Chapter 113| Chapter 114| Chapter 115
Chapter 113: Apology
The player’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief as he stared at Lu Yunxi.
Clutching his throat, he leaned over and tried desperately to gag himself. But the True Word Pill had already dissolved the moment it touched his tongue; there was absolutely nothing left to spit out.
“You… what the hell did you just feed me?!” His expression fluctuated wildly, twisting from pure terror to a murderous glare in a fraction of a second. It was impossible to tell if he was trapped in a mental spiral or if the medicine was already triggering some bizarre physical reaction.
Lu Yunxi monitored him closely. Realizing his erratic behavior was just a product of psychological panic rather than actual poisoning, she internally breathed a sigh of relief.
“You really want to know what I fed you?” She crossed her arms, her brow furrowing into a stern line as she stood over him with the towering authority of a strict superior.
The player looked up at her, a wave of panic finally overriding his defenses.
“That’s right. I’ve had my eye on you for days,” Lu Yunxi lied smoothly, leaning into her performance with a furious glare. “You thought you could sneak around and see another woman behind my back? What I just fed you was a highly toxic Organ-Rupturing Pill. If you don’t start telling me the absolute truth about everything you’ve been doing these past few days, the poison will liquefy your intestines, and you will die a slow, excruciating death.”
To sell the threat, she let a thoroughly villainous smirk curl her lips.
In reality, the True Word Pill was nothing more than a baseline truth serum. It possessed absolutely zero flesh-melting properties; she was purely exploiting his ignorance to scare him into submission.
It worked flawlessly. Beads of cold sweat began to pour down the player’s face.
“I… actually, I…”
Sweat drenched his collar. Suddenly, he clamped both hands over his stomach, his face contorting into a mask of phantom agony as if his internal organs were already tearing apart. Terrified by the placebo effect, he spilled everything he knew without holding back a single detail.
Lu Yunxi nodded in satisfaction, reading his body language to confirm he was telling the truth. Once she had thoroughly interrogated him on exactly how the raiding parties had bypassed the outer parameters, she immediately went out to patch the security loophole and promptly kicked him out of the sanctuary.
She targeted two female players next, deploying the exact same psychological routine.
“Sister, it’s been so long since we last chatted,” she would say, offering a sweet, disarming smile. “I’ve missed you terribly. Did you miss me too?”
…
Initially, Lu Yunxi had assumed the first player would immediately run to the world boards to publish an emergency warning thread, alerting the community to her interrogation tactics.
To her surprise, the players chose to keep the incident entirely to themselves.
Not a single warning post surfaced on the forums. The three of them maintained an absolute wall of silence right up until the moment she systematically purged them from the faction.
Seeing that they hadn’t compromised her methods online, Lu Yunxi didn’t waste any more mental energy trying to figure out their logic. She marched straight to the Grand Elders’ chambers to compile the intelligence she had gathered.
In truth, she had developed a few lingering doubts regarding the True Word Pill’s actual alchemical properties, suspecting its effectiveness relied heavily on psychological suggestion.
She hadn’t bothered to threaten the two female players with internal rupture. The first girl had spoken the truth freely, but the effects of the pill wore off completely after a mere ten minutes. The second girl possessed significantly higher mental fortitude; she had simply clamped her jaw shut and refused to utter a single syllable.
Ultimately, it was only after Lu Yunxi utilized the ‘Magical Truth Candies’ she had extorted earlier that she managed to secure a comprehensive list of the infiltrated players.
Granted, the operational data known to these low-level scouts was severely limited. But with a concrete list of names in hand, tracking down the rest of the network would be child’s play.
“Master!”
Hearing the overly familiar voice ring out across the courtyard, Lu Yunxi arched an eyebrow. “You actively participated in a campaign to sabotage my home… How do you still have the audacity to show your face to me?!”
“What’s wrong? Did you think I was oblivious?” she continued, her voice flat and cuttingly cold. “It seems you already know I’m preparing to formally expel you from our lineage, since you’ve crawled back here to beg.”
“Master, please, just listen to my explanation!” Shen San wailed, throwing himself forward to hurl his arms around her legs. He wept so violently that tears and snot threatened to stain the fabric of her skirt.
Her eye twitched. She fought a massive urge to kick him across the pavilion, but ultimately forced her temper down, deciding to grant him a solitary window to state his case.
