Trouble Came After All

The curtain of darkness came down.

Inside the dorm, Song Shuhang went to bed very early.

Tubo, Li Yangde, and Gao Moumou were playing an ancient faction battle game.

The three of them had no bottom line when gaming; with the three of them on one team, they even used Song Shuhang’s computer to set up an account and join the enemy faction. Then, they blissfully started to bully strangers.

Song Shuhang shook his head in disdain, and then refreshed Nine Provinces Number One Group on his phone. It was rare that the group was so silent, even Northern River’s Loose Cultivator hadn’t spoken.

Cultivators were quite busy... other than Northern River’s Loose Cultivator.

"Oh yeah, Shuhang, I found the information on the medicinal herbs you asked me to look for. Of the Chinese medicine stores in Jiangnan area registered in the system, only one store sells the medicinal herbs you’re looking for, and only one of the four ingredients at that. I also posted on forums, and there should be news by tomorrow. When the time comes, I’ll send you all the medicine shops’ addresses," Li Yangde said as he shamelessly minimized the game and opened an add-on he had programmed.

Using an add-on when he’s teamed up, could he be more shameless?

Song Shuhang laughed, "Thanks for your hard work, comrade Yangde!"

"Com-your dad." Li Yangde said angrily.

Very soon, one match was over, and the three that grouped up and used an add-on... unexpectedly lost!

"F*ckin’ hell, the opponent was also grouped up." Tubo yelled.

This battle game was very old. Song Shuhang remembered that this type of game already existed when he was in elementary school. The only players that kept playing were those wicked veteran players. All with masterful skills, sick sidesteps, and their bottom line also being a bottomless abyss.

"We can’t survive here, change a region quickly. How come there are so many shameless people in parties nowadays?" Gao Moumou said resentfully.

So you know grouping up is shameless, huh?

Shuhang lay on his stomach and watched his dorm mates change to another area continuing to cheat. He asked, "Oh, Tubo, do you still have the stun baton you modified last semester?"

"I still do. I modified it a few times more, and its power is gelivable." Tubo got all excited once he started talking about modifications.

He naturally liked to take apart and modify things, from large things like scooters to small things like laser pointers, both of which he’s taken apart before. 

Song Shuhang asked, "Lend it to me in a few days, and could you also increase the voltage? The higher the better."

"The voltage can only reach a certain limit, it’s for civilian use after all. What’s up, someone offended you? So, you’re giving him a ‘thunderbolt’?" Tubo asked.

"Yes, he downright offended me, I even prepared to throw his corpse into the East Sea." Song Shuhang laughed and said, "In a few days, I might go on an adventure deep into the mountains with my sister. I hear it’s similar to a tropical rainforest, it feels safer to have something for self-protection."

With the exception of Zhao Yaya, Song Shuhang didn’t usually go red when he lied.

Listening to his words, Lin Tubo’s eyes brightened because he knew adventuring deep into the mountains was something that sister Zhao Yaya was completely uninterested in. 

So the sister that Song Shuhang mentioned might be the long-legged sister that he saw last time?

Tubo immediately thought of Soft Feather, that girl was obviously into adventures. She even took Song Shuhang far to J-City to find Ghost Lamp Temple.

Suddenly, he stopped playing entirely, turned around and asked, "Is it that sister that was with you at J-City?"

"It’s her." Song Shuhang answered—when one lies, one often needs to perfect the first lie by supplementing with more lies. 

"Shuhang, bring me with you on this forest adventure! And, if you don’t mind, you can call me brother-in-law from today on. I won’t mind at all!" Lin Tubo said with a straight face.

As he spoke, a hail firing killed his game character.

Gao Moumou cried out, "Dead, Tubo! You’re dead, you died so miserably!"

Li Yangde pushed his glasses, and added salt to the wound, "Tubo, I started recording just now. From your tone, the sister you mentioned is not sister Yaya, but… sending that to Zhao Yaya can still bring about a deadly effect."

