the human race, and lived happily together with the demon king, using his lifetime in exchange for an eternally young appearance. Between the two lovers, he actually lived a perfect life.


    Jing Yang opened his eyes and let out a long sigh. This was really a story about the farmer and the snake. Sylvie''s grandfather was the farmer, thinking that since it was a life, he could give him salvation. And Carnia was the venomous snake, for those who had put all their effort into saving him, he had used his poisonous fangs to viciously bite them in the back.


    Therefore, you couldn''t casually be a good person, you really needed to see what the quality of the person you wanted to save was. When you couldn''t see it clearly, it was best not to randomly save them.


    The carriage went straight to the pce. The emperor rarely awakened, and when he heard that Sylvie had arrived in the capital, he wanted to see him.


    Seeing the withered old emperor, Jing Yang knew that he had suffered from the influence of Carnia, and he was afraid that he would not live much longer. In such a situation, he still wanted to drag his weak body to see Sylvie, there was naturally a reason.


    Before Sylvie was born, no one in the empire had appeared with a power of lightparable to that of Sylvie''s grandfather, and the emperor and Sylvie''s grandfather had been worried that the temple would have no sessor. After Sylvie was born, his grandfather discovered that he had a very strong power of light in his body, but in order to let him grow up safely and peacefully, his grandfather temporarily sealed up his light powers.


    Until Carnia had escaped from the temple and could not be found no matter what, Sylvie''s grandfather had already had a hunch that things would go in a bad direction. He had told the emperor that his grandson had a very strong power of light, and if one day a miracle descended, he was the one who could save humanity.


    The emperor sending Sylvie and his parents to a remote temple for imprisonment was actually also a form of protection, but the situation had alreadye to this point, he was sober less and less, and more things were out of his control. Bringing Sylvie back to the capital was his only hope, but the emperor also did not know whether the miracle Sylvie''s grandfather had mentioned had descended or not.


    In the top left of the main hall, a position that was supposed to belong only to the great prince, the second prince and Carnia two people now stood. Carnia was dressed in a white robe made of the finest fabrics, with wide sleeves and a floor-length cape, and even gold embroidery. Such a holy robe and his somewhat morous face did not really match, but he still showed an appearance of being noble and holy, which made Jing Yang feel like it was extremely awkward.


    "You, do you know why you were brought back?" The emperor asked him in an old, hoarse voice.


    "Know." Jing Yang answered very calmly.


    The emperor squinted at him with his loose eyelids, and carefully observed his expression. "Looking at your grandfather''s face, you may ask for a request.¡±


    "I want to return to where I used to live, I have not returned to the capital for many years, and I hope that your Majesty can allow me to live for another ten days." Jing Yang said.


    "¡­Is that your request?" The emperor was somewhat disappointed in his heart.


    "Yes, your Majesty.¡±


    The emperor was silent for a moment, and suppressing the anxiety and helplessness in his heart, he agreed, "Very well, I will fulfill your request.¡±


    "Thank you, your Majesty." Jing Yang respectfully saluted, and then withdrew from the main hall.


    Jing Yang wanting to return to the ce where Sylvie used to live, of course, was not out of nostalgia. The person who lived there was not him, so he had nothing to miss. He went there, in order to get something very important.


    All of the items in Sylvie''s previous home had been swept away, and everything that was of value had been taken by Carnia.


    Jing Yang left the soldiers at the door and went into Sylvie''s room alone. This room had been covered in a thickyer of dust, and even though the furniture was not broken, it all still appeared very old.


    Jing Yang pulled out a dusty ck cloak from under the bed. He hade to fetch this cloak, it seemed very ordinary, but was actually a stealth suit.


    Patting off the dust from the cloak, Jing Yang held the cloak and went out, saying to the soldiers outside, "This is my father''s old cloak, I would like to take it with me as thest remembrance of my father, is that okay?¡±


    After getting to the pce, the soldiers keeping custody of Jing Yang changed into the emperor''s personal guards, they would naturally not deliberately embarrass Jing Yang. It seemed like nothing more than a shabby cloak to them, since he wanted to use it as a remembrance for his father, there was nothing wrong with that, they could agree to it without even asking for advice.


    Jing Yang had asked the emperor to allow him to live for another ten days, and the emperor had also specifically allowed him to live in the temple, and gave him quite good treatment.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Sabio</strong> ¨C Èü±ÈÅ·, pinyin is sai bi ou, doesn''t really sound like a continent name though


    [2] <strong>Sylvie Graham</strong> ¨C ¸ðÀ¼¶ûÎ÷ά, first name xi wei,st name gen er, Sylvie was given by MTL,st name pulled from online from a list of British surnames starting with G


    [3] <strong>Carnia</strong> ¨C ¿¨ÄáÑÇ, pinyin ka ni ya


    [4] <strong>Orede</strong> ¨C °ÂÀ×µÂ, pinyin ao lei de, name from MTL<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    1.5 hours: 1:30 pm ¨C 3 pm, for 4.1k characters to 2.8k words. The start of a new arc, one that should have more plot than many of the other ones. Names are pointlessly hard to trante as usual.<hr>

 Chapter 69

    <strong>Chapter 69</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.2)</strong>


    After many years of expansion, the temple in the capital was extremelyrge, with two main temples and six side temples. In the main and side temples, each had manyrge halls and courtyards.


    Jing Yang was arranged to live in a small courtyard in a side temple, with many soldiers guarding the yard. Even though the soldiers guarding him from the second prince had been reced with the emperor''s soldiers, Jing Yang knew that outside of the yard, the second prince''s men were still secretly guarding him.


    Jing Yang held the already cleaned clock and sat down on a chair by the window, waiting for night to fall.


    All of the lights in the room were extinguished, Jing Yang put on the cloak, covered his entire face with arge hat, and jumped out of the open window.


    He directly walked past the soldiers out of the courtyard, and trotted in the direction of the main temple.


    The great prince Orede was locked in the main temple. After his body had been invaded by the demon magic, his personality had changed greatly, and at any time may suddenly explode and cause injury to the people around him. Jing Yang went to find him in order to help him eliminate the demon gas, and then cooperate with him against the second prince and Carnia.


    Now the weather is just in the hot season, and in the room where people lived, their windows would basically all be open. This also facilitated Jing Yang''s movements.


    Jing Yang relied on the system to help him search for the great prince''s position. The ce where he was enclosed was a brightly lit hall. Inside and outside this main temple wererge water tanks, which were filled with the purest water from the holy light springs. With this spring water, the great prince whose body contained the demon gas could not leave the main temple.


    Jing Yang entered the temple. In the middle of therge hall, a tall and upright figure was sitting with his back to him. Because he was wearing the cloak, Jing Yang approached him without concern.


    Orede suddenly turned around. Jing Yang was startled and subconsciously stopped moving. Jing Yang looked at that handsome face, perfect as if it had been carved out by the gods, and his heart slightly trembled. No way? Could it be¡­


    Orede felt as if there was someone behind him, but when he turned to look, there was nothing there. He was somewhat doubtful and felt that there was definitely something. He stood up, turned and walked over.


    Jing Yang saw him walk towards himself and slowly retreated. This person had been tormented by demon gas for five years, and incredibly still had such a keen ability and intuition. That was no ordinary demon magic, the demon king had used the demon n''s most precious treasure, the devil blood pearl, to harm him, and left a drop of that blood in his body. If he were an ordinary person, he would have died who knows how many times, but he actually could fight back against that demon magic for five years and not die, really worthy of being the empire''s war god.


    Orede slowly raised his hand and reached forward, but didn''t touch anything. He frowned and turned back to the ce where he had been sitting before.


    Jing Yang followed him, and Orede suddenly quickly turned back around, waved his arm, and then took hold of Jing Yang.


    Orede was very surprised. This feel was clearly that of a human body, but why could this person be invisible?


    Jing Yang was tightly held by a strong arm, his chest was affixed to the other person''s body, his breathing unsteady. Seeing the sharp glint in Orede''s eyes, he quickly raised his hand and removed the cloak''s hood.


    "Who are you?!" Orede''s arm tightened.


    Jing Yang let out a breath in pain. "¡­I am Sylvie.¡±


    "Sylvie?" Orede frowned and thought, this name sounded familiar.


    "My grandfather was the former temple elder." Jing Yang said. "I''m not here to hurt you, please let go of me first.¡±


    Orede really remembered that he had heard the elder mention that he had a grandson named Sylvie, and if anything happened to him, he hoped that he could help protect him. It had been such a long time ago that he had almost forgotten.


    Orede loosened Jing Yang and said, "Did your grandfather ask you toe to me?¡±


    "No." Jing Yang rubbed his arm. "Even though Your Highness has been locked in here for years, you shouldn''t bepletely unaware of what''s happening out there ba?¡±


    Orede looked at him expressionlessly and did not speak.


    "I was picked up and brought back to the capital, and in 10 days, I will be sacrificed to the demonic beasts." Jing Yang looked at him.


    Orede was aware of this matter, his men had already passed this news to him, saying that the elder''s grandson would be brought back to the capital to sacrifice to the demonic beast.


    "I can''t even save myself now, and even more so will not be able to save you." Orede thought that he hade to ask for help.


    "If I can get you out of here, are you willing to cooperate with me?" Jing Yang asked.


    Oredeughed coldly. "You think that I have no way to get out of here? If the demon gas isn''t removed, what could I do even if I went outside. Later, I wouldn''t even be able to control myself from randomly killing people.¡±


    "My helping you would exactly be to help you clear out the demon magic and let you directly walk out from here, and not any other method.¡±


    "The things that even your grandfather couldn''t do, you think you can achieve?" Orede turned and walked back to his original spot, continuing to sit.


    Jing Yang crouched down in front of him, looked at him, and asked, "Whether or not I can seed, wouldn''t we know if we try?¡±


    Orede just wanted to ask him how he would try when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if a zing fire was burning there, and would burn him to ashes from inside out.


    "Get out of here!" Orede covered his chest and clenched his teeth to maintain hisst shred of sanity. "Quickly leave!¡±


    Jing Yang washed his blue eyes slowly turn red and knew that he was suffering from the blood essence of the demons and lost his mind. Jing Yang ced his hand on his chest and was ready to activate his light power when Orede suddenly threw him to the ground.


    "Let, me, go!" Jing Yang''s hands were tightly held, and he struggled hard to push him away.


    Orede''s eyes were blood red, his body was like an exploding volcano, making him filled with pain. He desperately wanted to vent this pain out.


    If he hadn''t been enclosed by the spring water, Orede would rush out of the hall and kill. But now he only had Jing Yang in front of him, normally he should long have killed him, but his soul controlled his body, and the desire to kill had turned into another form of desire.


    Orede buried his face in Jing Yang''s neck, Jing Yang could feel his fiery breath. When this man wasn''t crazy he was already very strong, and now when he was on the brink of madness, Jing Yang was afraid that he wouldn''t be able to control himter, and was thinking about what to do.


    Orede stuck tight to Jing Yang''s skin, as if finding a cool clear spring in the middle of the hot sun, making him want to touch even more. His mouth pressed against Jing Yang''s neck all the way up, and after finding his mouth, he contained his lips and sucked.


    Jing Yang turned his head and wanted to avoid him, but failed, and his tongue had invaded his mouth. Jing Yang was just about to subconsciously start the system when the moment the two people''s tongues entangled, his soul trembled and immediately produced a desire. This was his lover!


    Jing Yang''s body went limp, allowing him to roughly rip open his invisibility cloak, tear up the clothes inside, open his legs, and begin to invade his body.


    "En~" Jing Yang was in extreme pain, biting his lips to avoid making a sound. Even though the walls of the temple were thick and soundproof, he feared that he might lose control and scream too loudly and then be heard by the soldiers outside.


    Jing Yang had never suffered from such pain before. He had been with this man for several lifetimes, and even though he would always be very domineering in this aspect, he would still be very careful to not hurt him. If it weren''t because he had lost his mind and had no idea what he was doing, Jing Yang would have settled ounts with him.


    Seeing Orede''s twisted expression from being tormented by the pain, Jing Yang was full of heartache. Even though he had hurt him, at the moment he must be 100 times more miserable than himself. He believed that as long as Orede had a hint of sanity, he would never hurt him. This man in no matter what life would always be a powerful existence, but now was tormented into this by the demon magic, and even caused him to also suffer. This debt, he will definitely force Carnia to return!


    The second time, Orede seemed to gradually regain his sanity. His actions were not as rough, and even though he did not stop, he at least started to pay attention to Jing Yang''s feelings, and no longer only vented by himself. Jing Yang held his shoulders and started to enjoy the familiar pleasure.


    ~


    Orede opened his eyes, his eyes had turned back to the original blue, and his blurred sight began to recover. He bowed his head and saw Jing Yang being pressed down by him, and widened his eyes in shock.


    Jing Yang also opened his tired eyes, and met his gaze for a moment before saying, "How long are you going to keep pressing on me? You''re really heavy, you know?¡±


    Orede hurriedly sat up, and seeing Jing Yang''s body covered in marks, for the first time in his life he was at a loss. It was obvious that he had made all of those marks, and he felt a great deal of guilt in his heart, along with a lot of heartache.


    Jing Yang found that his gaze was constantly looking between his legs. He closed his legs, pulled over the cloak to cover his body, and also sat up.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t know I was going to do something like this. In the past whenever I regressed I would just kill people, and this kind of situation had never happened." Orede was genuinely regretful, he had never thought he would do such a thing.


    "Then I still need to thank you for not killing me." Jing Yang said with no happiness.


    "I feel that I cannot kill you." Orede spoke what was in his heart, even though he didn''t know why.


    Jing Yang stared at him for a while, and even though he knew he didn''t intend for that to happen, he still was a little angry. He raised his hand, ced his palm on Orede''s chest, and his hand was immediately held by him.


    Jing Yang saw the desire resurface in his eyes and warned, "You have now regained consciousness, please control your desires.¡±


    "I am a normal man." Orede looked at his body and said earnestly, "You looking like this and even taking the initiative to touch me, of course I will react.¡±


    Jing Yang pulled back his hand and looked at him. "I touch you because I want to save you, and if you don''t want to continue to be tormented by the demon gas, don''t always interrupt me.¡±


    Jing Yang''s stare made Orede''s heart tremble, whatever empire''s war god, iron-blooded prince''s majesty was gone. Not to mention Jing Yang saying to save him, even if he said that he wanted his life, at this moment he wouldn''t resist, especially when he had done such a thing to him.


    Jing Yang once again ced his palm on Orede''s chest and used his light power to remove the demon magic from his body. The devil blood pearl was worthy being the demons'' treasure, the demon magic was very strong. Even though Jing Yang used the system to raise Sylvie''s light power that had been locked up several notches, he still had no way topletely erase the blood essence from inside his body at once. But it wouldn''t take too long, 10 days should be enough.


    Orede seemed to feel a soft andfortable breeze infuse his body, moisturizing the interior of his almost withered body. It was clear that the demon magic in his body was fading at a very rapid rate under Jing Yang¡¯s strong light power. He didn''t think that Jing Yang would have such a strong light power, which was many times stronger than that of his grandfather.


    Orede felt that Jing Yang had suddenly appeared in front of him, like that light column lowered by the heavy rain thousands of years ago, and brought him endless hope. This was the start of his, and all other humans'' new fate.


    The sky outside was gradually starting to brighten. Jing Yang retracted his light power and put his hand down. "Today we can onlye to here. I must go back now, and in the evening, I wille back.¡±


    Jing Yang wanted to stand up, but his legs couldn''t withstand the force. Orede hurriedly half-hugged him to help him up.


    "Your clothes¡­" Orede looked at the ripped fabric on the ground.


    "You find a way to deal with it yourself." Jing Yang responded with irritation. He shook open his cloak, draped it over himself, and immediately became invisible.


    When Jing Yang put on the cloak, Orede''s eyes darkened, and almost couldn''t control himself. He could feel that his heart was gradually falling. For the first time in his life, he experienced how it felt for his spirits to sink.


    After Jing Yang left, Orede hid those pieces of fabric. He was now filled with hope, and as long as he blinked, the sky would immediately turn dark.


    Jing Yang returned to his room, quickly washed a bit, then dragged his exhausted body to the bed and quickly fell asleep.<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm, for 3.9k characters to 2.5k words. No trantor notes for the first time I think! A novelty. Also, no need to guess any further about the ML. One of the fastest confirmations in the story.<hr>

 Chapter 70

    <strong>Chapter 70</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.3)</strong>


    When Jing Yang rushed over that night, Orede was being tormented by the demon gas. Even though he still seemed to be in pain, it was evident that he was no longer unable to control his sanity, and was struggling between sobriety and insanity.


    Jing Yang crouched down in front of him and raised his hand to stroke his face. Whenever he thought of him being tortured like this every day for five years without interruption, he would feel uncontroble heartache.


    Orede hugged Jing Yang tightly, burying his head in his neck and breathing him in greedily. His appearance of wanting to hug him tighter but not daring to hug him tighter was just like he was holding a life-saving straw and his heart''s treasure. Jing Yang hugged him with one hand tofort him, while cing the other hand on his chest and releasing his light power to help him clear the demon magic.


    Orede''s pain was immediately relieved, but he still hugged Jing Yang like this. He liked to hug this man in his arms, and he enjoyed these emotions that he had never experienced before.


    For several nights in a row, Jing Yang helped clear out arge amount of demon gas from Orede''s body. Then, as long as he could force out the blood essence from inside his body, Orede would no longer be subject to the torture and control of the demon gas.


    At night Jing Yang would go to the main temple to help Orede clear the demon magic, and during the day he would just mend his sleep in his room. The soldiers guarding him all felt as if he was just <strong>staying at home</strong>. When the daytime attendant came over to send him food, seeing him sleeping all the time, he felt that it was really strange. Clearly he only had less than 10 days to live, but he never did anything, just sleeping. Soon he would be put to eternal rest, was he still afraid of not being able to sleep enough?


    It was clear that for Jing Yang''s behavior of just sleeping during the day and at night, it was not only those soldiers and attendants who felt that it was strange, but those who had sent people over to monitor him were also doubtful.


    When Carnia received the report, he curiously came over to find out what exactly was going on. When he arrived, he saw that Jing Yang really was nestled in his covers to sleep.


    Carnia''s attendant walked forward and yanked Jing Yang''s covers to the ground, and another attendant held a pan of steaming hot water and walked to the bed, throwing it on his face. Jing Yang opened his eyes and quickly dodged, the pillow was drenched, even steaming with smoke.


    Jing Yang looked at Carnia, his eyes ice cold and his face expressionless.


    "I heard that you are sleeping all day long, not moving half a step outside. Originally it was true." Carnia looked at Jing Yang with an arrogant and condescending attitude.


    "Does it have anything to do with you? Just directly state your purpose." Jing Yang said.


    Carnia smiled. "For the sake of you not having many more days to live, I feel like you''re quite pitiful, so I kindly wanted to bring you out and take a final look at this world. It''s already been five years since youst came to the capital ba, could it be that you don''t want to see the changes in the capital now?¡±


    "No interest, you can go." Jing Yang said.


    "You haven''t been in the capital for a few years, so you might not know, right now in the capital, there is no one who can refuse my kindness." Carnia proudly said.


    Jing Yang understood his purpose, today whether or not he followed him out was not something that he could decide. Jing Yang was clear that now was not the time to get into a head-on conflict with him, in that case, he would just follow along with him.


    The carriage drove out of the temple and went north. They arrived at the busiest street in the capital, and the two people got off the carriage and started walking around.


    When people on the street saw Carnia, they would all stop to salute him with respectful expressions. All the way down the road, this happened without exception. This was the treatment only the emperor and the prince could have, previously Sylvie''s grandfather was also treated like this, but now it had changed to Carnia.


    But no matter whether it was the emperor or the prince, or Sylvie''s grandfather, they would not be like Carnia, deliberately walking down the streets and finding satisfaction from other people''s respect.


    Carnia always kept a slight smile on his lips, using warm eyes to look at the crowds on the road. At this moment, in his heart he was feeling iparable enjoyment at this honor.


    Jing Yang walked with Carnia''s attendants and kept a certain distance away from him. Looking at his slowly walking back, Jing Yang felt very disdainful in his heart. The more inferior and vain people are, the more they want to be recognized by others. The truly powerful ones would simply not care about these things.


    They climbed the tallest bell tower in the center of the city. Carnia stood at the edge of the wall, overlooking the city, as if overlooking his own empire. As if everyone below him, and the entire world, were kneeling at his feet.


    Carnia let the other soldiers retreat first, leaving only a few confidants. He looked at Jing Yang and said, "Your Graham family''s glory has already disappearedpletely from this world. Right now, all of the glory only belongs to me, all of this was what I took from your grandfather, you should hate me, right?¡±


    "Of course I hate you, I also hate my grandfather. If it weren''t for him being too kind, if he hadn''t helped you beg for mercy, you would long have no longer existed in this world, and would also not have the chance tomit evil." Jing Yang said. "It was my grandfather''s <strong>soft-heartedness</strong> that made so many people suffer.¡±


    "From a long time ago, I also really hated your grandfather." Carnia paused for a moment. "I also hated you, I hated God''s unfairness, why would some people have things once they''re born that other people can''t even hope to get in their lives, and why would some people once they''re born be destined to suffer from a life of tragedy. Why would your grandfather be able to have such a strong light power, and let him take charge of the temple and be respected by the people of the empire. Why would you be your grandfather''s grandson once you''re born, and be able to inherit everything without any effort, while I''m born impoverished, and the only thing I have is demon magic that curses my destiny.¡±


    "My grandfather may have let down the entire empire, but the only person he did not let down was you." Jing Yang was expressionless. "He had a great power and bore a greater responsibility than most people, and now that you are in his position, have you even done one millionth of what he did? He valued every life, believed that every person who came to this world all had the right to live, and he spent his life saving more people. Even a half human and half demon existence like you, he still tried to save and hoped that you could live a normal life. He definitely did not think that he would cause such consequences because of saving you. I think that before he died, he must have deeply regretted his decision.¡±


    Carnia had no way to refute, anger rose in his heart. ring darkly at Jing Yang for a long time, Carnia suddenly smiled. "Some people''s fates are doomed by God, and some people''s fates are changed by themselves. People doomed by God will never be able to go against those in control of their fate, so your grandfather was not as good as me, and you, don''t even have the qualifications topare with me. I will have even more glory in the future, unfortunately, you and your grandfather will not be able to witness it yourselves.¡±


    ~


    Clearing out the blood essence was much moreborious than removing the demon magic, and it would take even longer. That night, Jing Yang came to the main temple a lot earlier.


    "How do you feel today?" Jing Yang observed his face.


    Orede smiled and said, "It''s too much better than before, today I actually only had one seizure, and it wasn''t as painful as before. The speed of the blood essence creating demon gas is nowhere as fast as your speed clearing out the gas, so the demon magic already has been unable to control my reason.¡±


    "At your current rate of recovery, there should be no problem getting out of here before I am sacrificed." Jing Yang said.


    Orede immediately frowned and grimly affirmed, "Whether or not there''s a problem, I will leave here. Even if I have to fight for my life, I will not let anyone hurt you.¡±


    Jing Yang believed him, but he only looked at him and did not speak.


    Orede looked back at him and earnestly said, "I will prove it to you.¡±


    Just as Jing Yang was going to start helping Orede clear the blood essence, Orede hugged him into his arms. Orede kissed him, Jing Yang did not refuse or reject, just epting the gentle yet overbearing kiss.


    Jing Yang''s eptance and asional return of his kiss made Orede''s heart feel soft and joyful. He had always wanted to enjoy the feeling of pressing him under his body again, but he was worried that the first time had left a bad impression on him, and would make him afraid.


    Jing Yang''s tongue was made sore by his entanglement, he was pressed down to the ground by Orede. When he pulled his robe to his waist and reached into his clothes to caress him, Jing Yang did not refuse, only letting out a light moan of protest.


    Just as Jing Yang thought that he would go further, Orede suddenly paused and turned to look at the closed door of the great hall.


    Jing Yang found that something was wrong, blinked away the fog in his eyes, and came back to his senses. "What happened?¡±


    "Someone''sing, quickly hide!" Orede quickly helped Jing Yang up, picked up his cloak and put it on him. The moment Jing Yang''s body became transparent, the door behind Orede opened.


    The person who woulde at this time, Orede didn''t even need to consider, he already knew who it was. He didn''t turn around, just giving Jing Yang a look and letting him hide.


    Jing Yang looked at Carnia walking over and turned and walked behind the stone pir at the left of the main hall. He wanted to see what he was going to do.


    "His Royal Highness." Carnia was dressed in a loose, holy white robe, and slowly walked towards Orede after the door closed.


    "Roll!" Orede said, not even turning around.


    "I haven''te to see your Highness for the past few days, I really miss you in my heart. Please turn around and look at me, your Highness¡­" Carnia raised his hand and wanted to stroke Orede''s back.


    Before he could touch him, Orede quickly turned and pped his hand away. When the two hands collided, there was a very loud noise, and Carnia''s hand immediately became red.


    "You hate me so much?" Carnia covered his sore hand and pitifully looked at Orede.


    "I don''t just hate you." Orede coldly said. "I''m alsopletely disgusted by you, you make me sick.¡±


    "Why?" Carnia <strong>grievingly</strong> looked at Orede. "Could it be that I don''t look good?¡±


    "Under your leather bag that looks rtively good, how foul and evil you are, other people might not be able to tell, but I am very clear about it.¡±


    "I really like you, your Highness, you have already been in here for five years, could it be that you''re not lonely? Try it with me once, I promise to make you feelfortable, you will definitely love me." Carnia looked up, in his eyes there was a desire for Orede that couldn''t be concealed.


    Once Orede saw Carnia''s face he would feel angry, and once he felt angry, the demon magic''s attack would speed up. He forcefully pushed Carnia away very far, and crouched down, holding his chest being tortured by the demon magic.


    Jing Yang was furious while watching from the side. Someone actually dared to seduce his man in front of him, he really wanted to go right over and tear Carnia up.


    Even though Carnia was lovers with the demon king and the second prince, he was still attracted by Orede''s appearance and strength. He felt that this man deserved him more than the second prince, and he was even more handsome than the demon king. The more he couldn''t get it the more he wanted it, the more Orede pushed him away, the greater his desire to conquer the man.


    Carnia had full confidence in his body, even the demon king and the second prince were fascinated by him, and countless people were eager to get him. But he has always had very high standards, he not only valued appearance, but couldn''t even see those of even slightly lower status.


    The demon king had said before that his body was the most beautiful thing in the world. He believed that he would definitely be able to conquer Orede with his body. As long as he could conquer Orede, the most powerful and most noble person in this world would belong to him alone.


    Carnia rose from the ground, taking off his clothing one by one. He walked toward Orede who was being tormented by the demon magic. "Your Highness, you look at my body, I have a very strong light power, I can help you clear out the demon magic and restore your past glory. As long as you are willing to love me and be with me, I can make you even stronger than before.¡±


    Orede stood up slowly. Carnia looked at him, full of hope. Orede raised his foot and kicked him in the stomach, Carnia fell heavily to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.


    Jing Yang really wanted to go up and also kick him once. All of the suffering of Sylvie''s family, and Orede''s torture, were all caused by this person. He actually still wanted to seduce Orede now, did he really think that his body could conquer everything?


    Orede looked crazy and out of control, constantly beating up Carnia. Carnia trembled in pain, continuously spitting out blood from his mouth. If he continued being beaten by Orede like this, he would definitely die here.


    "Men! Men!" Carnia desperately yelled. "Save me!¡±


    Outside Carnia''s guards pushed the door open and ran in, when they saw the scene, they all froze. The crazy Orede was so terrible that the soldiers didn''t dare to move against him and were hesitating, not daring to move forward.


    "Save me¡­" Carnia reached out to the soldiers.


    Seeing Orede stop, the soldiers braved the dangers and quickly went forward. They dragged out Carnia, who was not wearing a thread of clothing but was covered in blood, not daring to stay for even a second longer.


    Carnia was dragged out of the main temple. The second prince <strong>Louis</strong> just happened to lead men over, and seeing his appearance, he immediately ran over to hold him. "Carnia!¡±


    Carnia fainted in Louis¡¯s arms. Louis held him and ran back to Carnia''s residence in the temple, while telling the soldiers to call the elders from the temple.


    Jing Yang stood by the door. Hearing that the movements outside had disappeared, he took off his cloak and walked to Orede.


    Orede¡¯s crazy and uncontroble appearance from just now had alreadypletely disappeared. Naturally he was really being tormented by the demon magic, but in reality he already would not lose his sanity like before. Just now his crazy appearance was just him pretending.


    Jing Yang ced his hand on his chest and released his light power. Orede pressed on his hand and held him into his arms. The two people sat on the ground, holding this position for a long time.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>staying at home</strong> ¨C ×ã²»³ö»§, literally means not putting a foot outside


    [2] <strong>soft-heartedness</strong> ¨C ¸¾ÈËÖ®ÈÊ, idiom, means excessive tendency to clemency


    [3] <strong>grievingly</strong> ¨C ãùÈ»ÓûÆü, basically just crying and sobbing


    [4] <strong>Louis</strong> ¨C ·Íþ, pinyin lu wei, seems like this is how Louis Williams the NBA yer has his name tranted<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10:30 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4.3k characters to 2.8k words. The plot is moving along, kids. I thought I would be able to trante more, but it¡¯s been difficult motivating myself. I¡¯ve been reading a lot of BL from fushuwang in the past few days, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve been missing out on all this BL smut.<hr>

 Chapter 71

    <strong>Chapter 71</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.4)</strong>


    When Carnia awakened, his eyes were still full of fear, he had thought that he had already been beaten to death by Orede. His glorious days had only just begun, his life had not even yet reached its peak, he must not die like this.


    "Carnia, don''t be afraid, you''re already safe." Louis saw Carnia''s panicked and frightened appearance, and held his hand to appease him with heartache.


    "Louis¡­" Carnia tried to sit up, but there was a sharp pain in his chest, and his face twisted.


    "Don''t move!" Louis held him down and said. "You''re badly hurt, but don''t worry, you have a strong light power, which will let you heal very quickly.¡±


    Carnia''s so-called light power was not even a real light power. He had made a contract with the demon king, so the power that he had was the demon king''s <strong>auxiliary power</strong>, which after the demon king''s treasure''s camouge, looked like holy light when it was released. But the demon magic could make his wounds heal very quickly, it was just that in the temple, the strength of the power would be very small.


    "I don''t want to be here, quickly bring me away." Carnia used a pitiful gaze to look at Louis.


    "Why? Being in the temple is good for your wounds." Louis asked doubtfully. "Why would you be beaten like this by elder brother? Your light powers can keep him from getting close, can''t it?¡±


    Carnia''s eyes quickly dodged and then filled with tears. "I originally wanted to go see how he was doing, and seeing that he seemed to be even more normal than usual, I didn''t defend against him. Who knew that after saying two words, he would suddenly pounce over and take off my clothes. I was frightened and struggled to resist, but before I had time tounch my light powers, he suddenly went crazy and started hitting me, I¡­¡±


    "I know, okay, it''s fine now, you''re already fine." Louis held his face and leaned over to kiss his forehead and cheeks tofort him.


    "My body was seen by him and touched by him, I''m so sorry." Carnia''s tears slipped out of his eyes.


    "It''s not your fault, it''s not your fault. Elder brother actually wants to invade you, he is simply worse than a beast. Even if it was because of him losing his senses from the demon magic, it''s still unforgivable!" Louis clenched his fist tightly and viciously said, "Rest assured, I will definitely help you get justice, and I will never let him go.¡±


    Carnia grabbed at the clothes on his chest and said, "Quickly bring me away, I don''t want to stay in the temple for the time being. As long as I think of him doing that to me, I¡­¡±


    "Okay, I will let someone arrange the carriage now and immediately take you back to the pce." Louis agreed.


    ~


    The day before Jing Yang was to be sacrificed to the demonic beast, he went to the pce to ask to see the emperor. The emperor asked him if he had anyst wishes, and Jing Yang said that he wanted to see the great prince who was imprisoned in the temple.


    Even though the emperor already no longer ced much hope on him, and was also doubtful about why he would want to see Orede at this time, he still agreed.


    Jing Yang''s purpose was to openly walk into the great temple and hand the invisibility cloak to Orede, and then again openly walk out.


    The demon magic and blood essence in Orede''s body had already beenpletely cleared out. Jing Yang used his light power to help him heal his damaged internal organs, and now, he had already returned to his peak from five years ago.


    "Tomorrow, I won''t be able to personally watch you walk out of here. I will wait for you in the beast enclosure." Jing Yang looked up at Orede.


    Orede reached up to stroke his fair and delicate face. "Don''t worry, I will definitely show up in time.¡±


    "I''m not worried or afraid, I''m just a little sorry that I can''t walk out of here with you." Jing Yang thought, Orede had been closed in here for five years, and finally could walk out, but for the time being they couldn''t let anyone know of this, so he was somewhat regretful. Normally, as the great prince, all of the officials should be out here to receive him, and if the emperor knew, he would definitelye.


    Orede smiled. "There''s nothing to regret, in the future we will always be together, no matter where we go.¡±


    Orede held Jing Yang in his arms and lowered his head to kiss his lips. Their tongues entangled together, this was a mutualfort, and had nothing to do with desire.


    On the day Jing Yang was to be sacrificed to the demonic beast, the emperor made all of the officialse to the beast enclosure. He wanted to show all of them how the sacrifice was going to be eaten by the demonic beast, and that they could be one of them.


    Carnia''s injury had notpletely healed, but how could he miss such a scene. Even if he had to endure the pain, he still wanted to personally watch Sylvie being eaten by the demonic beast. He wanted to personally witness that once glorious Graham family disappearpletely in this world. All of this had been done by himself.


    Carnia and the rest of the officials all stood together on a high tform, watching Jing Yang slowly walk towards the demonic beast in the middle of the enclosure. He felt endless joy and expectation in his heart, and even the pain in his chest decreased quite a bit.


    The demonic beast''s four limbs were locked with the strongest chains, and the beast originally lying on the ground stood up and stared when it saw Jing Yang getting closer.


    As he walked over, Jing Yang also looked at this beast whose appearance couldn''t be described in words, summed up in one word, ugly. Plus the body of the demonic beast exuded a disgusting stench, the demon king actually used this kind of thing to guard his demon temples, was he not afraid of disgusting himself?


    Green light shed in the demonic beast''s eyes, as if it was seeing delicious food. It knew that it was time for its meal.


    The demonic beast went forward and opened its atrociously smelly mouth. Just as it was about to bite Jing Yang, a sharp arrow shot into its mouth like lightning.


    Everyone on the high tform couldn''t see clearly what was going on, only seeing the demonic beast suddenly fall back to the ground and let out a painful roar.


    Jing Yang had a painful headache from its roaring, covering his ears and stepping back.


    Just as the people on the high tform were frozen with doubt, a ck war horse galloped into the beast enclosure. No one could see who the person on the horse was but were all shocked, there was actually someone who dared to break in on such an asion.


    Orede pulled Jing Yang onto the horse and jumped down himself, taking out his sword and shing at the beast. ck blood immediately flowed out of the beast''s body, and the pain from the wound made it furious. It struggled to stand up, and with its powerful demon magic, started to attack Orede.


    Jing Yang raised his hand tounch his light power, making the demon magic quickly disappear. Whenparingbat power, the demonic beast was definitely not Orede''s opponent. After a brief entanglement, Orede chopped off the demonic beast''s head, which rolled several times on the ground, spitting out ck blood everywhere.


    Someone actually killed the demonic beast, and the light power that Jing Yang had just shown, made the people on the tform extremely shocked.


    The soldiers rushed over with their swords brandished, and just as they were about to surround them to capture them, Orede turned to look at them. After the leading soldier saw his face clearly, he subconsciously stopped the other soldiers from moving forward, and then froze like a statute.


    Orede mounted his horse and sat behind Jing Yang, riding it to the high tform. He pulled Jing Yang''s hand and walked up the steps.


    The officials, who had not recovered from their shock, were now staring at him, noting to their senses.


    The emperor''s elderly face was full of excitement, and he reached out a trembling hand toward Orede.


    "Father." Orede went forward and held the emperor''s hand.


    "O, Orede!" The emperor''s body was already extremely weak, and now he was too emotional, so he couldn''t speak clearly, only tightly holding Orede''s hand.


    Carnia''s brain felt like it had been struck by a thunderbolt, after a loud bang, his mind was nk. He didn''t dare to believe that Orede actually walked out of the temple, and his appearance seemed to be extremely normal. As long as the blood essence from the blood pearl was still in his body, it was impossible for him to walk out of the temple normally. Could it be¡­, im, impossible!


    From the consecutive attacks of Orede getting out of the temple, Orede killing the demonic beast, and Jing Yang releasing a strong light power, Carnia had already been unable to return to his senses.


    From the emperor''s eyes, Orede could see what he wanted to ask. "Father, my body is already normal, the demonic gas has alreadypletely been cleared from my body. Please rest assured, I will never lose control from the demon gas again.¡±


    "Good¡­" Once the emperor rxed, he immediately fell unconscious.


    Orede immediately let the attendants drive the carriage and send the emperor back to the pce at the fastest speed. Those officials, whether they hade back to their senses or not, hurriedly followed, rushing to the pce together.


    Louis clenched his fist and also prepared to follow. Seeing Carnia still frozen in ce, he took his hand and tugged him to follow along quickly.


    The emperor was sent to his bed. The lower officials all waited outside, and the higher officials stood far away from the bed to watch.


    Jing Yang released his light power, covering the emperor lying on the bed within its light. He helped him clear out the demon gas that Carnia had left in his body, and also healed his already failing internal organs.


    The emperor had also received Carnia''s light power treatment before. He knew about Carnia''s scheming nature, but didn''t know that he had made a contract with the demon king, let alone that Carnia''s so-called light power was actually demon magic.


    The emperor gradually came back to his senses and his vision was filled with a pure holy white light. Seeing that the person who had released this power was Jing Yang, he again remembered the words of Sylvie''s grandfather. When the miracle arrived, everything would begin to develop in a good direction. Turning to look at Orede, who seemed no different from normal, the emperor let out a long breath in his heart. The miracle had finallye, God had not given up on their people.


    Carnia once again personally confirmed that Jing Yang actually could release such a strong light power, and could actually make the emperor, who was already almost dried up and in aa, wake up in such a short time. All sorts of emotions emerged in his heart, and even he himself couldn''t tell what kind of mood he was in.


    Jing Yang took back his light power and Orede crouched down by his bed, looking at the emperor. "Father, how do you feel?¡±


    The emperor nodded gently to show that he was already much better, and then raised his hand and pointed at those officials.


    Orede stood up and looked at those officials. "You can all leave.¡±


    Even after five years, the majesty of the great emperor still existed in the hearts of the officials. No one dared to hesitate and stay, since the emperor was already awake, they also had no excuse to stay. Everyone withdrew from the emperor''s bedroom as fast as possible.


    "You go out too." Orede said to Louis and Carnia, who were still standing still.


    Louis was very unwilling, in these years when Orede was held in the temple, he was the leader of everyone in the empire. Why could he just rece him without any effort once he came back?


    Louis looked at the emperor, and seeing that the emperorpletely had no intention of leaving him behind, he resentfully clenched his teeth and turned to leave.


    Carnia quickly nced at Orede and then also turned to walk out.


    Under the officials'' watchful eyes, Louis quickly walked away. When he got to an empty space, he punched hard at a wall, venting his anger and discontent.


    Louis and Orede were not born from the same mother, Louis was born from the <strong>second empress</strong>. The emperor still constantly thought of the first empress, and did not actually like his mother, so he also didn''t care much for Louis. Especially after the two people grew up, the difference between them was not small, so the emperor cared less and less about him, only focusing on Orede, this eldest son.


    Louis had always been living in the shadow of Orede. After meeting Carnia again, he had gone through so much difficulty to finally change his life dramatically, how could he be willing to be beaten back to the original situation overnight. The feeling of having all the power in his hands, once he had enjoyed it and then having it taken away, was like the pain of getting whipped.


    Carnia walked up to him and held his hand. "Don''t worry, I will definitely help you, and I will never let them take away anything that belongs to you.¡±


    Louis hugged Carnia, feeling d. "It''s good that I met you.¡±


    Carnia patted his back. In his mind, he nned out how to deal with Orede and Jing Yang, with the help of the demon king, even the empire''s war god would not necessarily be his opponent. Last time he had already made him fall once, since he had stood back up, then this time he would be more hard-hearted, and make himpletely unable to stand back up.


    ~


    Orede helped the emperor up and let him sit back on the bed.


    "Orede¡­" The emperor called.


    "Yes, Father.¡±


    "The demon magic in your body has really already beenpletely cleared out?" The emperor looked at him very carefully, wanting to hear the most real answer, and also wanting topletely calm his heart.


    Orede looked at Jing Yang standing next to him and said to the emperor, "Sylvie has a light power even stronger than his grandfather. After returning to the capital, he started to help me clear out the demon gas in my body. Right now, the demon magic and the blood essence have alreadypletely disappeared from my body.¡±


    "Good, good!" The emperor nodded with relief, and made a decision in his heart.


    After Orede had been injured by the demon king, the emperor who had already been getting older and weaker was anxious and became sick. He didn''t want to lose a good son, and also didn''t want to lose a heir that he had painstakingly cultivated, and he was convinced that only Orede''s session to the throne could make the empire and the people stronger.


    When Orede suddenly fell, the emperor seemed to see the empire''s pir fall, and with the sudden death of Sylvie''s grandfather on the battlefield, the emperor was suddenly forced to stand at the edge of a cliff. He felt that he could not hold on, after all, he was already very old, but he also did not dare to die, and could not feel relieved to die.


    Left without a choice, the emperor could only let Louis take over the duties of the heir to the throne. He was in fact very clear in his heart that Louis and Carnia definitely had made some sort of deal with the demon king. But he was helpless, in order to not elerate the demise of the empire, he could only allow Louis to rece Orede and Carnia to rece Sylvie''s grandfather, and maintain this superficial bnce.


    And now, he had finally waited for the change of fate. Even if he died, he could also be relieved. But not now, for the sake of the empire, for the sake of the people, and for the sake of fighting for more time for Orede, he had to hold on for a while longer.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>auxiliary power</strong> ¨C ¸½ÊôÁ¦Á¿, I''m assuming this just means the demon king gave him some of his extra power


    [2] <strong>second empress</strong> ¨C ¼Ìºó, so basically after the first empress died I think, the emperor had the second empress. Don''t think this is the right title, but it''s literally true. Please lmk if there''s better titles than these<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10 am ¨C 11 am, for 4.4k characters to 2.9k words. One of the only arcs with mostly plot. Enjoy it while you can.<hr>

 Chapter 72

    <strong>Chapter 72</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.5)</strong>


    The emperor summoned the ministers to the great hall and announced that the great prince Orede would take his ce in handling state affairs, and exercised all of the emperor''s rights and duties.


    The ministers, each with their own little thoughts, all had different expressions. In the hearts of those associated with the second prince, they naturally didn''t want to agree with the emperor''s decision. But thews and customs of the empire stipted that whether in the nobility or the royal family, the eldest son would be the sole heir. Unless the eldest son died, or there were some other exceptional circumstances, only then might the second son have the chance to inherit. Now that the great prince''s body was back to normal, they couldn''t think of any reason to oppose the emperor''s decision.


    The second prince Louis lowered his head, his eyes full of anger and unwillingness.


    Just when neither the ministers nor the second prince could speak out, Carnia stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, his Majesty the great prince has never been able to dispel the demon magic in his body in thest five years, and now he suddenly returned to normal. I believe that there is something strange about it.¡±


    The emperor narrowed his eyes. "What do you think is strange?¡±


    "The great prince was injured by the demon n''s blood pearl treasure. The blood pearl only creates a single drop every two thousand years, the demon magic contained within it is extremely dense. After entering the human body, it can never be cleared." Carnia was extremely certain.


    "You seem to have a good understanding about it." Orede smiled sarcastically.


    Carnia said with a serious and earnest expression, "Previously I wanted to help the great emperor clear out the demon gas, so I went to great lengths to research the demon blood pearl, but unfortunately I also couldn''t clear the demon blood essence. How strong my light power is, I''m sure all of the ministers here are well aware, and even I was unable to seed, then how did the great prince suddenly recover?¡±


    Carnia looked at Jing Yang standing next to Orede. "I hope that the great prince will not be blinded by some people, think of the fake light power as real light power, and thenter on it will definitely be an even greater tragedy.¡±


    "Since you''re so <strong>clear</strong> about it, then how would you like to prove that the demon magic in my body hasn''t been cleared out?" Orede asked.


    "The simplest way is also the most effective, the great prince just needs to stand under the holy spring of the light temple and allow the spring water to wash over his body. If demon magic still exists, then everyone will be able to see." Carnia really did not believe that all of the demon magic in Orede''s body had been cleared. The demon king himself had personally confirmed to him how powerful the demon blood pearl was. He even more so did not believe that Sylvie''s light power would be able to clear out the demon magic from the blood essence, something that even his grandfather couldn''t do, how could he achieve it.


    Orede was just waiting for him to say this. "That is possible, but for how long I have to stand under the holy spring, you will also need to stand in the holy spring for that long. I dare to agree with your method, then do you dare to agree to my request?¡±


    Carnia''s heart tightened, he guessed flusteredly, Orede making such a request, could it be that he found out something. But because he was concerned about making others suspicious, he didn''t dare to hesitate too long. After pausing a bit, he immediately agreed, "My light power is not only very strong, but also very real, I of course dare to agree.¡±


    Jing Yang and Orede exchanged a nce. They knew that Carnia agreeing to their request so quickly meant that he definitely had a trump card. But that didn''t matter, they were just trying it out, even if the holy spring didn''t expose Carnia''s demon magic, they would still think of other methods to make him expose himself.


    The ministers also wanted to confirm that Orede had really cleared out all of his demon gas. Carnia had made the request that they all didn''t dare to make, which was exactly along with their intentions.


    The emperor brought the ministers with him to the temple of the holy light.


    Orede took off his clothing, exposing his strong muscles. Only wearing a pair of thin trousers, he walked into the holy springs and stood.


    The holy light spring had appeared after the light column disappeared, and thousands of yearster, the water flow had be much smaller. And when the spring water is retrieved, the light power would also slowly dissipate. The spring water that used to be ced in Orede''s temple to enclose him needed to be reced every five days.


    Those who have light power, when being washed by the spring water, would glow with holy light. Those with demon magic in their bodies, when being washed by the holy spring water, would be surrounded by a ck fog.


    The water flowed down from Orede''s head, washing over his body. Carnia and Louis stared hard at his body, anxiously waiting for the ck mist to appear.


    Orede''s spiritual strength was very high, but he did not have any light power. The demon magic in his body had already been cleared, so when standing under the spring, normally nothing would happen. But after he was washed by the spring water for a while, his body was surrounded by a white mist-like light, extremely faint, but still clearly visible to the naked eye.


    The white light emitted from Orede''s body was the holy light that had been left in his body when Jing Yang was helping him clear the demon magic, which still had notpletely dissipated.


    Carnia waspletely stunned, and he howled in his heart, impossible! That''s impossible!


    The ministers looked at each other. The ministers who had supported Orede were finally relieved, and those who had supported Louis were regretful in their hearts, but they still had nothing they could say.


    Louis stared hard and watched Oredee out of the spring, his heart iparably disappointed.


    Orede dried his body, took his clothes from his attendant and put them back on, then said to the frozen Carnia, "Your turn.¡±


    Carnia came back to his senses, looked at the spring water, and clenched his teeth. He took off his outer clothes, walking under the spring in his inner clothes. He kept his back to the crowd and didn''t turn around, afraid that they would see his painful expression while being washed by the spring water.


    The demon king had given him the treasure, an <strong>illusion bone</strong>, that was always kept in his body. He had had a bone taken out of his body, and then had this illusion bone reced in it. The illusion bone could not only hide the demon magic in his body, but could also create the illusion of holy light when he released his demon magic. But illusions are still false in the end, even if he was just standing under the spring, and it looked like his holy light power was dense and strong, he would still feel extreme pain from being flushed by the holy light water.


    This kind of pain like his flesh was being peeled and his bones were being scraped made his face twisted and pale. He persisted for only a dozen seconds before his body couldn''t support any longer, falling to the ground.


    Louis rushed over to hold him. "Carnia, are you all right?!¡±


    Carnia''s expression was very ugly, covering his stomach. "My wounds¡­really hurt.¡±


    "As someone with the power of light, you actually suffer from so much pain while under the holy light spring water, isn''t this the real strange thing?" Orede coldly said.


    Carnia couldn''t speak from the pain, but Louis looked up, indignantly defending him. "If it weren''t for royal brother hitting him previously and making him suffer a very serious injury, how could he be in so much pain!¡±


    Orede mocked, "You are really good at finding excuses for him, the holy light spring water would only be beneficial for those with light power, never harmful. I''ve never heard of a man with light power copsing from pain while in the holy light spring. You best be able to always protect him like this, and not regret it one day.¡±


    Louis hugged Carnia up and firmly said, "Royal brother, rest assured, I will definitely never regret. But royal brother, you better <strong>not repeat your mistakes</strong>!¡±


    After Louis finished, he held Carnia and quickly left. The emperor watched everything, a sharp light shining in his eyes.


    ~


    The demons had signed a peace treaty with the humans, which had only exchanged for five years of peace. But now Orede had killed their demonic beast, which meant they were likely to break this kind of peace. The ministers who supported Louis seized upon this point and hoped that emperor would not take back all of Louis''s rights. They believed that the demons were only willing to keep the peace because of Carnia and Louis, and now Orede had killed the demonic beast, so they still needed to rely on the two of them to negotiate with the demons.


    The meaning of those ministers who supported Louis was very clear, right now Orede needed to rely on Louis to clean up this situation, and the peace between the humans and demons would also need to be sustained by Louis and Carnia.


    Not long afterward, the demons did send a message, saying that the human royal family had killed their demonic beast, which was deliberately wanting to provoke war. As a result, then they would follow the human royal family''s wishes, and prepare for war.


    As for whether or not to go to war, the ministers argued for a long time.


    After Jing Yang''s holy light treatment, the emperor''s health was much better than before. Even though he was unable to fully recover, he was at least able to preside over the ministers'' quarrel and personally make decisions.


    After a private consultation between the emperor and Orede, in front of all of the ministers, he announced that they would send a diplomatic group to go to the border between the humans and the demons to negotiate. Orede and Louis would simultaneously represent the diplomatic group, and each would bring a group of people with them, which the emperor would personally select.


    This news made Carnia ecstatic. Louis and Orede would go to the border at the same time, which meant that he would also be able to follow along. Thenter with the demon king''s help, he would make Orede and Sylvie never be able to return.


    The emperor chose all military officers for Orede, and for Louis, all of them were those officials who supported him.


    In the past few years, Orede''s former subordinates had been transferred by Louis to remote locations, and defensive points and important positions had all been reced with Louis''s men. Now that Orede''s body had recovered, they were all being brought back to Orede''s side. Their feelings of joy and excitement were uncontroble, each returning to the capital as quickly as possible.


    The two groups seemed to be departing together, but in reality their division was clear. Each side didn''t like the other, and also maintained a certain distance away from each other.


    When resting halfway through, they would settle down in a small temple and wait to continue in the morning.


    Orede got off his horse and walked to Jing Yang''s carriage. He opened the door and reached up to help him down. "Be careful.¡±


    Jing Yang ced his hand in Orede''s hand, got out of the carriage, and walked side by side with him into the little temple.


    Carnia, who was also walking off his carriage, saw this scene, and was filled with jealousy, as if thousands of ants were biting at his heart. He felt that he was hundreds of times stronger than Sylvie, but Orede actually liked Sylvie and not him. He was simply blind, he definitely had to make him experience the taste of regret.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>clear</strong> ¨C Í·Í·ÊǵÀ, clear and logical, good argument


    [2] <strong>illusion bone</strong>¨C ÁéÏñ¹Ç, basically a camouge bone


    [3] <strong>repeat mistakes</strong> ¨C Öص¸¸²ÕÞ, means to repeat a disastrous policy<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 12:30 pm ¨C 1:30 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2.2k words. Almost 1k characters shorter, but still took the same amount of time. It¡¯s all plot from here on out, kids.<hr>

 Chapter 73

    <strong>Chapter 73</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.6)</strong>


    The <strong>keeper</strong> of the little temple brought his men out to stand at the gate and wee them in.


    In each temple, there was a room reserved for the head of the capital temple, this room must be the mostfortable room in the temple. Whether it''s the environment or theyout, it would be very thoughtful, representing the honor that the <strong>saint</strong> should enjoy.


    When the little temple keeper was going to let his men bring Carnia to the saint''s reserved room, Orede suddenly spoke up. "Wait.¡±


    Everyone stopped to look at him, and Orede continued, "The saint''s room, will be for Sylvie.¡±


    Carnia was stunned and couldn''t react.


    Louis immediately retorted, full of anger, "Only the capital''s temple head can live in the saint''s room, no one else can live in it. This is a provision in thew, and even if it''s you, royal brother, you can''t just casually go against thew.¡±


    The civil servants who supported Louis also agreed with him, looking at Orede with dissatisfaction.


    "Even if the great prince has some dissatisfaction with me, there is no need to use these small things to find trouble with me. That will only make yourself lose the glory of a prince." Carnia made a seemingly solemn and righteous statement.


    "You''re overthinking it." Orede curled his lip and said disdainfully, "I''m not letting you live in the saint''s room, because you now no longer have that qualification.¡±


    "Thews are more authoritative than the royal family, thew stiptes that only I can live in all of the saint rooms in the temples. What reason does the great prince have to say that I am not qualified?" Carnia barely maintained his calm facade, but his heart was already in a tumult.


    "Thews never had your name in them, not before, and even more so not in the future. Thew stiptes that only the saint can live in all of the saint rooms in the temples, and it is a vition of thew for anyone else to go in." Orede said words that made everyone except for Jing Yang shocked. "You are already no longer the capital temple''s saint, and of course no longer have the saint''s identity.¡±


    Jing Yang remembered that he had learned from the system that in the previous world, Carnia''s nameter on had really been written into thew, and it was Louis who upon bing emperor had specifically modified thew to write his name in. He had stipted in thew that anyone who spoke Carnia''s name must address him deferentially and revere him, and anyone who insulted his name would be thrown in jail. And no one else in the empire was allowed to be named Carnia. But in this world, this matter was definitely impossible to happen again.


    "Royal brother! Your words are really ridiculous, when did you have the right to decide who is the saint?" Louis looked at Orede furiously.


    "Thew has more authority than the royal family, but the emperor''s power is greater than anyone''s. He has the right to appoint or remove all positions." Orede took out two decrees from an attendant''s box and threw one of them at Carnia''s feet. "This is the decree from Father removing you from the post as the head of the capital temple, and instead appointing Sylvie in charge of the capital temple. So now he is eligible to live in the room of the saint, and you are not.¡±


    Carnia stared in shock, quickly bending over to pick up the decree to look it over. It was clearly written on it that his position as the head of the capital temple had been revoked. The emperor''s seal on it proved that the decree was true and valid.


    The officials all exchanged nces, full of incredulity. Carnia was removed from his position as the head of the capital temple, such an important matter, the emperor actually did not announce it in front of the public or the ministers, but was announced by Orede at this time.


    "Impossible!" Louis snatched the decree from Carnia''s hand, staring hard at the words and seal on it.


    "Your Highness." A civil servant came forward. "For the position as the head of the capital temple, whether it''s being removed or appointed, it''s all very important. Since His Majesty has not made this public, it would be better to wait until we return to the capital to discuss it again, and still maintain the status quo now.¡±


    "Weren''t Louis and Carnia always telling me about thew just now?" Orede expressionlessly responded. "ording to thew, the emperor''s decreese into effect once they are issued, and even if it is to revoke a previous decree, that would have to wait for a new decree toe down to be effective.¡±


    The emperor and Orede had done this deliberately. If the matter were announced publicly, those officials who supported Louis would definitely cause all kinds of trouble, and the chaos would not allow for results for a long time. Now they were already on the road, and even if Louis and the rest went back now to the capital to protest to the emperor, Orede''s group would definitely not return. Then for the matter of negotiating with the demon n, Louis''s group would no longer have any right to participate.


    "Take off his holy robe." Oredemanded his attendants and said to Carnia, "From now on, you will no longer have the qualifications to wear this holy robe again.¡±


    Seeing Orede''s attendantse over, Louis immediately blocked in front of Carnia, "Who dares!¡±


    Orede made a gesture, and the soldiers immediately suppressed both Louis and his attendants.


    Even though Louis had also brought soldiers, no one had the courage to rush over to Orede, and could only stand still.


    Louis and those civil servants who supported him could only watch as Orede''s attendants forcibly removed Carnia''s holy robe.


    Carnia was trembling with anger. Not to mention all of the glory that he had enjoyed all these years, but even before that, he had never been subjected to such humiliation in public.


    Orede looked at the holy robe in his attendant''s hand. "Take this dirty robe and burn it. When we return to the capital, we will make a new one for Sylvie.¡±


    The little temple master was someone who was very good at observing the situation, and seeing that the entire matter had been handled by Orede with a couple words, he immediately walked to Jing Yang and said, "Please the sainte with me.¡±


    Jing Yang took off his outer robe and sat by the bed. Orede let his attendants all retreat and went to the bedside to sit down, hugging Jing Yang for a kiss.


    He pressed Jing Yang down on the bed, and the two people kissed for a while. Jing Yang held his shoulder and said, "Why did you have to announce this matter at this time? Didn''t we say that you would wait until we reached the border and then announce it? It doesn''t matter where I live.¡±


    "I just don''t want to see him living infort. If it weren''t for us wanting to keep him alive, I would long have gotten rid of him. I have countless methods of making him wish for death." Orede was so disgusted with Carnia that he had wanted to kill him when he had just left the temple.


    "Endure it a bit longer." Jing Yang stroked Orede''s face. "It''s very easy to kill him, and it will happen sooner orter, but if we don''t solve the demon king behind him, killing him will have much less meaning. We will use this opportunity to give the demons a devastating blow, which will at least allow the humans to live better for several hundred years.¡±


    Speaking of the demon king, Orede''s eyes changed. "This time if we don''t <strong>make him suffer a great loss</strong>, it will be difficult to eliminate the hatred in my heart!¡±


    ~


    Early the next morning, the diplomatic team continued to set off. After spending almost twenty days on the road, they finally reached the border.


    Orede had already not been to the border in five years. The closer he got, the more he felt the difference herepared to five years ago.


    Before he left the border to return to the capital, even though there would be asional wars with the demons at the border, the people''s lives were still quite good. The soldiers struggled to fight with the demons, using their own lives to protect the lives of the people, so the people living here were all full of hope, working hard to live. Even though the streets were not busy, they would still be very lively.


    But now, they had passed through several cities, and the closer they got to the border, the fewer people they saw on the streets, and all of the doors of the homes were tightly closed. They would asionally encounter one or two people outside their doors, but their faces were all filled with caution.


    After passing through two cities, the streets in front of them were suddenly full of demon magic. The dense ck fog made them unable to see the road in front of them, but they could hear that in the thick ck demon magic, there were many screams. The team could only stop.


    Carnia walked off his carriage and saw this scene, immediatelying forward to release his false holy light, so that the demon magic slowly dissipated. Looking at the people lying on the ground, Carnia quickly walked over and wanted to help one of them up, and also asked with concern, "Are you all right?¡±


    Carnia had been sullen the entire journey, and the anger that had umted in his heart the entire time was almost about to make him explode. Right now he urgently needed these people''s gratitude and respect to calm his mood, and he also wanted to let Orede and Jing Yang see that his position among the people was not so easy to rece.


    But after being rescued, these people did not even look at Carnia, covering their wounds and running away in panic. They left Carnia alone, stretching out his hands and squatting there very awkwardly.


    Orede''s expression was very ugly. He had long guessed that the situation in the border cities would not be great, but he had never thought that it was already so serious. He had fought the demons here for seven or eight years, and countless soldiers had sacrificed their lives here in exchange for that previous peace. But now the situation was simply like thousands of years ago, when the humans werepletely in a weak position and didn''t even have their own army, only being persecuted by the demons and powerless to fight back.


    Orede looked at Louis and asked furiously, "This is the result that you gave the people from your so-called peace treaty?¡±


    Louis''s expression was also not very good. He had changed the border defense position to his cousin, and had originally wanted him to mix in here for a few years, and then when he returned he could give him a proper name and position. But who knew that when the time came his cousin was also not willing to return to the capital, and said that staying here was better for him. He had thought that after the peace treaty between the humans and the demons, the border would be peaceful and calm, so that his cousin had been toofortable and wasn''t willing to go back. He didn''t think that he had actually concealed the real situation here from him.


    Carnia walked to Louis''s side to help him. "It must be because the great prince you killed the demonic beast, and caused the demons'' dissatisfaction, so they would retaliate.¡±


    "Huh!" Orede coldly snorted, looking at Carnia with a knife-like gaze. "You are very good at finding excuses, the demons would retaliate, then our soldiers are just for decoration?¡±


    Those civil servants also didn''t think that they would see this kind of situation, most of them wereing to the border for the first time in their lives, and it was also the first time they were experiencing the threat from the demon n. So in their hearts, they were surprised at the situation here, but also full of panic.


    The cities that were still some distance away from the border were already like this, then what those cities really on the border would be like, they already didn''t dare to imagine.


    Originally they still needed to pass through four more cities in order to reach the border between the humans and the demons, which was also the humans'' defensive position. But when they were still three cities away from the border, they saw that general in charge of the defense bring his soldiers to greet them.


    The general was a fat man with a greasy face, it was very clear that he was living very well here. He was in sharp contrast with the people, who were hungry and panicked. This person was Louis''s uncle''s son, <strong>Barron</strong>.


    "Your Highness, <strong>your highness the second prince</strong>." Barron saluted. "I heard the news that you have all arrived, so I came to wee you to the official residence.¡±


    "The official residence is still very far away, why did you run here to greet us?" Orede frowned.


    In front of Orede, Barron had never dared to raise his head. As long as he spoke to him, he almost trembled from fear. Even though he had not seen Orede for five years already, and he had thought that he had be a general already, then when he next saw him he wouldn''t be as scared as before. But when Orede had just opened his mouth and said a few words, his legs already couldn''t help shaking.


    "It''s, it''s like this your Highness." Barron lowered his head, his fat waist slightly bent. "Now the garrison is already stationed in this city, so the official residence is also built in this city.¡±


    "The garrison is stationed in this city?" Orede repeated his words, his face calm and dark. "So the other three cities, what is the situation now? Just thrown away and not caring about them?¡±


    "The other, three, three cities¡­" Not only did Barron''s legs tremble, but his voice also started shaking. "Because the demons were much more active in those three cities, in, in order to not conflict with them, we retreated to his city.¡±


    "So you''re saying that you just directly gave up those three cities to the demons?" Orede narrowed his eyes, and the sense of oppression in his voice made Barron even more unable to lift his head.


    "I, I did it in consideration of the peace between the humans and the demons, in order to not create unnecessary conflict¡­" Barron''s voice became lower and lower, and he became guiltier. In fact, he had received benefits from the demons, and only then directly gave those three cities to the demon n. Originally he had thought that Orede no longer had hope of inheriting the throne, so his cousin would be the emperorter. Then even if he knew that he did these things, as long as his father was in, he would have no worries. But he had never thought that Orede had not only cleared the demon magic but had also followed the diplomatic team here to the border. After receiving the news, he had panicked and didn''t sleep well for several nights.


    "Lead the way, go to the residence!" Orede felt that there was no need to waste his saliva on this person, looking at him as if he was a dead man.


    "Yes, yes." Barron saluted again. "Two Highnesses pleasee this way.¡±


    When Louis passed Barron, he viciously red at him, this <strong>useless</strong> idiot.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>keeper</strong> ¨C ÕƹÜ, basically like the person in charge of the temple, apparently keeper is used in "profane Greek" in this context


    [2] <strong>saint</strong> ¨C Ê¥Õß, means the holy one or the saint, I think it''s basically like a pope?


    [3] <strong>make him suffer a great loss</strong> ¨C ´óж°Ë¿é, literally trantion is like chopping off 8 chunks, basically means destroying him I thin


    [4] <strong>Barron</strong> ¨C °Í¡, pinyin ba long, everything trantes this to Baron but I don''t really want to use a position as a name


    [5] <strong>your highness the second prince</strong> ¨C ´óµîÏ£¬¶þµîÏÂ, I don''t know anything about royal address, what variation do you call the second prince?


    [6] <strong>useless</strong> ¨C ³Éʲ»×ã°ÜÊÂÓÐÓà, idiom, basically never does anything good but instead does everything bad<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10 am ¨C 11 am, for 4.1k characters to 2.8k words. Aren¡¯t some people disgusting.<hr>

 Chapter 74

    <strong>Chapter 74</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.7)</strong>


    The one who came to negotiate with them was an elder from the demon n. In his hand he held a skull wand, his slender and dark eyes swept through the crowd and finally stopped on Orede. "I heard that the great prince has already cleared out his demon magic, originally I did not believe it, but now I am half convinced.¡±


    "Whether you believe it or not does not matter to me. Let us directly get to the topic." Orede had already dealt with this demon elder before on the battlefield, and knew that he was quite difficult to handle.


    The demon elder let out a strange and unpleasantugh. "The great prince has really not changed a bit, it''s just that the two princes are both in, right now which one can make the decisions?¡±


    As soon as the demon elder came he first started to provoke their rtionship. Louis''s expression changed, he could understand the meaning of the demon elder''s words, that as long as Orede was there, he as the second prince would not have any voice.


