Chapter 134 - 133: Dropping In
Jinshui District, the "Jinshui Villa" residential complex.
The complex was built over a decade ago. Back when this area was still Jinshui County, it was considered a standard "rich neighborhood."
Even the taxi driver had whistled in surprise, "You live here, young man?"
’He must be loaded. No wonder a kid his age is in such a rush to take a pretty classmate to the hospital!’
But in Yang Shen’s eyes, the place exuded a sense of decay.
The several dozen detached villas inside were surrounded by greenery that had grown for many years. Every tree was lush and leafy, yet they all gave off a feeling of dark green antiquity.
The facades of some villas were mottled and worn, and it was hard to tell if their owners were neglectful or if the homes were simply vacant.
Feeling the "little wallet" in his pocket, Yang Shen reconfirmed that he was in the right place.
He had the key card for the gate, but after a moment’s hesitation, he decided to take the road less traveled...
’What if the security guard stops me because he doesn’t recognize my face and has to notify Ye Qingyao?’
’Wouldn’t that be a whole drama? It’s not like he could just beat up or kill the guard.’
So, he walked around for a bit, avoided the cameras, then used a roadside tree as a stepping stone to leap lightly over the three-meter-high wall.
This was how the Martial Arts Society worked. Unless you built your walls as high as a city’s and had Martial Arts masters patrolling 24/7, you couldn’t stop any Martial Artist with a bit of skill.
Even cameras were only useful for retrospective investigation; they couldn’t prevent a surprise intrusion.
Truly important places relied on "human security"—powerful individuals stationed to maintain safety. But clearly, a somewhat outdated villa complex didn’t qualify.
Jinshui Villa was too large and its density too low, leaving plenty of blind spots in its camera coverage. Yang Shen had no trouble avoiding them.
’Strange... I’m not here to do anything bad... Why am I avoiding the cameras?’
’I just don’t want the guard to contact Ye Qingyao, that’s all.’
’It’s true what they say: one lie must be covered up by countless others.’
After climbing over the wall, Yang Shen stuck to the shadows as he made his way inside, avoiding all the cameras.
A few minutes later, he arrived in front of Number 14, a tall, three-story detached house.
It was slightly smaller than Chen Beiwang’s place, and its European style felt rather somber.
——————
Somewhere, in a shower.
Xu Bamboo leaned against the bathroom wall, letting the cold water cascade over her body.
By the time the stream of water flowed from the crown of her head, across her breathtaking figure, and down to her ankles, it had already turned warm.
Xu Bamboo’s body temperature was very high...
The hiss of the water masked her gasps and coughs. The girl’s entire body ached, and this was the only way she could find a moment of relief.
Sixteen hours had passed since she returned yesterday, and Xu Bamboo had spent every single one of them either cultivating or studying.
It was as if she had returned to her first and second years of high school.
Every day was like being in a prison. Aside from the short time she spent at school, she wasn’t allowed to take a single step out of the house.
House arrest—a term most young people had only ever seen online—was Xu Bamboo’s daily reality in her first and second years...
Back then... the house had a gym and an endless supply of medicine, and she was chauffeured to and from school.
It wasn’t until her second year of high school that she finally learned where the small path outside the school gate actually led.
Only during those eight or nine hours at school did she have a sliver of freedom.
Yes, the place most people considered the least free—school—was where Xu Bamboo felt the most free.
And now, on the eve of the college entrance exams, her life seemed to have returned to its former track.
Xu Bamboo turned off the shower, dried herself, and walked out of the bathroom, stark naked.
Her bedroom was sparsely decorated. The lights weren’t even on. Faint moonlight spilled in, casting the shadow of the window onto the wall.
There was a bed, neatly arranged Body Forging equipment, and a cold, hard desk and bookshelf.
And on the wall, a massive screen with red text scrolling across it.
"7:30 PM: Take medicine from box one. Swallow with warm water."
"7:30 PM - 9:00 PM: Complete three sets of practice exam papers (Monday: Language Arts)."
"9:00 PM: Take Bright Moon Potion. Swallow without water."
"9:00 PM - 2:00 AM: Practice Bright Moon Body Refining Technique. Target Qi and Blood Value: 3 points. (Progress is 5.34 behind schedule.)"
"2:00 AM - 2:30 AM: Eat. Enter liquid nitrogen cooling pod."
"2:30 AM: Inject mental filler agent. (Dosage changed: 3 units)..."
The dense schedule continued until the next morning, repeating day after day.
Xu Bamboo stood before the screen in a daze. The scrolling light reflected on her slender body, striping it with red lines.
The light also reflected in her pupils.
’Just... a little longer.’
’I just have to get through the entrance exams. I just have to get into Jiangti.’
’Mother promised me...’
The exhausted girl tiptoed to the window, her delicate feet leaving faint wet prints on the floor, intending to draw the curtains.
But when she saw the bright, clear moon outside, her hand on the curtain hesitated, unwilling to pull it shut.
