Chapter 26
Note: Hi everyone! Sorry for being MIA, but I'm back now. ❀⸜(˶´ ˘ `˶)⸝❀ I'll be doing multiple updates today to make up for it. After that, we'll go back to twice-a-week chapter releases every Wednesday and Thursday.
"Excuse me, System," Cheng Xuyuan rapidly conversed with the system in his mind, "Can I choose to take the money and leave?"
Taking the protagonist's mother's money and flying away not only allows him to escape from being a plug-in, but he can also casually pamper the ladies with this sum of money. It was a beautiful dream.
The system quickly warned him in all seriousness, "Don't dream anymore. If you dare to do this, you will be immediately reported and forever lost in fragments of time and space."
Cheng Xuyuan swallowed his saliva. Although deep down he knew he shouldn't do this, the offer of 5 million was too tempting.
Lin Lang took out a gold card, thrusting it almost to the handsome young man's face. Seeing the boy's dumbfounded look, she assumed he was refusing, and so spoken, "What, is 5 million not enough for you?"
"Violating the plug-in regulations will result in punishment, and serious offenses will lead to destruction," the system's voice rang out again.
Cheng Xuyuan gritted his teeth, held up his head proudly, and replied with a similarly clichéd line to Lin Lang, "Please do not insult my dignity with money!" Internally, though, he was thinking, "My God, how beautiful this card is, even the patterns on it are shining…"
Yin Qingcheng, standing aside, was initially stunned but soon moved by Cheng Xuyuan's words. He quickly stepped forward to stop Lin Lang and said, "Mom, don't misunderstand. Maoqiu is not that kind of person…"
"Maoqiu?" Lin Lang was taken aback by the nickname. "Are you treating him like a pet?!"
Strictly speaking, every word Lin Lang said was correct — Yin Qingcheng was indeed treating Cheng Xuyuan like a pet, and the latter was indeed a fox spirit.
"You think money is everything?" Cheng Xuyuan continued his melodramatic lines, "You think you can make me leave Yin Qingcheng with money?!" Internally, he was thinking, "How I wish I could pack up and leave right away."
"Maoqiu," Yin Qingcheng looked at him with sparkling eyes, deeply moved, "I'm so touched..."
Lin Lang couldn't bear her son's infatuated expression. Still, she tried to sow discord, "Didn't you say that you liked a half-blood girl named Han something? How could you change your mind so quickly?"
Yin Qingcheng said seriously, "Please don't talk nonsense. I just admired Miss Hanazaki."
Lin Lang scrutinized Cheng Xuyuan from head to toe with a discerning eye, finally saying distantly, "It's not your fault, this kid does look like trouble." Then her gaze focused on his waist, "And he's got a hot figure."
"…?" Cheng Xuyuan was utterly confused, not fully understanding why he'd been labeled a troublemaker, let alone paired with the word 'hot'.
Yin Qingcheng's cheeks flushed bright red as he vehemently denied, "Mom, what are you talking about?!"
Having said that, he led Lin Lang to the balcony, earnestly explaining his relationship with Cheng Xuyuan.
Yin Qingcheng told Lin Lang that Maoqiu's real name was "Mao Qiu", and they were college classmates as well as best friends. Mao Qiu was indignant about Yin Qingcheng being expelled, so he also dropped out of school.
Yin Qingcheng spoke with deep sincerity and emotion. According to his description, Mao Qiu would give up his life for him anytime.
Half an hour later.
Lin Lang, holding Cheng Xuyuan's hand and sitting at the bedside with tears in her eyes, said, "Mao Qin, I really misunderstood you earlier. Your feelings for Chengcheng moved me very much. Don't worry, I'm not a feudal person..."
Cheng Xuyuan's mouth twitched a few times as he signaled Yin Qingcheng with a plea in his eyes. Much to his surprise, Yin Qingcheng was actually quite enjoying his mother's words, nodding in satisfaction.
In Lin Lang's mind, Mao Qiu had become Yin Qingcheng's most loyal suitor. Not only had he dropped out of school for him, but he also remained unmoved in the face of a massive amount of 5 million yuan.
"How far have you guys progressed?" Lin Lang took out her mirror and skillfully touched up her tear-streaked makeup. "Were you guys just... doing 'that'?"