    Orede instead did not pay attention to his words. "Who has the authority you are naturally very clear about in your heart, why pretend to be confused here. The people who had previouslye to an agreement with you, and the people who are now here to discuss with you, are all here. You just need to speak clearly, when does your demon n prepare to leave our cities.¡±


    The demon elder lost his smiling expression. "You killed our demon n''s demonic beast, how would youpensate us? I think that using those three cities to trade would be just right.¡±


    "Your demonic beast is not worth our humans'' three cities, not to mention that in these five years, your demon n has not brought less harm to our people. If we really want to calcte carefully, ten demonic beasts would not be enough." Orede had no intention to retreat, whenparing temperament or strength, he had never lost before.


    "It seems that you humans, or perhaps the great prince you yourself,pletely have no intention of maintaining peace with our demons!" The demon elder let go of his already very flimsy facade.


    Orede looked at him. "If it were based on my own intentions, I simply did not even have ns to negotiate with you. I will give you two days, after two days, my soldiers and I will make all the demons that appear in the humans cities vanishpletely.¡±


    "The great prince''s meaning, is to go to war?" The demon elder asked.


    "If you want to understand it that way, that''s not impossible. If the demons do not retreat, then the only choice will be to go to war.¡±


    "Do you all agree with him?" The demon elder looked at Louis and Carnia.


    Louis clenched his fists and did not respond. Even the news about losing three cities had not been sent back to the capital, even though Barron was an idiot, he still knew the severity of these matters, and used his father''s power to suppress the news. If he let the entire empire know about this, then when Louis was in charge of state affairs, his cousin directly giving three border cities to the demons would destroy his painstakingly created image. So those three cities had to be taken back, and he had to be the one to take them back.


    "It seems that we simply have no need to negotiate today." The demon elder stood up. "Did you think that the demons would be afraid of going to war with you!¡±


    "Then we will meet on the battlefield." Orede also stood up.


    The demon elder gloomily stared at Orede, moved to turn around and leave, but instead suddenly attacked Orede with his magic wand.


    Orede immediately pulled out his sword to resist, and the soldiers on both sides began to fight.


    The civil servants saw that the situation was not right, and quickly started avoiding the battle. Louis and Carnia alsopletely had no intention of meddling, just hiding and watching from the side. In their hearts, they even hoped that the demon elder could take care of Orede. That way, the main power could return to their hands.


    The demon elder had no way of winning against Orede just relying onbat power. He used his wand to release a lot of demon magic, wanting to use this demon magic to restrain Orede. He also wanted to use the demon gas to trigger the blood in Orede''s body. He simply did not believe that Orede had already cleared out the blood essence, no one could have ovee the power of the demon blood pearl.


    The thick and dark demon magic slowly permeated the entire room, only the demon n could see clearly through the magic. The humans were already basicallypletely blind.


    Just when the demon elder and the demon soldiers thought that they could start casually killing as they wanted, a bright light flickered and quickly grewrger. In just a moment, the demon magic in the room instantly andpletely vanished.


    The demon elder looked at Jing Yang, who had just released this light power, surprise shing through his eyes. Before he came, he had received news of a person with extremely strong light magic, and this person was still the previous saint''s grandson. He had originally thought that this was some fake news that the human royal family had deliberately let out, but he had never thought that this person really existed. He actually could use such a fast speed to clear out all of the demon magic that they had released, this person was really very powerful.


    The demon elder quickly turned his attack target to Jing Yang, using that magic wand to let out destructive demon magic toward Jing Yang. That demon magic formed the shape of a skull with an open mouth, rushing toward Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang calmly raised his hand, and just as the demon magic was about to devour his body, white light appeared on his palm. The light made that demon magic quickly and easily dissipate, just like some sort of fragile mist.


    The demon elder desperately tried to release demon magic, but the magic he released extended out less and less, while Jing Yang''s holy light was reaching farther and farther. When the holy lightpletely shrouded the skull on his wand, it let out a cracking noise. That skull broke into four fragments, scattered on the ground.


    The demon elder stared in shock, and before he had time to react, Orede had already rushed in front of him like lightning and pierced his body with a sword, ending his life.


    All of the demons werepletely eradicated, and those civil servants hiding in the back could onlye out one by one.


    Carnia saw that Jing Yang''s holy light was so powerful, and his jealousy eroded his heart. He stepped forward and said to Orede, "Your Highness, you have killed the demon elder and their soldiers, the demon king will definitely not let you off.¡±


    "I have killed countless demons and never worried about whether or not the demon king <strong>will let me go</strong>." Orede looked at those civil servants with contempt. "If you are afraid, you can just hide like you did just now. But you all better remember, my soldiers and I resisted the demons regardless of life or death, for the sake of bringing peace to the people, and not for those of you who only know how to sacrifice others to protect their own interests.¡±


    "War will only sacrifice more people." Carnia self-righteously said. "We worked hard to maintain peace with the demons so that our people will not have to suffer from the pain of war, so that our soldiers do not need to die on the battlefield.¡±


    "Your words sure sound quite nice." Jing Yang sarcastically smiled. "Who doesn''t know how to speak such <strong>grandiose </strong>words? If just saying those words can really allow the people to live a peaceful life, I can continue to say them day and night. But what is the reality? The so-called peace treaty you have drawn up with the demons has left the people living on the border subject to the humiliation of the demons, making them anxious and afraid to even leave their doors. The number of people who have been killed by demons in the past few years is dozens of times more than when we were fighting with the demons several years ago. This is what you call not having to suffer from the sorrows of war? This is the peace that you have brought to the people?¡±


    Carnia was left speechless by Jing Yang''s interrogation, <strong>bing furious</strong>. "What kind of thing are you, what qualifications do you have to speak to me?¡±


    Jing Yang raised his chin. "I am the saint, what kind of thing are you, and what qualifications do you have to express your opinion here?¡±


    Carnia had forgotten that he was already no longer the saint, and Jing Yang was. He couldn''t even speak from anger.


    "Louis." Orede nced at Louis and asked. "What kind of punishment do those who provoke or disrespect the saint receive?¡±


    Louis heard Orede''s question, and his expression grew increasingly ugly. He clenched his teeth and didn''t speak.


    Orede saw that he wasn''t speaking, and said to the attendant next to <strong>him</strong>. "You answer for him.¡±


    Letting an attendant speak in the ce of a prince was an immense insult to the prince''s majesty. Louis''s heart was filled with fury, but he still did not dare to speak.


    The attendant stepped forward and replied, "A person who provokes or disrespects the saint, depending on the severity of the circumstances, will be punished by whipping, ranging from ten to thirtyshes.¡±


    "Then fifteenshes ba." Orede waved to his soldiers. "Drag him down.¡±


    "Wait!" Louis spoke out to stop them. "He has not even held the saint ceremony, and is still not considered the saint!¡±


    "Thews of the empire did not stipte that a ceremony must be held to be considered a saint." Orede said. "Father''s decree has already been promulgated, do you want to disobey his orders? Or do you want to take his ce for the punishment? If you want to take his ce, I will personally satisfy you!¡±


    Princes defying the emperor''s orders was a huge disrespect, and a crime that Louis did not want to bear in any way. Of course he could not take the punishment for Carnia, for a prince, flogging was a matter of utter humiliation. And everyone knows that Orede was born with an almost divine power, being whipped by him a dozen times, even if you didn''t die you would be half dead.


    So when Orede again motioned to the soldiers to drag Carnia out, Louis did not stop them.


    "Your Highness! You can''t do this to me, you will regret it!" Carnia shouted.


    The soldiers tied Carnia to a post and beat him a wet whip. He could resist crying out from the first few whips, butter on, his screams grew louder and louder. The whip beating on him not only hurt his body, but also whipped his heart, making him feel endless humiliation.


    When Carnia was let down from the post, he was not injured enough to fall unconscious, but still could not stand up for quite a while.


    Louis quickly stepped forward to hug him up. "Carnia, are you all right?¡±


    The pain of the humiliation in Carnia''s heart was far worse than his physical pain. He vowed that everything that he had endured today, he would pay Orede back several times over!


    Those civil servants saw Carnia''s punishment, and even though they did not dare to plead for him because of Orede''s majesty, they were still extremely dissatisfied with Orede in their hearts. Now that Orede was inplete control of the initiative, Louis had no room to intervene, and if this continued to the end, there was no point of them being here. They had thought that as long as Carnia stood by Louis, they could cross the border to take control of the initiative. But it did not ur to them that Sylvie''s light power was several times stronger than they had imagined, and not in the least weaker than Carnia''s light power.


    Just as those civil servants were thinking about how to get Louis to seize the initiative, Jing Yang said to Orede, "Since Carnia feels that Your Highness''s conflict with the demons will hurt more people and soldiers, the second prince must share his views. Then it would be better for us to let the second prince go retrieve back those three cities upied by the demons, and see if they can do it without harming a single soldier."


    Orede looked at Jing Yang, a little confusion shing through his eyes.


    No one else thought that he would say such a thing, and looked at him in surprise.


    Just as they thought that Orede would not agree, Orede actually looked at Louis and said, "Then you go and try it, those three cities were lost when you were overseeing the state affairs, and it is reasonable for you to take them back.¡±


    "Royal brother is serious?" Louis looked at Orede in surprise.


    "When were my words ever not serious." Orede disdained.


    Jing Yang said, "But there is something that we have to say first. All of the consequences, you will have to bear by yourselves, don''t make the great prince go clean up after youter.¡±


    Louis''s eyes shed with a glint of sess. "As long as royal brother does not take the initiative to intervene, we will definitely not ask royal brother for help.¡±


    Carnia did not think that Jing Yang''s words would have such an influence on Orede, whatever he said was what, Orede not only did not object, but did not even ask for the reason,pletely showing an appearance of letting him do whatever he wanted. Carnia went insane with jealousy in this heart, but was also silently excited because of Jing Yang''s initiative to send the opportunity to his door.


    Carnia felt that with his demon magic, it would be no problem to recover the three cities upied by the demons with very little damage. Unfortunately, it was temporarily inconvenient for him to meet with the demon king, otherwise letting the demon king order for the demon soldiers to not put up too much resistance when they went to take back the three cities would really allow them to seed without harming a single soldier.


    But it didn''t matter, based on his tacit understanding with the demon king, after the demon king knew that he wanted to take back those three cities, he must know what to do.


    Carnia was full of confidence. He had already begun to imagine the scene of them taking back control of the initiative, and at that time, he must find the opportunity to kill off both Orede and Sylvie. No, he would first make them half dead, and then kill them after viciously torturing them.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>let me go</strong> ¨C ÉÆ°Õ¸ÊÐÝ, leaving some matter at that, being prepared to let go, willing to take things lying down


    [2] <strong>grandiose</strong> ¨C ¹ÚÃáÌûÊ, idiom, means high-sounding, dignified, pompous


    [3] <strong>bing furious</strong> ¨C ÄÕÐß³ÉÅ­, idiom, flying into a rage out of humiliation, being ashamed into anger


    [4] <strong>him</strong> ¨C unclear whether this is Orede¡¯s attendant or Louis¡¯s attendant, personally I would prefer Orede forcing one of Louis¡¯s attendants to speak out words that Louis is unwilling to say<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 3:30 pm ¨C 4 pm, 11 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4k characters to 2.6k words. I have found that I really can¡¯t trante in the afternoon, that just makes me drowsy and I end up writing nonsense. It¡¯s pretty funny actually.<hr>

 Chapter 75

    <strong>Chapter 75</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.8)</strong>


    Louis and Carnia brought soldiers to expel the demons from the cities. However, the demon soldiers were very resistant, and those soldiers stationed at the border by Barron had basically forgotten how to fight after years of Barron''s order not to resist.


    The first attempt at eviction failed, and Carnia felt that the demon king still didn''t know that it was him expelling the demons, so he wasn''t anxious.


    On the way back to his room, Carnia met Barron.


    As soon as Barron saw him, he immediately came forward, squinting at him. "Sai-, ah no, I heard that you are already no longer the saint, I really feel sorry about that. But after not seeing you for several years, you are still so good looking.¡±


    Carnia looked at Barron''s greasy face and fat figure, as well as his gaze toward himself, and only felt immense disgust. "Roll away!¡±


    Even though Barron had coveted Carnia for a very long time, he still knew his strength. Even if he was no longer the saint, under the second prince''s protection, Barron still didn''t dare to touch him.


    Carnia walked past Barron but suddenly stopped. His eyes turned in a circle, and he thought of an idea that he felt was very good.


    "Come over." Carnia turned and said to Barron.


    Barron''s eyes lit up and he immediately strode toward Carnia.


    "Not so close." Carnia frowned and took a step backward, turning his head to his attendant and saying, "You step away.¡±


    "I ask you." Carnia whispered to Barron. "How do you think the Sylvie next to the great prince looks?¡±


    "Very good looking! I feel likepared to you, he is even be¡­" Barron didn''t finish his words, when he saw Carnia''s expression instantly change, he changed his tone, "Even, even worse than you by just a little bit, but still very good looking.¡±


    "Then do you want to sleep with him?" Carnia looked at Barron vaguely.


    "I do, but what''s the use? I can''t even with you¡­" Barron smiled. "He is the great prince''s man, I have that mind but not the courage. If the great prince knew, he would kill me.¡±


    "Rest assured, I can guarantee that if he really did that kind of thing with you, he would definitely not tell the great prince." Carnia said with certainty. "He will definitely want to hide this matter, and then you would have <strong>seized his handle</strong> and could do whatever you want with him. Even if the great prince found out, he would also not kill you, because your father is currently the prime minister. It''s impossible for him to ignore your father''s position and directly kill you. After all, he is still not the emperor right now.¡±


    Barron was moved by Carnia''s words. "Then, then what can I do to get him¡­¡±


    Carnia half-covered his mouth with his hand and spoke to him in a very low voice.


    Barron also quietly responded to him, and then smiled very lewdly. "If this seeds, I must thank you properly!¡±


    Carnia smiled and turned, walking to Jing Yang''s room.


    There were many soldiers standing outside Jing Yang''s room. Carnia couldn''t directly go inside, standing outside for a while before finally seeing Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang did not ask what he was doing, just looking at him.


    "I have something to tell you about your grandfather." Carnia said.


    "Speak." Jing Yang said expressionlessly.


    "Are you sure you want to talk about it here?" Carnia turned to look at those soldiers. "It would be better for us to change a location.¡±


    Jing Yang was silent for a moment, but had already guessed what his intention was. "Wait for a while, I will change my clothes.¡±


    It didn''t take long for him toe back out from the room. He told the soldiers and attendants not to follow, and instead followed Carnia away by himself.


    They passed through a garden and came to a somewhat remote building. Carnia said, "There are some words that I think would be best to say alone, here there won''t be any people to bother us. Follow me in ba.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him, not speaking or moving.


    "What? You don''t dare?" Carnia smiled and said. "You are by yourself, I am by myself, are you still scared that I will do something to you? Are you sure you don''t want to know about some things from before your grandfather died?¡±


    Carnia pushed open the door and went inside first, Jing Yang followed behind him. This house didn''t look veryrge from outside, but it was quite long inside. Walking through the big hall and then through a very long corridor, they reached outside another room. Jing Yang turned and nced at the entrance that was already no longer in sight. In here, no matter how loud the sounds were, the people outside would not be able to hear, not to mention that there was no one outside.


    Carnia opened this second door, inside the room was beautifully furnished, and there was a quiterge bath. Jing Yang guessed that this was definitely the ce where Barron would enjoy himself, and he had already guessed Carnia''s purpose in bringing him here. Did he really think that everyone was a fool?


    Carnia looked at the teapot on the table and a glint shed across his eyes. He turned toward Jing Yang and said, "Sit, I will slowly tell you.¡±


    Jing Yang sat down at the table and watched Carnia pour two cups of tea. He ced one cup in front of him, while he himself held the other and first took a sip.


    "This tea is really quite good, why don''t you try it? I especially let people prepare the best tea." Carnia held his almost empty teacup.


    Jing Yang raised the teacup and drank it all in one go, and then ced it down. "Speak!¡±


    Carnia suppressed the excitement in his heart, trying not to show his glee. He smiled and said, "About your grandfather, before he died¡­¡±


    Jing Yang suddenly fell on the table. Carnia reached out and pushed at him, but he didn''t react at all.


    "You cane out." Carnia stood up.


    Barron walked out of a hidden door and looked at Carnia. Then he looked at Jing Yang sprawled on the table, and said full of smiles, "Sess?¡±


    "What''s so hard about it?" Carnia was very satisfied. "It was extremely simple for me, you can just rx and enjoy yourself. As long as you don''t say it, I will also not say it, I promise that he will not have the guts to speak about it either.¡±


    "Thank you thank you!" Barron continuously said. "In the future if you have anything I can help with, don''t hesitate to speak.¡±


    "You hurry up ba, when the great princees back, if he can''t find him, he will definitely send people everywhere to look for him." Carnia nced at him then turned and went out, helping him close the door.


    Barron rubbed his hands and walked close to Jing Yang. Looking at Jing Yang''s smooth and beautiful face, he reached out his fat and thick hand, and just as he wanted to touch, before he even got close, Jing Yang suddenly opened his eyes.


    Barron was startled. Before he could react, Jing Yang waved his hand and sprinkled a white powder all over his face.


    Barron inhaled arge amount of the powder from surprise, his two eyes continuously rolled around, but he didn''t faint or fall down, just slowly losing his sanity.


    Jing Yang stood up and looked at him with disdain, then opened the teapot on the table. There really was a hidden mechanism in it. They wanted to affect him with just this little drug? He would show these two men what a really powerful drug was.


    "Come." Jing Yang hooked his finger at Barron.


    Barron followed Jing Yang like a soulless puppet.


    Carnia waited at the door, feeling somewhat bored. He theny on the door to eavesdrop, but there was no sound inside. He felt that it was a little strange, and pushed open the door a bit to look inside, but still did not hear or see anything.


    Carnia walked straight in. It was very quiet inside, as if no one else was there but himself. Looking at the empty seats, he walked to the thick curtains with doubt, but heard nothing.


    He opened the curtains slightly. Carnia saw what seemed like someone lying on the bed, but there was only one person, and he was motionless. Looking at the size, it was apparently Barron rather than Sylvie.


    Carnia was very doubtful. He opened the curtain and walked over, standing next to the bed. Looking at Barron sleeping like a dead pig, he bent over and pped him hard. "Wake up!¡±


    Barron suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed Carnia''s hand, and pulled it hard. Turning his body, he pressed him under his body.


    "What are you doing? Let me go!" Carnia desperately struggled, but Barron pressed down on him like a fleshy mountain, and he couldn''t move him at all.


    Carnia was kissed on his face and neck by Barron, who seemed like he had gone mad. This made him feel utterly nauseated, but to add to his despair, Barron suddenly became endlessly powerful, ripping all of his clothes and trousers to shreds.


    "Ah!!!" Carnia screamed. "No! Don''t! Someonee save me!¡±


    Carnia hadpletely panicked. He didn''t know what to do, he could not push Barron away, and also couldn''t break his shackles. He could only watch with his eyes wide open as Barron invaded him.


    Carnia''s light power was actually demon magic, light power could only cure humans, not harm them. Even though demon magic could not only hurt humans but also demons, his demon magic had already been converted by the bone that the demon king had given him, and could affect humans'' bodies, but not directly kill them.


    Carnia was now extremely regretful, he should have also let the demon king give him a protective treasure. Even if he had to risk his identity being exposed, it would still be better than now.


    Barron was like an out-of-control beast, aggressively invading and ravaging Carnia. After a long time, Carnia could no longer endure, fainting.


    After a while, Barron also suddenly fainted.


    Jing Yang took off his hood and shook off his cloak. He looked at the two men on the bed and was disdainful. He had originally wanted to find a chance to remove that illusion bone from Carnia''s body, and since he had brought this opportunity to the door himself, why would he be polite?


    Jing Yang directly kicked Barron off from on top of Carnia. He turned Carnia over and took out a sharp knife and a long-prepared dog bone. He cut a hole in Carnia''s back and removed the illusion bone, then ced the dog bone inside. He finally used his light power to help him heal the wound so that it vanished without a trace. Even he himself would not feel like anything was wrong.


    After he finished everything, Jing Yang left. It took a very long time for Carnia to wake up.


    Carnia opened his eyes and only felt like his world was spinning. He didn''t know where he was or why he felt that way. After the dizziness passed, Carnia tried to sit up, and pain seized his entire body. He looked down at his body, and then the memories immediately crashed back into his mind. His eyes went wide, his breathing sped up.


    Turning to look at Barron still sleeping next to him, Carnia became even more furious. He was actually vited by this pig of a man! It waspletely unforgivable!


    Carnia trembled with anger. He jumped out of bed, pulled out the candle from the candlestick, and thrust the sharp point into Barron''s chest. He stabbed it in several times in a row, Barron''s blood sttered his entire body and face, sshing all over the bed and the floor.


    Carnia killed Barron, vented his anger, and then suddenly lost his strength and copsed on the ground. He covered his chest and wanted to cry but couldn''t cry out. As long as he thought that he had been vited by such a man, he wanted to vomit from disgust.


    After sitting on the ground for a while, Carnia suddenly came back to his senses. He couldn''t stay here any longer, he didn''t know how long he had been unconscious. If someone suddenly came over, he wouldn''t be able to exin.


    Carnia was looking for anything that could cover his body when the door was suddenly opened from outside, and a group of people quickly walked in.


    The curtain was opened, Louis leading in the front. He looked at Carnia covered in blood, sitting naked on the floor, and widened his eyes, immediately rushing over to hold him. "Carnia, are you hurt?¡±


    "I, I¡­" Carnia was flustered and had no idea how to exin.


    Orede and Jing Yang also slowly walked in, the soldiers had already surrounded the area. One of Orede''s subordinates went forward to check out Barron''s situation, and reported, "Your Highness, Barron is already dead.¡±


    Louis''s head snapped up. He looked at Barron''s body on his bed, his eyes full of shock. "What the hell is going on here?!¡±


    Carnia viciously red at Jing Yang. Even though he didn''t know how he did it, he knew that this matter definitely had something to do with him.


    Jing Yang did not avoid him at all, meeting his gaze.


    Louis saw Carnia ring at Jing Yang and said to him, "Carnia, tell the truth. Even if I have to stake my life, I will help you and Barron get justice.¡±


    Carnia''s eyes dodged around, how could he say that he had lured Sylvie here and originally wanted to let Barron rape him, but in the end he didn''t know what happened and he himself had been raped by the crazed Barron. Not only would people not believe him, but he would also have admitted that he had wanted to frame Sylvie, and the great prince would surely seize this point and punish him.


    "I, I¡­" Carnia leaned into Louis''s arms, his face full of sorrow. "It was Barron, he tricked me here and wanted to force himself on me. I wanted to escape and desperately struggled. He refused to let me go, so I lost control and killed him.¡±


    Carnia buried his face in Louis''s arms, crying very miserably.


    Once Louis heard that Barron wanted to force himself on Carnia, he looked down at the traces left on Carnia''s body. He immediately felt that Barron deserved it and hugged Carnia tofort him. "Don''t cry, it''s not your fault, we don''t me you.¡±


    Louis appeased Carnia, then suddenly remembered that it would not be easy to ount for this to his uncle once he returned to the capital. After all these years his uncle only had this one son, and spoiled him like a baby. If he knew that Carnia had killed Barron, he would definitely not let him go.


    Louis suddenly felt his head ache.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>seize his handle</strong> ¨C °Ñ±ú, have information that you can use to ckmail him<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10 am ¨C 11 am, for 4.3k characters to 2.6k words. This chapter¡­is pretty brutal.<hr>

 Chapter 76

    <strong>Chapter 76</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.9)</strong>


    Barron''s death at the border didn''t attract any attention, and even as his cousin, Louis didn''t have time to take care of this matter. Because the recovery of the three lost cities was already <strong>urgent</strong>.


    Just as Louis was preparing to continue to bring troops to expel the demons, the demons once again came to negotiate with them, but the location and method of the peace talks were to be determined by them.


    Those civil servants felt that this time the opportunity had finallye, and even said that since Orede had already stated that he would not intervene, he should abide by hismitment and not intervene under any circumstances. The first chance to negotiate for peace had already been ruined by him, and the second chance to negotiate should be given to Louis.


    Orede did not have any objection against Louis going to negotiate and reiterated hismitment not to meddle in their peace talks.


    Those civil servants were full of self-confidence and prepared to negotiate with Louis. They felt that as long as Carnia was there, even if the negotiations finally broke down, they could still safely retreat.


    Carnia had just been flogged a couple days ago, and then had been forced upon by Barron. But he still went with Louis to negotiate, acting as a <strong>source of inspiration</strong> and as a bodyguard. Even though Louis still did mind at least a little that he had had a rtionship with Barron, he was still extremely moved by his unceasing support no matter the situation.


    "Your body, can you hold on?" Louis looked at Carnia and asked with concern, he was worried that if the talks didn''t go well, they might need to start fighting.


    "Don''t worry about me, I can endure." Carnia showed a weak smile.


    "Thank you, Carnia." Louis held his hand.


    "There''s no need to thank me, these are all what I willingly do for you. As long as you can seed in the end, and still have me in your heart." Carnia said.


    "Rest assured!" Louis said with firm eyes. "I will never fail you!¡±


    "I believe you." Carnia slightly smiled.


    Louis set off with his team, this time the negotiations were not in a building, but on the street in one of the three lost cities. Both sides brought a lot of soldiers to prevent the situationst time of being wiped out from happening again.


    The content of the negotiations were still <strong>endlessly</strong> on the issue of the three cities. The demons refused to give up those three cities, and the humans also couldn''t let those three cities go. Both sides would not give in.


    If it were still under the previous circumstances, Louis felt that it was just three cities, so he could just let them go. But now Orede''s body had recovered, and the emperor was not as weak as he had been before. If now he gave up those three cities to the demons like this, he would have basicallypletely lost the chance topete with Orede.


    They had been standing under the sun for half a day but still failed to get any results. Carnia felt very confused, did the demon king not know that he hade? How could those demons still be so stubborn in front of them?


    Even though there were no results, at least they didn''t start fighting. Both sides decided to first go back to discuss, and then continue the talks tomorrow.


    Before both sides were about to retreat, the demon general said: "The negotiations can be taken slowly, but you must immediately give us back our demon elder.¡±


    The demons still did not know that their elder had already been killed by Orede, and thought that he had just been imprisoned.


    Louis''s face showed some uncontroble guilt. He exchanged nces with those civil servants and said to the demon general: "When our negotiationse to an end, we will naturally let him go.¡±


    "Our elder wouldn''t already have been killed by you ba?" The demon general saw Louis and those officials'' appearance and his heart tightened. He guessed that their elder might have already been murdered. They all knew how powerful that elder was, but there were always idents.


    Louis''s face was somewhat ugly. He still hadn''t figured out how to resolve the matter of the demon elder, and in his heart he deeply resented Orede for causing such a big trouble for him.


    "The negotiations will continue tomorrow, and any other matters will be said tomorrow." Louis turned his horse around and prepared to leave.


    "Stop!" The demon general yelled. "If you don''t bring our demon elder back, don''t even think about leaving!¡±


    The soldiers on both sides prepared to fight. When the demons started to release demon magic, Carnia raised his hand and prepared to release his light power to fight against the demon magic.


    Louis and those civil servants, as well as the soldiers, had thought that they would see the holy white light, but were all stunned when a ck cloud appeared in Carnia''s hand.


    Carnia looked at his palm in shock. Impossible, he must have seen wrong! As long as the illusion bone was still in his body, the demon magic he released would not show its real appearance.


    Carnia tried again, but he still released ck demon magic. He unwillingly tried several more times, but the demon magic still did not change into the appearance of light power.


    Louis and the rest did not understand what was going on and all looked at him incredulously. Even the demons were all stunned by this sudden transformation.


    Carnia''s head waspletely nk. He turned to look at Louis and the rest of the group, their expressions and gazes made him even more panicked.


    "Carnia, what the hell is going on here?" Louis asked with shock.


    "I, I don''t know¡­" Carnia didn''t know what excuse to make, he didn''t dare to meet Louis''s gaze, afraid that he could see the guilt in his eyes.


    "Escape first, quick!" Louis yelled. "Soldiers cover us!¡±


    Louis and the civil servants rushed to retreat, but Carnia sat motionless on his horse.


    Carnia thought in a panic, he couldn''t retreat with them, if he couldn''t exin the situation clearly when they went back, don''t mention the great prince not letting him go, even Louis would probably never protect him again.


    "Seize them all!" Carnia loudly called to the demons. "Hurry up! Grab them and take me to see the demon king!¡±


    "Carnia?!" Louis stared at Carnia in disbelief. He even thought that he had heard wrong.


    Even though the demon general did not understand what the hell was going on, he would not miss such a good opportunity.


    Without light power to resist the demon magic, the ck and dense demon gas very quickly enveloped all of the humans. The demon magic could not only block the humans'' sight, but also created a strong sense of suffocation. If they inhaled arge amount of demon magic, it was likely that they might die immediately.


    After the demon general seized Louis and those civil servants, they quickly retreated. With all of these human hostages in his hands, he could be considered to have done a great achievement.


    Everyone was taken to the demon temple. Louis kept staring at Carnia, hoping that he could give him an exnation, even if it was just a hint with his eyes. But Carnia had kept his head turned to the side, not daring to look at him.


    They waited in the demon temple for a long time when the demon king finally appeared in the temple.


    "<strong>Davis</strong>!" As soon as Carnia saw the demon king, he called his name and pounced over.


    "What''s the matter? Carnia." The demon king held him and asked.


    "Did you not know that I was already at the border?" Carnia looked up with grievance at the demon king.


    "Well¡­" After a moment''s silence, the demon king said, "I have been busytely, everything has been dealt with by the elders.¡±


    This demon king Davis was an especially lecherous demon king, he particrly liked young and beautiful people. Recently he had received a few very beautiful young people from the human race, and simply did not have the mind to care about other things. In any case, now they were just fighting over the three human cities, and not the demons'' three cities. This was not a big matter for him, so it had been left to the elders to handle.


    "Carnia! Originally you and the demon king were in cahoots, you have always been deceiving me! You actually lied to me!" Louis''s furious roar rang in the temple. Seeing Carnia closely embracing the demon king, if he still didn''t understand what was going on, his stupidity would really be beyond rescue.


    Those officials also didn''t know how to react. Carnia was actually together with the demon king, they had previously always been counting on Carnia''s light power to help Louis take the throne and bring them greater benefits. Now it seemed that it was all just a big joke.


    They had now been caught by the demons, they didn''t even know if they could survive back to the humans. Everything had been because of their trust in Carnia. Even if they all wanted to die from regret, they still couldn''t change the fact that they had been caught in Carnia and the demon king''s trap.


    "Is this the second prince of the human race?" The demon king looked at Louis and asked.


    "Yes, Your Majesty." The demon general who had brought them back replied respectfully. "This is the human race''s second prince, and these are the human race''s important officials.¡±


    "Carnia!" Louis ignored the demon king, only angrily questioning Carnia. "You said before that you only loved me, and said that you would definitely help me, were those all false?!¡±


    Carnia was bitter. If his demon magic had not been discovered, he would of course try to help Louis go against Orede, but now he had been discovered. Even if he couldn''t understand why it was like this, right now the only one who could protect him was the demon king. For his safety, he could only give up Louis.


    "Don''t speak nonsense!" Carnia gravely denied. "I have said that I would help you, but never said that I loved you. The person I love has always only been Davis, only him.¡±


    Louis looked at the demon king and then looked back at Carnia, his face twisted from fury. "When you held me and asked for more, when you cried out under my body, why did you never say that you loved him and not me?¡±


    "Shut up! I never did those things, don''t try to nder me, Davis will not be tricked by you!" Carnia scolded Louis self-righteously, then turned to hug the demon king, pitifully saying, "Davis, don''t believe his words, I didn''t, I really didn''t.¡±


    "Originally this is who you really are!" Louis''s eyes were already bloodshot. "You really are the scourge of our people like the former saint said, you will bring greater disaster to our people. If I had known earlier, I should not have saved you from the temple, but should have killed you, I should have cut you into pieces, and would have been a great boon for the human race!¡±


    Carnia closed his eyes. Louis saying such harsh words, it was impossible for him to not feel ufortable. After all, when the two people had been so close and intimate, he had also truly been moved.


    "I don''t want to see them." Carnia said to the demon king. "Quickly take them away.¡±


    "Take them down and properly ''entertain'' them." The demon king emphasized the word ''entertain.¡¯


    "Carnia! You will get your retribution! My royal brother will definitely never let you go, he wille and kill you!" Louis yelled and was dragged out by the demon soldiers.


    The demon king''s indifferent appearance was not because he believed Carnia didn''t do those things, but because he wouldn''t care even if he did. He had made a contract with Carnia just because he wanted to use him to utterly destroy the human race. If for Carnia to do this more conveniently he had a rtionship with Louis, hepletely did not care.


    Louis and those officials were taken to the demons'' cells, where they were tortured for two or three days in a row and were already half dead. But the demon king had decreed that they still needed to use them as hostages, so they temporarily couldn''t let them die.


    Not only did they suffer physical torture, but they also suffered spiritual torture. Everything was because they had trusted Carnia, and they had regretted until their intestines had turned green. Now the only thing they could hope for was that Orede could disregard their former enmity and save them.


    Carnia returned to the demon king''s side and very quickly found that there were again new people around the demon king. Even though he was jealous and angry, he was very clear that he could not be unreasonable or <strong>cause a scene</strong>, that would only make the demon king annoyed with him. He had to endure and even let the demon king always feel interested in him. When the demon king was tired of those people, he would be the final winner.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>urgent</strong> ¨C ÆÈÔÚü½Þ, idiom, literally means pressing in on one''s eyshes, basically imminent


    [2] <strong>source of inspiration</strong> ¨C Ç¿ÐļÁ, is actually a cardiac stimnt


    [3] <strong>endlessly</strong> ¨C ÕùÖ´²»ÏÂ, basically means to quarrel endlessly


    [4] <strong>Davis</strong> ¨C ´÷ά˹, pinyin dai wei si, not exactly the most devilish name


    [5] <strong>cause a scene</strong> ¨C ÎÞÀíÈ¡ÄÖ, idiom, means to make trouble without reason<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10 am ¨C 11 am, for 3.7k characters for 2.3k words. The reveal. This was a rtively short chapter.<hr>

 Chapter 77

    <strong>Chapter 77</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.10)</strong>


    When Louis and the officials were captured, Orede had a legitimate reason to send out troops. In only two days, he had taken back the three cities upied by the demons.


    The demon king personally brought his soldiers to confront Orede, and Louis and those civil servants were brought as hostages in front of the demons'' army.


    "Orede, your luck is really good, you were hurt by my demon blood bead and were actually still able to recoverpletely." The demon king looked at Orede from afar. Even though he had heard that Orede had already cleared out the demon gaspletely, but when he saw with his own eyes that he had fully returned to normal, he was still somewhat shocked.


    "My luck is truly good." Orede looked at the demon king with pride. "So you will start to be out of luck.¡±


    "Huh!" The demon king disdainfully sneered. "Your arrogant attitude has really not changed a bit. You shouldn''t have already forgotten that you have lost in my hands?¡±


    "I''ve only lost to you once, but you have lost to me many times. You wouldn''t have been living toofortably these past few years and forgotten how big a price you paid to finally make me lose to you?" Orede smiled coldly. "Can your demon blood bead still be used?¡±


    Orede''s words were as sharp as the sword in his hand, viciously stabbing the demon king''s heart. In order to deal with Orede and Sylvie''s grandfather, the demon king had used up all three blood drops on the demon blood bead, only to let Sylvie''s grandfather die on the battlefield and leave Orede seriously injured.


    The blood in the demon blood bead had been exhausted, which had not only seriously damaged his own magic power, but also affected the magic power of the entire demon n. He had thought that letting the humans lose a war god and a saint, only leaving a second prince without any power and a new saint that was his own person, would make exhausting the demon blood bead''s power worth it.


    The destructions of the humans was themon wish of the demons of all generations. If he couldplete this wish in his generation, he could be the legend of the demon n, and be the most admired demon king of the demon n. But hepletely did not think that in only five years Orede coulde back here again, and even had the support of an even stronger saint. Everything that he had done before, was equivalent to having been done in vain.


    "We don''t need to be so concerned about matters of the past." The demon king was about to vomit blood from anger, but he forcefully swallowed it down. He maintained his calm and said, "Let''s talk about the matter in front of us.¡±


    "What do you want to discuss, and how?" Orede asked indifferently.


    "Of course it''s about these hostages." The demon king said. "Aren''t you going to save these people? If they all die in our hands, it won''t be easy for you to ount for them when you go back ba?¡±


    "What do you want?" Orede coldly nced at those people controlled by the demons.


    "Ten cities!" The demon king opened his mouth in what he thought was a very assertive manner. "For all of their lives, and we will not hold you ountable for killing our demon elder.¡±


    "Use these people to exchange for ten cities? You really dare to speak." Orede said sarcastically.


    "How? You don''t want to?" The demon king narrowed his eyes.


    "Don''t mention ten cities, I will not exchange even a single city with you. These people are not worth me using the people living in the cities to exchange." Orede said.


    The demon king coldly smiled. "Then I can only use their lives to start this battle.¡±


    "Your Highness! Your Highness save us! Save us!¡±


    "Your Highness! We know our mistake, you can''t just not save us ah!¡±


    "Your Highness! We were wrong! We were wrong! We will repent, please give us another chance, save us!¡±


    Those civil servants cried out desperately at Orede to save them. They had been tortured almost to death for two days by the demons. These people had never suffered such hardships since birth, and they originally hoped that Orede could save them. But now, seeing that Orede had no intention at all of saving them, they immediately <strong>copsed</strong>.


    "Royal brother!" Louis shouted. "Carnia is together with the demon king, they colluded to destroy the humans. I was wrong before. If I can''t personally avenge myself, you must kill Carnia and avenge everyone who died because of him!¡±


    Carnia was riding on a horse behind the demon king, and he was ufortable and disconste when he heard Louis saying this. He knew that Louis definitely hated him to death right now, he also didn''t want to hurt him, but there was no other way. In order to protect himself, he could only sacrifice him.


    "Have you considered it properly?" The demon king asked Orede. "Are you going to let them live or die?¡±


    Orede pulled out his sword and raised it high. In the moment he pointed his sword at the demon king, the human soldiers charged toward the demon soldiers.


    The demon king did not think that Orede would suddenly attack and was caught a little off guard, quickly ordering the demon soldiers to also rush up to fight. If the human soldiers reached them, they would be surrounded.


    The hostages Louis and the officials all wanted to escape in the chaos, but after Carnia found them, he let the soldiers drag them away.


    Louis viciously red at Carnia, as if he wanted to kill him with his eyes.


    The demon kingmanded the soldiers to assume formation and released demon magic to cover those soldiers rushing forward. Suddenly a light shed in his eyes, and he saw a bright light expanding, quicklying over to envelop them.


    The demon soldiers shrouded in the bright light not only could not release their demon magic, but their attack ability also immediately weakened greatly. After being exposed to the holy light for a long time, they would only feel their entire bodies covered in pain. They hadn''t even dealt with the human soldiers yet when they all fell to the ground one by one.


    The demon king wanted to look through the re of the holy light to see clearly the person releasing the holy light. Even though his generals had already warned him that this new human saint was quite powerful, many times more powerful than his predecessor, he didn''t expect that this new saint would be even stronger than he thought, and could actually make his soldiers useless. No wonder it only took Orede two days to take back the three cities the demons had upied. Originally this time he had really found a strong helper.


    The demon king was still in shock when Orede had already reached him. He frantically blocked Orede''s attack. When he wanted to release demon magic to strengthen his power, he finally found that even he could not release demon magic. Such a powerful light power, he had always thought that it would never exist.


    Under Orede''s attacks, the demon king spit out a mouthful of blood. He knew that he could not continue entangling him, or else he would be the first demon king to die on the battlefield. That would be an <strong>immense humiliation</strong>.


    Under the cover of the soldiers, the demon king quickly escaped, but even though he had escaped, the demon soldiers were all basically massacred. Besides the soldiers who had protected Carnia and the hostages in their retreat, all of the other soldiers were basically unable to return alive.


    ~


    After the troops returned to the city, Jing Yang first went back to his room to rest. He had originally thought that Orede woulde back quickly, but in the evening, when Jing Yang had already almost fallen asleep, he finally felt someone press up behind him and hold him.


    He smelled wine and opened his eyes in the dark. "Did you go to drink?¡±


    "En." Oredey his scalding face on Jing Yang''s cool skin to cool himself down. His own temperature didn''t fall, but instead made Jing Yang''s face also heat up. He kissed Jing Yang''s lips and said, "I have fought countless battles, and only today''s was the happiest. You must be the holy light the heavens had sent down for me, just like that holy light that came down thousands of years ago for the humans.¡±


    Jing Yang raised his hand and stroked his face. "I came here specifically to meet you ah.¡±


    Orede kissed Jing Yang, and his hand reached into his clothes to caress him.


    Five years of time was not very long, but also not short. He was not afraid of being tortured by the demon magic, but was afraid of not being able to see the hope he was waiting for. He didn''t know what kind of end he would wait for, whether he would not be able to support and die, or wait until the day the humans werepletely destroyed.


    He had thought of thousands of methods, and thought of thousands of possibilities, but the only thing he did not think of was that hope would suddenly appear in front of him. Thank God for notpletely abandoning the humans, thank God for sending him to his side. He not only eliminated his physical pain but also filled the emptiness in his heart. Ever since he stayed beside him, he finally experienced how it felt to be truly invincible.


    Not only him, but even his soldiers and subordinates. After five years of time, he had thought that theirbat skills would all be rusty, but he did not expect that he would be as strong as a<strong> heavenly soldier</strong>. Everything was because he was here.


    "En, en~" Jing Yang held the head buried in his chest and moaned lightly. While he was still barely sober, Jing Yang said, "I have something to discuss with you.¡±


    "Even important things will need to wait until tomorrow." Orede took off his pants and squeezed between his legs.


    ~


    After returning to the demon temple, if the demon king had not healed himself in a timely manner, he would have almost lost his magic power. How could a demon king without any demon magic still sit on the throne?


    Orede now had such a powerful helper that even his own demon magic could bepletely suppressed. He had to rethink his approach. The demon blood bead was now unusable, and face to face confrontation was definitely not possible. It seemed like he still needed to start from this new saint. The best way was just to kill him so that he could actually fight with Orede.


    The demon king was racking his brains to think of a way to deal with Jing Yang. But two dayster he received a report from the soldiers that the man himself hade to the door.


    At that time Carnia just happened to be by the demon king''s side. He told the demon king, "This person is very calcting, since he wille, there must be some kind of conspiracy. It is best not to let him in, lest you fall into his trap.¡±


    The demon king smiled disdainfully. "No matter how strong he is, in my own territory, what can he do? Those who possess the power of holy light will be suppressed as long as they enter the demon temple. Since he dares toe, why wouldn''t I dare to let him in? This is a very good chance to let him never return.¡±


    "Bring him to see me." The demon kingmanded. "Only allow him toe in alone. If he dares then he cane in, if he doesn''t dare¡­, use all your power to kill them.¡±


    The demon soldiers understood and soon brought Jing Yang alone to the demon temple.


    The demon king saw Jing Yang. He looked at his delicate face and beautiful skin, and his heart couldn''t help but move. He couldn''t see clearly in the battlefield, originally the person who had released such a strong light power was actually such a beauty. He was more beautiful than all of the human youths he had collected before, and much better looking than Carnia.


    "Your courage is really not small, you actually dare toe to my demon temple by yourself." The demon king had no way to show a vicious expression, but instead looked at Jing Yang with a smile on his face.


    "I''m here to make a deal with the demon king." Jing Yang said. "I think the demon king should not refuse an opportunity that sends itself to the door.¡±


    "A deal?" The demon king looked at him with doubt. "What kind of deal do you want to make with me?¡±


    Jing Yang nced at Carnia staying next to the demon king. "Just like the deal Carnia made with you. I am helping Orede for glory and wealth. If you can give me more than he can, I can also choose to help you.¡±


    "You are willing to help me?" Even though the demon king was moved by Jing Yang''s appearance, he still had his reason. He did not believe Jing Yang''s words. "You think that I will believe you?¡±


    "I even dare toe here alone, and my life or death are in your hands, why would you not believe?" Beforeing, Jing Yang had already used the system to raise his charm levels. He was fully confident in attracting the demon king. "If you are willing to cooperate with me, we can both do something that can show our sincerity.¡±


    "How do you want me to show my sincerity? And how are you going to show me your sincerity?" The demon king asked.


    "I can personally kill the second prince Louis, along with the officials you seized. You can also leave one or two of them alive as witnesses. That way I will have left a handle in your hands. And all you have to do is get rid of the contract with Carnia and make a contract with me. What do you think?"<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>copsed</strong> ¨C ÇéÐ÷±ÀÀ£, mentality wise, not physically


    [2] <strong>immense humiliation</strong> ¨C Ææ³Ü´óÈè, idiom, means extraordinary shame and humiliation


    [4] <strong>heavenly soldier</strong> ¨C Ìì½µÉñ±ø, kind of weird but basically someone with the strength of the heavens I''m assuming<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10 am ¨C 11 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.5k words. Sorry for the dy everyone. I can¡¯t guarantee that I won¡¯t have dys in the future, but I will try to finish thest few chapters of this arc.


    <strong>Edit:</strong> Sorry for the dy in posting this. Changing time zones confuses me when I schedule my posts.<hr>

 Chapter 78

    <strong>Chapter 78</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.11)</strong>


    Carnia red at Jing Yang, wanting to pounce over to scratch up his face. "Don''t be <strong>delusional</strong>, Davis will not be tricked by you!¡±


    Jing Yang ignored the furious Carnia, only looking at the demon king. "What do you think of my proposal?¡±


    The demon king looked at Jing Yang''s face, and could not look away no matter what, his original thought of wanting to kill him had disappeared without a trace. As long as he could have this person, he wanted to try any chance he could get. "You sincerely want to work with me?¡±


    "I''m already standing here, is that not sincere enough? When I make a contract with you, although I can receive your power, my life will be tied to yours. If something happens to you, I will also not be able to survive. What else do you have to worry about?" Jing Yang said.


    "What do you want to get from me?" The demon king asked. "What is there that Orede cannot give you, that I can give you?¡±


    "I want you to help me be the emperor of the humans." Jing Yang said with a greedy look in his eyes. "The lifespan of humans is not as long as the demons. While I am alive, you must let me be the emperor. After I die, the human n can be ruled by the demons.¡±


    "You want to be the emperor?" The demon king looked at him with some surprise.


    "In reality, I don''t care at all about whether or not other humans live or die. I don''t want to live a life pretending to be a good person." Jing Yang replied. "I want to experience what it feels like to have the supreme right to control everyone''s life and death.¡±


    The demon king pondered silently. The purpose that he said was reasonable, he could not find any ws. And like he said, once he made a contract with himself, he would be thest person who would want him to have an ident. If he could take this opportunity to not only seize the humans but also have this person, there could not be anything better. No matter how strong Orede was, as long as this person stood next to himself, he would also no longer be his opponent.


    Once he thought of how Orede would look when he found out, the demon king couldn''t contain his excitement. "Good! I agree!¡±


    "Davis!" Carnia looked at the demon king in disbelief. He did not think that Jing Yang could easily move the demon king with <strong>just a few words</strong>. "Don''t believe him! He is lying to you, he definitely has some sort of plot to want to harm you!¡±


    "Then now, you will lift the contract with Carnia and make a contract with me!" Jing Yang said.


    The demon king stood up and smiled. "Since you can''t wait, let''s do it now.¡±


    "Davis!" Carnia pounced over and held the demon king, with tears in his eyes. "Don''t trust him! Don''t trust him! He really wants to harm you!¡±


    The demon king pushed Carnia away. "I let you go destroy the humans, and what did you do besides getting together with Louis? Not only did you not achieve anything, but you even lost my treasured illusion bone!¡±


    "I didn''t, I didn''t!" Carnia shook his head frantically to deny it. "I only love you, and have only been with you. I was only ying with Louis, and wanted to deceive him so he would trust me.¡±


    Carnia crawled over to hold the demon king''s legs and pointed at Jing Yang. "The matter about the illusion bone must be rted to him. He must have stolen the illusion bone, believe me!¡±


    The demon king very impatiently kicked him away. "What you did in the humannds, do you really think that I don''t know? If you seeded, I would not have calcted ounts with you, but now you are just a useless waste, even if I keep you you will not y any role!¡±


    "Take him to the demon temple!" The demon kingmanded the soldiers on the side.


    "Davis! Please! Please! Don''t do this to me, I really really love you!" Carnia cried in tears to beg the demon king, but the demon king did not soften. He was dragged out of the temple by the soldiers, his cries gradually disappearing.


    The demon king looked at Jing Yang. "After you have made a contract with me, you must kill Louis and those officials yourself, as you said.¡±


    "Of crows!" Jing Yang said with certainty. "I will do what I say.¡±


    "Very good." The demon king smiled. "Then let''s go.¡±


    Jing Yang followed the demon king to the demon temple. Carnia''s hands and feet were tied together and he was lying on the ground. Because he was endlessly crying, his mouth was blocked. When he saw the demon king and Jing Yange in, he let out wu wu sounds, wanting to talk.


    Louis and the others were quickly brought it, or more urately, dragged in.


    The demon king had been injured by Orede, and the anger in his heart was difficult to appease. He temporarily could not deal with Orede, so he vented his anger by first torturing these people. Louis had been tortured the most severely, and his two legs were already basically wasted.


    Seeing the trapped Carnia on the ground, and then looking at Jing Yang standing there, Louis and the rest were very confused andpletely couldn''t understand what was going on.


    The demon king took out a knife from the high tform in the temple and walked toward Carnia.


    Carnia shook his head and tears kept flowing down. He never thought that the demon king would be so determined, and abandoned him just like that.


    The demon king sliced his knife on Carnia arm, and then sliced once on his own arm. Then he released his demon magic to take back all of the power that he had left in Carnia''s blood.


    Carnia was drenched in sweat from the pain. When he and the demon king had made the contract, he had only felt that he was filled with endless power, and had never forgotten that kind of feeling. He never thought that after the release of the contract and the power was withdrawn, he would suffer from such excruciating pain.


    His heart was filled with despair, sorrow, pain, and sadness, all kinds of emotions. The most was regret. If he had known that this would be the result, he should not have fled the light temple at the very beginning. If he hadn''t escaped, he would just be a normal human now. Maybe his life would be very ordinary, but at least it wouldn''t be this painful.


    Carnia remembered when he had just been brought back to the temple by Sylvie''s grandfather, a very kind old man. After he had followed him back to the temple, he had never gone hungry again. He let people teach him how to read and write, o teach him how to distinguish between right and wrong. In his times of pain, he had even personally released his light power to help him relieve the pain. He had never treated him badly because he would be very likely to bring disaster to the people.


    Sylvie was right. His grandfather might owe all of the humans, but the only one he did not owe anything was him.


    The contract with lifted, and Carniay on the ground lifelessly. Louis still didn''t understand what in the end was going on.


    "My contract with him has been terminated, now I can make a contract with you. Give me your hand." The demon king stretched his hand out to Jing Yang.


    Louis widened his eyes. He thought that he must have heard wrong, Sylvie actually was making a contract with the demon king. "Sylvie! What are you doing? You''re also going to betray the humans?!¡±


    Jing Yang looked down at the already crippled Louis, and then turned to the demon king. "Give the knife to me, I''ll do it myself.¡±


    The demon king smiled and handed the knife to Jing Yang. He took it and lowered it to his arm, quickly swiping once.


    The demon king stared at his arm. Just when he thought that bright red blood was going to flow out of that white arm, he suddenly felt pain in his chest, as if he had been pierced by something. He looked down, and a gleaming silver sword was pierced into his chest.


    Jing Yang retreated a few steps. That sword was immediately pulled out, and the demon king spewed out a mouthful a blood. He slowly turned his head and saw the man standing behind him, immediately staring. "Orede!¡±


    Besides Jing Yang, no one had seen clearly when Orede had appeared, and even more so no one knew how he had suddenly appeared here.


    Louis and the rest were all stunned.


    The demon soldiers immediately surrounded them, but because the demon king was injured and did notmand them, they didn''t dare to <strong>act lightly</strong>.


    As the demon king was turning to look at Orede, Jing Yang quickly stabbed the knife in his hand into his back, and his demon magic immediately started to release from his body.


    Orede gave Jing Yang a look, and Jing Yang quickly walked behind him.


    Blood endlessly dripped out of the demon king''s mouth, and he said in a somewhat vague voice, "It turns out, this was really, your plot. It''s funny, I actually believed it.¡±


    "That is because you are not only ipetent but also stupid." Orede said expressionlessly.


    Orede had been wearing the invisibility cloak and constantly following along next to Jing Yang. How could he let hime here by himself. This was the method that Jing Yang hade up with, and originally Orede did not agree, feeling that it was too dangerous. He didn''t want to make him take risks. But Jing Yang told him that he was absolutely certain that he could fool the demon king, and as long as they cooperated well enough at that time, they would definitely be able to seed.


    The demon king showed a twisted and malevolent smile. "You think that this can kill me? If it were anywhere else, I might have already died. But this is the demon temple, the demon magic of the demon ancestors can shelter me. Now, I must let you know what is called no return!¡±


    The demon king used thest amount of strength in his body, wanting to activate the demon magic left by the ancestors in the demon temple. The demon temple began shaking, and arge amount of demon magic rushed out of the ground, even lifting the roof.


    Jing Yang''s purpose was precisely to force him to use the demon ancestors'' power, and then he couldpletely end the demon n.


    Jing Yang used the system to raise his power to the highest, and then released his light power, which immediately cleared out the demon magic. But there was still a lot of demon magic beneath the ground, which was gradually but endlessly emerging.


    Jing Yang gathered his light magic, and shone it toward the sky. Suddenly, a huge column of light appeared, making people unable to tell whether it was shining down from the sky, or Jing Yang shining it up toward the sky.


    Such a scene had never appeared even in dreams, they could not even think of it in their fantasies. The demons only felt iparably pain, their bodies seeming to melt away.


    Yet Louis and the humans were staring openmouthed, shocked beyond return. Under the holy light, their physical pain seemed to ease, their entire bodies enveloped infort.


    Carnia looked up. Jing Yang was standing at the center of the holy light with his arms raised upward. That holy and iparably strong power seemed like only he alone would deserve it.


    The demon magic left by the demon ancestors was cleared cleanly. Jing Yang took back the holy light, but because he had overused his power, his body shook. Orede immediately held him and let him rest in his arms.


    The demon king''s magic power had been exhausted, hey on the ground lifelessly. He knew that everything had gone beyond rescue, whether it was him, or the entire demon n, this time they had beenpletely finished. Even the demon magic in the demon temple had been cleared, this new saint called Sylvie was too powerful, he was not his match. Without the demon temple, the demons could no longer be strong.


    The demon king looked at Orede and Jing Yang. He was unwilling, he still wanted to continue to live, but¡­unfortunately¡­


    The demon king''s body slowly dissipated into ashes, and the demon temple began to copse.


    The demon temple was veryrge, and the walls were very high. Running out now was certainly toote. Jing Yang againunched his holy light power, making the walls copse outward.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>delusional</strong> ¨C ³ÕÐÄÍýÏë, idiom, means getting carried away, wishful thinking


    [2] <strong>just a few words</strong> ¨C ÈýÑÔÁ½Óï, idiom, means expressing sinctly


    [3] <strong>act lightly</strong> ¨C Çá¾ÙÍý¶¯, idiom, means to act blindly without thinking<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 9 am ¨C 10 am, for 3.5k characters to 2.5k words. Time for a good old wrap up chapter and then that¡¯s the end of the arc!<hr>

 Chapter 79

    <strong>Chapter 79</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Legend of the Holy Light (Arc 6.12)</strong>


    When Orede''s subordinates saw from afar the holy light falling from the sky, they knew that they must have seeded.


    Even though they were very far away, the scene they could see had already shocked them enough. They thought in their hearts, such a strong holy light, only saint Sylvie would be able to achieve it. The saint was the savior of their people. The demons had always wanted to destroy the humans, but now they were faced with destruction by the humans. This was simply too satisfying.


    The soldiers quickly arrived at the demon temple, because on the way they basically did not encounter any demons to block them. They did encounter many demons who had copsed on the side of the road and had no strength to fight back.


    The demon temple had copsed, the demon king had already died. For all of the demons, their demon magic power had already been reduced to the lowest, so that they basically were no different from the humans who had no demon magic.


    Oredemanded the soldiers to take way all of the people who were still alive, whether they were civil servants, or Louis and Carnia. They would all be taken back to the capital, and then those who would be convicted would be, and those who would be punished would be.


    By the time they returned to the capital, the emperor was already almost unable to hold on anymore. But when the emperor heard that Orede had not only killed the demon king, but had also basically destroyed the entire demon n, he was both pleased and relieved. He felt that he could now peacefully leave this world, so he told Jing Yang not to waste any more holy light to save him. Hey in bed and announced to all of the ministers that after he died, Orede would inherit the throne.


    After the emperor''s funeral, it was the session ceremony. Jing Yang watched him sit on the throne, and Orede met his gaze. In that moment, they only had each other in their eyes.


    On the night of the ceremony, in the big bed of the new emperor, two bodies were entangled together, using actions to express their love for each other.


    Orede kissed Jing Yang''s mouth. The two people felt as though even their souls were entangled together, and could clearly feel each other''s temperature.


    "Wu~ wu~" Jing Yang felt like he was about to suffocate, and couldn''t help but let out some sounds in protest.


    When Orede was finally willing to end, Jing Yang was already paralyzed and could not move a finger. He could only weakly say, "Thirsty, water¡­¡±


    Orede got out of bed and poured a ss of water. Aftering back, he held Jing Yang in his arms, feeding him the water mouth to mouth.


    Jing Yang leaned on his strong and muscr chest. It took half a day before he could regain his strength, and heined, "This is the celebration you mentioned? Are you trying to kill me?¡±


    Jing Yang originally was unwilling toe to his bedroom today. Orede had just be the emperor today, he was worried that if the ministers knew, it would have a bad impact. But Orede said that he had to celebrate with him, and if they missed tonight, he would regret it for the rest of his life. So Jing Yang was tricked over here, and as soon as he entered the door he was hugged and kissed. They kissed and kissed until he was kissed onto the bed, and then he was very cleanly and smoothly stripped and pressed down. Once he was pressed down itsted several hours.


    Orede put down the ss of water and caressed his back. "I want you to be my queen, and then you will be able to live here with me in an aboveboard manner.¡±


    "Are you crazy?" Jing Yang stared at him. "I am male, how can I be your queen? The ministers would not agree even if they died.¡±


    "I naturally have ways to make them agree." Orede looked at him. "But I will have to let you wait for a little longer. Once I sit steadily on the throne and take back all the rights I should receive.¡±


    Jing Yang lowered his eyes and was silent for a while, then raised his head and stroked his face. "But I can''t give you an heir, and I will definitely not endure you finding another woman to give you one.¡±


    "I only want you, I will not go find anyone else." Orede''s tone was very firm. "Even though Louis''s legs are disabled, he can still have children. Later we will force him to have one, and then we can take him back to take care of him ourselves.¡±


    Jing Yang sympathized with Louis for a second, but this was really a very good way. He replied, "Good, but it''s best not to let him know that the child is his, lest he start thinking of some things he shouldn''t.¡±


    Even though Louis was basically not at all a threat anymore, they still couldn''t not defend against him. What needed to be prevented should be prevented, because a person with evil in their heart might at some time ignite the sinister thoughts in their heart. Even if they couldn''t do anything harmful, they could still do some disgusting things.


    "Rest assured, even if he has some messy thoughts, he doesn''t have the ability." Orede kissed his mouth. "Let alone that now all of his mind is devoted to torturing Carnia, and he simply doesn''t think of anything else.¡±


    Orede had already figured out what to do, and he definitely would not let Louis have any other improper thoughts.


    After Orede became the emperor, the first thing he did was to clean up those ministers during the period of Louis''s administration who had upied important official positions because of their support of Louis, but had no actual ability. Those who had not made any mistakes were dismissed, and those who did were convicted.


    Orede estimated that it would still take a while of nning in order to let Jing Yang be the queen. Before he became the queen, he would first help him hold a grand ceremony to be the saint.


    ~


    Carnia''s guard came to deliver his meal. He ced the food tray in front of him and said, "Today is the ceremony for the new saint, and His Majesty has ordered the entire empire to celebrate. Even a person like you can eat such a good meal. You should be grateful.¡±


    Another guard came over and said angrily, "Someone like him who colluded with the demon king and wanted to destroy the entire human race simply does not deserve to eat our humans'' food, we just should let him starve to death!¡±


    "Even if he doesn''t starve to death he won''t be alive much longer." The guard who had delivered the meal to Carnia stood up and said, "Every day being tortured by baron Louis like that, how long can hest?¡±


    Because of his many previous crimes, Louis had been deprived of his status as the son of the emperor and removed from the royal family. He no longer enjoyed the treatment of a prince and had been demoted to a baron. His legs had been wasted, his heart was already like ashes, whether or not he was a prince was already not important to him. Every day, he tortured Carnia to vent his anger, to prove that he still had meaning in his life.


    Carnia had no untouched skin on his body. Hey on the cold ground and opened his eyes when he heard the guards'' words. Looking at the food, which was much more delicious than usual, his eyes were sour and tears rolled down his face. Today was the ceremony for the new saint? No wonder Louis did not show up today. Orede was so good to Sylvie, his saint ceremony must be extremely grand? Yes, he even ordered the entire empire to celebrate together, how could it not be grand.


    When Carnia had first be the saint, because Orede had an ident, the emperor had copsed from the stimtion. His ceremony could not have been simpler. He had originally thought that after he helped Louis be the emperor he could help him host the grandest and most solemn saint ceremony. But he did not think that the end that he got would be like this. The demon king had died, Louis hated him to the bone but would not kill him. Every day he would use torturing him as the way to vent the hatred in his heart. Living was really no better than death, yet he could not die.


    The next day, Carnia habitually opened his eyes and looked at the door. The big door was opened from the outside, and sure enough Louis did appear on time today.


    Louis sat on a wooden wheelchair. His attendant pushed him to Carnia''s side, and then retreated to the side to wait.


    Louis bent over to grab Carnia''s hair and raised him up. He said with a distorted expression, "Yesterday was the new saint''s ceremony, I didn''te to torture you, you seemed to sleep quitefortably ah?¡±


    Carnia had already been numb. He stayed expressionless, looking down at the ground silently.


    "Slut! I let you collude with the demon king to harm me! I let you and the demon king want to use me to destroy the humans!" Louis threw him back to the ground, trembling from anger. He pointed at him and yelled, "Didn''t you only love the demon king, and only had him in your heart? You let hime save you ah! Let hime and save you ah! Ah!¡±


    Louis still hadn''t vented his anger, but Carnia had already been unable to endure any more. He no longer wanted to endure, he thought, rather than living in such <strong>indignity</strong>, it would better to just die. At least he could get a form of relief.


    Carnia used all his strength to hold up his body, clinging to Louis''s legs and begging him, "Please, give me a chance. I promise to truly repent and atone for everything I did before. If I can''t, looking at our past rtionship, kill me.¡±


    Louis pushed him away hard, viciously ring at him. "Looking at our past rtionship? What kind of face do you have to say these words, let me look at your previous <strong>fake love </strong>and trickery? Did you think like this when you let those demon soldiers take us away, when the demon king let his soldiers torture us, when the demon king ordered to destroy my two legs? Why didn''t you think about how well I treated you before?!¡±


    The fury in Louis''s heart simply could not be alleviated with just a few pleas for mercy from Carnia. His experience with the demons had destroyed not only his life but also all of his hopes. His legs were gone, his royal identity was gone, and that throne would never belong to him again. These were all caused by this person in front of him, how could he forgive him!


    Carnia was iparably desperate in his heart. He knew that Louis would definitely not forgive him, he now just wanted to beg for relief. He cried and pleaded, "Kill me! Please kill me!¡±


    "Kill you?" Louis''s face twisted, his eyes turning red. "Stop wishing! As long as I live, I will never let you die, and I will never let you live well!¡±


    Louis thought, he will spend his entire life in pain, how could he let the person who had caused his pain get relief. They would torture each other for a lifetime!


    ~


    Later, Orede drugged Louis and arranged for someone to carry his child, a matter that Louis had no idea of until he died. The woman was naturally voluntary, and after giving birth to the baby, she got what she wanted and quietly left the capital, never to return.


    Orede dered that this child was his eldest son and announced that he was born from him and his lover, but his lover had died in childbirth. Even though the ministers were afraid to doubt Orede, they still felt like it was strange. But after the child grew up and looked more and more simr to the emperor, it at least proved that he indeed had royal blood, so they had nothing to say.


    In this life, Jing Yang still enjoyed iparable pampering. Based on his experience in the past worlds, even though his lover was overbearing, possessive, and strong, but like himself, he was a dedicated person, and would never fall in love with anyone else. This made him feel at ease, no matter how he made it so that he could meet with himself in every world, with him apanying him, his life was no longer boring, no longer lonely. He even looked forward to endlessly cycling through the worlds, so that they could live together forever. And every world would be a new life, so he would not feel bored or tired of it.


    When Jing Yang''s spirit returned to the system, that strong and familiar power filled his entire soul. Because the power was too strong, it made him feel somewhat unbearable. At that moment, his soul felt like it was about to shatter, which was very painful and frightening. Fortunately, just like every previous time, the power only turned around in his body and was very quickly sucked away by the system. Jing Yang felt both inexplicable and relieved, because he had just really felt a sense of crisis.


    After the power was taken away, Jing Yang''s body was as if it had been hollowed out. He weaklyy in the system, finally regaining his strength after half a day.


