A Life of Your Own, and a Big-Shot with a Twisted Sense of Humor

After Xiaohu conceded, the two of them stepped down from the ring.

"Yuan-bro, when are you going to challenge Brother Ming?"

"Hahaha! When Brother Ming gets back and sees Yuan-bro's strength now, he's going to be completely floored!"

Lu Yuan found himself immediately mobbed.

"Yuan-bro, you're incredible!"

"For real. In this gym, I reckon only Brother Ming could reliably beat you at this point."

He smiled. "I'm nowhere near Brother Ming's level. I've got a long way to go — need to keep training before I can say anything."

*I, Lu Yuan, am a steady and low-key man.*

Truthfully, he suspected it wouldn't take long before he surpassed Franming. After all, Franming had only just broken through to the Warrior rank. Given his talent, the gene he'd inscribed during the probationer stage was almost certainly common-rank.

With the elite-rank gene he carried now, once his tempering reached the right level, putting Franming down shouldn't be especially difficult.

That said, he had no intention of making a spectacle of himself. Being roughly strong was enough. He had no backing, and in a dark place like the slum district, the tallest tree was always the first to fall. Steady, low-key development — that was the approach.

*A tiger's strength within; a careful step without. Walk quietly, and walk far.*

Once he'd finally shaken off the crowd, he went back to drilling his Military Body Fist and Military Body Killing Sword.

Evening arrived. Franming still hadn't returned.

Lu Yuan left the Daming Martial Arts Gym.

The slum district at night was considerably wilder than by day. Few people were out — mostly night-shift workers heading to or from somewhere.

Down one stretch of road, he heard the sharp crack of gunfire burst from a nearby alley. The pedestrians around him immediately put their heads down and picked up their pace, not sparing so much as a glance. A heavily made-up woman standing at the curb seemed completely unfazed; she muttered something about rotten luck under her breath and promptly moved off to find a better spot.

Lu Yuan glanced briefly toward the alley, then decided it wasn't his problem. He followed the crowd's lead, quickening his stride until the gunfight was well behind him.

He slipped quietly back into the apartment complex and spotted a familiar silhouette on the path ahead.

"Qinghe?"

The figure turned — Li Qinghe, face drawn with exhaustion, a cigarette trailing smoke between her fingers. When she saw him, she exhaled a long plume and managed a tired smile.

"Little brother, why are you out so late?"

"Just got back from the Daming Martial Arts Gym."

"How's your cultivation coming along? Didn't you say you'd been going into the Land of Origin?"

Lu Yuan looked at the weariness etched into her face. "Qinghe — you weren't home all day? Just getting back now?"

"Yeah. Just got back."

"This late?"

Li Qinghe took a slow drag, stretched with a languid grace, and smiled. "Someone wouldn't let big sis sleep."

He treated her the way he would a genuine older sister. Seeing her curious expression, he smiled back — a trace of pride slipping through.

"Really good progress, actually. Yesterday's run into the Land of Origin was seriously productive — earned over ten thousand."

"Oh? That much?"

Li Qinghe was genuinely caught off guard.

*Low-level creature materials go for about one or two hundred each... over ten thousand means he killed close to a hundred creatures. This kid... I've been underestimating him.*

She'd seen plenty of people pull in more on their first Land of Origin visit. But almost all of those people had family networks behind them. Her own talent and background were in a different league entirely — she couldn't use herself as a benchmark. For someone with Lu Yuan's circumstances to have achieved what he had put him squarely among the genuinely gifted.

"It's a pity most of the money went to buying supplies for the next run — not much left over," he said. "But next time I go in, I'll definitely save enough. And when I have it, I'm taking you with me when we leave this place."

"The fact that you mean it makes big sis very happy," she said warmly. "Save up first. Then we'll see."

After a few more steps, Lu Yuan came to a stop.

He turned to face her, expression serious.

"Qinghe — you've always been looking out for me, and I never had anything to give in return. But I do now. I'm not going to let you keep living like this. I'll give you a normal life — your own job, your own love, your own future."

Li Qinghe hadn't expected that.

She went very still.

Her pupils contracted slightly. A beat of silence. Then the corner of her mouth curved upward.

"My little brother's all grown up, huh? Big sis is almost moved..." She took a slow drag. "But let's wait a little while longer. I need to say goodbye to my clients first — they've been looking after me for over a year. Without them, I wouldn't even be here."

He opened his mouth. There wasn't much he could say to that. He shifted tracks.

"You look exhausted. Let's head back and get some rest."