“Fine. Go ahead and explain,” Lu Yunxi said, crossing her arms as she looked down at him with an indifferent gaze. “I’m listening.”
“Master, I swear on my life, I never betrayed you!” Shen San raised a trembling hand to execute a formal system oath, his face pale with anxiety. “I did catch wind of a player conspiracy to sabotage the grand ceremony, and I’ll admit I was originally planning to participate for the rewards. But the exact moment I realized you were the bride, I abandoned the campaign entirely! I wanted nothing more than to ensure your wedding concluded flawlessly…”
Lu Yunxi stood perfectly still, watching him sob at her feet. The coldness in her gaze softened slightly.
With her heightened perception, she could instinctively tell the boy wasn’t fabricating his panic.
After a long pause, an idea struck her. She maintained a flat, neutral expression as she spoke. “Very well. I cannot verify the absolute sincerity of your words… but I am willing to grant you a single opportunity to redeem yourself.”
“What kind of opportunity?” Shen San sniffled, looking up at her with wide, desperate eyes.
“Aside from your little circle, countless spies from rival player factions have slipped past our gates, dead-set on fracturing our defensive alliance,” Lu Yunxi stated coldly, structuring her words like a standard NPC quest-giver. “To ensure the upcoming wedding proceeds without further delay, your objective is to hunt down every single hostile agent hidden within our walls and deliver a complete roster to me. Can you handle that?”
Shen San nodded frantically, a wave of profound relief washing over him. He understood perfectly! All he had to do was unmask every single player hiding in the zone!
He immediately locked in the prompt: “Master, I promise to execute the mission to perfection!”
Lu Yunxi watched his frantic, sprinting retreat, a subtle glint flickering in her eyes.
With this arrangement, she could finally step back and relax.
Returning to her private quarters, she spent two blissful days resting before a carrier pigeon arrived bearing a detailed roster from Shen San.
Without a moment’s delay, she rounded up every account on the list and forcefully sent them packing straight back to the regional respawn points.
The players had embedded themselves incredibly deep within the infrastructure; a significant portion of the menial NPC staff had already been bound and locked away in closets by the raid parties. Lu Yunxi didn’t even bother checking whether the intruders had racked up actual body counts among her fellow disciples—she simply executed the purge.
With Shen San operating as an insider informant, the Misty Rain Palace successfully eradicated the player presence within forty-eight hours.
The moment she finalized the process by officially casting Shen San out of the sect to maintain appearances, a massive server-wide notification flashed into reality.
The system broadcasted the status update three times consecutively to the entire continent:
[Campaign Alert: The player vanguard has failed to sabotage the wedding. The player vanguard has failed to siege the Misty Rain Palace. The regional Faction War campaign has entered a global cooldown phase…]
Lu Yunxi scrolled through a screenshot of the official forum tracker, staring at the massive countdown timer pinned to the front page, and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The player base would be mechanically locked out of launching another world event against her faction for the foreseeable future.
It seemed she could finally travel abroad without worrying about her home being turned to ash.
To thoroughly pacify his master’s lingering resentment, Shen San didn’t stop at aggressively clearing the quest line; he began researching every available method to restore their relationship metrics.
Naturally, this required consulting the crowdsourced wisdom of the world boards.
The Ancient Times forum was a goldmine of deep-dive analytical threads. It didn’t take him long to unearth a dedicated guide on hidden NPC mechanics:
[Advanced Mechanics – Favorability Systems]: In certain high-stakes scenarios or structural betrayals, the standard numerical favorability tracker will be hidden by the system. During these phases, players must manually evaluate an NPC’s disposition through contextual dialogue and behavioral shifts. For instance, if an NPC grants you a personalized item on your character’s birthday, it indicates a base metric above 50%, unlocking standard quest lines.
[Note]: NPC disposition is highly dynamic and can plummet just as rapidly as it climbs. Exercise extreme caution during narrative interactions; never cross a native’s core moral thresholds.
[Warning]: Securing a specialized societal bond with an NPC—such as a formal apprenticeship or adoption—applies a massive multiplier to favorability gains. However, if a player commits a narrative betrayal while these bonds are active, the NPC’s disposition will drop exponentially, triggering severe faction hostility.