    He knew that now no matter how he wanted to he would not get any answers. So he didn''t bother to spend time guessing, which would only make his thoughts chaotic and cause him vexation. For better or worse, everything that he could control he would fight to control. If the matters were out of his control, he could only follow what the heavens ordered.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>indignity</strong> ¨C ºÁÎÞ×ðÑÏ, basically meanscking dignity or honor


    [2] <strong>fake love</strong> ¨C ÐéÇé¼ÙÒâ, means false friendship or hypocritical show of affection<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Slightly less than an hour: 9:45 am ¨C 10:30 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.5k words. The arc is over everyone! This arc had a lot of plot and less romance, and the next arc will be the opposite. I actually enjoy it a lot. I¡¯ll see you all in around two weeks!<hr>

 Chapter 80

    <strong>Chapter 80</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.1)</strong>


    When Jing Yang woke up, he felt that his entire body was powerless and sore. He opened his eyes and found that he was lying on the floor, probably all night, or else his body would not be so sore.


    He crawled up from the ground and sat. Straightening his legs and rubbing his muddled head, he casually looked down, and immediately froze. These legs were quite long and straight, but what''s going on with this loose thigh flesh and the ring of fat around his waist?


    Jing Yang stood up and went to the bathroom, looking at his body in the mirror. He had been reborn so many times, yet the shape and condition of this body should be the worst it had ever been.


    He raised his hand and touched his face. Even though the features were quite good, the skin was rough and loose, and there were still dark circles under the eyes. This made this face look like it was a piece of high-end furniture that had been left out to sit too long and no one had taken care it. Thick dust had covered his original beautiful appearance.


    Not to mention the body. The height ratios could be said to be perfect, and even though he couldn''t be called fat, there were absolutely no muscles anywhere on his body. It seemed like it had been at least three years of no exercise or maintenance.


    Such a good foundation, but it had been spoiled to such a decadent extent by the original owner. He must have suffered some great blow in order to have lost his confidence in life and in himself, andpletely given up his own sense of self.


    Jing Yang took a simple shower and went back to the bedroom andy down. He activated the system''s memory retrieval function.


    The original owner''s name was <strong>Arthur Yang</strong>, a professional model. Or he should say, he used to be a professional model, because he had not received any work for three years.


    Arthur was born into an ordinary family, the kind that wasn''t rich but wasn''t worried about food or livelihood. When he was a teenager, his parents died in an ident. With his hard work, as well as his outstanding appearance and figure, he was admitted into the world''s top international modeling institute.


    This is a technologically and culturally advanced futuristic world, in which people who appear on screen for any form of performance or disy are collectively referred to as models.


    Thepetition in the modeling industry is very intense, and all kinds of requirements for the model''s own body and abilities are also extremely high. But if you can be famous, not only would you have a certain social status and honor, but you could also make a lot of money.


    So there are countless people who want to enter this profession. Some do it for the fame and money, and some are like Arthur, they really like the profession. But no matter what reason they have to enter this line of work, wanting to be a top supermodel is very difficult.


    Models not only have to perform a variety of shows, but also need to disy a variety of different products. If you only had one kind of style, you would definitely not be able to seed. But if you want to express all kinds of styles to the pinnacle, that is an extremely difficult thing. In addition to needing to work hard to hone themselves, they still needed a certain degree of talent.


    Arthur was precisely this kind of both talented and hard-working person. In order to be a top model, he had endured a lot of suffering. But because of his love for the career, he was happy.


    Arthur had a very good friend since he was young called <strong>Conley</strong>. Conley had originally also prepared to enter the modeling profession, but had given up because he felt that the training was too hard. Heter went to a modeling agency and became an ordinary broker.


    After Arthur graduated from school, Conley came to him and told him that he wanted to set up a studio, and hoped that Arthur would be his first model.


    At school, Arthur already had a certain poprity. Of those extremely outstanding students, he could also be considered a more prominent presence, so he had many very goodpanies to choose from. But he and Conley were childhood friends, and the rtionship between the two people had been ambiguous for many years, but had never been <strong>punctured</strong>.


    Arthur was caught up in entanglement and hesitation. On the one hand, he was eager to help Conley, but a studio with only the two of them and no resources or funds wanting to seed, the hope was really too slim. If he entered a big famouspany, Arthur''s path to modeling would be a lot smoother, and his chances of bing a top model would be high, because he was good enough.


    In order to persuade him, Conley finally broke through the two people''s many years of ambiguous rtionship and confessed to him. And he said that with the two people working together, even though the process would be very difficult, but after sess, the victory would be even sweeter.


    Even though Arthur had good feelings for Conley, he actually had <strong>haphephobia</strong>. Only when he was practicing or at work, and his professionalism could make him forget himself, his thinking would reach another realm, and he coulde into natural contact with other people. But in private, anyone touching him would make him feel ufortable, including Conley. That''s why they had never been properly together after so many years of ambiguous behavior.


    Conley knew that he had this phobia. He said that they could ovee this difficulty together, and when the two people worked hard together they could deepen their feelings. When their feelings were deeper, he might not resist his touch anymore.


    After some consideration, Arthur agreed to Conley''s request. He felt that if he could not even ept Conley, who he had grown up with, in the end, he might not be able to touch anyone in his life. So he wanted to give it a try.


    That period of time was truly really hard. It took money to build a studio, and the propaganda and packaging took even more. Arthur had three houses, one left by his grandfather, one left by his parents, and one that his parents had prepared for him.


    He took all three homes to mortgage. The high interest rates almost forced him breathless, so no matter how low the price was, as long as he had work he would pick it up. Sometimes he simply could not earn any money, but he would take jobs that would make him lose money, just to expand hiswork and build his poprity.


    Every time he earned a tiny bit of money, he would first take it to pay off the loans, and then the rest of the money would be used for living expenses. On several asions, because he was too exhausted, he would faint once he finished his work.


    Arthur was enduring all the suffering and bitterness, then what was Conley doing? He was also doing his best to help Arthur promote, and trying to help him get a better job, so that they could achieve their goals, but he had no power. The only jobs that he could help Arthur get were ones that wouldn''t earn any money or build any poprity.


    Arthurter being able to achieve such a good result was because he had an insurmountable determination, and coupled with his strength and his luck being good enough, he finally became known.


    As Arthur''s poprity grew, their studio also became better and better, and Arthur was also able to get work with some big brands. Finally they paid off the loan and began to make money. Since they were starting to make money, they naturally also wanted to start training new people, so that they could make more money.


    Cultivating new people was something that really burned through money. Even if they came from a professional modeling school, they still had to specifically ask for teachers to help them continue training. With all kinds of expenses for the new people, the money flowed out like water, but the good thing was that they had cultivated two quite good people.


    Arthur and Conley''s physical contact had still not progressed. Arthur still couldn''t stand Conley touching himself, and could not even stand holding hands with him. But they were still very clear about their rtionship, and in a world where same-sex marriage was legal, Arthur had never hidden the fact that he already had a boyfriend. His rtionship with Conley had always been aboveboard, and the two would often attend various asions together.


    One of the neers they trained in the studio was called <strong>Dilumo</strong>. He also started to be somewhat popr, and became the focus of the studio''s cultivation. Arthur used his own poprity to do his best to help him promote, and used his contacts to help him get better jobs. Dilumo was young but still verypetitive. His poprity kept growing, and his achievements were getting better and better.


    It was only gradually that Arthur discovered that some jobs that were supposed to be his had been reced with Dilumo. He felt that it was strange, but Conley said to him that this was not only to better train the new people, but also to be able to reduce his burden, so that he would not be so tired.


    Arthur believed Conley''s words. He felt that this was also good, in any case the money had been earned by his own people. Those jobs were also not necessary for him, this way he could have more time to devote himself to more important jobs.


    Dilumo''s performance was bing more and more outstanding, and he was able to rece more and more of Arthur''s jobs. And Arthur? Just as he was about to be able to step into the ranks of the supermodels, and just as he was heading up to the pinnacle of the industry, he encountered a session of problems.


    Either there was a problem with the contract, a conflict with the business, or in his promotion videos, which should have shown his advantages, they not only did not exhibit them in the least, but also showed a bunch of messy pictures. In the live catwalk and filming, there would be frequent problems that were caused by his assistants and studio staff, and would ultimately end up on him.


    And then there were rumors that he was unprofessional, disrespectful, and other things. His reputation plummeted, and the poprity he had struggled to umte was greatly reduced. And he didn''t know when it started, but online a lot of people startedparing Dilumo with him. They made it like Dilumo <strong>was a heavenly being</strong>, and disparaged Arthur like he was <strong>worthless</strong>.


    This kind of brainwashing approach still had some effect. Many people started looking at him unfavorably, and followed in belittling and abusing him.


    Fan numbers and ratings are crucial to a model, and no bigpany would find a model with few fans to promote their products.


    Arthur sensed that everything was very likely to have something to do with the studio. He carefully recalled all of the clues that he could still remember, and thought of the person he was least willing to doubt.


    He did not immediately go to Conley to confront him, but observed him quietly until one day he caught Conley and Dilumo cheating and overheard their conversation. He finally knew that everything was their plot.


    Conley had been caught by him and immediately begged him to give him another chance. Arthur was very angry, if Conley liked Dilumo and had directly told him, he could allow it. But he hid and betrayed him, and he couldn''t forgive him for what he did behind his back to destroy him.


    Conley saw that Arthur was determined to part with him, so he put down his hand first. He deliberately leaked the news to a reporter of how difficult it was to handle Arthur. He had carefully helped him for so many years, and paid so much for him, but in the end he had still abandoned and broken up with him, and even chased him out of the studio.


    Conley seemed to have been harmed by Arthur, but privately he had already secretly transferred the studio''s property away, and the so-called studio was left with only a shell.


    Arthur was spurned by millions of people, and finally fell to the ground, all because he had trusted Conley too much. He had nowhere toin and nowhere to go. He wanted to expose Conley and Dilumo''s true face, and wanted to regain his innocence, but whether it was Conley transferring the studio''s funds or his affair with Dilumo, he had no evidence to prove it.


    Just as Arthur was in trouble, a reporter approached him, who had captured many intimate images of Conley and Dilumo together. He had also taken a picture of Arthur catching the two men cheating. He offered Arthur and Conley a high price at the same time, and whoever gave more money, he would sell the photographs to him. But he had an additional condition for Arthur, which was for Arthur to sleep with him for one night.


    Although the studio''s funds had been transferred by Conley, Arthur himself had a lot of savings. In order to be able to buy this evidence, as long as he could pay the money, he would definitely give it. But this condition of sleeping with him, it was impossible for him to agree.


    Finally the evidence was bought by Conley at a higher price, and they re-opened a studio with the money from Arthur''s studio. The neers in the former studio, in order to join Conley at their new studio, also came forward to smear Arthur. They made up things that didn''t happen and forcibly pushed them onto him.


    Arthur couldn''t get a job, and still had to endure widespread abuse. He had lost his faith in life. He stayed at home for three years, and for three years, he was endlessly decadent, and had almost be a waste.


    Jing Yang couldn''t help but sigh. The IQ of this original owner was really moving. Clearly it was such an inspirational life, but he had lived it into such a life of dog blood. But perhaps it was precisely because he was such a <strong>straightforward</strong> person and endlessly forged forward that regardless of the other foolishness, he was able to use only his own ability to achieve such good results.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Arthur Yang</strong> ¨C ÑÇɪ Ñî, ÑÇɪ is ya se but is a trantion for Arthur, just going with the pinyin forst name


    [2] <strong>Conley</strong> ¨C ¿µÀû, pinyin is kang li, MTL gives Conley


    [3] <strong>punctured</strong> ¨C ÓÐͱÆÆ×îºóÄÇÒ»ÕÅÖ½, literal trantion never broken thest piece of paper, basically they are ambiguous but never confessed or rified the rtionship


    [4] <strong>haphephobia</strong> ¨C ½Ó´¥ÕÏ°­Ö¢, basically a fear or extreme dislike of being touched


    [5] <strong>Dilumo</strong> ¨C µÏ¬Ī, straight up the pinyin, idk if one of these is supposed to be ast name or something


    [6] <strong>was a heavenly being</strong> ¨C ÌìÉÏÓеØÏÂÎÞµÄ, I''m assuming, basically he has all good things and no ws


    [7] <strong>worthless</strong> ¨C Ò»ÎIJ»Öµ, idiom, basically no use whatsoever


    [8] <strong>straightforward</strong> ¨C ºá³åֱײ, idiom, literally means bashing sideways and colliding straight on, means pushing through, shoving and bumping<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Slightly less than one hour: 10 am ¨C 11 am, for 4k characters to 2.6k words. First chapters of every arc are just too painful to trante, man. They¡¯re just depressing. Took less than an hour but felt like it was taking hours.<hr>

 Chapter 81

    <strong>Chapter 81</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.2)</strong>


    The first thing Jing Yang had to do was naturally to restore the condition of his body. He not only had to restore it, but also had to make it even more perfect than before. This wasn''t too hard for him. With exercise and theprehensive improvement from the system, he would be able to develop an absolutely perfect figure in one month by thetest.


    Arthur had basically not left his home for three years. The technology andwork in this world were very developed, and he couldpletely survive without going outside.


    Just a few days ago, news had suddenly appeared about him being photographed on the street. He had not gone out his door for three years, how could he have been photographed on the street. And in this era the pace of life was particrly fast, three years had passed, and Arthur had essentially disappeared, and had long since started being forgotten. Everything that had happened before had already be a thing of the past. So how could a reporter ambush for three years just to shoot him.


    All of this had been especially arranged by Dilumo. Even though three years had already passed, and he and Conley had pushed Arthur to the brink, he still had no intention of letting go of Arthur. He wanted to use Arthur to support himself, and recreate another wave of <strong>heat</strong>. The person pictured in the photo was simply not even Arthur, but someone whose figure and appearance had the slightest bit of simrity with his current state.


    Dilumo had arranged for people to ambush near Arthur''s house, but for three years they were still empty-handed because Arthur simply did not go out the door. Just a while ago, a delivery man had forgotten to close the outside gate when leaving, and Arthur, who hade out to pick up the package, had a vague back photographed, but this kind of picture could not be taken as news at all.


    So when the paparazzi described to Dilumo how Arthur approximately looked right now, Dilumo used all sorts of methods to find such a person with a slight simrity, and arranged this piece of news. Because he knew that Arthur did not dare toe out to rify, he was <strong>fearless</strong> in pushing this fake news.


    Dilumo was now very popr, and had already taken over the promoter and representative of many big brands. The news took Arthur''s somewhat deformed figure and contrasted it with Dilumo''s award-winning video clips asparison, bringing out those things that had happened three years ago as hype. The praise for Dilumo, the satire and mockery of Arthur, made Dilumo once again the hot item, and he received more jobs from brands.


    Even though that person was only a little like the current Arthur based on a side of the face, his physique was much worse than Arthur''s current physique. But just as Dilumo predicted, even if Arthur was used wrongly and humiliated again, he still had no way to prove his innocence right away. With his current physique, even if he went out to rify, he would only receive even more mockery.


    Arthur hated his own ineptitude, hated Conley and Dilumo''s vileness. He was tormented by these bitter and painful emotions and did not eat for several days. He fell to the ground in a trance and hit his head, so he was reced by Jing Yang.


    Dilumo had also predicted that Arthur would not be able to recover his body in a short time, and he really could not, but for Jing Yang this was very simple.


    Opening the door to the room with the gym equipment, Jing Yang removed all of the dust covers. He started his body conditioning while watching thetest news.


    The heat from fake Arthur being photographed had still not passed, and people online could still be seen discussing this matter. This was just as Jing Yang wanted, and now both he and Dilumo hoped that the heat from the news would not subside so quickly.


    Half a month passed, and now Jing Yang had basically recovered his body to the state it had been in three years ago. Now, he was going to further shape a more perfect body.


    The heat of discussion of him and Dilumo was already subsiding, and in an effort to bring it back up, Jing Yang posted a new <strong>status</strong> on Arthur''s profile, which had been untouched for three years. In the status, he used an animated video clip to satirize Dilumo and Conley for cheating.


    As soon as the status was sent out, it immediately attracted media attention. Dilumo felt like this move was exactly what he wanted, and immediately made it into a big fight. He held a press conference to exin that he only got together with Conley after he had been abandoned by Arthur, and hoped that Arthur would not vilify him.


    Dilumo''s fans were so distressed by the way he looked at the press conference that they were sad and angry, and began to leavements on Arthur''s profile.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªConley had already broken up with you when Dilumo got together with him. You dare to not be ashamed of those things you did, and then still nder others, isn''t this too shameless?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªYour current result is all the consequence of your own sins. Don''t try to smear other people, please let go of Conley and Dilumo.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªYou had already broken up, everyone should be handling their own matters, isn''t it good to let go of others? Don''t still keep <strong>clinging</strong>, okay?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªWith an ex like you, Conley was really unlucky. At the start you were crazy and wanted to break up, and even drove others out of the studio that they had worked hard to set up. Now other people have their own happiness with such difficulty, but even if you cannot bless them, you should at least have a little bit of conscience and not disturb them?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªPeople really can be shameless and there are no sins that cannot bemitted, in the end where did you get the face to nder other people''s love ah?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªCould it be that after breaking up with you, people can no longer be with others, or else it would be cheating? Are you sick? If you have the time pay more attention managing your own horizontally growing body ba!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªNeurotic ah, you! What are people like you doing alive in this world? Go to hell!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªPlease be clear, they only got together after Conley broke up with you. Even if you are jealous that they are living better than you, that is what you deserve, and is your consequence.


    Dilumo''s fans first left messages swearing on Arthur''s home page, and then ran to Dilumo''s home page tofort him that they would always support him and believe in him.


    Dilumo looked at these and was iparablyfortable. He felt that Arthur was truly too stupid, he had said three years ago that Dilumo was cheating with Conley but no one had believed it, because he could not take out the evidence. Saying it now, he would be even less likely to be believed. Since this person was so easy to use, if he did not properly make better use of him more thoroughly, even he would feel sorry for himself.


    ~


    One monthter, Jing Yang hadpletely perfected his body and was ready to make a promotional video and post it online.


    Promotional videos being well shot was something very rare. In general, big modelingpanies would have their own shooting crew, and smallerpanies would pay for a dedicated filmingpany to shoot them.


    The publicity images taken not onlypletely exhibit the model''s own advantages, but also show different styles and presentation ability.


    If your promotional video is good enough, not only could you attract a lot of fans, but you can also havepaniese to the door.


    Arthur had previously lost legions of fans because Conley had deliberately made his propaganda videos very bad, and adding on all sorts of ck rumors, when the matters finally happenedter, basically no one would help him speak. Everyone was spitting at him.


    Jing Yang naturally would not go find a filmingpany to help him shoot. That way wouldn''t allow him to achieve the effect that he wants, and any photographypany would not produce the same effect that he could create by himself.


    He bought some filming equipment online and then bought a lot ofyout equipment, ready to film the scene at home. Arthur lived in a single-family vi that he had bought after he had be famous. This vi was considered quiterge, butpared with a real filming space, there was still a certain gap. But this would not daunt Jing Yang. Even if the space was not big enough, he still had ways to make the best video.


    Every promotional video must have a theme, and they would show their skills based on this theme. But they also had to show the advantages of the model himself, rather than simply disying and selling their body. That way had been out of date for a long time.


    The theme Jing Yang was going to film was called crushing the stars, and would be filmed in the vi''s swimming pool. He arranged the pool, and at night, it seemed like a star-studded gxy, very dreamy and beautiful.


    He did some movements on the edge of the pool and in the water, then edited it himself and added some music heposed himself. Oncepleted, it was posted anonymously to several modeling promotional video sites online.


    The first thing in the video was a pair of tight slender legs. After that pair of legs stood still next to the water, the lens slowly spun up to the back. The white shirt slid down the shoulders to the ground, and the muscles on the back and the arms were perfectly carved, slightly more would be too much, and slightly less would be too little.


    Those long legs stepped into the blue water, and the wind-blown water ripped. The person in the video sat down in the water, and the water rippled over the <strong>merman line</strong> hips. Everyone who had watched to here had long already not been able to move away their eyes, motionlessly staring at the screen, unwilling to miss even the tiniest detail.


    After posing properly, the water only covered up the part wearing underwear. The part above the waist and those slightly curled legs were outside the water. Seeing that body, countless men and women couldn''t help but start swallowing their saliva.


    Straight and slender fingers gathered some water in the palm. Those arms slowly stretched, and the water flowed down between the fingers, instantly spreading starlight in the water.


    Every brush of the water would light a group of starlight, and soon a milky gxy appeared. And that body sitting in the milky way sky was like it had been created by a god from the stars, perfect like it was not human.


    After Jing Yang''s arrangement and editing, it waspletely impossible to tell that it had been shot in the pool. Even though there were both close and farther shots, but in the entire video, Jing Yang''s face did not directly appear.


    Theizens were attracted by the body in the video, and the wonderful music made them even more immersed in it. Everyone watched like they were intoxicated, repeating it several times in the row, before finally realizing that they did not know who the model was.


    In just a few days, the number of clicks on this promotional video had already reached the scale of supermodels. Everyone was curious to death about who the model in the video was. There were also manyizens guessing that it would be their own idol, but over a few days, no model came forward to admit that this was their own video. So this attracted even more attention and spection, and the number of clicks quickly increased.


    Thements under the video, from the beginning of praise and exmation, changed into a variety of spection, and eventually devolved into a fan war.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªLook at those merman lines and chest muscle, it''s clear that this is our family''s Roger god okay?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªAre the eyes of the above blind? Roger''s pectoral muscles are so big, how could they be the perfect ratio of muscle in the video? Those straight long legs with not a single blemish, it can only be Bonn okay?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªBonn''s legs are very perfect, but his hips are basically t ba? Where are they as sexy as in the video?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI don''t care, no matter who he is, from today on he is my male god. Male god, male god, show us your face!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªCora male god, is that you? Is that you? The smooth lines on your back have revealed your identity, quickly admit it!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªThis bod simply had no defects ah, so perfect, it shouldn''t be Dilumo ba?


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªDilumo was all just being praised by the media, his figure is simply not perfect okay? My family''s Grant is the perfect one.


    The fans'' curiosity was exploding, but no one came forward to admit this person was them. So then many models'' fans went to leavements on their idols'' pages, hoping that they coulde forward to admit it, and then send out a full image with their face.


    Some models directly denied it, and some models chose to be silent and not respond, deliberately leaving the curiosity of the fans hanging. Only Dilumo made some ambiguous remarks, making his fans even more certain that this was him. They vowed to bet with other fans that this was Dilumo, and that he would soon release the full video.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>heat</strong> ¨C in this case just poprity/presence in the news


    [2] <strong>fearless</strong> ¨C ÓÐÊÑÎÞ¿Ö, basically secure in the knowledge that he has backing


    [3] <strong>status</strong> ¨C ¶¯Ì¬, so this means movement/development/trend, I''m assuming this is basically just a post?


    [4] <strong>clinging</strong> ¨C Òõ»ê²»É¢, idiom, literally means the soul of a deceased has not yet dispersed, basically his influence is still lingering


    [5] <strong>merman line</strong> ¨C ÈËÓãÏßС¸¹, basically v lines<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 9 am ¨C 10 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.4k words. It looks like my trantion extension still works for Google trante, but Microsoft trante is just better. Sad. Also tranting all of this stuff about the video is kinda weird lol, this arc is definitely going to be a fun time¡­<hr>

 Chapter 82

    <strong>Chapter 82</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.3)</strong>


    Ten dayster, both the views and the discussion of the crushed starlight promotional video had reached a dizzying height. Jing Yang then released a new promotional video, this time with the theme of a dark lost night.


    In a dreamscape garden filled with flowers, there was arge and luxurious bed. A man wearing <strong>baby blue</strong> silk pajamas threaded through the sea of flowers, his fingers brushing the fresh flower petals, slowly walking to the bed and lying down. His hand rested on his head, and his white legs were exposed outside his dressing gown. Just seeing part of his back view made people infatuated until they almost forgot to breathe.


    The breeze blew up the fallen petals, whichnded on the big bed and on the person lying there. The person on the bed turned over andy facing upward, petals falling onto those exposed thighs and chest. The lens slowly moved upward, and everyone who watched up to here all thought that they could finally see his face. They all held their breath in anticipation, but because the person in the lens had his face turned, they could only see a bit of his profile.


    All theizens were attracted by the mysterious and sexy images in the video, frantically clicking over and over again, their curiosity almost exploding. But just from this profile, he didn''t seem to look like any model or supermodel in the current modeling circle.


    This time the promotional video not only attracted a lot ofizens but also somepanies. But because he published these videos anonymously, thepanies looking for him could only leave ament for him under the video.


    Then Jing Yang released an email address, and even though he had already rified that this was a work email, besides many job offers, even more were emails thatizens had sent to him. There were some who said that they liked him, or some who hoped that he could reveal his face, some who wanted to send him gifts, every kind was there.


    Many models are weed because of the particr perfection of a certain part of their body, and there are very few models whose entire bodies are perfect. Companies not only valued the poprity of those two videos online, but were also very clear that such a perfect body was not at all easy to find. Even though the person in the video had not revealed his face, just looking at his side profile, his face would still be very good. As long as his face was not particrly ugly, such that no one could bear to see it, his perfect body would be enough to make up for his ordinary appearance.


    All thepanies felt that Jing Yang not exposing his face was either because he did not look good, or because he was apletely new person, and wanted to use this mystery to attract attention. But theizens still did really fall right in, hooked by him until their hearts and lungs itched. They felt that the probability of him beingpletely new was higher, such a good body, even if his face was ordinary, would long have been hot in the modeling world. So this was a good opportunity for them, the price for a new person would not be too high. Even if the price he wanted was a little high it wouldn''t matter, this kind of poprity and attention right now was worth it.


    Jing Yang opened his email and filtered out the mail from theizens. Of the job offer emails, not only did product promoters send over emails, but some modelingpanies also wanted to dig him up. But he had little interest in these, he naturally had his own purpose in publishing promotional videos in those two themes. In the mass of emails, he found an email from a certainpany and finally revealed a smile, because his goal had already been half achieved.


    ~


    Jing Yang hired two bodyguards and two assistants, and when everything was ready, he went to <strong>Lai Feng</strong> Perfume for an audition. Lai Feng was a perfume brand belonging to the <strong>Fernelea</strong>pany. The Fernelea group had more than 10 kinds of businesses including clothing, perfume, jewelry, and hotels, each of which were well-known big brands, and also all bigpanies ranked first or second in the world.


    Wearing sunsses, Jing Yang walked into the Lai Feng building, attracting a lot of attention along the way. But no one recognized him as Arthur Yang.


    After taking an elevator to the audition floor, he was immediately greeted by a staff member: "Hello sir, can I ask if you are here to audition?¡±


    Jing Yang took out his phone and showed her the email he received. After the staff confirmed it, she said, "Pleasee this way.¡±


    There were already models in the middle of their audition in the studio. At one side was a lounge area, where a lot of the currently popr models were sitting. Since they could receive an invitation from Lai Feng, of course they could not be some ordinary models. Jing Yang had been able to receive an invitation to auditionpletely because of those two promotional videos he had shot.


    Jing Yang walked into the lounge and casually found a seat to sit down. All of the models looked over at him, and some who were rtively familiar with each other had already started whispering. They were very puzzled, they seemed to have never seen this person before, but looking at this body, he would be a very strong opponent.


    Dilumo had always been staring at Jing Yang. He felt that he was familiar, and looked a lot like a certain person. The answer was clearly already in his mind, but it was like it was veiled, and he couldn''t see it clearly no matter how he thought.


    A staff member walked over and said to Jing Yang, "Sir, please let me see your information.¡±


    Jing Yang motioned for the assistant to give the information to the staff member. The staff member took it, and originally was just casually looking over it, but then was stunned. She used shocked eyes to look at Jing Yang, and then looked back at the information, and immediately ran to the perfume designer who was in charge of choosing models. She put the information in front of him, quickly said something to him, and then pointed at Jing Yang.


    <strong>Brolly</strong> was a well-known master in the perfume industry, and the chief perfume maker in Lai Feng. All masters had their own insistences and quirks, and he had very strict requirements for the model disying his perfumes. If he valued the model, and the model made him feel like it had to be him showing his perfume, he would not care whether or not they were famous, or what kind of past experiences they had.


    In fact, he had previously already gone through two rounds of auditions, and this time he had a set of five perfumes, and wanted to look for five different models to shoot the ads. Even though he already had some approximate candidates in his mind, after the performance of all of the models, there still had not been any who had made him feel like he had to have them.


    Until he saw the promotional video Jing Yang released, the theme of a dark lost night was simply perfectly in line with his main perfume, the Night series. The person in the image, whether in body shape or performance skills, was already on the level of a supermodel. He wanted to meet this man, but because he didn''t know who he was and didn''t have his contact information, he sent an email inviting him to audition in the name of Lai Feng.


    And now his assistant ced that man''s materials in front of him and told him that the man who hade was Arthur Yang, asking him if he wanted to allow him to continue the audition.


    Brolly was also very surprised, and nced at Jing Yang. Previously the news about Arthur Yang''s body deformation was made very loud, but the person sitting there waspletely different from the person who had been photographed before.


    Even though he felt like it was strange in his heart, Brolly still wanted to personally see his performance. He asked the assistant to arrange Jing Yang to audition.


    Jing Yang stood up and prepared to go change. A tall and upright figure came in, surrounded by a group of people.


    Brolly turned to look and immediately stood up to greet him. "Boss, how did you have time toe over today?¡±


    All of the sitting models stood up, very decently and respectfully standing to the side.


    Jing Yang saw the man and used the system to search for information about him. <strong>Regulus Fernelea</strong>, 30 something years old, and already the chairman of the Fernelea group. Even though this person was quite young, he was very intelligent, with maturity and means.


    "I heard that you were choosing models for the new products, so I came to see it on the way." Regulus sat down in Brolly''s original seat, and the assistant immediately moved over another chair and put it down next to him.


    "Does the boss want to personally choose?" Brolly asked.


    "I''m just looking, you can choose the people." Regulus said. "Let them continue, don''t pay attention to me. I''ll just sit here for a while and then leave.¡±


    Regulus dide to thepany along the way to see, but not to choose a model. He was not yet idle to that point. It was just that when he was walking into thepany, a man had been walking in front of him, and that back made him no longer able to move his gaze away after a random nce. He really wanted to know who this person who could attract his attention with simply a look at his back was, and his assistant told him that today thepany was choosing a new model, and that person was very likely one of the modelsing to audition.


    So he was sitting here now, waiting for the man to show up, to see if his front would appeal to him as much as his back.


    Brolly signaled to the assistant that they could continue.


    Jing Yang wore a dressing gown and walked onto the set. After the camera was turned on, he picked up the perfume and sprayed it twice in the air, and then let the silk robe fall back to his elbows, the perfume mistnding on his skin.


    The perfume was called Dark Night, and not a bit of information had been released to the public. Even the models who came to the audition didn''t know its name, and could only show the scene they imagined based on their own judgment of the fragrance.


    This perfume brought a hint of addicting cold fragrance, giving the feeling of nocturnal flowers and night dew, mysterious and sexy.


    Regulus looked intently at the person on set, his charming and sexy figure as if it had ignited a me in his heart. He felt that he was also someone who had seen countless people, what kind of good body had he not seen before? But he actually came across someone whose body would make his mouth dry.


    That face was really very exquisite, and the expression on his face was also very appropriate. He could make people feel his emotions, but wasn''t too exaggerated,pletely natural and moving.


    Brolly was also extremely satisfied with Jing Yang''s performance, hepletely expressed the feelings that he had ced into the perfume. After watching his performance, he felt like the other models'' auditions were just like garbage, tasteless and pitiful.


    Dilumo slowly widened his eyes, he simply did not dare to believe his eyes. He thought that he was hallucinating or had seen wrong, that person was actually Arthur Yang! How was that possible?! The person he had arranged clearly told him that Arthur Yang not only had body deformation but his face had also be ugly, but unfortunately at that moment he had turned around too fast, so he failed to get proper evidence.


    But the man in front of him had not a single bit of simrity with the person he had arranged. His body, his face, were clearly even better looking than three years ago, and his skin was even better and firmer.


    Dilumo clenched his fists tightly. He could not believe that the man in front of him was Arthur Yang himself, and must be a new man who looked a lot like him. Just a neer, he had tons of ways to deal with him! He would let him know how hard it was to walk down the modeling road.


    Jing Yang held a perfume bottle in his hand, resting his chin on the back of his hand. Waves rippled in his eyes, as if he had also been addicted to the smell of the perfume.


    After the camera was turned off, the staff nearby all spontaneously pped. Usually no one pped after a model audition, but they couldn''t help but want to apud to express their admiration.


    These staff at Lai Feng, what kind of scene had they not seen. They had all seen many of the top supermodels, but rarely could they experience such a stunning and amazing scene.


    "What''s his name?" Regulus asked after Jing Yang walked back into the dressing room.


    "He is Arthur Yang." Brolly said. "Even though there was a lot of unpleasant news about him before, I think¡­¡±


    "Just choose him." Regulus interrupted him. "Let him shoot the main product advertisement, and have him sign the contract today.¡±


    Brolly looked at Regulus with some surprise. He thought that after he knew Arthur Yang''s identity that he would object to him shooting thepany''s product. He was just thinking of persuading him to agree, and didn''t think that he would directly just choose Arthur Yang. But this was also good, he had been worried that he wouldn''t be able to convince this big boss, and that he would have had to miss this model who had made him immensely satisfied.


    Regulus left after watching Jing Yang''s audition, leaving behind a pile of disappointed models regretting why they weren''t auditioning when he came.


    After changing his clothes Jing Yang came back out, and the staff members directly invited him to the office and signed an advertising contract with him, so that he could directly start shooting tomorrow.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>baby blue</strong> ¨C ±¦À¶É«, I''m assuming based on ±¦ being baby and not treasure


    [2] <strong>Lai Feng</strong> ¨C À³·ãÏãË®¹«Ë¾, I''m just using pinyin here


    [3] <strong>Fernelea</strong> ¨C ì³ÄáÀÊ, pinyin fei ning, i searched through five pages ofst names starting with fer to randomly pick this one, we''re going with it


    [4] <strong>Brolly</strong> ¨C ²¼ÂåÀï, pinyin is bu luo li, based on MTL


    [5] <strong>Regulus Fernelea</strong> ¨C À×¹ÅÀÕ˹ì³ÄáÀÊ, pinyin lei gu le si, these names are so long<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over an hour: 9:20 am ¨C 10:30 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.6k words.<hr>

 Chapter 83

    <strong>Chapter 83</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.4)</strong>


    The five selected models, including Jing Yang, appeared in the studio the next day to shoot the perfume ad.


    Dilumo stood in the corner, viciously ring at Jing Yang. He did not think that this person actually really was Arthur Yang. A man who hadn''t gone out his door for three years, once he appeared, he immediately snatched away what should have belonged to him.


    Originally he had been determined to be the main model for this ad, after all he was the model with the highest poprity right now. But the Lai Fengpany actually signed Arthur Yang as the main product model. This was someone who he had previously stepped right down into the mud, what qualifications did he have to appear here? Let alone the fact that he was still the target of attack on the inte. The Lai Fengpany would certainly regret looking for him to shoot their advertisement, thepany would definitely instigate public uproar by using Arthur Yang.


    Dilumo coldly smiled. Right now he was no longer that neer in Arthur Yang''s studio, and Arthur Yang was not that once popr famous model. In that previous situation he was even able to get together with Conley and defeat him, not to mention in the current situation where they had now swapped roles. He would make him regret appearing once again in the limelight.


    Regulus again appeared in the studio, leaving those models all uncontrobly excited, trying to show off their best appearance in an attempt to get his attention. Dilumo also raised his chest and tilted his head, adopting the posture that he thought could best show off his figure.


    Only Jing Yang sat to the side and closed his eyes, going over in his mind the movements that would be filmedter.


    The director called the models to prepare, and the other four models first went up to shoot. Jing Yang was going to be shooting the main product, which had more individual shots, so it would be filmedter.


    Regulus sat to the side. He seemed to be watching the filming process, but in fact his attention was not at all on the models being photographed, his eyes ncing over at Jing Yang from time to time. Seeing that Jing Yang was keeping his eyes closed the entire time, he simply found an angle where other people couldn''t see his face, and directly looked at him.


    The filming over there didn''t seem to be going very well. After the director finished filming, he let Brolly look over it. Brolly kept frowning and shaking his head, this was not the effect that he wanted.


    Regulus looked at the time. He didn''t have that much time to spend sitting here, so he let his assistant inform the director and Brolly to first finish filming Jing Yang''s part.


    Regulus changed to a position with a good line of sight and watched as Jing Yang walked onto the arranged set, skillfully and smoothly making various movements and postures. He was sometimes mysterious and cold, sometimes sexy and seductive, entirely in line with the mood that this main perfume wanted to exude.


    Originally there were three cameras filming, and then the director had the cameraman bring out the three other spare cameras at the same time. He used six cameras to shoot, not wanting to let go of any angle.


    The other three models went to sit and rest, and only Dilumo stood to the side with his arms crossed, staring at Jing Yang. Even though he was trying hard to find a ce where he was not doing well, whether from a professional or ayman standpoint, his performance was too perfect. He had already not picked up any work for three years, but he actually could perform even better than before, how on earth did he do it?


    Dilumo was angry and jealous in his heart. He clearly was already way beyond this person, and it had been so hard for him to finally get to this point. He definitely could not be beaten by this person.


    As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, without waiting for the director to call him over, Brolly rushed over to watch the screen.


    "Look, this angle, and this angle, it''s simply perfect!" The director eximed. "Every shot can be used, if you aren''t even satisfied with this, I really can''t shoot anything better than this.¡±


    "Satisfied satisfied!" Brolly nodded continuously. "Show me all the other angles, do you think if we cut it like this¡­¡±


    Brolly and the director were already starting to discuss the question of how to cut the video. The assistant came to ask whether or not they needed another try or to make up any scenes, but the director said, "These shots are enough, each shot is very good. If we shoot any more we might have to extend the advertising length. Let him go back to rest, if there are any problemster then we will let him know.¡±


    Jing Yang was notified that his part had already ended and he went to the dressing room to change his clothes, preparing to leave.


    When he came out of the dressing room, he almost collided with a man. He took a step back and looked up at the man, saying, "My apologies, are you going in?¡±


    "I''m not going in, I''m waiting for you." Regulus looked at him and said.


    "Waiting for me?" Jing Yang was preparing to go around him but doubtfully asked, "Is there a matter?¡±


    "If you have time now, I would like to invite you to dinner." Regulus invited him very directly.


    Jing Yang was somewhat surprised. After thinking very quickly for two seconds, he looked up into his eyes for a moment. That was a pair of very deep eyes, and Jing Yang felt like he had the illusion of being immersed in them. But that familiar heartbeat did not appear, so he simply refused. "I''m very sorry Mr. Fernelea, I don''t have the time now to have a meal with you. I have some very important matters to go back and deal with.¡±


    This time it was Regulus''s turn to be surprised, this was his first time being rejected when inviting someone. It was not easy for him to meet someone he was interested in, and he was definitely not the type of person to casually pay attention to someone and then casually give them up. "Then when are you free. I can wait to find you when you are free.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled. "How could I let Mr. Fernelea amodate me. I am a very boring person, I''m afraid that eating with me might affect your appetite, so let''s just forget it.¡±


    Regulus looked at Jing Yang and then also smiled. "Rejecting me so directly like this, are you not afraid of offending me?¡±


    "I believe that with Mr. Fernelea''s heart, you will not be angry with me for such a little thing. After all, every day you have so many big matters to solve, such a little matter will soon be left behind. An unimportant person like me, you will soon forget about." Jing Yang thought, if I could not offend you I would do my best not to, but if you were to force me to do something I don''t want to, even if it made it more troublesome, I can still only offend you. Before meeting his lover, he would not give anyone an opportunity, and would not be ambiguous with anyone.


    "Okay." Regulus didn''t n to push him too tightly. After all, he was someone who did everything strategically. "Then I will give myself a little time to see whether or not I can forget about you, and I will give you a little time to consider my invitation. I appreciate you very much, so even if we just be ordinary friends, that would also be very good. You don''t have to guard against me, I will respect you and not bully you.¡±


    "Thank you Mr. Fernelea." Jing Yang felt some relief in his heart. Just from one look he knew this man was not easy to deal with, he was not willing to be enemies with him. But if it was just being friends, as long as he was willing to keep his distance and not encroach on his bottom line, it wasn''t impossible.


    "It seems that you are in a hurry to go back, then why don''t you leave first." Regulus moved to the side.


    "Thank you." Jing Yang sincerely thanked him and then quickly left.


    Regulus looked at his back, his gaze bing even deeper, and then smiled. He never thought that one day he would fall in love with someone at first sight, but he had always been someone who saw his own heart very clearly. He had always been someone who followed his heart, and he disdained to do something like avoiding his true thoughts. So this person, he would get.


    ~


    Jing Yang saying that there were some matters he needed to deal with was notpletely just an excuse to deny Regulus. He really was collecting everything that could prove that Dilumo and Conley wereplete trash. Even small, seemingly trivial details could be a breakthrough, and then he could break that wound right open,pletely ripping off those two people''s hypocritical masks. He could then reveal their truest faces and let everyone judge.


    After the ad was broadcasted, at first everyone was praising that Lai Feng''s advertising standards were getting higher and higher. After knowing that the person in the ad was actually Arthur Yang, besides shock there was only more shock. Wasn''t it said that Arthur Yang''s body was deformed, and his face couldn''t be seen by people? So what''s going on here? Did he take some sort of fairy medicine? He had been photographed on the street but little more than a month ago, even if he had some sort of restoration surgery it wasn''t possible to be done so fast?


    Jing Yang released theplete images of the crushed starlight and dark lost night promotional videos, and confirmed that the person inside was himself. Afterwards, the inte immediately boiled over. After all kinds of shock and disbelief, there was debate and discussion. Most were doubtful, they couldn''t understand how someone could have such a big change in a month. Plus bing worse was easy but bing better was very difficult. Not to mention with only a month of time, even bing worse wouldn''t be easy, let alone changing his body to be so perfect.


    And there were someizens who had been very ufortable with Dilumo who took this opportunity to satirize him for deliberately letting other people think that the person in the videos was him. This was simply faceless. Those fans who had been pped in the face still obstinately fought back against those scolding Dilumo.


    Conley stared at the screen and repeated the ad several times. Then he turned off the screen and said, "It''s really him, how did he do it¡­could it be that those people you arranged had gone too long without results and were impatient, so they deliberately deceived you to get benefits?¡±


    "What''s the use of saying this now?" Dilumo said with a face full of fury. "As soon as he appeared he robbed the limelight that should belong to me. The main product advertisement should originally have been filmed by me! With this ad, I would have been only one step away from bing a supermodel, but he actually suddenly came out to rob me!¡±


    "All right, all right." Conley held him in his arms. "Don''t be angry, it''s just his figure that''s better.¡±


    Dilumo red at him. "What do you mean?! You dare to praise him in front of me, do you still have feelings for him?¡±


    Conley patted him on the back andforted him. "The facts are in front of us, we have to admit it. But besides his good figure, he simply has nothing else, how could he bepared to you. How stupid his brain is you know very well, it''s easy to deal with. Why do you have to be angry with him. We have weathered so many storms together, are you still afraid of not being able to deal with him? He robbed you of your thunder this time, we will just get revenge on him twice over. This time we willpletely destroy him so that he has no chance ofing back.¡±


    Seeing that Dilumo was still somewhat unhappy, Conley continued, "Rest assured, he won''t get any advantages from this time''s ad. We''ve already spoiled his reputation, so even if he shoots the ad well, he''ll continue to be scolded. Although the Lai Fengpany is a branch of the Fernelea group and is very powerful, they can''t ignore the views of theizens and deliberately go against them. After all, they opened thepany in order to make money. As long as there are more and more people scolding them, the Lai Fengpany won''t be able to withstand the pressure, and will naturally remove his ads. It''s also uncertain if the main product ads will be re-shot.¡±


    "Next time I will let him see well!" Dilumo gritted his teeth and said.


    "We don''t have to wait for next time. Right now we can go on thework to instigate the mood of theizens, and scold him until he regrets reappearing." Conley said.


    There really was a lot of swearing on the inte, but the number of views and clicks of the advertisement had been continuously rising, and the sales for the main dark night perfume hit a record high. In just a few days they were out of stock.


    Some people scolded Arthur Yang while also unable to resist repeatedly going to watch the ads. Then they lost more control of their hands and bought arge number of the main dark night perfume. Because the ad really looked too tempting, making people unable to resist wanting to own this perfume. They felt that with this perfume, they could be as mysterious and seductive as the person in the advertisement, and make people unable to resist wanting to get closer. After putting on the perfume, they felt that their chances of attracting their favorite people would improve greatly.


    The number of fans on Arthur''s profile started to rise. Some people didn''t care what happened before and didn''t care what kind of person he was. In any case they themselves admitted they were <strong>beauty dogs</strong>, and they just liked his face and body and couldn''t extricate themselves.


    The people Conley arranged worked hard to fan the mood of theizens and lead them to scold Arthur andin to the Lai Fengpany, asking to cancel the ad Arthur Yang filmed. But the results were not great. Those people who disliked Arthur Yang very energetically scolded him, but their contribution to advertisement views and product sales were no less than those of passerby and thoseizens who started to like Jing Yang.


    Dilumo was even angrier when he saw this kind of situation. Conley could onlyfort him that they could start from other ces. There were countless ces where they could destroy Arthur Yang''s chances, so he didn''t have to worry too much.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>beauty dogs</strong> ¨C ÑÕ¹·, so basically this means they''re just ves to beauty, chase whoever is beautiful, don''t know what term this is lol<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 9:45 am ¨C 10:45 am, for 4k characters to 2.6k words.<hr>

 Chapter 84

    <strong>Chapter 84</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.5)</strong>


    The ad Jing Yang shot attracted a lot of attention, and what theizens were most curious about was how in the end he was able to change his body so much in just little more than a month.


    In this world, in order to prevent criminals from changing their appearances or physiques to escape capture, all private cosmetic surgery or surgical changes to the body were ssified as criminal offenses. And now with the advanced technology, testing whether or not he had surgery on his face or body would be very easy.


    In this era that revered beautiful physiques and health, everyone hoped that they could have a good body, so models became so popr. Because of the fast pace of life, everyone was also used to a fast and efficient lifestyle. But wanting to have a good body required shaping and maintenance over a long time.


    And now there was someone who could use only a month of time to raise their own body to the perfect level. How could they not be curious, and how could they not want to know.


    So on Arthur''s profile, even though there were still a lot of people scolding him, he was soon overwhelmed by messages asking how he had achieved it.


    Jing Yang posted a <strong>dynamic</strong> of himself working out, and added a caption: there is no <strong>overnight </strong>perfection. I am myself, the fake me can never be the real me.


    Theizens only half-understood his words. No overnight perfection was very easy to understand, but what did this "fake me can never be the real me" mean?


    Jing Yang anonymously sent some things that he had investigated to a certain mediapany. This mediapany waspetitors with thepany that had previously published the news of Arthur being photographed on the street, or it could be said they were nemeses.


    After receiving the information from Jing Yang, that mediapany was extremely excited, and immediatelyunched an investigation into the matter.


    Two dayster, the <strong>New Era Media</strong> broadcast a rather explosive news story, and invited five well-known newsmentators tomentate live.


    The theme of the news broadcast was: media fraud, framing peers.


    The main content of the news broadcast was: over a month ago, a reporter on the street photographed Arthur Yang''s deformed figure, but it was actually fake. The person photographed was not the real Arthur Yang.


    The news anchor spoke to the camera, "Just two days ago, we received a report that the Arthur Yang photographed a month ago on the street with a changed body was actually not the real Arthur Yang. We immediately investigated this matter and verified the truth of the situation. We also found the fake Arthur Yang who had been photographed, let''s see what he said.¡±


    The footage transitioned to a scene outside the live set, where a reporter said to a man in his 30s to 40s, "Excuse me, what''s your name?¡±


    "I, I am¡­" The man didn''t expect that a reporter would suddenlye and interview him, and looked slightly frantically into the camera, "I am Andrew.¡±


    "Next I have a question, and I hope that Mr. Andrew can answer truthfully. After all, lying in front of the entire world is a very serious matter." The reporter asked, "Mr. Andrew, more than a month ago, the Arthur Yang who had been photographed on the street was actually you, right?¡±


    "¡­Yes, it was me." Andrew didn''t have the guts to lie to the camera. He was afraid that if his lies were seen through, he would be the public enemy of theizens.


    "But why would that photograph of you on the street be said to be Arthur Yang? Can I ask you to rify this situation?¡±


    "I, I also don''t know ah." Andrew denied in a somewhat panicked manner. "I really am not clear about what was going on. It''s just that one day someone came to find me and said that as long as I took a picture on the street and then went on the news, they could give me some money. They said that it was just some normal news, and I was just a passerby, so it wouldn''t have a big impact on me, so I just agreed. I also didn''t think that they would take my picture and say that it was Arthur Yang. I also don''t know what in the end was going on!¡±


    "You mean that someone found you and gave you money to take a picture?" The reporter asked.


    "Yes, yes, but I really didn''t know that they would use it to pretend that I was Arthur Yang. I am entirely different from him, I also don''t know why they would do this." Andrew was anxious to clear himself of fault, and suddenly thought of something. "That''s right! Later they called me again and said that as long as I didn''t do anything, they would give me another sum of money. I have the recording and they also left a number, I can find it for you.¡±


    Andrew found the recording and yed it. Indeed, as he said, someone did ask him to not do anything and not say anything, and then they would give him some more money.


    The reporter then let the photographer shoot Andrew from several different angles. He was exactly the same as the person who had been photographed on the street before, butpared with the current Arthur Yang, only the contours of their profile were slightly simr, and their skin, body, and features werepletely different.


    The camera then cut back to the live set, where the host asked several newsmentators to express their views on the matter.


    Thementators all agreed that this was very likely deliberately orchestrated by another model, while another media outlet reported fake news without trying to find out the truth. It may also be possible that they did know the truth of the matter but deliberately created fake news. Such acts should not only be condemned but should also be held ountable. News fraud was a fraud against all of mankind.


    Immediately after the news broadcast ended, it caused mass outrage on the inte. Media fraud is quite a serious matter. Once it is found that there is media fraud, anyone can go report that media outlet, and thatpany could simply copse.


    Right now this mediapany was already in a <strong>desperate mess</strong>, they also didn''t know that this story was fake. They just published it without confirmation because thepany''s top leadership had directly let them publish it, so they did.


    This mediapany''s top leader was together with Dilumo. Whenever he finished beingfortable with Dilumo in bed, after a bit of pillow talk, he would do whatever he was asked, andpletely did not expect to cause such consequences. Even if now he was filled with regret, it still did not extinguish the anger of the people. The main reason the public was angry was not because Arthur Yang was framed, but because of the media fraud itself.


    Now theizens finally understood the meaning of Jing Yang''s sentence "I am myself, and the fake me will never be the real me", and also understood the true meaning of no overnight perfection. Because the person who was photographed before wasn''t him at all, so there was simply no situation of shaping a perfect body in a month.


    This mediapany who published fake news had previously reported a lot of news about Dilumo and Arthur Yang, and the content was always full of praise for Dilumo while disparaging Arthur Yang. So who the peer framing that the newsmentators were talking about was referring to, the answer was already very obvious.


    So another war of words rose on the inte. Some people said that Dilumo loved hypocritically pretending to be pitiful, stepping on others while deliberately smearing them.


    Dilumo''s fans were unconvinced, arguing that there was simply no real evidence that Dilumo had done these things. Their own model did these things to gain attention, how could they just me them on Dilumo? And Arthur Yang''s character had never been good, previously he also intended to vilify Dilumo and Conley. Who knew whether or not these things were self-directed.


    "Okay, I know, I will transfer the money to youter." Dilumo''s expression was extremely ugly, and after he hung up the phone, he threw it against the wall, smashing all the cups on the table in anger.


    Conley avoided the flying debris, and after Dilumo finished breaking all the cups, he asked, "What did he say? Did he ask you to give him money?¡±


    "What else could he ask for besides money?" Dilumo''s breathing was unsteady from fury. "Hispany has already closed down, he told me I had to transfer money to him every once in a while, or else he would expose the truth of all the things I told him to do from before to now.¡±


    "So he''s <strong>biting onto</strong> you?" Conley''s face was also unpleasant.


    "Not just biting onto me, I''m afraid he wants to swallow me whole to make up for his loss!" Once Dilumo thought of his own hard-earned money now being used to fill up a bottomless hole, his heart bled until he trembled. He had slept with that man so many times in order to get him to help him publish news, but now it had changed into a handle that he held in his hands to threaten him. But he actually could not resist, and could only obediently follow him, or else his life would go up in mes.


    "It''s really a slippery slope of mistakes!" The anger in Conley''s heart was no less than Dilumo''s, because now he was also implicated in the matter. And he also needed to rely on Dilumo to make money, if Dilumo''s money was gone, that was equivalent to his money also being gone. "You should not have believed what those people had said in the first ce. If it weren''t for them saying that Arthur Yang''s body had changed, these things would not have happened.¡±


    "Are you ming me now?" Dilumo furiously red at Conley. "If you have so much skill, you go fix things for me!¡±


    Conley leaned his head away slightly. "That''s not what I mean.¡±


    After he calmed down slightly, Dilumo transferred the money over, and looking at the disappearance of arge amount, it was as if his flesh was being cut from his bones. But now he had no other way, he could only use money to calm the man down, and then take it one step at a time. He would definitely be able topletely solve this matter.


    ~


    Jing Yang was driving down the road by the sea to rx. He started the auto-driving function andy his arm along the window, looking at the scenery outside. He was thinking about how to help avenge Arthur and deal with Conley and Dilumo, and also thinking about when he would finally meet his lover in this world.


    When he saw a ck car following behind him on the screen, he didn''t really pay attention at first. But after his car automatically moved to let them pass and that car still followed behind him, he had to be alert. Conley and Dilumo these two people were people who were willing to do anything, and sending someone to follow him and then create a car ident waspletely in line with their style of action.


    Jing Yang cancelled the self-driving and started driving himself. Once he sped up, the car behind him also sped up. Two cars were speeding down the road, as if they were racing.


    Jing Yang raced with this other car for a while, and found that while this car was always following him, it seemed like it wasn''t being malicious at all. So he wondered, could it be that he had guessed wrong? The people on this car were actually not sent by Dilumo, or else how could they seem like they only wanted to race with him.


    Jing Yang tapped on the screen to zoom in, and then patted himself on the forehead after seeing what brand of car it was. He had just been too distracted and actually forgot to take a good look at the car. There were only five of this kind of car in the world, and the price was horrifyingly expensive. Don''t say that Dilumo and them couldn''t afford it, but even if they could they wouldn''t use it to create a big ident.


    He parked his car on the side of the road, and sure enough that car also stopped. He was still somewhat wary in his heart, so he did not get out of the car. Seeing that the other side also showed no intention to get off, he simply leaned his seat back and closed his eyes to rest.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>dynamic</strong> ¨C ¶¯Ì¬Í¼, I don''t quite remember what I tranted this to in a previous chapter, but i''m assuming this is basically a gif


    [2] <strong>overnight</strong> ¨C Ò»õí¶ø¾Í, idiom, means to get there in one stop, sess in a single move


    [3] <strong>New Era Media</strong> ¨C ÐÂʱ¿ÕýÌå, means more like space-time but that sounds weird as a name


    [4] <strong>desperate mess</strong> ¨C ½¹Í·Àöî, idiom, means hard-pressed, under heavy pressure


    [5] <strong>biting onto</strong> ¨C Ò§ÉÏ, i think like a dog, ckmailing him<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 10:30 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 3.5k characters to 2.3k words.<hr>

 Chapter 85

    <strong>Chapter 85</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.6)</strong>


    Hearing a knock on his window, Jing Yang opened his eyes and looked outside. Sure enough, it was him.


    He had just carefully thought a bit about who could buy such a car and then would follow him all the way. There weren¡¯t many people who could afford this car, and since he was following him he definitely knew him. Just now when he was driving he didn''t close his window, so that person definitely saw that the person inside was him and then followed him. Besides this Mr. Fernelea, he couldn''t think of anyone else.


    Jing Yang rolled down the car window and sat up. "You followed me all the way here, can I ask if there''s something? Mr. Fernelea?¡±


    Regulus ced his hand on the car roof and leaned down to speak with him. "I especially went to find you at your home, and then happened to see you driving out, so I followed you.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at his face, he didn''t seem like he was lying. He saw him walk around to the door on the other side, and after hesitating a bit, he still opened the door to let him sit.


    Regulus looked at Jing Yang''s wary face and said. "You seem to still be cautious against me.¡±


    "Because I can tell that you have some sort of <strong>bad intentions</strong> for me." Jing Yang directly said.


    Regulus smiled, and then very seriously looked at him. "I admit that I do have some intentions toward you, but you can rest assured that I won''t force you to do anything you aren''t willing to do.¡±


    "Then can I ask what matter made you personallye to find me at home and then follow me?" Jing Yang felt that he was also being too careful. This person gave him the feeling of being quite a decent gentleman, and since he wouldn''t make things difficult for him, his expression rxed somewhat.


    Regulus took out a beautiful invitation from his pocket and handed it to Jing Yang.


    After he took it, Jing Yang opened it. "Fernelea group lifetime endorsement model selectionpetition?¡±


    Seeing Arthur Yang''s name written on the invitation letter, Jing Yang turned to look at Regulus, and then looked back at the invitation. "The Fernelea group is going to choose a lifetime endorsement model? Why?¡±


    "No reason, I want to choose such a person, so I just organized apetition." Regulus said very casually.


    Jing Yang was very speechless about this reason, and seeing therge bonus written on the letter, he thought, okay, you have money so you can be free-willed. ording to what he learned from the system, there was no suchpetition in the previous world, but suddenly thispetition appeared. But this was also a good opportunity for him. "How many models receive invitations?¡±


    "I don''t know, I''m only responsible for your invitation. The other invited models were selected and invited by the team organizing thepetition.¡±


    Jing Yang was speechless again. "This little thing actually bothering Mr. Fernelea to personally do, I''m really ttered.¡±


    "Then invite me to dinner." Regulus said. "I even personally came to send you an invitation, so it should be fine to invite me to dinner aspensation, right? But if you don''t want to, I won''t force you to invite me.¡±


    This guy was really¡­he already said it to this point, if he still insisted on refusing to eat with him, that would really be too petty, and reallycking manners.


    Jing Yang turned his head to look at him just as Regulus also turned to look at him. The two people''s eyes met, and Jing Yang''s heartbeat missed a beat. That familiar feeling once again hit his heart and then quickly disappeared, making Jing Yang stunned.


    Regulus saw Jing Yang''s daze and didn''t go to wake him, just looking in his eyes like this, feeling that in those eyes there was something attracting him.


    Jing Yang suddenly came out of his daze and turned his gaze back to the front. His heart beat faster, thinking in his heart, could it be that he was his own lover?


    He turned to meet Regulus''s eyes again, but that familiar feeling did not reappear. How could it be like this? Sensing from the eyes was really too unreliable, sometimes it would happen and sometimes not. But this at least proved that there was a very high probability that he would be his lover.


    Seeing Regulus''s face erge in his eyes, Jing Yang stared at him and asked, "What are you doing?¡±


    "I feel like I seem to have heard your heartbeat, and I wanted to confirm whether or not I was right." Regulus made an appearance like he was listening.


    Jing Yang blushed and immediately changed the topic. "Didn''t you want me to invite you to dinner? What would you like to eat?¡±


    "Anything is fine, as long as I look at you I have a big appetite, and can eat anything." Regulus sat back in his seat.


    Jing Yang started the car and cast him a nce. This guy was really too much of a tease.


    ~


    When the news of the Fernelea group choosing a model to be the entire group''s lifelong spokesperson came out, the people in the modeling circle were all in an uproar. Being selected was equivalent to sleeping on a gold pillow, not only <strong>free of worries</strong> but also living in a luxurious dream for the rest of their life.


    All of the models were praying with their entire hearts in hope that they could receive an invitation to thepetition.


    In the end, only a dozen male models received invitations, and there were none that were supermodels. In other words, one of the benefits of being a lifelong spokesperson for Fernelea was being able to be a top supermodel. The models who received the invitations were so excited that they couldn''t sleep, and those who didn''t receive an invitation couldn''t sleep from sorrow. So for a period of time, a lot of people in the modeling circle lost sleep.


    Dilumo waited for two days in anxiety, and the moment the invitation fell in his hands, he seemed to see the light of hope shining in his hands, almost sobbing from joy.


    He must seize this opportunity and be the Fernelea group''s lifelong spokesperson in any way. As long as he signed a contract with the Fernelea group, he could represent the image of the entire Fernelea group. Then all the problems he now faced would no longer be problems. With the strength of the Fernelea group, it would be very simple to help him solve them.


    More then that, once he became the spokesperson for the Fernelea group, he could directly be a top supermodel, and he could choose from any of thepany''s products to shoot ads. Then where would he need to audition as bitterly as he had to now, and work hard to umte big brand advertising and modeling, all just to step into the supermodel level.


    Before the official start of thepetition, the Fernelea group would hold a press conference, and the chairman Regulus Fernelea would also attend.


    On the day of the press conference, more than a dozen models who had received the invitation were all dressed up to attend. As they waited in the lounge, they seemed to warmly greet each other, but were actually wondering what to do to sit in the seat closest to Regulus.


    Dilumo saw Jing Yang, and gloom shed in his eyes.


    There were cameras in the lounge, so every model would show their most decent side, and Dilumo was no exception.


    He walked to the front of Jing Yang with a very decent smile and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "I didn''t expect that even you would be able to receive an invitation, you are really lucky enough, but you seem to have no self-knowledge, actually reallying to participate. I kindly advise you, quit quickly before you lose face, or you will regreting to thispetition.¡±


    Such a clumsy provocation, if it was normally, Jing Yang would not even look at him. Wasn''t Dilumo''s purpose just to get him angry and see him make a mistake in front of the camera? How could he let him seed.


    With a gentle smile on his face, Jing Yang said, "The news fraud matter had a big impact on you, right? Wanting to be the Fernelea group''s lifelong spokesperson to rid yourself of it, I''m afraid that you won''t be able to seed.¡±


    Dilumo''s face showed a crack on his mask, and he almost revealed his true face. He felt shock and anger in his heart. He felt that with Arthur Yang''s character and IQ, it would be easy for him to be angered, and didn''t think that he would actually be hit back. He originally thought that the fake news matter was done by the New Era media to bring down Hengfeng media, and they only published those things after seizing some evidence. Now hearing the meaning of his words, this matter definitely had something to do with him.


    The hatred in Dilumo''s heart was even more intense. This debt he would write down, and he would definitely find him to get revenge!


    When the press conference was about to began, almost all of the models couldn''t sit still, standing up and intentionally or unintentionally walking around the entrance.


    When the staff came to let them go up, they saw a group of people quickly flocking to the door. Those working at Fernelea were not only well trained but had also experienced all kinds of scenes, so in the face of the rushing models, they said very calmly, "We have already arranged the seats, please take your seat ording to the names on the seats.¡±


    After hearing these words, all of the models immediately slowed down, walking out calmly and elegantly. The expressions on their faces didn''t change at all, as if those people rushing to go out just now were not them.


    Usually, when a press conference was held, a photo would first be taken, and then the staff would move out sofas and chairs and let them sit down for interviews. The photo position and seating position was also arranged ording to seniority and poprity, and they would consciously stand in their own positions. If unpopr or junior models actually went to stand in the middle, they would be berated by everyone.


    But the situation this time was that all of the models were all now currently popr models, and none were particrly senior or supermodels. Then their position would only rely on their skill. But this time the organizers had changed the process, the interviews would be first and then the photo after, and unlike in the past, the seats all had names on them.


    Dilumo went straight to the middle of he stage, but when he saw that the sofa next to Regulus had Arthur Yang''s name on it, he nibbled his lips and then walked over as if nothing had happened and sat down.


    As soon as Dilumo sat down, a staff member came up to him and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Dilumo, you sat in the wrong position.¡±


    Dilumo was stunned for moment, he did not think that the staff would go see if they had sat in the wrong position. He pretended to be puzzled, looked back at the name on the seat, and then smiled and said, "Sorry, that was my mistake.¡±


    He stood up but didn''t see his name until he reached the very end, and the expression on his face finally broke down for a couple seconds. After he sat down, he was absolutely furious. Why could Arthur Yang sit in the very middle, yet he was arranged to the end.


    After all of the models took their seats, Regulus took to the stage. All of the models stood up again, and after he sat down, they again sat back down.


    All of the cameras were facing the center. Dilumo was sitting at the very edge, and not only were there no cameras dedicated to facing him, there were not even any reporters directing any questions to him. He was not convinced, but he could only forcefully suppress his emotions. At this time, he could not show the least bit of dissatisfaction.


    Regulus had rarelye into the public eye in the recent years and had basically taken no interviews, so the journalists certainly didn''t want to miss this opportunity, and all the cameras were always pointing at him. Even though these models were popr, they could interview them at any time, so even when they were interviewing those models, the camera would be unwilling to move away from Regulus. So the reporters would specifically ask more questions from the models sitting near Regulus.


    Jing Yang was sitting right next to Regulus and had already been asked many questions. All of his answers were very official, so the reporters could not find the slightest crack in them.


    After the interviews, everyone stood up to take the picture. This instant was the time for the models to shine. Their standing position and posture were the specialities of the models, and they also had to do them very naturally. Even the reporters right below the stage could not see from their smiles and postures the silent battle behind those backs.


    As soon as Jing Yang stood up, Regulus put his hand on his back to prevent him from getting pushed around.


