After passing through the city defense security check, Xie Litang finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Her eyes felt impossibly heavy. She wanted to close them, to just lie down on the ground right then and there to sleep.
Xie Litang immediately shook her head and said, "No way."
"Linling is still waiting for me at home."
Those debt collectors from the Fierce Snake Gang were definitely not good people.
She flagged a taxi, and the moment her butt touched the soft seat, Xie Litang's eyes rolled back—a sign that she was exhausted to the absolute limit.
*Snap~
Xie Litang bit down hard on the back of her hand.
The sharp pain immediately jolted her awake.
Half an hour later, the car finally stopped outside that old residential complex.
Xie Litang saw a crowd of neighbors gathered under her building, watching something.
Feeling a sudden bad premonition in her heart, she walked closer and, sure enough, spotted several members of the Fierce Snake Gang lurking around.
She immediately rushed upstairs.
*Thud, thud, thud~
"Open the damn door, bitch!"
"I know you're in there. Paying debts is a matter of course!"
The small boss of the Fierce Snake Gang kicked the door a few more times, leaving it hanging on its hinges, tottering precariously.
Rage instantly surged in Xie Litang's heart, and she shouted, "All of you, stop right there!"
Several Fierce Snake Gang members turned toward the sound.
The small boss looked over, his eyes instantly lighting up.
Even though Xie Litang looked extremely disheveled right now, it couldn't hide her pretty appearance.
"Well, well, bitch, so you're here. Hurry up and pay back the money, or else come keep us company..."
Before he could finish his words—
【Bang.】
The small boss, whose strength was at most that of a One-Star Hunter with a health bar just over two hundred, had half his HP kicked away by Xie Litang. He fell to his knees on the ground, his eyes rolling back as he nearly fainted.
Xie Litang pulled out a bottle of deer beast essence blood, placed it in front of him, and said, "The official recommended price is eight thousand per hundred milliliters, but market price is ten thousand, and it sells for at least twelve thousand on the black market."
"One bottle is two hundred milliliters."
"Count it as twenty thousand."
"Consider this my interest for this month."
"Now, get out."
Borrowing over a hundred thousand from the Fierce Snake Gang, with compounding interest, had long become a bottomless pit.
Right now she was just giving them a bit of interest. As for next month? She felt that with this kind of illegal usury, not paying it back wasn't out of the question.
Besides, Xie Litang's current state was completely unfit for handling the deer beast essence blood matters anyway.
The Fierce Snake Gang members looked fierce and vicious. Seeing this, they prepared to surround her, but before they could make a move, Xie Litang threw a punch at each of them. Whoever she touched dropped, and whoever she grazed fell.
In no time at all, they ran off, cursing and swearing under their breath.
*Creak~
The door opened.
The moment Chen Linling saw Xie Litang, tears fell from her eyes.
"Sister..."
"All right, all right, I'm fine. I'm really tired right now, I just want to rest for a bit."
Xie Litang didn't want to say another word.
Once inside the house, she skipped washing up entirely and fell onto the bed, sleeping like the dead.
In her deep sleep, an unknown amount of time passed. When Xie Litang opened her eyes again, she cursed out loud, "You beast! Old Tapir, you absolute beast!"
But she quickly realized that she was already back in Jianghai City.
Her main feeling right now was still extreme exhaustion, but she felt much better than before.
"Mm? My clothes?"
"Even my underwear was changed?"
Xie Litang didn't look the least bit disheveled anymore. Her body had been wiped down cleanly, and she even smelled faintly fragrant.
Chen Linling, sitting in front of the computer, woke up from her deep dive state and stealthily retracted the data cable attached to her hand.
Then, she wheeled herself over in her wheelchair.
"Sister, you're finally awake."
"How long was I asleep for?"
"Three days and three nights. I called a community doctor over to hook you up to a nutrient drip."
"Thank you."
Chen Linling quickly lowered her head again, looking like she had done something wrong, and said, "Sister, I'm sorry."
Feeling bewildered, Xie Litang asked, "What's wrong now?"
Chen Linling said in a low voice, "Deer beast essence blood cannot be preserved for too long, so I took the liberty of selling it for you at a price of ten thousand per hundred milliliters."
