Chapter 39: If You’re Not Their Biological Child, Then Who Is?

Yu Xunge did not dislike the perfectionism brought about by her "God of Cooking" talent. This talent required diligent culinary practice to truly unleash its wonders.

She was in no rush. Since the first closed beta, she had lived in a state of extreme anxiety, never daring to relax for a second, as if a wild beast were nipping at her heels. Now that the greatest threat was in her hands, she could afford to slow her pace. At the very least, she should make sure to get a full eight hours of sleep a day!

Lying on her bed, the humidifier at the headboard emitted a fine mist of high-grade reveal potion. Yu Xunge checked her current attributes:

[Strength]: 8+2
[Constitution]: 11+2
[Intelligence]: 14+1
[Agility]: 21

The starting values for healthy individuals with regular exercise habits are mostly around 7. Of course, intelligence is influenced by IQ, and a fit man might start with a Strength or Constitution as high as 10, while sprinters or parkour enthusiasts could have an Agility value far exceeding 7.

Even by those high standards, Yu Xunge’s current attributes were comparable to a Level 6 player. Yet, in reality, she was only Level 0. Her experience points came from the dozen or so minor tasks she completed during the first closed beta and the quest involving Heqipa, but the gains were meager.

The game would officially invade in February of next year.

Yu Xunge had no intention of tipping off the authorities. Even though her plan was complete and her moral choices wouldn't affect the outcome, it was simply unnecessary. During the third closed beta, hundreds of thousands of people logged into the game. Although most people who gained extraordinary abilities would prefer to keep a low profile, there would always be exceptions.

Some wanted to show off after gaining powers, while others wanted to fulfill unachieved goals.

It couldn’t be hidden; it was impossible to keep secret.

These people would be exposed soon enough. That was how it happened in her previous life; toward the end of 2078, strange news stories occurred frequently, and rumors had already begun to circulate a month or two before the game invasion.

Furthermore, Yu Xunge believed that the authorities had likely already obtained the information they needed. Among the hundreds of thousands of players, a portion were government agents; otherwise, they wouldn't have reacted so quickly in her past life.

Having hoarded what she needed to hoard, seized what she needed to seize, and spent what she needed to spend, Yu Xunge decided that her next steps would be to systematically study combat and marksmanship, while spending the rest of her time practicing her profession and cooking.

Her close-quarters combat and long-range shooting weren't bad to begin with. During her final year of life on the run, her practical combat skills had been forged in the crucible of life-and-death struggles.

They were lethal techniques—every move, every strike, was aimed at vital spots without regard for style: elbow strikes to the throat, eye-gouging, punches to the kidneys, elbow thrusts to the heart. It wasn't that she looked down on these skills for being unrefined; she simply wanted to learn more.

Without a solid foundation, no matter how high her data stats were, she wouldn't know how to use them and couldn't truly unleash her power.

A martial art that could form its own school of thought must have its merits; she wanted to learn it systematically.

As for long-range shooting, her experience in her past life was entirely magical—tossing arcane missiles, ice balls, and fireballs. She had relied entirely on instinct. Perhaps she really did have a talent for it, and coupled with the [Roleplay] talent that allowed her to store three other people’s abilities, she had managed to survive an entire year without being captured by combining various skills.

But now, didn't she possess the divine talent [Sharpshooter]? It would be an insult to that talent, and to her Agility stat of 21, not to train her marksmanship properly.

Yu Xunge had enough money to enroll in classes. She spent her mornings learning combat—how to exert force more effectively, which parts of the body could be used as weapons, how to break free when restrained, and so on. In the afternoons, she practiced marksmanship, learning how to control shooting distances and calculate wind direction.

Unlike the "wild" methods of her past life, Yu Xunge felt she was changing every day.

Those physical statistics were no longer just numbers; she was more flexible, more sensitive, and could exert greater power.

Her shooting coach was shocked by her talent. When she arrived on the first day, her posture was all wrong—clearly learned from a quick internet search. In less than a week, she was hitting the bullseye every time within a 30-meter range. If the coach didn't know she was already 26, he would have recommended her for the national team.

The only strange thing was that after shooting a few arrows, she would always intentionally miss one. He wondered if it was because she lacked the stamina.

Yu Xunge wasn't lacking strength; she just didn't want to expose the fact that her seventh shot was guaranteed to be a critical hit. So, every time she reached the seventh arrow, she would intentionally pull the bowstring back only slightly, letting the arrow flutter weakly.

Yu Xunge knew her own limitations. She was fine if given time to aim, but in rapid fire, she could only guarantee a 60% hit rate. Her hit rate on moving targets was even lower, to say nothing of shooting while running.

But she wasn't discouraged. Everything had only just begun.

…

While Yu Xunge was busy with her training, Yu Qingshan had finally recovered enough to seal away those fragments. He was an optimist; if his son hadn't collapsed after losing half his manhood, and his daughter was helping him find a cure, then perhaps there was a skill to repair items out there! One had to believe in miracles!

From that day on, Yu Qingshan began inquiring everywhere about information on players.

Yi Qiuguo, on the other hand, had become the happiest person in the family besides Yu Xunge. Her son had married into a wealthy family, and her whole family had encountered miraculous events—she couldn't think of a reason not to be happy. As for what her future grandchildren would be named, she didn't really care; they wouldn't be surnamed Yi anyway, so what did it matter? She felt she was quite clear-headed.

She was the type of clever woman people talked about online—someone who lived life with profound clarity.

The only regret was that her daughter wouldn't give her money to spend anymore.

Yu Xunge was truly impressed. Her son had married into a wealthy family, and yet her mother was still coming to her, an unemployed drifter, to ask for pocket money!

[Happy Qiuguo]: @Yu Xunge Daughter, Mom has her eye on a bag [shy].

Yu Xunge directly long-pressed the message, clicked [Quote], and tagged Yu Xunhuan.

[Yu Xunge]: @Yu Xunhuan Little brother, your sister has her eye on a gun [shy].

She clicked on the "wealthy son-in-law" to make him cough up some gold coins.

Yu Xunhuan: "..."

Yu Xunhuan was certainly not short on cash. That was the benefit of the Su family being a wealthy household. Since he "married" into the Su family and became part of them, 5 million was transferred to his card every month as pocket money. He lived and ate at the house, and someone was specifically assigned to purchase or tailor his clothes, so those five million were pure spending money.

The "soft rice" really was delicious!

Moreover, his wedding night had gone smoothly. The bed Yu Xunge had gifted him truly had some special properties. After the lights went out, he lasted until dawn; he had even forgotten that he was missing half his manhood. Furthermore, Su Yitong was very satisfied. Although she didn't know if it was just her imagination,