    Naturally no model dared to squeeze Regulus, and Regulus had always been standing near Jing Yang, so no one could squeeze him either.


    Jing Yang could feel Regulus''s big palm on his back. He knew that he was deliberately protecting himself, and him being able to sit in the very middle with his current situation, it was impossible for the staff to have arranged it. The defenses and resistance against him in his heart had already been removed, and now he was only looking for a chance to confirm whether or not Regulus was his lover.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    [1] <strong>bad intentions </strong>¨C ¾ÓÐIJ»Á¼, idiom, meaning harboring bad intentions


    [2] <strong>free of worries</strong> ¨C ¸ßÕíÎÞÓÇ, idiom, means to sleep peacefully, rest easy<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 9:45 am ¨C 10:45 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.4k words.


    When I was tranting this two days ago, I got a notification that it was my anniversary on this site. It¡¯s hard to believe that it¡¯s already been a year since I started this venture out of boredom and procrastination. I hope that my trantions have been readable and everyone has been enjoying CFCS and/or 100kV! Thank you for reading ??<hr>

 Chapter 86.1

    <strong>Chapter 86.1</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.1)</strong>


    All of the participating models had signed apetition contract, and had to abide by all thepetition rules andply with all of the organizers'' arrangements. Anyone who vited these rules would be disqualified, and may even face legal liabilities.


    Everypeting model could only bring one assistant or agent during thepetition.


    The entirepetition process would be broadcast live on thework, andizens could watch thepetition live, and at the same time, they could vote for their favorite models.


    All of theizens were very excited about being able to see the modeling process live. In general, no one would be willing to broadcast live the modeling and shooting process, because during the process of shooting, there would not only be a lot of mistakes, but it would also expose the model''s shorings in their skills or body. The advertising film after being edited and cut would naturally show only the best parts.


    So all of theizens were very curious about what the models'' shooting process would be like, and whether the difference would be very big from the publicity images and advertising they usually saw. They really wanted to know what would happen with their own favorite idols during the process of filming.


    The scoring of thepetition was calcted so that theizen votes counted for 30%, the designers counted for 20%, staff vote for 10%, the view counts for ads or videos after the shooting would count for 10%, and Regulus would count for 30%.


    The first part of thepetition was held at one of the marine park style hotels owned by the Ferneleapany. Thepetition content was naturally also rted to promoting the hotel''s rides.


    Jing Yang quite admired Regulus''s business acumen. Thispetition could give his group a really big advertisement. Even though the cost was high, it was definitely worth it in terms of the level of public attention.


    The staff brought Jing Yang to the room arranged for him, and as soon as he went in Jing Yang was surprised. He had even lived in an emperor''s pce, and could be considered to have seen the world. But this room could barely be described with the word luxury, even if the decoration was very simple here, it could be seen that they were all very valuable things. The renovation was extremely tasteful and stylish, you could tell at once that it had been carefully arranged by a well-known designer.


    Jing Yang walked to the huge aerial terrace that had a pool, and from this angle he could see the ocean below, both magnificent and beautiful. At this height, it seemed like you could touch the clouds just by raising your hand.


    "Do you like it here?¡±


    Jing Yang turned and looked at Regulus, who had suddenly appeared behind him. "Mr. Fernelea is really generous, just for apetition, you actually arranged such good rooms for the participating models. The amount of money needed to live here for a few days is enough to buy a house, right?¡±


    Regulus walked to his side. "There are only two of these kinds of rooms, I''m living in the other one, and this one is for you. How could I give every model in thepetition such a room.¡±


    Jing Yang froze. He had thought that all of the models'' rooms would be about the same, and didn''t think that Regulus would give him preferential treatment in such an aboveboard manner. But besides thepetition being broadcast live, there would be no cameras following them around, so he didn''t need to worry about whether some bad words would spread out. In case someone did want to pass some rumors, Regulus would never sit idly by, so he had nothing to worry about.


    "Do you like the ocean?" Regulus asked.


    "I do." Jing Yang looked at the endless ocean.


    "How long can you stay in the water without using an oxygen tank?¡±


    "My lung capacity is pretty good, holding my breath for around five minutes is not a problem." Jing Yang spoke quite conservatively. In fact, if he relied on the system, he could even breathe underwater, and if he had to he could stay underwater without oxygen for twenty minutes. "What are you asking this for?¡±


    "rifying would make it easier for me to make a decision about whether thepetition would be above water or in the water." Regulus looked at Jing Yang from very close and said, "Five minutes is not short, much longer than the average person. It seems that you like diving.¡±


    "I do quite like it, but your meaning¡­could it be that the content of thepetition wasn''t decided very early on, but you''re just casually deciding it?" Jing Yang didn''t think that he would say this, thepetition that he originally thought was very rigorous immediately became not as serious.


    Regulus smiled and rubbed his hair. "Thepetition was originally just held just for other people to see. I know that you want to prove yourself, and I believe that you will do better than all of them. Even so, I still want to confirm your safety for thepetition, I don''t care in the least about anyone else.¡±


    Jing Yang was stunned by his action and his words. He was iparably familiar with his action, and only one person could do this to him without making him annoyed, and only one person, besides himself, would not care about anyone else.


    Regulus raised Jing Yang''s chin. "In fact, I really want to personally test your lung capacity, but since I said I wouldn''t force you, I''ll have to put up with it until you''re willing.¡±


    "I also want, to test it¡­" Jing Yang wanted to say, you can test my lung capacity, and I also want to test whether or not you are my lover.


    "Are you sure?" Regulus asked this but his arm had already wrapped around Jing Yang''s waist, and without waiting for his response, he had already kissed him.


    The moment their tongues touched, that familiar feeling shocked Jing Yang''s soul. This was his lover, he had once again found himself, and as always, only had deep feelings for himself.


    Jing Yang wrapped his arms around his neck and raised his head to bear his deep kiss, and also kissed him back from time to time. The wind on the terrace was quite strong, but it could not extinguish in the least the enthusiasm of the two men. Their tongues entangled, as if it was already not enough to satisfy the two men''s desire for each other.


    Regulus seemed to be tasting the most delicious food in his life, not only reluctant to let go, but also wanting to swallow him into his stomach, so that he could forever be part of his body, and no one could ever separate them.


    The kisssted a long time, Regulus finally let go of his lips and leaned his forehead on Jing Yang''s, saying, "It seems that your lung capacity is even better than you said, I can rest assured to let you go in the water.¡±


    ~


    All of the models were brought to a clear, almost transparent sea, where the water was still quite deep even though it was clear.


    Theizens were all huddled in front of theirputer screens, watching the countdown to the start of the live broadcast. When the number jumped to zero, they finally saw the live scene and felt uncontroble excitement, searching for their own favorite models on the screen.


    The host, <strong>Gore</strong>, announced to all of the models, "The first part of thepetition, as you can see in front of you, is going to be in the water. Beneath the water, there is a wonderful paradise, and one of the hotel''s entertainment activities is dedicated to giving guests who enjoy diving a ce to y. The content of thepetition is for everyone to spend thirty minutes in the water to shoot an entire advertisement. Of course, for better aesthetics and so that we can use the filming content, you are not allowed to use oxygen tanks.¡±


    As soon as the host finished speaking, the faces of several models who weren''t great with water instantly changed, including Dilumo.


    Dilumo originally thought that going to the ocean they would definitely be shooting on the beach, he had shot manymercials on the beach, and it was one of his strengths. He was originally very confident, but instantly lost some of his confidence. He felt that his luck was too bad, he encountered underwaterpetition content at the very beginning.


    But Dilumo''s fans were confident in him, since Dilumo had previously taken some very good underwater shots. What they didn''t know, however, was that very short video clip had taken Dilumo several days toplete, and had also needed a lot of external help in order to finish.


    The host continued, "This is the designer of the water park, Mr. Dennis, and when all of you are finished shooting, he willment on your shooting process. And hisments will serve as a reference for other people''s ratings, so while you are showing your own skills, do not forget to show the fun of the water park.¡±


    All of the models went to prepare. The shooting order would be done based on a draw, and the models who weren''t shooting would wait in the lounge area of the boat.


    Conley crouched down next to Dilumo''s seat and said, "You are bad with water, and your lung capacity in water is shorter than the average person. The possibility of getting a high score is very low, do you want to think of some other way?¡±


    Dilumo was wearing sunsses. He turned his face in a direction that the camera couldn''t catch, saying in a bad mood, "What can I do, if I withdraw from this it would be equivalent to abstaining, and I can''t even receive a single point.¡±


    "I certainly didn''t mean to get you out of the race." Conley said quietly. "I wanted to say,ter you could show that you have a cramp but still want to persevere in shooting, that way you can not only cover up your ws but also gain some sympathy votes.¡±


    Dilumo thought a bit and felt that this was a viable method. He didn''t perform well enough because of cramps, and the other judges couldn''t put his score too low for that. What''s more, fans ounted for arge amount of the scoring percentage, and seeing him cramp but still continue shooting, his fans would definitely feel bad for him.


    Jing Yang was arranged first. When he was about to start filming, he took off his bathrobe and walked to the bow of the ship in only his swimming trunks. Everyone''s eyes were attracted by that pair of long legs.


    Conley still maintained that squatting position, and as he turned his head he just happened to see that pair of straight and slender legs, his line of sight unable to move away.


    Dilumo stared hatefully at that pair of long legs that he couldn''t match, and turning to see the obsession in Conley''s eyes, he felt even more furious. His foot stepped on Conley''s foot, and he viciously crushed it. But Conley seemed to have lost his mind,pletely forgetting the pain, and no matter how hard Dilumo stepped on him, he did note back to his senses.


    Dilumo was absolutely furious. If it weren¡¯t because there were cameras and he couldn''t make any big movements, right now he would throw a p at Conley and let him sober up.


    Dilumo red at Jing Yang, who was standing at the end of the ship ready to enter the water. So what if he had a good figure? Underwater shooting was the most difficult challenge for a model, and with only half an hour, he didn''t believe that he could show anything good. A man without any fans, his final score couldn''t exceed his. He would just wait to see how he would make a fool of himself.


    Jing Yang stood at the end of the ship wearing his swim trunks, with four or five cameras aimed at him from different angles. He leapt into the water, drawing a perfect arc in the air.


    His movement entering the water wasparable to that of the best diver, beautiful and pleasing, and the director and staff couldn''t help but exim in praise.


    After Jing Yang entered the water, there immediately was a camera following behind him. After he swam out a certain distance, the staff members immediately followed behind to protect his safety and to help him deliver oxygen if needed.


    In front of the camera, a pair of long legs swung around. From this point of view, the sexiness made people feel like they were about to have a nosebleed.


    Regulus sat alone in the ship lounge, staring intently at the screen. Through the screen, he saw the beautiful swinging long legs, and then the taut butt, and then the smooth, glossy back lines. His heart seemed to burn with a me, burning to his stomach, and then across his entire body.


    But as long as he thought that there must be a lot of people who felt the same way as him at this moment, he would feel very unhappy. He wanted to hide this man, so that no one could see him. His legs, his body, his everything, all belonged to him, and only he could see, only he could have him.<hr>


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Gore</strong> ¨C ¸ê¶û, pinyin ge er, apparently this is the trantion, kind of an unfortunate name just by itself if you ask me<hr>


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 9:30 am ¨C 10:30 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.3k words.<hr>

 Chapter 86.2

    <strong>Chapter 86.2</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.8)</strong>


    Jing Yang swam to the area above the underwater park, and aftering up for some air, he began to dive down.


    Since it was called an underwater park, there naturally would be a lot of fun and beautiful things under the water. These not only had to have the expected aquatic style, but also needed to allow the guests to feel enjoyment, in order to be termed a paradise.


    Jing Yangy on a bed made from a huge shell, posing in azy position and winking at the camera. Manyizens looked at this scene and forgot to breathe, it was too tempting.


    Then he swam to a table set with cutlery, using a fork to pick up a small piece of food, and then moving to put it in his mouth. Suddenly a very beautiful fish swam over and opened its mouth to take the food on his fork. He pretended to angrily look at this fish, and that fish also looked at him, and even swirled its tail, as if it was very proud.


    This food was originally used to feed fish, but theizens watching the live stream didn''t know that, so Jing Yang''s deliberate appearance of having his food taken away made theizens unable to resist smiling. The image was really too cute.


    That fish that stole his food seemed particrly courageous, it not only did not swim away, but even swam over to kiss Jing Yang on the face, as if to apologize for grabbing his food earlier. Jing Yang immediately smiled and reached out his finger to tap its head.


    A person and a fish interacted, the cuteness making people unable to stop from melting.


    When Jing Yang was swimming, he made people think that maybe because his posture was too natural and beautiful, it made those beautiful little fish think that he was the same kind, and all gathered around him to swim with him. In fact, it was because he was holding food in his hand, and then slowly crumbled it, but no one could see his movements.


    A fish twice as big as Jing Yang swam over, and when it passed by, Jing Yang smoothly sat onto its body. That big fish carried Jing Yang through all kinds of beautiful and wondrous buildings, followed by a pile of beautiful small fish. That scene was simply like a mermaid prince going out for a ride.


    The staff members filming behind him all felt like this was really too mystical. If they weren''t seeing it personally, they wouldn''t believe it was real, and this was even happening right in front of their eyes.


    Theizens were even more shocked, such a scene probably only appeared in dreams. Is this really a live stream? This dream was a little too real?


    Throughout the filming process, Jing Yang came out of the water every ten minutes to catch his breath, and the staff never had to give him oxygen. Even the picture of him swimming to the surface of the water was very beautiful, and when he turned to dive down, his movements were natural like a mermaid.


    After his filming ended, Jing Yang swam back to the side of the boat, and as soon as he got on the boat, an assistanty his bath towel on his body.


    The host walked up to the director and the designer of the water park formentary.


    The stunned look in the director''s eyes and on his face still had not subsided. He somewhat absent-mindedly eximed, "This was absolutely the most meaningful and perfect shot I have done as a director in so many years! I can''t even believe that this is a real scene done without the use of any special effects. I don''t know how he did it, but I have to say, this was really too amazing. I''m really lucky to have been able to film such a shot.¡±


    The host said, "We all felt that the scene just now was really magical, so I can also understand the director''s mood right now. Then can I ask the director to talk about the model''s performance from a professional point of view?¡±


    "From a professional view, I can still only use a single word to sum it up, and that''s perfection." The director said somewhat excitedly, "In the end, with this kind of shot, we never had to restart and there were no NGs, which would be very difficult to do even onnd, not to mention in the water. His every movement, and every gaze, was expressed perfectly, making people unable to help being attracted. What''s more is that as a model, he did not forget that he needed to also show and highlight the product, and not just his body and himself. I believe that after seeing this shot, anyone will be very interested in the water park.¡±


    The host said, "Our director gave Jing Yang''s performance a very high evaluation, so the score he will eventually give will certainly not be low. Now, let''s listen to the views andmentary of designer Dennis.¡±


    "Jing Yang''s performance waspletely beyond my imagination." Dennis felt like he could not find any better words to express his feelings at the moment, but still wanted to try to convey the shock in his heart as much as possible. "This was really too shocking, he fully expressed everything that I invested into the design of the park. I think he might be able to read minds, in order to be able to guess my mind sopletely. Previously I never understood why people would worship a model so crazily, but now I finally understand. That kind of fan mindset, I have also experienced it today.¡±


    Invisibly, Jing Yang''s performance gave the other models in thepetition even more pressure. They thought that they not only could not perform to that degree, but also had no way to not have to restart or NG in the water. But they were also popr models and supermodels, if their gap with him was too big, it would really be too humiliating.


    Dilumo barely forced himself to maintain a calm expression, but his heart was already burning from anxiety. Someone who had not picked up any work for three years could actually perform to this extent. He was now extremely curious about what he had done in the past three years. Dilumo had thought that Arthur must have been wallowing in sorrow or regret for three years, and then he would be depressed and sallow, <strong>unable to ever recover</strong>. But from this current situation, he must have just been <strong>biding his time</strong> these three years, waiting for the chance to bounce back to appear.


    Dilumo secretly clenched his teeth and swore that he would never let him seed. He definitely still could find a way, and could wait for the opportunity to deal with him, and make it so that he could never recover!


    Conley lowered his head in thought, his eyes asionally ncing toward Jing Yang, who was sitting down to rest. He had not seen this person for three years, and didn''t expect that he would be even better looking than in the pictures. Amongst so many models and supermodels, he was still the most outstanding one. Unfortunately, because of his phobia, he had never touched him before, or else he might be able to think back as an aftertaste now.


    Theizens could be said to have feasted their eyes. They all thought, originally the filming process was just like this ah, it looks very rxed and quite easy ah. They certainly couldn''t do it themselves, but it shouldn''t be too hard for models to do it? After all, they were in this career, and usually there must be special training for these things.


    The fans'' expectations for their idols were instantly even higher, and they all quietly hoped that their favorite models would be able to perform better than the others.


    Just as the expectations were higher, the disappointment was bigger. The models filmingter had to redo even the move diving into the water three or four times and it was still not perfect. Theizens'' excitement and anticipation also gradually cooled down.


    The previous scenes that looked like special effects never appeared again. Most of the models asked the staff for oxygen less than a minute after entering the water. The time when the staff were in the lens was even longer than the time the model was in the lens by himself. And with the oxygen equipment, it was really hard to make a rxed expression, and it was even harder to make natural movements.


    When the host went to ask the director and designer for their reviews, their expressions were evidently unpleasant.


    The director said with great disappointment, "If Arthur''s performance was unexpectedly amazing, the other models we have filmed so far were unexpectedly bad. I know that it is hard to control your body in the water, and not as easy as onnd, but as a model, only when you can control your own body regardless of the circumstances can you be considered a supermodel. But I think that if we gave them some more time, and then edited and cut the film, we can still create a quite good film. But in the case of live broadcasts like this, their performance is sure to disappoint the audience because the difference from the film is too big.¡±


    Dennis''s expression was also not very good. He felt that these models'' performance would make the audience feel some resistance to the water park he designed, so he exined, "Here I would like to tell everyone, don''t think that the underwater park is very scary because of the other model''s pain and struggles. They were like this because they did not always wear their oxygen equipment, but when the guestse to y, we will have the most advanced and most convenient oxygen equipment for you. You would be able to swim and y in the water freely like Arthur Yang.¡±


    Dilumo''s filming order was farther back, and in front of him, there had already been four models who deliberately made it seem like they had cramps and so could not film well. It was obvious that they had all thought the same way, and wanted to cover up their shorings with some undeniable reasons.


    Since four people had already used the same trick before him, if Dilumo also used it he would seem very fake, and even fools would be able to see that they were just pretending. But there was no way, he was even worse in the water than the average person, and he couldn''t not use this method.


    When Dilumo was entering the water, the director made him repeatedly shoot this move five or six times without being satisfied. If not because of time constraints, he may have just made him shoot this one move all day.


    Dilumo dived down with the oxygen equipment, and still needed the staff members to pull him down because he simply could not dive. Once the oxygen was taken away for a few seconds he would need to suck on it again, and the director simply could not shoot anything useful. He held his leg and made a painful expression of cramping, but unfortunately because he was in the water, his acting was affected. This made him look too fake, making even his fans feel embarrassed for him.


    The director frowned and looked impatiently at the screen. He simply did not direct him to make any movements or restart, just waiting for thirty minutes to pass like this.


    Theizens watched Dilumo struggle in the water, this action was not only not aesthetic in the least, but also appeared extremelyical yet made people feel like they couldn''tugh out. They couldn''t help but wonder how Dilumo''s previously shot water films were filmed.


    Dilumo''s fans felt like they really could not keep watching because his open-mouthed, wildly iling appearance was really too ugly. Even if you wanted to fake cramping, you at least had to act more realistically a little. Then we can help you speak ah, or else we would really be speaking blindly with our eyes wide open. Like those people before, they acted quite well, so at least in the beginning they made people unable to tell whether they were really cramping, or just faking it.


    Fortunately, besides Jing Yang''s ultra-perfect y, there were still a few models whose shots were still quite good, or else it would be really hard to finish the shoot.


    In the end when the host asked the director to make some concludingments, the director said, "I encountered two of the biggest problems of my career today. One is Arthur Yang''s shot, every scene is perfect, and I think I may have a hard time cutting the 30-minute shoot into a five-minute film. This is really difficult. There''s another problem, and that is what Dilumo gave me. I don''t know how to get a five minute long shot from his 30 minutes of film. Here I would like to state in advance, if Dilumo''s shot isn''t good enough, it was really not me and my editing problems, but that there were no good scenes to include.¡±


    Dennis said to the camera very seriously, "I would also like to dere in advance that as long as you warm up properly, not everyone would cramp so easily in the water. We also have professionals on the side as protection, so please rest assured to y. Whether or not some people were really cramping, I believe that everyone could tell. I am just strongly condemning this damage to the reputation of our hotel entertainment program, on my own behalf.¡±<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>unable to recover</strong> ¨C Ò»õê²»Õñ, idiom, means totally copsing after a setback


    [2] <strong>biding his time </strong>¨C ÎÔн³¢µ¨, means to maintain his resolve for revenge, suffering patiently<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than one hour: 9:30 am ¨C 10:30 am, for 3.8k characters to 2.4k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 87

    <strong>Chapter 87</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.9)</strong>


    When the fans were voting, they experienced an unprecedented internal contradiction. If they were to vote ording to the live stream performance, it was very clear who they should vote for.


    On the one hand they felt that they should stay loyal to their idols, and support him no matter how their idol performed. On the other hand, they also wanted to be fair and just, and choose the person they personally admitted should be selected.


    Some fans whose loyalty was rtively high and loved their own idols more deeply finally decided to vote for their idols. And those whose loyalty wasn''t that high, and just liked their original favorite idols, voted for Jing Yang after some hesitation. And someizens who had not previously decided who to support very simply directly voted for Jing Yang.


    However, from this live broadcast, theizens could tell that the shooting process for models was actually very hard, and very difficult. Even for well-qualified models, it would be very difficult to achieve a perfect shot. And so, Arthur Yang being able to perform to that degree must have been the result of a lot of effort and hard work. In these three years, he should not have cked off at all.


    The voting results came out very quickly. The director and designer''s score, as well as the scores of the staff members, undoubtedly were biased toward Jing Yang. And for theizens'' vote, even though Jing Yang did not have arge fan base and thus did not get as many votes as those models with a lot of fans, the difference was not very big.


    In the evening the organizers published the edited videos online. The number of views and clicks for Jing Yang''s video skyrocketed, very quickly exceeding the numbers for the rest of the modelsbined. And the number of views was a very honest representation of theizens'' and fans'' most authentic evaluation. Even if some fans waned to support their favorite models, they still could not resist looking at Jing Yang''s video again and again.


    Dilumo watched his own video and even he could barely stand to keep watching. And in thements below, there were manyizens leaving satiricalments. Usually as long as someone said a single sentence bad about him, that person would immediately be surrounded by his fans. Seeing those who insulted him being scolded, he would feel iparablyfortable in his heart. But right now, even the number of fans who came forward to speak for him had decreased.


    What Dilumo didn''t know was that those fans who helped him speak were fewer because most of his fans were currently repeatedly watching Jing Yang''s video, and they simply did not even see people insulting him. There were also a small number of fans who were already too embarrassed to help defend him. There were only some brain-dead powders still insisting on helping him out.


    Dilumo did not go watch Jing Yang''s video, just looking at his view count, he had already thrown theputer to the floor in fury.


    "Those stupid fans, didn''t they say that they would always support me no matter what? And now just when I need their support, where did they all run off to?!" Dilumo pped the table in anger.


    Conley sat on the sofa, saying indifferently, "Fans were originally very temperamental creatures, they like whoever does well. In the past you did well so they liked you, and now he performed well they like him, isn''t this very normal? Did you expect them to always stay loyal to you? Unless you always perform extremely well, that is impossible.¡±


    Dilumo quickly walked up to Conley and grabbed his cor, viciously ring at him. "Don''t be so <strong>ambiguous</strong> here, don''t think that I can''t tell you''re praising Arthur and insulting me. Your fate is now tied together with mine, if I''m not good, you think you can do well?! Look at your gaze today at him, the dirty thoughts in your heart were simply written on your face, did you think I couldn''t see? Or did you think that if you went to go find him now, he would still forgive you and return to your side?!¡±


    Conley pulled his hand away and said with a not very good expression, "You''re overthinking it, I am very clear about our current situation. I also know that our fates are connected, and of course I hope that you can be better than him.¡±


    "I''m telling you Conley!" Dilumo viciously said. "Don''t think that you can just get rid of me, everything was done by the two of us together, even if I fall to hell I will pull you with me! Don''t think that you could y both sides and win! If you dare toe up with any tricks, and deal with me like you helped me deal with him, I will <strong>take you down with me</strong>! No one will win!¡±


    Conley stood up, his face ugly. "Right now your emotional state is uncontrolled. We''ll talk after you calm down, rest early.¡±


    Dilumo''s face twisted as Conley walked out, that normally gentle and amiable mask waspletely shattered.


    Conley closed the door from the outside and looked gloomily at the already closed door. In the corridor he just happened to meet the staff member that had arranged the rooms for them, so he walked over and asked, "Excuse me, what room does Arthur Yang live in?¡±


    The staff member looked him over strangely and did not answer his question.


    Conley quickly exined, "It''s like this, I have some very important things to talk to him about. We are very old friends, even though we have some misunderstandings, but not any deep hatred, so¡­¡±


    "I''m sorry." The staff member interrupted him. "We have rules, and cannot casually disclose to anyone a model''s room. If you want to see him, you can contact him personally.¡±


    "Is that so? Okay, I, will contact him myself¡­" If Conley could directly contact him, he wouldn''t need to ask a staff member. But they wouldn''t say, and he also couldn''t keep asking, or else it would only arouse suspicion.


    ~


    When Jing Yang was almost falling asleep, he suddenly felt someone press on his body. As soon as he was going to open his eyes, his mouth was blocked, and a very strong tongue reached into his mouth and entangled his tongue.


    "En~wu~" A wide palm kneaded between his legs, and Jing Yang was rubbed with some pain. He couldn''t help but mp his legs together and issue a sound in protest.


    Regulus took off his pajama pants and stroked his thighs with force.


    Jing Yang felt that his movements were a little rough and his mood was also somewhat wrong. He held his shoulder and asked, "What''s wrong?¡±


    Regulus upied his lips and sucked them hard, then rested his head on Jing Yang''s forehead. "I don''t want to let anyone see your body. I want to hide you away, your legs, your body, are all mine.¡±


    Regulus watched Jing Yang''splete video. The person inside was so beautiful he didn''t seem like he could be real, his body was too beautiful, every line was like it had been personally made by God. Such a beautiful person, such a seductive body, how could it not attract people''s gaze. This gave him the sense that his treasure was being spied on by thousands, millions of people, making his heart feel very ufortable. This was a treasure belonging only to him, he did not want to let anyone else see. Once he thought that there definitely were people thinking of some unsavory things while looking at Jing Yang''s body, his heart became even more ufortable.


    "But the model''s job is to use their body to show the products ah." Jing Yang met his gaze in the dark. "They can only see, but only you can touch me. My body only belongs to you¡­I don''t want to give up my job.¡±


    "I know, I know." Regulus tightly hugged him. "I''m not going to force you to give up your modeling job, I''m just¡­somewhat jealous, jealous of all of the people who can see your body. So, you have topensate me.¡±


    "What kind ofpensation do you want?" Jing Yang asked.


    "I want you to stay with me your entire life, and never leave me." Regulus said very seriously.


    "Okay." Jing Yang agreed. "I promise you, not only this life, but also the next life, and the lifetime after that¡­I will always stay by your side, and never leave you.¡±


    The two people made a promise, the mantra that they gave themselves. It would always be etched in their souls and would never disappear.


    Regulus slowly leaned down and kissed his body.


    "En~ah~" Jing Yang grabbed the pillow hard, bearing Regulus''s powerful impacts. He was like a boat drifting in the wind and rain, shaking non-stop until his head was almost dizzy. Yet his body was very excited and very happy, wanting even more.


    ~


    The first stage of thepetition was over. Even though Jing Yang''s support rate online was not the highest, once the overall score was calcted, he was still firmly in first ce.


    The second stage of thepetition was the fashion show. All of the models were taken to <strong>Worsson</strong>, the designer menswearpany under the Fernelea group, for rehearsals before the catwalk.


    The <strong>hottest </strong>designer this season was <strong>McDonnell</strong>, one of the chief designers of Worsson menswear and a famous demon figure in the modelling world. Not only was his character bad, but his tongue was also more poisonous than a snake. Even the best supermodels couldn''t escape his poisonous tongue. But he just had to be a genius in clothing design, and every item he designed would be sought after by countless people. So even if his tongue offended a lot of people, he still sat safely in the position of Worsson''s chief designer.


    As soon as the models heard that this time they had to show clothing designed by McDonnell, everyone was distressed. They desperately steeled themselves and reminded themselves that no matter how unpleasant his words were, they had to bear it.


    The models stood on the rehearsal stage. McDonnell came in wearing sunsses and with his chin raised, followed by seven or eight assistants, walking proudly like a peacock.


    McDonnell took off his sunsses and an assistant immediately reached to take them. He quickly nced at the models and said, "Are these the models I''m going to use for the newunch?¡±


    "Yes." An assistant said.


    "They''re stuffing any <strong>random junk</strong> over with me." McDonnell rolled his eyes and nced at the models with disdain. "I''m going to choose myself, if I can''t see them, let them leave.¡±


    The assistant quickly whispered in his ear. "These models are also the participants in this time''s Fernelea lifetime spokespersonpetition. The new release and the live broadcast of thepetition will be at the same time. Big Boss personally ordered that every person must be used.¡±


    McDonnell''s eyes turned, and he said, "Then let them all get dressed and let me see.¡±


    The staff took the models to change their clothes. What they were wearing now was just samples of a couple styles, and the real new clothing would only be worn in the final rehearsal before theunch.


    After the models changed their clothes, the catwalk director <strong>ss</strong> also came over. He walked to McDonnell and asked, "What, are you already starting to rehearse?¡±


    "No." McDonnell said. "I''m going to select.¡±


    "Isn''t this time''s show with thepetition? Is it useful for you to pick and choose?" ss asked doubtfully.


    "I''m willing, can you control me?" McDonnell squinted at him.


    "Okay okay okay, you pick and choose slowly, once you''re done call me, I''lle over and start rehearsing for them." ss couldn''t provoke him but could hide, he first went to rest.


    McDonnell walked up to the models and said to the first model, "The neck is so long, are you a giraffe? Please shrink your neck as much as you can when you walk on the catwalk.¡±


    He frowned and said to the second model, "Your ratios are too strange ba? You''re so tall but your legs are so short, with your appearance you still actually came to be a model? I would be embarrassed to even leave the door if I were you.¡±


    He walked to the third model''s face and said, "Your head is too big, not only is the proportion disharmonious, but it would make other people focus on your head, who would go to look at the clothes? If you have the least bit of work ethic, you should take the initiative to quit.¡±


    Models'' bodies weremodities, and letting other people <strong>nitpick them</strong> was one of the duties of their work. When neers first entered the business, they would basically all suffer from a round of criticism. But personal attacks like McDonnell''s that directly jabbed at their hearts really were rare.


    When he walked to Jing Yang, he looked him up and down several times, failed to find a point that he could criticize, and then walked twice around him. He really could not find any ws, and could only say, "You¡­are not bad, at least there is one that can get into my eyes.¡±


    Dilumo saw him walk in front of him and couldn''t help but hold his breath. Just now there was someone who had received confirmation, and he felt that he was not any worse than him, so he should also be able to get a good review.


    "Your shoulders are too narrow! How can such shoulders hold up clothes?" McDonnell looked at Dilumo with a face full of disdain. "And what''s going on with your waist? It''s all rounded like this and you actually still have face to be a model, do you not usually manage your body shape? Do you have any professionalism?¡±


    Dilumo''s face showed signs of cracking, and he struggled to bear the anger in his heart. This was the first time he had been criticized so miserably since he had entered this career.


    Theizens watching the live stream also knew what kind of character McDonnell was, and the people who worshipped McDonnell were not any less than those worshipping these models. Someizens felt that it was very interesting to watch McDonnell swear at people. The key was that after he scolded them, and you went to look at that model, you would discover that he did not say anything wrong, it was just that his words were more vicious.


    Even though McDonnell''s mouth was poisonous, he had never randomly scolded. Every swear he let out was a real problem that the model had.


    Dilumo had never walked in McDonnell''s shows before, so of course he had not been scolded by him before. But after only once, when even his own fans looked at his waist, they felt that it really was quite round, and his shoulders were really too narrow. So some of his fans silently <strong>climbed the wall</strong> and left.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>ambiguous</strong> ¨C ÒõÑô¹ÖÆø, seems a little weird, meaning is like entric, mystifying, doesn''t really seem to fit this context


    [2] <strong>take you down with me</strong> ¨C ͬ¹éÓÚ¾¡, idiom, means ending in mutual destruction


    [3] <strong>Worsson</strong> ¨C ÎÖÅ·É­, pinyin wo ou sen


    [4] <strong>hottest</strong> ¨C пî, actually means like newest ortest, but doesn''t seem right in this context


    [5] <strong>McDonnell</strong> ¨C ÂóÌÆÄá, pinyin mai tang ni, would personally have tranted it to Martini or something lol but MTL uses this consistently


    [6] <strong>random junk</strong> ¨C Íâ¹ÕÁÑÔæ, uhh so this is like defective goods I think


    [7] <strong>ss</strong> ¨C ¿ËÀ­Ë¹, pinyin ke si


    [8] <strong>nitpick</strong> ¨C ÆÀÍ·ÂÛ×ã, idiom, means minute criticism, finding fault in the minor details, esp for appearance


    [9] <strong>climbed the wall </strong>¨C ÅÀǽ, basically means to no longer be fans of him<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About 1 hour: 2 pm ¨C 3 pm, for 4.4k characters to 2.7k words. I imagine McDonnell as Gordon Ramsey for fashion, but more vicious. lol.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 88

    <strong>Chapter 88</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.10)</strong>


    The next day of rehearsal, Regulus apanied Jing Yang over, and before the rehearsal, the two sat together in the lounge to rest.


    Jing Yang leaned in Regulus''s arms. Regulus held him from behind and taught him to y a game just released by hispany.


    When McDonnell knocked on the door and came in, he choked after seeing the two people''s posture.


    Regulus nced up at him and then bowed his head and continued to hold Jing Yang''s hand, teaching him to y the game. "You''re here, sit.¡±


    McDonnell walked over to the couch across from them and sat down. "Boss, you''re looking for me?¡±


    "This season''s newunch, I know that you''re not satisfied with this batch of models. Even though you still do have to use all of the people, you don''t have to restrain yourself. If there are ces you are unhappy with, you can still vent it out, and criticize what you should criticize. But¡­" Regulus continued. "Aim your gun a bit, don''t hurt my people by mistake. Or else you may not be able to afford the consequences.¡±


    Regulus looked up at him. "Do you understand?¡±


    "I understand, Boss." McDonnell responded very earnestly.


    "Go then." Regulus looked down and saw that Jing Yang had already passed the level, and kissed him on the cheek. "Really good.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled with pride, but still used a disgruntled tone to say, "I''m not a kid anymore, I don''t need this kind of encouragement.¡±


    When McDonnell walked out of the door, he saw the two of them ying together very intimately. After closing the door, he let out a long breath of relief. He was somewhat d that he had not picked at Jing Yang yesterday, even though this was because he really had nothing to critique him on.


    The reason why McDonnell dared to be so arrogant and unafraid of offending people was because he was very clear that as long as there was Regulus to support him, it didn''t matter who he offended. It''s just that he never thought that Arthur Yang and Regulus would actually be in that kind of rtionship, really risky.


    But since Regulus and Arthur Yang were lovers, couldn''t he just directly let him be the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group, what was he still doing this kind ofpetition for? McDonnell remembered what Regulus just said to him and instantly understood. Arthur Yang had almost beenpletely destroyed by Dilumo, and suddenly making him the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group would only cause even greater public outcry. All he needed was a chance to make aeback and change his image. And Dilumo was also one of the contestants, ording to Regulus''s <strong>protective personality</strong>, he would naturally not let him live well. So what Regulus had just said was to let him aim his gun better at some cannon fodder, and the direction of the target naturally referred to Dilumo.


    ~


    The process of models walking the catwalk was very demanding on the details, including the models'' position and order of appearance, the time of entry and exit, the time to show the clothing, every step had to be right. So before the official catwalk, there were a lot of intense rehearsals.


    McDonnell walked up to the models and said, "Today we will first go another time using the order and positions from yesterday''s rehearsal, and then I will pick one of you as the <strong>lead</strong><strong>model</strong>. My eyes cannot tolerate the slightest w, so everyone please bring out your best state. If you think that it''s just a rehearsal so you deliberately ck off, please quit right now.¡±


    As the models began to rehearse, McDonnell shouted, "Number three, your steps are too big, number four, why are you walking in such a hurry? Are you running to be reincarnated? Number nine, yourck of energy is because you didn''t eat? Straighten your waist! Number thirteen your entrance order is wrong! Everyone restart!"


    Originally, arranging models'' position and rehearsal would all be done by the show director, and in rehearsal, seeing the show director scolding models making mistakes was verymon. But in McDonnell''s fashion shows, he conducted all of his rehearsals, so the show director generally had little influence on the proceedings.


    "Some of you I really don''t know how you were able to muddle your way up to a famous model, I can''t see the least bit of professionalism. If you have time practice as much as you can, do not think that just relying on the media can allow you to be a supermodel." McDonnell said this while looking at Dilumo, and the meaning of his words were extremely clear, everyone would tell what he was implying. "This time''s lead model will be Arthur Yang, but if there is the smallest mistake in the middle, I will rece you.¡±


    During rehearsals, even though almost everyone was scolded, Dilumo was definitely the one scolded the most miserably. When he made another mistake that forced everyone to restart, McDonnell continuously berated him for three entire minutes.


    Dilumo''s anger slowly boiled in his heart, and finally exploded out of control. "Have you scolded enough? Do you think that being a designer is so great?! So that you can insult people at will?¡±


    McDonnell very calmly replied, "Me being a designer is really not anything great, and you can also choose to opt not to walk in my show. I''ve never casually insulted people, I only insult those who are unprofessional and who make mistakes again and again.¡±


    "Then I won''t walk, if it weren''t for thepetition, do you think I would want to walk your show?" Dilumo''s mind had already gone nk from anger, and he hadpletely forgotten that he was now being live streamed.


    "You can leave now, please step out. Don''t look back, and don''te back to beg me." McDonnell showed him out.


    Dilumo flung his head and really walked out.


    Conley immediately followed up and pulled him in the hallway. "Dilumo!¡±


    "Let me go!" Dilumo shook off his hand. "I don''t want to walk his sh*t runway!¡±


    "Now it''s not about whether you want to walk the show!" Conley grabbed his shoulder. "If you don''t take part in the show, you would have effectively withdrawn from thepetition, and lost the chance to be the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group!¡±


    "Do you want me to go back to continue being scolded by him? Why do I have to be insulted so badly?!" Dilumo was unwilling.


    Conley looked around and confirmed that no camera was watching them. He pulled Dilumo into a room, closed the door, and whispered. "Don''t forget our current situation! If you can''t be the Fernelea group''s lifelong spokesperson, <strong>Chenilu</strong> will swallow us uppletely sooner orter!¡±


    As soon as Conley finished speaking, Dilumo''s cell phone in his hand starting ringing. It was Chenilu who had just called.


    "Pick it up yourself." Conley handed him the phone.


    "Hey, what''s the matter?" Dilumo picked up the call, and after listening to the other side speak, he roared quietly, "Money again?! I already gave you all the money I could! Before asking me, you couldn''t think about whether I could give it?!¡±


    "I am onlypeting in thepetition, and I haven''t be the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group yet, where would Ie up with a lot of money for you?!¡±


    "¡­Stop! I will find a way, you better calm down a bit, if I''m done for, you can stop wanting to get another penny, no one will live well!" Dilumo hung up the phone, trembling with anger.


    "Are you awake now? Hurry back and apologize to McDonnell, or it will really be toote." Conley said.


    Dilumo closed his eyes and told himself that this was all for the sake of being able to live better, and he had to resist.


    Dilumo walked back to the practice room and saw McDonnell sitting in the lounge drinking water. He clenched his teeth and walked over to give a seemingly sincere apology. "I''m sorry Mr. McDonnell, I apologize for my gaffe earlier, please give me another chance.¡±


    "You thought it over quite quickly." McDonnell looked up at him and handed the water cup to an assistant. "Weren''t you unwilling to walk my show? Howe you regretted it so quickly? I even thought you were somewhat unyielding.¡±


    "I''m sorry, just now I was too impulsive. No matter what, please give me another chance." Dilumo bowed to McDonnell.


    "I have long heard that you this person''s temper in private is not very good, your pride is also humongous, and attitude towards the staff was quite bad. A famous two-faced person in the modeling world." McDonnell slowly said. "From what I saw today, sure enough it was <strong>out of the ordinary</strong>, I''ve criticized countless models, and only you dared to have a temper. Do you know why the other models didn''t get angry after being criticized and didn''t talk back? Because they knew that I didn''t scold them incorrectly, and their work ethic allows them to withstand the criticism. Only you, not only do you not know your own mistakes, but still show an appearance of being right when you''re making mistakes, and that we aren''t allowed to criticize you after you go wrong. Who gave you this self-confidence? If you''re so strong, why are you modeling? Wouldn''t it be better for you to go back home and be a big young master?¡±


    Dilumo clenched his fists tightly, he was already faint and dizzy from anger. He bit his lips hard to make himself endure. McDonnell actually said in front of the camera that he was a two-faced person, which was equivalent to exposing him in front of all of theizens. And it had to be in this kind of situation, when he couldn''t refute him.


    The entire process of this matter, besides the time when Conley went to persuade Dilumo and when Chenilu called, theizens had seen everything.


    Theizens felt that McDonnell''s scolding was really somewhat excessive, but he only scolded when the models were wrong or didn''t perform well. They could tell that McDonnell was not like some sort of madman, seizing someone and randomly scolding them. He had his own professional standard, and his high requirements naturally couldn''t endure those frequently making mistakes. And every rehearsal, they could see that there were many staff members busy behind the scenes. It was not like they thought, that the models alone could support a show.


    Because of the mistakes of one person, including the models, all of the staff behind the scenes had to repeat everything again. As a model who could not be considered new, if he could not do well even to this extent, even a fairy would get angry.


    And McDonnell said to his face that he was a two-faced person, with a very bad temper in private, and a horrible attitude towards the staff. He should not have deliberately wronged him, or else he wouldn''t say it in front of his face. Theizens were all very clear about McDonnell''s personality, his mouth was very poisonous and would say whatever he wanted, never hiding and just directly saying what he meant. But he had a special characteristic, and that was that he never blindly criticized someone, and never lowered himself to making up facts.


    So manyizens started questioning Dilumo''s character and professional standards. No wonder Dilumo rarely walked live shows before, and most of his work were ads or edited videos. Either it was because he knew that he wasn''t good at walking live shows, or it was because his level simply couldn''t get onto shows.


    "Do you think that I''m scolding you to vent my emotions and then deliberately target you?" McDonnell said. "You made mistakes again and again, have you ever thought about the feelings of those staff members? If I didn''t scold you to help them out, would they feelfortable? Since you are a professional model, you should at least perform to a professional standard. If you practice more normally, you wouldn''t do so poorly right now.¡±


    In the eyes of theizens, McDonnell was rarely giving him some <strong>well-meaning advice</strong>, and the words he said were also very reasonable. But in Dilumo''s ears, they turned into burrs, stinging at his heart again and again, so that his heart became even more twisted and angry, intensifying his hatred for McDonnell.


    "I understand my mistakes, and I will definitely improve in the future." Dilumo was almost spitting blood from anger, but he still held back the fury in his heart.


    "The people you should be apologizing to isn''t me, but the staff and other models. You''ve dyed them quite a bit of time, and added a lot of workload to them. Be more sincere, if they are willing to forgive you, I don''t mind giving you another chance." McDonnell made his stance clear, and even Dilumo''s fans had nothing to say.


    Dilumo went to apologize to the staff members one by one. This was the first time he had lowered himself like this, and even in front of so many people.


    After apologizing to the staff, he went to apologize to the other models. When he stood in front of Jing Yang and said the word sorry, the unwillingness in his heart spiked. He never thought that one day he would stand in front of this person and apologize. He had always felt that he had lost in his own hands, and that was because of his own stupidity and ipetence. In this society, there was only winning and losing, and no right or wrong.


    Even though the situation was now reversed and he himself was at a disadvantage, he did not feel that he had been defeated. The person who wouldugh in the end, would definitely be him.


    Jing Yang just faintly nced at him, and already knew what he was thinking. Who couldugh at the end, they would seeter. Not only would he make it so that he couldn''tugh, but he would also make him cry.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>protective personality </strong>¨C »¤¶Ì, literally means short protection, basically means he is very protective over someone/very few people


    [2] <strong>lead model</strong> ¨C Ö÷Ðã, literally means main model, I don''t know much about different terminology for models, I just know there''s an opening model for runway shows


    [3] <strong>Chenilu</strong> ¨C ÇÐÄá³, pinyin qie ni lu


    [4] <strong>out of the ordinary</strong> ¨C ²»Í¬·²Ïì, idiom, not quite sure in this context but means like outstanding, notmon, not necessarily in a good way though


    [5] <strong>well-meaning advice</strong> ¨C ¿à¿ÚÆÅÐÄ, idiom, means earnest persuasion<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 1 pm ¨C 2 pm, for 3.9k characters to 2.5k words. Took me like 10 minutes to look over the previous chapters bc I kept thinking that I had already tranted the news boss¡¯s name somewhere. I hadn¡¯t.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 89

    <strong>Chapter 89</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.11)</strong>


    On the day of theunch, the scene was very grand. Not only many famous fashion celebrities, but also a lot of media reporters came. Therge hall was filled with people.


    Regulus and McDonnell sat in the front row closest to the catwalk, and before the show began, reporters were already taking pictures of Regulus.


    Backstage, all of the models were nervously preparing. Jing Yang needed to model more than a dozen sets of clothing, and was surrounded by three or four staff members. One was dedicated to managing the clothing he had to model, one was responsible for arranging his looks and makeup, and two more were dedicated to dressing him.


    Dilumo only had two sets of clothing to model, so he was the most idle person in the entire show. But this kind of idleness made him very embarrassed and humiliated.


    Dilumo''s order was arranged in the middle, and at the moment he was standing in the corner watching everyone else busy themselves. Seeing that there were no cameras on him, he openly red at Jing Yang. He came to thepetition in order to be a lifelong spokesperson for Fernelea, but from the current situation, his chances of sess could not be any smaller. If he failed, it would really be hard for him to find another chance like this, so he had to do something to change the situation. He and Conley both felt that it would be most convenient and most effective to start from Arthur Yang.


    This time''s show was extremely sessful. Jing Yang beautifully modeled the clothing design concepts, perfectly exhibiting the casualfort and elegance desired. And by wearing it on his body, even if it were ayman, they could see the luxury and quality of the clothing.


    After McDonnell saw the eyes of the other designers, he was very satisfied and proud. For this time''s clothing designs, he had spent a lot of thought. He felt that even though Arthur Yang had a rtionship with Regulus, both his own abilities and professional standards were at a first-ss level, absolutely no worse than the top supermodels. Fortunately there were models like Arthur Yang in thepetition, if they were all like Dilumo, he would have wasted all of his blood, sweat, and tears. This made McDonnell feel very fortunate, if he had chosen himself, he would also have chosen Arthur Yang to be his lead model.


    The designers all had simr thoughts. Even though McDonnell''s designs had always been a beacon for the fashion world, when they were worn by Jing Yang, and exhibited on the catwalk, the effect was even better. Many designers had already been moved and decided to find a way to get him to also be the lead model for their own release shows.


    Even though Conley sat in the veryst row, he was still infected by Jing Yang''s temperament on the stage, and couldn''t help but be attracted to him. In the three years since his disappearance, if Dilumo hadn''t arranged people to constantly ambush him, he might not have thought of this person at all. But now, he stood on the stage so brightly, and he could only look up at him.


    Conley suddenly was somewhat regretful, he regretted that he had done things so obviously, and been discovered. If he hadn''t been discovered, perhaps this person would still be his own. Even though he had never been able to touch him, he was better looking than Dilumo, his body was better than Dilumo, and his temper was far better than Dilumo.


    But now he could no longer turn back, it was impossible for Arthur to forgive him, and the two people could never return to the past. <strong>Every man for himself</strong>, in order for his own life to be better, he could only continue to hurt him.


    McDonnell ended up standing on the stage with all of the models, receiving apuse from the crowd and the camera. As the lead model, Jing Yang stood together with him at the very front and the very middle, his eyes quickly meeting with Regulus below the stage, like they were making amorous nces at each other in front of everyone.


    Dilumo stood in the back row at the end, and even though he obviously knew that it would be hard for his fans to find him on the screen, he tried to keep smiling and show his best side. Because at this time, he couldn''t get caught with the slightest w.


    ~


    After the show, there was a wine banquet. After Jing Yang finished cleaning up backstage his cell phone rang. When he opened it, he found that it was a strange number, and said that he was holding something that he definitely wanted. It had something to do with the secretly taken pictures from three years ago, and could be given to him at a very low price. They hoped to talk to him in person alone, even if it was just a few minutes.


    The secretly taken pictures from three years ago, wasn''t that the picture of Arthur catching Conley and Dilumo cheating? If the reporter who had taken the picture had left another card up his sleeve, and now seeing him appear in public, he wanted to sell it to him and earn from both sides, that was also not impossible. But ording to Jing Yang''s investigation, even if that man knew his contact information, it would definitely not be possible for him to appear here at this time. So there was only one possibility that he could think of.


    Jing Yang closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds, and then sent a message to Regulus on his cell phone. After waiting for a while, he calmly went to the mentioned location.


    When Jing Yang walked to the not too hidden corridor, he saw that the person standing there was indeed Conley. Jing Yang did not walk closer, just standing there.


    Conley saw that he didn''te over, and took the initiative to walk over to him. "Arthur.¡±


    "The person asking me to meet was you?" Jing Yang deliberately pretended he didn''t know what was going on.


    "It''s me, I have something to say to you." Conley said.


    "I have nothing to say to you." Jing Yang coldly turned around.


    "Wait! Arthur, listen to me, I really have something important to tell you!" Conley quickly stepped forward to grab Jing Yang''s hand.


    "Let me go!" Jing Yang struggled hard, pushing him away with the other hand. The two people struggled, as if they were fighting.


    "Listen to me Arthur, I am really regretful about what happened three years ago!" Conley seemed anxious to exin to Jing Yang.


    "Regret what?" Jing Yang looked at him angrily. "Regretting that you cheated on me with Dilumo? If you really regret it, go and admit to everyone what you did!¡±


    "No, listen to me exin¡­" Conley tightly held Jing Yang''s hand, not letting go.


    Hearing footsteps finallye from behind, the moment he confirmed someone appeared in the corridor, Conley viciously threw away Jing Yang''s hand and said loudly, "Don''t bother me anymore, right now the person I like is Dilumo. I only like him, no matter how good you are now, I will not look back! And don''t forget, at the start it was you proposing to break up, and now you actually nder me and Dilumo as cheating! And you still want me to go back? Impossible!¡±


    Jing Yang stood motionless, just coldly watching him act.


    Dilumo quickly walked over, followed by arge number of people. Most of them were reporters filming.


    Conley greeted Dilumo and held his hand, eagerly exining, "My dear, he suddenly came to find me and said that he wanted to be with me. I have already rejected him, now I only have you in my heart, and how could I go be with someone who had previously abandoned me.¡±


    Dilumo''s face was particrly ugly. He looked at Jing Yang, and then looked at Conley. Then he shook off Conley''s hand and pped him in the face with a crisp sound. He said furiously, "I didn''t think that you would be such a person, I really misread you!¡±


    Conley was pped silly by him, andpletely froze, looking at him full of bewilderment. This waspletely different from the situation that they had discussed before. When Dilumo arrived, shouldn''t he first me Arthur Yang and say that Arthur Yang was shameless for seducing him, and then p Arthur? How did the person being pped be himself?


    Dilumo really wanted to give Conley a look, but he knew that besides the reporters behind him, there were also cameras shooting him from the front. So now he could only hope that Conley could understand his eyes and stop saying anything he shouldn''t say.


    There was more than one camera in the corridor, and just now, surveince footage from the corridor had been disyed on the big screen in the hall. so the scene of Conley entangling Jing Yang, and then framing Jing Yang for bothering him, had not only been seen by everyone in the hall, but also by all of theizens watching the live stream. And the surveince footage was not only very high quality, but the sound was also very clear.


    Dilumo saw this scene in the hall and panicked, he didn''t know why the video would be shown on the big screen. When he reacted, he immediately tried to run over to stop Conley, but it was already toote. Conley had done everything he had to do.


    Conley was beaten and didn''t know why, his expression changing several times.


    Dilumo rushed to speak before he got angry, "What you just did, we all saw in the hall! Do you have anything to say!¡±


    Conley stared in shock, his expression even uglier. Now he already didn''t know how to react.


    Jing Yang''s assistant rushed over with other staff members and protected him to leave through the throng of reporters.


    Back in the lounge, Regulus immediately hugged him and sat down on the sofa, and then rolled up his sleeve and checked his hand. Just now seeing Conley grab his hand, he was about to explode from anger. If it wasn''t because he didn''t want other people to say that Jing Yang only had such good results because of his rtionship, he would long have rushed over.


    "I''m fine, he didn''t hurt me. You see, it''s not even red." Jing Yang appeased him.


    Regulus kissed his hand. "Conley and Dilumo those two, previously how they hurt you, I will definitely make them repay it twice over!¡±


    "Look, I got this." Jing Yang took out a cell phone, which he had just taken from Conley''s pocket in their scuffle earlier. "There must be a lot of useful things in here.¡±


    Regulus had just taken over the phone when Jing Yang said, "That''s right, I need you to help me find someone.¡±


    ¡°Who?" Regulus asked.


    "A reporter called <strong>Kirby Scott</strong>. Because he was addicted to gambling, he owed a lot of money. He went missing after robbing a shop, and I can''t find him anywhere, but I know that he is still alive." Jing Yang exined.


    "What do you want him for?¡±


    "I caught Conley cheating with Dilumo three years ago, and he happened to capture it. He offered to sell me the evidence at a very high price. Even though the price was very high, I would have been willing to pay to buy it, but he had an additional condition, which was to let me sleep with him once¡­¡±


    Jing Yang hadn''t finished speaking when Regulus tightened his hold on the cell phone, a sharp and fierce light instantly appearing in his eyes.


    "But I didn''t agree, so he sold the evidence to Conley. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have fallen to that kind of situation. Three years of not receiving any work, or even leaving the door.¡±


    "Leave these things to me to handle, as long as this man is alive, even if he hides underground, I will find him!" Regulus hugged Jing Yang tightly, pressing his face to his chest. Thinking of his previous experiences, he couldn''t control his heartache. "I''m sorry, I didn''t meet you earlier, and made you suffer so much.¡±


    Jing Yang''s face was affixed to his chest. His eyes were a little misty, remembering the thousands of reincarnations before meeting him. "If everything was for meeting you, no matter how long I had to wait, it would be worth it.¡±<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>every man for himself</strong> ¨C È˲»Îª¼ºÌìÖïµØÃð, look out for yourself, or heaven and earth will destroy you


    [2] <strong>Kirby Scott</strong> ¨C ¿Ë±È¡¤Ë¹»ùÌØ, pinyin ke bi then si ji ti<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Less than an hour: 1 pm ¨C 1:45 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.2k words.

 Chapter 90

    <strong>Chapter 90</strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.12)</strong>


    Theizens witnessed this entire process through the stream. At first they were confused and couldn¡¯t understand the situation. But after they saw Dilumo p Conley, they finally reacted. This was Conley wanting to frame Jing Yang, but he was unaware that all of his actions had been filmed. Theizens were in a frenzy, making all kinds ofments ranging from sarcasm to insults toward Conley. During this time Jing Yang had umted quite a bit of poprity and had arge increase in fans. His fans saw that Conley was actually so shameless, and immediately angrily attacked Conley. They even brought out all of the previous matters, saying that since Conley was so familiar with framing people, he must have practiced it a lot before. Then for those bad rumors about Arthur, they must have also been prepared by him and Dilumo together to nder Arthur.


    Theizens scolded Conley, and basically no one defended him, because the facts were there, and everyone had personally seen it. No matter who was right or wrong earlier, right now he had done this kind of thing, and if anyone still helped him speak, that would really be lying with their eyes open.


    When scolding Conley no one said anything, but when people started scolding Dilumo, his fans were unwilling. They felt that even though the two were lovers, one person¡¯s mistakes shouldn¡¯t be borne by both of them. And Dilumo wasn¡¯t even involved in this matter at all. From the p that he gave Conley you could tell that even he didn¡¯t expect Conley to do such a thing.


    Dilumo¡¯s fans used all kinds of whitewashing and justification, and simply did not admit that Dilumo had any rtionship with Conley framing Jing Yang. In their hearts, their idol was pure and the image of goodness.


    A crowd of reporters were chasing and surrounding Conley. Now he was even afraid to go back to his own home, and could only hide away in the remote small home he lived in while in college.


    Conley, who had already gotten used to living in arge house, felt depressed and suffocated living in what he felt was a broken and old home, restless and unable to sit down. Every couple minutes, he would go to the window and draw the curtains open by a little seam and look down, waiting for Dilumo toe. If it hadn¡¯t been to make it more convenient to meet with Dilumo, he would long have returned to his current home. Even though he knew that there must be a lot of reporters outside his house, as long as he didn¡¯t open the door, the reporters couldn¡¯t force their way in.


    Dilumo managed with great difficulty to sneak over to meet him. Once he entered the door, he didn¡¯t have time to take a breath when Conley already grabbed his shoulder and said, ¡°What am I going to do now? What do we do?!¡±


    Dilumo¡¯s arm hurt from his grasp. He forcefully pulled off his hand and said, ¡°Calm down! Am I not here to discuss methods with you?!¡±


    ¡°What kind of methods are there?¡± Conley stared at him with bloodshot eyes. ¡°Right now I don¡¯t even dare to appear in front of people, and everyone is scolding me! Do you know how ugly those people¡¯s words are?¡±


    ¡°And what can I do?¡± Dilumo also shouted with red eyes. ¡°You think I want it to be like this? But the things have already happened, we can only escape or face them, there¡¯s only two ways!¡±


    ¡°It was your idea, and the matter was also what you wanted me to do. Now we failed and you actually get off scot-free, letting me bear the consequences alone? I¡¯m telling you, you can perish that thought!¡± Conley roared furiously.


    ¡°Can you calm down?!¡± Dilumo rubbed his forehead. ¡°Could it be that you would be satisfied by implicating me in this as well? In that case, we would really be done for! Right now, at least I have the hope of turning the tables!¡±


    Conley wiped his face and sat down on the sofa, feeling powerless.


    Dilumo calmed down his emotions and walked over, crouching down next to him. ¡°Right now we still have hope, as long as I can continue to develop in the modeling world, I would never leave you behind. What¡¯s the big deal with not going out to see people? Didn¡¯t Arthur Yang stay at home for three years without leaving the door? Now, people are very forgetful. Give it at most a year and no one will mention this matter again. Then you cane up with a way to clean your reputation, and these matters won¡¯t have an impact on you. Then you can go out in public again. Time is the best way to solve all problems. When time has passed, no one will be able to tell the truth about what happened years ago.¡±


    After Conley calmed down a bit, he also knew that Dilumo¡¯s words were reasonable. Right now, the only method he had was to not appear, and everything would be forgotten eventually. Now, the more he attempted to defend himself in public, the more he would be scolded. Staying silent and disappearing is the best method, anything will disappear one day.


    So Conley chose ate night and prepared to sneak back home. But he was still discovered by some reporters who surrounded him for a long time and asked him a lot of questions. He broke through the reporters¡¯ siege with great difficulty and entered his own home.


    ~


    In the second round, Jing Yang maintained his position in first ce. His score was far ahead of the other models, and his fan numbers also rose sharply.


    Thest round of thepetition was to shoot the model¡¯s own propaganda video. The content of the film would be set by the model himself, and the clothing and scene would also be designed by the model.


    In this round, theizens could see how model propaganda films were shot, and would also test the models¡¯ level in film design. Or else there were always some models who clearly invited someone to design their publicity images, but always said that it was based on their own inspiration and the whole process was designed by themselves and then waspleted together with the staff.


    Dilumo had said many times before that he personally came up with the inspiration for his promotion images, and he had even said that during the shooting process, often he would be the one directing. When other models heard these words, they all were scornful. Just being able to shoot well was already quite good, but even guiding the director, where would it be that easy. But those fans who didn¡¯t understand the filming process only worshipped him more.


    Dilumo did not think that the content of every round poked him right in his weaknesses. Not a single one of strengths was incorporated, and the skills they had topete with were all things that he was not good at but had dered to the public that he was very good at.


    With the previous two fiascos, Dilumo had lost most of his hope in bing the lifelong spokesperson for Fernelea. Now all he wanted to do was to save his image and stabilize the hearts of his fans who were still supporting him.


    Jing Yang had previously personally filmed his own two publicity images, which were on crushed stars and lost night. So now everyone was very curious about what kind of propaganda film he could produce this time.


    This time, Jing Yang gave his publicity image the name: moonlight haze, which would be entirely of the ssical Oriental style. He drew out the scene he imagined digitally and handed it over to the staff arranging the scene.


    The scene Jing Yang wanted was not difficult to arrange. The staff held theputer and confirmed some details with him, and found that his understanding of sceneyout could be said to be at a professional level.


    The head of the film crew said, ¡°Out of all of these models, it is the easiest to discuss with you. It feels like you¡¯re a professional. Some people not understanding is nothing, but they don¡¯t understand and still have to pretend they do, putting forward somepletely impossible requests. We are really helpless.¡±


    Just now, Dilumo actually asked them to make a beach for him, based on the fact that his fans liked the beach images he had taken. He even said that with the advancements in technology, as long as theyid out the scene and added some special effects, recreating a real beach wasn¡¯t too difficult.


    At that time they were all speechless. Even if technology was really developed, and special effects were really good, the results from shooting here would still be very different from those shooting at a real beach. After all, these were videos, and not photos. If it was just a photo, they could simply get a green screen and then put up the background directly. So the staff felt that Dilumo¡¯s knowledge of scene setup may still be stuck in the age of photos from decades ago.


    Jing Yang smiled. ¡°I really can¡¯t be considered professional. I just had to set up my own scenes before, so I needed to learn a bit more about it.¡±


    ¡°If every model were like you, trying to get a little bit of understanding before deciding what kind of scene they wanted, we wouldn¡¯t have to work so hard to exin. And he could get better results.¡± The film crew leader said a little helplessly.


    After Jing Yang confirmed some details with the clothing and makeup staff, he started filming the next day.


    Jing Yang wore a wig with waist-length hair and a moon-white light changpao, stepping barefoot to the window. The first thing in the camera was his bare feet, white and clean, even his toes were round and lovely. Very few people were perfect to the extent that even their feet would look so good, and the surrounding staff all couldn¡¯t resist looking at his feet and sighing in their heart.


    He sat down on the arhat bed and picked up the wine jug on the tray, pouring himself a ss of wine. He leaned against the window, his fingers holding the ss of wine. He lightly swung it but wasn¡¯t in a hurry to drink, instead slightly raising his head to admire the huge moon in the sky.


    This time the director filming for the models was the one who had taken the underwater films for them in the first round. Last time he had felt that Jing Yang did especially well, and sure enough, this time he didn¡¯t let him down. How this time¡¯s video would be shot, when, and from what angle, were all done ording to what the model himself requested.


    The lens slowly glided down from top down, past his perfect profile to his beautifully sleek neck, so that the people watching couldn¡¯t help their heartbeat increasing. The lens slowly pulled out a bit. Jing Yang picked up the ss of wine and drank it, one ss after another. After drinking, he seemed to disdain using a ss as not enough fun, directly picking up the wine jug to drink.


    The wine flowed from the corner of his mouth and down his neck into hispel, and Jing Yang put down the empty wine jug. He pulled at his clothing with some difort, so that the originally tightly wrapped clothes slightly loosened, revealing a little more skin. His eyes started misting up, and his face began to redden, apparently intoxicated.


    Jing Yang stretched out his foot and halfy on the windowsill. In the moment he looked back at the lens, those watery eyes, those reddened cheeks on that white face, that head of ck shiny and silky hair casually scattered behind him, no matter how you looked, it was truly devastating.


    Whether it was the staff on the scene, or theizens watching through the screens, there were many people whose noses started itching, and felt an impulse for their blood to start dripping from their noses. They really wanted to scream to express the shock in their hearts. They wouldn¡¯t even care if people thought they were crazy, because it was really attractive, this was simply a crime ah!


    The ce where Jing Yang was looking, was precisely where Regulus was sitting. Everyone thought that he was looking at the camera, and only the two people meeting gazes knew that they only had each other in their eyes at that moment.


    Jing Yang looked at Regulus and smiled gently, his eyes full of charm and deep feelings. The people looking at him couldn¡¯t help but blush and be agitated, their entire bodies heating up.


    Regulus tightly clenched his fists, suppressing his desire to rush over and carry him away. This was his baby, but now he was actually being appreciated by countless people. He naturally was unhappy.


    Regulus felt very conflicted in his heart. On the one hand he thought, if only he could just hide away his baby in the future, then only he could appreciate him, and no one else could see him. But he also felt that such a good baby, he should be shining, and it would only be right for more people to know how good he was.