Cheng Xuyuan felt like his head would explode. Keeping a safe distance with the woman, he said solemnly, "Nothing happened between us!"
Lin Lang lifted her eyelid to glance at him and said offhandedly, "It could."
Yin Qingcheng was used to his mother's headstrong personality but still sheepishly ushered her out of the room. Before closing the door, he said, "Really, nothing happened between us!"
Lin Lang's voice came from outside, "Chengcheng, I am very disappointed in you."
________________________
Originally, Lin Lang planned to take her son back home to Hangzhou after receiving the notification from Shen Wu Academy, as well as messages from the Special Human Affairs Department.
However, Lin Lang seemed to have no intention of leaving in the following days.
No matter where Yin Qingcheng and Mao Qiu went, Lin Lang followed, claiming she was concerned about her son's love life. This made Cheng Xuyuan extremely embarrassed, as he had a nagging feeling that something in this drama wasn't quite right.
A few times, while Yin Qingcheng was away, Lin Lang would take Cheng Xuyuan's hand and make small talk.
"Mao Qiu, how long have you liked Chengcheng?"
"I don't like him."
"Have you confessed your feelings?"
"I told you, I don't like him!"
"I heard you two shared a room. Have you slept together?"
"…So what? I really don't like him!"
"But you've slept together and still say you don't like him."
One day, after completing his tasks, Fu Yunci, who was quite pleased to hear the conversation between them, stepped in and said, "Aunt Yin, I can assure you Maoqiu does not like Yin Qingcheng. Let me explain from the following points…"
"Shut up." Lin Lang kicked him away. She had been observing this young man for quite some time and didn't like the way he looked at Mao Qiu.
This chaotic life continued until the Special Affairs Department released a new notification, bringing an end to it.
This notice was highly confidential. The Special Affairs Department sent off an unwilling Lin Lang and called Yin Qingcheng and the others to the special office at the Shanghai Center where solemn-faced leaders were waiting.
The director spoke, "The situation seems quite troublesome."
Fu Yunci became stiff due to the tense atmosphere, and Yin Qingcheng could not help but swallow.
Only Cheng Xuyuan was quite pleased — finally, Lin Lang had been sent away. How could any situation be more complicated than hers?
Looking at the delighted Cheng Xuyuan, the director with some confusion continued, "Just yesterday, attacks by demonic beasts occurred consecutively in Tokyo and New York. Based on images from the scene, we can confirm it was the two remaining beasts from the Four Great Beasts: the Inferno Hawk King and the Ocean Wyrm King."
Cheng Xuyuan's eyes turned serious, and he asked, "Have the demonic beasts been dealt with?"
"Since Shanghai and Beijing were attacked, major cities had been prepared, and so the two demonic beasts were killed," the director said in a deep voice, "However, there were many casualties at the scene, including seven students from the Shen Wu Academy..."
Yin Qingcheng's eyes widened dramatically, and he and Cheng Xuyuan shouted out almost simultaneously, "Seven students?!"
The two of them looked at each other right away. If they guessed correctly...
"Yes," the director's expression was very serious, "I regret to inform you that among these seven students, three were sacrificed in Tokyo and four in New York..."
"What?!" The three of them, including Fu Yunce, screamed.
The director nodded slightly, his voice revealing a bit of sadness: "The human Special Affairs Department has sent people to handle the aftermath and has also informed Shen Wu Academy... However, the Academy was shocked by this. They said that these students had been missing for a long time..."
Yin Qingcheng couldn't recover from the shock for a long time. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he took out his mobile phone and started frantically dialing Devin's number.
However, at that moment, the director's assistant beside him said, "Yesterday, the human police found a male body at the Capital International Airport. After the autopsy, they learned that the deceased was named Devin, also a former student of Shen Wu Academy…"
Yin Qingcheng lifted his head sharply, and the cell phone slipped from his hand and fell onto the floor with a "clack."
Cheng Xuyuan felt a chill down his spine. After a while, he bent down to pick up Yin Qingcheng's phone, grabbed his icy, trembling fingers, and said to him as calmly as possible, "We need to go back to the Shen Wu Continent immediately because..."
Strictly speaking, Yin Qingcheng was the ninth person expelled by Yun Yi.
The director nodded, "I also hope you can go back to Shen Wu Academy to understand the situation from the school authorities, and investigate why these demonic beasts would appear in the human world collectively."