It was as if she was afraid that if she pulled too hard, the moon would run away.
As she stared at the moon in a trance, an agile figure vaulted onto her windowsill.
Yang Shen smiled and raised a hand. "Hey! I’m here."
Xu Bamboo: (⊙_⊙)
Yang Shen: ...
"Uh... I’ll go, then?"
Yang Shen quickly turned his back. Xu Bamboo was stunned for a second, then immediately snatched the bedsheet to wrap around herself. The whole process took less than a second, but her cheeks still flushed red like a boiling kettle.
She could only squat on the floor, at a complete loss.
Yang Shen coughed lightly and decided to turn the tables on her. "Zhuzi, why aren’t you wearing any clothes? That’s so unsafe!"
Xu Bamboo’s large eyes flashed with indignation.
"I was just about to close the curtains! There are no neighbors in this villa complex, there’s only a big tree outside my window, and besides, I didn’t even have the lights on!"
Yang Shen’s expression didn’t change. "Well, that’s good. See? If it hadn’t been me, think how awkward that would’ve been."
Xu Bamboo bit her lip.
’If this person wasn’t Yang Shen...’
’She would have hunted him to the ends of the earth and beaten him to a pulp!’
’Beaten him to a pulp in the most literal, physical sense!’
’But since it was Yang Shen...’
’Hmph! I’ll just be a little angry and let it go...’
Squatting on the floor, Xu Bamboo took a few deep breaths to suppress her embarrassment. "Wait a moment."
They were both at an age where their qi and blood were vigorous. It wasn’t just Xu Bamboo who needed a moment... Yang Shen did, too...
Xu Bamboo, still wrapped in the bedsheet, ducked into the walk-in closet. A moment later, she emerged wearing a T-shirt and shorts, though her face was still flushed, and she glared at Yang Shen with a cute pout.
She opened the window wider. "You... you can come in."
As Yang Shen was about to enter, he remembered something. He secretly activated the Jade on his chest, and several black beads materialized in his palm.
He infused and contaminated them with Spiritual Qi, then tossed the black beads out into the yard. He formed a Finger Technique, constructing a simple "Alarm Array."
The whole process took only two or three seconds. On the Cultivation Side, a Cultivator could probably break the Array with a single breath, but on Cyan Blue, no one could recognize an Array, so being a little sloppy didn’t matter.
After setting everything up, Yang Shen finally climbed in through the window.
He cleared his throat. "Let’s try that again. Ahem... I’m here."
Xu Bamboo kept her head down and gave Yang Shen a soft tap with her fist.
It held none of the force of a Marrow Refining Martial Artist, only the bashfulness of a young woman.
"What are you doing here...?"
Even though she was the one who had left him the "little wallet," she still had to be stubborn.
Yang Shen smiled. "I came to let you get some sleep."
Literally. He wanted to find a way to replicate last night’s situation so Xu Bamboo could sleep on her own.
Yang Shen looked around Xu Bamboo’s bedroom. To be honest, it didn’t look like a girl’s room; it was too simple and cold.
But what he didn’t know was that the entire villa was more like a "Home Cultivation Room." It wasn’t just this room; aside from the first-floor living room, every space had a clear purpose:
To allow Xu Bamboo to engage in endless Cultivation.
Finally, Yang Shen’s gaze fell upon the constantly scrolling screen.
The rigid schedule was packed line by line, without a single gap, filling every moment of her time.
Yang Shen thought of Ye Qingyao’s Life Chart and said with a sigh, "Has it... always been like this?"
Xu Bamboo nodded, then shook her head.
"It was during my first and second years. Later, when my results improved significantly, Mom’s rules relaxed a bit. But now it’s back to how it was..."
No third person had ever been in this little room before. For a moment, Xu Bamboo didn’t know what to do. She sat on the edge of her bed, her long, straight legs swinging slightly.
"The final push for the entrance exams is here, so this is unavoidable... Everyone’s going through the same thing, really."
Yang Shen shook his head. "I haven’t heard of anyone cramming so hard they lose the ability to sleep. So, what is this ’mental filler agent’?"
Xu Bamboo murmured, "It’s an experimental drug from the Biological Domain, used for rapid recovery from Spiritual Power damage. The aftereffects of my Martial Arts Psychosis never really went away, so Mom spent a fortune to get this drug."
"At first, it was just to suppress my headaches. But then Mom discovered it could be a substitute for sleep, so she changed how I use it."
Yang Shen said gravely, "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe these ’aftereffects,’ which could have been cured with more rest and sleep, were forced by your mom into a situation where you had to take this drug, and then you had to take more and more of it?"
"Zhuzi, I kept asking you if anything was wrong. You should have told me sooner..."
Xu Bamboo looked up, her large eyes fixed on Yang Shen.
Her feet stopped swinging.
"But this... this isn’t ’wrong’..."
"Shenzi, this is my ’normal’... This is how I’ve lived ever since I was a child...."