    Theizens were already uncontrobly howling at their screens to vent, pping the desk or their own legs to release the feelings scratching at their hearts.


    Thements on the live broadcast page were also boiling over.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªOh my god! My god! Even just the process of filming is so seductive, I can¡¯t imagine what the finished film will look like.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªThis is the first time I¡¯ve had a nosebleed in all the years I¡¯ve lived. My first time was given to you, Arthur, you need to be responsible~


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªEvidently he¡¯s so covered up, but just from the gaze and that face, it is already attractive enough.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI really want to travel through the screen and look from the scene! I really envy the staff who can see this personally!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI am already unable to wait for the finished films, I feel like the blood in my nose will squirt out.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªAh! Ah! Ah! I really like Arthur so much!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªMale god! Male god! No matter what happens, I will always support you!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªOh my god! How could there be such a seductive man in this world! Your gaze is a crime! Crime!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªIs this still a human? This is definitely a demon ba?! It¡¯s too charming!


    After he finished shooting, Jing Yang looked at the result and then discussed with the director on how to cut the film. He was originally supposed to go to the dressing room to remove his makeup and change his clothes, but was instead led to the lounge by his assistant.


    Regulus pressed Jing Yang on the door and lifted his chin, kissing him hard.


    After the two kissed for a while, Regulus picked him up and put him on the sofa.


    As long as he thought of countless people seeing his baby today, Regulus almost went crazy with jealousy. He wanted to hide him away and not let anyone see him, only appreciating him himself.


    One world after another, they continued to meet and love each other. Jing Yang didn¡¯t know how many more worlds they could fall in love in, and they could only do their best to go through every life perfectly.


    Perhaps they should also thank fate for arranging it like this, and not let fate down for doing so.


    Trantor Notes:


    [1] confused ¨C ²»Ã÷ËùÒÔ, basically failing to understand why


    [2] lying with their eyes open ¨C ÃÁ×ÅÁ¼ÐÄ, actually means like without a conscience


    [3] scornful ¨C àÍÖ®ÒÔ±Ç, means to snort disdainfully


    [4] moonlight haze ¨C ÔÂÏÂÒû, actual name is moonlight drink, but haze sounds more artsy lol


    [5] moon-white light changpao ¨C ¹Å´úÇᱡ³¤ÅÛ, basically like the robes from ssical Chinese dynasties


    [6] arhat bed ¨C ÂÞºº´², google it, kind of also looks like a chaise


    [7] demon ¨C Ñý¾«, like a evil spirit, but mostly in seducing people, like an subus lol


    Random Notes:


    A little over an hour: 12:30 pm ¨C 1:45 pm, for 4.3k characters to 2.8k words.


    Extra Note: thank you all for your patience! it has been an entire month since ist posted that there would be a brief hiatus. it was much longer than i originally nned, from abination of being busy with a lot of things and with ack of motivation to trante. i have started getting back to tranting, but will likely be picking up slower. this most likely means that there will at least one chapter of cfcs a week, not always two as before, at least in the beginning. one chapter of 100kv will be tranted every week. thanks for all of your support! ??

 Chapter 91

    <strong>Chapter 91</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.13)</strong>


    The staff helped Dilumo set up the beach scene that he wanted to film. He walked around the set, <strong>gesticting critically</strong> for half a day, as if he was really a perfectionist. The staff members expressionlessly watched him point around and listened to hispletely amateurments, forcibly suppressing their urge to roll their eyes.


    After filming started, Dilumo stepped on the white sand wearing swimming trunks. He fiddled with his hair, facing the camera in what he thought was his handsomest pose. His pose really had no problem, but based on the camera movement he requested, the footage made the director frown the entire time.


    After filming a scene, Dilumo ran over to watch the rey. After watching it, he immediately asked, "What happened? Did you even shoot based on what I said?¡±


    The director ignored him, his face cold. The director''s assistant said, "This is precisely the result of what you requested.¡±


    "Impossible!" Dilumo said with great dissatisfaction. "If you really filmed based on my requirements, the footage would definitely not be like this. Look what you turned me into.¡±


    "Since you said this, then you might as well shoot it yourself." The director said impatiently. He hated these self-righteous people the most.


    "If I could do it separately, it would absolutely be better than yours. The directors who helped me with my promotional videos before all did so under my guidance. I hope that you all can have a little work ethic. Evidently you know that I can''t film myself, and you still say that I should do it myself." Dilumo had already made up his mind to me the bad results on the directing group. In any case he didn''t expect these people to give him a high score, as long as he could maintain his image in the hearts of his fans, that was enough.


    The staff members finally couldn''t resist starting to roll their eyes. They could be considered people who had <strong>seen a lot</strong>, but it was really their first time meeting someone who was so shameless.


    After shooting again, Dilumo once again seized the angle and scene problems to criticize. "The scene shot from this angle is really too fake, and the transition from this sea water to the sand, can''t you do it a little better? How could the result from shooting it like this be good?¡±


    The director originally didn''t want to talk more with this person, but hearing him be more and more extreme, he finally couldn''t resist. "The angle was what you requested yourself, and the scene was also done based on what you asked for. If it wasn''t shot well, that isn''t the problem with our ability, but that you simply don''t understand and still make random requests. Anyone with brains would know to choose slightly darker scenes to shoot, so that they can achieve more realistic results, whether during filming or in post-production when adding special effects. And only you, put forward the request to shoot a beach and ocean scene in a studio. Such a bright scene, it was already very difficult to shoot a realistic scene, and then you even chose some messy angles. Anyone with some brain cells wouldn''t have done this.¡±


    Dilumo was so frankly satirized as brainless by the director, and his expression immediately became ugly.


    The director hadn''t finished venting the anger in his heart. Since the words had alreadye out, he felt that he might as well be even more blunt. "Don''t think that we''re fools, and think that we can''t see your purpose. You clearly don''t understand how to set up a good shoot, and still want to forcibly say that it was our problem. I''ve been in this line for twenty to thirty years, and I''ve won more awards than the number of promos you''ve ever taken, and you think that you could throw the problem to me with just a few words? I''m telling you, anyone who understands the least bit can tell that it''s all your problem. You think that you are criticizing us, but don''t know how ridiculous you seem in other people''s eyes!¡±


    Dilumo was still very unconvinced, and at this time he felt that he couldn''t admit his mistakes, so he strongly resisted. "You say that it''s my problem, then why didn''t I have any problems with my previous videos? Clearly you all don''t understand what I wanted, and couldn''t meet my requirements, but still want to ce the responsibility on my head!¡±


    "Good!" The director said. "Then I''ll find someone toe and show you whether it is your problem or our problem.¡±


    ~


    Jing Yangy on Regulus''s chest, only feeling like he had no strength left in his entire body.


    Regulus raised his chin and kissed him. He pulled up the robe that had slipped down to his waist and covered up his body, his hand still stroking his skin under his clothes.


    "En~" Jing Yang''s sensitive areas were touched by him, and he buried his face in his chest, letting out a sound of protest.


    Suddenly there was a knock on the door, making Jing Yang''s body stiffen. Regulus immediately stroked his back to appease him.


    The knock on the door sounded two more times, and Regulus picked up Jing Yang, bringing him into the inner room of the lounge and cing him on the bed. He took out a new set of clothes from the closet andy them on the bed. Regulus leaned over and kissed Jing Yang on the cheek, and then got up and went out first.


    Jing Yangy on the bed for a while, and after calming down, he changed and went out.


    Jing Yang''s assistant was standing there to talk to Regulus about something. This assistant was someone who Regulus had arranged for himter, so he could be considered one of Regulus''s men.


    "What happened?" Jing Yang walked over and sat down next to Regulus.


    Regulus held Jing Yang in his arms and motioned to the assistant to repeat what he had said.


    After listening, Jing Yang found out that originally the director and Dilumo had a conflict, and the director wanted Jing Yang to shoot again in the scene Dilumo arranged to prove who was the problem.


    He agreed without much thought. He was certainly happy to do something like this that could give Dilumo a hit.


    While he walked to the studio, Jing Yang really admired Dilumo''s courage to go up against all of the staff members all by himself. He could pretty much guess Dilumo''s thought process. He wanted to use his best scene to push all of the responsibility for not shooting well onto the director and the staff members. Because even if he shot any other scenes, for someone like him who didn''t know anything about the sceneyout or shooting process, he wouldn''t be able to arrange any good scenes or shoot anything good.


    Dilumo saw Jing Yange over, feeling hatred in his heart. He knew that it must have been the director who had let hime over, and he was the person who the director had said could prove who was the problem. Right now he no longer dared to despise this person. If the video shot by Arthur in the same scene had a big difference from his own, that would undoubtedly be a blow to his ability. Ever since this person had reappeared in the public eye, it was as if he had been cursed, and nothing had gone smoothly for him. This couldn''t happen, he had to think of a way to save the situation.


    Jing Yang discussed with the director and made some small changes to the scene. He changed the originally crystal clear sky with a bright sun to that of a sunrise. He basically didn''t change the sceneyout, just darkening the lighting by a lot, and changing it into a gradient. He used the light and dark to highlight the three-dimensionality of the space.


    Jing Yang wore a simple white shirt and only a pair of briefs, which just happened to cover his hips.


    A pair of wless, straight, and slender legs was Jing Yang''s body''s greatest advantage. Since this was a model''s personal promotional video, he naturally had to highlight his own greatest advantage. Just now he had already shown his outstanding bearing and performance abilities, so now he would show off his physical advantages. But just showing off his body was a little boring, so this time he intended to further strengthen the artistic concept, and let audience experience it personally.


    With his back to the camera, the unbuttoned shirt softly swayed in the wind. Under the background of the slowly rising sun, the beauty of the shot was positively suffocating, it could definitely be called a "<strong>back killer</strong>.¡±


    Jing Yang turned slightly and began to move forward. In fact he was just walking in ce, but the change in the background and the lightning made it seem like he was moving forward. Even the staff at the scene were almost deceived by this visual illusion and thought that he really was walking forward, but never reaching the end.


    The tide rose up but didn''t reach his ankles. He looked toward the sun that hadpletely risen above the horizon, and then slowly turned, facing the camera. He hugged his body with both hands, slightly tilting his head, and revealed a childlike pure smile, just like the sun behind him to his left, dreamlike and beautiful.


    The film was finally fixed in the moment Jing Yang revealed this smile. From this smile, it was as if you could feel the hope and dazzling light, perfectly in line with the theme of the sunrise. This kind of image could fit with many different advertising themes, it was the one of the advertising forms that many businesses loved, leaving them with a lot of creative freedom.


    It was not until the staff on the scene broke out into apuse that theizens watching through the screens came back to their senses. This was very different from Jing Yang¡¯s previous sexy and seductive atmosphere. This time in the entire filming process he appeared sacred and beautiful, making people feel like having even the lightest bad fantasy about him would be too dirty and evil. This person was really too mystical, with such a short film, he could guide the people''s hearts. Companies must love such a model.


    Jing Yang bowed to thank the staff members and then went to the dressing room to change. When his backpletely disappeared, the apuse finally stopped.


    The director deliberately let the staff put up Jing Yang''s scene and Dilumo''s scene at the same time on the screen topare them.


    The director walked up to Dilumo and said, "Whose problem it was, isn''t it obvious now? Look at other people''s professionalism, can you evenpare? This is the so-called gap, not only a career gap, but also a character gap.¡±


    "You all did this on purpose, didn''t you?" Dilumo said with an expression full of anger and grievance. "You deliberately didn''t follow my requests and deliberately filmed me very poorly, and thenpared mine to his very well filmed video to highlight his excellence. What benefits did he give you? To let you all target me everywhere?¡±


    The director looked at him with disbelief. "Someone like you is simply beyond hope of saving. I''ll just wait to see what kind of end someone like you will get!¡±


    Theizens had long already started scolding into a mess. For Dilumo''s behavior, anyone with a brain could tell his purpose, so most of it were remarks satirizing him. And the reason brainless fans were called brainless was because they couldn''t distinguish between right or wrong and didn''t care whether their idol''s behavior had any bad effects, just blindly supporting their idols. No matter what he did, they would still find excuses to help defend him. Sometimes they even knew the truth of the matter, but still deliberately tried to whitewash it.


    When theizens attacked Dilumo, his fans all went to defend him, protecting him even better than they would their parents. They even cursed the director and the organizers together, saying that they were deliberately biased against Dilumo, or else he definitely wouldn''t have the current results.


    Dilumo know that he already had no hope of winning thepetition, but he still could stabilize the hearts of his fans, and that would already be enough for him. For everything else, he could slowly n in the future. He believed that <strong>there would never be no hope</strong>, even in Arthur Yang''s situation, he was still able toe back. And right now he himself had so many fans supporting him, he could do the same, and do it even better.


    He would definitely find a way to deal with Arthur Yang, and let those who support Arthur know how stupid it was to like Arthur. He would let everyone scolding him and insulting him regret!<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>gesticting critically</strong> ¨C Ö¸ÊÖ»­½Å, idiom, means to criticize or give orders while waving his hands


    [2] <strong>seen a lot</strong> ¨C ¼û¶àʶ¹ã, idiom, experienced and knowledgeable, worldly


    [3] <strong>back killer</strong> ¨C ±³Ó°É±ÊÖ, ng, basically someone who looks stunning from behind


    [4] <strong>there would never be no nope</strong> ¨C ÌìÎÞ¾øÈË֮·, idiom, means don''t despair and you will find a way through<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 2:30 pm ¨C 3:15 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.3k words. Shorter chapter than usual. Also WordPress formatting is being finicky between block editor and ssic editor, so the formatting may be a little different.


    Also, for the near future, I will likely be uploading CFCS chapters at the same time as 100kV chapters on Saturday mornings, at least until I go back to 2 chapters a week for CFCS. Thanks for understanding!<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 92

    <strong>Chapter 92</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.14)</strong>


    Jing Yang''spleted promotion video was published, and the number of views was even higher than the total number of views for all the other modelsbined. The number of fans on his profile also increased by arge amount, soaring past those for the other models.


    No matter whether it was fan votes or scoring, Jing Yang''s were the highest. So after thepetition was over, he became the <strong>uncontested</strong> lifelong spokesperson for Fernelea.


    Dilumo sat below the stage. He watched Jing Yang sign a contract with Regulus, and then receive interviews and photographs from the media. Envy gnawed at his heart like ants. He felt that the person who should be standing together with Regulus, epting the envious and worshipping gazes of the crowd, should be him. Why could he rob everything that should have belonged to him?!


    After Jing Yang and Regulus finished signing the contract, Jing Yang shook his hand. When the two people met gazes, they could see the hidden smile in each other''s eyes.


    In addition to signing the lifelong spokesperson contract, Regulus personally gave Jing Yang a huge bonus, as well as a limited-edition luxury car and an upscale vi in the city. Now, not only Dilumo, but even the other models who sincerely admired Jing Yang were also jealous.


    ~


    When Dilumo returned home, he began a live stream on his profile.


    "Hello everyone, I am back from thepetition!" Dilumo waved at the camera. "I wasn''t able to be the lifelong spokesperson for Fernelea, and I feel very regretful in my heart. But that doesn''t matter, this is just one small failure in my life, I will not be discouraged because of this, please rest assured.¡±


    Then Dilumo''s face suddenly copsed, and he said with a slightly sad expression, "But through thispetition, I deeply experienced the sinister heart of humans. Originally, people''s hearts are the cruelest things in the world. Even though I wasn''t able to win the final victory, I received an experience even more important than winning, which allowed me to mature a lot. Now that I think back, I was very naive, and always thought I could rely on my own efforts to seed. But now I found that when other people have the heart to make things difficult for you, and you are unable to resist, any effort is futile¡­¡±


    Dilumo said a whole bunch of words to his fans, which basically all meant that he didn''t win because he was being targeted and embarrassed during thepetition, and not because he didn''t have the skills or didn''t work hard enough.


    In the end Dilumo didn''t dare to clearly offend the Fernelea group and Regulus, or else he would have whipped up something even more exaggerated.


    His fans naturally believed his words and cried out their heartache.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªMy heart hurts for you, darkness is hidden everywhere in this world, but the darkness can''t defeat the light. When your light shines, all of the darkness will disappear. Good luck! We will always support you!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI really feel heartache, you are clearly such a hard-working person, but you received such unfair treatment. We all understand you, please don''t be discouraged, you must keep going.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI have liked you for so long, no matter what happens, I will firmly choose to believe in you. We all know what kind of person you are, you are hard-working, serious about life, and steadfast in your love. Other people who don''t understand you don''t matter, don''t listen to them or go look at them, you just need to look at us, we will always support you!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªAs such a focused and hard-working person, we all understand that you''ve sacrificed so much to get to this step. We feel heartache for the unfair treatment you suffered, and you still have to endure the attacks online. You must stay strong.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªSome people''s evil hearts has already been there for a long time. The things that they did before, do they think we''ve already forgotten? Don''t be afraid of him, we will always support you!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªThat''s right! That kind of person won''t have any good result, God will naturally punish them. We can just wait to see the drama.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªNo matter what happens, we will always support you. We are here, don''t be afraid.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªDon''t feel defeated by that kind of person, we will definitely send you to the throne of victory, we will always support you!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªWe will always support you!


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªLove you, support you!


    After Dilumo finished his live stream, he scrolled through his fans'' messages and smiled with satisfaction. Even though right now he was facing a lot of problems, with the support of his fans, he wouldn''t be helpless.


    Dilumo started calcting how he should use his fans'' support to create some more topics and increase his own heat online, which would make it easier for him to pick up work. But what he didn''t know was that cannons were aiming toward him one by one, and were about to be fired.


    ~


    Jing Yang was bored andy in bed holding hisputer to watch Dilumo''s livestream, and read through thements below.


    Regulus came out of the bathroom. He hugged Jing Yang as soon as hey down on the bed. Jing Yang leaned into his arms, and after seeing some messages, he couldn''t helpughing.


    "What''s so funny?" Regulus kissed him on the cheek.


    "A big y, starring Dilumo, and his supporting actors are those brainless fans of his." Jing Yang <strong>seemingly sincerely</strong> praised, "His acting is really quite good, it''s truly a shame that he''s just a model.¡±


    "Right now he''s still in the mood to act?" Regulus said dismissively. "I seems that the amount of trouble Chenilu and Conley caused him was not enough.¡±


    "It¡¯s because he''s facing a lot of trouble right now that he wants to act." Jing Yang turned off hisputer and put it on the bedside table, then turned to hug Regulus, lying on his chest. "He implied to his fans that he had been treated unfairly during thepetition so he didn''t win. And everything was caused by me, I bought the director and staff members, so he couldn''t perform well during thepetition and couldn''t win at the end. I''m guessing that if he weren''t afraid of offending you, he would say that there were some dirty secrets behind thepetition.¡±


    "Since he loves acting so much, let him act for two more days. When he feels like he still has a lot of hope for resurgence, I will act again. That way the blow to him will be even greater." Regulus said.


    "Why are you so bad?" Jing Yang smiled and pinched his nose.


    Regulus turned and pressed him under his body, holding his hand and kissing his palm. "I wasn''t able to help you block everything when you were in trouble. But for those who hurt you, I will never let them go.¡±


    Jing Yang hugged his neck and kissed him.


    ~


    Dilumo was in the middle of plotting what to do next. Before he had finished thinking, the first shot had been fired.


    Severalrge mediapanies simultaneously received an anonymous mail. The content inside was quite impressive, so when they received it, they published it at once.


    The content of the news was a few videos. The main character in the videos was Dilumo himself, and each video had a date. From the angle and Dilumo''s actions, the videos were definitely secretly shot.


    In the first video, Dilumo''s side profile appeared. He was looking at theputer, and then started saying to someone, "These fans are really easy to deceive, no different from idiots, they were used by me and still said that they like me, haha! Come and look, this person actually said that he dreamt about me, he looks so ugly, and actually dreamed about me, that is really too disgusting.¡±


    After seeing the first video, theizens all were somewhat unable to react, theypletely didn''t know what was happening.


    The second video was still just of Dilumo looking at theputer and saying, "The new person I framedst time actually dared to say bad things online about me, if I had known earlier I would have gotten rid of him even more thoroughly. But he can''t even take out any evidence, and no one believes him at all. He''s even being attacked tragically by my fans, it''s really deserved!¡±


    In the third video, Dilumo said to theputer, "These girls actually call me husband, who is their husband?! It''s fine if they look good, but can the ugly ones not randomly call me! That''s right, Conley, don''t y with your phone all the time, have those people I sent to ambush Arthur Yang sent back anything yet?¡­Not yet?! What are they doing, it''s been so long, and they still haven''t been able to shoot anything useful. If it really doesn''t work then we should just change people.¡±


    Now everyone knows that it''s Conley who''s filming, and in their minds they also gradually began to understand what was going on. But because it was a little too shocking, they still couldn''t really react, especially for Dilumo''s fans.


    In the fourth video, Dilumo came out of the bathroom naked. His body was covered in marks, and they could only see him say with a face of disgust, "Chenilu that old thing, even though he''s so old, he''s still quite able to toss people around in bed.¡±


    Dilumo suddenly stared at the camera and said, "What kind of expression is that? Are you disgusted by me sleeping with an old man? If I don''t sleep with him, how could I have so much presence in the news? How could the news be favored toward me? You do nothing, and just wait for me to earn money to support you, what qualifications do you have to disdain me?! In the past wasn''t it just because you didn''t like Arthur Yang for having this contact disorder and not being able to satisfy you in bed, so you got with me? Right now even if you disdain me it''s already toote!¡±


    In the fifth video, Dilumo walked cheerfully toward the camera and said, "Do you know what those people said to me today? It was those people we sent to ambush Arthur Yang, they told me that Arthur Yang not only has a deformed physique, but also a very pallid face. It''s just a pity that they couldn''t take a proper picture of him. It doesn''t matter, on the way back I''ve already figured out what to do. We can find someone who looks like him to pretend to be him, he wouldn''t dare toe out to rify anyways. That way I can increase my heat online and viciously step on him at the same time. Just thinking about it makes me unbelievably happy.¡±


    "Looking for someone to impersonate him is fake news, will the media publish this?" Conley''s voice came through the video.


    "Don''t worry." Dilumo looked confident. "Chenilu that old pervert, in bed he still listens to me quite obediently, I will let him think of a way to publish this.¡±


    Once again, the inte started boiling. Those who already hated Dilumo scolded Dilumo while also ridiculing those brainless fans of his. And those fans who had said not long before that they would support him forever were not only upset but alsopletely uncertain about how to react.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI knew that Dilumo wasn''t anything good. Previously he would be in the news again and again, and every time when he was beingpared with another model, he would get all kinds of praise, and the other model would be insulted all over the ce. Sure enough, there was a problem.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªThis kind of person is too disgusting! He actually took the initiative to go to bed with a man who was old enough to be his father in exchange for hot news. Even more disgusting was that Conley knew that he was sleeping with someone else, but in order to let him make money, he didn''t say anything. It is simply impossible understand these people''s moral views and thought processes.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªThat''s right! Dilumo and Conley are simply a natural couple. Both are absolutely disgusting. Last time Conley wanted to frame Arthur Yang during thepetition but ended up being discovered. It turns out that the previous fake news story was also rted to these two.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI think the saddest ones are those fans of Dilumo. They even said that no matter what happened they would support him, but the result was that in his eyes, those fans are just some fools who can be used at will. I wonder if they will continue to speak out in support of him now.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI really feel some sympathy for those fans, right now not only do their <strong>faces hurt</strong>, but their hearts are also almost broken to pieces.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªWhat''s there to sympathize with those people for, they have no idea how other people feel when they were attacking others. This is called karma, they deserve to be hit by the person they liked.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªLast time didn''t Dilumo say on his live stream that there''s nothing more evil than the heart? I think that he waspletely talking about himself.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªI''m feeling iparably happy right now. Previously I said some bad words about Dilumo and was attacked by his fans. Now his fans were hit on the face, they deserve it!


    All of Dilumo''s fans werepletely silent. They didn''t think that the person they had worked so hard to support actually said something like that about them in private. He actually used them to attack people and then treated them like idiots. Now they thought of all the things that they used to say to defend Dilumo, the things that they said to attack other models, to attack those who said bad things about him. They really were like idiots.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>uncontested</strong> ¨C ºÁÎÞÒÉÎÊ, means certainly, without a doubt


    [2] <strong>seemingly sincerely</strong> ¨C ËÆÕæËƼÙ, as if real and as if fake


    [3] <strong>face hurts</strong> ¨C Á³Í´, basically from being figuratively pped in the face<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    Around one hour: 1:30 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 4k characters to 2.4k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 93

    <strong>Chapter 93</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.15)</strong>


    Dilumo didn''t pay attention to the reporters surrounding Conley''s house, directly rushing inside.


    "Did you do it?! Was it you?! You gave those videos to the media, didn''t you?!" Dilumo shook Conley''s cor, his face twisted with anger.


    "It wasn''t me!" Conley forcefully pushed Dilumo away, loudly saying, "How could I have given those videos to the media! I''m already like this now, what benefit would I get from ruining you?!¡±


    "Then you say, how did those media find out about those videos? You say!" Dilumo roared.


    "My phone has been missing for several days, it probably fell when I was pushed by a reporter backstage in the studio that day, and then someone picked it up." Conley exined, his face full of tiredness.


    "You''re lying!" Dilumo viciously stared at him, not believing anything he said. "Even if your phone was picked up, how could someone open your phone so easily? Also, why would you secretly film those videos? Were you prepared early on to deal with me?!¡±


    "I just wanted to leave myself a way out." Conley sat down on the sofa lifelessly, wiping his face. "I rely on you to make money, so I can only rest assured when I hold a handle of yours in my hand. Otherwise, if you dumped me one day, wouldn''t I just <strong>lose everything</strong>? I really didn''t expect this to happen, I didn''t want it!¡±


    "You didn''t want?" Dilumo''s face turned pale from anger. "If you didn''t want it would you have secretly taken those videos? If you didn''t want to, would you have allowed them to expose those videos?! Are you satisfied now?! Just tell me straight up, are you colluding with Arthur Yang to make me suffer?!¡±


    "Don''t speak nonsense!" Conley argued. "I can''t even leave the door now, how could I collude with him? Do you think he would still forgive me? And would cooperate with me?¡±


    "So you had this thought early on in your heart, but you never got the chance to put it into action, because your phone was taken away, and then even you were exposed, right?!" Dilumo looked at him and asked.


    Conley couldn''t refute, so he just stayed silent.


    "Sure enough!" Dilumo smiled bitterly. "Someone like you, not only do you not have any ability or courage, but youpletely rely on betrayal to achieve your goals. Even the people who were used by you might even get counterattacked by you!¡±


    Dilumo furiously picked up a teacup and threw it at Conley. "You piece of sh*t! You son of a b*tch! Are you satisfied now?! Are you satisfied?! I''m done for now, and you can give up on wanting to live well!¡±


    Conley raised his arm to block, but the teacup just happened to hit his arm so that his arm throbbed with pain. He finally couldn''t help but stand up and shout, "Have you yelled enough?! If I hadn''t betrayed Arthur, could you have enjoyed all that fameter? All the money that I gave you to open that studio was all money I transferred from Arthur''s studio. You''re saying I have no ability or courage, if it weren''t for me, right now you might still just be a small model! I''ve at least let you live quite a good life for several years!¡±


    Dilumo red at him in fury. "And now? My ending is very likely to not even be as good as even a little model!¡±


    "What''s the use of saying that now?" Conley took some deep breaths, working hard to calm his mood. "Now we should hurry to do some crisis PR, and find a way to save the situation.¡±


    "You don''t need to worry about it." Dilumo was a little calmer after venting his anger. He looked nkly at Conley and said, "I will do the rest by myself, from now on, I will <strong>make a clean break</strong> with you. Don''t even think about relying on me to earn money, I will never have any more connection with you. We can be considered to be <strongpletely settled</strong>.¡±


    Dilumo turned and walked out of Conley''s house. When he had arrived, because he was rushing, the unprepared reporters hadn''t been able to stop him. But now that he was leaving, the reporters immediately surrounded him for an interview.


    "Mr. Dilumo, do you have anything to say about the video incident?¡±


    "Do you have any response to you having sex with Chenilu in exchange for news coverage?¡±


    "Do you have anything to rify about the matter of you insulting your fans?¡±


    Dilumo had gone faint from anger, so he had forgotten that there were a lot of reporters waiting for him outside. Right now that he was being surrounded by reporters, he was stuck in a difficult position.


    "In three days I will hold a press conference, pleasee back to ask me again then. I have nothing to say now!" Dilumo wanted to squeeze out of the crowd surrounding him, but with his own strength, it was impossible.


    "Dilumo! You bastard! You liar! <strong>Pity </strong>for all of us who liked you! Since you think we''re disgusting, don''t make us support you!¡±


    Some fans who had heard the news emotionally rushed toward Dilumo, grabbing his hair and yanking at it.


    "You are cruel and shameless! You even say we''re disgusting, there''s no one more disgusting than you!¡±


    "You say that we''re ugly, how good do you think you look! We sacrificed our conscience to support you, only in exchange for this kind of return?!¡±


    "I''ve spent so much money on you, I''ve given you so many gifts, and in your eyes, we''re all just idiots that you can use at will! Give us our money back! Give us back all of our gifts!¡±


    Dilumo was attacked by all of these people who had been his fans, and surrounded by reporters filming this urrence. The scene was very chaotic. His hair was grabbed, his clothes were torn, and his forehead had been hit by something who knows when. After some severe pain, blood flowed from his forehead.


    Someone identally fell during all of the pushing and shoving, resulting in a very serious stampede. Finally the police came to take everyone away, and the entire farce ended.


    ~


    Jing Yang now lived in Regulus''s house. This morning he got up early and sat down in the audiovisual room, waiting to watch the news.


    Jing Yang hugged a bowl of fruit and watched the news on TV. When he saw Dilumo being hit with blood flowing from his head, Regulus just happened to open the door and walk in.


    Regulus just nced at the TV and sat down beside Jing Yang, hugging him and kissing him. Until Jing Yang was breathless, he finally said, "I found the man you wanted to find, do you want to see him?¡±


    Jing Yang was kissed a little senseless by him, he stared for a moment before remembering who he was talking about. "Yes! Of course I want to see him.¡±


    Regulus''s house upied half a hill, it was sorge that sometimes you would need to drive to get somewhere in the estate.


    After getting off the car, Regulus brought Jing Yang to a rtively remote building, where bodyguards were keeping watch.


    When he entered the room, Jing Yang saw an abnormally haggard man lying on the ground, his two eyes lifeless.


    Regulus sat down on the sofa with his arm around Jing Yang, and motioned for the bodyguards to pick up the man on the ground.


    <strong>Kirby</strong> was grabbed by the bodyguards and forced to lift his head. He blinked his blurry eyes, wanting to see who was in front of him.


    Jing Yang looked him over and found that this person seemed to have something unusual going on. He asked Regulus doubtfully, "What''s wrong with him? Where did your men find him?¡±


    "To avoid gambling debts, and because he possessed stolen goods, he hid in an almost deserted ce." Regulus said. "When my men found him, he seemed to be very energetic. For such a person to actually be living so well, I felt very ufortable, so I invited him to one of my small inds as a guest for a few days. My men provided him very enthusiastic hospitality.¡±


    Jing Yang immediately understood what Regulus meant. Even though Kirby looked like he didn''t have any external wounds, mental torture would often be much more painful than physical torture. Even though he didn''t know what he had been through on the ind, from his present appearance, it must have been several days of life worse than death.


    Kirby seemed to have finally seen clearly who the person was in front of him, and he suddenly very excitedly wanted to pounce forward. "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I was wrong, I was really wrong! I shouldn''t have threatened you! Please let me go! Let me go!¡±


    The bodyguards pushed him to the ground, one man stepping on his head and two pressing down his body, making him unable to move.


    "Kill me! Kill me!" Kirby said, his consciousness unclear. "I beg you, please give me relief, let me go!¡±


    Regulus frowned, he didn''t really want Jing Yang to see this kind of scene. He said to his bodyguard somewhat unhappily, "Didn''t I tell you to make him wake up a little? What happened?¡±


    "Sorry Boss, we may have miscalcted slightly on the new drug''s effect." The leading bodyguard immediately bowed his head to apologize.


    Regulus nced at that bodyguard. Immediately another bodyguard came over with a box, and the lead bodyguard opened the box, took out a tube of medicine, and poured it into Kirby''s mouth.


    After a few minutes, Kirby''s eyes cleared up somewhat, and his spirit wasn''t in such a trance. He looked at Regulus and Jing Yang with fear.


    Jing Yang turned to ask Regulus, "Can he talk to me normally now?¡±


    "Try it out, there shouldn''t be a problem." Regulus responded.


    "Kirby, do you remember me?" Jing Yang asked.


    Kirby swallowed and nodded nervously.


    "Then you still remember the matter about when you took pictures of me catching Conley and Dilumo, and then threatened me to sleep with you once?" Jing Yang continued to ask.


    "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I''m sorry!" Kirby kneeled down in panic, bowing down while saying, "I know I was wrong, I really know my wrong, as long as you let me go, you can do anything! I am willing to turn myself in, I am willing to confess everything to the media!¡±


    "Have you kept the evidence?" Jing Yang didn''t believe that he would really give all of the evidence to Conley. He definitely left himself a hand, wanting to wait until a critical moment to use it.


    "Yes! Yes!" Kirby hurriedly nodded, pointing to the bodyguard next to him. "I already confessed everything to this gentleman, and given him all of the evidence.¡±


    "You already arranged everything?" Jing Yang asked Regulus.


    "Yes." Regulus ruffled his hair.


    In fact, Jing Yang also just wanted to see Kirby this person, to see what state he was in now. Since he was already this miserable, Arthur Yang should also feel relieved. And he believed that Regulus would have even more means than him, and would not let him live better.


    "Then that''s it." Jing Yang said. "Let him expose the true face of Dilumo and Conley, and clear up my name. Then I don''t ever want to see this person in my sight again.¡±


    Regulus motioned to the bodyguards to take him away. He saw that Jing Yang''s expression wasn''t very good, and hugged him and asked, "What''s the matter? Not happy?¡±


    "It''s nothing." Jing Yang leaned into his arms. "I just feel like revenge is not some happy matter, because no matter how miserable their result is, they still can''t change the suffering we experienced earlier. But at least it really makes me feel relieved. If you do something bad, you should be punished, this is something fated and natural. And Conley and Dilumo those two people, once I think of the things they did before, even though they have already been punished, I still feel angry.¡±


    "Don''t worry." Regulus reassured him. "The punishment they will receive will definitely not stop here. It has only just started. Not only will I make them regret what they have done to you, but I will also let them properly experience how it feels to be spurned and ostracized by the world. I will make them suffer twice as much pain as you suffered before.¡±


    As long as Regulus even thought about the suffering this person he treasured experienced before, he couldn''t help but feel piercing heartache. So, for the people who made his heart ache, he would not let them live well.


    "Let''s go." Regulus stood up with his arm around Jing Yang. "Didn''t you say yesterday that you wanted to go out to sea to y? I will take you there today.¡±<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1]<strong> lose everything</strong> ¨C Ѫ±¾ÎÞ¹é, idiom, means to lose everything you invested


    [2] <strong>make a clean break</strong> ¨C Ò»µ¶Á½¶Ï, idiom, literally means break into two segments with a single cut


    [3] <strongpletely settled</strong> ¨C Á½Çå, basically like a business rtionship that ended, usually to the satisfaction of both parties


    [4] <strong>pity</strong> ¨C ¿÷, this is really hard to trante, it''s often used ironically to say fancy that¡­, but basically means it was really not worth it, it was a pity


    [5] <strong>Kirby</strong> ¨C ¿Ë±È, pinyin ke bi<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 12:30 pm ¨C 1:30 pm, for 3.7k characters to 2.3k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 94

    <strong>Chapter 94</strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.16)</strong>


    Dilumo held a press conference three dayster. He had a bandage around his head, a bruise on his face, and a cast on his arm. He sat in the middle of a long table, ready to be interviewed by the reporters.


    Dilumo hadn¡¯t even started speaking when tears started flowing down his face. He held his forehead with his uninjured hand and said, ¡°I just want to say to my fans, I am really, really sorry. Those words I said in the video weren¡¯t meant to insult you, my brain just goes out of control when I¡¯m under too much pressure from work, to vent the pain and stress in my heart. I actually really love my fans, without their support, I wouldn¡¯t be able to receive so much work. I really didn¡¯t mean to say those words, because my pressure is too great, I will sometimes say some words I don¡¯t mean when my spirit goes out of control to vent my own difficulties and unfair treatment at work.¡±


    ¡°Then excuse us for asking, but about the matter of you being with Chenilu in exchange for news exposure, what do you have to say?¡± A reporter asked.


    ¡°First, I have to admit that this matter was true, but I really was forced to do it due to difficulties. When Arthur Yang broke up with Conley, he used me of having an affair with Conley and kicked me and Conley out of his studio. Conley and I instantly became helpless, even wanting to get a job was hard. Models need to receive good jobs, and need many fans, and even need higher poprity. At that point I had barely entered the modeling world and didn¡¯t have many fans, so I could only rely on increasing my poprity in the news in order to receive jobs.¡± Dilumo¡¯s tears kept falling down, his eyes had already turned red, he really looked pathetic.


    He seemed to recall some painful memories, his expression was incredibly sad, and he wiped his tears with a tissue, then said, ¡°That period of time was truly really difficult, we had no money, no one to rely on, and could only eat the simplest sustenance to avoid starving. In order to survive, in order to live better, we decided to go to Chenilu and ask him to help increase my exposure, but Chenilu actually proposed¡­¡± Dilumo covered his mouth, as if he had turned speechless from the pain of the memory, ¡°He, he said to let me¡­, I really had no other way and could only agree to his request. Or else, who would be willing to have sex with someone who could be his father?¡±


    ¡°That time was so painful, so full of suffering, and I felt that I was so dirty. But I had no other way¡­¡± Dilumo shook his head in tears. ¡°If I had the choice, even if I had to suffer a bit I wouldn¡¯t make that kind of decision, but I did not. At that time my spirit was on the verge of copse, I even felt that I couldn¡¯t live any longer like this, I really did not want to live such a dirty lifestyle. It was also from that time that I often couldn¡¯t control my emotions, unconsciously doing some inexplicable things. I really love my fans in my heart, but I was in too much pain, as if I had produced another evil personality, which would always say some inexplicable words.¡±


    ¡°At that time, it was Conley who had always apanied me,forting me and encouraging me. I thought that our lives were connected, that we would support each other, and there would always be a day when we could live well. I thought that he was the only person in the world who wouldn¡¯t betray me, but I really couldn¡¯t imagine! In order to control me, he would use those critical times to threaten me, and secretly recorded all of the times when my mind had run out of control!¡±


    Dilumo propped himself up on the table and wanted to stand, but sat back down before he could stand up stably. Then he stood back up with his assistant¡¯s help and walked slowly to the end of the long table, where he suddenly knelt down. ¡°I know, no matter for what reason, I shouldn¡¯t insult or abuse my fans, even though every time after I returned to normal, I really regretted it, but I still want to apologize to my fans, I¡¯m sorry! I won¡¯t ask for your forgiveness, as long as you can release your anger, I can do whatever you want. Even if you beat me to death, I am willing, and will notin in the least.¡±


    Dilumo kowtowed to the camera, and the moment his forehead hit the ground, he copsed to the ground and fainted.


    The men Dilumo invited immediately stopped the reporters froming forward, and several people picked up the unconscious Dilumo and carried him away. The scene fell into chaos, and was only slowly restored after Dilumo and his men had all left.


    Dilumo was carried into the car by his men. After the car started moving, he immediately opened his eyes. Even though hisplexion wasn¡¯t very good, his facial expression was very different from just now at the press conference. He just deliberately made it so that after he had said everything he wanted to say, he would pretend to faint to avoid all of the reporters¡¯ pointed questions, lest he couldn¡¯t answer or they took advantage of a loophole in his words.


    ~


    After theizens saw his press conference, even though some people still satirized his hypocrisy, there were much fewer people scolding him. Dilumo¡¯s words indeed were very able to instigate their sympathy, even though those brainless fans of his wouldn¡¯t just forgive him like this, they also weren¡¯t as agitated as before. They felt that if what Dilumo said was true, his experience was quite pitiful. So it had to be said that Dilumo¡¯s acting skills were quite good.


    Dilumo¡¯s injuries were not as serious as they looked, but in order to better gain people¡¯s sympathy, he deliberately made it seem as if they were very serious. For three days in a row, he live streamed from the hospital in apology, that appearance couldn¡¯t have been more pitiful, and the number of people who caved also increased.


    When Dilumo thought that as long as he persisted like this for a while he could let this matter pass by, thest andrgest round of shots finally fired.


    The mediapanies reported that the robber who had absconded for two years, Kirby Scott, had turned himself in to the police. This wouldn¡¯t have been big news, but when he had confessed to the police, he mentioned one thing, and this thing just happened to be rted to Dilumo, who was the current hot topic.


    Kirby confessed that more than three years ago, he had taken a video of Dilumo and Conley together, but he hadn¡¯t immediately released the news. He wanted to wait until he had caught some more explosive footage, and would then threaten them with the evidence so that they would buy it with money.


    He followed them silently for several months and finally found the opportunity he was waiting for. He not only caught Dilumo and Conley, but also captured Arthur Yang finding them.


    Kirby was extremely excited after taking these pictures. He offered Conley and Arthur Yang the evidence at a high price at the same time, and they were both willing to pay for the evidence. Because he had quite liked Arthur Yang for a long time, and had salivated after his body, he put forward a condition for Arthur Yang, which was to sleep with him once.


    Arthur Yang refused him without hesitation, and no matter how he intimidated him with the evidence, he still refused. Kirby was very angry, and in his fury, he raised the price for Conley, and after Conley agreed, he immediately sold the evidence to him. But he actually kept a piece of evidence as ast resort, to be taken outter as another threat for Conley.


    After Kirby confessed to the police, he gave all the evidence he had taken to the media.


    In the evidence, besides some blurry images taken from a distance, there were some videos that were not only very clear, but even the dialogue was very clear. And these were all taken before Arthur Yang had broken up with Conley.


    Of all of the content, there were three that were the most telling.


    The first shot was a little wobbly but it could still be determined that it was Dilumo and Conley, who were hugging and kissing.


    In the second shot, it was very difficult to see clearly the people, it was just a blurry picture shaking back and forth, which could approximately be identified as Dilumo and Conley. The lens was not moving, only the people, so it should be that the camera was secretly recording from a ce very close to them, so the sound was very clear. The two voices were clearly Dilumo and Conley, and the content of their conversation was how to transfer the assets of the studio and defame and shift the me to Arthur.


    The content of the third shot was more exciting, it was when Arthur Yang had caught Conley and Dilumo having an affair, and then gotten into an argument with Conley. Both the video and the sound were very clear. Arthur said that he had long been aware of Conley¡¯s betrayal, and had silently observed the two of them, but didn¡¯t expect that he would actually catch them together. Arthur extremely angrily asked Conley why he had betrayed him, and if he wanted to break up he could directly mention it, he wouldn¡¯t try to cling to him. At first Conley still wanted to defend himself, but because Arthur Yang was too worked up and said everything with finality, he also simply exposed everything, and said everything that he should or shouldn¡¯t say.


    Because they were afraid that some people might not understand the content in the shots, the media also especially wrote up an exnation. After contacting Jing Yang, they understood the entire situation, and then restored the whole process in the form of a series of graphics.


    After theizens understood the truth of the matter, they all felt iparably sad for Arthur Yang, especially those fans who liked him now. After knowing what had happened, many couldn¡¯t help crying. This person clearly did nothing wrong, but was betrayed by his lover and framed, and then med by the entire world, how did he survive.


    Thoseizens who once scolded Arthur Yang all felt extremely regretful now. They felt that they really were idiots that could be casually used like Dilumo had insulted them. They were Conley and Dilumo¡¯s aplices in the fight against Jing Yang, clearly they didn¡¯t know anything about the truth, and just followed the trend to insult and use one person. Which, in retrospect, was something that simply couldn¡¯t be any more stupid.


    Those who could reflect on their actions showed that they still had a conscience, but they were just too easily used. And there were some people who even if they knew the truth wouldn¡¯t reflect on their behavior, because they felt that they were just making some statements on the inte, and didn¡¯t have to take any responsibility or pay any price. When some things don¡¯t happen to themselves, some people will never understand the suffering of others.


    Theizens now really hated Conley and Dilumo. With their shameless behavior and ck hearts, they simply should go to hell.


    Those who were soft-hearted because Dilumo cried and pretended to be pathetic for sympathy found that they had actually been repeatedly deceived by this man, and couldn¡¯t wait to rush to the hospital to beat him up. No matter what Dilumo said afterward, they wouldn¡¯t believe him anymore. Such a hateful person, no matter how miserable his ending was, it was not worth the least bit of sympathy.


    After Dilumo saw the news, he immediately returned home from the hospital. He knew that this time he was really finished, he already had no hope of fixing the situation.


    Manyizens began to send letters of apology to Jing Yang, very sincerely repenting for their previous behavior. They said that in the future, when theycked any evidence, they would never again just follow the trend and attack anyone. They no longer wanted to be puppets that some people could use at will, nor did they want to be aplices to tragedy.


    Those brainless fans who loved Dilumo now hated him as much as they had loved him before. They had given him so much love and affection, but all they got in return was deception and exploitation, and being insulted and despised. So they spontaneously made the decision to get revenge against Dilumo, and no matter where they saw him, they wouldn¡¯t let him go.


    Trantor Notes:


    [1] words I don¡¯t mean ¨C ÑÔ²»ÓÉÖÔ, idiom, means to say something without meaning it


    [2] Scott ¨C ˹»ùÌØ, pinyin si ji te, didn¡¯t get hisst namest chapter so we¡¯ll go with this


    [3] graphics ¨C ͼÎÄ,bination of graphics and text


    Random Notes:


    A little less than an hour: 2:45 pm ¨C 3:30 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.3k words

 Chapter 95

    <strong>Chapter 95</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>Supermodel Competition (Arc 7.17)</strong>


    Ever since everything was exposed, Dilumo and Conley seemed to have disappeared from this world, and there had been no news of any of them.


    Two yearster, Jing Yang became this world''s top supermodel, with countless fans all over the world. Many businesses were all willing to pay sky-high prices to ask him to endorse them, but he was now more and more low-key, appearing in public less and less. Besides filming the Fernelea group''s product advertisements, he rarely picked up other endorsements.


    His fans were all very worried, and wondered if he was intending to retire. Then wouldn''t they not be able to see him at all in the future?


    Facing the questions from theizens and the panic from his fans, Jing Yang finally directly gave a response. He opened up about his rtionship with Regulus and exined that the reason why he had been more reclusive in that period was because he was preparing for their wedding. He wouldn''t bepletely retiring for the time being and would continue to work after marriage, but he would still reduce his workload.


    Theizens'' moods were like a roller coaster. When Jing Yang exposed his rtionship he also simultaneously directly announced the news about his marriage, so they were allpletely unprepared and shocked. And after they knew that he temporarily wouldn''t be retiring, they all felt a sense of relief.


    The matter of Jing Yang and Regulus getting married instigated a heated discussion online. After their shock, most people expressed their blessings and felt that they were very well-matched. Theizens all felt that besides Regulus, no one could match Jing Yang, and besides Jing Yang, no one could match up to Regulus. So these two people were simply a <strong>match made in heaven</strong>. Even though they didn''t know when they got together, now that the two people were already together, they seemed to feel a sense of relief, because they no longer needed to worry about whether they would find someone theizens weren''t satisfied with.


    ~


    After Jing Yang and Regulus finished eating in a restaurant, just as they reached the underground parking lot, a person quickly rushed toward them. It''s just that when that shadow hadn''t evene close to them, he had long been intercepted and taken down by one of Regulus''s bodyguards.


    Regulus hugged Jing Yang and protected him in his arms, and then let the bodyguard bring the person over.


    Jing Yang looked closely at that face that was so haggard it was almost misshapen. From the vague facial features, he recognized him. "Conley?¡±


    When Conley had been pressed to the ground by the bodyguard just now, he had hit his head and turned dizzy. After he came back to his senses with some difficulty, he looked up and saw Jing Yang, and immediately said excitedly, "Arthur! Arthur! Please save me! I can''t survive much longer! Please!¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him strangely. "You are really quite interesting, you not being able to live much longer ispletely caused by yourself, and is also the punishment you deserve. You actually still ran over to beg me to save you, what are you thinking? Could it be that you have forgotten who pushed me again and again to my death before?¡±


    "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! It was all my fault, I should die!" Conley tearfully apologized. "I really know my mistake, and I have already paid the price. In these two years, I have been living a life worse than death! I don''t ask you to forgive me, and only beg you to spare me, if only for the sake of us growing up together! Please don''t let them torture me further! I beg you!¡±


    Jing Yang was confused, looking up at Regulus.


    Regulus ruffled his hair. "Leave him alone, let''s go home. This person will never appear in front of you ever again.¡±


    Jing Yang nodded and was hugged onto the car by Regulus.


    "Arthur! Arthur! Please spare me! Spare me! I really don''t want¡­" Conley cried out with all his might, but before he could finish speaking, the bodyguard blocked his mouth and dragged him away.


    "You arranged this?" Jing Yang asked Regulus. Looking at Conley¡¯s appearance just now, these two years must have been like he said, worse than death. In just two years he had actually turned into this, it must have been something that Regulus had arranged, or else he wouldn''t have been this panicked. And him being able to appear in front of himself, if it wasn''t arranged by Regulus, he definitely would not even have this kind of chance.


    Regulus kissed his forehead. "I have said, those who hurt you before, I will make them pay it back twice over. They don''t need to think about livingfortably for the rest of their lives.¡±


    No matter how miserable these people were now, Jing Yang wouldn''t feel any sympathy for them. This was called <strong>karma</strong>. He had seen Conley''s miserable state, and even though he hadn''t personally seen what Dilumo was like now, the only thing he could be sure of was that he would never be better off than Conley.


    ~


    Dilumo was hiding in a small remote city. He was already afraid of living in arger city, for one because most of his money was given to Chenilu, so he could no longer afford to live in a big city. The second reason was because he now needed to work to support himself, and he definitely wouldn''t be able to find a job in a big city, so he had to change his name to hide in a small, remote city.


    At first he changed many ces, and did the hardest work. Even though asionally someone said that he looked like Dilumo, no one would be able to confirm that he was Dilumo.


    Right now Dilumo was in a small bar, crushed under someone in the middle of chaotic, messy, animal-like mating. There were four or five people standing outside, who were all balding fatties with big bellies or unkempt middle-aged men. When someone came out from inside, someone would go in from outside, and after they finished a round they would stuff a wad of money into his hands and leave.


    By the time Dilumo returned to his little rented house, it was already almost dawn. He only had a little bit of time before he would need to go back to work.


    He gave himself a simple rinse, falling onto the bed with his legs quivering. He was physically and mentally exhausted, but still couldn''t sleep a wink. He hadn''t intended to sell his body like this at first, and only wanted to find a job that could keep him alive. But after going through a lot of jobs, he would be fired after not even two days on the job. As ast resort, he could only sell his body. This was the simplest and fastest way to get money.


    Having fallen to this point, he already had no desire at all to live, but he also didn''t have the courage to die, so he could only live a zombie-like life. His body and spirit were both numb, and he often felt like he was living in a nightmare, and would either be forever trapped in this dream, or would suddenly wake up one day.


    After dawn, Dilumo forced himself to wake up and go to work. Recently he had found a job in a small restaurant, and even though he didn''t know how long it wouldst this time, one day was one day. Even if the boss wanted to fire him, he would still pay him the money for working these past few days.


    Dilumo''s main responsibility in this small restaurant was cleaning up and washing. When the guests finished a meal, he would need to clean up the table immediately. When the day was over, he would clean the restaurant and the kitchen. The job was simple but the workload was very heavy. It was very hard, and the sry was not high.


    Dilumo was just like a robot, repeating the same movements over and over again. His expressionless appearance was like he had no soul.


    The TV in the little restaurant was on, and it was broadcasting live a news story. The content of the news was that Regulus Fernelea, the director of the Fernelea group, would marry the supermodel Arthur Yang today.


    There was finally a hint of emotion in Dilumo''s nk eyes. He stopped moving and looked up at the TV.


    The guests having dinner next to him were also discussing the news.


    "Arthur Yang is actually getting married, ai~My dream lover is now going to belong to someone else.¡±


    ''Even if he didn''t belong to someone else it would still be impossible for him to belong to you. The person he is getting married to is the chairman of the Fernelea group, you wouldn''t even be able to match up to a single strand of his hair in your life.¡±


    "So he can only be my dream lover ah, in my dreams he belongs to me.¡±


    "Hey hey, look, these two are really suited for each other ah, it feels like they''re like a couple the gods especially made.¡±


    "That''s right, them being able to be together is actually quite good, at least they match ah, just looking at them is eye candy.¡±


    "Arthur Yang could also be considered to have married into aristocracy. In his life he will enjoy endless blessing, and it seems like he will rarely take up work in the future.¡±


    "Didn''t he say that he wouldn''t retire for the time being? Even though he did marry into aristocracy, right now he is the hottest top supermodel. I heard that him just casually shooting an advertisement would go for sky-high prices, so he definitely wouldn''t be earning any less.¡±


    "Ai, they are in apletely different world from us, we mortals don''t even have the chance to see these immortals. It''s enough for us to just asionally see the news, anyways they would live better than us in any aspect.¡±


    Dilumo''s eyes stayed on the TV, listening to the guests'' discussion, all kinds of feelings welled up in his heart. Once, he also belonged to the ranks of those they referred to as gods, and he had even stepped on the face of that person now full of happiness on the screen. But now, he had fallen to the point where he couldn''t even be considered a normal person.


    He really regretted! If he hadn''t betrayed Arthur Yang with Conley, he could have securely relied on his own efforts and as a neer in Arthur''s studio, even if he didn''t have big achievements, he would definitely have some smaller achievements. Why did he do those things? If he hadn''t done those things, right now he would at least be a normal person.


    Dilumo felt more and more regret, more and more difort, in his heart. He forcefully threw the bowl in his hand to the ground to vent the pain in his heart. "Ah!!¡±


    The guests eating next to him were all frightened by him, and stared at him in shock. They didn''t understand what was wrong with him.


    When the boss heard themotion he immediately ran out from the kitchen. When he saw Dilumo''s appearance, he shouted at him, "Have you gone crazy?!¡±


    "Ah! Ah!" Dilumo crouched on the ground with his head in his arms and cried loudly. He really had had enough of this kind of life.


    The boss was also surprised, and just stood there and looked at him dully.


    The boss''s wife ran out with the boss earlier. She hid behind the boss and pulled at his clothes, carefully saying, "He, he shouldn''t have a brain problem ah? Quickly get him out of here, what if he hurts someone?¡±


    The boss looked around and picked up a chair, walking toward Dilumo and using the chair to push him outside. "Go! Go! If you want to go crazy do it somewhere else, don''t scare my guests, or I''ll call the police!¡±


    Dilumo was thrown out of the shop by his boss. Like a soulless puppet, he walked down the street aimlessly.


    ~


    Jing Yang woke up to the sound of waves and seagulls. He buried his face in Regulus''s chest and rubbed around, then took a longzy stretch, before opening his eyes.


    Regulus turned over and pressed him under his body, giving him a long deep morning kiss. "Good morning, wife.¡±


    "Good morning, husband." Jing Yang put his arms around his neck, his eyes squinting.


    Regulus began to kiss downward from his neck, his wide palms stroking the smooth skin on his back.


    "I''m hungry." Jing Yang pouted in protest.


    "Good, first exercise before breakfast, it''s good for your health." Regulus hadpletely no intention of stopping.


    "Then you hurry up¡­" Jing Yang urged.


    "Baby," Regulus tightly held Jing Yang. "I really love you!¡±


    Regulus couldn''t contain his love for Jing Yang, and didn''t want to suppress it. He truly really loved this person, loved him so much that he wanted to integrate him into his own body, so that they could be together at any moment.


    "I love you too¡­and I will always love you in the future." Jing Yang said in his heart, no matter how many worlds we go through, please always meet me, and fall in love with me, because, I truly really love you so much.


    "I will also always love you." There was an indescribable emotion in Regulus''s heart, he just instinctively wanted Jing Yang to confirm.


    Jing Yang became absent-minded, there was an illusion, as if he could see the scene of them really loving each other forever.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>match made in heaven</strong> ¨C ÌìÔìµØÉè, idiom, literally means made by heaven and arranged by earth, ideal


    [2] <strong>karma</strong> ¨C ×ö×Ô×÷Äõ²»¿É»î, basically if you sin you can''t live? seems drastic<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 1:30 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 3.8k characters to 2.4k words. After a lot of detours, we have finally finished this arc. I have been very busy the past couple weeks, so I was really unsure about whether I could trante, but I made it there in the end. I will be going back on a hiatus for this series as usual for this arc. Hopefully I will be back in two weeks. Hope you all enjoyed this arc.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96


    Mechanical Design Master (Arc 8.1)


    Jing Yang was in such pain that he felt like his entire body was going to fall apart, even breathing was extremely difficult. He opened his eyes, and under the faint light, everything was out of focus, the blurs as if under ayer of thick fog.


    It seemed that this body''s physical injury was quite severe, even if he activated the system, it would be impossible to immediately fix the injury. Even though his eyesight was blurry, he could still sense that he was now in some sort of very confined space. In order to determine whether there was any way to first leave this ce, Jing Yang could only consult the short memory closest to this point in time and ording to the scene inside that memory, press a certain button.


    The light suddenly brightened, and Jing Yang was blinded by this ring light. He closed his eyes to adapt to it, and after a long time, finally slowly opened his eyes again.


    Right now he couldn''t move his body, and could only turn his head slightly. His eyesight was also slowly clearing up. He looked down and saw that he was lying in a broken mecha, surrounded by a barren area. Nothing except for rocks and sand, not even a single tree.


    His skull was stinging as if it were going to shatter, and he could feel some already dried blood on his face. In this situation where he could not move his body at all, if no one came to rescue him, he might not be able to save himself.


    Jing Yang was just thinking about what he could do when he suddenly saw a few small ck dots in the sky. He thought that there was some problem with his eyes, but as the ck dots slowly grewrger, he could clearly see that they were mechas quickly descending.


    Jing Yang was suddenly somewhat anxious because he still didn''t know whether they were enemies or allies. If they were enemies, he was afraid that he would be tortured, and it wouldn''t be certain if he could even be able to live.


    Why did he have to be reborn at this time? If it were a little sooner or a littleter, it still wouldn''t be as bad as now, when he was helpless to fight back at all.


    Looking at those mechas that had alreadynded and were walking toward him, Jing Yang suddenly gave birth to a sort of reckless courage. Who cares, if he died then so be it! At worst he would just change worlds.


    After those mechas approached him, they looked down on him from up high, not moving for a long time. Jing Yang knew that they must be discussing something, and seeing this, the chances of these people being allies were very low.


    Jing Yang felt that at this moment he was like a piece of meat on a chopping board, under the gazes of some nitpicking observers. He smiled to himself self-deprecatingly.


    The mecha in the middle was the one that looked the most powerful and dominating. The mecha door suddenly opened, and someone jumped out from inside.


    When that person walked over to his mecha door and looked down at him, the moment the two met gazes, Jing Yang felt like everything spun around him. His already unsteady breathing became even more difficult as his heartbeat quickened. The man in front of him had deep features, a sharp silhouette, a tall physique and dominating presence. Standing there with his back to the light, it was like the arrival of a martial god.


    Jing Yang had seen a lot of handsome men, but this was the first time that when he first met someone his heart would start racing. Could it havee from the original owner''s feelings?


    Denanfry was originally just patrolling in space when he found that there was a living being on this. He had felt that it was strange, so hended to check it out. Afternding, he saw that there was a heavily injured human lying in a broken mecha, and after identifying that he was not one of their people, he originally had no intention of doing anything. But after he saw that person smiling in self-ridicule, he felt an inexplicable ache in his heart, and in that instant, he had a feeling that if he abandoned the man, he would definitely regret it.


    Denanfry crouched down, carefully looking at the man''s face. The wound on his forehead was very severe, his face covered in blood and bruises. But he could still tell that his skin was very pale, like a broken delicate doll. Besides his features looking good, he couldn''t see anything special about him.


    Jing Yang used the system to quickly search for this person''s identity, and after determining that even though he wasn''t an ally, he also wasn''t his enemy, he weakly opened his mouth and said, "Save me.¡±


    Jing Yang wasn''t sure whether or not he would save himself, but he had a hunch that this man was the only life-saving straw he could seize at this moment.


    That pain in his heart reappeared. Looking at that pair of eyes from so close, Denanfry really felt like there was something in those eyes that seemed to touch his soul. He involuntarily reached out his hands and carefully held up this person.


    Denanfry ced Jing Yang behind his seat and flew his mecha back up, opening the contact channel with the ship. "I have an injured person with me, let the medical bay prepare for first aid.¡±


    "Received. We will immediately begin preparations.¡±


    The mecha flew in through one of the ship''s entrances, and after gliding for a while, it stopped in the mecha bay.


    Denanfry exited the mecha holding Jing Yang. There were already doctors and paramedics waiting below. He ced Jing Yang on the stretcher and watched him being pushed away, before turning and leaving in a different direction.


    "General, this person''s identity is unknown. Bringing him so hastily onto the ship like this, will there be any problems?" Dyles was Denanfry''s deputy general. Right now was a critical period, and bringing back apletely unknown person, he was a little worried.


    "He''s so badly hurt that he won''t be able to do anything bad for the time being. When he recovers slightly, I will ask him myself about his identity." Denanfry''s footsteps paused. "Before then, send people to watch him closely. If there is anything wrong with him, immediately report to me.¡±


    "Yes, General." Dyles replied.


    His eyes half-closed, Jing Yang saw himself being pushed into an emergency room, and immediately after a doctor injected him with a tube of medicine, he fell unconscious.


    When he woke up again, Jing Yang looked around to see his surroundings. This should be the ship''s single-person medical room. Less than a minute after he woke up, the automatic door opened, and a doctor and two paramedics walked in.


    "How do you feel?" The doctor asked.


    "For the time being, there is no pain, I just feel no energy at all." Jing Yang truthfully answered.


    "Your injury was very serious and will take a long time to heal. We gave you some medicine so you will temporarily not feel any pain, but using too much pain medication is bad for your body. In two days we will stop using painkillers, so you will need to prepare yourself." The doctor said.


    "I see, thank you doctor." Jing Yang said.


    "Your body has multiple broken bones, especially in your feet. Those will take a long time to recover, or it''s very possible that they will never recover. We have given you surgery, and these days will be a critical period for bone growth, so you must restrain yourself and not move at all. If you can''t help it, you must let us know and we will help you secure your body. But securing your body like that for a long time would not be good for you, and there is a possibility of muscle necrosis." The doctor''s words were very exacting, with no trace of emotion.


    "I can control myself, if I can''t do it anymore, I will let you know." Jing Yang used the system to scan his body''s injuries. The result was that with the system''s help, his legs could still recover. It was just that the injury was too severe, so it wouldn''t be fast. As long as he could recover and wouldn''t be crippled for the rest of his life, he was satisfied. Fortunately this was a medically more developed interster world. If it were in a normal modern world, he might already have been amputated.


    After the doctor and nurses recorded the values on the medical instrument next to him separately into a handheldputer, they left Jing Yang alone.


    Jing Yang nced at the ss wall to his left and knew that there must be people watching him outside. But it didn''t matter, he couldn''t even move right now, he couldn''t do anything even if he wanted to.


    He closed his eyes and began to read about this world, and the information relevant to this body.


    This was an interster space-time that could be said to have just begun developing. In this time period, every country waspeting fors, developing their own power in this universe.


    There were many unknown and unupieds in this universe, and whichever country could preemptively seize a and then could hold on to it, would essentially own that. In the early days, in order topete fors, the countries had already gone through centuries of war, and the human casualties were quite tragic. Coupled with insect invasions and various cosmic disasters, human beings were likely to be in danger of extinction if they continued to kill each other in this way.


    Therefore, several countries took the lead in establishing a peace agreement that would unite against other nationspeting fors and minerals, and divide the resources ording to the terms of the agreement. The united countries would naturally be stronger than those countries fighting alone. Seeing their power growing stronger and stronger, the other countries were envious, and each asked to join. So it had turned into a cosmic federation.


    The person Jing Yang had transmigrated into this time was called Skien Kossa, who was born in the Fetani Empire, a member of the Cosmic Federation.


    Skien¡¯s grandfather was the left prime minister of the Fetani Empire, and his father was themander of the third fleet, so he could be said to have been born with a golden spoon, his identity only slightly lower than that of the royal family.


    In his situation, even if he was a fool, he could still smoothly live his entire life. Let alone that he not only had a good appearance, but was always very smart from a young age. His elder brother, as the oldest son, was the most valued, and Skien was the most loved. He was already engaged to the financial minister''s son Tony Bilus before he came of age. The two people were not only a perfect match, but were also childhood sweethearts, having good feelings since they were young.


    But fate this thing was always so unpredictable and uncontroble. When fate wanted you to live well, it would be hard for you to live badly, and when fate wanted you to live badly, you didn''t even have room to fight back.


    The third fleet that Skien''s fathermanded was badly damaged in a battle in which his father was killed.


    The death of his eldest son greatly affected Skien''s grandfather. He instantly aged a lot andy ill in bed for a long time. He decided to slowly retreat from his position as the left prime minister.


    Originally, since their family had a left prime minister and a fleetmander, their power had already been too much. In order to not worry the emperor, and in order to avoid conspiracies against them, Skien''s grandfather had let his several uncles live idle, without real power. When Skien''s father died and his grandfather retreated from his position, some took the opportunity to push the family to their deaths. And the main reason was because of Skien''s engagement to Tony.


