The setting sun bled like blood, the evening glow rushed forth.

Underneath the large floor-to-ceiling window, as twilight gradually emerged, Tong Hua's face was as still as water, her expression serious. She sat solemnly on the sofa directly across from the elevator, as regal as an oil painting.

Whether it was the aroma of tea in the air, the sound of video games from the television, the noise of short videos playing from an old person's cell phone, or even the snack shelf in the corner, none could shake her concentrated spirit any longer.

After experiencing a purification bath and intense concentration, she had achieved the Unity of Heaven and Man. She was without sorrow, without joy, and her heart was filled with peace.

If anything, she had only one feeling at this moment.

—Right now, I am terrifyingly powerful!

Amidst this racket, her heart was like still water as she held a bougainvillea petal plucked from downstairs, her gaze distant.

She waited silently for the wind to rise.

"What's gotten into her?" Old Zhang sipped his tea, looking perplexed at An Ran.

The teenager, whose wrist still bore the remnants of a scar, paused his game to look back for a long while, then lowered his voice, "She's been like this since this morning. This symptom, I looked it up on a search engine... it seems to be a terminal illness."

"Don't believe everything you see on search engines!" Old Zhang sighed helplessly, "Could she have taken the wrong medicine again?"

"That's impossible," An Ran firmly shook her head, correcting him, "Ji Jue told me, the symptoms of taking the wrong medication are eyes becoming red, and calling out people's names non-stop. I've seen it myself, it's true!"

"..."

Old Zhang fell silent, at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, Tong Hua on the sofa remained unshaken from the beginning to the end. As enduring as the earth, as serene as the void. Only the corners of her mouth curled into a trace of disdainful smirk.

Ha, mere slanders in words, and you think you can disturb my mind?

Dream on!

…Ji Jue?

Stray dogs, dry bones in a tomb. You're nothing more!

Since the devastating defeat last time, she had spent every day practicing her skills, training her body, running a thousand meters, doing thirty push-ups, thirty sit-ups, all for today!

It's not about proving how extraordinary I am, but to tell everyone: The melon I lost, I will take back with my own hands!

She took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

Tong Hua, have faith in yourself, you can do it!

You are no longer who you were before!

Just a few illusions, they can't frighten you. Face them bravely, overcome them!

The battle has already begun!

Accompanied by the vibration coming from the elevator, a sharp gleam appeared in her eyes, as bright as a candlelight.

He's coming, he's coming!

Here he comes!

The cables operating, the elevator ascending.

She heard it, it was fate!

Fate was knocking at the door!

Tong Hua clenched her fists, feeling the wind laced with killing intent.

The bougainvilleas of my homeland must have bloomed by now, right?! This battle is not about life or death, if I should fall, please bury me beneath the blossoming palm trees...

Like a trial from destiny itself, the long-anticipated showdown was finally within reach!

Come on, come on, Tong Hua, show your spirit.

To the coming adversary, speak that phrase, strike fate's poisoned sword first, and let him feel the pain and despair from the old days. Today, you will witness the power of a tarnished past!

[I, Ji Jue, have fought for my life to compete with others...]

Ding!

At the moment the elevator doors opened, the girl, now resolute in her determination, rose from the sofa, 'drew her sword', and with all her might, she shouted—

"—Good evening! Ji Jue!!"

As the elevator doors opened, Ji Jue, not yet steady on his feet, was met with a high-pitched scream that hit him full-faced.

"Ji Jue, thank you for your hard work!"

The woman who suddenly crouched down with her hands over her head cried out, "Ji Jue, please sit down!!!"

"Ah? Uh..."

Ji Jue almost fell to the ground in shock, utterly dumbfounded.

Surely, such formalities were unnecessary?

He hesitated, tentatively asking, "Good... evening?"

"Ji Jue, thank you for your hard work!!!"

The girl, who had not yet moved on from her recent mindset, still retained a noble expression ready to face death, "Ji Jue, please have a seat!"

This woman has completely lost it!

Ji Jue dared not move, sweating profusely, unable to understand why there was always some new shenanigan to surprise him each time?

And how did she manage to say such enthusiastic words with such a fiercely tender expression?

This was a welcome, right?

In the awkward silence, only An Ran turned off the game, shouting helplessly into the room, "Wen Wen, get over here, Hua Hua is freaking out again!"

Why the 'again'?

Is your company's culture a bit too complex?

"Uh..."

Several times Ji Jue opened his mouth, then hesitated, "Is this maybe not a good time?"

Familiar footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway, and the office door was abruptly pushed open. Wen Wen strode out towards Ji Jue, saying,

"No, you've arrived just in time!"

"Eh???"

Ji Jue couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Something about that line didn't sound quite right.

He suddenly feared that after Wen Wen beamed with a smile and took Tong Hua into her arms, she would beckon to him... Was he supposed to hesitate a bit to show restraint?

Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

He didn't even attend to his appearance.

With his familiar short hair in disarray, eyes full of bloodshot vessels, ash on his sleeves, and the near-death demeanor of a corporate slave who'd been overworking for weeks, Wen Wen rolled up her sleeves and casually tossed the weeping Tong Hua onto the sofa. Then, she grabbed Ji Jue by the shoulders.

Her grip was as firm as a vise.

Her smile was icy cold.

"You're finally here, Ji Jue."