Reading down the thread, Fu Jinheng’s heart gave a violent, panicked thud.
Crap! No wonder his rewards had been completely locked out even after he successfully cleared his master’s infiltration quest. Her expression hadn’t softened into a warm smile; she had merely looked slightly less inclined to cleave him in two compared to their encounter in the alleyway.
[Mitigation Strategies]: If you have triggered a severe disposition drop, the absolute fastest way to stabilize the metric is through material bribery (gifting premium items), funding culinary excursions (inviting them to high-tier taverns), or unlocking shared travel routes…
The remainder of the thread dwindled into standard high-level theory, but the baseline data gave him a solid foundation to work with.
According to the veteran forum theorists, repairing broken affinity metrics boiled down to a simple three-step progression: 1. Offer high-quality material gifts. 2. Secure dinner invitations or trigger shared exploratory travel. 3. Rinse and repeat until the structural lock cleared, eliminating the risk of permanent faction expulsion.
Fu Jinheng reviewed his customized itinerary multiple times, nodding firmly before setting out to execute phase one.
Step one: The material offering.
Shen San took a deep, steadying breath, concealing a massive bouquet behind his back as he approached Lu Yunxi’s veranda. Stepping into her line of sight, he suddenly brought the arrangement forward, dropping into a deep, profoundly respectful bow as he offered the flowers with both hands.
“Master, I personally harvested these rare blossoms from the deep valleys specifically for you. I truly hope they please you!”
Lu Yunxi looked down at the massive explosion of vibrant wild chrysanthemums filling his palms, her eyes brightening slightly as she nodded. “An excellent choice! I’ve been harboring a bit of internal heat lately; these will be perfect for brewing.”
“I’ll use these to whip up a batch of chrysanthemum pastries and a pot of medicinal tea later this afternoon. Make sure you stay behind to have a taste,” she said casually, accepting the bundle and carrying it straight over to the water basin to begin a thorough washing process.
Shen San: “…Huh?”
He stood frozen in absolute bewilderment, watching her methodically pluck every single petal from the stems, tossing the greenery aside until nothing remained but bare stalks soaking in a stone tub.
A profound silence filled the pavilion. Did… did that count as forgiveness?
According to the global StarNet luxury indices, this specific variety was considered the absolute pinnacle of aesthetic gifting. Historical archives unearthed by colonial archaeologists indicated that ancient cultures utilized this specific blossom to symbolize peerless, noble character.
Was his master not a woman of peerless, noble character?
Shen San tentatively tried to initiate a casual conversation, only to find her demeanor remained just as cool, distant, and utterly unreadable as it had been all week.
A heavy wave of defeat settled over his shoulders.
It seemed phase one had been a complete and utter failure.
Chapter 114: Play
The second gift.
Shen San ran all over the city until he tracked down the cosmetic shop with the most complete selection—the one rumored to be the absolute most popular among young women.
“Shopkeeper, if I’m looking for an apology gift for an elder… do you have any recommendations?” He studiously ignored the shocked, gossiping stares of the women around him, focused entirely on the rows of bottles and jars on the counter as he spoke with absolute seriousness.
The shopkeeper offered a polished smile. “Of course, young master. Could you perhaps tell me what shades your elder prefers? Or what skin tone they usually have?”
“…”
Shen San’s brow furrowed. He began to mentally analyze the question with a stark, rigorous intensity, as if he were conducting a scientific research project.
The final result of his investigation was the purchase of a literal mountain of skincare and cosmetic products. The shop provided custom gift boxes for the haul, making the final presentation look exceptionally high-end and exquisite.
As he walked back down the bustling street, groups of girls whispered to one another, casting envious glances his way from time to time. He secretly exhaled a breath of relief. It seemed his choice aligned perfectly with the baseline preferences of the general public, so there shouldn’t be any issues this time.
However—
Lu Yunxi merely arched a single eyebrow at the massive stack of cosmetics he presented to her. Far from showing a wave of pleasant surprise, her expression remained entirely flat and indifferent. With a casual wave of her hand, she swept the entire pile straight into her spatial storage and offered a polite, standard thank you.
Shen San: “…Master, do you not like it?”
She paused.