    In this age, whichever country could control more advanced mechanical technology could be a great power in the universe. Thus, good mechanics were the most valued talents in every country.


    Ever since he was ten years old, Skien started studying in the Mechanical Department of the Imperial Military Academy, where he studied and specialized in the development of mechas and various machinery. When he was fifteen, their department made an exception and epted a mechanical genius named Avery Dotly.


    Avery''s talent in making mechas was particrly prominent, and even attracted the attention of the royal family. He had a brother named John, who just so happened to be a soldier in the Third Fleet. Because of his rtionship with his outstanding brother, he also rose in position.


    This originally had nothing to do with Skien and his family. Even though John was one of his father''s subordinates, his father had never treated him unfairly, and had even given him a lot of support.


    In school, Avery would always be hostile to Skien, but because of his grandfather and father''s identity, he was afraid doing anything to him on the surface.


    The reason Avery hated Skien was because he fell in love with Skien''s fianc¨¦ Tony, and was jealous of him.


    This Avery was actually not simple. In his body, was a soul from the future.


    The real Avery had died from an ident, and at that time it was Tony who had saved him. When he woke up, in his body was no longer the previous soul. At that time he pretended to have amnesia, saying that he couldn''t remember his family, but it was actually because he didn''t know the real Avery''s original life. Tony brought him back home to take care of him for a few days out of kindness, and he who had a 20 year old soul had fallen in love with Tony, who was only seventeen at the time but was already tall and handsome.


    When the reborn Avery discovered that Tony was already engaged, and that his engagement partner''s family was superior, not only aristocratic but his grandfather and father were both in extremely powerful positions, he felt a sense of crisis. When his businessmen parents found him and he understood the importance of ss identity, he even felt somewhat desperate.


    Avery''s family was very rich, but no matter how much money they had, it couldn''t make up the gap between his and Tony''s identities. But he gradually discovered the difference between this space-time and his original space-time, that is, the level of mecha and other mechanical technology was a lot worse. Before he was reborn, he happened to be a student in the Mecha Academy. Even though his results were very average, in this space-time, he could use the things that he knew, and shine.


    Avery thought that as long as he tried to change his destiny and close the gap between him and Tony, they could be together without any obstacles. But he slowly discovered that the biggest obstacle between him and Tony was actually not their identities, but Tony''s genuine love for Skien. It was actually not a forced engagement by his parents, like he had originally thought.


    After understanding everything, Avery was extremely jealous of Skien. He felt that since God had allowed him to be reborn, and he had been reborn to hundreds of years ago, then he should be the son of fate. He believed that these initial adversities were just a test for him, and he could use his own efforts to let fate go his way. He would not only get supreme glory, respected status, but also Tony''s love.


    Using the knowledge he had learned from before his rebirth, Avery achieved amazing results over and over again, and seeded in drawing attention.


    He created a mecha much more advanced than the current models, and also added some special settings. He only told the method to activate the mecha to his elder brother, and then said that only his elder brother would be able to drive this mecha. The two brothers, one in the development of mechas, and the other in driving mechas, were considered to have special talents.


    The real cause of Skien¡¯s father''s death actually had to do with Avery. With the reason of wanting to thank him for promoting his brother, Avery mentioned helping Skien''s father remodel his mecha, and then made some underhanded adjustments. With his brother John''s assistance, they let the fleetmander himself go check a, and then he was ambushed by cosmic pirates. During the battle, Skien''s father''s mecha suddenly malfunctioned. He hadn''t had time to notify the ship when he was attacked by the cosmic pirates, and with the disintegrating mecha, fell into space.


    And those cosmic pirates who ambushed them were in fact bought by John to ambush Skien''s father.


    John was a very ambitious man, and at the same time, he was a bro-con. For whatever his brother Avery wanted, he would do his best to help him get them, even if he had to rob it.


    Under the two brothers'' nning, John''s position grew higher and he became more powerful. But even if John was already in control of the military, and the left prime minister had alreadypletely left the scene, they would still not be able to get Skien and Tony to break up their engagement. Because even though the left prime minister had already given up his power, his influence still had notpletely disappeared. Even the emperor could not make such an unreasonable demand of him.


    John had seized power into his hands, and his ambition was growing, not to mention he also wanted to help his brother get his loved one. In order to climb to the peak of power, for his brother''s love, he chose an unconventional method.


    The emperor fell ill, and even the best medicine could not keep him alive. The throne was supposed to have been seeded by the eldest prince, but the brothers created another ident, killing the eldest prince, and supported the illegitimate son of the emperor''s mistress, a child only a few years old, to sit on the throne, and be controlled by them.


    Even the emperor was under their control, and they finally took control of the highest power. Even if it wasn''t on the surface, it was so in the dark. Even though those ministers who were baffled by them slowly realized what was going on, everything was toote.


    They finally started to move against Skien''s family, first going for Skien''s uncles. They forcefully added several severe charges onto them, and then killed them in prison. It was a little difficult to convict Skien''s grandfather and father, and required the other ministers'' help. What made Skien''s hatred explode in his despair was when he found that Tony''s family was also involved in vilifying his grandfather and father.


    Skien''s grandfather was ill in bed, and the matter of several of his sons dying was originally concealed from him. But John brought men to charge into their home, told him everything himself, and even announced the charges against him and his eldest son. Skien''s grandfather knew that his sons had all died, and heard those fictional crimes. Thinking that even when he was dying he would have to die in this kind of situation, he fainted from anger, and died in this way.


    Skien just watched his own grandfather die from anger like this, he hated his own ipetence, hated John''s cruelty, and hated those who had helped John deal with their family. But besides hate, he could do nothing. That kind of despair and pain, those who had never experienced it before, would never be able to understand.


    Soon Skien received the engagement termination document from Tony''s family. He ran to ask Tony if it was his own decision or his parents'' decision.


    Tony said that it was his parents who decided to terminate their engagement, he didn''t want to, but he also couldn''t control it.


    Skien asked him if he was willing to leave the country with him, and escape far away.


    Tony said that he couldn''t abandon his parents, so even if his heart was in pain, he couldn''t leave with him.


    Skien was very disappointed in his heart, but he couldn''t me him. He knew, as he had said, that this was all beyond his control.


    But then Avery appeared. He intimately held Tony''s hand, proudly telling Skien that he was getting engaged to Tony. He told Skien to not bother Tony again, and even said that Tony had actually fallen in love with him a long time ago, but because of his grandfather, he hadn''t mentioned it, or else he would long have broken off their engagement.


    Skien didn''t believe what he said. He looked at Tony and hoped that he could deny it, but he not only didn''t deny it, but even nodded to confirm Avery''s words, and said that he had really fallen in love with Avery a long time ago.


    Ever since Avery had been saved by Tony, he had always been looking for opportunities to get close to him. After many intersections, the two of them had be ambiguous. Tony had also struggled in his heart, he felt that he loved Skien, but also could not bear to reject Avery. Under his indulgence, Avery became increasingly bold in expressing his love for him, and after one time when they were drunk, the two of them ended up having a rtionship.


    Tony had originally been struggling with how to face Skien, but after Skien''s family had problems, he actually felt a sense of relief. He felt that this way he could have both Skien and Avery. With Skien''s family''s situation, it was no longer as noble as it was before, and he should not mind being his lover. And Avery had always been gentle and considerate, never quarreling with him, so he should not care that he was raising a lover outside.


    Skien''s mood at that time was difficult to describe in words. He didn''t cry and didn''t argue, his heart was already numb, and he left with a sad smile.


    In order to show off to Skien and attack him, Avery told him the truth, and mocked him for being an abandoned mountain bird, even if he knew everything, he still couldn''t go against him.


    Skien''s cousins were all assassinated, and only Skien and his elder brother were luckily able to escape. When Skien was about to flee with his elder brother, they were attacked by people sent by John. John wanted topletely get rid of any threats to his younger brother, and would let Skien and his big brother disappearpletely from this world.


    When they were running, Skien''s elder brother got two mechas from who knows where. He let Skien escape first, and he himself went to confront the people chasing them.


    Skien was originally unwilling to run away alone, but with his brothers'' insistence and persuasion, he could only leave in pain.


    Although his older brother bought him some time, as he was about to escape the scope of the Fetani Empire, the men chasing him caught up. After he was hit, he fell into space with his mecha. The men chasing him thought he was dead and tried to bring his body back, but just happened to encounter the patrol ship of the Wilkesa Empire.


    When they were chasing Skien, they were already about to enter the Wilkesa Empire''s scope. In order to not cause any unnecessary conflict, they quickly retreated.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    Trantor Notes:


    [1] everything was out of focus ¨C ÑÛÇ°ÊÓÏßµþÓ°ÖØÖØ, I think this is saying that there''s a lot of afterimages, like when your eyes are out of focus, rough trantion


    [2] reckless courage ¨C »í³öÈ¥µÄºÀÇé, »í³öÈ¥ means to throw caution to the wind, ºÀ is like grand or heroic


    [3] Denanfry ¨C µÂÄϸ¥ÁÒ, pinyin de nan fu lie, probably most helpless name I''ve seen yet, I''m just going with the MTL for this name. if anyone has any less esoteric trantions for this, I wee them


    [4] Dyles ¨C µÏÀ³Ë¹, pinyin di si


    [5] exacting ¨C Ò»°åÒ»ÑÛ, idiom, means following a prescribed pattern to the letter, scrupulous attention to detail


    [6] Skien Kossa ¨C Ï£¶÷¿ÂÈø, pinyin xi en ke sa, MTL trantes to Sheen but I feel like it doesn''t quite fit. Skien showed up upon googling Ï£¶÷ so we''re going with that. The MC and ML will have equally strange names.


    [7] Fetani ¨C ì³ËþÄá, pinyin fei ta ni


    [8] fleet ¨C ½¢, so this trantes to warship, butter is referred to as ½¢¶Ó, which trantes to fleet. It also sounds kind of small to just be a captain of a warship. I decided to just trante to fleet.


    [9] Tony Bilus ¨C ÍÐÄá±È³˹, pinyin tuo ni bi lu si


    [10] a perfect match ¨C Ãŵ±»§¶Ô, idiom, means the families are well-matched in terms of social status


    [11] childhood sweethearts ¨C Çà÷ÖñÂí, idiom, means a couple who grew up as childhood friends


    [12] Avery Dotly ¨C °¬¿ËÀï¶àÌØÀû, pinyin ai ke li duo te li


    [13] disintegrating ¨C ËÄ·ÖÎåÁÑ, idiom, means falling to pieces


    [14] unconventional method ¨C ½£×ßÆ«·æ, apparently a modern idiom? means unexpected winning move


    [15] faint from anger ¨C Å­¼±¹¥ÐÄ, sudden strong emotions attacked the heart, leading to faints


    [16] cruelty ¨C ÀÇÐĹ··Î, idiom, literally means heart of wolf and lungs of dog, means cruel and unscrupulous


    [17] abandoned mountain bird ¨C ÂäÆǵÄɽÄñ, literal trantion, I''m assuming that mountain bird used to be high up and strong but now he''s abandoned


    [18] Wilkesa ¨C Íþ¶û¿Ëɳ, pinyin wei er ke sha<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    Random Notes:


    Over two hours: 10:30 am ¨C 12:45 pm, for 6.4k characters to 4.3k words.


    Hello everyone, and wee back to the eighth arc. My apologies for leaving for so long, much longer than nned. There were abination of factors that led to this: interviews, traveling, finals, and ack of motivation to trante for some reason. But during my break I have re-gathered my enthusiasm for reading novels and will be continuing to trante, hopefully building up a backlog so my releases can be consistent at one chapter a week on Saturdays. This chapter was so long, over 6k characters. Definitely took a while, especially since it¡¯s the first chapter in an arc. Hope everyone enjoys this arc! Happy holidays!<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 97

    <strong>Chapter 97</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.2)</strong>


    Those men hunting down Skien thought that he fell into space and his mecha was also alreadypletely broken, unable to start, so he must not be able to survive. So they just returned to report thepletion of their mission.


    But they didn''t think that Skien, together with his mecha, floated in space for a long time, and finally fell on a barren. It was just that the real Skien died filled with intense hatred, and the one saved by Denanfry, was the already reborn Jing Yang.


    After receiving all of the information, Jing Yang felt hatred pounding his brain, and even his body couldn''t help but start to tremble. This was the first time that he learned through experience that the hatred the original owner left in his body would be so strong, and if it weren''t because right now he couldn''t even move, he would definitely have to do something to vent out the despair in his heart.


    Those pictures and memories kept appearing in his mind, making him not only start to have a headache, but also feel stinging in his heart. It only goes to show how deep Skien''s hatred was.


    Jing Yang closed his eyes, silently repeating in his heart over and over, rest assured, I will definitely help you get your revenge. Those people, I will not let go of a single one, I will absolutely make them pay an even more painful price.


    Jing Yangy in his hospital bed for over ten days. During this time, Denanfry came to see him, but he didn''t go into the ward, just standing outside the ss wall looking inside at him.


    Jing Yang seemed like he had felt his gaze. Through a ss wall that he could see nothing through, he very urately met Denanfry''s gaze.


    Denanfry was a little surprised, but seeing those eyes, it was more of some inexplicable pity and heartache. He originally should have questioned and rified his identity a few days ago, and if his identity had some problems, he should have disposed of him. At the lightest, he should have thrown him out of the ship, and let him die.


    But he hesitated. This was the first time he was soft-hearted toward someone, he felt that even if his identity had a problem, he would at least wait until his injury was better and then let him leave, and only then would he have a higher chance of surviving. He knew that his actions were irrational and might be dangerous, but he couldn''t control his own heart, he just wanted to do it this way.


    ~


    Jing Yangy there for another ten days. After twenty days, he was finally able to sit up. But his feet wouldn''t be able to touch the ground for a very long time, and Denanfry especially let people prepare him an automatic wheelchair. However, his range of activity was only within the ward, and he was unable to leave the ward until his identity was confirmed. So this was both his ward and the room where he was imprisoned. It was just that his treatment was too much better than that of ordinary prisoners, just to give him that medical treatment and medication, it must have been a significant cost.


    Jing Yang was always waiting for Denanfry to interrogate him, he had already used the system to understand this person''s identity. Denanfry <strong>Kinlock</strong>, one of the three big generals of the Wilkesa Empire, and the most powerful one. Only, after a coup many years ago, the Wilkesa Empire had long since been without an emperor. They had a parliamentary system, and the highest leader was the prime minister, but the prime minister was neither in control of the finances nor the military, so this empire''s power was very fragmented.


    Even though the Wilkesa Empire and the Fetani Empire were both part of the Cosmic Federation, they were alsopeting against each other. But in the struggle fors and minerals, they still had to do their best to maintain a superficial harmony, at least to make themselves appear inpliance with the federal treaties. In fact, in the face of the federal treaties, the stronger one would have greater say.


    And the Fetani Empire and the Wilkesa Empire hadparable power. The mechas created by Avery actually yed a significant role.


    For the time being, whether or not Denanfry was his own lover, just based on his identity and his current situation, working with him was his best option. It was just that it would take some thought on how to convince him.


    Jing Yang patted the automatic wheelchair that was like a wide driver''s seat. It was good that he had this wheelchair, he would just use this to draw Denanfry''s attention.


    ~


    Denanfry was constantly procrastinating on his meeting with Jing Yang. He felt that even though being closed up in the ward would make him lose his freedom, at least he was safe. But when his subordinates reported to him that the person he brought back was acting strangely, he could only go meet with him and ask clearly everything that he needed to know.


    Jing Yang was originally sitting with his back to the door. Hearing the sound of the automatic door opening, he steered his wheelchair to turn in ce, looking at the personing in.


    Denanfry stood with his hands behind his back, just looking at him like this and not speaking.


    Jing Yang smiled. "I''ve finally met you, General Denanfry.¡±


    "You know me?" Denanfry frowned.


    "Even though I have only seen your side profile from some materials, I had a deep impression of you. At that time I felt that if someone¡¯s side profile could be so handsome, his face must be handsome to the point of making the gods envious." These words weren''t randomly fabricated by Jing Yang, but were Skien''s true thoughts. Skien did really see Denanfry''s side profile in the materials on his grandfather''s desk.


    Denanfry looked at that beautiful face and involuntarily felt a sense of love in his heart. That pair of eyes like gems even more so let his originally cold and hard heart soften down. He even doubted whether this person was some kind of charming demon, but he could also tell that his eyes were very clear, without a trace of strangeness or bad thoughts.


    "I heard that you dismantled your wheelchair." Denanfry looked at the perfectly fine wheelchair.


    "Yes ah." Jing Yang slightly smiled. "Being locked in this room for so many days, I was too bored ma.¡±


    Jing Yang''s words had a slight <strong>petnt</strong> tone, making Denanfry''s heart feel like it had been touched by a feather. His face showed a hint of unnaturalness for a moment, but very quickly returned to normal.


    "You should know that I came to see your purpose. Say everything you should say, and I will decide what to do with you." Denanfry did his best to keep his face cold.


    "I didn''t think that you would onlye to interrogate me now, and even more so didn''t think that it would be the big general personallying to interrogate me. I will confess everything, you should have already started the lie detector?" Jing Yang was very clear about what kind of treatment an unidentified person would receive on a ship of an empire''s army. But his treatment was definitely to the level of special treatment for an honored guest, and for him to be able to enjoy this kind of treatment, it must have been because of Denanfry. He knew that only his lover could not bear for him to suffer the least bit, and when he first saw Denanfry, he had already felt his heart move. So the chance that he was his own lover was too high.


    "Speak, who are you, where are you from." Denanfry didn''t deny that he had let people turn the lie detector on. Just outside the ss wall, there was a team of people staring at him. As long as he did anything the least bit wrong, they would know.


    "I am Skien Kossa, a man of the Fetani Empire. Or I should say, a man formerly of the Fetani Empire¡­" Jing Yang''s expression sank slowly, as if he had fallen into a bad memory. At this moment, he brought out a part of the emotions that Skien had.


    Denanfry felt like this surname Kossa was somewhat familiar. This name was notmon, and among the people he knew, it seemed like there was this surname. But he didn''t interrupt, waiting for him to continue speaking.


    "My grandfather was the Fetani Empire''s left prime minister, and my father was themander of the third fleet.¡±


    Denanfry and the people outside all looked at Jing Yang with shock. With such an identity, how could he have almost died on that barren?


    "But they are all dead, my entire family, they''re all gone¡­I am the only one still alive, but I was still being chased down. So, I now have no country, and no home." Tears filled Jing Yang''s eyes, a thick sense of sorrow permeated from his body, which even those people separated by a ss wall could feel.


    Denanfry only now remembered that he had received a secret report from the Fetani Empire, of which part of the content was about the Fetani Empire''s left prime minister''s family situation. The eldest son of the left prime minster of the Fetani Empire had died in battle, and the other three sons were jailed for their crimes, all of whommitted suicide in prison. After his death, several of his grandsons had disappeared.


    At that time he was thinking that there must have been a huge conspiracy behind this entire matter. And the mastermind of this plot was very likely associated with the real person in power, John Dottley.


    Then Jing Yang confessed how his grandfather and uncles had died, how his cousins were all suddenly assassinated in their own homes, and the process of him and his older brother being hunted down during their escape.


    His expression of sadness, the appearance of pain that even made his body tremble, made those people watching him all feel like it was them who had torn open his blood-soaked wounds even more, and made his wounds bear a burning pain. Watching him endure a pain that ordinary people would not understand, they felt a sense of guilt.


    These people were all professional psychologists, they had seen many tragic situations. When necessary, they would even take measures to make the person interrogated go through an emotional breakdown, and vent out everything in their heart. It was the first time that they felt guilty, perhaps because this was the first time they met someone who was so emotionally infectious.


    Denanfry felt like he wanted to go up andfort him, but in this situation, as well as the degree of familiarity between the two, he couldn''t serve as any kind offort, so he could only forcefully bear the pain in his heart and expressionlessly say, "We will verify everything you said. After confirming the truth of your words, we can provide you with political asylum. Then we will send you to live on a in the Wilkesa Empire, but you cannot reveal your identity. Are you willing?¡±


    "I appreciate everything you have done for me, General, but living a safe and nameless life is not what I want." Jing Yang said with a pained yet determined gaze. "Such a big vendetta, if I don''t make them pay the price, I won''t be able to live safely and peacefully.¡±


    "So what do you want? To return to the Fetani Empire and find your enemies for revenge? If you could do it, you wouldn''t have been chased to the point of near-death." Denanfry felt very unhappy in his heart. This person''s life was saved by him, if he had to send himself to his own death, he felt that he had the the right to force him to stay.


    "I escaped with so much difficulty, of course I won''t be stupid enough to run back to my death. But this vendetta, I will pursue it no matter what." Jing Yang looked at Denanfry. "So, I want to cooperate with you.¡±


    "You are sure, you want to talk about cooperation?" Denanfry said. "You should understand what cooperation means, right?¡±


    "Of course I understand. I am a student in the mechanical department of the Imperial Military Academy in Fetani. Even though I haven''t yet graduated, I have the ability to help you deal with Fetani and the other countries." Skien was still only 20 years old, and still had three years until graduation.


    "Our Wilkesa Empire also has a lot of mechanics students, and also a lot of talents. It''s not like being a mechanics student would allow you to speak of cooperating with me." Even though he inexplicably felt pity for this man, this did not mean that his brain had been muddled to the point of believing everything he had to say. "If I remember correctly, the most powerful mechanic in your Fetani Empire should be a man named Avery, who is the younger brother of your enemy. Before now, I have not heard of your name.¡±


    Jing Yang had long guessed that he wouldn''t believe him, and did not take his words to heart. "I know that no matter how strong I say I am, these are all empty words. How about General you give me a chance to prove myself?¡±


    Denanfry looked at his feet. "I can give you a chance, but let''s first wait for your feet to recover ba, right now you can just calmly recover.¡±


    Jing Yang deliberately showed a tired expression. "Then I will thank the general first. Sitting for so long, I am also tired. If General doesn''t mind, I want to lie down in bed.¡±


    "Do you need help?" Denanfry blurted out. After he finished speaking, he remembered that the automatic wheelchair was able to help him get in and out of bed.


    Jing Yang looked at him for a moment before opening his mouth. "No need, thank you General for your kindness.¡±


    The automatic wheelchair lifted up Jing Yang, and after Jing Yangy down on the bed, the wheelchair was restored to its original condition.


    "Then you rest, I will leave first." Denanfry said and then turned to leave.


    "Wait a moment." Jing Yang called out to him, and patted the wheelchair beside the bed. "General must havee because I dismantled this wheelchair ba? Don''t you want to know what I did to this wheelchair?¡±


    "People wille to remove the wheelchair and investigate it,ter on you should recover honestly, and not do these unnecessary things." Denanfry said very seriously.


    "I haven''t even had the time to show it off, and you guys are already going to take it apart. That''s too much of a shame, I really spent a lot of effort to finish it. How about I first show it off, and then you can dismantle it." Jing Yang spoke, and then pressed a certain button on the wheelchair.


    The wheelchair suddenly changed shape and sped toward Denanfry. It was a good thing that Denanfry''s reaction speed was excellent and he immediately blocked the wheelchair''s attack.


    The people outside saw that Denanfry was attacked and quickly opened the door and rushed in. The deformed wheelchair was like it was conscious, taking advantage of the chaos to rush out the door.


    "Chase!" Denanfry issued an order and quickly pointed a gun at Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang looked at him, blinked innocently, and then slowly raised his arms above his head.


    Denanfry''s gun was raised no more than three seconds before putting it back down. His heart couldn''t resist that kind of gaze from Jing Yang, and he had no way to keep pointing a gun at this person. He felt that he had really met his nemesis this time, and it was a very troublesome nemesis.


    Jing Yang not only transformed the wheelchair but also reprogrammed its procedures. After the deformed wheelchair rushed out the door, it raced directly forward. Even though the wheelchair didn''t injure anyone, but a team of soldiers wanting to catch it still weren''t able to seize it, and when they used weapons to attack it, it would flexibly escape. This was the ship after all, they couldn''t use any overly destructive weapons, or else the ship would likely be seriously damaged.


    "Grab it, quick! This way! This way!¡±


    "Surround it! Surround it!¡±


    "Caught it¡­wait, it ran away again!¡±


    "Attack, use weapons!¡±


    "Clearly it''s already been targeted, why didn''t it hit?! I used a tracking bomb! Is it malfunctioning?!¡±


    The soldiers were in a mess. They used all sorts of methods but were all unable to catch a single wheelchair. Even though it now looked more like a robot, and you already couldn''t tell its wheelchair shape at all.


    After the transformed wheelchair had yed around with all of those people who wanted to catch it, it returned to Jing Yang''s ward and changed back to the wheelchair shape. Even though no one was injured during this period, a group of soldiers from the ship''s convoy actually couldn''t even handle a single wheelchair. This was not only a big blow to them, but also a disgrace.


    A pile of soldiers stood at the door of Jing Yang''s ward, and seeing Denanfry''s sharp eyes, they bowed their heads.


    "I knew that just based on my words, even if I said some flowery talk, you wouldn''t believe me." Jing Yang touched the wheelchair. "So I could only prove it to you with practical action. You can now take this wheelchair and have people dismantle it. If there is anything you don''t understand, you cane ask me.¡±


    Denanfry stared at Jing Yang, and then let the soldiers take the wheelchair away.


    When the soldiers approached the wheelchair, they all had a guarded attitude. They were concerned that the wheelchair would suddenly riot again.


    Denanfry went out with a dark expression, ordering the soldiers to keep a close eye on Jing Yang and not allow him to y with any mechanical objects. For Jing Yang''s situation, he was for the moment in no hurry to deal with him. In his own ship, his soldiers were actually yed with by a wheelchair, which was a very serious matter. If this went out, he would have no face to be a general anymore, this was definitely the greatest shame of his military career.


    Denanfry was a notoriously strict general, and every soldier under hismand, even if only a logistics soldier, was an elite soldier who had undergone rigorous training and could be dispatched onto the battlefield at any time. And now a group of soldiers in the ship''s convoy, facing a wheelchair actually devolved into a mess, and didn''t even end up being able to catch the wheelchair. He had to seriously deal with this matter.


    In order to transform this wheelchair, Jing Yang really took a lot of effort, or else it wouldn''t be so strong. But what he wanted was precisely this kind of shocking effect. He didn''t want to take the time to slowly prove himself, that was too time-consuming. This way was more straightforward and effective.


    Because his legs and feet were out ofmission, he could only rely on the strength of his upper body. Even though the wheelchair transformation method waspleted by the system, he had to personally transform the wheelchair. In order to modify the wheelchair, Jing Yang had spent quite a bit of energy. He really felt somewhat tired, and now he could finally have a good night''s sleep and replenish his spirit.


    Denanfry brutally trained the soldiers in the ship''s convoy, and then let them all return to the base to train again. Then another group of soldiers came over. Along with a dozenbat units, the usual everyday training on the ship was also increased.


    The mechanics on the ship dismantled the modified wheelchair and studied the program code inside, but they busied themselves for two days and were still unable to understand the contents of the program. And the mechanics marveled at the modified machinery afterward. They couldn''t believe that it was actually done without any professional tools, just taken apart and modified by hand.


    The mechanics were all eager to go see Jing Yang because for some parts of the modification, they really could not tell how it was done, and wanted to ask him for advice.


    The head of the mechanics group, <strong>Morgan</strong>, projected the contents in hisputer to show to Denanfry. "General you see, these are the results from the analysis of the wheelchair. There are still many parts to it where even though we disassembled it, when we wanted to reassemble it, we failed. There are also some new programs inside, the programming group said that until now they still haven''t been able to crack them.¡±


    Denanfry looked at these analyses, his fingers tapping on the table. He was in deep thought, and no one knew what exactly he was thinking about.


    "General, this man is definitely a genius in terms of mechanics and programming. This kind of modification, not to mention using only those simple tools, even with the most advanced equipment and instruments, we wouldn''t be able to do it." Morgan was already almost 50 years old, and very rarely was so excited. "General, if this person can''t be used by us, he will very likely cause us a lot of trouble. We must not let him help our opponents, we have to think of ways to let him stay.¡±


    "A wheelchair, no matter how it was modified, its parts and equipment can only be those things. How on earth did it make my soldiers run around in circles? Could your mechanics team not find out the reason for this point?" Denanfry still had no way to ept the matter that his own soldiers actually couldn''t even handle a wheelchair.


    "It''s like this, General." Morgan exined. "In the design of a automatic wheelchair, there is the ability to identify the path and automatically avoid obstacles, as well as to protect itself and the rider. After modification, it did not have the ability to attack, but its ability to avoid and protect itself was enhanced. It even had some artificial intelligence recognition capabilities, which should be rted to its newly set program. Before dismantling it we did a quick test, and the wheelchair''s ability to dodge and guide itself has reached the level of B or above mechas. Being able to use the machinery of a wheelchair to achieve the effect of a mecha, so I would say that the person who modified it must be a mechanical and programming genius.¡±


    So really it was not that the soldiers'' ability was weak, but that the wheelchair after Jing Yang''s modification was too strong. Those soldiers being devilishly trained were actually also full of grievances, because even if it had beenbat personnel, with just their own physical bodies, they still wouldn''t have much chance of winning, unless they were piloting mechas.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Kinlock</strong> ¨C ½ðÂå¿Ë, pinyin jin luo ke


    [2] <strong>petnt</strong> ¨C Èö½¿,plicated word to trante, kind of like acting like a spoiled brat, took me a while to think of petnt


    [3] <strong>Morgan</strong> ¨C Ī¸Ê, pinyin mo gan, we getting liberal with our trantions here<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than 2 hours: 10:30 am ¨C 12:15 pm, for 6.3k characters to 3.9k words.


    I will be going back to releasing CFCS on Sundays instead of Saturdays. I¡¯m just quite unustommed to releasing CFCS at the same time as 100kV on Saturdays.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 98

    <strong>Chapter 98</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.3)</strong>


    Jing Yang was forbidden from touching any machinery and couldn''t even sit on a wheelchair anymore. He could only sit on the bed and lean against the wall, fiddling with his fingers. Because he was truly too bored, he asked a nurse for some paper and pen to pass the time in the most primitive way in existence.


    Jing Yang was immersed in vigorously scribbling and writing andpletely lost track of time. Just like this, a morning quickly passed. It wasn''t until Denanfry and Morgan came in that he finally paused, looked up at them, and then continued to write on the paper. "The general is finally here. Don''t hesitate to ask what you want to ask, or else I''ll be so bored I''ll grow mold in the corner.¡±


    "I am Morgan, the head of the mechanical team." Morgan introduced himself and then said, "I heard that you wanted to work with us, but we will at least need to know your specific abilities in order to make sure that your value meets the standards of being able to cooperate with us. Regarding that wheelchair that you modified, I hope that you can exin in detail the transformation process.¡±


    "It seems that you have already finished negotiating my treatment." The pen that had been moving nonstop finally stopped. He handed Morgan those papers that were already filled with writing. "This is the entire process about the wheelchair''s modification. I won''t bother to exin, you can just take it and slowly look over it. The exnation should be very detailed, and there shouldn''t be any parts that you don''t understand.¡±


    Morgan just quickly skimmed over the contents of a page, but the more he read the more excited he got. He couldn''t wait, saying to Denanfry, "General, I want to first go back to the workshop and study these contents with the rest of the team. I feel like using these ideas on mechas is also very usible.¡±


    "Go ahead." Denanfry responded.


    Morgan''s footsteps hurried away, leaving only the two of them in the room.


    Denanfry sat down in the chair next to the bed and said to Jing Yang, "Like you said before, you are indeed very capable. Morgan has a very high opinion of you and wants for me to let you stay. Even though you used that wheelchair to demonstrate your capability, we still can''t speak about cooperation. You should know, no matter how strong your own personal ability is,pared to an army, it''s not equivalent at all. You can voice your ideas and our military staff can evaluate the value of it, and then decide whether or not we want to ask you to do it.¡±


    Jing Yang said, "In reality, whether it''s cooperation or using service to get your help, there isn''t much of a difference to me, as long as I can achieve my purpose of getting revenge. But I think that you all may have misunderstood, modifying the wheelchair was just to get your attention, and not to prove my ability. After getting your attention, only then can I prove my worth. As for what I want you to do, why not wait until I prove my strength to discuss it?¡±


    "How do you want to prove it?" Denanfry looked at Jing Yang''s delicate and pale face. He felt that this seemingly thin man seemed to be hiding an immense strength in his body. What could have supported this huge amount of strength? Was it hate?


    "The twelves in the Jinming star cluster were first discovered by the Wilkesa Empire, and it was also the Wilkesa Empire who drove away the insects there." Jing Yang slowly said. "Even though Jinming isn''t suitable for human habitation, there are arge amount of precious metals there, essentially a huge money vault. It''s a pity that even though the Wilkesa Empire took the lead in upying the area, they were unable to mine the metals and had to withdraw when the cosmic storm started. After the storm passed, John Dottley brought his soldiers and took the lead in upying thes, and his brother Avery also led a team that has already almost finished researching equipment for mining those metals.¡±


    "Everything you just said, there is probably no one in this universe who doesn''t know." Denanfry said.


    ording to federal convention, for all of thes in the universe, they belong to whoever first upies them. But once the forces are withdrawn from the upied star, then the would belong to the country that upies it afterward. The universe is vast and endless, and of the countlesss, not every one is suitable for human habitation. Manys are rich in resources but present many difficulties that human science and technology have no way to ovee. Especially thes where cosmic disasters ur, they are not only not suitable for ordinary humans to live in, but before the disaster appears, even soldiers will need to quickly evacuate.


    In order to upy the Jinming star cluster, the Wilkesa Empire invested arge number of troops to expel and eliminate the insects, but only after upying the Jinming star cluster did they discover that their current technical equipment was unable to extract the metals on thoses. Then, after evacuating to escape the cosmic wind storms, thes were seized by the Fetani Empire. These kinds of situations often urred between the countries in this universe. In this age, whoever had stronger technology would have greater power, and if you weren''t as strong as others, you could only recognize your own bad luck.


    "Before the end of the next storm, I can create equipment that can mine those precious metals. As long as you can help me." Jing Yang said.


    "You should know, you need to be responsible for every sentence you say. If the least thing goes wrong, you will have to pay the price for it, so you need to think carefully before you speak." Denanfry didn''t want to doubt him or threaten him, but as a general of the empire, his responsibilities were great, and he definitely could not cause a loss to the empire because of his negligence.


    "Of course, I will be responsible for everything I say and everything I do." Jing Yang said very calmly. "You can send people to monitor my every move, and I can also give you a detailed report on everything that I create here. If you think that I am acting abnormally, you can also take measures to handle me. I will not resist.¡±


    "Have you decided? You are sure you won''t regret it?" Denanfry asked seriously.


    "Yes, I have decided, I will definitely not regret it." Jing Yang''s eyes looked forward, but that hazy gaze didn''t seem to be looking at something, but rather inward at some memories. "For my revenge, I can do whatever it takes. If you knew what I have encountered previously, you will definitely be able to understand my mood. I am already no longer living for myself, but for all of my rtives who have died. In front of revenge, no matter whether it''s freedom or privacy, it has no meaning to me.¡±


    In order to deepen the other person''s trust, Jing Yang once again immersed himself in the original owner''s emotions.


    Denanfry looked at his expression and felt pain in his heart, also beginning to hate those who had hurt him before. "Good! Then, ording to what you have said, I will give you the chance to prove yourself. Starting today, I will be your primary monitor. I will take responsibility for all of your actions, and your every move will be under my control.¡±


    Jing Yang received a workshop, one that was so big that you could make mechas in it. Because his legs weren''t convenient, Denanfry assigned ten or so assistants to him, and even gave him the right to use ss A materials. His current treatment was almost the same as that of the head of the mechanical team, Morgan, all because of the special care that Denanfry gave him.


    Before the next time the cosmic storm on the Jinming star cluster ended, there was about a month''s time. Jing Yang said that he would create the design for the mining equipment before the storm was over, which meant that he would at most have a little over a month to do it. Toplete in such a short period of time something that they couldn''t even aplish after two years, not to mention the other members in the First Fleet thinking that it was impossible, even Denanfry, who had already decided to trust Jing Yang, was also not at ease.


    Jing Yang first analyzed the geological report on thes in the Jinming star cluster, and then studied the samples that had already been brought back. Then he directly started making some drawings.


    When he had time, Denanfry would go take a look at Jing Yang''s studio. But he didn''t go in to disturb them and also didn''t rm them, just watching from afar.


    Jing Yang''s busy appearance and his serious yet cautious face, every time he saw it, Denanfry couldn''t look away. Seeing that Jing Yang was so busy he barely rested, Denanfry was somewhat worried about his body, but he couldn''t go stop him or persuade him to rest. Under the pretense of wanting to get the precious metals in the Jinming star cluster, he had already given him too much special treatment. The sess or failure of this trial would not only determine whether or not he could continue to enjoy this kind of treatment, but also whether or not he could continue to stay here andplete his revenge.


    By the time the cosmic storm reached the Jinming cluster, the equipment Jing Yang made had also entered the final experimental stage. They created a simtion of the Jinming clusters'' geology, and then conducted excavation and mining tests.


    Seeing the sess of the experiment, those assistants assigned to help Jing Yang were extremely excited. During the process ofpleting these equipment, they had already often been amazed, and now seeing that the equipment that they had also participated in creating was a sess, they couldn''t help but feel jubnt. In the process, they had learned a lot beyond the level of the current technological knowledge, and felt that they were very fortunate. Rather that saying they came as assistants, they were more like students, and had received a lot of harvest.


    Denanfry also brought some men to observe the experiment. Seeing the sess of the experiment, he also felt that it was quite magical, this person actually really seeded in little more than a month. But he was well aware that the results of the experiment and the actual effect in reality would definitely have some differences, but this at least proved that the hope of sess was still very high.


    With the sess of the experiment, Denanfry had also already prepared his soldiers to upy the Jinming star cluster.


    ~


    After the cosmic storm passed through the Jinming star cluster, many countries were desperate to upy it. Even if they temporarily could not extract the precious metals on the surface, it was also good to collect some samples and study them, and this could also prevent the Fetani Empire from exploiting thes.


    Relying on the fact that his army''s mechas were stronger than any other country''s mechas, John did not take the other troops who wanted to upy the Jinming star cluster seriously.


    "Report, General, there are obstructing light waves ahead, the Jinming star cluster has already been preemptively upied by other troops!" A soldier reported to John.


    "What?!" John was originally resting his eyes when he immediately stood up and red. "Which country''s army?¡±


    "Based on the resolution frequency of the light waves, it disyed the Wilkesa Empire''s signal.¡±


    "Wilkesa?" John thought for a bit. "Then it must be Denanfry''s First Fleet.¡±


    Even though John had been advancing very smoothly these few years, and his army basically suppressed every other army''s forces, he still had to pay close attention to this strong rival, Denanfry. And all of Denanfry''s subordinates were also<strong> very strong</strong>, if it weren''t for the mechas that Avery had created being too much stronger than Wilkesa''s, if they fought without them, they simply wouldn''t have a chance of victory.


    "Big brother." Avery came straight in.


    "You go down first." John said to the soldier.


    "Yes.¡±


    After the soldier left, John hugged Avery''s shoulder and walked to the sofa. "Come, sit. Did you find me for something?¡±


    "Big brother." Avery sat down. "I heard that the Jinming star cluster was upied by another troop?¡±


    "That''s right, it was taken by Wilkesa''s army." John nodded.


    "Can''t we think of a way to get them out?" Avery frowned. "After another couple rounds of adjustment, we might be able to seed.¡±


    "If it were another country, <strong>chasing them out</strong> might be fine. After all, because of your inventions, our Fetani Empire is already one of the most powerful nations in the universe." John said. "But the name of General Denanfry of the Wilkesa Empire, you have also heard of it, that person is actually quite powerful. Moreover, in ordance with the provisions of federal convention, the belongs to whoever upies it. There can be no conflict between federation countries, otherwise the country that caused the conflict will be the public enemy of the Federation. So we cannot have a head-on confrontation with them right now.¡±


    "The mechas I made are stronger than those of any other country, why do we have to abide by some federation convention. Those small countries only joined the Federation as a means of self-preservation, and with our current strength, could we not reconstitute a new federation that is centered on us?" Avery asked.


    "It''s not yet time." John patted Avery on the shoulder. "Rest assured, we have already spent more than a year and still haven''t seeded in mining the Jinming cluster. Even if they upy it this time, they still won''t be able to mine sessfully. They are also at most going to conduct a field experiment and then continue to research. Our research is so far ahead of theirs, could they possibly have a better mechanic than you? Isn''t it fine to wait to upy it next time?¡±


    "We will still have wait at least two months before next time." Avery was somewhat unhappy. The cosmic storm would onlye once every two months to the Jinming star cluster. But they already came here from the capital star, just making a trip in vain and then turning right back, no matter how he thought about it it was still a huge waste of time. That was more than tens worth of precious metals. He had invested so much thought into it, and spent so much energy on it, he had long thought of those precious metals as his own possessions. As long as he mines those precious metals, he would be the richest man in the universe, what couldn''t he buy? He could even buy a.


    "It''s just two months, we have already waited a year, do we still care about two months? Those things basically already belong to us, no one else can take it from us." John said with confidence. "When we extract all of the precious metals from the Jinming star cluster, we can n for the creation of a new federation headed by us. When we have sufficient financial resources, we will have much fewer concerns, and we can attract more countries.¡±


    "Since we can''tnd on the Jinming cluster now, we definitely won''t be able to do any field experiments. Then let''s hurry back to the capital star ande back in two months." Avery said.


    "What''s the hurry, we just came out and you want to go back. Do you want to go back and see Tony again?" John looked at him with a smile.


    "We can''t do field experiments anyways, it''s better to continue doing some simted experiments back at home. What''s the point of staying here?" Avery didn''t care about his brother''s teasing.


    "You ah, if you''re not guarding the workshop, you''re guarding Tony. asionally rxing, going out to take a look, or y a bit, isn''t that good?" John said. "Since we''re already here, we might as well go to the Federal Star to check it out. I remember that you seem to have only been there twice. This time we can go y properly, we have two months anyways.¡±


    The Federal Star was a public of the Cosmic Federation, and every country that joins the Federation would have a foreign embassy on it.


    "I''m not going." Avery immediately refused. "The Federal Star is full of politicians or businessmen, what is there to y there. Even if I were going to y, I would also want to go with Tony. What''s fun about going with you.¡±


    John looked helplessly at the disdainful Avery, not knowing what to say.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>very strong</strong> ¨C æçÓÂÉÆÕ½, idiom, means to be brave and good at fighting


    [2] <strong>chasing them out</strong> ¨C Íþ±ÆÀûÓÕ, means to make threats and promising<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little more than an hour: 10:15 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4.6k characters to 2.9k words<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 99

    <strong>Chapter 99</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.4)</strong>


    Jing Yang stood with Denanfry in the ship''smand center, watching the technicians and soldiers set up the mining equipment. The had just gone through a cosmic storm and was a mess. Jing Yang was sitting on a wheelchair so it wasn''t convenient for him to go down. He could only watch them from themand center to make sure that they didn''t make any mistakes during the instation.


    Morgan led the mechanics team to also keep watch in themand center. When they heard that the experiment with the equipment Jing Yang had created was sessful, their moods were quiteplex. Ever since the first time Denanfry upied the Jinming star cluster, it was them who had first started to research this mining equipment, but they weren''t able to seed. Later, they could only pass it along to the Mechanics Science and Technology Institute in the capital star to continue research, but they still had not sent news of the sess of their simtion experiments. Hearing that Fetani''s progress was far ahead of them, they were actually extremely anxious. Getting those precious metals meant that the treasury would be full for at least the next one or two hundred years. Now they finally had a sessful experiment, but it was still from one of Fetani''s people.


    The instation of the equipment alone took a whole morning, and after it was finally done, the technicians were ordered to activate the equipment and conduct the first field experiment.


    Twenty minutester, the monitoring staff reported, "The firstyer of rock, sessfully excavated, depth 30 meters.¡±


    At this time all of the spectators were still very calm, because the firstyer of rock was only slightly harder than the ordinaryyers of rock on others. It wasn''t difficult to dig.


    Fifty minutester, the monitoring staff reported for the second time, "The secondyer of metal earth, sessfully excavated, depth 50 meters.¡±


    Now everyone''s expressions started to change. Even though the metal earthyer was called earth, it was several times harder than that of the top rockyer. They had heard that Fetani had already been able to excavate the metal earthyer, and now they had also seeded. Then at least their progress wouldn''t be much different from Fetani¡¯s.


    Another hourter, the monitoring staff reported for the third time in an excited voice, "The thirdyer of <strong>hemiore</strong>, sessfully excavated! Depth 40 meters!¡±


    The mechanics team stared in disbelief, looking at each other, their expressions inscrutable. Even thebat team members who just came to watch the fun were all excited. Even hemiore could be excavated, that was an ore that even explosive artillery couldn''t break, the best material for mecha armor. Even if no precious metals could be excavated this time, being able to get these hemiore was already an extremely difficult matter. And now they were only one step away from the precious metals, they might have already surpassed Fetani.


    Denanfry turned to look at Jing Yang''s side profile. Using little more than a month of time to be able to achieve these results, had already exceeded his expectations. He suddenly had a feeling that choosing to believe in this person may have been the best decision he had made in his life. And saving him was not the other person''s luck, but his own blessing.


    "Suc-sessful!" The monitoring staff''s voice trembled from agitation. He shouted, "Sessful! Really! It''s true! The finalyer of corrosive liquid did not corrode our mining equipment, and when the liquid was sucked up, it did not corrode our storage equipment! We have mined the precious metals! The first field experiment, seeded in the first try!¡±


    Not only the technical staff on the boiled over in cheers, but the people in themand center also were beside themselves in excitement. Some people didn''t even dare to believe that it was true, even suspecting that they were dreaming.


    "Did we seed?! Did we really seed?! Oh my god! I''m not dreaming, am I?! Or am I hallucinating?!¡±


    "It''s too amazing! It''s really incredible, the first field experiment actually waspletely sessful!¡±


    "Is this real? Is it real?" A member of the mechanics team shook another person by the shoulders, his face full of disbelief, even his eyes round as saucers.


    "I-I also don''t know, it should be true ba, or maybe, maybe it''s just a dream." The person being shaken was even more surprised and disbelieving than the person shaking him.


    "He actually really did it, and only took a month. How is that possible?!" One of the mechanics team members who had previously said with certainty that Jing Yang wouldn''t seed looked at Morgan incredulously. "Team leader, how could this be real?¡±


    Morgan was so excited his hands were trembling. Instead of responding to the team member''s questions, he stared fixedly at the screen, watching the technicians dig up the first piece of precious metal.


    They saw the technicians on the ground standing next to a huge piece of precious metal, jumping excitedly to wave at them, and showing that they really did it, they really finally mined the precious metal in the Jinming cluster.


    Thebat team members who saw everything were all crazily excited, but their focus was different from that of the mechanics. The mechanics team couldn''t believe that Jing Yang had actually produced this mining equipment in only a month, while thebat team were focused on more practical matters.


    "Are all of those precious metals ours now?! They''re really all ours?!¡±


    "I even thought that we could only wait and watch Fetani bring all of the precious metals away, I didn''t think that we would still seize them first, hahaha¡­¡±


    "With all of the precious metals in the Jinming cluster, our empire will be the wealthiest nation in the universe! That would be a real wealthy atmosphere!¡±


    "With these precious metals, our people can live better, and our military will definitely be treated even better!¡±


    "Too great! It''s really too great! Before, we chased away those insects with such difficulty and upied the Jinming cluster, and I was even injured severely for this. But then it was actually seized by Fetani for nothing, and I had been furious for a very long time. If Fetani knew that their previous efforts were in vain and that the precious metals woulde to us in the end, they will definitely explode from fury!¡±


    Everyone was ecstatic and endlessly excited, and only Jing Yang was very calm. These precious metals would be a huge amount of wealth for any country, but only a powerful enough country could hold on to such an immense amount of wealth. So even if he invested effort but couldn''t get these precious metals himself, he didn''t care at all, and he didn''t regret it. His purpose was just to prove himself, and he had already achieved it, so it was fine. And he clearly knew that with this sess, he would be valued by the empire and would be valued even more by Denanfry. For him, this was much more important than those precious metals.


    Morgan managed to calm his excitement slightly with great difficulty and walked over to Jing Yang. "May I ask if you can let me see the design and the record of the manufacturing process for the equipment?¡±


    "I have already handed over all of the data and reports to General Denanfry, and during the creation process I taught those assistants without reservation. If you want to know, you can go find them." After Jing Yang finished speaking to Morgan, he looked at Denanfry. "This is only the first batch of equipment, and is also an experimental product. If you want to mine all of the precious metals in the shortest amount of time, you will still need to manufacture a lot more. You can send those assistants back to the capital star to help with the manufacturing. I will not participate in theter manufacturing, but if there are any problems that need to be resolved, I cane forward.¡±


    "I will deal with everything afterward, these days you can take a proper rest." Denanfry looked at Jing Yang. "I will first send you back.¡±


    Those people still immersed in their excitement and exhration didn''t notice Jing Yang and Denanfry leaving. Only Morgan looked at the backs of the two men, his expression thoughtful.


    Jing Yang had stopped living in the ward a long time ago. When Denanfry arranged a studio for him, he had also prepared a suite for him on the ship.


    After sending Jing Yang back to his room, Denanfry said to him very seriously, "It''s been hard on you this time. I will help you apply formendation, and let the entire empire remember your credit.¡±


    "Thank you General, but I hope not to reveal my identity for the time being. Right now I don''t want to let John know that I am still alive, and I want to wait for the right moment to give them a ''surprise.''" Jing Yang said.


    Denanfry thought a bit before saying, "Then ording to your wishes, we will first not announce your identity for the time being.¡±


    Jing Yang smiled. "Then now, does the general think that I can talk to you about cooperation.¡±


    Denanfry sat down on the couch and spoke with him face to face. "You can cooperate with me, and not us. I will do everything in my power to help you achieve your goals and keep you safe, as long as it doesn''t conflict with the interests of the empire.¡±


    "That''s also good." Jing Yang nodded. "It''s much easier to cooperate with the general than your entire army. Then in the future I will have to trouble General with helping and taking care of me.¡±


    Denanfry stared at Jing Yang''s face for a moment, his heart full of tenderness. He stood up and unconsciously raised his hand, ruffling Jing Yang''s hair. "Rest assured¡­¡±


    Jing Yang''s heart trembled. He looked up at Denanfry''s eyes and felt that familiar feeling. The two men looked into each other''s eyes for a long time.


    After Denanfry returned to his office, he had a virtual meeting with five other top officials of the empire. After sitting at a round table, it wasn''t long before five other people''s virtual images appeared in the other seats.


    Denanfry informed them of the sess of the research on the mining equipment and also discussed with them his encounter with Jing Yang and his identity.


    Denanfry had the highest voice in military affairs, and prime minister <strong>Bloch</strong>, who had the highest voice in political affairs, was his close friend who had grown up with him. Over the years, the two had never been at odds and had always mutually supported each other. After the two of them came to an agreement, the other four had no objection to their proposal, so the decision on how to handle Jing Yang was left to Denanfry, who would also be held ountable if Jing Yang ended up making a move against the empire.


    ~


    The Wilkesa Empire already started manufacturing mining equipment inrge quantities, but in two months there would be another cosmic storm. No matter how fast the manufacturing speed was, it was impossible to mine all of the precious metals in two months. So they began discussing how to ensure that after each storm they could quickly upy the Jinming cluster.


    Jing Yang properly rested for three days and then once again began drawing designs and writing a n. When he handed over thepleted proposal to Denanfry and Denanfry confirmed the feasibility of the n, he immediately ordered its implementation.


    After the cosmic storm passed by again, John had already prepared beforehand and had thought that no matter what they could first upy the Jinming cluster, but found that the Jinming cluster was once again upied by the Wilkesa Empire.


    When the soldier reported to John, he said that he couldn''t even discover how the Wilkesa Empire had managed to preempt the capture of the Jinming cluster this time.


    Even though John was anxious and angry, he was helpless and could only continue to wait for the next storm to pass. But when the Wilkesa Empire captured the Jinming cluster for the third time, John began to get nervous. He sent people to investigate and ordered them to make sure they found out how they could get ahead of them.


    "What did you say?" When he received the report, John opened his eyes wide, thinking that he misheard.


    "Reporting to General, ording to our investigation, the reason Wilkesa''s troops were able to preemptively upy the Jinming star cluster was very likely because they did not leave the Jinming star cluster during the storm." The soldier paused and then continued. "And they have arge number of cargo ships flying to and from the Jinming star cluster. We have detected from afar that there seems to be arge amount of precious metals on the ships, it is very possible that they have already been able to sessfully mine them.¡±


    "Impossible!" John roared. "No country can withstand the cosmic storms, if even we can''t achieve it, Wilkesa definitely can''t either! Sessfully mining the precious metals is even more impossible! Our mechanical level is so far ahead of them, something that we have spent so much time on and still haven¡¯t seeded with, how could it be possible for them do it in such a short period of time! Continue to investigate the real reason, don''t be deceived by their deliberate falsifications!¡±


    "Yes!¡±


    Wilkesa''s unusual behavior in the Jinming star cluster had also attracted the attention of other countries, and they were all thinking of ways to investigate.


    Denanfry knew that at first no one would believe that they had not only started mining the precious metals but had alsopletely upied the Jinming star cluster. Thanks to the design Jing Yang gave them, they used the extremely hard geology of thes, as well as some building materials made out of the hemiore, to construct buildings two-thirds underground and one-third aboveground. And Jing Yang designed the shape of the building to allow the winds to pass directly through the building, rather than forcing the building to withstand the strength of the wind.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>hemiore</strong> ¨C Òì¿ó²ã, not a real word. Òì means like different, and ¿ó means ore. when i googled Òì¿ó the top result was Ò켫¿ó, or hemimorphite, a type of mineral. i decided to just take the hemi- prefix and p it onto ore


    [2] <strong>Bloch</strong> ¨C ²¼ÂåºÕ, pinyin bu luo he, actually a real person''s tranted surname, so i''m using it<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little more than one hour: 10:30 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4k characters to 2.4k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 100

    <strong>Chapter 100</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.5)</strong>


    By the time the other countries let down their guard, Wilkesa had already taken full control of the Jinming star cluster. They constructed military strongholds that could withstand the wind storms on every, each armed with powerful long-range artillery and armor that could be deployed at any time. When the wind storms arrived, they would hide in the buildings waiting for the storm to pass. In any case, during the storm, no other army could get close to the Jinming cluster. After the storm passed, they would begin mining precious metals again and were ready at any time to defend themselves.


    At first, the more low-key they were the less likely they would incite suspicion. But now that everyone else was already harboring doubts, they didn''t hide anymore, transferringrge numbers of troops from the capital and garrisons to protect the mining and transportation.


    The news that Wilkesa had already started mining the precious metals of the Jinming star cluster spread back to the empire and basically led to a national celebration. Even though for now they didn''t know how their country had actually managed to achieve this, this didn''t prevent them from celebrating in euphoria.


    The other countries had originally not really believed any of this was actually true. But when they received this exact news and saw through the screen all of the cargo ships filled with precious metals¡ªevery day several dozens of ships would transport cargo to the Wilkesa Empire¡ªthey were so jealous their eyes almost bled. But they also didn''t understand how the Wilkesa Empire had done it.


    "Impossible?! How is this possible?!" John smashed everything breakable in his office to vent his fury. Hepletely could not ept this reality. In the past two years, they had invested so much human and financial resources into this, and he had only received so much support from the people and the officials by promising that he would definitely make those precious metals belong to the Fetani Empire. But now he was facing a <strong>helpless</strong> situation. His approval ratings were sure to fall, and he would be med. His prestige, which he had managed to raise over the years with much difficulty, would be hit hard.


    The soldier who hade to report was hit by the objects that John was smashing. Even though he was in pain, he still stood there, not daring to move an inch.


    Avery rushed into John''s office like a gust of wind, roaring even before his feet stopped moving. "Brother! Wilkesa has already started mining the precious metals, what are you waiting for?! Hurry up and bring soldiers to the Jinming star cluster to grab it ah!!¡±


    John breathed heavily and wiped his face, making himself calm down slightly. He said to Avery, "They have already upied the Jinming star cluster now. If they really are able to make it so that they can stay there during the wind storms, we also have no way to seize it away.¡±


    "Who says that there''s no way!" Avery mmed his hand on John''s desk, his emotions very excited. "Bring the troops directly to rob them and chase them away, isn''t that fine?! Our mechas are so much stronger than theirs, could it be that we are still afraid that we wouldn''t be able to seize it away?!¡±


    "Avery, you don''t understand the current situation." John tried to exin to him. "If we take the initiative to start a war with other federation powers, then we will be the public enemy of the Federation. Then no matter how strong our mechas are, against the entire Federation, we have no chance of winning.¡±


    "Then just pull the other countries and let them go against Wilkesa together with us, and then give them some benefits after we seed!" Avery said. "Right now Wilkesa has already started mining precious metals, and even upied the entire Jinming star cluster. Wouldn''t the other countries be envious? Wouldn''t they want a part? As long as there are benefits, there must be other people willing to support us!¡±


    "This matter isn''t as simple as you think. We can go pull the other countries, and Wilkesa can do the same. And they have already mined the precious metals and can directly give the other countries benefits, but what we can give them, is only the promise of a possibility. Anyone with a brain would choose to support them." John continued to help analyze the situation to him.


    "You''re always this <strong>overcautious</strong>, not moving, how would you be able to do anything?" Avery scolded John. "I don''t understand all this mess between countries, but I used the things I do understand, and helped you create the strongest mechas in the universe, and gave you the leading mechanical level in all the countries. It''s already like this and you are still scared of that person named Denanfry, then that is just you finding excuses for your ipetence!¡±


    "Avery!" John looked in disbelief at his little brother who he spoiled and pampered. "How can you speak to your brother like this?!¡±


    "Is it not true?! If you aren''t ipetent, go seize back the Jinming star cluster!" After Avery finished speaking, he rushed out in fury,pletely disregarding John''s ugly expression.


    John flopped down onto the sofa, one hand on his forehead and one holding his chest. He had a headache over the current situation, and heartache from Avery''s tone. He really didn''t think that the little brother he spoiled and loved would be like this. Not helping him solve the problem or working together with him to think of feasible countermeasures was fine, but he actually spoke such hurtful words, it really was too chilling.


    Tony came back home and had just pushed open the bedroom door when he was met with a vase flying straight at his face. This was already not the first time, so even if he was unprepared, seeing the vase fly over, he quickly dodged. It was just that his speed wasn''t as fast as the vase, so he was still hit on the shoulder, making him suffer from so much pain he thought his arm was going to break.


    "Where did you go?!" Avery questioned him furiously. "Why did you only get back at this time today?!¡±


    Avery had already been very angry because of that precious metals matter. He had gone back to Tony''s house yet found that he had not returned on time, and became even angrier, almost losing his mind.


    Tony rubbed his shoulder, saying with a wooden expression, "Today the meeting went longer¡­¡±


    "Meeting?!" Avery red at him. "You think I don''t know? Your meeting was only for an hour, but you returned over two hourste. Speak! Besides the travel time, what did you do for the other hour?!¡±


    "Don''t I have any personal freedom now?! I went to meet up with some friends, is that not allowed?!" Tony finally couldn''t stand it anymore, yelling, "We are only engaged, why are you managing me to death! Even sending people to watch me! Every day you interrogate me like a prisoner, how would I dare to marry you?!¡±


    "You dare not to marry me?!" Avery''s face, which originally would have been considered rtively good-looking, twisted into an ugly expression. "Don''t forget, your father being able to be the left minister, and you being able to be the deputy financial minister at this age, was all because of me and my big brother! If you dare to not marry me, I will let your entire family have the same end as Skien''s family. If you don''t believe me, just try!¡±


    Tony was threatened and felt extremely furious in his heart, but didn''t dare to really break off with him. He could only say, "You weren''t like this before. Could it be that that gentle and considerate attitude was just faked?¡±


    After that he turned and walked into the room next door, leaving Avery alone in his bedroom.


    Tonyy on the sofa, holding his forehead with a hand. He really regretted that he had not seen Avery''s true face at the beginning. They hadn''t even gotten married yet and he was already living a life with no freedom. He truly did not dare to imagine how painful his life would be after marrying Avery.


    Thinking of Avery''s twisted face, he couldn''t help but feel disgusted. Then thinking of the already dead Skien, his delicate face, his gentle smile¡­if only he hadn''t saved Avery, then everything would have been good. Skien''s family wouldn''t have been exterminated, and he would now definitely have been together with Skien, living a happy and blissful life. Unfortunately, everything was already in the past. In this world, there was no more Skien.


    Tony recalled his and Skien''s happy childhood over and over again to escape the pain of the present. At that time they had been so happy, he had thought they would always continue to be happy like that, but¡­, if he had known earlier that he would live so pathetically, he should have just let Avery die!


    ~


    The Wilkesa Empire rushed to bringrge quantities of precious metals back home, their treasuries already filled with the precious metals from severals. Knowing that the other countries were staring at these precious metals, their eyes red, they certainly needed to give the other countries some benefits. Not only to avoid some unnecessary trouble, but also to have more time to bring more precious metals back home.


    Since they now had money, they of course started to spend it inrge amounts. They bought goods in bulk from every country, from weapons, rare ore, food, to all kinds of other materials, including things to eat, wear, and many others. And they didn''t bargain at all, making the other countries that had also earned a fortune very satisfied.


    And they also took out a significant amount of precious metals for the Federation disaster relief fund, which any country in the Federation who suffered a disaster could apply for.


    The status of the Wilkesa Empire in the Federation was instantly elevated a lot. The number of countries who wanted to curry favor with them and receive benefits in the name of disaster relief only increased, so the Foreign Affairs office was very busy at this time. Those countries who had not yet joined the Federation could only stare enviously and drool, but would not receive any benefits.


    After John found out these matters, he almost fell ill from anger. He had a splitting headache the entire day, unable to bring up any energy. Everything that Wilkesa had done was all what he had originally wanted to do. He had intended to raise the Fetani Empire''s prestige in the Federation first, and then raise his own prestige. And slowly start to n out how to create a new federation headed by Fetani, or in other words, by him.


    But now these hopes had fallen empty. Not only did he not receive any benefits, but he also had to face domestic criticism. Those were fine and survivable. But previously he had thought that those precious metals would definitely belong to them, because no other country had technology as strong as theirs. Even the other countries had also thought the same, so he had bought many things from the other countries and had not paid yet. He had originally nned to pay them back after they sessfully finished mining, but now messages asking for payment came one by one, and they had no way of paying such arge sum of money at once.


    It''s not because the Fetani Empire''s treasury didn''t have that much money, but if they paid it all off at once, their finances were be very tight. And if any crisis appeared that needed money, they wouldn''t be able to cope with it.


    Those countries that needed to be paid were still quite fearful of the Fetani Empire''s mechas and machinery that was at the forefront of the universe, so they didn''t dare to push them too hard. They didn''t raise a fuss, agreeing to their request to defer the payment.


    ~


    "Your legs are recovering well. I had thought that with your physical condition, it would have been almost impossible for you to fully recover. But I didn''t think that your physique was very special and the bone recovery was quite fast. As things stand, you can start trying to walk in a few months at thetest." The doctor looked at Jing Yang''s medical report.


    "Thank you doctor. Thanks to you all, or else I wouldn''t have been able to recover so soon." Jing Yang was concerned that getting better too fast would cause suspicion, so he had controlled the effectiveness of the system. Otherwise, he would have been able to walk now.


    "Even though your state is good now, you still need pay attention to rest and recovery. You must not get injured again, especially before or after operations. Otherwise, it¡¯s very possible that you will never be able to recover." The doctor warned.


    "Yes, I understand. I will definitely pay attention." Jing Yang said.


    "How many more operations do you need to perform?" Denanfry, who had always been standing behind Jing Yang, asked.


    "Most likely around three or four more, depending on how his state ister." The doctor responded.


    "Whether it''s the medicine during the surgery, or the medicine during his recuperation, you must use the best. There must not be any mistakes during this period, and you must make sure that he will be able to stand up sessfullyter." Denanfrymanded.


    "Yes General, we will definitely do our best." The doctor said seriously.


    Denanfry sent Jing Yang back to his room.


    Jing Yang saw that he had no intention of leaving and said to him, "You can go do your work, I will rest for a while by myself.¡±


    Denanfry didn''t speak, holding up Jing Yang and walking to the bedroom. The wheelchair followed behind them automatically.


    Jing Yang''s body was attached to Denanfry¡¯s chest, and Jing Yang could even feel Denanfry¡¯s heart beating. Recently this person kept on making some intimate moves toward him, but his control was very good. The level of intimacy was as if the two were just two good friends who had known each other for a very long time and had a very close rtionship.


    Jing Yang knew that the possibility that he was his lover was very high. For his intimate actions, he neither prevented nor responded, waiting to see when he would break this bnce.


