Beep.
Xu Xiaoshou hung up the yu jian.
When he was alone, he didn't need to put on a playful act. In this moment of quiet, his expression grew even more somber.
No matter how confidently or casually Xin Gugu spoke, being here by himself, Xu Xiaoshou still felt the tension weighing on him.
“Ten minutes.”
“Xin Gugu… can I really count on you?”
Xu Xiaoshou opened the window. The sky was turning to dusk, with the sun about to set.
He thought of that person he'd never met but who intended to take his life.
The oppressive feeling in his heart grew heavier by the second, as if it might crush him at any moment.
This state had persisted for a full five days and was only getting worse.
Xu Xiaoshou knew he couldn't go on like this. Even if the killer could wait longer, he couldn't.
The longer he delayed, the more the enemy would learn about him.
And he would eventually have his mental defenses completely broken down.
“Today, I'll deal with him!”
Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve.
He pushed open the door and strode out.
“Xu Xiaoshou?”
There at the doorway stood Mu Zixi, her paw-like hand raised as if hesitating to knock.
“Hmm?”
The tension in Xu Xiaoshou's heart eased a bit. “Is something up?”
Mu Zixi hesitated, then said awkwardly, “Go… go out?”
“Go out for what?”
“…Just… wander around?”
The little girl grabbed her twin ponytails and swung them back and forth, looking up with a shifty gaze. “Don't you feel cooped up? Always staying in this room?”
Xu Xiaoshou paused.
He realized that while he could entertain himself just fine, this little girl clearly couldn't.
Asking her to refine pills alone was tough enough for a day, let alone five days—it must have been miserable for someone as lively as her.
“Not now.”
Still, he shook his head. “I have some business to handle and need to go out.”
Mu Zixi's eyes lit up. “I'll go with you! You do your thing, and I'll just tag along!”
Xu Xiaoshou thought to himself that she really couldn't tag along this time—the matter was something only he could resolve.
Whether he'd even make it back was uncertain.
He touched the black stone in his pocket to steady his nerves and replied, “No.”
“I'm leaving.”
Before the little girl could say more, Xu Xiaoshou had already slipped away, leaving her stomping her feet in frustration.
“Cursed, passive value, 1, 1…”
“Tracked, passive value, 1.”
Xu Xiaoshou: “…”
He turned around and firmly guided the sneaky little girl back into the room.
Scolding her loudly now would only backfire, so he said gently, “Be good, stay in the room and wait for me. I'll take you out to play tomorrow.”
Mu Zixi had just started to resist, but his unusually gentle tone left her stunned.
Was this really Xu Xiaoshou?
She looked up at the large hand on her forehead, momentarily speechless.
Seizing the moment before she could react, Xu Xiaoshou dashed away in a flash.
Mu Zixi: “…”
How annoying—he tricked me again!
Xu Xiaoshou? Gentle? No way!
That hot-tempered senior brother!
She clenched her little fists tightly, her big eyes darting around.
“Tomorrow…”
Mu Zixi flopped back onto the big bed and bounced up and down, her face full of grievance.
“Alone again? I don't want to!”
At dusk.
“Flatbreads here! One ling sui for one, won't sell for two!”
“Come check it out, folks! Fresh Tian Sang silk ice robes, absolutely pure and top quality!”
“Pills for sale! Chi Jin Dan! Known as the second life for lian ling shi—don't pay ninety-nine, just fifty-nine ling jing, and it's yours!”
The streets were alive with a chorus of calls, blending the worlds of ordinary people and lian ling shi perfectly in Tian Sang City.
Even as night fell, the city's bustle showed no signs of tiring.
Everyone kept pushing on, for their livelihoods, for survival, through the hustle and grind.
Xu Xiaoshou weaved through the crowd, alone and isolated.
The excitement was for others; in his world, there was only the sudden, heavy oppression that hit as soon as he stepped out of the inn.
The moment he left, that “being watched” notification stopped changing.
Unlike other fleeting messages, Xu Xiaoshou knew from the info bar that this “being watched” wasn't in the past—it was happening right now.
“He's staring at me!”
Xu Xiaoshou's scalp prickled.
But seeing the surging crowd around him brought some comfort.
A Wang Zuo couldn't strike carelessly.
That was the mainland's rule!
And this was practically the heart of Tian Sang City, with heavy foot traffic—the guy wouldn't dare make a move.
Otherwise, just the imperial guards or the city's major powers would give him trouble.
Even so, Xu Xiaoshou felt uneasy.
“Ten minutes—Xin Gugu should be here in about ten minutes. I was too hasty; I should've waited longer inside!”
Thinking this, Xu Xiaoshou wandered aimlessly through the crowd, careful not to head toward less populated areas.
To avoid suspicion, he picked a destination and headed straight for it.
Dan Ta!
In ten minutes, he could make it to the Dan Ta!
Once Xin Gugu arrived, they could…
A dull thud echoed nearby, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground and cries of alarm from the surrounding crowd, snapping Xu Xiaoshou out of his thoughts.
He looked up.
There on the ground lay a disheveled middle-aged man with messy hair, covered in dirt, a large sack slumped beside him—like someone who collected scrap metal.
The man was clutching his chest and groaning.
“This is…”
Xu Xiaoshou felt embarrassed—he must have been so lost in thought that he bumped into the guy.
He quickly stepped forward with an apologetic expression, reaching out to help him up, but his hand froze midway.
“A killer?”
A chill flashed in his eyes as his instincts kicked in.
“Wait, no, not a killer!”
Xu Xiaoshou had been monitoring the info bar the whole time. If it were the killer, “under attack” would've triggered by now.
This was just a passerby—someone he accidentally knocked over in his distracted state, forgetting to navigate the crowd.
“Sorry about that.”
Xu Xiaoshou helped the middle-aged man to his feet, not minding the dirt, and picked up the sack from the ground to hand it back.
Clang, clang, clang…
The sound of metal clinking together…
Xu Xiaoshou froze.
It sounded like scrap metal, which fit the man's ragged appearance, but with his nerves on edge, it also reminded him of a pile of weapons!
Xu Xiaoshou got straight to the point.
“Sir, are you a killer?”
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