She wasn’t sure at what specific milestone she had unlocked it, but her system interface had suddenly granted her a permanent, one-click makeup function. She didn’t even need to purchase physical cosmetics anymore; the system process was simple, efficient, and instantaneous.
But even if the luxury cosmetics were mechanically useless to her, he had already spent the gold to buy them, so she couldn’t exactly throw them in the trash. More importantly, her apprentice had been terrified lately that she was going to permanently sever their ties. If she outright rejected the offering, his tears would probably flood the entire Misty Rain Palace.
In the world of Ancient Times, once a player was formally expelled from an NPC’s lineage, every single class ability and sub-profession skill they had previously mastered would be instantly locked. The mechanics permanently barred them from using those skills unless they could successfully secure a new master and re-grind their proficiency bars from scratch.
Even if he could technically replicate the movements in real life, being locked out of the system’s automated tracking loops inside the game would be an immense hassle. Naturally, he was terrified of the consequence.
Lu Yunxi deliberated for a moment before offering a reassuring nod. “It’s a very thoughtful gift… I will make good use of it.”
Shen San was truly beginning to taste despair. He had rarely bothered to open his system’s Favorability interface in the past, but now that he checked it daily, he found that the slot dedicated to his Master was completely grayed out and locked. He couldn’t verify his exact standing at all.
He fumbled with the settings for ages but couldn’t deduce the cause. When he finally pinged the automated customer support matrix, the AI simply verified that the system was functioning as intended and told him to explore the hidden mechanics on his own.
What he remained completely oblivious to, however, was a recent update in Lu Yunxi’s private interface. Her advanced system options now included a manual toggle that allowed her to completely mask her affinity metrics from the corresponding party’s UI. In other words, no one could easily read her true emotions anymore.
Shen San simply assumed his master’s favorability had dropped into a fatal negative threshold, causing the system to hide the data, which naturally heightened his underlying panic.
The third gift.
Shen San refused to believe his strategy was entirely flawed. According to the trending metrics on StarNet, if a person systematically rotated through the top luxury gifting categories, they were statistically guaranteed to eventually hit upon an item the recipient favored.
Hearing rumors that a legendary Master Artisan specializing in high-tier leatherworking happened to be passing through the local district, he immediately set off to secure an audience. The artisan certainly lived up to his reputation; the bags he produced were all of pristine orange quality, embroidered with elegant, geometric diamond textures that looked exceptionally beautiful.
However—
Upon receiving the luxury bag, Lu Yunxi merely offered a polite, practiced smile, the depths of her eyes remaining completely calm. “Thank you for the gift. I like it very much.”
Shen San had no way of knowing that ever since this pseudo-NPC had unraveled the core secrets of the holographic world, she had lost all fundamental interest in superficial, material novelties.
Her underlying anxiety was centered entirely around her raw combat statistics, terrified that she wouldn’t be strong enough to survive if she encountered a catastrophic threat down the line. Furthermore, since she possessed an infinite, invisible spatial inventory, a physical bag served no mechanical purpose other than to act as a prop to disguise her space.
He had delivered three premium offerings back-to-back, yet he still couldn’t detect even a single point of data shift from his master.
Shen San was forced to reflect on his approach. Had he miscalculated somewhere? No matter how much he parsed the data, he couldn’t pinpoint the error, ultimately guessing that his master simply harbored some highly specific, hidden preferences.
After a long moment of deliberation, Shen San resolved to pause his material bribery campaign and shift to phase two of the forum strategy: inviting his master out for food, drink, and entertainment. After all, his master had already concluded her duties within the sect gates and was currently wandering the continent to gather experience.
Before long, Lu Yunxi noted that her apprentice had suddenly developed an insatiable appetite for local recreation. No matter which town or territory they traveled through, he could map out every premium tavern and entertainment venue within a few hours of arrival.
“Master, why don’t we go watch the local shadow puppet play tonight?” he suggested, his eyes full of eager anticipation.
According to the forum consensus, taking an NPC to watch movies was a legendary shortcut to farming relationship metrics. While modern cinema didn’t exist within the historical setting of Ancient Times, he had discovered that traditional shadow puppetry served as the mechanical equivalent.
Seeing how deeply invested he was in the outing, Lu Yunxi agreed to the invitation without hesitation.
