Welcome to Ability Store

...

That night, Chen Xuan pulled down the shop’s shutter early and set up a hotpot feast in the third-floor banquet hall.

It was without a doubt a day worth remembering, and the atmosphere inside felt like a holiday. Not only was the entire Red Lotus Team present, Chen Xuan had also called Liu Shuyue over. Everyone gathered together to celebrate the rebirth of Lin Qing and Elorie.

"Look what I found!" Wang Baihu squeezed his way over with a crate of beer in his left arm and two bottles of Bailiang liquor in his right. "You gotta drink this when you’re celebrating!"

"Wait... that’s from the shop, right?" Little Pigeon corrected him. "Don’t just rummage through Brother Xuan’s stuff!"

Even though the first floor had been "renovated" into a fruit shop, all the stock Chen Xuan had ordered before was still there—there was no way to return it—so everything had been piled up in the third-floor food storeroom. He hadn’t expected Wang Baihu to dig it all out.

"It’s not like I’m not paying!" he shouted. "I’m covering all the expenses tonight!"

"Yeah, sure, it’s not your turn to play host yet." Chen Xuan scolded him with a smile. "But he did one thing right—if there’s anything you want to eat or use, just grab it. Everything in the shop’s free tonight."

"Thanks, Brother Xuan!" Wang Baihu grinned.

"I... I can drink too?" Liuli’s eyes were locked on the bottles as she asked uncertainly.

"Uh..."

Before Chen Xuan could make up his mind, Elorie had already voiced her confusion. "Eh? Isn’t this your favorite? I was starting to think you’d drink yourself into a complete drunk..."

"How could that be? I’ve clearly been very restrained." Liuli raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, sorry!" Elorie froze for a second before reacting. "I messed it up again—that was you in the dream."

Although Chen Xuan had swapped those two segments of memory to wake her from her coma, that didn’t mean he had to keep her in the dark forever. In fact, on the way back, he’d roughly explained the effects of the Dream Maker and the Soul Forge: "making her think she hadn’t been injured" was merely a method to rouse her soul. Once she truly woke up, which side was dream and which side was reality no longer mattered.

Really restrained?

Lately she’d already been sneaking a few sips where no one could see.

Chen Xuan shrugged. "I won’t limit you today. Drink if you want. But once you’re drunk, lock yourself in your room—don’t come out until you’re sober."

A flicker of joy flashed across Liuli’s face. "Deal."

"So Little El was living in a dream this whole time?" Jiang Siqi asked curiously. "Brother Xuan, your ability is just insane!"

"More or less... Actually, I’d already faintly realized it might be a long dream I’d have a hard time waking from." Elorie sounded a bit wistful.

"You noticed?" Chen Xuan was slightly surprised.

He had assumed the world constructed by the Creator was completely self-consistent.

"Yeah. You rarely saw people on the streets, and the supermarket had new products stocked every day, but barely anyone came to shop." She murmured, "Every time I tried to recall what the nights in Paris were supposed to look like, my mind would be shrouded by a fog, and all those memories turned hazy, like someone was deliberately stopping me from thinking along those lines."

"Whoa, that’s pretty scary." Jiang Siqi stuffed a slice of fatty lamb into her mouth. "Kinda like being trapped in Silent Hill."

"Silent? Hardly. It was noisy at home every day, because someone would start yelling after drinking."

Elorie’s gaze fell on Liuli beside her.

The latter had just lifted a beer bottle to her lips. "Uh... sorry?"

"No, if anything I should thank you. The only reason I held on this long was because you were with me." The Little Angel shook her head. "You were the only lively person in that world. Every time I felt down or lonely, you’d come to comfort me—though not all of your methods were exactly acceptable."

Liuli, rarely, showed an embarrassed expression. "Does that really count as my achievement?"

"Of course," Elorie replied without hesitation. "Chen Xuan told me a Dream Maker needs a template to shape a dream. If you treated me that way in the dream, then you’d definitely do the same in reality."

A faint blush crept onto her face. "A swordsman must have a fair lady. I mean... being good to a fair lady is part of a swordsman’s nature."

