Volume 1, Chapter 55: The Birthday Banquet

After the meal, Xue Lian, who was still maintaining a sliver of sobriety, asked Xue Ming to take Pan Zhenzhen back to school, and then lay down on the living room sofa.

Mother Gua felt rather embarrassed. Only a few days ago, she had been scolding Chuangua for borrowing someone else's car, but now, things had turned out this way, leaving her caught in a difficult dilemma.

When Huang Kecheng received the call ten minutes later and learned of this solution, he let out a deep sigh of relief, silently thinking that the matter had finally passed.

To be honest, Wu Kui was quite satisfied with his current position. Of course, satisfaction was one thing, but it did not prevent him from harboring the desire to climb even higher.

"No battles to fight." Li Jue rose from his royal chair with a depressed look on his face. The Xiliang Iron Cavalry were a warrior race; without combat, problems would inevitably arise within their ranks.

Compared to the north where rainfall was scarce, spring in the south was even less suited for engineering construction. The peak construction seasons of the year were typically chosen as the transition period between spring and summer, and autumn.

This person appeared overly composed, seeming to hold utter disdain for him. The more it was like this, the more it proved that the other party possessed extraordinary strength.

Seeing that she was giving him plenty of face today, he had no intention of doing anything immediately, such as tearing off her mask.

Because the writers of American comics had no such concept, things could not be done this way in this world.

In this lifetime, he was audacious to the extreme; how could he possibly tolerate seeing his dearest family members bullied by others?

"Your Majesty! Your minister suggests adding to the treaty that the ransom for prisoners of war must be paid using our Great Ming's newly issued currency!" said Liu Hongxun.

Aside from the tree he had snapped in half himself, not a trace was left behind. There was no huge crater, nor were there dark clouds in the sky.

***

For a logistics soldier to turn the Special Forces Regiment upside down like this was something none of the special forces soldiers could ever have imagined.

The Heaven-Extinction Physique was a once-in-ten-thousand-years rarity. Although it drained one's vitality, at the same time, very few in the world knew—even Gu Feng was unaware—that this draining vitality was not actually dissipating, but rather being devoured by a bizarre force. The ancient immortals called this bizarre force 'Reversal'.

To be honest, this first dungeon wasn't really all that difficult. Several months after the game's official launch, once the players' overall levels had risen and their equipment improved, quite a few had already cleared this map.

Wei Yan was practically shouting right into Yue Jin's ear, yet Yue Jin still showed not the slightest reaction. His eyes were vacant, staring straight ahead blankly, with absolutely no intention of following along.

Not only that, but Cheng Yu also had his personal guards isolate the surrounding people. In an instant, the only ones left in the place were Guo Jia, Huang Zhong, Dian Wei, and Cheng Yu himself.

The highest commander of the Heges forces stationed in Crimea, Thaddeus Lovsky, had no idea that his unintentional action had actually backfired and hindered them.

Although he was illiterate, he understood the importance of public opinion. Inspired at this moment by what Guan Xiaojun had mentioned, he decided to emulate the approach.

Destroyer Demon Kipubu glanced once more at the position of the Aerial Base. He had taken great risks to lure Lin Chong over; Moyan should have eliminated the Aerial Base by now, right? But just looking wasn't enough—upon looking, the Aerial Base was still sitting there completely intact! Then he saw Agulus standing over there, even waving at him.

"Alright, I know. I'll head over right now. I'll leave all these matters to your arrangements. If everything is ready, we'll leave directly tomorrow. Finally, I'll have some additional arrangements, so get your manpower ready as well!" Cai Xu finally said.

Yet Yue Sunshan himself could not control this kind of overreactive behavior. He didn't want to be like this either, but having survived the sea of corpses and mountains of blood on the Vietnam battlefield, he had never been able to truly relax his psychological defenses. Sometimes, waking up from midnight dreams, the scenes he dreamed of were still the smoke-filled, bloody battlefields, and upon waking with a start in the dead of night, he would not even know where he was.

Gradually... the hundred birds departed, and as spring withered, the flowers began to fall. The sound of the rain was desolate and bleak, presenting a scene of utter sorrow and sternness. The fine drizzle fell continuously, now felt and now gone, until finally, all sounds of nature fell silent. Along with it, the hearts of all the listeners present dissolved into dead ashes, never to rekindle again.

Walking into the rehearsal area, Jiang Xiying heard her sincere speech and wore an inadvertent smile on her face.

***

He slowly and gently picked her up, afraid of disturbing the sweet dreams of her deep sleep. Everything was so light, and everything was so beautiful.

Wan Qi could only explain it this way: was it because they knew Wan Qi had been introduced by Xiao Yong'an that their doubts were dispelled? What kind of relationship did those two have that made Xun trust Xiao Yong'an so completely?

Lindis thought about it. When setting up the website back then, he indeed had only provided the money. Creating a website online also required many qualifications; at the time, he hadn't even considered how the system had managed to handle it.

"Chen'er, you... you're back. I've finally, found you..." A cold liquid seemed to drip onto the crook of her neck as the man holding her trembled slightly, carrying a world-shattering sorrow.

There was no time left. Everyone who could have shielded her at this moment was paralyzed on the ground and unable to get up; if she ran away, Sifeng Jingyue would be dead for sure.

"I think Miaomiao is right. Since we've already come, we can't just leave like this, right? We might as well go in and take a look." Someone expressed agreement.

"Yao'er, my Yao'er, it's your mother who is useless, it's your mother who has failed you..." Before she could finish her sentence, she lowered her head and began to weep softly.

With his finger pointing at Jing Ye, several bailiffs immediately rushed toward Jing Ye with swords in hand, and the surroundings instantly plunged into chaos.

"Damn it!" Xing Ziyue stamped her foot. There was even a sniper responsible for silencing witnesses; it seemed the matter was far more troublesome than she had imagined.

Of course she could imagine it: when she, Xing Lian, returned to the Qiao family, that biological father who had always looked down on her was absolutely impossible to come out personally to greet her, and as for her other stepmothers, it went without saying. For now, dispatching the steward with the highest rank in the entire estate—fine, fine, she might as well consider it giving her enough face.