Chapter 26: You Have Two Minutes

Bang!

Crash!

Tang Yan didn’t ask any foolish questions. When the boss told him to kick down the door, he did so at once. The twelfth-grade Heavenly Lotus of Illusory Space, though only a piece the size of a sugar cube, brought him far more than just a dozen square meters of portable storage.

His constitution had been vastly strengthened.

With a single kick, the heavy, reinforced villa door shuddered violently then crashed down, splintering into pieces of various sizes. Tang Yan didn’t pause. The moment the boss asked him to kick open the door, he knew exactly what she intended.

She must want Yun Duo’er to refine the unicorn beast meat within this villa.

So, as a loyal underling, should he really wait for the boss to spell out the need to clear the place?

“What do you think you’re doing?”

A voice, trembling with anger and surprise, rang out. Tang Yan didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the man before him by the collar, easily lifted him, and tossed him out the door. “This villa is requisitioned. Got it?”

“Alright, alright… I’ll leave myself, no need to trouble you!”

Another man cowering in the corner knew well when to yield. He seized the arm of a woman beside him, who was just as frightened, and with shaking hands and feet made for the door.

“Brother, don’t you think you’re being a bit unreasonable?”

A man hurried down the staircase. Seeing the ruined doorway, his face went pale, though he forced himself to speak sternly. Tang Yan raised an eyebrow. “What, you want to teach me how to do things?”

Normally, he wasn’t this arrogant or brash.

But he knew that every moment Yun Duo’er delayed refining the unicorn meat was another moment Yu Yan suffered in agony.

As a parent himself, he knew all too well the torment of watching your child suffer, knowing what was to come, yet being powerless to prevent it. The boss had shown him a debt of gratitude as deep as new life. Now, he had to be anxious for her sake, think as she thought.

“I…”

Hao Guangming was at a loss for words. He wanted to stand his ground and expel Tang Yan for trespassing.

But when he looked at the heavy iron door, now shattered like plywood at Tang Yan’s feet, he lost his nerve. He feared he’d end up like that door—kicked into a dozen pieces by Tang Yan!

In this cursed copy-world, Hao Guangming thought such things entirely possible.

“What’s going on?”

Lu Hao appeared at the top of the stairs, frowning. “Quan’s handling something important. If you disturb him now… you know, none of us will have it easy.”

“See for yourself,” Hao Guangming said resentfully, pointing downstairs.

Tang Yan was already making his way toward them. Judging by his bearing, Hao Guangming had no doubt: after tossing out Shang Youliang and driving off Wang Dazhu and Wei Shujuan, Tang Yan meant to clear out even the second and third floors.

“Tang Yan?” Lu Hao was astonished.

In his memory, Tang Yan was low-key, steady, approachable, and friendly—not the domineering, aggressive type who’d kick down doors. Then again, ever since the copy-world descended, perhaps Tang Yan had been changed by some shock.

Hadn’t he himself changed?

Before the copy-world, he’d never imagined he’d do such things himself… Whatever crossed his mind made Lu Hao’s eyes flash with a hint of disgust. Yet as he hurried downstairs, he wore a smile as bright as if greeting a long-lost relative.

“Brother, I can’t believe you’re still alive. That’s wonderful!”

Tang Yan was equally surprised to see Lu Hao here.

Of course—they’d taken many detours to avoid entering the copy, and by the map of the real world, they should be near Lu Family Village in Suxi County. Wasn’t Lu Hao from Suxi? He’d mentioned in idle team chatter that he’d saved up some money and helped build a villa in the suburbs.

Back then, his tone had been full of pride and superiority.

So different from his current eagerness to curry favor.

“Mouse, since we know each other, I’ll spare you from being thrown out,” Tang Yan said, raising an eyebrow. “You have two minutes to pack up and leave the villa. As for when you can return…”

Tang Yan glanced behind him. Lu Hao and Hao Guangming instinctively followed his gaze.

A delicate woman, fragile yet barely qualifying as pretty, entered with her head bowed, her expression unreadable.

“Boss, when can they return to the villa?”

“Three days,” Yu Yan answered after a pause.

Barring the unexpected, it should take at most a day and a night for Duo’er to refine the unicorn meat. Three days should be more than enough.

“You hear that?” Tang Yan blocked the foot of the stairway, not caring that Lu Hao and his companion stood higher and straighter than him—they simply seemed to shrink before his presence.

“Tang…”

Lu Hao tried to speak, but Tang Yan waved him off impatiently. “Don’t make me repeat myself, or I’ll do it myself.”

Lu Hao could only grit his teeth. He wanted to curse.

You call me Mouse? Fine, I’ll let it go.

I did look down on you before, mocking you openly and behind your back.

But we’re both from the same unit. I only submitted to Zhang Quan and handed over the villa because I had no choice. But what’s this? Now you take orders from a woman who looks so delicate and unremarkable, calling her ‘boss’?

Tang Yan, where’s your pride as a man? Did you feed it to the dogs?

Still, at the sight of the shattered door, and of Tang Yan, one hand supporting a child’s bottom and the other resting calmly on the stair rail, Lu Hao drew a deep breath. “Fine, I’ll move.”

“But two minutes isn’t enough. My wife and child are still upstairs! Since we at least know each other, give me five minutes.”

Lu Hao told himself that, given Tang Yan’s strength, especially while carrying a child, he would never dare act so boldly unless he had a powerful trump card.

Perhaps… Tang Yan, like Zhang Quan, had awakened an ability.

Poor Lu Hao, with his limited experience, already thought an ability-user was a big deal.

This cursed world, where all the underachievers found a way to turn their fates, while the rich second generation like himself were reduced to living at others’ mercy—Lu Hao was endlessly frustrated.

But what choice did he have but to accept it? Resist and die? He wasn’t that foolish.

Tang Yan glanced at Yu Yan, who nodded slightly.

“Alright,” Tang Yan said.

Lu Hao nearly lost control of his temper.

Tang Yan was humiliating him, he was sure of it! Making him wait on a woman’s say-so, a woman so thin and frail she scarcely reached his chin.

Lu Hao was over one-eighty centimeters tall; Yu Yan, barely one-sixty, really did look like a chick next to him.

And to think he’d eaten spirit beast meat, his body somewhat strengthened.

Lu Hao nearly challenged Tang Yan to a fight then and there.

Fortunately, he held himself back, face dark as thunder, as he went to fetch his wife and child. Hao Guangming followed nervously behind. “Lu… Lu bro, are we really leaving? Won’t Quan be furious and abandon us?”