"Come on, this is not the time to be chuunibyou! Just accept the thanks like a decent person, will you?" Wang Baihu pressed a hand to his forehead. "What swordsman, swordsman—you’ve read way too many wuxia novels—"

"Hmm?" Liuli narrowed her eyes and swept her gaze over him. In that instant, Wang Baihu seemed to see countless cold strands of Sword Qi rushing toward him, chopping him into pieces.

Gulp. He swallowed, forcing the rest of his sentence back down.

Watching the lively crowd, Chen Xuan couldn’t help feeling a little moved.

No wonder You Chi had mentioned that, when monitoring Elorie’s vital signs, there had been inexplicable spikes in heart rate and blood pressure... fortunately, each fluctuation had never lasted long.

Perhaps those changes were the outward signs of Elorie wanting to give up.

Letting Liuli stay with her had indeed been the right move.

"I’m sorry. If I’d spotted Xiao Canong’s schemes earlier, maybe you wouldn’t have had to suffer like this." Honglian said with some guilt.

"This isn’t your fault." Elorie smiled. "He knew perfectly well he was dealing with a Demon, yet he still loved making deals with one. People like that are beyond what you or I can understand."

"And now he’s getting what he deserves." Little Pigeon nodded. "The Jiang City branch got dismantled, and the project he led ended in total failure. A mistake this serious isn’t something the organization will just overlook—he can forget about climbing up again in this lifetime."

"For a corporate type, that’s probably worse than killing him." Jiang Siqi said, feeling it in her bones. "But if Elorie wants to go after him for revenge, I’d support it a hundred percent."

"Alright, this is a celebration. Don’t get all heavy. Let Miss El and Miss Lin relax and spend tonight laughing first." Xu Xuanling cut in.

After two cups of white liquor, her cheeks were already tinged red.

Wait, wasn’t a Cultivator’s physical fitness supposed to improve dramatically? Chen Xuan had made a new discovery.

"Isn’t that right, Master!" Xu Xuanling turned to Liu Shuyue, her tone fierce.

"What?" Liu Shuyue was currently sitting in the same row as Lin Qing, chatting and laughing away. She didn’t react immediately when the topic suddenly shifted to her.

"Why haven’t you come by the shop lately?" Xu Xuanling yelled, riding her alcohol high. "You’re an employee too, aren’t you? At least come visit me once in a while!"

"So that’s it." Liu Shuyue let out a soft sigh. "There’s been a lot to handle in Hot Pepper Village recently, and the neighboring country’s troops have been making moves too. I can’t afford to let my guard down. I get your request... but I probably can’t meet it."

"Not even once a week?" Xu Xuanling’s vocabulary had grown a lot these days. "If I were the boss, I’d have fired you already!"

"If I don’t have time to come over, you can always come to me." Liu Shuyue replied calmly.

She froze for a second. "How would I get there?"

"Take Line 201. Go through the door behind the pool—that’s where I am. But the room card’s with Chen Xuan. If you beg him, he should open it for you."

Liu Shuyue turned and flashed a smile at Chen Xuan.

He silently thought, crap, she’s redirecting the fire onto me.

Seeing the faintly resentful look drifting over from Xu Xuanling, he coughed twice. "It’s not impossible. Lin Qing’s back now, so we don’t need anyone stationed at the subway anymore."

"Nice!" Little Pigeon cheered. "We finally don’t have to stay underground all day!"

"Subway?" Elorie asked in confusion. "Why were you guarding a subway station?"

"Ah, that’s a long story!" Wang Baihu took it upon himself to explain. "Before you woke up, we went to the future on a mission!"

"You went to New Paris City?"

"No, what Paris? It’s called New Jiang City!" he said, talking a mile a minute. "And it was all for Miss Lin Qing!"

Not bad.

Chen Xuan leisurely piled a bowl full of food, leaned back by the counter, and ate while watching everyone bicker and laugh.

The round table holding the hotpot was already packed with people. Liu Shuyue and Lin Qing sat in the center, every gesture exuding the presence of old-time shop employees.

The Red Lotus Team and Elorie were on the left, all youthful energy. Wang Baihu moved back and forth, pouring drinks for everyone and hyping up the mood, a true little banquet master.

Across from them sat Liuli and Xu Xuanling. Despite being only two in number, they held down their side of the table solidly, forming a subtle balance with the others.

He felt deeply content. Maybe this was what a team felt like.

Though... weren’t the empty bottles piling up under the table getting a bit out of hand?