Chapter 44: Another Happy Moment

Yu Xunhuan sighed. Remembering how Yu Xunge had been the very first to tell them upon discovering the game, he felt a wave of relief. It was just as well that she had run off—he had simply been too hasty.

He still had so many other options; there was no need to take action against Yu Xunge.

Thinking of how lucky he had become in the game simply by making food for passersby, Yu Xunhuan decided to try it a few more times. With the end of the year approaching, there were so many banquets hosted by the Su family. If he could manage to slip something into one of the banquets...

Weren't those people born with a silver spoon in their mouths far luckier than Yu Xunge?

It would be best to keep this matter hidden from the Su family, though. Even though he was certain that if he told Su Yitong about this skill's effect, Su Yitong would definitely help him, he still wanted to keep it to himself. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he did not want to speak of it.

However, since he had already bought the ingredients today, they couldn't just go to waste. The figures of Yu Qingshan and Yi Qiuguo flashed briefly through his mind. The next second, Yu Xunhuan thought of Ye Dong, who was still living in his apartment.

With a faint smile, he started cooking. Ye Dong had been staying at his place for so long without paying any rent, after all.

***

Yu Xunge had no idea that her good younger brother was not only unangry, but actually relieved that she had fled.

Even if she had known, she wouldn't have been moved. What kind of kindness was a villain's kindness? It was nothing more than treating her as a spare ration.

Upon arriving in Thailand, Yu Xunge first used her disguise skill to transform into a bald man. Then, she found a tour guide and asked her to take her to procure some occult, bizarre items. She wasn't short on money, but the items had to be strange—the older and more vintage, the better.

The tour guide's smile grew a fraction more genuine as she thought to herself that another sucker had arrived.

The very next second, Yu Xunge pulled out a miniature handgun with her right hand, pressing it against the guide's temple, while her left hand produced a thick stack of US dollars. "This, or this?"

The tour guide's smile was uglier than crying as she stated honestly, "But... but none of this stuff is real..."

Yu Xunge put away the gun, calmly and earnestly stating her requirements: "They can be items connected to murder cases, they can have a long history, or they can carry many stories. As long as you earnestly help me look, I will give you a bonus for every single item you find. The minimum is 500 US dollars, and if I'm satisfied, I'll pay more, with no upper limit."

Noticing that Yu Xunge's attitude was gentle and she didn't seem like a madman who might lose control and kill at any moment, the guide calmed down as well. She confirmed, "I can only guarantee that I will tell you about everything I manage to find out, but I cannot guarantee that the items are actually useful."

Smiling, Yu Xunge pulled out a few more bills and handed them to her. "That's fine. I'll be staying here for a week. How much you earn depends entirely on you."

She hadn't believed in these things before either, but after the game invasion, many props were related to this kind of metaphysics. Such items existed domestically as well—the accumulated incense ash in ancient temples, the meditation mats used by genuine high monks for many years, and so on, all underwent mutations. However, those eventually became government property, mostly used to protect ordinary citizens or utilized by official dungeon-raid squads.

If she were to spend her own time and energy searching for them among the common folk—well, metaphysics-related items had far too long a history in her country, and scammers were vastly experienced in fabrication. She doubted she could outplay them, and collecting them herself would attract far too much attention.

She enjoyed the protection of a good portion of the Su family; it had both advantages and disadvantages. No one would casually touch her, but her every move would also be watched by interested parties. Other minor families and factions were all eager to know how major houses like the Su and Liang families were responding.

Most of their energy would be focused on prominent figures of the Su family, but someone like Yu Xunge, who had recently been engaging in business with the wealthy, was naturally worth observing as well.

Although they wouldn't assign people to tail Yu Xunge twenty-four hours a day, if she spent a prolonged period of energy collecting items related to metaphysics, people would definitely notice. Later, when such long-standing or story-laden items mutated, her past actions would become deeply open to interpretation.

After coming to Thailand, the possibility of being tracked down further certainly existed, but all the trivial tasks had been handed over to the tour guide after her disguise, while Yu Xunge herself simply wandered around tourist spots and bought things like any ordinary traveler.

Perhaps she was overthinking things once again, but she was used to being cautious, only hating that she hadn't thought things through enough.

Another hearty and stirring mental sparring match with the air itself!

"Is this the camera from a horror movie?" At this moment, Yu Xunge, currently disguised as a bald man, was turning a very ordinary Polaroid camera over in her hands. "Which horror movie?"

The tour guide rubbed her hands together like a fly and chuckled sheepishly, "It wasn't finished filming. Those college students said that as they kept filming, they encountered terrifying things. They were too scared to keep going, so they stopped."

Noncommittal, Yu Xunge put down the Polaroid and turned her attention to the other items on the table.

There was a dilapidated, blood-stained amulet. It was said that a woman seeking love had acquired this amulet, married shortly after returning home, and then discovered her partner was a scumbag. In a fit of rage, she killed him.

There was a wolf's fang, supposedly taken from a wolf that had consumed many humans.

There was a veil worn by a Thai princess several centuries ago.

And... a small piece of a durian husk.

Hmm... Controlling her expression, Yu Xunge pointed at the durian husk and asked, "So, pray tell, what twisted, touching story and background does this one possess?"

She leaned in to sniff it and could still smell the scent of fresh durian!!

Did this tour guide think the gun in her pocket had no bullets in it?!

Gesticulating with great flair, the guide babbled that this durian husk was extraordinary. Usually, harvesting durians involved one person up in the tree cutting them and another on the ground catching them. As it turned out, this particular durian wasn't caught; it smashed right onto a man's forehead, killing him on the spot. The durian hadn't even managed to pierce his skull because the skull had shattered instantly.

Everyone at the time was too busy crying, shouting, and pressing their palms together in prayer to pay any attention to the durian. Later, this blood-stained durian husk was picked up and taken home by some local children who ate the flesh, but this tiny fragment of the husk had been preserved.

Yu Xunge: "The kid you're talking about wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"

Tour guide: "Not me, it was my child..."

Yu Xunge: "..."

She had been wrong. How could she have ever thought that if she couldn't outsmart domestic scammers, she could possibly outsmart foreign ones?!

Domestic scammers had numbers, but at least they respected your intelligence. Foreign scammers were not only numerous, but they treated you like an absolute fool!

Even the gun was useless!

Wearily, Yu Xunge waved a hand, placed 2,500 US dollars on the table, and swept the pile of junk into her black backpack. She decided to abort the plan, buy a few latex mattresses, and return home.

She was tired. With this time, she might as well train properly and go raid dungeons after the game invasion!

Having spent less than a week abroad, Yu Xunge returned to her motherland once again.

She still had nearly thirty million in cash on hand, yet nowhere to spend it—truly a frustrating predicament.

She ultimately decided to use every last cent to buy gold. When others asked, she would have a ready-made excuse: she believed the future belonged to players, money would inevitably depreciate, and converting it into gold was the safer bet.