She lifted the freshly printed document in her other hand and shoved it into Ji Jue's face, "Come on, explain this—what's the deal with this Crack Realm exploration report submitted by my subordinate?"

"What the hell? Why are you blaming me... I... um..."

Ji Jue stupified, goggled at the report, and his vision darkened.

[Ji Jue said it's all what I've gathered... Ji Jue said we didn't kill anyone, their own deaths aren't my fault.]

[Ji Jue said, if things get too hard, let's just screw it and act, so we did.]

[Ji Jue also said, what's the point risking our lives for a few hundred bucks a month, when something happens, just run first, don't fight to the death.]

[Ji Jue can fix air conditioners and refrigerators, he's really awesome.]

[Ji Jue can also drive, so fast, even faster than Sister Wen's motorcycle.]

[Ji Jue said, that old Mercury, really no good...]

This exploration report of the Crack Realm was written in such a scrambled and illogical manner that it was utterly incomprehensible, and it had inexplicably turned into a Ji Jue observation report.

And with a fan's filter that's about eight hundred meters thick!

There's a GiGi hardworking and talented beauty...

Now, with her hair almost falling out in frustration, Wen Wen came up close with a smirk that wasn't quite a smile: "Mr. Ji Jue, what are your thoughts on this 'Holy Word Records' of yours?"

"I didn't I'm not you can't just make things up!"

Ji Jue waved his hands frantically, on the verge of tears.

Wen Wen scoffed coldly, "Make a note of that line too!"

Having just walked in the door to a zany performance, and now a scapegoat is being tossed right at his head, Ji Jue was completely numb. At this moment, looking at the innocent little An Ran, he didn't know what to say.

He wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for this silly kid who wrote everything in his diary or be thankful that he hadn't written down that comment about Sister Wen being pig-headed.

Oh, he didn't say that comment, it was only thought in his mind.

Then no problem!

Ji Jue breathed a sigh of relief.

"Keep this messy report to yourself; if you actually submit it, that old fool of a director might laugh himself into the ICU after hearing about it at the Spring City Ruins."

Wen Wen stuffed the report into his hands, sternly warning him, "We can't count on little An anymore, but you can't escape this—whether you make it up or write the truth, give me a proper report that can be submitted, got it?"

"Uh, okay."

Ji Jue nodded obediently, acquiescing to her demands. Seeing Wen Wen's weary look, he felt uneasy inside and ventured to ask, "Was this Crack Realm exploration particularly troubling?"

"Not troubling, not at all, because it was trouble to death."

After dumping the report issue on Ji Jue's shoulders, Wen Wen grabbed a bottle from the shelf and chugged it down, at a loss for words: "All those inside the Crack Realm needed to do was to explore and excavate, the worst that could happen was life or death. But the trouble outside the Crack Realm is so much more... Do you have any idea how big of a mess this has become?"

"Let's not even talk about the crap from the Dragon Sacrifice Ceremony; even Nirvana got involved. During the time you guys entered the Crack Realm, both White Owl and Invisible showed up, then mysteriously disappeared again.

The entire Security Bureau's Chosen Ones turned Hai Province upside down and couldn't find a single clue, but then a few days later, White Owl reappeared from the Empire side and killed a Prince!

And that damn Invisible, still hasn't been found!

Now the entire Security Bureau of Hai Province is writing self-criticism, dragging me into overtime too. There's some smartasses who even say those two might have run into the Crack Realm, seriously, I'm done with this."

While speaking, she glanced over, scrutinizing him: "Do you have any leads?"

"No idea, no knowledge, no understanding!"

Ji Jue shook his head like a flustered bobble-head for three days, blinking with a pure and innocent expression, brimming with the beauty of an illiterate who has no idea what you're talking about.

The huge Crack Realm, mysteriously blown to pieces, we were just as bewildered, you guys can't possibly think I did it, right? No way, no way, no one would believe a level zero newbie could participate in a Crack Realm version of an Almighty Demolition King.

What's the difference between pointing at a fish head and saying you go kill that monkey?

Who is White Owl? He hadn't seen him from the beginning to the end.

As for Invisible... don't even think about it, definitely dead!

Like an idiot with an iron head, jumping into the Saint's grave, ending up as a doorstep snack, nearly devoured in one gulp by the Mercury Mutated remains.

Even if you could escape a little bit, there was nothing in the workshop's teleport records, and the entire Crack Realm had blown up, he couldn't possibly say that he was an ultimate being floating in the void beyond this world and still surviving, right?

"Good, just like that, keep it up!"

Wen Wen nodded satisfied, patting his shoulder: "This is how things have happened, what shouldn't exist, don't let it exist, and what you didn't see, don't see."

She probably heard quite a bit of explosive material from little An in private, but at this moment, she didn't mention any of it. Trouble was already plentiful, so why ask for more? Anyway, what's the point of those distant Shepherd, invisible racketeers—never heard of, never understood, never seen?

My silly kid took a mole alongside him, and after wandering around the Crack Realm cluelessly, played a few days of wilderness survival, then mysteriously emerged.

That's what happened.

Don't dig too deep, just get by with each day as it comes.

Furthermore, these days, Cliff City has been a mess of whispers and confusion, the small plot of land at one's doorstep is barely manageable, who has the time to care about those distant noises of death?

So, after enduring the excessively exciting welcome and small talk, Ji Jue finally got to the main event of his visit, gritting his teeth as he placed two large boxes on the table.

—Time to split the money!!!

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