Chapter 29: Moving House

Yu Xun'ge felt tears welling up—mostly from suppressing a yawn, as she was truly exhausted. "Let's go, let's head home. I found someone who might be a player, though I haven't made contact yet. You might actually know them."

On the way, she shared the information she had "gathered." "It's not the kind of thing you can ask about openly; everyone is keeping it hidden. I didn't truly come face-to-face with that person this time; we were both wary of each other. Later, I tried asking around in a different direction about whether anything strange had been happening, and that's when I learned something."

"Do you know a gaming streamer called 'Snow Knows Winter'? Have his gaming skills suddenly become incredibly impressive lately?"

Yu Xunhuan's eyes lit up. "Yes, he's a good friend of mine. We've known each other for a long time. Our gaming group was just talking about him recently, saying it's like he suddenly had a breakthrough."

Yu Xun'ge replied, "Right. When I talked to that other player later, they mentioned Ye Dong as well, suspecting he might have a skill related to sound. I watched his stream archives; every time he shouts things like 'Stand up!', 'Hang in there!', or 'I believe in you!', his team suddenly becomes incredibly powerful."

Yu Xunhuan: "What on earth?"

Yu Xun'ge explained, "I told you about Divine Talents, right? They are incredibly bizarre. I can manipulate a person's luck for a short time, so it's not impossible for other players to use sound to influence others."

On the way home, Yu Xun'ge left the matter of Ye Dong to Yu Xunhuan and let it be. Yu Xunhuan was still an ordinary person, and now he was the one in front of Ye Dong instead of her. Whether he could transform that friendship into a bond of brotherhood would depend on his own abilities.

Yu Xun'ge didn't let Yu Xunhuan drop her off at the small villa; she disliked outsiders setting foot in her territory. She planned to sell the villa in a while and buy a small apartment that might have a dungeon entrance appear inside it.

Whether it was trading resources with the authorities or keeping it for herself to farm dungeons, it would be a good choice.

After having a meal at the Yu family home, she declined Yu Xunhuan's offer to drive her back and returned home on her own. She then began her seclusion to study.

It was fair to say that she hadn't been a top student before simply because she hadn't found the right major.

For the next period, Yu Xun'ge diligently and almost reverently went through every single beginner and intermediate alchemy recipe. Each recipe came with a video on how to brew the medicine, and she strove to memorize every motion of that undead mentor.

After she finished all 400 beginner and intermediate recipes and began reviewing them for a second time, she discovered that the undead female mentor in the videos would occasionally offer a word or two of explanation.

Yu Xun'ge thought: *Teacher, you are aiding the enemy!*

Perhaps in the eyes of a true scholar, the people of Blue Star were no different from any other race besides the undead. Just as goblins didn't care about war or glory, only money and business, once they reached the legendary level in their professional skills, they only saw the inheritance of their craft.

She didn't dwell on it, choosing instead to cherish everything.

Occasionally, when she hit a dead end, she would cook a meal for the stray cats outside. "Meow Meow Hostel" was well-named; cats came and went, but none stayed for long. A cat would never stay for more than three days. It wasn't that there weren't resident strays in the villa area, but they only came by to eat occasionally and never moved in.

Although Yu Xun'ge liked cats, she had no intention of keeping one. She was too busy, constantly needing to go out and stir up trouble; where would she find the time to care for a pet that needed constant attention?

This kind of relationship was just fine. She only needed to add a bit more meat with less salt and seasoning when practicing her cooking skills and leave it outside. There were different cats to pet and hold, but she wasn't responsible for them.

An open-ended cat-keeping relationship.

The food she made for the cats, while using the most ordinary meat available in the real world, had buff effects when consumed. Some would increase strength for a short time, others would increase movement speed, and all of them tasted excellent—both the cats and Yu Xun'ge loved them.

Although the skills learned from the other world were also taught by playing videos in her mind, it was different from following along while watching a video. The former was projected directly into her mind, saving reaction time and constantly reinforcing memory.

In just half a year, Yu Xun'ge went from someone who wasn't skilled in cooking to a master chef who had mastered hundreds of recipes.

Once you understand one thing, you understand everything. Now, even if she didn't follow a recipe, the dishes she threw together tasted great—they just lacked the buff effects.

She hadn't ordered takeout in a long time because what she made herself tasted much better than anything bought outside. Furthermore, several dishes had the effect of "no matter what you do, you will become more focused" after eating. Even if the effect only lasted a few minutes, she found that her learning efficiency during those minutes was much higher. She could easily spot details in the alchemy videos that she had previously overlooked.

Yu Xun'ge simply spent half a day baking over a thousand small cookies that increased focus, eating them while she studied.

In August, Yu Xun'ge took the time to return to her company to formally terminate her contract, then released a statement announcing her retirement from the industry.

It was better for her to stay out of the public eye given her current situation. The anomaly she mentioned to Yu Xunhuan about Ye Dong wasn't a lie; look at how Yu Xunhuan's gaming group was discussing Ye Dong's changes.

Such changes might be dismissed by ordinary people as mere gossip, but to players, it was easy to link them to the game.

She suspected that in her past life, Ye Dong's sudden move to S City to find Yu Xunhuan might have been because he had been discovered, and he had come to find a friend he still trusted to group up with.

The news of Yu Xun'ge's retirement caused a stir online for a few days. People dug up the fact that someone had died at her agency recently and that her manager had been implicated, leading some to speculate if she had been harmed in some way.

Yu Xun'ge answered what she could. Not caring about fame was one thing, but that didn't mean she was willing to bear a bad reputation or be the subject of sleazy rumors for no reason.

"I am doing well. I haven't been harmed; I'm just tired and want to rest for a while, to live the life I truly want."

"I haven't become suddenly wealthy, nor have I married into a wealthy family. I just calculated my savings, and it's enough for me to live on."

"Yes, the person selling bags in the pictures is me. I never loved those things to begin with; it was just a requirement of being a celebrity. Now that I've retired, I can naturally sell off the things I don't need."

"If I were truly so short on money that I couldn't live, I wouldn't have retired. Thank you all for your concern."

"The company is fine, and we parted on good terms."

"There is no 'rich boyfriend.' I don't plan on dating or getting married. I have no interest in spending someone else's money; my own money is enough for me alone."

Yu Xun'ge was righteous and confident, as if she weren't the same person who had gone to the Su family residence to seize their gold just a short while ago.