Later that evening, as twilight settled over the district, the traditional instruments began to chime, and the shadow play kicked off in a lively, boisterous atmosphere.
However, while Lu Yunxi had systematically maxed out her sub-professions in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, she had only done so as a precautionary measure to unlock stat bonuses. She rarely engaged with the arts in her leisure time and possessed zero actual interest in theatrical narratives. Sitting in the crowded venue, surrounded by an audience roaring with excitement, her eyelids gradually grew heavy, and she began to doze off.
Beside her, Shen San sat in a state of intense focus and excitement.
Of course, his thrill had absolutely nothing to do with the performance on stage. Lu Yunxi was merely bored, but as an Interstellar citizen, he found the ancient theatrical format completely incomprehensible. His excitement stemmed entirely from the fact that his master had willingly accepted the invitation to go out with him.
According to crowdsourced player data, if an NPC agreed to accompany a player on a recreational excursion, it verified a baseline affinity metric of at least twenty percent. As long as he could successfully push that number past the fifty percent safety threshold, he would no longer have to worry about being permanently severed from her lineage.
Yes!
The relief on his face grew by the minute, his lips curling into a grin he couldn’t suppress.
The heavy darkness of the evening performance effectively obscured their expressions from the rest of the venue. None of the surrounding patrons paid any attention to the master and apprentice tucked away in the back row.
Until—
Snap!
Lu Yunxi’s eyes snapped open instantly, a lethal, chilling light flashing through her pupils. Moving with absolute mechanical precision, she threw a brutal elbow back toward a creeping shadow that had approached her with obvious malicious intent. Following a sharp scream of agony, she smoothly delivered a succession of heavy slaps to the offender’s face.
“You dare attempt to take underhanded advantages of me? You must be thoroughly tired of living!” Her voice cut through the night air like a shard of ice, sending a wave of primal dread straight through the groveling creep’s heart.
Only then did Shen San register the sudden scuffle. Someone had actually tried to creep up on his master in the dark, and his own perception stat had failed to detect it entirely!
Dammit!
“Master, are you unharmed?!” Horrified by his lapse in vigilance, he bolted out of his seat, frantically inspecting her for any damage.
She twitched her lips, offering a thoroughly speechless look. “I’m perfectly fine. I neutralized the idiot before his hand could even clear my cloak.”
The wretched man, realizing he had accidentally targeted a high-level master-tier combatant, immediately dropped to his knees to beg for mercy.
Shen San glared down at the groveling target, instantly stepping into the role of a fiercely loyal subordinate handling the chores for his boss. “Master, leave this garbage to me. I’ll handle the disposal.”
She waved her hand with a look of pure, sleepy impatience, settling back into her chair to resume her nap while Shen San dragged the offender out by his collar.
Because the patrons in the front rows were making an incredible racket, cheering and shouting at the stage transitions, the minor disruption in the rear didn’t draw any attention from the crowd.
By the time Shen San returned to his seat, he was fully prepared to deliver a lengthy, formal apology for failing to safeguard her perimeter. However, turning his head, he found his master resting her jaw in her palm, her head rhythmically nodding as she drifted off to sleep.
He quietly closed his mouth, rubbing his temples to soothe a rising headache.
Did tonight actually count as a success?
Shen San was not the type of person to abandon a campaign lightly. After compiling and analyzing his consecutive failures, he resolved to execute the ultimate strategy highly recommended by veteran forum posters: shared exploratory travel.
He carefully reviewed his notes, then approached Lu Yunxi with a structured plan.
“Master,” he began, his throat tightening slightly as he maintained the serious, deeply sincere expression dictated by the guides. “I deeply regret my past missteps. To properly express my apology, I would like to invite you on an excursion to the coastal territory. Would you be willing to accompany me?”
“Of course,” Lu Yunxi replied instantly. She had been struggling to find any meaningful tasks to fill her schedule lately anyway. Since her stats had already hit the master threshold and very few entities on the continent could challenge her in open combat, she felt no pressing urgency to grind her levels.
The two coordinated their itineraries and chose a nearby beach destination, having caught wind of a seasonal regional event currently active in the zone that promised high-tier prize drops.
“Master, shall I secure a premium horse-drawn carriage to transport us to the coordinates?” According to the forum manuals, if a player wished to earn an NPC’s forgiveness, they needed to flawlessly manage every minor detail of the journey, with transportation being a critical metric.