Hearing this, Xie Litang burst out laughing. "I thought it was something huge. I don't really want to go to the black market right now anyway, so selling it for ten thousand isn't a loss at all."
"Sister, you're not mad at me?"
"Not at all. Linling is amazing."
"Sister..."
"I'm going to sleep a bit more."
"Okay."
Another long sleep passed, and bright daylight broke outside.
This time, she had finally recovered a great deal of her energy.
"System, status panel."
【Name: Xie Litang.】
【Ability: Teammate Sacrifice, Uses Remaining: 0.】
【Class: Swordmaster, Wind-Style Swordsmanship (Minor Accomplishment) 4125/10000 (Major Accomplishment).】
【Vitality: 4413, Spirit: 45.】
【Equipment: Heartsteel.】
Now a single Heartsteel proc dealt 130 true damage.
And permanently added 13 HP.
After looking over her status panel, Xie Litang said with a look of gratification, "Very good. The foundation of my rise to godhood, the capital for me to stack through this world, is already taking shape."
Soon after, she logged into her messaging app account.
The original owner's account was far too complicated, so she had abandoned it previously.
When she opened it again, a long stream of 99+ notifications instantly filled the screen.
They were nothing more than desperate attempts to win her back.
【Eldest Young Master of the Qi Family: Baby, why aren't you replying to me? It's all my fault. Please give me a reply, I'm willing to give you the whole world.】
【I Want to Be the God of War: I successfully completed the mission, but I lost you forever.】
【Time Stop Ability #1: I can stop time for the whole world, but can I go back to the day I was with you?】
【Ancient Martial Arts Supreme: The old man at home is dead, and you're gone too.】
Xie Litang: ?
*Hiss~
Xie Litang scratched her head and said, "Wait, why are these four clowns still sending messages?"
She had thought that after sending a message to clarify things last time, these four would calm down and stop.
Unexpectedly, it was as if they had 'figured things out' and were now trying to win her back over the chat software.
Xie Litang weighed her words for a moment and muttered, "I mean, what kind of love potion did the original owner feed them?"
Forget it, forget it.
For the original owner's debts, she could at most help pay back money; doing anything more was absolutely impossible.
The Fierce Snake Gang belonged to a criminal syndicate, so once Xie Litang got past this tough first month, she had no intention of paying them back anymore.
But these four were different. Xie Litang estimated they were decent young men who had been scammed out of money and feelings by a toxic girl; out of clear conscience, she should still pay back this money.
"Ten thousand each."
"Not a penny more."
Xie Litang typed another sentence: "As for the rest, I'll pay back a bit more next month."
Copy, paste.
Sent to all four simultaneously.
Almost the instant she finished sending the money transfers, all four accounts sent back messages simultaneously.
Xie Litang knitted her brows and said, "So annoying."
After thinking for a bit, she typed out a sentence with earnest advice and sent it to all four: "Smarting up a bit. Don't get tricked by toxic girls in the future. I have things to do right now, let's talk later."
*Ding-dong~
*Ding-dong-dong-dong-dong...
They sent more messages again.
Xie Litang's eyebrows tightened into a deep knot.
Seriously, please stop spamming notifications!
Xie Litang didn't want to read a single word of what they sent. Just thinking about some guy flirting and pouring his heart out to her on the other end made her feel uncomfortable all over.
She quickly swiped her finger and muted them.
Reading even one more message would be a disservice to herself.
After a long while, Xie Litang lay back on the bed and sighed deeply. "The original owner really was something else. Totally wild."
There were a few more messages below.
It was a challenge from Su Yang of Jianghai High School, claiming whether Xie Litang was scared or admitting she was trash.
Xie Litang edited a message: "Fight, let's fight right now, river bush... (Recalled)"
"I mean, see you this afternoon at the usual spot. Whoever chickens out is a dog. Remember to bring an ant nest."
Might as well get this challenge over with quickly; she was in a hurry to deal with that beast over there.
That beast of an Old Tapir.
Even to the ends of the earth, she was going to get it.
Rate on N.U.