Li Qinghe shot him a sideways glance, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Hold on — big sis is a little hungry. You've been earning money, haven't you? Aren't you going to treat your big sis to something nice?"

His eyes lit up. "Of course. Whatever you want, just say the word."

"Hehe, then I won't hold back! Oh, by the way — are you *really* sure you don't want big sis to introduce you to the adult world?"

"...Qinghe. Please stop joking."

She fixed him with a playful look, her tone turning suggestive. "Hehe, little brother — you're already an adult. Why so shy? Want big sis to give you a little push? Free of charge, I promise."

"..."

"Hahahaha!"

Her laughter faded after a moment, and something quieter settled in her expression. She studied him — this earnest, utterly sincere kid — and chuckled softly.

"You have the right idea. Big sis is genuinely happy. Save up the money first."

The two of them drifted off into the night, laughing and talking. They found a late-night stall, ate until they were satisfied, and headed back to their separate rooms.

Li Qinghe lay on her bed, staring up at the white ceiling, eyes half-lidded.

After a long moment, a smile curved at the corner of her lips.

*...That brat. If he ever saw what I was really capable of, I don't believe he'd say no. Hmph.*

Then the smile faded.

*That thing has started up again... but with me here, you won't escape.*

A cold light passed through her eyes.

Back in his room, Lu Yuan cracked open his battered old computer and logged into Battle Net — a habit he'd kept up these past few days. The posts there had been enormously useful.

Plenty of them required payment or a Battle Net rank he hadn't reached yet, which put a dent in his freeloader's joy. Fortunately, judging by their titles, those weren't the posts he actually needed right now anyway. *Fine — when I have money, I'll pay. Can't sponge forever.*

He scrolled through the forum and quickly spotted a thread.

**[MORAL DEPRAVITY! Someone Is Actually Doing THIS in the Gray Rock Forest!]**

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. *Gray Rock Forest? That's where he'd been.*

He clicked it open with some curiosity.

*"Today I need to tell everyone about something that made me absolutely furious!"*

*"Here's what happened: my squad and I were hunting Gray Rock Beetles in the Gray Rock Forest when we spotted a strong glow of firelight in the distance. Thinking there might be something worth checking out, we headed over — and found two completely berserk Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles. Those beetles had lost their minds; the moment they saw us, they attacked without hesitation. There were elf and gnoll squads in the area at the time, and all three groups working together barely managed to bring them down. In the process, I lost two of my teammates."*

*"But that's not even the most infuriating part. The most infuriating part is that the Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles had been guarding a wooden chest — and when we reached it, it was already empty. Someone clearly looted it beforehand and then deliberately left those two beetles there as a trap for anyone who came along afterward. I just want to ask: does whoever did this have a conscience?! How low can you sink?! Human morality has completely collapsed! Let the forum be the judge!"*

A blaze of fire. Two Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles. An opened wooden chest.

He finished reading. His expression was a little odd.

*...That chest. Could that have been the one he'd opened before?*

The thread had hundreds of replies. He scrolled through a few.

*"Pfft. OP is just weak. Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles are trash-tier — aren't they easy kills? Three teams surrounding two beetles and people still died? Kind of hilarious, honestly."*

*"Come on. Everyone starts at the bottom. Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles are still genuine killers for newcomers."*

*"I think it must've been a big-shot. How else do you loot a chest while the guardian creatures are still alive and kicking?"*

*"Wow, that person is really cold-blooded. Doesn't sound like a good person."*

*"I agree — definitely a big-shot. Are big-shots all this twisted these days? Farming newbies for entertainment?"*

Lu Yuan fell momentarily silent.

He hadn't expected to be called a man without a conscience, morally bankrupt, with a completely twisted soul.

He felt his entire being go sideways.

*He was completely and utterly wrongfully accused, okay?!*

*Obviously he'd left those beetles because he couldn't kill them — that was literally the whole point. If he could have killed them, he'd have hunted them down himself. Might even have gotten a Battle Soul out of it.*

His mood recovered a little despite himself, because he'd noticed something.

*These people actually have decent judgment.*

*They figured out that I, Lu Yuan, am a big-shot.*

He closed the thread, skimmed a few more posts, then finally shut the site down.

This had become his routine these past few days.

The light gate had dimmed — the toll of the mental energy he'd spent on his earlier Land of Origin visit. But it was recovering quickly; it wouldn't be long now.

Lu Yuan waited a few minutes. The gate returned to full brightness.

He focused his consciousness into the Gene Battle Mark.

In the white mist of his mind, the light gate shimmered into existence.

He stepped through — and entered the Land of Origin once more.