Aside from standard carriages, the local vehicle dealerships offered highly bizarre, system-coded transport options like enchanted pumpkin coaches and winter sleighs, though players rarely utilized them. He figured his master wouldn’t care for those ridiculous options either.
Recalling her highly unconventional aesthetic taste, however, he decided to scan the lower listings, asking with a hint of doubt, “They also list a few unique options… like a winter sled pulled by a pack of huskies, or… a festive deer team?” Looking over the dealership’s ledger, he felt entirely bewildered.
Lu Yunxi’s eyes lit up with instant curiosity. She leaned over his shoulder, her gaze scanning down the parchment. “They actually have those available? Let’s rent… the elephant carriage!”
Unfortunately, the dealership manager flatly rejected the transaction.
“Young master, the coastal fishing village you’re targeting is only a brief walk from this terminal. If you deploy an elephant carriage, the vehicle won’t even clear the city gates before you arrive at the boundary lines. Mobilizing a beast of that scale for this distance is far more trouble than it’s worth!”
Left with no alternative, the master and apprentice set out on foot.
In less than five minutes of brisk walking, the pair crossed the perimeter lines, arriving smoothly at the small fishing village nestled by the sea.
Chapter 115: Are You Okay?
“A competitive eating contest?” Lu Yunxi asked, her tone entirely flat.
“Yes! The person who eats the most and the fastest will be today’s champion and take home our ultimate seafood reward!” the host announced with a booming smile.
Lu Yunxi and Shen San were completely unimpressed.
Wasn’t it just a pile of seafood? They had prepared seafood countless times while leveling up their culinary skills. Having cooked with so many premium, fresh ingredients, why would they care about a local tournament?
But then…
“Wait, those are the actual ingredients for the prize?” Lu Yunxi’s eyes suddenly widened in shock. She stared at the mountain of orange-grade seafood that practically filled an entire display area, her competitive spirit instantly igniting.
Even with her extensive traveling, she had never seen so many orange-tier ingredients piled together, thrown into crates as if they were cheap and free.
“Master, do you want them? I’ll go win them back for you!” Shen San offered, practically vibrating with excitement.
Thank the heavens! God bless him! It felt like his master’s favorability score was about to hit the 50-point safety threshold any minute now!
Lu Yunxi fell silent, looking at him with a heavy dose of skepticism. It wasn’t that she underestimated her apprentice, but his appetite was strictly that of an ordinary person; he had never shown any legendary eating capabilities. Can he really pull this off?
Unfortunately, her own appetite was naturally smaller than most. In this world, becoming a high-level powerhouse didn’t mean one’s stomach expanded; instead, after reaching the master level, she actually required less food to sustain herself.
The vast majority of the contestants signing up for the challenge were heavily built, heavyweight individuals, with only a tiny handful of leaner folk scattered among them. Standing amidst a sea of massive, heavyweight players, the few thin guys stood out like sore thumbs.
Once every single seat at the long table was filled, the host gave the starting signal, and the first massive platters of grilled oysters were slammed down.
Shen San took a deep breath, steeled his resolve, and began stuffing food into his mouth without a moment’s hesitation.
He was eating at a furious pace, but the surrounding competitors were not to be underestimated either. Since the tournament had only just kicked off, the pack was still tightly clustered, and no one had managed to pull ahead just yet.
Platter after platter of various seafood varieties were served in rapid succession. Most of the dishes were heavily seasoned and grilled with cumin and chili peppers, though there were occasional rounds of delicate fish sashimi and light, steamed dishes mixed into the rotation. Because the ingredients were incredibly fresh, the flavors were genuinely spectacular. Scallops, saury, oysters—every imaginable delicacy from the sea was up for grabs.
As the grueling clock ticked on, the structural gap between the contestants finally began to widen.
Before long, the absolute fastest eaters at the table boiled down to Shen San and a remarkably lean guy sitting directly adjacent to him. The two men locked eyes, literal sparks flying between their gazes as they aggressively chewed.