    Denanfry carefully ced Jing Yang on the bed, helping him pull up the covers. He sat down at the bedside and said, "Why don''t I send you back to the capital star. There you can receive better treatment, and for the other things, we can wait until your legs are better and then discuss. You can rest assured that I will help you remember your hatred and will definitelyplete it for you.¡±


    "Back to the capital star?" Jing Yang smiled. "For me, the Wilkesa Empire''s capital star can''t use the word ''back''. I have never been to the Wilkesa capital star, and don''t even have a single person I know there. If I go I would have to get used to a new environment again, and it would be very difficult for my emotions to improve, which would not be good for my physical recovery. So I feel like it would be better for me to stay here, recovering while busying myself. Then I wouldn''t have time to think of those unhappy things.¡±


    Denanfry looked at him. "Sooner orter you will have to go.¡±


    "Then we can talk about itter." Jing Yang looked up at him. "Or are you saying that you can always apany me while I''m being treated at the capital star?¡±


    Denanfry met Jing Yang''s gaze. His heart was as if it was hit by a wave of emotion. He had never experienced this kind of feeling before, but he also felt like it was very familiar. He suddenly was somewhat d that Jing Yang had not agreed to first go back to the capital star for treatment, because he wouldn''t be able to apany him back to the star right now. If he couldn''t see this person for a long time, he didn''t know how much he would miss him.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>helpless</strong> ¨C Ѫ±¾ÎÞ¹é, idiom, means to lose everything you invested


    [2] <strong>overcautious</strong> ¨C Õ°Ç°¹Ëºó, meaning to look forward and back, consider prudently<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over an hour: 10:15 am ¨C 11:30 am, for 4.3k characters to 2.7k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 101

    <strong>Chapter 101</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.6)</strong>


    Jing Yang was working in his studio to create an even stronger mecha. Avery and John were just relying on the fact that their mechas were stronger than those of other countries to act unscrupulously in certain situations. Now the Wilkesa Empire had Jing Yang, so they would be at odds with Fetani sooner orter. Jing Yang wanted to use the mecha he created to crush the mecha Avery made. He would give him a heavy psychological blow, while also getting revenge on John.


    Jing Yang sat in his wheelchair, watching as the metal that he wanted to use to make the armor casing of the mecha was being tested for impact and explosion resistance.


    Denanfry walked in the door, stood beside him, and watched the experiment together with him.


    "Does the general know how much of a gap there exists between your current mecha and John''s mecha?" Jing Yang asked, eyes still facing forward.


    "I exchanged moves with him a few years ago. At that time his mecha was clearly better than mine, but he still lost to me." Denanfry said. "Although afterward I never faced off with him again, ording to the information I''ve received, Fetani''s current strongest mecha¡ªthat is, John''s mecha¡ªhas technology that is at least 300 years ahead of the other countries. I would quite like to fight with him once and see what it feels like to fight against a mecha 300 years ahead of its time.¡±


    "Do you believe that I can create a mecha that''s even stronger than theirs?" Jing Yang turned to look at him.


    "Of course." Denanfry looked him in the eye and earnestly answered. "Since I have already decided to trust you, I will not start doubting you halfway through.¡±


    "Then, when I am finished creating your mecha, you will drive it to help me get my revenge!" Jing Yang said.


    "Good! I promise you!" Denanfry said seriously and solemnly.


    Jing Yang smiled at him, then continued to watch the metal being tested.


    "Now there''s a good opportunity for you to hit Avery and John once. Do you want to try it?" Denanfry said.


    "Oh? What opportunity?" Jing Yang was very interested. He certainly didn''t want to miss an opportunity to strike at Avery and John.


    "Come with me to my office. I''ll tell you the details." Denanfry turned and left the workshop.


    Jing Yang followed him in his wheelchair.


    The two people arrived together at Denanfry''s office. Denanfry hugged Jing Yang to the sofa. He opened the handrail of the wheelchair, took out Jing Yang''s medicine, and then poured a mug of hot water for him. "It''s time for you to take your medicine. First take it.¡±


    Jing Yang took the medicine and then slowly sipped at his hot water.


    Denanfry sat down on the couch opposite of Jing Yang. "Within the territory of the Kingdom of <strong>Billiver</strong>, there is an area called the <strong>Haiyun</strong> star cluster. Do you know about the situation with this star cluster?¡±


    "Of course." Jing Yang put down his teacup. "All of thes in the Haiyun star cluster are covered in oceans, without the least bit ofnd. There aren''t even inds. But the oceans are quite rich in resources, and there arerge amounts of untapped energy reserves in the deep sea. The resources on the country''s others are rtively scarce, so they are entirely relying on the Haiyun star cluster''s resources to support themselves. But these resources from the Haiyun star cluster can only support their citizens'' survival, so their country is rtively poor. Even though the Haiyun star cluster is rich in resources, once they are mined the oceans will be polluted, so the country''s people would obviously not agree. The matter you wanted to tell me wouldn''t be rted to their country wanting to mine these resources, would it?¡±


    "You''re right." Denanfry nodded. "What I am about to say is exactly that. The Kingdom of Billiver holds such a huge energy treasure trove yet still remains a rtively poor and backwards country, they are naturally unwilling. But precisely because their technology is outdated, they would definitely suffer inbat, so they were also one of the first countries to join the Federation. With the protection of the federation treaties, in recent years they haven''t experienced much war. They have always wanted to mine the resources in the Haiyun star cluster, but like you just said, once they start mining they would destroy the marine environment, and they don''t even have the technology or equipment needed to mine. So they want to request the help of the other countries to help them extract this energy without polluting the marine environment.¡±


    "They''re requesting help from other countries to help them mine for free?" Jing Yang raised an eyebrow.


    "Of course no country would help them mine for free. They will offer a very high reward. If the energy can be mined without polluting the environment, the energy mined would be split 6 to 4, where they would receive 6 and the country mining it would receive 4. If during the mining process there is pollution, depending on the severity of the contamination, it would be split 8 to 2 or 9 to 1.¡±


    "That is indeed a big deal." Jing Yang sighed.


    "There are a lot of countries who want to help them mine, because even if you just get 10% of the energy, that''s still a very considerable amount." Denanfry asked Jing Yang. "So, would you be able to create mining equipment that wouldn''t pollute the marine environment?¡±


    Jing Yang didn''t answer him immediately. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa, using the system to search to see if there were designs for any equipment that could extract energy resources from the sea while not polluting the surroundings. The system suddenly showed many different kinds of equipment. Jing Yang looked through them for ones that would match the Haiyun star cluster''s situation, and found that there were still a dozen or so that were appropriate. But he still needed to know more about the specific situation to decide which kind to use.


    Jing Yang opened his eyes. "Give me some information and data from their deep sea explorations. I''ll study it and then I can tell you whether or not I can make it.¡±


    "The information is here. The Kingdom of Billiver sent a copy to every country that wanted to fight for the mining rights." Denanfry got up and walked to his desk to pick up hisptop, then returned to the sofa to hand theptop to Jing Yang.


    Jing Yang took theptop and flipped through the data.


    "The Kingdom of Billiver will definitely leave some things out, so this information is most likely iplete." Denanfry said.


    After ncing through the data, Jing Yang smiled. "The data is indeed iplete. Their exploration equipment was already not that good, and then in their data files they also took some out. Their new king is not only very decisive but also very cautious.¡±


    "I''ll find a way to get a more detailed copy." Denanfry said.


    "No need." Jing Yang said. "Before receiving the mining rights, it would be very difficult for any country to get theplete data. And even if we were able to get theplete exploration data from the Kingdom of Billiver, it would still be worse than us personally going to explore it ourselves. This data is enough. I will go try to create a design that doesn''t pollute the seas, and then we can try to mine it. In the worst case, even if we pollute the ocean, aren''t we still able to mine?¡±


    "The Kingdom of Billiver will formally decide on the Federal Star which country would be able to mine. Before then, every country can submit a mining n and cooperation contract." Denanfry looked at Jing Yang. "Now there are already teams from many countries heading toward the Federal Star, so I wanted to ask if you are willing to lead a team over, or if you want to just stay behind the scenes to provide programs andplete the equipment?¡±


    Jing Yang thought a bit and asked, "Avery will also be going, right?¡±


    "He will definitely go." Denanfry said. "For Fetani, the right to mine is something that they must seize. As far as I know, the team led by Avery has already set out toward the Federal Star. They have had experience mining energy resources in the ocean before, and their equipment is truly more advanced than the other countries'', so this time they want to go negotiate directly and take down the mining rights.¡±


    "Then I will also go." Jing Yang decided. "I will let Avery personally see who he was defeated by. I am quite interested in seeing what kind of expression he will show after he sees me.¡±


    "Then I will let people make the preparations. We will set off in a few days, and I will apany you over." Denanfry said.


    "You can go with me?" Jing Yang looked up at him.


    Denanfry exined, "En. The troops that will rece me here on the Jinming star cluster have already set off. I was originally nning to go to the Federal Star for a while, and now I am just pushing it forward a few days. Plus this time teams from many different countries will be escorted by their armies, including during the mining process. And I have always been responsible for you, soter I will keep an eye on you and protect you.¡±


    "Then I will be troubling the general." Jing Yang looked at him with a vague smile.


    Denanfry said with a serious expression. "This is my duty.¡±


    ~


    Even though the Wilkesa Empire also had mining equipment for extracting energy from the ocean, they wouldn''t be able to mine without any pollution of the oceans. Jing Yang very quickly drew up a detailed equipment manufacturing design. He handed it over to the mechanical team of the First Legion toplete, and he would just be in charge of supervision and guidance.


    The equipment was still under construction, but soon Jing Yang, as the team''s chief mechanic, set off for the Federal Star.


    All of the countries that arrived at the Federal Star began to negotiate mining with the representatives from the Kingdom of Billiver. They described their own strengths and abilities.


    After an entire round of negotiations, only the Wilkesa Empire and the Fetani Empire''s mining ns said that they could mine without any pollution of the marine environment.


    So the representative from the Kingdom of Billiver decided to bring together the teams from both sides. The three sides would have a meeting together, and whichever country gave a highermitment would receive the mining rights.


    "Brother, did you investigate the identity of the chief mechanic of the Wilkesa Empire? I let some people go check, but they actually couldn''t even get a single bit of information about him. What kind of person is he, making everything so mysterious." Before meeting with the representatives from the Kingdom of Billiver, Avery asked John.


    "I let people go investigate. From the information I got from the Billiver representative, I only know that the chief mechanic is the same person as the maker of the Jinming star cluster''s mining equipment. I don''t have any other information." John stood up and sorted out his uniform. He walked out. "Let''s go.¡±


    "The same person?!" Avery snorted coldly. "Then I really want to see him. I want to see what kind of person he is, to be hidden so deeply by Wilkesa, not leaking the least bit of information.¡±


    A group of people stood outside, and seeing the two mene out, they followed behind the two to walk out to the lobby.


    One of the people in the crowd was Tony, who, as the deputy finance minister, should not have appeared in this kind of team. But after he got into a fight with Avery because he came homete, Avery directly went to ask John to cut off his position. In addition, wherever he went, Avery would always bring Tony along, which made it more convenient for him to keep an eye on Tony.


    Tony was furious but didn''t dare to voice it. No matter how angry or unwilling he was, he couldn''t resist at all because he had to protect his father''s job. Right now he was living without any freedom, and without even any dignity. He didn''t feel the least bit of love for Avery anymore, and besides his disgust toward him, his strongest emotion was regret.


    After getting on the car, John patted Avery''s hand. "Rx, no matter what kind of person he is, we will definitely be able to get the mining rights this time. Not only do we have an abundance of experience in marine energy mining, the new equipment that you have already transformed is not something that any other country''s equipment can bepared to. It''s impossible for even Wilkesa to have stronger marine mining equipment than us. And the Wilkesa Empire would never be able to give them a highermitment than us.¡±


    "I heard that this General Denanfry Kinlock will also appear. I am quite interested in seeing this person who even big brother would want to avoid offending." Avery looked out the window.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Billiver</strong> ¨C ±ÈÀû¸¥, pinyin bi li fu


    [2] <strong>Haiyun</strong> ¨C º£ÔË, much like the Jinming star cluster, this one is named after the resources on the. trantes to marine, but I''m just putting the pinyin to be consistent with the Jinming one<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About 1 hour: 1:30 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 102

    <strong>Chapter 102</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.7)</strong>


    The teams from the two countries walked over to the entrance of the Kingdom of Billiver¡¯s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from opposite sides of the long hallway. When they reached the entrance at the same time, everyone stopped moving, looking over at the men on the other side.


    "General Kinlock, long time no see." John extended his right hand toward Denanfry.


    Denanfry shook hands with him for a moment and then said, "I had thought that the next time I saw General Dottley again would have been on the battlefield.¡±


    John showed a <strong>fake smile</strong>. "Now we all belong to the United Federation, so even if we have some sort of conflict we would resolve it through Federation treaties. There shouldn''t be much chance to see each other again on the battlefield.¡±


    "I heard that your country''s mecha technology is far ahead of that of other countries. I would actually quite like to experience the feeling of fighting against the strongest mecha." Denanfry expressionlessly said.


    "I am also quite regretful that over the past few years I have never had the chance to fight against General Kinlock." John said. "Oh, that''s right, I must congratte you on your country''s sess in mining the precious metals of the Jinming star cluster. But this time, we won''t give way.¡±


    "I actually think that the chance wille very soon. Being able to mine the precious metals of the Jinming star cluster was because of our mechanic being stronger. This time, whoever can seize the right to mine the Haiyang energy resources will depend on who is more capable.¡±


    While Denanfry and John were having their verbal confrontation, Avery was secretly looking at Denanfry. This was his first time seeing this legendarily strong general.


    Avery''s first impression upon seeing Denanfry was that this man''s momentum was truly extremely strong. Then he felt that not only was he tall and strong, but also indescribably handsome.


    Avery looked at Denanfry and thought, this man should be the most handsome general he has seen in his life. If he had met this person before meeting Tony, he must have been attracted to Denanfry. It''s just that you could tell at a nce that this man would be difficult to control. He definitely wouldn''t be as easy to manage as Tony. Even though he felt moved, he was very clear that you could only look at this kind of man from afar. If you wanted to conquer him, you would definitely be <strong>beaten ck and blue</strong>.


    John swept a nce over the people behind Denanfry. "I don''t know which one is the designer of the mining equipment that wasst used in the Jinming star cluster? I have been curious about this for a long time¡­¡±


    Denanfry didn''t wait for him to finish speaking, stepping to the side along with the deputy next to him, and then taking half a step back. Jing Yang, who had always been blocked behind them, was now sitting in a wheelchair, looking toward John and the rest.


    John and Avery first froze, and then their eyes widened in disbelief.


    "Skien?!" Avery yelled, his face full of shock. "You are Skien?! You''re actually still alive? How is that possible?!¡±


    Jing Yang didn''t speak, just looking at them with a strange smile. His look made even John feel panicked.


    "This is the chief mechanic of our First Fleet. Last time, the mining equipment for the Jinming star cluster was designed by him, and this time, the Haiyang mining equipment will also be designed and supervised by him." Denanfry introduced.


    John, who just came back to his senses from his shock, carefully looked at Jing Yang and asked, "You are Skien?"


    "It''s me." Jing Yang looked back at him very calmly. "I really didn''t think that I would see you again, General John. You should have also never thought that you would see me again ba?¡±


    "Let''s go, we should go in." Denanfry nced at his guards. The guards immediately surrounded Jing Yang and walked inside. The men behind them followed.


    Looking at the backs of the group, Avery inexplicably felt a little nervous. He pulled at John''s clothes and asked, "Brother, what do we do now?¡±


    "Don''t panic!" John whispered. "It''s not a big deal that Skien Kossa didn''t die. Since he''s the so-called chief mechanic of the First Fleet of Wilkesa, that means we will definitely win this time. As for the other matters, we can discuss it slowly when we go back.¡±


    Avery heard John''s words and immediately calmed down. Just now when he saw the already dead Skien, he had been too shocked and then panicked. Now that he calmed down he remembered, even if Skien was alive, what could he do? An orphan without a father, mother, or any sort of backing, he could casually kill him. Even though he didn''t know how he managed to get into a rtionship with Wilkesa''s men, this was not a big problem for them. There were countless ways to deal with him.


    Avery fully regained his usual self-confidence and walked into the meeting hall with John.


    Both sides brought their respective teams to the conference hall, while the other members of the entourage waited outside. Tony, as an ordinary member of the entourage, was also only able to wait outside the conference hall.


    Tony stared fixedly at the tightly closed double doors. Until now, he still wasn''t able to return to his senses from his shock. He had thought that Skien must have already died. Avery had personally told him that Skien''s entire family had been extinguished, and often threatened him by saying that if he didn''t listen to him, he would make it so that his family would end up just like Skien''s family. But just now, that man in the wheelchair was clearly Skien, and he had also heard him personally admit that he was Skien.


    Skien was still alive! Still alive! Tony held his chest, pressing down on his rapidly beating heart. He was too excited, just thinking that he could see Skien again, an alive Skien appearing right in front of him.


    ~


    In the middle of the conference hall was arge triangr conference table, with representatives from the three sides on each side of the table. After the representatives from the Kingdom of Billiver exchanged nces, the representative sitting in the middle opened, "We have already studied the proposals from both countries, but because the content in the proposals was very simr, it was very difficult for us to make a decision between the two countries. Thus, we invited both of you over and wanted to see whether the two countries would be able toe up with an even better mining solution.¡±


    "We, Fetani, have a lot of experience in the exploitation of marine energy. I believe that everyone in the universe would know of this matter, so I won''t repeat all of our previous mining cases here." John nced in disdain at Jing Yang and then continued, "And our chief mechanic Avery''s ability and reputation, I believe that your representative should be very clear about it. At the same time, I would like to remind you that before deciding which party to choose for mining, it is best to find out clearly each mechanic''s ability. Don''t be deceived by some prettily packaged <strong>nobody</strong>, or else you would be aughingstock.¡±


    After receiving a signal from Denanfry, his deputy Dyles opened his mouth. "Our chief mechanic took only one month of time to produce the mining equipment for the precious metals of the Jinming star cluster, and even designed buildings that could withstand the windstorms. Our Wilkesa Empire has the most say about his abilities. After all, we are the greatest beneficiaries, and within the Federation, those benefited from this was also quite a few. Fetani''s mechanic Avery is quite famous, but that is only in terms of mechas. As for the ability to design mining equipment, I believe that the representatives should have a clear distinction in your hearts.¡±


    Once he heard about the Jinming star cluster''s precious metals being mined by the Wilkesa Empire, John was furious, but when he heard Dyles say that Jing Yang only used one month of time to create the mining equipment, he scoffed. "One month of time? That''s simply a fantasy. This mechanic Skien who you are talking about, I am even clearer than you about what kind of identity and how much ability he has. So I advise you not topliment him too much, because in the ears of insiders, it''s really tooughable.¡±


    "Show the new proposal and contract to the representatives." Denanfry said to Dyles.


    Dyles handed the new proposal and contract to the Billiver representative and those representatives all looked it over one by one.


    The representative sitting in the middle asked after reading, "Your country can really guarantee that there will be no pollution of the Haiyang environment, and if there must be some pollution, you would give uspensation?¡±


    This representative was deliberately saying this to let John''s team hear it. Their purpose in inviting both teams at the same time was in the hope that they wouldn''t give way to each other and would keep on offering higher conditions.


    "Once the contract is signed, we will definitely follow what we agreed on in the contract." Dyles said.


    After ring at Jing Yang for half a day, Avery heard the words of the representative of Billiver and immediately touched John next to him, signaling to him with his eyes to hurry up and speak.


    John gave him a reassuring look and then said to the Billiver delegates, "We didn''t bring a new proposal or contract this time because we have absolute confidence that we can do better than the other side. So the contract is left up to you. Either just like theirs, or even a bit higher than theirs is also possible.¡±


    "The delegates should consider carefully." Dyles said. "We promised topensate you if the oceans are polluted, and we can absolutely achieve it. As for whether the other side can do the same, as long as you think of the fact that recently countries in the Federation haven''t been able to collect their overdue bnces, I believe that each representative should be very clear about how to judge it.¡±


    After hearing this, the representatives from Billiver looked at each other and revealed hesitant expressions on their faces. It was true that Fetani now owed a significant amount of money to other countries, and when they became strong in the past several years they would often look down on other smaller countries. But the Wilkesa Empire was different. Not only had they always been friendly to some of the small, rtively backward countries, but now they were extremely wealthy, and had never reneged on a deal.


    "Then we can use mechas as a mortgage." Avery suddenly opened.


    "Avery!" John wanted to stop him.


    But Avery didn''t stop, continuing to say, "Since their strength is apparently precious metals, our strength is stronger mechas. Then we can bring out our strengths, and you can choose.¡±


    Avery looked at the delegates'' moved expressions with satisfaction.


    Then a hand pulled at Denanfry. Denanfry bent down and Jing Yang whispered a few words into his ear.


    Denanfry then said to those delegates from Billiver, "Then how about this. We can both sign a contract to mine one right now to test out the mining technology. Thenter you can decide yourselves which side to give the rest of thes to.¡±


    After a hushed discussion, Billiver''s delegates felt that Denanfry''s proposal was very feasible, so the representative sitting in the middle said, "General Kinlock''s proposal is very good. No matter how well you speak, we would still have to witness the actual mining situation to be assured. In order to avoid taking greater risks, we have decided to go with General Kinlock''s proposal. We will rewrite the contracts and send someone to sign them with youter. It''s been hard on everyone toe over on this trip.¡±


    Everyone stood up. After Billiver''s representatives shook hands with Denanfry and John, the men on both sides began to walk out.


    Tony saw the double doors open and all the people insidee out. He searched for that familiar face within the crowd, and after he saw Jing Yang, he immediately rushed over in agitation.


    "Skien! Skien!" Tony shouted Skien''s name. When he was just about to push into the crowd and reach Jing Yang, he was blocked by Denanfry''s guards.


    Denanfry blocked in front of Jing Yang, his gaze deeply looking at the excited Tony.


    "Skien! I know it''s you, it''s really too great that you''re still alive! Skien, are you still mad at me, I''m sorry, I wasn''t able to protect you! Skien, let me see you, Skien¡­" Tony hadpletely lost his mind. He forgot where this ce was, forgot that Avery and John were watching him from the side, forgot what consequences would result from his actions, just struggling desperately to break free from the guards controlling him.


    Everyone looked at this Tony who seemed like he had gone crazy. Avery and John''s expressions were extremely ugly. Tony''s behavior was undoubtedly pping them in the face.


    "Drag him away!" John ordered the guards in a low voice. He didn''t want to see him continue to be a disgrace here.


    John''s guards quickly stepped forward and rapidly dragged him away.


    "Skien! Skien! The person I love has always been you, you also still love me, right? Skien! ¡­¡±


    Avery was shaking from fury. He didn''t think that Tony actually had the courage to do something like this, and even did it in front of so many people. He viciously red at Jing Yang, barely controlling himself from rushing up to destroy his face and see if Tony would still say that he loved him.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>fake smile</strong> ¨C ƤЦÈⲻЦ, idiom, means to smile insincerely


    [2] <strong>beaten ck and blue</strong> ¨C ±éÌåÁÛÉË, means covered all over with cuts and bruises, basically utterly fail


    [3] <strong>nobody</strong> ¨C ÎÞÃûС±², idiom, means an insignificant soldier<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About one hour: 3 pm ¨C 4 pm, for 4k characters to 2.3k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 103

    <strong>Chapter 103</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.8)</strong>


    Avery rushed into the room, grabbing anything he could reach and throwing it at Tony. "You actually said that you still love him! You actually dare to say something like that right in front of my face! Are you crazy?! Are you insane?!¡±


    "I am crazy! I was forced insane by you!" Tony yelled. "Right now am I even living like a human being?! I can''t even beenpared to a dog! I''ve already had enough! Either you let me go, or you all kill me!¡±


    "Let you go?" Avery''s face had gone purple from rage, his facial muscles contorting hideously. "Erase that thought! What did you say to me at the beginning?! You said that you would love me for a lifetime! You would stay with me for a lifetime! And now you regret it? I''m telling you, it''s toote!¡±


    "I did say that in the beginning, because I didn''t know your true self! If I knew that I would live like this, I simply would not have saved you, I should have just let you die!" Tony''s anger had been umted bit by bit, and now he finally couldn''t suppress it any longer. It exploded, and his brain was still in an overheated state,pletely disregarding the consequences. He had also suppressed it too long, and the strain on his spirit had reached a breaking point. Seeing Jing Yang had only elerated the explosion, creating the opportunity to vent the dissatisfaction in his heart.


    "You¡­" Avery was speechless from anger. Tony''s words all jabbed straight into his heart, leaving him in endless pain. He had given Tony his full sincerity, so he wanted to guard around him at all times. He fell in love with Tony after he was saved by him, and had always wanted to seize him and his heart. He thought that he had seeded, but he never thought that Tony would actually say something like this.


    "Enough, don''t argue." John came in with a steely expression. "Tony, what you did and said today to Avery was too much. Even if you don''t consider your own consequences, you still have to think about the consequences for your father and the family.¡±


    "Threatening me again." Tony smiled coldly. "You two truly are brothers. As long as I make you dissatisfied, you would use my family to threaten me. I am a person, not a dog you brothers are raising! My dignity has already been repeatedly trampled to the ground by you two, and I don''t even have personal freedom anymore. What else do you want me to do? I have already almost gone insane from you, all because I saved Avery, I have to endure something that I never should have had to endure? Now I really regret to death that if I had known earlier, I would have gone to add a bullet at the beginning, and not save him!¡±


    Avery covered his chest, his tears flowing down unstoppably. Tony''s words were like knives stabbing at his heart over and over, leaving him in so much pain it was hard for him to even breathe.


    John saw Tony''s appearance of throwing caution to the wind and knew that right now his mood was out of control. It would be no use talking to him now.


    "Calm down by yourself for a couple days. Two dayster, I will let your father contact you." John helped Avery out.


    Tony stared at the disappearing backs of the two men, unable to control the mania in his heart. He started destroying everything in his room to vent the fury in his heart.


    Avery leaned back on the sofa, holding his forehead in his hands with a very spiritless appearance.


    John poured him a ss of water. "You also have gone overboard. I won''t mention you scolding and hitting him all the time, but he was onlyte for an hour and you made me think of ways to take away his job and make him always stay by your side. Any human being wouldn''t be able to endure.¡±


    "How much emotion and feelings have I paid for him, of course he should also pay me back that much! What''s wrong with always staying by my side? If he loved me enough, he wouldn''t think that was a problem." Avery heavily put down the cup, saying furiously, "And how was he able to endure before, but once he saw Skien he couldn''t endure anymore?! That means that he still loves Skien more than me!¡±


    "Feelings are very hard to control. How you previously got him to fall in love with you is how you need to let him maintain his love for you. You have already consumed all of his love for you, so his heart naturally leans toward Skien.¡±


    "I don''t care!" Avery said hatefully. "Send people right now to take care of Skien. As long as this person no longer exists in this world, I would naturally be able to resolve the problems between me and Tony.¡±


    "I have already sent people to investigate how he got into a rtionship with Wilkesa''s people. I also ordered them to move as soon as they see an opportunity. This time, I will definitely not let him get away again." John said.


    "I didn''t expect that those people of Wilkesa would be so protective of him and trust him so much." Avery clenched his teeth in anger. "They want topete with me with just him, I actually want to see how much ability he has. We need to hurry up and sign a mining contract with the Billiver people. This time we absolutely must let the people of Wilkesa <strong>regret</strong>.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of the mining contract, you were too reckless. We can actually still give other benefits, and unless as ast resort, there was no need to use mechas as a chip." John had tried to stop Avery earlier but failed to seed. This energy extraction was too important to them. He had to rely on this energy mining to cover for his losses fromst time, and also needed to rely on it to boost his approval ratings back up. Even if they failed, their losses wouldn''t be great, but if they used mechas as a stake, the cost was too great.


    "Only when using the mechas as a bargaining chip would they immediately sign a contract with us. If it were someone else I might need to consider it more deeply, but with Skien Kossa as my opponent, I don''t take it seriously at all." Avery very confidently said. "Big brother, you can rest assured. This newly transformed equipment has already been sessful in the field experiments. Even if we fail, it''s impossible for them to seed. In case we need to put the mechas up as coteral, we can also find excuses to postpone it, or give them worse quality goods. In short, we will not let them take advantage of us.¡±


    "Right now we can only do this. You should first put the problems between you and Tony to the side and focus on the mining matter. I''ll try to steady him first and everything else can be worked out after we get back to the capital star.¡±


    "I know." Avery said.


    ~


    After Jing Yang was picked up from his wheelchair by Denanfry, Denanfry had been just standing for five minutes, with no intention of putting him down.


    Jing Yang looked down at the sofa and turned to say to Denanfry, "Do you have something to say to me? Why don''t you put me down first, and we can talk slowly.¡±


    "I have a very serious question for you, and I hope that you can answer me seriously." Denanfry, who had been imitating a motionless statue the entire time, finally showed a reaction.


    "I will definitely answer your question seriously." Jing Yang nodded hard. "Then can you please put me down first? Having a discussion in this kind of position seems a little inappropriate.¡±


    "I feel like this kind of discussion posture is also not bad." Denanfry looked at Jing Yang''s face.


    "Then, could you be thinking that if my response makes you dissatisfied, you would just throw me on the ground?" Jing Yang looked at him innocently. "Why else must you use this kind of position? Even if you don''t feel tired, I''m already almost bing cross-eyed.¡±


    "I would never do anything to hurt you." Denanfry said very solemnly.


    "I know, I know." Jing Yang hurriedly said. "I was just joking, I know that you would never really drop me.¡±


    Denanfry didn''t put Jing Yang on the sofa, but carried him into the room, putting him on the bed.


    Jing Yang''s back was firmly attached to the head of the bed, because Denanfry''s arms were supported against the wall, trapping him between his arms.


    "I ask you¡­" Denanfry looked at Jing Yang seriously.


    Jing Yang nodded with a very obedient expression.


    "Your ex-fiance says that he still loves you. What about you? Do you still have feelings for him?¡±


    "Well¡­" Jing Yang looked around, thinking about how to answer his question. Not to mention how he had no so-called affection for Tony in the first ce, but even Skien himself only had hatred for him. But what made him hesitate was whether he should show his disdain for Tony ording to his own emotions, or whether he should show intense hatred following Skien''s emotions.


    "Answer me!" Denanfry pinched his chin, forcing Jing Yang to meet his gaze.


    "Is this question very important to you?" Jing Yang asked him back.


    "Yes, very important!" Denanfry affirmed.


    "Why?" Jing Yang looked into his eyes and asked. "Why would it be important to you whether or not I have feelings for him?¡±


    Denanfry said, "Because I am in love with you. I hope that you canpletely abandon your previous feelings and begin a new rtionship with me.¡±


    Jing Yang met his gaze for a long time and finally said, "If your kiss can move me, I will promise to be with you.¡±


    Denanfry kissed him without hesitation. At the moment he kissed him, Jing Yang''s soul seemed to rush out of his body and be sucked away by him.


    This kisssted a very long time, and Jing Yang felt like his tongue had turned sore and his lips numb. But Denanfry not only did not want to stop, but even pressed him down on the bed. His hands reached into his clothes, stroking his skin.


    Jing Yangy on the bed, not resisting or rejecting him. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to resist, but because as long as this person kissed him, his body would turn soft and powerless. He could only let him do whatever he wanted.


    Jing Yang''s clothes had already been removed, and Denanfry started kissing down his neck¡­


    ~


    Jing Yangy on Denanfry''s chest and was still somewhat in a daze. Even though Denanfry was careful with his legs and didn''t do it too violently, he had still called out until his voice had gone hoarse from Denanfry''s fiddling.


    Denanfry had originally not considered immediately possessing him. He had wanted to pursue him first and cultivate feelings properly with him. And after confirming his heart waspletely full of himself, this kind of thing would naturally happen when their love became more and more intimate. But after one kiss, hepletely couldn''t stop. If Skien had resisted, he probably could have stopped, but his appearance of lying softly in his arms had almost sucked his soul away. He simply couldn''t stop himself.


    Denanfry caressed Jing Yang''s face. He looked down at his still slightly flushed face, his heart full of iparable softness and love.


    "I will be responsible for you." Denanfry said very seriously.


    Jing Yang couldn''t help butugh at this old-fashioned saying. "Don''t you want to know if I have any feelings for Tony?¡±


    "Earlier I really wanted to know, but it doesn''t matter now." Denanfry said. "Whether or not you have feelings for him, from now on, I will invade your heart and make your heart belong to me alone. That kind of unimportant character is not worthy of your feelings. I will make himpletely disappear from your heart.¡±


    Jing Yang looked at him. "When I was being chased down, my feelings for Tony were the same as for John and Avery, full of hatred and anger. But now, I just have a lot of disdain for Tony. Even though I do still hate him, it''s not that kind of hate born from love, but just from hostility.¡±


    "I understand. From now on, your hatred is mine. I am not helping you revenge, but helping myself revenge." Denanfry said.


    "Thank you.¡±


    "You are not allowed to ever say thank you again, or else I will punish you." Denanfry kissed him again, lightly biting him on the lips in punishment.


    "En~" Jing Yang held his shoulders and hummed, closing his eyes to enjoy the warmth of this moment.


    No matter what world, meeting this person would always be the turning point of his destiny, and loving him would be the beginning of his happiness.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>regret</strong> ¨C »Ú²»µ±³õ, idiom, means to regret their past deeds, not sure if this is just in general, specifically about the jinming cluster, or for supporting jing yang<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than an hour: 1:45 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 104

    <strong>Chapter 104</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.9</strong><strong>)</strong>


    The Kingdom of Billiver signed mining contracts with both Wilkesa and Fetani. These weren''t official mining contracts for the entire Haiyang star cluster, but rather the equivalent of a trial contract. They would see if that country could do what they promised, and then a new formal mining contract would be signedter.


    Fetani''s mining equipment came ready-made. After they signed the contract, they directly shipped the equipment from the Fetani capital star and set it up to start mining.


    Wilkesa''s mining equipment was still being manufactured. The reason it was so slow was because after signing the contract, Jing Yang first let people go conduct a very detailed investigation of the deep sea circumstances and then made some corresponding changes to the design of the equipment. Only then did they speed up and hasten to manufacture the equipment.


    Fetani''s mining equipment had already arrived at the Haiyang star cluster and was currently being rapidly assembled. It was much harder to construct in the sea than onnd, so it took a little longer. It would take several days to build a seamand center and storage building.


    "Big brother." Avery walked into John''s office on the ship. "The buildings on the sea are all done. We can go down.¡±


    "En." John said. "Today is the first day of mining, so the King <strong>Mudatis</strong> of Billiver wille and watch. Make sure that nothing will go wrong today.¡±


    "Don''t worry, brother. I have spent a lot of thought to transform this equipment. Back on Fetani, we have already been able to sessfully mine with it, and there was no pollution of the marine environment. There won''t be any problems here." Avery said very confidently.


    "It''s been hard on you." John patted Avery on the shoulder. "Let''s go, Mudatis ising. Let''s meet him and then we can go to the seamand center.¡±


    "Brother, what''s going on with Wilkesa?" Avery asked as they walked out. He had been busy monitoring the construction of the mining equipment these days, and hadn''t investigated Wilkesa''s situation.


    "They still haven''t had any movement yet. I hear that their equipment isn''t ready yet." John said.


    "Hu." Avery scoffed coldly. "They haven''t even manufactured the equipment and still dare to fight with us over the mining rights. They really don''t know their own strength. I think they might not even be done with their equipment by the time we finish mining everything.¡±


    "Who let them be rich now?" John sarcastically said. "Even if they can''t mine it out, they can still afford topensate them.¡±


    Whenever they mentioned Wilkesa having a lot of money now, Avery would immediately feel very depressed. Those precious metals should have all belonged to him. If it really was Skien who helped them extract the precious metals, he must think of a way to torture him and vent his anger. Even if he couldn''t torture him he had to kill him.


    "Right, howe the men sent by brother haven''t acted yet?" Avery asked.


    "There hasn''t been any opportunity." John said with his expression dark. "Denanfry protects him so tightly that none of our men can even get close.¡±


    "How on earth did he manage to hook up with Denanfry? And why does Denanfry protect him so carefully? Could it be that he really helped Wilkesa mine the precious metals?" Avery frowned.


    "I haven''t been able to investigate any of this. All of the information I have about them right nowes from Billiver''s side. Denanfry''s side is like a metal safe. His guard is very tight, and no news can be found at all." John saw that Avery''s expression wasn''t very good and heforted him: "We''ll put these things aside for now. Let''s focus on the mining matter and pay them back for what happened. Later we will definitely find a chance to deal with them.¡±


    ~


    The king of Billiver, Mudatis, was a middle-aged man with a big beard. He inherited the throne at his age because it had been inherited from his brother, who had no children, so he became king. Mudatis was a strong man and more far-sighted than his brother, so he resisted pressure from almost the entire country to insist on the extraction of energy from the Haiyang star cluster.


    John and Avery greeted Mudatis. The group of people entered the seamand center, ready to watch the formal extraction of energy from the sea floor.


    John and Mudatis sat in the back at the viewing table. Behind them there were several rows of people standing together, some from John''s side and some from Mudatis''s side.


    Avery sat in themander chair in the middle. After the technicians finished their report, he ordered, "Begin mining!¡±


    "Received, mining equipment has started." The operator reported.


    All the people in themand center were watching the screen carefully. The equipment in contact with the sea floor in the ocean had already started moving. Right now they just had to wait to see if the liquid energy could be mined, and whether during the mining process there would be any leakage of liquid energy to pollute the sea water.


    "The extraction has been sessful, and the liquid energy has entered the storage facility." The operator reported.


    Avery looked at the screen and revealed a proud smile.


    John also looked satisfied. He reached out a hand toward Mudatis, saying, "Hope that we will have a happy cooperation.¡±


    Mudatis didn''t answer him directly, just nodding in satisfaction and shaking his hand.


    Just when they thought everything was going well and the rest could just be left to the technicians and operators, a liquid energy leak suddenly appeared on the screen.


    There was a sudden silence in themand room. The operator knew that the king of Billiver was there and was afraid to report the leak.


    Avery''s heart tightened. He turned to John and motioned for him to bring Mudatis away first. They could cover it up while the leak wasn''t obvious yet and then he could find a way to deal with itter.


    "Your Majesty, let''s go to the lounge first. We can leave this to them to continue mining." John stood up.


    Mudatis''s face had sunk. He ignored John, sitting there motionless and continuing to look at the screen.


    Watching the leak get worse, the operator had to report, "Leak alert, currently testing the cause of the leak.¡±


    Mudatis suddenly stood up and looked at John very unhappily, "You promised that you could mine without polluting the sea water, and that was written very clearly on the contract. It was precisely because you said that you absolutely would not pollute the sea water that I would agree to sign a contract with you. So now do you n topensate us ording to the contract, or something else?¡±


    John''s expression was also very bad. He had been advancing very smoothly these years. Even the Fetani Empire''s emperor would be afraid to go against him, but right now he actually had to be careful around the king of a backward country.


    Avery quickly walked up and said, "It''s normal for these kinds of situations to ur when we first start mining. We all have to go through debugging and processing before we can remove the problem of leaks. Such a little leak will not cause serious pollution of the seawater. Please rest assured that we will soon solve the problem.¡±


    "Our country might be rtively backward in science, technology, and machinery. But as for energy mining, our people also have a lot of understanding. Don''t think about casually deceiving me like this." Mudatis squinted.


    "Fetani has machinery that is far ahead of those of any other country. As for the information leaked, the circumstances that you and any other country understands will definitely not match ours. In short, this leak will be dealt with immediately, and you can just wait to see the results." Avery was very anxious and didn''tpletely have a bottom in his heart, but at this time, he could only try to pretend to be very confident.


    Mudatis looked back and forth between Avery and John. "Then I will give you ten days. If you don''t solve the leak in ten days, you will have to stop mining immediately and paypensation in ordance with the terms of the contract.¡±


    This time, Mudatis had insisted on mining the energy of the Haiyang star cluster while shouldering pressure from most of his people, all in order to revitalize the economy of the Kingdom of Billiver. This time, he had signed a contract with the two most mechanically advanced countries in the universe. Even if they failed, they would receive arge amount ofpensation, butpared topensation, he still hoped to not pollute the ocean, or else he really would not be able to give his people an exnation.


    Avery promised to fix the leak within ten days. If not, they would stop drilling immediately.


    John sent Mudatis away and quickly returned to themand room, asking Avery, "What the hell is going on? When we used the equipment before, wasn''t itpletely without leaks?¡±


    Avery looked through the newly obtained test report and said, "The geology of the seafloor here is very different from what we''ve mined before. Our equipment can mine it, but there''s no way to control the pollution.¡±


    "Why didn''t you know about this before?!" John tried to suppress his anger and keep his mind calm.


    Avery hit the table hard, saying angrily, "The men from the Kingdom of Billiver simply didn''t describe this in the information they gave us. The information given in their files was not much different from general marine geology. This is absolutely their own responsibility!¡±


    "First forget that, quickly find a way to solve the leaks." John said urgently.


    "The equipment needs to be changed, for the transformation plus the test time, ten days is simply not enough. You need to find a way to extend the time." Avery''s forehead was already covered in sweat. If he failed, he felt like he wouldn''t be able to stand it, because this time his opponent was Skien. Even though he felt that the other person''s chances of sess would be small, at this time, he must not lose face.


    John impatiently grabbed at his hair. "You put all your efforts in solving the equipment problem. I will try to drag down Mudatis. You must solve the energy leakage problem!¡±


    Even though Avery was a reborn soul from the future, he was still very different from Jing Yang, who had the system. There were a lot of things where he knew the theory but couldn''t actually implement them in practice.


    Even though Avery worked hard to solve the leak and John had been trying to help him dy the deadline, he still hadn''t seeded in solving the problem. And because he was trying to fix the leak while mining at the same time, the pollution of the water was much worse than just normal mining.


    Mudatis, facing public criticism, finally got angry. Hemanded Fetani to stop mining immediately and paypensation under the terms of the contract, or else he would go the federal courts to appeal against them.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Mudatis</strong> ¨C Ä´ïÌá˹, pinyin mu da ti si<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than one hour: 3 pm ¨C 3:45 pm, for 3.3k characters to 1.9k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 105

    <strong>Chapter 105</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.10)</strong>


    "Do we really have to just leave like this?! Isn''t there a way to get the king of Billiver to give us some more time?" Avery was very unwilling.


    John had just finished listening to the soldiers'' report and said with a dark expression, "Billiver has already sent over their troops. If we don''t withdraw, there will probably be a military conflict. And isn''t there no progress at all on resolving the leak? Even if we get a little bit more time, there wouldn''t be any use.¡±


    "Then are we going back to the capital star now?" Avery was unwilling, but he was still very clear in his heart that what John said was the truth.


    "For the time being we won''t go back to the capital star. We''ll first go to the Federation Star." John said. "After Wilkesa''s side fails, we can renegotiate with the kingdom of Billiver. Even if there''s pollution, they will still n on mining a portion of thes. We haven''tpletely failed yet, and still have a chance to turn the tables.¡±


    "Have they started mining yet?" Avery asked.


    "I heard that the equipment has already been built, and they should start mining in the next two days." John said.


    "They''re definitely not going to seed. We can start preparing for the re-negotiation process now." Avery said with certainty.


    ~


    Jing Yang was in themand center supervising the test for the equipment. Denanfry came in and walked to his side, asking, "How is it? Can we start mining?¡±


    "En, there''s no problems. We can start mining tomorrow." Jing Yang looked at the data.


    "Fetani has failed. They weren''t able to resolve the energy leak, and the Kingdom of Billiver is forcing them to leave." Denanfry said. ¡°They''re already preparing to withdraw.¡±


    "They dyed for so long before they left, that''s already not easy." Jing Yang smiled. "I had thought that they were preparing to hang on until the end and wanted to wait for us to fail as well before continuing to talk with Billiver about mining.¡±


    "I''m afraid that they really think that way. If it weren''t for the Kingdom of Billiver forcing them to leave, they would have done exactly that. But even if they can''t wait here, they will go to the Federation Star to wait. The final goal is still the same.¡±


    "I really want to see their disappointed expressions." Jing Yang said.


    Denanfry looked at Jing Yang. "It''s not early, go rest. You''ve been really busy this entire period of time and haven''t been able to rest properly. Tomorrow is a very crucial day, you should rest well so that you can have energy tomorrow.¡±


    "En." Jing Yang saw that there wasn''t really anything that needed him to supervise here, so he nodded and sat down in the wheelchair, following Denanfry out.


    Denanfry hugged up Jing Yang and put him on the bed, helping him take off his clothes. He helped him lie down properly, and then also took off his own clothes andy down on the bed, hugging Jing Yang in his arms.


    Jing Yang leaned into his bosom, his back tightly attached to his broad and strong chest. This made him feel veryfortable and very safe, and he soon fell asleep.


    Denanfry lowered his head and kissed the top of his head. Holding this person in his arms, he felt like he was holding the entire universe in his arms, his heart filled with endless satisfaction.


    The two people tightly snuggled together. Their bodies depended on each other, their souls intertwined with each other. When two people who love each other are together, this kind of gesture was the most beautiful form of enjoyment. If time could stop in this moment forever, they would be willing.


    ~


    The first day Jing Yang started mining, the king Mudatis of Billiver came to watch as usual. However, with Avery''s failure, this time he didn''t have much hope for being able to mine without any pollution.


    Mudatis had also already prepared to renegotiate the mining contracts, but in his mind, right now he was slightly biased in favor of Wilkesa. Because he had run out of patience in dealing with John and his men, he really didn''t want to interact with them any further. But if Wilkesa''s mining results weren''t as good as Fetani''s, he would still have to continue to keep Fetani in consideration for the sake of the.


    "Activate the mining unit." Jing Yang gave the order to start.


    "Received. Activated, running the countdown. Five, four, three, two, one, activationplete.¡±


    On the screen on the desk in front of Jing Yang were the operating screens of each piece of equipment. He looked at these moving pictures and data, and looked at the big screen in front of him that showed the sea floor. As long as there was the slightest mistake, he would order for adjustment. If it wasn''t possible to adjust, they would stop to solve it. So at this moment, his brain was really in a state of high concentration.


    "Mining sessful. Liquid energy has entered the storage unit, no abnormalities have been found." The operator reported.


    "The left wing is too high. Lower by five degrees, keep level with the right side." Jing Yang ordered.


    "Received." The operator reported. "Loweringplete.¡±


    Until the first storage unit was almost full, there was no energy leak or any other problems.


    "Start slowing down. Rece the second storage unit after five minutes.¡±


    "Received. Slowing down at a constant speed. Recing storage unit after countdown.¡±


    Mudatis looked around. He found that Wilkesa''s men were very different from Fetani''s men. Fetani had been very excited when they had first seeded in mining, but Wilkesa''s men were all unusually calm. He could see that every technician here was 100 percentmitted to his task,pletely not being distracted. But his experience with Fetani told him that this sess was very likely to only be temporary, and that problems could arise at any time.


    What Mudatis didn''t know was that the reason they were all so calm was because Jing Yang had already very solemnly warned them that as long as they hadn''tpletely finished mining, it couldn''t be considered a sess. idents could happen at any time. If they stayed calm and devoted themselves to their task, even though they couldn''tpletely prevent idents, it was the best way to promptly resolve them.


    Denanfry didn''t talk to Mudatis or offer to let him leave themand center. He looked at the screen asionally, and sometimes looked in Jing Yang''s direction. His gaze was a little concerned, not because he was worried that the mining would fail, but because he was concerned that Jing Yang''s body couldn''t bear this high level of concentration, mainly worrying that this would affect his leg injury recovery.


    Mudatis was waiting the entire time for a problem to appear. Because he was afraid that they would hide the real situation, when he came he had especially told the technicians following him to pay attention to every detail and not be confused by them.


    Mudatis sat in themand center the entire day, but not a single energy leak appeared. The technicians behind him were also watching the screen tensely. After a long day, both Mudatis and his entourage were pretty tired.


    Seeing that Denanfry still didn''t have any intention of making them leave, he could only stand up himself and say, "Wilkesa''s mechanical technology really did not disappoint. Today was really a perfect day, and I was able to witness the most advanced mining technology in the universe. I hope that you could allow our technicians to continue to study and visit in the future.¡±


    Denanfry naturally could tell that he wanted to send people to continue to monitor their mining, fearing that they would hide leaks.


    "We wee your men to observe." Denanfry said.


    "Your mechanics and technicians are extremely strong." Mudatis looked in Jing Yang''s direction and said, "After the energy mining is over, I hope to invite General Kinlock, as well as your mechanics, to my pce for a banquet.¡±


    Denanfry responded, "If time permits, we will definitely attend.¡±


    After sending Mudatis away, Denanfry immediately walked to Jing Yang''s side. "Are you tired? Leave this ce to them, I''ll take you back to rest.¡±


    Jing Yang had been in a state of heightened concentration this entire time. He hadn''t felt tired, but once Denanfry asked this, his spirit rxed, and only then did he feel that he was really quite tired.


    Denanfry sent Jing Yang back to his room to rest. He carried him into the bathroom for a simple wash, then put him on the bed. He sat down next to the bed and gently helped him massage his legs.


    "Are your feet sore today?" Denanfry asked softly.


    "I don''t remember if there was any pain. I was too focused and forgot to feel." Jing Yang said with his eyes closed.


    "It''s been hard on you." Denanfry leaned over, holding his face and kissing him gently.


    "Not hard." Jing Yang hugged his neck. "This is what I want to do, so I don''t think it''s hard. Being unable to do what I want would be the real suffering.¡±


    Denanfry''s heart suddenly ached. He tightly hugged Jing Yang. He knew how much hatred Jing Yang had in his heart, and all of the suffering that he had born before made his heart ache uncontrobly. There was nothing he could do to change what had already happened, but no matter what happened in the future, he would never let him suffer in the slightest bit.


    "Don''t worry, my feet are fine. They will heal soon." Jing Yang thought that he was worried about his legs, so he consoled him.


    "Afterward leave all the operation to Morgan and the rest. You just need to supervise them, they can handle it. Don''t tire yourself out or force yourself to soldier on. I will worry and feel heartache." Denanfry upied his lips, sucking lightly and strongly.


    "I know." Jing Yang kissed him back while responding vaguely.


    ~


    Avery and John had been waiting for news the whole time. They had originally thought that Wilkesa would soon leave from the Haiyun star cluster, but all the news they received didn''t have that. Wilkesa still hadn''t left, they hadn''t failed, and were still continuing to mine.


    Until it was revealed that Wilkesa had signed a formal mining contract with Billiver, and all the energy of the Haiyun star cluster would be mined by Wilkesa. They finally knew the reality that this time, they had once again lost very thoroughly.


    "How could this be?! How is this possible?!" Avery beat the table in fury. He simply couldn''t ept the truth. He actually lost to Skien, that Skien who should have already disappeared but suddenly came back to life.


    John sat on the sofa with a darkened expression. Right now, he couldn''t say anything. He just regretted that he had failed topletely eliminate Skien and left behind such a problem that actually became their greatest obstacle. If he had known that this would happen, he would have exhausted all his means and made him die in front of him, not giving him any chance to escape.


    "Ah!!" Avery yelled like he had gone insane. "I''m unwilling! How is it possible for me to lose to that Skien?!¡±


    After Avery smashed things for a while, he was still trembling from anger. He looked up and saw John staying silent and quickly walked over, shaking his shoulder with a malevolent expression, "Big brother! What are you freezing here for?! Quickly get someone to kill him! Kill him!!¡±


    "I''ve already made themand. If they had the chance to act, they would have done it long ago." John said a little powerlessly. "But right now my men don''t even have the chance to get close.¡±


    "I don''t care!" Avery had alreadypletely lost his mind. He kicked the sofa to vent his anger while screaming, "I don''t care what you do! Even if it''s mutual destruction, you have to help me kill him! Right now! Immediately! Kill him now!¡±


    "You calm down! Calm down! Do you hear me!" This was the first time John had yelled at Avery like this. Avery was stunned dumb by his yell and looked at him in a daze.


    After John calmed his breathing, he said to Avery, "I will definitely find a way to deal with him. Even if I can''t kill him for the time being, I will never let him live well!¡±


    There was a vicious light in John''s eyes. He had already hatched a n in his heart. As long as he was given the chance, he would definitely kill Skien. Right now he couldn''t kill him, but he still had many other ways to keep him from enjoying peace and make him unable to keep helping Wilkesa.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than an hour: 3 pm ¨C 3:45 pm, for 3.7k characters to 2.1k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 106

    <strong>Chapter 106</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.11)</strong>


    Because Wilkesa was able to help Billiver mine the deep sea energy resources without polluting the oceans, the pressure on the king of Billiver instantly disappeared, and he received widespread approval from all of the kingdom''s citizens. So Mudatis publicly praised Wilkesa and Jing Yang, and announced that their cooperation this time would be proof of the two countries'' permanent diplomatic rtionship.


    The meaning of Mudatis''s words were very obvious. He wanted to say that as long as he was in power, no matter the circumstances, the Kingdom of Billiver would always stand on Wilkesa''s side.


    The people of the Fetani Empire had already been extremely dissatisfied with John and Avery''s continuous defeats. It would have been fine if they had just not seeded in two mining attempts, but they had even invested so much, didn''t this just make a joke out of the country''s resources?


    John and Avery were already facing intense pressure from the public, and the Kingdom of Billiver was also urging them to quickly pay theirpensation ording to the contract. Their original n to deal with Jing Yang could only be pushed off for the moment. They had to wait until the problems with the Kingdom of Billiver were handled before continuing down that path.


    In any case, they already no longer had any hope of cooperating with Billiver. John and his men decided that they would simply act shamelessly until the end. They said that it was only because the information provided by Billiver was not reflective of reality that the problem of energy leakage would appear, so they believed that the Kingdom of Billiver should bear most of the responsibility.


    Even though the Kingdom of Billiver was rtively less developed, as one of the first nations to join the Federation, they naturally would not be easily cowed. What they said in response was that the worse mechanical development of Billiver was something that all countries knew, and they had provided them everything they knew about the conditions of the seafloor. And they didn''t stipte in the trial contract that Fetani couldn''t recheck the sea conditions themselves, so you''re going to me me for not doing it yourself? Then how did Wilkesa know that they needed to re-explore the seafloor before mining?


    The feud between the two sides continued endlessly, and in the end they went to the Federation Court for a verdict. Fetani''s position and influence in the Federation was much greater than that of Billiver, so in the end most were biased toward Fetani, leaving Billiver to take on two-thirds of the responsibility, and Fetani topensate only one-third of the original contract.


    The king of Billiver was very dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do about a verdict that had already been announced publicly. They would just write down this debt and make Fetani pay for it when they had the chance.


    Even though the verdict was that Fetani won, the public was still very dissatisfied with the oue of the case. But they weren''t unhappy with Billiver. Acting based on the conditions of a contract was expected and correct behavior. They were unhappy with John, and this matter instigated chaos in the Fetani Empire. It was very obvious that it was John who took advantage of his power to bully others, which severely damaged Fetani''s image and tarnished Fetani''s reputation in the Federation. In the future, who would dare to trust them or cooperate with them.


    Facing the growing discontent at home, John and Avery finally took action. They not only wanted to divert the public''s attention, but also wanted to direct the target to Jing Yang, hoping to create an evenrger shock.


    Instead of returning to the Fetani capital star, John opened a live broadcast on the Federation Star for the people of Fetani and the other Federation countries.


    Although they didn''t specify in advance what the broadcast would be about, a lot of countries'' reporters still came on the day of the broadcast. The main reason was because recently things that had to do with Fetani kept happening one after another, not to mention that they still owed many countries payments. These countries were worried about whether they were going to announce that they just weren''t going to pay them back, or were going to exchange for it with something useless.


    John and Avery sat down at a long table before letting the reporters outsidee in. When the reporters entered, they filled up therge space.


    "First, thank you all foring. What we are going to announce today could be said to be a disgrace to Fetani. But in order to expose the true face of certain people, we will do whatever it takes." John''s expression was very serious, but made the reporters fixated.


    John made a gesture to an assistant, who immediately turned on the screen behind him. On the screen appeared Jing Yang''s image.


    "This person is named Skien Kossa, the grandson of Fetani''s previous left prime minister. The previous left prime minister and several of his sons have been convicted of corruption and have been found guilty of his crimes, and several of his former grandchildren disappeared overnight. Even though the former left prime minister and several of his sons were guilty, his grandchildren were not. Because we were worried about their safety, we even especially dispatched men to look for them, but never found them.¡±


    John forcefully said in anger, "We had been worried about their safety, but never thought! That they would actually betray their own country and flee to Wilkesa, and even specifically oppose Fetani! The Wilkesa Empire was able to mine the Jinming star cluster and the Haiyang star cluster, all because of equipment created by Skien Kossa. And Skien Kossa is a man raised and nurtured by the Fetani Empire.¡±


    "Skien Kossa, who began attending the mechanical department of the Imperial Military Academy in Fetani at the age of ten, was provided a lot of special care by the school because of his excellent grades, and made him a focus for training.¡±


    John patted hard on the table and said with sorrow, "The empire invested so much into cultivating him, but he actually used all of it in revenge. His grandfather and unclesmitted a crime, and being punished was a matter of justice. He actually didn''t want to serve the empire and atone for the sins of his grandfather and uncles, but treated the empire as an enemy to deal with! This kind of person who doesn''t know gratitude and has no conscience, General Denanfry Kinlock of the Wilkesa actually protects him, using his hatred to help bring Wilkesa benefits.¡±


    "Here, I would like to offer a piece of advice to General Kinlock. Someone like Skien Kossa who would even betray the country that nurtured him, is simply not loyal to Wilkesa. You think that you got a treasure, so you tightly protect him, but in reality, it''s a poisonous snake. He can bite you in the back at any time, and one day he will deal with you, just like Fetani. Whether for the sake of the diplomatic rtions between Fetani and Wilkesa, or to defend against and condemn the traitor, we request that General Kinlock return Skien Kossa to Fetani and allow us to deal with him properly.¡±


    ~


    Denanfry apanied Jing Yang to watch John''s broadcast together and was disgusted by John''s tant lying and nder. He looked at Jing Yang, a little worried that he would be affected by John''s words and feel ufortable.


    Jing Yang had long expected that they would do something like this. They would discredit his reputation and force him to suffer the condemnation from everyone. They would stir up the moods of the people of Fetani to scold him, make the people of Wilkesa feel that he wasn''t a good man and resent him, and then use the moods of the people of both countries to pressure Denanfry to send him back to Fetani, where they could dispose of him at will. Unfortunate ah, they still miscalcted. Let''s first not mention that Denanfry would absolutely never send him back into their hands, but did they really think that he would not make any sort of counterattack?


    Denanfry saw Jing Yang''s expressionless appearance of thinking about something and simply turned off the screen, hugging him. "Are you in a bad mood?¡±


    "No." Jing Yang said. "These people already can''t affect my mental state anymore. I am just thinking, for people like them, how could I make them suffer the heaviest blow.¡±


    Seeing Jing Yang like this, Denanfry still felt heartache. He kissed him on the forehead and said, "Don''t worry, I will definitely protect you.¡±


    Jing Yang leaned into Denanfry''s arms. Only when he entered this embrace was he most at ease and mostfortable. For John and Avery, if they just killed them it would be too cheap for them. He would rather make things moreplicated and would rather take some more thought and effort, but still wanted to make those two people experience the taste of living being worse than death.


    ~


    After the people of Fetani found out Jing Yang''s identity, as John had expected, they began to violently scold and insult him. They felt that no matter what happened, it was inexcusable for anyone to betray their country. What''s more, the previous left prime minister and his sons had all been rightfully punished for their crime, but Skien Kossa, all of whose abilities had been nurtured by the taxpayers'' money, was actually so ungrateful that he used the knowledge that he learned at the Fetani Imperial Military Academy to help other countries. It was simply unforgivable.


    The moods and reactions from the people of Fetani were particrly intense. They strongly demanded that the Wilkesa Empire send Skien Kossa back to Fetani to be put to trial by the empire.


    After the people of Wilkesa knew about this situation, their reactions weren''t as intense as those of the people of Fetani, but there was still a group of people who felt that someone who would even betray his own country couldn''t be trusted. But there were others who thought that he had already made significant contributions to the Wilkesa Empire and that was enough to prove his determination to support the Wilkesa Empire. Not to mention that with his abilities, if not for him not being able to survive any further in his original country, how could he just go to rely on another country that easily? And such a talented mechanic was worth the risk of keeping.


    After Jing Yang''s identity was revealed, it attracted the attention of all of the countries in the universe. Some countries even moved their minds, thinking that if Wilkesa didn''t continue to keep him, they might be able to find ways to hide him away. After all, in this day and age, the emergence of a talented mechanic was something that couldn''t even be begged for.


    The other countries watched while making ns secretly.


    As long as the people of Fetani remembered that Jing Yang helped Wilkesa get the precious metals from the Jinming star cluster and the mining rights for the Haiyang star cluster, they hated him until their teeth itched. The anger in their hearts was even more difficult to express, so they couldn''t wait to give him punishment.


    The moods of the people of Wilkesa were much moreplex. They were extremely sorry that Jing Yang was not a man of their country, and were even more unclear about whether he should stay or leave. They didn''t want to let him go, but also were worried that him staying would eventually have a bad impact on their country.


    And everyone was waiting for Jing Yang and Denanfry''s response, as well as the final oue of this situation.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 7:30 pm ¨C 8:30 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 107

    <strong>Chapter 107</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.12)</strong>


    The people of Fetani made a huge fuss, and John used this situation to keep pressuring Wilkesa to hand over Jing Yang.


    Denanfry had already reached a consensus with all of the senior leaders in Wilkesa that they would never agree to give Jing Yang back to Fetani. After understanding the history between them, they agreed with Denanfry helping Jing Yang expose John''s real face, with the condition that Jing Yang had to remain in Wilkesa for good.


    So John made a huge fuss on his side by himself, and Denanfry and the rest didn''t respond or pay attention. But this was all only temporary, and when they seized some evidence, they would naturally fight back.


    The first mecha designed and manufactured by Jing Yang himself had beenpleted. Then, ording to his design, the mechanical team of the First Fleet created a whole batch of new mechas under his supervision.


    After a period of testing, Denanfry announced publicly that he would conduct the first real-life test of the mechas on the most powerful pirate gang in the universe, the Poison Wolves.


    In the other countries'' view, this was a very bold and risky decision. And even the people of the Wilkesa Empire found this decision irrational.


    The Poison Wolves had roamed the universe for so many years, they naturally had their own strengths. They were not only proficient at group attacks but also very good at cooperating to escape. Every time they hijacked a passenger ship or cargo ship, they only wanted goods and not lives, and they would only kill those who fought back. As long as they didn''t resist, the Wolves would not take lives. And they even said that the things they robbed were used to relieve poor, less developeds, so they also called themselves benevolent pirates.


    But robbery is robbery, and crime is crime. No matter how well the Wolves painted themselves, they couldn''t change the fact that they vited all property rights. What they called relief for poors was actually just for the benefit of having thoses to cover for their escape. Even if they really did act to help save those less developeds, those who were robbed by them didn''t owe those people anything. Their poverty andck of development wasn''t created by those people who were robbed, so for what reason should the property that belonged to them be robbed in the name of being a benevolent pirate.


    There are many countries in the universe that hate the Poison Wolves, especially those with abundant resources but not enough technology or mechanical ability to capitalize on the trade in resources. Because they are the Poison Wolves'' key robbery targets, every year they lose a significant amount of resources to the Poison Wolves, so they could be considered to have a bitter hatred for them.


    One of the most important reasons why the Poison Wolves have still not been annihted after so many years is that the location of the they upied was very special and was the type of that had a natural geography that was easy to defend. Even though there were no resources on the, no property, and no development, it was extremely suitable for these pirates who robbed for a living.


    There was another important reason why the Poison Wolves were able to roam the universe for so many years. Jing Yang let Denanfry wait until he seized the evidence for it after annihting them before making this evidence public.


    ~


    "I hear that Wilkesa''s First Fleet is going to attack the Poison Wolves?" Avery asked John.


    "No mistake, the information I received is that they have already set off." John responded.


    "I also heard that their new mechas were made by Skien, and they''re going to test thebat effectiveness of the new mechas on the Poison Wolves?¡±


    "Yes." John nodded.


    "Ridiculous!" Avery sarcastically sneered. "He manufactured two mining equipment and actually really regarded himself as a mechanical genius. He actually dares to be so arrogant, using a mecha that hasn''t even been battle tested before to attack the Poison Wolves. That Kinlock is also retarded, actually believing him. It''s simply a bunch of madmen!¡±


    "This is also an opportunity for us." John squinted, his eyes full of calction. "The Poison Wolves'' is easy to defend and hard to attack. For so many years no army has been able to prate their defenses, and along with the mechas that you modified for them, Wilkesa definitely cannot win. We can take advantage of this opportunity and give the Poison Wolves a bit more fighting power and let Wilkesa lose a little more miserably.¡±


    "Hah!" Avery coldly sneered. "This is really a good opportunity to hit them. Let''s just take advantage of this chance to destroy all of their previous arrogance. With this defeat, I want to see whether those people in Wilkesa will still be as protective of Skien Kossa. When the moods of the people of the Wilkesa are fanned, and we force them to hand Skien over, I must torture him mercilessly and kill him!¡±


    "Report, General, we are in front of the <strong>Yuekan</strong> star cluster.¡±


    The Poison Wolves'' was just behind the Yuekan star cluster. The distribution of the Yuekan star cluster was very special, like a natural barrier. It could protect the hidden Poison Wolves and make it difficult for outsiders to attack them. And for the Poison Wolves, they could defend themselves very simply, and also made it very easy for them to attack those outside.


    ~


    Denanfry opened a live broadcast for the anti-Poison Wolves operation. This was not the first time there was a live broadcast when attacking pirates in the universe. Because there were many countries who deeply hated pirates, often there would be a national live broadcast of the process of attacking the pirates so that the people could vent their anger in that way.


    However, usually only when they had a good grasp of the situation and were very sure that they would be able to annihte the pirates would they show a live broadcast. In this case, everyone knew that their mechas were experiencing realbat for the first time, but they still opened a live broadcast. So those who hoped for them to win felt somewhat worried, and those who just wanted to watch for fun felt that they were being too arrogant and would definitely suffer.


