For the Sake of a House

"Open your mouth wider..."

Li Qianqian sat by the bedside. Her fair little hand held a bowl of chicken soup. Pouting her rosy and thin lips, she carefully blew on it and then brought the spoon to Ke Bei's mouth.

"Sister Qianqian, I can do it myself. Let me do it," Ke Bei said, leaning against the pillow. His cheeks were flushed, and a strange feeling welled up in his heart. He couldn't quite describe it, but it was warm and comfortable.

"Be good. Come on, open your mouth," Li Qianqian said. Seeing that Ke Bei didn't open his mouth, she pouted slightly. Without realizing it, she blurted out the words she usually used to coax her younger brother to eat at home.

The speaker might not have meant anything by it, but the listener took it to heart.

Li Qianqian didn't seem to realize what she had said at all and was still concentrating on gently blowing the chicken soup in her hand. However, Ke Bei's body suddenly trembled. A vague and beautiful figure emerged in his mind. At some point, there seemed to have been a woman who had said the same words to him.

His eyes suddenly became a bit moist. Ke Bei blinked hard and forced back the tears that were about to well up in his eyes. He silently opened his mouth and drank the chicken soup that Li Qianqian had offered.

A bowl of fragrant chicken soup was quickly finished. Li Qianqian smiled in satisfaction, picked up the empty bowl, and turned to wash the dishes.

Looking at Li Qianqian's busy back, an unprecedented determination flashed across Ke Bei's brows. He secretly made a decision in his heart. He would definitely protect this woman during the Great Purge in two months' time.

Although one thousand red crystal coins was not a small amount, with his current strength, there was still hope for him to earn it.

For the next ten days, Ke Bei recuperated under Li Qianqian's meticulous care. In these more than ten days, Ke Bei hardly got out of bed. Besides sleeping, he spent all his time practicing the Peiyuan Gong.

Although the Peiyuan Gong was a very basic cultivation technique, its effect was quite obvious. In just over ten days, Ke Bei felt a tingling sensation in his chest from time to time, and the bones were healing at a very fast speed.

"My current physical condition is almost good enough to perform the second form of the saber technique left by Dad," Ke Bei thought with some anticipation as he pinched his muscles as hard as steel.

The bearded Dad had left three forms of the saber technique in total. The first form was the Intercepting Saber. This saber technique was more than enough to deal with the red-haired zombies, but it was somewhat insufficient when fighting against people.

Ke Bei had already memorized the second form thoroughly. However, this form of the saber technique had high requirements for physical fitness. The principle was also very simple, just one word: speed.

All the strength of the body was concentrated at one point and erupted in an instant.

Ke Bei had already come up with a name for this form. "Thunder Slash" was the name he had chosen. With the overwhelming power of thunder, he thought this name was very appropriate.

His body had almost recovered, so in the next few days, Ke Bei began to practice the "Thunder Slash." This saber technique was much more difficult than the Intercepting Saber. At the moment of slashing, all the muscles in his body had to be mobilized. It took Ke Bei four or five days to figure out a little bit of the trick.

But it wasn't successful every time. It was already quite good if he could perform the Thunder Slash once out of ten horizontal slashes.

Calculating the remaining red crystal coins he had now, Ke Bei frowned. It was a bit of an overkill for him to hunt red-haired zombies with his current strength. If he wanted to obtain enough contribution value by killing red-haired zombies, he would need to kill a thousand of them. With Ke Bei's current strength, he could easily deal with green-haired zombies. If he used the throwing knives, it wouldn't be difficult to kill purple-haired zombies either.

"I can go to the real Wilderness Area," Ke Bei felt a faint excitement in his heart. The real Wilderness Area was a paradise for the strong.

In the past, Ke Bei's strength was too weak to go to the Wilderness Area. He could only linger around Lingfeng City. It was almost impossible to encounter high-level zombies and demon beasts because the area around Lingfeng City had long been cleared by the city's guarding teams.

Ke Bei definitely couldn't go to the Wilderness Area alone. The Wilderness Area was full of dangers. A member of the Divine Race might jump out at any time, or even a general-level demon beast. No matter how strong Ke Bei was, how many unexpected situations could he deal with? Moreover, there was no absolutely safe place for him to rest. Once he was accidentally injured or exhausted, he could die at any moment.

Since he had decided to go to the Wilderness Area, Ke Bei had no other choices. There were only two paths he could take. One was to join the Free Martial Artists Alliance of Lingfeng City, choose an organization to join, and form a team with other martial artists to go to the Wilderness Area together. The other was to join the official guarding team of Lingfeng City.

"Which path should I choose?" Ke Bei was hesitant and couldn't make up his mind for a while.

Both paths had their own advantages. Joining the Free Martial Artists Alliance gave more freedom, but to exchange for contribution value, one had to pay twice as many crystal coins. It should be known that all the residential houses, weapons, armors, etc. provided by the base city required corresponding contribution values to be eligible for purchase.

Joining the guarding team was the opposite. As long as you could pass the assessment, a set of weapons and equipment and a house would be provided for you free of charge. It was relatively easier to obtain contribution values. When buying weapons, there would be a certain discount according to the amount of contribution values. The only drawback was the lack of freedom. If a mission came down, you had to accept it unconditionally.

"I heard that joining the guarding team will get you a free house..." Ke Bei looked at Li Qianqian who was busy in the small house and muttered to himself. Ke Bei had already decided to pay the contribution value for Li Qianqian, which meant that he would live with Li Qianqian for a long time in the future. It wasn't a long-term solution for a man and a woman to keep living in a small house.

"Alas, it's too difficult to own a house if I don't join the guarding team..." Ke Bei shook his head and sighed.

To buy a house, one must have a one-star contribution value, that is, ten thousand crystal coins. Plus, a house in the North City area cost at least twenty thousand crystal coins. In total, it was thirty thousand crystal coins.

Thirty thousand crystal coins!

Thinking of this, Ke Bei sighed again. It was really difficult to save enough money to buy a house in a short time.

"Come and have a meal," Li Qianqian's gentle voice floated over softly.

"Okay, I'm coming," Ke Bei put aside his hesitation for the moment and sat at the table. He took a few casual bites. Looking at Li Qianqian's increasingly plump figure, Ke Bei suddenly asked, "By the way, Sister Qianqian, how old are you this year?"

Li Qianqian was stunned for a moment. Then, as if she had thought of something, two patches of red appeared on her fair cheeks. She lowered her head shyly, stared at her toes, and after being coy for a long time, she finally answered in a voice as soft as a mosquito, "Seventeen. Well... I'll be eighteen in three days."

"Almost eighteen. That's not young," Ke Bei said.

"Yes, it's not young," Li Qianqian slowly raised her head, puffed out her chest, and said firmly.

Ke Bei nodded thoughtfully. He was more inclined to choose the guarding team. Li Qianqian was almost eighteen and wasn't a little girl anymore. She couldn't keep taking care of him forever, could she? She would have to get married sooner or later. Besides, he was already fifteen and would be sixteen soon. In two more years, he would also want to marry a wife. By then, he couldn't let the whole family squeeze into this small house.

Unconsciously, Ke Bei had regarded Li Qianqian as his family. Thinking of this, he suddenly made a decision in his heart.

"Join the guarding team, for the sake of the house."