Chapter 199: Xiaoqi is Hungry, Wants to Eat Meat
"Okay, just let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll arrange for you two to meet!"
"Now hurry and eat, or the food will get cold and won’t taste as good!"
Tang Qinru said with a gentle laugh.
Lin Yi didn’t hesitate any longer and started eating.
Time ticked by.
Qin Zhaoxue had been gone for over twenty minutes, and she still hadn’t returned.
Halfway through his meal, Lin Yi frowned. "Sis, why isn’t Sister Xue back yet? Could something have happened to her?"
At his words, Tang Qinru couldn’t help but chuckle.
"What do you take this for, the Old District? Security and order in the New District are extremely strict!"
"Fighting among Martial Artists, in particular, is explicitly forbidden. If anyone violates the rules, people from the Town Martial Department will come to suppress them!"
"Don’t worry, nothing will happen!"
"You keep eating. I’ll go take a look. That silly girl probably thinks we’re not done talking and is too embarrassed to come in and interrupt!"
After saying that, Tang Qinru got up and walked out.
A short while later, the two of them returned, one after the other.
Just as she’d suspected, Qin Zhaoxue had gone out to give them some private space to discuss family matters.
She had been waiting right outside the private room the whole time, not going anywhere else.
Her reluctance to come back in was for the exact reason Tang Qinru had stated.
She thought they were still talking and was too embarrassed to interrupt.
It wasn’t until Tang Qinru went to get her that she followed her back.
The three of them ate for nearly two hours, and the sky outside gradually grew dark.
Lin Yi looked out the window and discovered that the nights in Songshan City were even livelier than the days.
The streets were filled with an endless stream of pedestrians, and the brilliant lights were dazzling.
This was a sight one could never see in the Old District.
You didn’t even have to wait for it to get dark; come evening...
...people in the Old District would rush home. By the time it was fully dark, you could barely see anyone on the streets.
Even if there were people out, their pace would be incredibly fast.
It was as if they wished they could sprout wings and fly straight home.
Because being even a little too slow could mean risking their lives.
But in the New District, there were no such worries. The young people walking under the streetlights were talking and laughing.
They weren’t the least bit afraid just because it was dark.
After a long moment, Lin Yi murmured to himself, "This is nice..."
After dinner, Tang Qinru drove Lin Yi and Qin Zhaoxue home herself.
Since Qin Zhaoxue had just returned to the New District, her dorm room hadn’t been tidied up yet.
So, she also planned to stay the night at Tang Qinru’s place.
Upon entering the residential complex, Lin Yi was once again astounded by the environment.
The entire complex was brightly lit.
Colorful lights shone dazzlingly.
There were even quite a few people strolling around.
Some were even young couples playing with their children.
’A single glance told you this wasn’t a place ordinary people could afford.’
’But I’ve heard about the salaries here in the New District.’
’With Tang Qinru’s profession, earning hundreds of thousands a month would be no problem at all.’
’Especially if she develops a new potion or compound; she could earn tens of billions, or even more.’
’In other words, his cousin was a bona fide super-rich woman.’
’To have assets worth tens of billions at such a young age...’
They took the elevator upstairs, opened the door, and walked in.
A living room with traditional, antique-style decor met his eyes.
This had always been Tang Qinru’s style; she was very fond of Chinese-style decor.
Jingnan Hualu was like this.
Her medical clinic was the same style.
Even her home in the New District was no different.
"Sis, this place is huge, isn’t it?" Lin Yi couldn’t help but say as he looked around.
Tang Qinru smiled. "It’s alright. I have a place or two like this in many cities in the New District!"
"I travel for work a lot, running between cities, and I don’t like staying in hotels, so I just buy a place like this to live in!"
Tang Qinru said it so casually.
But to Lin Yi’s ears, it sounded like an endless string of numbers.
He then joked, "Then why should I even bother going to university? Why don’t you just take care of me instead!"
"Sure. If you’re willing, I can get you registered as a student in name only. You wouldn’t have to go to school and could just lie around at home all day!" Tang Qinru replied, sounding rather serious.
Listening to her tone, it seemed she could even handle the university matter with ease.
Lin Yi asked, a little curious, "Sis, just how much money does our family have?"
Tang Qinru glanced at him with a smile. "Not that much. Just enough for you to lie flat and live comfortably for the rest of your life!"
Lin Yi: "..."
This place was a two-story duplex.
Tang Qinru had Lin Yi stay on the first floor, while she and Qin Zhaoxue stayed upstairs.
Lin Yi wasn’t picky about where he stayed.
He could sleep just the same anywhere, and the size of the room didn’t matter.
After entering his bedroom, he was just about to take off his clothes and head into the bathroom for a shower.
Suddenly, a telepathic thought drifted into his mind.
Hungry... Xiaoqi is hungry... Want meat, Demon Beast Meat... Hungry...
It was only then that Lin Yi realized.
"Holy shit, how could I have forgotten about you?"
He hurriedly took a backpack out of his Storage Ring.
Xiaoqi was inside that backpack.
When he came to the New District earlier, he had to go through layer after layer of security checks.