The host on the main stage kept his attention firmly locked onto their corner. “Look at that, ladies and gentlemen! While the rest of our heavyweights are already stuffed to the gills and bowing out, our two remaining contestants are still going strong! They say lean people hide a second stomach, and these two are proving the legend true! Not only are they incredibly fit, but their capacity is absolutely terrifying! Who will claim the ultimate crown…”
Shen San could no longer afford the luxury of looking at his rival. His expression grew thoroughly grim, his jaw aching as he forced down bite after painful bite.
In reality, the guy next to him was pushing himself past his absolute limit, the veins on his forehead bulging aggressively from the strain.
Finally, the master of ceremonies announced the final round: a massive bowl of cold jellyfish.
The two rivals locked eyes one last time.
I’ve pushed myself this far! Shen San thought, his vision swimming. The finish line is right here! I refuse to lose at the very last second!
Grit-teeth, he jammed a massive clump of jellyfish into his mouth.
Beside him, the rival’s defenses cracked completely. He slumped out of his chair, tumbling onto the grass with his hands clamped tightly over his stomach, groaning in sheer agony, “I… I can’t do it. No more.”
Seeing Shen San claim the victory, Lu Yunxi exploded into pure joy, completely failing to notice that her apprentice was currently drenched in a cold, trembling sweat.
The host offered a beaming congratulation to Shen San, gesturing for the staff to wheel out the massive crates of orange-grade seafood. Lu Yunxi was absolutely ecstatic, her hands moving in a blur as she swept the entire haul straight into her spatial storage.
She was just celebrating her new ingredients when a sudden, heavy thud echoed right behind her.
She spun around in a daze, only to find Shen San desperately clamping a hand over his mouth as his body collapsed heavily onto the floor.
“Shen San?!”
[Indigestion: Acute abdominal distress caused by extreme overeating. Note: No matter how spectacular the culinary flavor, please practice dietary moderation!]
Lu Yunxi stared at the system diagnostic window floating above her apprentice, letting out a heavy, complicated sigh.
Resigned, she reached into her spatial inventory to pull out a specialized digestive pill, carefully easing it between his lips. Fortunately, her medical supplies were crafted in standard pill form; if she had been forced to administer a liquid herbal decoction, it would have been a genuine miracle if his stuffed stomach could have retained it.
Shen San lay sprawled across the inn’s mattress, his face entirely drained of color. After the medicinal properties of the pill began to diffuse, the agonizing tightness in his lower abdomen slowly began to unravel.
Seeing that his vitals had stabilized and he was out of danger, Lu Yunxi finally returned to her own adjoining quarters, drifting off to sleep with complete peace of mind.
While she slept soundly, Shen San spent the entire night tossing and turning in a state of hyper-anxiety.
Did the strategy work?! Did Master’s hidden affinity score finally reset?
Unable to find a moment of peace, he finally threw off his blankets in frustration. Stepping out onto the dim, second-floor balcony of the inn, he began pacing back and forth across the wooden floorboards to burn off his nervous energy.
However, completely preoccupied with his career crisis, he failed to notice a pair of sharp, calculating eyes tracking his silhouette through the flickering shadows of a distant lantern.
Inside a neighboring room, Qiu Yan sat alone in the dark. A small mountain of empty liquor cans littered the table before her, but despite the volume she had consumed, her mind remained frustratingly, brutally sober.
Dammit! Why?! What on earth was wrong with her? She possessed a flawless model’s figure, drop-dead gorgeous looks, and more family wealth than she knew what to do with. Why were those elite bachelors she met so incredibly blind and dismissive of marrying her?!
The ultimate irony of her situation was that she didn’t even want to get married in the first place. But she wasn’t a biological daughter of the prestigious Qiu lineage—she was merely an adopted prop! The general public remained completely oblivious to her true origins, but the hidden truth was a constant lever used against her by the clan patriarch and her adoptive parents.
The sole reason she had been plucked from poverty and adopted into the high-tier family was to serve as a glamorous piece of political currency in a strategic marriage alliance.
If her future partner failed to meet the strict financial and military requirements of the Qiu syndicate, the clan would immediately divest from her biological parents’ struggling enterprise… She couldn’t allow that to happen.
Qiu Yan would never forget the vivid childhood memories of being beaten and ridiculed in the slums, or the sight of her biological parents limping forward to shield her with their own frail bodies. She would never forget the agonizing tears her younger siblings wept when society branded them as uncultured country bumpkins. And she would certainly never forget how her parents’ broken backs had finally, proudly straightened out the day she was officially adopted into high society.