    "Prepare forbat!" Denanfrymanded. "Initiate n C!¡±


    "Yes!¡±


    All of thebatants on the ship began to prepare. Denanfry would personally participate in the battle this time and test the mecha that Jing Yang had specifically made for him.


    Before setting off for battle, Denanfry crouched down in front of Jing Yang and raised his hand to stroke his face. "Give me a kiss for blessing, and I wille back in triumph.¡±


    Jing Yang cupped his face and bent slightly to kiss him.


    Denanfry pressed the back of Jing Yang''s head closer and deepened the kiss. Their tongues entangled for a long time but were still reluctant to part, like they could never kiss enough.


    Denanfry stood up, bent over and gave him a heavy kiss on the forehead. He looked at Jing Yang for a while before turning and leaving the hangar.


    After Jing Yang saw his back disappear, he steered his wheelchair to themand module to watch the battle. He already had a profound experience of the mood of sending his loved one to the battlefield. Even if he knew that Denanfry was very strong, he still couldn''t control that worry from welling up. So all he could do was to do his best to support him from the back, to increase his fighting power and reduce the chance of unnecessary idents.


    The live broadcast on the ship had begun. Everyone connected to the Federation Star Network could see the battle.


    The Poison Wolves had already received the news and had long been prepared to fight. The head of the Wolves, Chat, had received a message from John a few days ago that if they could cause Wilkesa''s First Fleet heavy losses this time, they would be given an extra batch of weapons in addition to the mechas and weapons that they had sent over to help them.


    Chat was able to be the head of the Poison Wolves and naturally was not an ordinary man. He knew how powerful Denanfry and the First Fleet were and did not want to just go face to face with them casually. But John told him that this time Wilkesa was using their newest mechas and hade with the purpose of using them to test out the mechas. This really looked down on them too much. So along with John''s promise to him, he was willing to put his all into the fight, and even if he couldn''t beat them, he could run away. He didn''t believe that Wilkesa''s First Fleet would be able to catch them.


    The Wolves'' ship had also reached the inner perimeter of the Yuekan star cluster and was ready to fight.


    After leading the troops out of the ship, Denanfry did not rush directly toward the other side, but gave instructions to the deputy captain in themand module.


    "Interfere with artillery fire!" The vice-captain ordered as instructed by Denanfry.


    The five ships of the First Fleet each fired ten or so shots, creating arge area of golden dust and fog in a sh with a visibility range of less than half a meter. Those who wanted to watch the battle could only see the yellow dust and nothing else.


    Sitting in themand module,pletely ignoring the yellow dust interfering with artillery fire, Chat calmly ordered, "Turn on the ship''s unobstructed perspective device.¡±


    "Yes." Chat''s men immediately followed his orders and turned on the device, but there was only yellow sand on the screen and nothing else. He repeatedly turned the device on several times and still couldn''t see anything, so he panicked and reported, "Report leader! Unobstructed perspective device has no effect!¡±


    "What?!" Chat immediately stood up. "Impossible! It was always working before, how could it suddenly be useless?! Quickly go check and see what is wrong, and solve the problem as fast as possible!¡±


    "Report leader! All of the mechas'' unobstructed perspective devices are not working, we can''t see anything!" The captain of the Poison Wolves''bat unit ryed urgently.


    "How could this be?!" Chat instantly became nervous. Fightingpletely blind was very dangerous and gave them no chance of winning. Even though they didn''t know whether the other side could still see, this time it was best for them to first hide. "Immediately return to the ship! First retreat to outside the yellow sand, and after the yellow sand disperses, we can continue to fight!¡±


    And Denanfry and his men, of course, could see very clearly. The vision obstruction shells they fired were made from Jing Yang''s newest research, and the usual unobstructed perspective equipment waspletely ineffective against it. Even if the Wolves'' equipment had been modified by Avery, it was still useless.


    "General, they''re retreating in a mess and obviously can''t see a thing. Let''s take the chance before they can retreat to rush forward!" The captain of thebat unit suggested.


    "Keep a proper distance and immediately retreat after a quick attack. Attack under cover of the ship''s guns, don''t be greedy." Denanfry ordered.


    "Yes!¡±


    Thebat soldiers of the First Fleet rushed up, each locked a target and settled them quickly, then retreated under Denanfry''s orders.


    In themand module of the Poison Wolves, a session of screams and explosions rang. Chat could only watch the signal lights that represented the condition of the mechas go out one by one.


    "Quickly retreat! Hurry!" Chat yelled. "Artillery, provide cover, quickly retreat!¡±


    "Leader! None of our men have been able to withdraw. Now, we can''t see anything in front of us, artillery cover will likely attack our own men!¡±


    "We can''t care about that much! All of thebatants retreat as far as possible, and the ship needs to retreat immediately, or the other side''s artillery will soon¡­¡±


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Chat hadn''t even finished speaking when the first round of artillery from the First Fleet had struck their three ships. The attack was extremely urate, and all three rounds struck, so now they clearly understood that the other side could indeed see.


    The fleet''s fire was so intense that the Poison Wolves'' ships that had been hit repeatedly started to shake and a lot of the equipment began to fail.


    "Retreat now! Fast!" Chat steadied himself and loudly shouted. "Don''t stop shooting!¡±


    Theizens watching through the starwork involuntarily became nervous. They could only hear the mechas firing and attacking and the ships'' artillery attacks, andpletely could not see a thing.


    Sounds of fire melded into a cacophony. It was clear that both sides were attacking each other, but the people watching didn''t know what was going on. Who was being attacked more seriously? They all really wanted to know.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Trantor Notes:</strong>


    [1] <strong>Yuekan</strong> ¨C Ô¿²ÐÇȺ, moon pit?<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than an hour: 9:30 am ¨C 10:15 am, for 3.7k characters to 2.2k words.


    Sorry for the dy everyone! A lot of schools kicked students out by the end of the week, so there were a lot of logistics that went into moving and leaving campus. Updates should be back consistently.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 108

    <strong>Chapter 108</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.13)</strong>


    By the time the Poison Wolves'' ships finally managed with great difficulty to retreat from the dust, the dust had already begun dissipating. The ships of the First Fleet steadily pushed forward, directly entering the Yuekan star cluster. Both sides were inside the Yuekan star cluster, so the Poison Wolves also lost their natural defenses and could only face the First Fleet head-on.


    People from all the countries could finally see what the situation was. It was clear that the Poison Wolves had been attacked very miserably and would soon be forced to retreat to the Poison Wolf star.


    "Full force attack!" Chat resolutelymanded, his expression full of anger. "The Poison Wolf Star absolutely cannot be lost! All troops set out! Be sure to repel Wilkesa''s ships!¡±


    The Poison Wolves prepared to use their best group attack. Even though just now all of the soldiers who went out to battle werepletely destroyed, Chat let all of the forces on the Poison Wolf Stare out. Dozens of mechas arranged into a formation, rushing quickly toward to the mechas of the First Fleet.


    Denanfry didn''t order the soldiers to rush forward or to retreat, just waiting for them toe over.


    After they reached a certain distance and wanted to surround them, Denanfry finallymanded, "One unit break through from the left, the second unit attack from the right side. Third and fourth unit open up a path in front.¡±


    When the mechas from the two sides came into contact, everyone watching thought it would be a fierce battle, but instead all they got was a one-sided massacre.


    Even though the soldiers of the First Fleet were dwarfed in numbers, they were like heavenly god soldiers, easily going one versus ten. This kind of battle simply shocked the countless people watching.


    The soldiers who were operating the new mechas had previously experienced the strength of the new mechas during testing. But the testing process made them obsessed, and they kept on suppressing their desire to be able to properly y on the real battlefield. Now, as expected, they were obviously going to y to their hearts'' content.


    And in a real battlefield, the soldiers could also deeply appreciate how powerful these mechas were. From theirbat power they felt like giants, it was too cool!


    Chat stared wide-eyed at his subordinates falling in space one by one, as if he were watching a pile of mecha toys without any power to resist or counterattack.


    Seeing that the mechas of the First Fleet were about to rush to him, Chat knew that he wouldn''t be able to keep the Poison Wolf Star. He could only order two ships to cover for him and the other ships holding important things to escape. And for those soldiers who were currently fighting, he ordered them to escape whenever possible, shake off the First Fleet, and then meet up with them.


    Denanfry let the first and second units chase after the escaping ships, and he led the third and fourth units to quickly resolve the two ships that wanted to cover for the others'' departure.


    No one dared to believe what they were seeing. They felt that they must be hallucinating. They thought that such powerful mechas must be even more powerful than Fetani''s mechas. These mechas, were the real most powerful mechas in the universe!


    Having mechas siege ships and win was something that only Fetani had aplished before. Even though they hadn''t personally seen the scene of Fetani sieging the ship, ording to the descriptions provided, it should have been simr to the current battle that Wilkesa was showing? What they didn''t know, however, was that there had been many deliberate exaggerations in those descriptions.


    Denanfry led the third and fourth units to quickly chase after the ships, moving so quickly it seemed instantaneous. The first and second units had already surrounded the ship that Chat was on, and the other ships that had taken the opportunity to escape had been pursued by two ships of the First Fleet.


    The Poison Wolves wanted to use their tried and true method, fleeing along the route that they had escaped from many times. When they fled, there would be somes from backward countries to cover them.


    The First Fleet treated thoses that wanted to hinder them unceremoniously, directly countering with Jing Yang¡¯s newly made long-range attack shells. The power was so great that they could almost blow up half of their little. The huge explosions and fires made everyone who saw them stunned.


    Those backward countries didn''t think that they would react so viciously. After their shock they were iparably terrified, immediately sending out a surrender signal that they wouldn''t do anything and asking the First Fleet to let them go.


    Denanfry piloted his mecha tond on top of the ship where Chat was located. Even though the ship was many timesrger than his mech,pared to the majesty of his mecha, it made the giant warship beneath his feet look much smaller.


    Denanfry pointed the barrel of his weapon downward and very casually fired two shells. The ship could only immediatelynd on the nearest. This kind of picture made people unable to help feeling their blood boiling in their veins, because they felt that this was really too handsome. The people of Wilkesa especially felt extremely proud and patriotic.


    The Poison Wolves'' ships that wanted to escape were soon brought under control. The whole process was a total domination by Wilkesa, making it so that the people watching felt like the Poison wolves weren''t that strong at all. How could they have tantly robbed in the universe for so many years?


    Only those who had fought against the Poison Wolves before knew that it was not that the Poison Wolves weren''t very powerful, but that Wilkesa''s mechas were much more powerful than the ones the Poison Wolves had. Those people stared at those much more advanced mechas and really adored and envied them. They really wanted to drive them just once.


    The leader of the Poison Wolves was captured alive and sent back to the Federation, and everything rted to the Poison Wolves would be handled by the First Fleet.


    "Trash! They''re all rubbish!" Avery had watched the entire process and was so angry he couldn''t stop shaking. He couldn''t ept that the mechas Skien made seemed to be so much stronger than his own. He kept telling himself in his heart that it wasn''t that those mechas were too strong, but that the Poison Wolves were too ipetent.


    John''s expression was very ugly and he didn''t say a word. He was originally already somewhat apprehensive of Denanfry and didn''t want to fight face to face with him, but in the case of ast resort, his chances of victory were still quite high. But now, Denanfry''s mecha was likely to be even better than his own, so if he really had to fight against him, did he even have a chance of winning?


    "Bastard! Son of a bitch!" Avery howled hysterically. "Why didn''t he die?! Why did he have to live and go against me?!¡±


    John was already used to Avery losing control, right now he was in no mood to appease him. Chat had been caught alive, so he had to think of a way to get him out. Otherwise, if he confessed to some things that should not be said, then John would really be finished.


    "Impossible!" Avery suddenly calmed down again and somewhat neurotically said, "How could Skien make a mecha that''s as strong as mine? Who am I? I''m someone who knows the future, what qualifications does he have topare with me? Even if wepared he would never be able to beat me, he can''t beat me in anything, I can take Tony from his side, I can make more advanced mechas, I am too much stronger than him, he could neverpare to me, and can never beat me!¡±


    John finally turned his attention to Avery. He heard Avery muttering about some nonsense, and his eyes and expression were all very strange. He stood up and held Avery''s arm, saying, "Avery, what''s wrong with you? Don''t get excited, it''s okay, big brother is here and everything will be fine. I will definitely help you get rid of Skien, rest assured! No one can take Tony away from you.¡±


    Avery''s mind was in disarray. His brain suddenly throbbed with pain, and he fainted.


    "Avery?!" John held him and shouted, "Guards,e over! Fast!¡±


    ~


    Denanfry decided to hand over all the money confiscated from the Poison Wolves to the Federation Disaster Relief Fund. The countries in the Federation all were very happy. Finally, the scourge of the universe had been dealt with, and they could all be much more reassured.


    And some ssified information found would remain in the custody of the First Fleet.


    Chat had fallen into the hands of the Wilkesa Empire, or more specifically, he had fallen into Denanfry''s hands, and he would naturally not let him live well.


    It took Denanfry several days to scour the ships and the Poison Wolf Star from top to bottom and finally find what they were looking for.


    Chat was strapped onto a machine, his feet off the ground and every joint on his limbs locked to make sure he couldn''t escape. For a pirate leader, being caught alive would never have a good ending. And Chat had been tortured ever since he had been caught.


    The door to Chat''s cell was opened. Jing Yang hade apanied by Denanfry to see the enemy who had killed his father.


    Chat heard someonee in and thought that someone was here again to torture him and wanted to pry something from his mouth, so he remained motionless, pretending to be dead.


    Denanfry nced over to the soldier next to him. The soldier immediately pressed a button on the machine, forcing Chat to lift his head and open his eyes.


    Seeing Denanfry, Chat''s heart jumped. Even though he didn''t know this man, at first nce he could tell that he was vicious. He should be that person who brought soldiers to destroy them, the legendary general Denanfry Kinlock.


    "Do you remember who I am? Chief Chat." Jing Yang looked at him.


    Chat turned his gaze to Jing Yang who had asked him a question, and after looking carefully at his face and thinking for a moment, he stared at him with some surprise. Even though John had told him before that his men had failed and that Skien Kossa was not dead, he was still a little surprised to see him with his own eyes, because he had remembered another thing.


    "It seems that you remember not only who I am, but also that you and John had killed my father together." Jing Yang saw through his inner thoughts and looked at him coldly.


    "I, don''t know, what you''re talking about." Chat weakly said. He couldn''t admit anything now because he still held some hope that John would find a way to save him, even if it were just for his own sake.


    "If you''re still counting on John to save you, I advise you to forget it. It will be hard for him to even protect himself soon, do you think that he''ll be able to get you out of the hands of the Wilkesa Army?¡±


    Chat closed his eyes, silent.


    Jing Yang coldly smiled. "You have cooperated with John many times, but you don''t seem to trust him very much. You even left behind some evidence of his dealings with you, is it for threatening him at a critical moment?"


    Chat opened his eyes, looking nkly at Jing Yang but still not saying anything.


    Jing Yang looked at Denanfry. Denanfry let the soldier take out some of the evidence that they had found and y them one by one for Chat to see.


    Chat''s face changed. These things had been his trump card, he had hid them very deeply, and didn''t think that they would still have been able to find them. "Since you already found the evidence, what are youing to find me for? Let me die in peace!¡±


    "The evil that you havemitted cannot be repaid by just your life." Jing Yang coldly said.


    "Then what do you want?" The reason Chat had been able to endure the torture and hadn''t confessed anything was because he had a glimmer of hope in his heart that John would definitely save him as long as he didn''t say anything. But now that the evidence had already been found, John obviously wouldn''t care about his death or care about him at all once they published it. Then he could only live a lifetime in torture that was not even as good as death. Then, it would be better to just die immediately.


    "I want you to speak up in front of the entire universe, to personally confess everything that you colluded to do with John. If you perform well enough, I can let them give you a fast death. And if you don''t do what I say¡­you should know what will be the consequences.¡±


    Jing Yang continued, "I will give you five days to think about it. In those five days, you can experience in advance how you would spend the rest of your life.¡±<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 1:30 pm ¨C 2:30 pm, for 3.7k characters to 2.2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 109

    <strong>Chapter 109</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.14)</strong>


    As the leader of the Poison Wolves, Chat could be considered a man who could withstand torture. He felt that no matter how he was tortured, he could still persist for a period of time. But after the third day when Jing Yang came to see him, he couldn''t hold on any longer. Perhaps it was because he clearly understood in his heart that it was impossible for John to save him, and instead of such meaningless resistance, it would be better for him to just do what Jing Yang said and then get some relief.


    After John''s previous press conference at the Federation Star, this time it was Jing Yang''s turn to announce a press conference. Because this time they imed that the press conference would deal with a matter significant to the entire Federation, and Wilkesa was now the most influential country in the Federation, journalists from every country in the Federation were present. The scene was much bigger than at John''s previous conference.


    After the reporters entered the hall, Denanfry and Jing Yang entered. After everyone sat down, a group of soldiers brought Chat into the hall, tied him to a special seat, and then several soldiers stood to the side watching over him.


    When the reporters saw Chat, they were all doubtful. Could this pirate leader have anything to do with the matter that was going to be announced? His crimes couldn''t have been any clearer to everyone, and every time a state ship was hijacked by the Poison Wolves, Federation media would report it.


    After getting a signal from Denanfry, Dyles stood up and began, "First of all, thank you to the journalists of each country for taking the time toe to this conference. What we are going to announce today is some evidence that was found with the Poison Wolves. And this evidence, out of all of the countries in the Federation, only one country knows about it, and all of the other countries were kept in the dark.¡±


    "Please take a look at the screen. Let everyone in the Federation see the true face of certain people!¡±


    The reporters were still a little confused, but they all pointed their cameras at the screen like Dyles said.


    Then Dyles pointed at the screen and said, "All of this evidence proves the fact that General John Dottley of Fetani colluded with the Poison Wolves.¡±


    All of the reporters were stunned, and some of them couldn''t fathom what was being said. John Dottley was colluding with the Poison Wolves? What were they colluding on? Hijacking ships from various countries together? That, that wasn''t very likely right?!


    "Please take a look." Dyles started to disy the evidence one by one. "Many of the Poison Wolves'' mechas were provided by Fetani, and there are also some that were personally remodeled by Avery. These are all evidence. And these artillery and weapons are all provided by Fetani. In other words, one of the main reasons the Poison Wolves have been able to roam the universe so rampantly for so many years is by relying on the support of John and his brother, Avery!¡±


    "I know that everyone must be doubtful about what benefits John and Avery could receive from supporting the Poison Wolves. Please take a look at the following evidence.¡±


    Dyles yed the videos of the contact between John and Chat. After seeing the content, not only were the reporters present shocked, but many of the people watching the broadcast were astonished. In particr, when the people of Fetani heard that John was colluding with the Poison Wolves, their very first reaction was that that was impossible. Even if they saw those mechas and weapons, they were consoling themselves that it was likely just Wilkesa making false ims and trying to provoke animosity against Fetani. But when they saw the videos of John and Chat contacting each other, they could no longer find excuses to exin his behavior. Apart from shock and disbelief, they were so furious they were about to explode.


    "Now that we have seen the evidence, let the chief of the Poison Wolvese exin personally to everyone what John let him do.¡±


    All of the cameras turned to Chat. He seemed to behave very normally, and slowly began to tell the story of his collusion with John.


    The first time John found Chat was to let the Poison Wolves work with him to kill the captain of Fetani''s Third Fleet, Skien''s father. The Dottley family was very rich. At that time, John gave him arge sum of money at once and then promised to give him another sum after he followed through, so he agreed and seeded in killing the captain of the Third Fleet.


    Later John contacted him again and let him help him create an ident and kill the emperor of Fetani. This time, John not only gave him arge sum of money, but also gave them a dozen mechas that Avery had personally modified.


    Later on, the two cooperated several times. They solved the problems that hindered John, who would in turn help provide them information that would allow them to sessfully hijack ships from various countries and escape more smoothly.


    After the death of Skien''s grandfather and several uncles, it was they who killed Skien''s cousins at John''s behest. When pursuing Skien and his big brother, his men seeded in killing Skien''s big brother, and thought that Skien was also dead. But he didn''t think that Skien would still be alive, and John had also scolded him for this.


    After Chat finished, Jing Yang began to speak. All of the reporters turned the camera to him.


    "The people of Fetani all say that I work for Wilkesa, that I betrayed the country and failed the empire''s painstaking care. But those who med me all had no idea what I experienced." There was no expression on Jing Yang''s face, but there was infinite sorrow in his eyes.


    "John colluded with the Poison Wolves to kill my father, and my grandfather fell ill from sorrow. Then John began to plot to seize power of Fetani and took control of the little Fetani prince, who was not even an adult. After gaining power, John forged charges and forcibly convicted my grandfather and several uncles, several of whom were persecuted to death by John in prison. Then John himself showed off what he did in front of my grandfather, forcing him to despair to death.¡±


    Jing Yang blinked his teary eyes, took a deep breath, and continued, "I personally watched my grandfather take hisst breath. I personally watched my cousins get killed by men John found. Even though my brother and I escaped, in order to cover for my escape, my big brother was killed. I survived, not because they kindly let me go, but because they thought I was already dead, so they left. Before I appeared again, they probably would never have thought that I was still alive.¡±


    "The people of Fetani must be very curious why I chose to serve the Wilkesa Empire. Now I will tell you why. It''s to repay them, and for revenge!" Jing Yang spoke forcefully, and his eyes wereplicated.


    "When I was almost about to die, it was General Denanfry who saved me. He brought me back to his ship and treated me, so I could survive. The former Skien Kossa could be said to have died. He was dead in the hands of the men John sent to hunt me down. Now the me that is alive is a new life that General Denanfry gave me. For such a life-saving grace, do you think that I shouldn''t pay it back? Everything I do for Wilkesa has always been in gratitude.¡±


    "My entire family is dead, and they all died because of John! So of course I want revenge!" Jing Yang furiously continued. "I would like to ask all of those who used me of betraying my country. A country where even the emperor was controlled by my enemy, a country where all of the officials and all of the people supported the killing of my entire family, could I still go back?¡±


    "That''s right!" Jing Yang said loudly. "I am a man of the Fetani Empire, and it was Fetani who nurtured me, but my grandfather and father worked for Fetani their entire lives, yet my entire family ended up in such a miserable state. Could it be that this still couldn''t repay for all of the supposed care that Fetani gave me?!¡±


    "If you haven''t gone through a tragic experience on behalf of someone else, and have not suffered the pain of other people, please do not decide for other people what is right." Jing Yang calmed down and said expressionlessly, "Here, I want to give the people of Fetani a single sentence of advice: as long as the country''s highest power stays concentrated in the hands of a certain individual, that country will die from within.¡±


    Even after Denanfry and Jing Yang had already left, the journalists and all of the people watching the live broadcast were still a little unable to react. In such a short period of time, they simply couldn''t digest such a huge amount of news that surpassed their expectations.


    This matter quickly set off an uproar in the Federation. John and his brother Avery actually were always colluding with the Poison Wolves to do some things that couldn¡¯t see the light, and even helped the Poison Wolves hijack other countries'' ships! This was unforgivable!


    With such evidence, the people of Fetani could be said to have started basically rioting. They wanted John and Avery to speak up immediately, and for those officials to make these matters clear. Because this reality was too terrifying! The two brothers who they had always regarded as heroes were actually so dark and evil that they not only framed and murdered their predecessors, but also took control of the emperor. They were the empire''s dictators from the shadows. What the hell were the other officials doing?! They just let them roam rampantly like this?!


    ~


    "Brother, what do we do now? Everyone knows the truth now! We''re finished, we''re finished!" After watching the live broadcast, Avery was already in a disarray.


    John''s face was pale. He clenched his fists tightly. He had been very careful everywhere, but still couldn''t prevent Chat from saving that evidence. He had thought that allowing the pirates to do the things that couldn''t see the light would be best, but he didn''t expect that the decision would be a fatal blow.


    "Go back to the capital star!" John sharply stood up and ordered the soldiers to the side. "Send down themand, immediately set off back to the capital star!¡±


    "Yes!¡±


    "What could we do when we go back?" Avery was still very flustered. "All of the people already know everything. When we go back, they definitely won''t let us go!¡±


    "There will be a way." John forcibly kept hisposure. "Most of our men and weapons are still in the capital star, so now it is safest for us to go back. And they only have evidence of the collusion between me and the Poison Wolves, there is no evidence that I framed my predecessors or killed Skien''s family. As long as those officials are on our side and then we n properly, we have every chance of overturning that evidence. We can im that Wilkesa deliberately created some fake evidence for Skien to vilify us.¡±


    "Then how can those videos of you and Chat talking be overturned? Those things can''t be artificially created!" Avery didn''t think this was a good method.


    "There will definitely be a way to turn it around. We''ll go back first and then talk more about it." John didn''t know if he wasforting himself or Avery. "Those officials were also involved in our usations against the previous left prime minister. They have to help us, or they also won''t be able to escape.¡±


    On the third day after his previous quarrel with Avery, Tony received a phone call from his father, who told him to put up with it and hinted that the family was already trying to get rid of John. Then Tony was constantly locked in his room. John even specifically sent someone to watch over him, and he couldn''t go anywhere.


    After seeing the live broadcast, Tony felt a wave of hope surge in his heart. He felt like the opportunity had finallye. He couldn''t wait to get in touch with his father, but it was too dangerous to contact them when John''s men were still watching him. Just as he was getting anxious, he learned that the ship was already starting to return to the capital star at full speed, so he endured. Everything could wait until they returned to the capital star.


    ~


    Denanfry held Jing Yang, gently stroking his back. "Ufortable?¡±


    Jing Yang buried his face in Denanfry''s chest, slowly shaking his head. "No, I just feel really tired.¡±


    "Everything will be over soon." Denanfry kissed his forehead. "Soon, they will pay their due price.¡±


    Jing Yang straightened up and looked at him. "And afterward?¡±


    "After it''s over, of course, you will always stay by my side." Denanfry looked at him deeply. "I find that now even if I leave you for a second, I will start to miss you.¡±


    "Will the people of the Wilkesa Empire agree?" Jing Yang asked. "I''m a man of the Fetani Empire, no matter how you look at it, and some people will not be convinced.¡±


    "Don''t worry, I have a way to let you be a man of Wilkesa." Denanfry said.


    "What way?" Jing Yang tilted his head and looked at him curiously.


    "Marry me. Then you would be my man, and of course you would be a man of Wilkesa." Denanfry said matter-of-factly.


    "Marry?" Jing Yang blinked.


    "What''s wrong? Are you unwilling?" Denanfry hugged him, his face showing a "if you dare say you''re unwilling I will punish you" expression.


    "I''ll think about it ba." Jing Yang smiled.


    "No! You must agree at once." Denanfry squinted his eyes, and there was a deliberate threat in his gaze.


    Jing Yang deliberately didn''t answer him. Denanfry pushed him under his body and fiercely kissed him, sucking his lips hard. His hands also weren''t idle.


    "En~" Jing Yang mped his legs, somewhat unable to bear his caresses. He vaguely asked for mercy, "No~Don''t be like this~¡±


    "Do you agree?" Denanfry took off Jing Yang''s pants and asked, "En? If you agree I''ll give it to you.¡±


    "Ah!~" Jing Yang eximed from his movements.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 12:30 pm ¨C 1:30 pm, for 4.3k characters to 2.5k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 110

    <strong>Chapter 110</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.15)</strong>


    The shipnded at the capital star base. Tony stood in his room, looking at the closed automatic door. He had already finished preparations to leave immediately. After being held as a prisoner for so long, if he hadn''t thought of his family members, he would long have gone mad. Even if it ended in mutual destruction with the two brothers, he wouldn''t want to live like this any longer.


    Now the opportunity had finally arrived. The matter of John and the Poison Wolves colluding had been revealed. Taking advantage of this opportunity, their family could not only get rid of the two brothers, but also had great hope topletely destroy them, which would also allow them to get revenge for Skien''s family.


    Watching the automatic door open, Tony didn''t even see clearly who was standing outside, just lifting his feet and walking out.


    "Tony!" Avery immediately grabbed Tony''s hand and pushed him back into the room.


    "What do you want? Didn''t we already get to the capital star?" Tony looked at him impatiently. "Do you want to keep me here the rest of my life?¡±


    "No, listen to me." Avery hurriedly exined. "I just have a few words to tell you, and then I''ll let you go home right away.¡±


    Tony nced at him and found that Avery right now was very different from the usual domineering Avery. He actually looked somewhat like how he had been when he had first met him. "What do you want to say?¡±


    "Tony, you need to know, I really really love you." Avery looked at Tony, his eyes filled with tears. "I know that I''ve done a lot that annoyed you before, but that was all because I love you too much.¡±


    "If all you want to say is this, then I already know. Can you let me go now?" Tony said expressionlessly. If because Avery loved him he had to live this kind of life that was worse than death, then being loved by him was too unlucky.


    "Tony." Avery tightly grabbed Tony''s hand and wouldn''t let go. "I know that you''re mad at me. I promise I''ll change, I won''t ever lose my temper at you again, and I won''t lock you in again. In the future, you can go wherever you want, you just need to let me know and not make me worried, okay?¡±


    "Are you done? We can talk about the futureter. I haven''t seen my family in a long time, and they''re very worried and miss me a lot. So I''m in a hurry to go back and see them now. We can wait to talk about things like thister.¡±


    "I know, I know. It''s all because I''ve made you separate from your family for so long. It''s all my fault, I will personally go apologize to them." Avery used a pleading tone to say. "When you go back, can you tell your father to let him help me and my big brother? Contact those officials and let them find a way to help us! As long as your family helps us get through this difficulty, we can talk about everythingter, okay?¡±


    Tony sneered in his heart. So he wanted to ask for them to help them, no wonder it was like he had suddenly changed personalities. Did he think that he would still be deceived by his fake side after experiencing this kind of treatment? But now he couldn''tpletely tear it up with him, or else he might get angry and lock him in, or even use him as a hostage to threaten his father, which wouldn''t be good.


    "I know. When I get back, I''ll talk to my father about it right away." Tony looked serious, but in his heart he was very perfunctory. "If we can help, I''ll definitely let my father help you as much as we can.¡±


    "Thank you, Tony." Avery''s expression was full of gratitude. He held Tony''s face and kissed him.


    Tony didn''t refuse nor respond. He stood there indifferently and was kissed by him, but was intensely disgusted in his heart.


    As soon as Tony got home, he asked the servants if his father was at home, then hurried to his father''s study.


    "Father!" Tony didn''t even knock on the door, going straight in.


    Old Bilus saw his son''s hurried appearance. Normally he would definitely have scolded him for his gaffe, but thinking of what he had been suffering during this period of time, he understood his current urgency. "Close the door. Sit down and talk.¡±


    Tony was about to speak as soon as he entered the door. He could only turn around and close the door, then sat down in the chair opposite his father, speaking to him across therge desk.


    "Father, the matter of John and the Poison Wolves colluding has already been revealed! We didn''t even have to collect any evidence, this is a great opportunity to eradicate the power of the two brothers!" Tony couldn''t contain his excitement no matter what.


    "I know, the past two days I''ve constantly been thinking about what we should do in this situation and what would be the best way to handle it." Bilus had long guessed that John must have been colluding with someone outside, but he had not identified the people and had no evidence of the collusion. And they carefully went to look for evidence, when suddenly it mmed down like a meteorite from the sky, not only making John shocked dizzy but even making them caught off guard.


    "What else can we do, father!" Tony said eagerly. "Could it be that we really can only let them escape this and that we will always be subject to them like this?!¡±


    Bilus raised his hand and lectured, "You can''t be panicking like this all the time. I''ve told you so many times, the more you panic the more likely it is for you to make a mistake. When you encounter a situation, you need to calm down first and rify everything. You need to think of countermeasures and then take action. The chances of sess will be much greater.¡±


    Bilus actually regretted long ago that he shouldn''t have conspired with John to frame his left prime minister predecessor''s family in order to get the position, and then be at the brothers'' mercy everywhere. He was a left minister, but only had a name and no power, it was pathetic. If he had known earlier, he should have joined forces with the other officials and fought to the end, and should not have allowed John to quickly expand his power and seize control of everything, making all of them into puppets that he could manipte at will. Now was a good chance to destroy John, because no matter how strong he was, he couldn''t be stronger than public opinion.


    Tony took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "So father, what do you think? What should we do?¡±


    Instead of answering him, Bilus stood up and walked to the window, looking out with his hands behind his back.


    ~


    After getting to the capital star, John immediately went to visit all of the important officials one by one. They didn''t guarantee that they would do what he had said, but also didn''t explicitly reject him, just saying something perfunctory.


    John knew that these officials had had objections against him in their hearts for a long time, and it was absolutely impossible for them to be 100% in support of him at this time. So he gave them a lot of benefits and then waited to see what they would decide.


    The mood of the Fetani people had grown increasingly out of control. There had been mass demonstrations on the street, even surrounding the pce and the administrative hall, so the officials had to give them an answer as soon as possible.


    As the incumbent left prime minister, Bilus certainly couldn''t avoid facing the masses. So he brought Tony and a group of officials with him to respond publicly to the empire.


    Bilus expressed that they were shocked and saddened to learn that John had colluded with the Poison Wolves to frame and kill his predecessor''s family. In their failure to discover and stop him in time, they also bore an inescapable responsibility. For this, they expressed a profound regret and apology to the people of the country. John''s behavior had not only damaged the face of the empire, but also caused great harm. Framing a good man and killing an innocent, he should not only be severely criticized, but also properly punished.


    Through his speech, all of the me was pushed onto John, and the other officials became unsuspecting innocent people.


    But the public were also not all naive and stupid people. As long as they thought a bit, they could figure out that just relying on John''s strength, how could he just easily frame the former left prime minister''s family? You say that all of the officials didn''t know anything, do they really take the people as fools?


    Bilus had expected the public to have this kind of thought, so he also said in his speech that there were definitely members of John''s party among the officials. They would make sure to weed out those people and take serious action against them.


    After many officials spoke, Tony also made a statement. But the main topic of his speech was to call out to Jing Yang, hoping that he could return to Fetani.


    With the officials'' statements, the public were only somewhat half-convinced. Some areas werepletely unable to bear scrutiny, such as why Bilus immediately became the current left prime minister after his predecessor left, and how his son Tony became the deputy finance minister so young. Plus, he had gotten engaged to Avery so soon after the news that Skien disappeared. If they said that they really didn''t know, the people wouldn''t believe it at all.


    But when Tony called out to Jing Yang and asked him to return to Fetani, that actually spoke to the hearts of many people. They had so much sympathy for Skien''s story that they could no longer me him for helping Wilkesa. They asked themselves, if they had gone through the same ordeals, they would have definitely made the same choice as him. With so much hatred, it was impossible for him not to want revenge. Just returning to Fetani like nothing had happened, no one would be able to do it. Besides, even if he wanted toe back, he couldn''t while facing the threat of John.


    But now it was different. The people were all in favor of giving John and Avery the punishment they deserved, and for the officials who worked with the brothers to also be punished. They hoped to be able to wee Skien back to the empire. It didn''t matter if they didn''t have Avery this genius mechanic, because Skien was much better than him. And they believed that Skien deserved toe back to Fetani and bepensated by the empire.


    ~


    John and Avery sat face-to-face, both silent. On the screen on the wall was the image of the officials who had finished speaking, led by Bilus. Even though John had long thought that they might do something like this, he was still very angry. Because his anger had reached the extreme, he had epted this reality with unusual calmness, because he had long anticipated it.


    John could only be d that he had not fully pinned his hopes on the officials. Fortunately he had made a backup n and right now escaping Fetani was still perfectly fine. But now, needing to live a pirate-like life with no backing and no home made his heart full of hate. He wanted everyone who made him suffer this kind of end to all be killed! Especially those two men, Denanfry and Skien Kossa!


    Avery stood up and went out. John stopped him and said, "Where are you going?¡±


    "Going to see Tony." Avery was like he had lost his soul, his eyes nk.


    "He''s alreadypletely abandoned you! What are you going to see him for!" John stood up and raged, "We''re in a hurry to escape, you''re actually going to see him? Do you think that he will leave with you?! You heard those words he said just now, it''s already gotten to this, you should sober up!¡±


    "Whether he follows me or not, I will ask him clearly." Avery stubbornly said.


    "If you go find him, you''ll likely get caught by them, and we wouldn''t even have a chance to escape!¡±


    "If he gets someone to seize me¡­that''s fine, I''ll just die with him." Avery left with determination.


    "You¡­you get back for me!" John roared.


    Avery didn''t even turn his head, just leaving like this. John''s heart hurt. He had already arranged for his parents and family to be sent away. Now, as long as the two of them escaped, there was still hope that everything could survive. But Avery was so paranoid that he had to go see Tony and rify everything with him. It was very likely that they wouldn''t be able to escape, but he also couldn''t just leave him alone.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little over an hour: 11 am ¨C 12:15 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 111

    <strong>Chapter 111</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.16)</strong>


    Tony never thought that Avery would actuallye to see him. He had thought that the two brothers had already run far far away. It was already this time, and he actually still dared to appear in front of him in such an aboveboard manner? Did he really think that he still had some sort of emotion for him and wouldn''t tell other people to catch him?


    "What did you find me for?" Tony now had no reason to show him any kindness. After all, there was no need to tolerate him now. Even if Avery came with people, he also had bodyguards around him, so he wouldn''t be afraid.


    "Do you really not have the least bit of feelings for me in your heart?" Avery had seen Tony''s sincere call for Skien to return to Fetani. That kind of deeply emotional and urgent appearance, could it be that he really did not care about himself at all anymore? He really didn''t want to believe it.


    "I may have liked you before, but all of that liking was whittled down bit by bit by you." Tony said coldly. "If you want to hear the truth, I''ll tell you. Now, I don''t have any affection for you.¡±


    "I know that my actions may have gone a bit overboard, but that''s all because I love you so much. You''ve given up Skien for me before, and you said that you would always love me. And now, in order to get him back, you don''t care at all if I''m alive or dead, do you?" Avery asked, tears flowing down his face.


    "You and your brother always take things to the extreme. Everything would have been exposed sooner orter. If you had not killed Skien''s entire family, you would not have fallen to this extent. Skien''s father had treated your brother with graciousness, but you actually paid him back like this, colluding with the Poison Wolves to kill him. The two of you are so vicious that I feel creeped out just thinking about it. I would even hope that you two die earlier, how could it be possible that I care about whether you''re alive. Saving you was the biggest mistake I made in my life. If I had known it would be like this, not only would I not have liked you, but I would not have saved you.¡±


    "I did it all for you!" Avery cried. "Because I didn''t want you to have any lingering feelings for him, in order to seize you from his side and let you only love me alone, do you know how much I paid?¡±


    "You did it for your own sake!" Tony red at him harshly. "In fact, you understand very clearly in your heart that you can''t bepared to Skien at all. His family status is better than you, his appearance is better than you, his mind is superior to yours. In short, he is better than you at everything. So you''re jealous of him, you''re afraid that his presence is more dazzling than yours, so you want to kill him! Don''t say some sort of titudes like it was for me. With your personality, if you weren''t worried that he would pose a threat to you, you would definitely keep him alive and then show off your achievements to him!¡±


    Avery covered his chest. Tony''s words stabbed his heart like a knife, and he had broken through and exposed that reality that he had least wanted to admit. Tony hadn¡¯t said anything wrong. He was jealous of Skien, jealous that he possessed everything, and was also so perfect. He was a person born from the future, he should be the hero of this world. Fearing that Skien would be his greatest threat, he destroyed his entire family. But he had already done everything to this extent, and in the end he had still lost to Skien.


    Avery wiped his tears away. He said, looking very calm, "I know that you wouldn''t be willing toe with me. We may never see each other again. For the sake of our previous love, give me onest hug as a farewell.¡±


    Tony just looked at him, not speaking nor moving.


    Avery took the initiative to walk up to him, opening his arms and hugging him.


    Tony let him hold him. He didn''t push him away and did not respond to him. Recalling the past, his mood at that moment was veryplex.


    "Wu!" Tony suddenly widened his eyes. He felt something pass through his body. Even though he didn''t feel any pain, he could already feel the blood flowing out of his body.


    "Young master!" Tony''s bodyguards saw that he was shot and immediately rushed forward.


    "Don''te over!" Avery wrapped his arm around Tony''s neck and pointed a gun at his temple.


    The bodyguards didn''t dare to act lightly. They could only stand there and watch them anxiously.


    "Something that I can''t get, Skien can also never get!" Avery said into Tony''s ear. "Since your heart no longer has me in it, I also don''t need to be kind to you anymore. It''s impossible for me to let you make peace with Skien. Only by letting you die in my arms will thest second of your life belong to me. Only then I can rest assured.¡±


    "You¡­" Tony opened his mouth, blood flowing out. Avery''s bullet was poisoned. He really didn''t think that Avery would actually kill him, and in such a ce.


    Avery dragged Tony with him while he retreated. Tony''s bodyguards'' foreheads were covered with sweat, following them step by step.


    Tony''s breaths were weakening and his consciousness began to blur, his strength fleeing his body. He knew that he was going to die. He struggled hard against the darkness that engulfed him, knowing that once he fell into the darkness, he would no longer be able to wake up again.


    "Ski¡­en¡­" Tony couldn''t hold on any longer. The image that appeared in his mind at the very end was when Skien had smiled toward him back when they were teenagers. Skien had been so beautiful at that time. Only, this life, there was no way for him to be able to have such a beautiful Skien. Hisst wish was to hope that he could live happily.


    Tony, in thest moment of his life, still called out Skien''s name. Avery only felt bleakness in his heart. Perhaps from the very beginning, their encounter had been wrong. Maybe Tony really should not have saved him.


    Avery pushed Tony out with great force. He finally took onest deep look at Tony who no longer breathed, and said in his heart, goodbye, my love.


    Under the protection of his bodyguards, Avery quickly got into the car and fled. Tony''s bodyguards immediately caught up and there was a fierce battle, but they still didn''t manage to catch Avery.


    When Bilus learned of his son''s death, he copsed to the ground. Tony was his only son, and now he had actually died in Avery''s hands. So what was the point of everything he had done before? Even if he could continue to hold onto the left prime minster position, it wouldn''t have any meaning. What''s more, right now he still had to face the questioning of the public, and there was absolutely no way for him to give them a reasonable exnation.


    John and Avery eventually managed to escape, taking away arge number of weapons and mechas. They were able to move so rapidly and escape so smoothly, indicating that they were already prepared for everything.


    The Fetani Empire''s internal government suffered a major upheaval as a result of this matter. Under the strong demands of the people, they overturned the monarchy, changed into a parliamentary system, and established the position of prime minister.


    John and Avery''s actions had caused a heavy loss to Fetani, as well as a very destructive effect. So the people of Fetani could not wait for Jing Yang toe back.


    The equipment that Jing Yang had designed and manufactured, andter the mechas and weapons, made Wilkesa the leading power in the universe in a very short period of time, causing their military power to be far ahead of those of the other countries. So Wilkesa obviously didn''t want him to leave, so they pressured the officials frequently to keep this person here, no matter what they did.


    So officials from both countries began to tussle. One side urged Jing Yang to return to his home since he was a person of Fetani. One side tried to push back, which was that they would not let go of him. The reason they gave was that they had saved Jing Yang, and Jing Yang had willingly stayed to repay them. Not to mention that he himself may not be willing to return to Fetani, where he had so many tragic and traumatizing memories.


    ~


    After sitting in a wheelchair for several months, Jing Yang was finally able to try to start walking on the ground. But it would take some time to rehabilitate and get back to full dexterity.


    Jing Yang held Denanfry''s hand, and under his support, like a toddler, he walked very carefully step by step. In barely moments, he was covered in sweat. The newly grown bones and muscles required time to hone. Even if Jing Yang had already mentally prepared himself long ago, the difficulty and pain was far beyond his expectations.


    "Take a break ba." Denanfry looked at Jing Yang covered in sweat, and his heart felt pained. If he could, he would take his ce and bear all the pain for him. That would be far morefortable than just watching him suffer like this.


    Jing Yang nodded. He was never someone who would force himself to suffer. Right now he was a little tired, so it would be good for him to take a break.


    Denanfry hugged him and put him on the couch. He picked up a hot towel and sat down next to him, helping him wipe off his sweat.


    "What''s the situation in Fetani now? Why haven''t you updated metely?" Jing Yang asked somewhat doubtfully.


    "Your recovery has been really difficult recently, so you don''t have to know some things that would make you upset. I will slowly tell you after waiting for everything toe to fruition." Denanfry stroked his face.


    "What could happen in Fetani right now that would still bother me?" Jing Yang looked at him. "Could it be that John seeded in seizing control of the initiative and pacifying the people of Fetani? If that''s the case, then they are actually really skilled.¡±


    "No, it''s not what you think." Denanfry said.


    "Then just tell me, what is going on? The more you don''t tell me, the more curious I am. After all, I can just go check myself, if there''s anything big there will definitely be news online.¡±


    Denanfry only spoke after looking at him for a while. "Tony died.¡±


    "What?" Jing Yang was a little stunned. "Who? Tony died?¡±


    "Yes, Avery killed him himself." Denanfry had been paying close attention to Jing Yang''s expression changes. Seeing that besides some surprise he seemed to have no other emotions, Denanfry felt inexplicably relieved.


    "Really?" Jing Yang was really somewhat surprised. He had thought that ording to Avery''s personality, he would have used any means possible to tie Tony to his side, and he really did not think that he would actually kill him. Could this be the so-called feeling of love that would rather he die than have the chance to be with someone else?


    "You, aren''t affected ba?" Denanfry asked.


    "What matter would I have?" Jing Yang nced at him incredulously. Then he smiled. "You wouldn''t have thought that I still had some sort of feelings toward him ba? Didn''t I tell you before? I already have no feelings at all toward him. Whether he''s dead or alive, it has nothing to do with me, and I will not feel sad for him. Just as he knew what John and Avery had done to my family but had stayed indifferent, my heart toward him is now just like how his was back then, cold and untouchable.¡±


    "Would you think that this kind of me is too heartless?" Jing Yang looked at Denanfry.


    "You just have to have emotions toward me. I wish more than you that you will be heartless toward everyone else." Denanfry seriously responded.


    Jing Yang wrapped his arms around Denanfry''s neck, smiling. He kissed him on the face and asked, "What about John and Avery? What''s their situation now?¡±


    "They sessfully managed to escape Fetani and took a lot of weapons and mechas with them. Recently, they have frequently contacted countries that have not joined the Federation. It looks like they''re trying to woo those countries, create a new federation, and then confront us.¡±


    "Their ambitions are really not small." Jing Yang smiled sarcastically.


    "Our people are watching their every move closely. I''m going to let my men start preparing. When the time is right, we will chase them all out." Denanfry hugged him and gently helped him massage his thighs.


    "General." Dyles came over to report. "The Prime Minister has asked you toe over. He said that there was something important to discuss and told you to bring mechanic Skien with you.¡±


    Denanfry paused for a moment then said, "I understand.¡±<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than 1 hour: 12:20 pm ¨C 1:10 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 112

    <strong>Chapter 112</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.17)</strong>


    The Fetani officials strongly requested to meet with Jing Yang, but Wilkesa officials also couldn''t really just keep denying that request. After all, no matter what, he was still a person of Fetani. If they really forcefully forbid them from seeing Jing Yang, the officials of Fetani would very likely say that they had forcibly detained Jing Yang and that they wouldn''t let Jing Yang return to Fetani. This would have a very bad effect on Wilkesa''s reputation.


    So the Wilkesa officials decided to let Jing Yang meet with the officials from Fetani and reject them himself. But the people of Wilkesa were still very concerned about this. Even if Jing Yang had personally volunteered to stay in Wilkesa, who could guarantee that he wouldn''t want to go back to Fetani in the future?


    "Fake marriage?" Denanfry was a little surprised by Prime Minister Bloch''s proposal.


    "This was the only method that we coulde up with to appease the people." Bloch exined. "Right now, all of the people are concerned about the fact that Skien is not a person of our country, and the officials of Fetani have also been constantly asking for Skien to be sent back. So we had a discussion. You two can go through a fake marriage at first so that at least for a short period of time, the people can be pacified to some extent.¡±


    Denanfry and Jing Yang exchanged a nce.


    "Of course." Bloch said to Jing Yang. "If you personally are unwilling, we won''t force you.¡±


    Bloch and Denanfry had been close friends for many years and he was very understanding of Denanfry''s character and personality. He knew very clearly that Denanfry was definitely interested in Jing Yang, or else he wouldn''t save him and support and protect him everywhere, even using his own reputation as a guarantee. But he didn''t know how Jing Yang felt in his heart, and he also didn''t want him to feel like they were forcing him, because that would probably be counterproductive.


    "No need to pretend." Denanfry said. "We were already nning to get married.¡±


    "Oh?" Bloch looked at the two with some surprise. He didn''t think that they would move so fast, but if that was true then it saved them a lot of trouble.


    "You can arrange it, and we cane forward and announce it in person." Denanfry said.


    "What about the Fetani officials? Are you going to meet with them?" Bloch asked Jing Yang.


    "It''s also good for me to meet with them, I''ll make things clear to them." Jing Yang said.


    "Okay, then I''ll let some people go arrange it." Bloch stood up and patted Denanfry on the shoulder, saying half-jokingly and half-seriously, "You''ve made a great contribution to the empire, and should bememorated in the annals.¡±


    ~


    Those officials who hade to the Wilkesa capital star had been here for quite some time and had been dealing with Wilkesa''s officials for a long time in order to be able to see Jing Yang and then persuade him to return to Fetani. Now they received notice that they could finally see Jing Yang, and their anxious hearts were finally loosened slightly.


    Even though Jing Yang had already been able to stand up and walk for short periods of time, he still sat in a wheelchair when he went to see the officials from Fetani.


    "Skien." One of the officials who had specificallye to see Jing Yang was Mason Dillon, who had been one of Skien''s father''s friends. He had watched Skien grow up, which was why he had been chosen toe and meet with him.


    "Uncle Mason, long time no see." Jing Yang greeted him.


    "You¡­" Mason nced at Jing Yang''s legs and asked, "How is your injury? Have you been doing okay here?¡±


    "My recovery has been going quite well, and I have been living well here. Not only do they not neglect me, but they also treat me as a distinguished guest. So it would be impossible for me to not be doing well here." Jing Yang said very calmly.


    "It''s good as long as you''re doing well." Mason exchanged a nce with the other few officials and felt that they had already exchanged enough pleasantries, so he cut straight to the chase. "You should know why we''re here, and also about John and Avery''s situation. Right now Fetani really needs you. Whether it''s officials like us or the ordinary people, we all hope that you cane back.¡±


    "I''m sorry, Uncle Mason, but I''m afraid I can''t satisfy your wishes." Jing Yang said. "I am already prepared to spend the rest of my life in Wilkesa, and I will never go back to Fetani again.¡±


    "Skien, listen to me." Mason said very sincerely. "I know that you still have resentment in your heart, but all of this tragedy was caused by John. Now, John has already fled from Fetani. If you want to go back, you will have a chance to get revenge on him.¡±


    "If I stay in Wilkesa, I will also have the opportunity to find John for revenge. That''s not something I can only do in Fetani." Jing Yang said.


    "But after all you are a person from Fetani. If you stay here, they will definitely be wary of you, and one day you will no longer be able to stay here. So you might as welle back with us now. We will do our best topensate you and will try our best to satisfy all of your requirements." Mason tried very hard to try to convince him.


    "Not a single member of my family is still in this world. No matter how much youpensate me, they won''t be able to revive. For me, Fetani is only full of sad memories, and there are already no other people or things there for me to miss. So, there is already no need. You also don''t have to persuade me. I came here to see you today in order to make it clear to all of you. I have already decided to stay in Wilkesa forever, and will never return to Fetani ever again.¡±


    If it were Skien, whether or not he would have wanted to go back, Jing Yang also wouldn''t have known. But he didn''t have the least bit of affection for Fetani, and he obviously wanted to stay by his lover''s side, how could it be possible for him to go to Fetani alone? He definitely didn''t have that kind of dedication.


    "Skien." Another official said in a very serious tone. "The ones who did you wrong were John and his people, not the entire country. The reason you are able to have your current skills is also because of the nurturing that the empire gave you. Even if you have hatred in your heart, the one you hate should not be the empire. No matter whether it''s to pay back the empire or out of gratitude for the empire''s cultivation of you, you should go back to Fetani, or, your grandfather and father will never forgive you!¡±


    Since Tony''s death, the Bilus family had suffered an almost total copse. This was not only because Tony''s father had lost all of his fighting spirit, but also mainly because of the people''s doubts and grievances, as well as the rise of new forces from the nonaristocrats.


    The officials from Fetani''s noble families had lost the support and trust of the people because of John''s matters. Now, they were facing a crisis of gradual loss of power, wanting to save the situation and regain the popr support. They had long already discussed whether to take the soft or hard approach to persuade Jing Yang. It was a pity that they didn''t know that Jing Yang had always been someone who wouldn''t be impacted by either soft or hard, not to mention that he didn''t have the least inclination of going back to Fetani.


    "What qualifications do you have to mention my grandfather and father in front of my face?" Jing Yang didn''t want to be involved with them anymore, and simply spoke harshly. ¡°Do you really think that I don''t know that you all and John share the same dirty affairs? Without your support, would he have been able to vilify my grandfather and uncles alone? Several of my uncles died in prison, do you dare say that you didn''t know anything about it?¡±


    "Don''t think that I don''t know what kind of ideas you''re ying with. Don''t you just want to take control of me so that you can continue to get the support of the people? I''m making it clear to you today. I will not go back to Fetani,rgely because I don''t want to see any of you, because you are also my enemies. Even if I wanted to go back, I would definitely not help you. So you better think clearly, whether or not you still want to let me go back!¡±


    The officials'' faces were all extremely ugly, and for a moment they couldn''t speak a word.


    "Please do note find me again. It''s impossible for me to go back with you, and I don''t want to see you ever again." Jing Yang left as soon as he finished speaking, leaving those officials frozen behind him.


    Jing Yang had basically been theirst hope. But now he hated them as well, so no matter whether or not he returned to Fetani, it would only harm them and never have any benefits for them. This made them feel as if they had been forced to retreat to the edge of a cliff, caught in a dilemma.


    ~


    Denanfry was waiting for him at the door. Seeing Jing Yange out, he helped him into the car, held his hand and said, "Have you rified everything to them?¡±


    "En." Jing Yangid his head on his shoulder. "In the future I will only have you, you have to be a little nicer to me.¡±


    Denanfry kissed his forehead. "How could it be enough to just be a little nicer to you? In the future I will only be good to you.¡±


    Jing Yang leaned into his arms and raised his head to kiss him back. This man was the lover of all of his lives, the meaning of his constant reincarnation. Falling in love with him seemed to be a kind of obsession carved deep in his soul.


    A few dayster, together with Denanfry, the two of them announced their uing marriage to the Federation-wide shared media.


    Jing Yang expressed that he would marry Denanfry because the two of them really loved each other. This wasn''t from gratitude, nor because they had been forced. After marriage, he would be a Wilkesa citizen and remain in Wilkesa forever.


    As soon as this news was announced, there were some people who were happy and some who were worried. It was of course the people of Wilkesa who were happy. Jing Yang was getting married to Denanfry, and also bing a Wilkesa citizen, which meant that he was a person of Wilkesa. When the two of them had children, they wouldn''t have to worry about whether Jing Yang would still want to go back to Fetani. After all, his husband and children would be in Wilkesa, and in Fetani, he didn''t have any rtives, but only some very bad memories.


    And those who were unhappy were obviously the people of Fetani. They had seen Jing Yang''s abilities. All o f those mining equipment, as well as those weapons and mechas, should have belonged to Fetani, but now they had be the core of Wilkesa''s dominance of the universe. The people of Fetani only hated John and the aristocratic officials even more, and also strongly opposed Jing Yang marrying Denanfry on the Federal Star Network.


    But the people of Wilkesa were unwilling to show weakness. Because Jing Yang would soon be a person of their empire, they began a war of words on the Federal Star Network with the people of Fetani. The two sides fought valiantly, and adding on people from the other countries who came to watch the fun, the Federal Star Network had be unprecedentedly lively.


    No matter how much the Federal Star Network was boiling over, Jing Yang and Denanfry had begun to actively prepare for the wedding.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    About an hour: 2:15 pm ¨C 3:15 pm, for 3.2k characters to 2k words.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">

 Chapter 113

    <strong>Chapter 113</strong><strong>


    </strong>


    <strong>War of Mechanics (Arc 8.18)</strong>


    Jing Yang and Denanfry''s marriage could be said to be a national celebration. The people of Wilkesa were like they were participating in a carnival, celebrating the two people''s wedding.


    Jing Yang was able to get down and walk around for longer and longer periods of time, but the wedding would take an entire day. Denanfry was worried that he would be too tired, so he wanted all of the procedures except for the ceremony to allow him to sit on the wheelchair. But Jing Yang insisted on not being tied to the wheelchair on the wedding day. After all, even if he got tired he would only be tired for one day, but in this lifetime the wedding ceremony would only happen once. He still wanted to carry it out in the best state.


    On the wedding day, not only did all of the officials show up, but many citizens also stood outside the wedding hall to give their blessings.


    After greeting the guests, Denanfry quickly walked toward the lounge.


    "You''ll be very tired today, don''t force yourself. If you feel tired just tell me, it doesn''t matter if you go rest in the lounge. Don''t make yourself tired out." Denanfry touched Jing Yang''s face.


    "I know." Jing Yang smiled slightly. "Didn''t you arrange it so that there would be a lot of sofas in the ballroom? I think that I will probably be sitting for most of the time, I won''t tire myself out.¡±


    In most wedding banquets, in order to facilitate the flow of guests, they were basically all standing. But Denanfry, because he was afraid that Jing Yang would get tired from standing all the time, specifically had the banquet hall people prepare a lot of couches so that those who wanted to stand could stand and those who wanted to sit could sit. Because thisyout was very reasonable, it didn''t seem strange at all, and even became a mainstream style for parties.


    For such a grand wedding, it was impossible for them to not have media coverage. Not only did the Wilkesa Empire''s media broadcast some live coverage, but those countries with good rtions with Wilkesa, as well as the Federal Star Network media, also streamed some live coverage.


    ~


    Avery was half lying on the sofa, the ground next to his feet and the coffee table filled with empty bottles. Since escaping from Fetani, he had almost been living in a drunken stupor, rarely sobering up. Not only did he look absolutely decadent now, but he was also in poor health, as if he wasn''t a teen of merely ten plus years.


    He had just woken up from a dream with a sore head and a sore body. Even though his body was very ufortable, it was a rare sober moment. He turned on the screen on the wall, wanting to see what the recent Star Network news was in order to divert his attention and relieve his headache.


    But he didn''t think that it would be such a coincidence. He had just turned on the screen when he saw the live scene of Denanfry and Jing Yang''s wedding. Seeing the scene of Denanfry and Jing Yang''s deeply affectionate gazes toward each other, at first he was little dazed, but he slowly realized what he was seeing.


    Avery instantly rose from the sofa, grabbing a bottle and throwing it at the screen on the wall. He smashed over a dozen bottles, ss shards flying everywhere, but the screen didn''t break at all, and he could still clearly see Denanfry kissing Jing Yang, as well as the two men''s happiness.


    "Ah!! Ah!!" Avery was like a mad man,pletely not feeling the scratches on his face from the flying debris.


    And finally, there were no bottles left to smash, and his body fell back onto the sofa. It was as if he had been drained of his soul, lying there lifelessly with dead eyes.


    Avery suddenly felt very powerless. He felt like it shouldn''t have been like this, he should have been the person who got such happiness. If his ending was just like this, what was the point of his rebirth? It would have been better to just die straight away at the beginning. Why? Why the hell was it like this? His love was gone, his fame and status were gone, what was the point of him living anymore?


    John opened the door and saw the debris in the room. He thought that Avery had gotten into a drunk fit again. By this time he had already be ustomed to it, and without any additional expression, he went straight to Avery and sat down.


    "How do you feel? Do you have a headache? Do you want me to call a doctor for you?" John asked him, checking his expression to see if he was awake.


    Avery nced at John, shaking his head.


    John saw that he was actually somewhat sober and said, "Could it be that you actually want to stay like this forever? Do you know how difficult our current situation is? Can''t you pick yourself up and help me out?¡±


    During this period of time, John was constantly contacting the top officials of those countries who hadn''t joined the Federation. He only felt physically and mentally exhausted, but Avery still didn''t let him save his worry. He was now truly frustrated like never before, but he had no choice but to ept and face the perfunctoriness of those people.


    "What can I do for you?" Avery said self-mockingly. "I''m such aplete failure, what can I do? My equipment designs aren¡¯t as good as Skien''s, my weapon designs aren''t as good as Skien''s, and even the mechas I make aren''t as good as Skien''s, do you think I can still help you?¡±


    "The more you abandon yourself to despair, the faster we will bepletely destroyed. It''s impossible for Skien to not find us for revenge. Now he has married Denanfry and can mobilize even more power. Do you really want to do nothing and just wait for him toe to the door and destroy us?" John felt the feeling of helplessness for the first time. This little brother who had always made them proud had now fallen to this state, which made him both angry and sad.


    Avery''s eyes continued to be godless, as if he hadn''t heard John''s words.


    John only felt powerless and helpless. During this time, he had advised him countless times. He really had nothing more to say, he could only wait for time to pass slowly and for him to recover on his own.


    ~


    "En~" Jing Yangy on the bed, withstanding Denanfry''s final impact, and his lifted waist was finally put back down.


    The morning exercise had already been finished but Jing Yang still couldn''t open his eyes. He was turned over by Denanfry, and in a kiss that almost suffocated him, finally woke up a little.


    "Get up, en?" Denanfry whispered into his lips.


    "I feel like I only slept for a little bit." Jing Yang half-opened his eyes and said with a lot of dissatisfaction. He had been tossed until the middle of the nightst night. He didn''t even know when this person stopped, only remembering that he had fallen asleep when he really couldn''t handle it anymore, and then he didn''t sleep much when he had been fiddled awake again.


    "We are going to go today, sleep on the ship, okay?" Denanfry said dotingly.


    "Hu." Jing Yang huffed as a response.


    Denanfry picked up Jing Yang and brought him into the bathroom for a wash. The ship''s departure time was already set and couldn''t be dyed. So even though Denanfry wanted to let Jing Yang sleep longer, he couldn''t let him continue to sleep at this time.


    They were preparing to set out to destroy John. They had been preparing for so long, and they could finally bring things to a conclusion.


    The two people had just gotten married but Denanfry already needed to go fight. Jing Yang could only feel d that fortunately he wasn''t only able to send him to the battlefield, but he could also apany him. So there was a lot of peace of mind in his heart that at least no matter what happened, they would always be together.


    Once aboard the ship, Jing Yang went directly to Denanfry''s room to sleep. The two people were now legitimate husbands, and sleeping in the same room on the ship waspletely normal. No one felt this was weird. Even though this was a first for the general to bring along a family member while going out on a mission, who made Jing Yang not just an ordinary family member.


    John and his men had been hiding all over the ce, not daring to stay in any one ce for too long. He thought that he would be able to escape for at least a few years, and in those years he could build up his own power. Then even if it were Fetani or Wilkesa, they wouldn''t be able to easily extinguish him. But when he was surrounded by ships led by Denanfry, he finally realized how easy it was for him without the backing of Fetani to be surrounded by troops from another country.


    There was no escape. John could only pilot his mecha to fight and use his own life as a bet to make onest-ditch effort.


    Denanfry had made amand that John would be left for him to solve himself. So when John attacked, the other soldiers didn''t go deal with him, instead deliberately avoiding him.


    John''s mecha was made by Avery. He had piloted it intobat many times because this mecha was much stronger than other mechas, so each time, he enjoyed the feeling of being incredibly powerful. But now that he was fighting Denanfry, he knew how it felt to be facing real strength.


    He had originally thought that he would at least be able to confront Denanfry for a while, but since the start he had no power to fight back. That sense of oppression and powerlessness that he couldn''t resist made him desperate.


    Avery stood in themand module. Seeing John''s mecha getting shot continuously by Denanfry''s mecha, he stared and roared with grief, "No! Brother!!¡±


    "Ah!!!" Avery crouched down and cried. He knew very clearly that these consequences werergely the result of his own actions. He really regretted it, truly regretted it!


    Jing Yang was also sitting in themand module at this moment. Watching the screen, the scene of Skien escaping appeared involuntarily in his mind. He was chased by the Poison Wolves'' men, then his mecha was shot through multiple times.


    These two scenes ovepped. Jing Yang knew that this was from the consciousness that belonged to Skien''s body that was finally willing to dissipate.


    Avery and John were both captured alive. John was badly wounded but didn''t die, and Denanfry also had no intention of letting him die that easily.


    Denanfry brought John and Avery to the Federal Star for custody. Then, through the federal conference, he convicted them as pirates of the universe, and brought them home to Wilkesa for punishment.


    Falling into Denanfry''s hands, they obviously would not have a good end. Chat, the leader of the Poison Wolves had confessed to everything, and ording to the agreement, Denanfry gave him a fast way out. But John and Avery would not be treated so well. The second half of their lives would be worse dead than alive, and Denanfry would help make sure of that.


    Jing Yang didn''t go see those two again. In theing days, those memories would slowly be forgotten into a tiny corner of his brain, bing an unimportant memory. They would always be there, but he would no longer pay attention to them.<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    <strong>Random Notes:</strong>


    A little less than an hour: 9:15 am ¨C 10 am, for 3.2k characters to 2k words.


    and this arc is finally over. it felt like it took forever. as usual, i will be taking a short break before starting the next arc. thanks for sticking with me through all this, and i will try my best to keep the updates consistent! see you in the next one!<hr ss="wp-block-separator">


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!