Lin Yi, worried Xiaoqi would be discovered during a search, had temporarily put it in the backpack and stored it in his Storage Ring.
And as a result, he had completely forgotten about it.
The oxygen inside the spatial storage was thin. It was fine for storing objects...
...but living creatures would suffer from a lack of oxygen if left inside for too long.
After Lin Yi ’rescued’ Xiaoqi from the backpack,
he quickly apologized with a smile, "I’m so sorry, I forgot about you. Wait here, I’ll go get you some Demon Beast Meat right now!"
Before leaving today, Lin Yi had packed everything from his refrigerator into his spatial storage.
The few remaining eggs, three bags of instant noodles, and the Demon Beast Meat.
He had taken every last thing.
If he’d left them, no one would have eaten them.
They would have just spoiled and gone moldy over time, so it was better to bring them along.
Especially Xiaoqi’s Demon Beast Meat, which was essential.
This Demon Beast Meat was all pre-cut by Lin Yi back in the Old District.
He poured out some of the fingernail-sized pieces for Xiaoqi.
Like it was possessed, Xiaoqi rushed forward and began to gobble them up ravenously.
Watching Xiaoqi chow down, Lin Yi said with a smile, "Slow down, no one’s gonna take it from you. There’s more if that’s not enough!"
The next moment, Xiaoqi looked up, staring directly at Lin Yi with a reproachful gaze.
Feeling guilty, Lin Yi quickly averted his eyes.
He started looking around the room instead...
Once Xiaoqi had eaten its fill, Lin Yi made a temporary sleeping spot for it.
He used a blanket to make a small nest near the headboard.
At its current level, it was difficult for anything to contain Xiaoqi.
If it wanted to leave, there was no stopping it.
Rather than stuff it into a cardboard box,
it was better to let it sleep out in the open.
Xiaoqi crawled into the blanket, lay down, and prepared to sleep.
Only then did Lin Yi relax and head into the bathroom to wash up.
By the time he came back out after washing up,
Xiaoqi was already asleep.
Just like every night before,
Lin Yi sat cross-legged on the bed and entered the Spatial Domain of the Star River Qi Transformation Technique to cultivate.
...
「Outside the residential complex.」
Beneath a streetlight, two men and a woman stood.
They stared at a specific building within the complex.
They all wore matching combat uniforms with the words "Town Martial" printed on the chest.
"So that kid just now is the White Tiger Martial God Old He was talking about?"
After a long pause, a bald man spoke, a sharp glint in his eyes.
The other man and the woman both nodded.
"That’s right. I just sensed the aura of the Star River from him. It’s him!" the other man, who looked to be in his forties, said with a firm nod.
"Old He’s mission for us is to guard him. Isn’t using three people a bit of a waste? Why don’t we set up a rotation?"
The woman looked at the two men with a light laugh.
"Give me a break. A rotation? Old He specifically assigned the three of us to watch him. You dare abandon your post?"
"If Old He finds out, are you going to take responsibility?" A trace of fear flashed in the bald man’s eyes.
In front of Lin Yi, Old He always had a beaming smile.
And he looked very kind.
But in the hearts of everyone in the Town Martial Department, he was strict and terrifying.
No one dared to challenge his authority.
The only one Old He would truly obey was a Martial God.
The woman sighed lightly. "Then we’ll just have to keep watch. But I’m a bit curious, who exactly are we guarding against? This is the New District, not the Old District!"
"Demon Beasts and whatnot could never appear here. What danger could there be?"
After she spoke, the bald man was also at a loss.
He also didn’t understand why Old He wanted them to stand guard.
’Guard what? Guard against whom? We don’t even have a target.’
Finally, the middle-aged man glanced at the two of them.
"We’re guarding against the Martial Arts Alliance!"
"The Martial Arts Alliance? They’d dare to assassinate the White Tiger Martial God? Do they have a death wish?" the bald man said in astonishment.
The middle-aged man shook his head. "They wouldn’t dare assassinate him. They don’t have the guts."
"What we’re afraid of is that they’ll hide the Martial God. Don’t forget, something’s not right in the Restricted Area."
"The Martial Arts Alliance’s Tiger Guards, Golden Robe Guards, and the other five guards are about to lose control of the mutant beasts in the Restricted Area. That means a powerful beast has appeared among them!"
"The previous Martial God prophesied before he left that when the mutant beasts in the Restricted Area become powerful enough, the only one who can suppress them is the next Martial God!"
"Those old fogeys from the Martial Arts Alliance are afraid of taking responsibility, so they’re also looking everywhere for the Martial God... If they find him, they’ll definitely hide him away, secretly train him themselves, and then deal with the hidden danger in the Restricted Area!"
"What Old He is worried about is that those old fogeys will resort to extreme measures and try to rush his growth!"
"If that happens, the Martial God will be ruined. Understand now?"
After the middle-aged man finished his explanation,
the bald man and the woman finally understood.
The bald man, in particular, let out a cold snort, his expression dark.
"Those old fogeys from the Martial Arts Alliance, I think they’re asking for a beating, aren’t they? If they dare get close, I’ll smash their heads in with one punch..."