Ha! If they want a flawless political marriage, I’ll give them one! She refused to break under the pressure.
At the end of the day, it was a structured transaction. She would play the role of the perfect, refined daughter of the Qiu empire to secure the alliance, and in return, the Qiu family would provide an ironclad corporate shield to keep her biological family safe, wealthy, and comfortable.
She was the perfect daughter of the Qiu family.
Qiu Yan hoisted another can of liquor, chugging it down in massive, aggressive gulps as if it were nothing more than tap water. The stray droplets slid down the sharp angle of her jaw, her expression turning incredibly fierce and domineering in the moonlight.
As she remained trapped in her thoughts, the faint, rhythmic sound of shifting footsteps echoed from the corridor outside her door.
The footfalls were exceptionally light, but as a high-society lady who had undergone mandatory self-defense and sensory tracking drills, Qiu Yan moved to the threshold almost instantaneously, a concealed blade sliding smoothly into her palm.
Who’s lurking out there? A common thief? Or a stalker targeting her quarters?
A cold, lethal glint flashed across her features as she silently approached the wooden panel, her weapon primed for a fatal strike.
But just as she prepared to throw the door open and ambush the target, the footsteps slowly began to recede, moving out toward the external walkway.
Her brow furrowed with confusion. She pressed her face closer to the door, peering through the narrow gap in the paneling. Outside on the open-air balcony, a solitary figure was pacing restlessly back and forth under the moonlight, looking like a man trapped in a severe depressive spiral.
A row of literal black lines slid down her forehead, left entirely speechless by the display.
What an absolute weirdo! Wandering around an inn’s balcony in the dead of night instead of sleeping… aren’t they worried about scaring the daylights out of the other guests?
However, as the pacing figure turned and caught the dim illumination of the shifting moonlight, her eyes widened as she recognized his features. It was that third son of the Fu family she had gone on a blind date with days ago!
Because his official profession was listed as a freelance contractor—a title that didn’t sound nearly prestigious or aristocratic enough for her family’s metrics—she had rejected his profile without a single second of hesitation.
But scanning her current options, she had to admit she hadn’t found anyone superior. The Fu family wielded immense, undeniable leverage within both military commands and interstellar corporate circles. If she could successfully lock down the third young master of the Fu family…
Thinking about it objectively, the man was not only exceptionally handsome, but his lineage guaranteed he would never suffer a financial collapse. More importantly, an alliance with him would funnel massive structural benefits straight into the Qiu family’s portfolios.
A predatory, calculating light flashed through her eyes like a wolf locking onto a target.
The third son of the Fu family was destined to be her ticket out of this mess.
Out on the balcony, Shen San suddenly felt a sharp, prickling sensation in his sinuses and let out a loud, violent sneeze.
He rubbed his nose, looking around in confusion as he wondered which player was cursing his name on the forums. He was still entirely consumed by the fear of being permanently expelled from his master’s lineage, completely oblivious to the fact that a dangerous social predator had just locked him in her crosshairs.
After pacing the length of the second-floor balcony for another fifteen minutes, the fresh air finally managed to soothe his frayed nerves.
Just as he turned back to retreat into his room, the door directly adjacent swung inward.
Lu Yunxi stood in the threshold, aggressively rubbing her messy, tangled hair as she blinked her sleepy eyes against the lantern light. Spotting him, she paused in surprise. “I felt a sudden shift in the air currents outside, so I came out to verify… Shen San, is your indigestion still flaring up? I have a few more digestive pills in my inventory.”
“No, I’m perfectly fine now,” he replied quickly. “I was just clearing my head because I couldn’t drift off. Please go back to rest, Master.”
Lu Yunxi offered a sleepy nod, standing by until he had safely slipped back into his quarters and closed the door.
Just as she spun around to return to her own bed, a sharp, crashing noise echoed from further down the corridor.
Leaning over the balcony rail to track the disturbance, she noticed the door to a room a short distance away was hanging wide open, and the silhouette of a woman lay sprawled heavily across the floorboards.
Lu Yunxi blinked, thoroughly startled. Seeing that the woman remained entirely motionless and failed to get back up after several long moments, she walked over to investigate.
“Are you okay?”
