Chapter 102: Building a Fortress for You

Yan Jing opened his eyes. He was already in the Surface World.

Before he could fully gather his senses, urgent knocking came from the door.

"Xiao Yanzi! Xiao Yanzi, is that you? Are you back?!"

Yan Jing walked over and opened the door. Outside stood Shen Youran, her face flushed with excitement.

"Nice! Nice! Nice!!!"

When she saw Yan Jing, Shen Youran pumped her fists. Her excitement was entirely genuine, without a hint of acting.

"Are you really that happy?"

Yan Jing watched Shen Youran spin in circles around him, amused.

"How did you time it so perfectly?"

"I've been waiting at your door for two or three hours!"

Shen Youran lifted her chin smugly, her fox-like eyes crinkling into two thin crescents as she smiled.

"The moment I detected Weird Energy, I knew you were back!"

"Impressive."

Yan Jing gave her a thumbs-up and walked toward the living room. "Want some tea?"

He shouldn't have asked. The question immediately reminded Shen Youran of something, and she bared her teeth like an angry little beast.

"Xiao Yanzi, I can't believe you drugged me!!!"

"You weren't sleeping enough."

Yan Jing filled the kettle, pressed the switch, and turned around. He grabbed Shen Youran by the shoulders, leaned in close to inspect her face, and nodded.

"Yeah, a lot less bloodshot this time."

He turned back to look for the tea leaves, completely missing the faint blush creeping onto Shen Youran's face.

"Did you go to the Inner World just to pick up girls?!"

"Where did you even learn this?"

"Pick up girls?" Yan Jing paused.

"That wasn't my main business."

"Then what was your main business?"

Shen Youran crossed her arms.

Yan Jing thought it over.

"My main business was probably being a bodyguard."

"After that, playing detective."

"And then, prey and hunter."

This only confused Shen Youran more. "What are you even talking about?"

Yan Jing gave her a rough summary of everything that had happened.

By the time he finished, she was completely stunned.

"Chen Dalang is in a deep coma?!"

"Four Inner World Pathway players hunted you down?!"

"Mo Nagu is severely injured? Fan Jue is near death?!"

She swallowed hard. It wasn't that she hadn't experienced brutal Dungeons before, but she had never even heard of one this catastrophic.

And Yan Jing said this was only because the bombing incident had been resolved halfway through. Otherwise, it might have been even harder...

"What about Mu Rao?" she asked.

"I'm not too sure about him."

Yan Jing stood up to pour the tea.

Steam billowed as the water filled the cups, releasing a soothing aroma.

"When I saw him, he was busy sleeping with an Inner World resident."

Yan Jing said.

Shen Youran nodded in deep agreement.

"The Mu Family poured a lot of resources into him, after all. He was bound to have some tricks up his sleeve."

The two drank their tea.

Suddenly, Shen Youran's phone rang.

She picked it up to check. Her hand trembled, nearly dropping her teacup.

"X-Xiao Yanzi..."

Unable to hide her shock, Shen Youran turned the phone around and held it out for Yan Jing to see.

A single sentence was displayed on the screen:

Mu Rao of the Mu Family did not exit the Inner World Dungeon.

When the time was up, any player still alive would be ejected from an Inner World Dungeon.

The meaning behind that sentence was self-evident.

"Yeah."

Yan Jing nodded calmly.

Just as he expected. That woman wouldn't let anyone who caught her interest go.

In the end, Mu Rao couldn't withstand the stakes he had added to the pot.

"Teacher Shen, help me boil a vat of Body-Forging Water."

Yan Jing took out the Gluttony Mask and placed it in front of Shen Youran.

"I need to go into seclusion for a few days to sort out my thoughts."

Soon, the Body-Forging Water was ready.

Inside a massive boiler twice the height of a person, dark green liquid bubbled and boiled. Various strange medicinal herbs floated on the surface.

Yan Jing submerged himself in it. Feeling the scalding medicinal liquid continuously stimulating his body, he closed his eyes and began to think.

Mu Rao was dead.

The identity of the killer was already obvious.

Now it came back to the same question: was the person on the desire Pathway Yu Ling, or Yu Xiran?

The suspect pool was extremely small.

Tomorrow's banquet was the day of the marriage alliance between the two families. When that time came, he could take one look at them in his identity as the Cameraman, and there was a high chance he would recognize her.

Even if the Cameraman's memory of that woman had been deleted, a phantom image should still appear, just like it did at the Amusement Park last time.

But what would he do after that?

He still didn't fully know what the Cameraman's dying wish was.

After pondering for a long time, his tangled thoughts gradually cleared.

Many things—just like this bombing incident—could only be handled one step at a time. Before entering the Inner World again, he had to seize every available moment to rest.

On the living room sofa, Shen Youran watched Yan Jing's furrowed brows slowly relax, and she breathed a sigh of relief as well.

For some reason, she always felt that Yan Jing carried far more burdens than he let on.

The guy was like a nuclear-powered workhorse that didn't know how to rest. He would return from the Inner World just to cultivate and go into seclusion. The moment his seclusion ended, he would enter a Dungeon, and then it was back to cultivation again...

Sometimes she worried deeply, fearing that if he kept this up, he would eventually break down.

That was why she had been nursing a certain idea in her mind, though she hadn't discussed it with Yan Jing yet.

She needed to build a Fortress for him.

Not a Fortress in the physical sense, but an organizational one—a faction with a perfect, smoothly operating system that would free Yan Jing from any rear-guard worries, allowing him to focus entirely on the Dungeons.

Everything within it would center around Yan Jing and serve him. Only then would he avoid losing at the starting line.

Otherwise, while the geniuses of other major powers spent their days solely focused on cultivation, Yan Jing would have to exhaust himself dealing with the Surface World's trash. There was simply no fairness between the two.

She couldn't let Yan Jing waste a shred of mental energy on this; she had decided to take full charge. And to accomplish this in Ling'an, the very first requirement was sufficient secrecy.

The rural location she had currently chosen was hidden enough geographically.

But in terms of comprehensive concealment, it was far from enough.

She knew of an item with supreme concealment properties. It was currently in the hands of someone in a Central Municipality far from Ling'an, and it was capable of shielding an entire area from a Third Tier's search.

Here in Ling'an, the Third Tier was the absolute ceiling. As long as they didn't attract a Third Tier's attention, they would gain plenty of time to develop.

Small places had their advantages.

However, she didn't quite have enough money on hand.

Even factoring in Shen Youran's reputation, it still fell short.

Thinking of this, she gripped her phone, her eyes flickering.

She made her decision.

If worse came to worst, she would just call the person holding the item and plead with them.

She would see if they could lower the price. She still had two death contracts on hand; she could throw those into the deal as well.

Half an hour later.

Having finished his bath, Yan Jing changed into clean clothes, walked into the living room, and looked at Shen Youran.

"What's wrong, Teacher Shen? Why do you look so haggard?"

Hearing this, Shen Youran reached up and rubbed her face. Ultimately, she decided to tell Yan Jing her plan.

"I just need a bit of money. I know we're broke right now, but I still have two death contracts on hand..."

Looking at Yan Jing's calm expression, Shen Youran pursed her lips, carefully weighing her next words. "Or there's no rush. We can wait until we have the money—"

"How much are you short?"

Yan Jing asked.

Shen Youran froze.

"With the money on hand plus the mask, I estimate we're still short about 20 million surface coins..."

Yan Jing nodded. Before Shen Youran's trembling eyes, a Gold Box materialized in his hands.

"Then it's up to our luck, Teacher Shen."