Yin Qingcheng struggled to speak, his voice dry and hoarse, "I... I understand..."
Although Fu Yunci was not a student of Shen Wu Academy, he could empathize with the situation. He looked at the Director solemnly and suddenly said, "Director, I request to go with them."
"Alright, if there are any situations, you must report to us in time." After a brief consideration, the Director agreed to Fu Yunci's request.
________________________
The next day, under the watchful eyes of all the Special Affairs Department staff, Yin Qingcheng, with Maoqiu, went towards the Door of Abyss.
They were followed by an unwelcome Fu Yunci.
"Is the Shen Huan Continent very prosperous?" Fu Yunci asked, carrying the latest Prada backpack, as if he were not going to carry out missions in the Fantasy Continent but to go shopping, "I heard LV opened a branch there..."
Yin Qingcheng and Cheng Xuyuan ignored this nouveau rich man in unison.
After verifying the identities of the three individuals, the guardian of the Door of Abyss pulled out a registration form and indicated for them to fill in their destination. After consulting with each other, Yin Qingcheng and Cheng Xuyuan decided to select Shen Wu Academy's warehouse as their landing point.
The guardian then unsealed the Door of Abyss and gestured them to proceed.
One by one, they walked in.
On the other side of the gate was a time-space passage that could transport people to a designated location in the Shen Huan Continent as directed by the guardian.
Not too long after, a time-space rift appeared before them. Accompanied by a slight energy tremor, the time-space passage opened, revealing an old warehouse of the Shen Wu Academy.
Inside the warehouse were some fossilized spiritual beasts, sealed spiritual nuclei, and a few long-abandoned, dulled weapons.
"Cough cough--" Fu Yunci landed in a flurry of dust that caused tears to fly from his eyes.
Cheng Xuyuan landed lightly on the ground. After looking around, he whispered to Yin Qingcheng, "Let's split up and see if there are any secret passages to get out. We mustn't get caught…"
Yin Qingcheng nodded and began cautiously searching for an exit in the large warehouse.
Spotting a book on one of the shelves named "Registrar of Personnel with Vessel Constitutions in Shen Wu Academy," Yin Qingcheng was instantly intrigued. Picking up the thin volume off-hand, he flipped open the first page.
Soon enough, Yin Qingcheng's eyes widened in surprise.
Meanwhile, Fu Yunci, trailing behind Cheng Xuyuan, bootlickingly asked him, "Boss, are you tired? Want some food? I have Russian-imported tiramisu in my backpack…"
Before he could finish, the sound of a door lock being opened echoed from a distance.
The sound came from a direction completely opposite to where Yin Qingcheng was. With no time to react, Cheng Xuyuan hurriedly reached back to cover Fu Yunci's mouth, while pulling him quickly behind the gigantic fossil of a dragon.
Because of the hasty movement, Fu Yunci lost his footing and slipped, falling next to the fossil. This caused Cheng Xuyuan to also fall and land heavily on top of him.
Their lips were just 0.1 centimeter away from each other.
The entire episode created quite a racket, exposing their presence immediately.
"Tap, tap, tap…"
A pair of shoes appeared leisurely next to Cheng Xuyuan.
Still unable to get up from the ground, a cold voice came from above him, "Trespassing into Shen Wu Academy's warehouse — do you understand how serious this is?"
However, before Cheng Xuyuan could speak, Fu Yunci, lying under him, called out in surprise, "Damn, it's you?!"
Yun Yi looked down at the person who'd spoken, his pupils suddenly shaking. His voice was filled with uncertainty, "Why are you here?!"
Cheng Xuyuan, completely bewildered, asked the system in his mind, "They know each other?!"
The system's machine-like voice answered: "Yun Yi, surname Fu."
Fu Yun Yi, Fu Yunci.
Even if Cheng Xuyuan was a fool, he would've figured out what was going on now.
Just as the three of them were exchanging glances, a cold voice came from the other side of the fossil.
"I never expected you two to know each other. Also—" Yin Qingcheng, with a disapproving expression, walked in front of Yun Yi. He looked down at the stunned boy beneath Cheng Xuyuan, his fists tightly clenched, "May I ask, how much longer do you plan to lie in his embrace?"
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