So…

"It’s your treat, Tubo." Li Yangde and Gao Moumou pushed up their glasses in unison. 

Selling out teammates was Li Yangde’s specialty, no matter in games or in real life.

"You still call yourselves human!" Tubo facepalmed, "I wonder why I even got to know you two scamps."

At the exact moment, Song Shuhang’s phone rang.

He took out his phone, and coincidentally, it was from Zhao Yaya.

"It’s from Zhao Yaya." Song Shuhang smirked, "Tubo, I’ll call you brother-in-law now, would you dare to reply?"

Tubo felt his crotch hurting indistinctly, and his eyes watering, "Please forgive me."

Song Shuhang laughed and answered the phone, "Sister, what’s the matter this late?"

"Can’t I call you without a reason?" Zhao Yaya’s voice was somewhat out of breath, "Come help me, I’m outside of Jiangnan College Town at Old Six Horses Street. To the side is Muslin Wedding Photo Studio’s back door; you know this location, right?

Song Shuhang knitted his brows, but soon recovered, "Got it, need me to bring anything?

"No, just need help carrying someone. Come quick." Zhao Yaya answered.

"Be right there." Song Shuhang hung up, and quickly put on a black long-sleeved shirt.

Then, he fumbled for something under his bed. Standing up, he asked, "I’m going out, do you guys need anything?

Tubo shouted, "Bring back some midnight snacks."

"And a large-sized coke."

"Ok!" Song Shuhang waved and picked up his wallet, disappearing quickly into the night.

Once he left the dorm, Song Shuhang’s expression immediately turned somber.

The call just now was from Zhao Yaya’s number, and at first sounded very similar to Zhao Yaya… but, that was definitely not Zhao Yaya’s voice.

Song Shuhang was too familiar with her voice, including her speech habits, speed, and even some habits she herself didn’t notice. 

The voice on the phone was a little thicker than Zhao Yaya’s, and the change in tone after the end of each sentence was slightly different too. By listening carefully, there was a hoarseness and dryness to the voice.

It wasn’t Zhao Yaya, yet this person used her phone and voice to get him to come out… if this person said he or she had no ill intent, would anyone believe it?

Is it that ‘killer’s companion? After failing to kill me, now he or she is targeting those around me?

These damned people… they still came after all!

Shuhang came to Old Six Horse Street as fast as possible.

He did not go directly to Muslin Wedding Photo Studio, instead he arrived at the Guo Xin mansion two hundred meters out, climbing up onto the corridor next to the windows of the building’s seventh floor.

From the high ground, he could see the location of Muslin Wedding Photo Studio. At the same time, Song Shuhang activated his mental energy and used the mental technique ‘vigilance’ to strengthen his senses and hide his presence.

Ever since Foundation Establishment fist technique’s tempering, his eyes could be compared to binoculars. Even under the effects of the dark night, things two hundred meters away were still clear as a high definition movie.

Old Six Horse Street was once a prosperous pedestrian street, but as the New Six Horse Street was built, the former’s prosperity subsided, no longer sporting the bustling it had in those years. When the veil of night came down, very few stores were still open, and even fewer pedestrians were present there.

Muslin Wedding Photo Studio’s was located north of Old Six Horse Street. Nearby, other than street lamps, only the wedding photo studio’s lights were on, appearing desolate.

Song Shuhang quickly found Zhao Yaya’s silhouette—she was between the wedding photo studio and reforested trees.

Under the cover of the lush reforested trees, she sat leaning against a stone chair with eyes closed, seeming to be in an unconscious state.

Beside Zhao Yaya stood a lanky man.

The man was around one meter eighty three, on the skinnier side. He had long arms that were obviously a lot longer than normal people’s. The man wore large sunglasses, and had thick lips like a swollen sausage.

He was toying with a woman’s phone.

  1. TL/N: grouping up can be seen as shameless because of increased communication and better chances of winning
  2. TL/N: Pokemon reference