After Li Mucheng and the others left, Shen Mengli and Ye Feng also began making their way toward the village. As they walked, the two engaged in conversation.
"Mengli, did Xie Yuyan give you any trouble?"
"Not at all~"
Shen Mengli shook her head, nestling closer to Ye Feng’s arm as she murmured,
"Xie Yuyan just talked to me about the mistakes she made before. Most of it was her apologizing and admitting her faults."
"R-really?"
"Mhm. Though Xie Yuyan seems remorseful now, it’s still too early to say for sure. I won’t allow her near you until I’m certain she won’t hurt you."
"I see..."
"What? Can’t bear to see Xie Yuyan looking so sad?"
"Mengli, don’t say things like that! I’m just surprised by how much she’s changed. You know how extreme she used to be—it’s hard to believe she’d turn around so quickly."
"Tch, that’s because you don’t get it, Feng."
Shen Mengli muttered under her breath before pinching Ye Feng’s arm.
"Get what?"
"It’s because you’re too soft!"
She pouted, lightly thumping his chest in frustration at his clueless reaction.
"Haven’t I told you before? Sometimes you need to be firm, or people will think they can walk all over you! Look at Xie Yuyan now—she’s behaving properly when talking to me, isn’t she?"
"Alright, alright, our Mengli is the best, okay?"
Ye Feng chuckled, pinching her cheek playfully before brushing a fallen leaf from her hair.
"Of course! With me around, no one’s getting any funny ideas about you!"
"Mhm, being with you makes me feel so safe."
"Hehe, since I’ve worked so hard today, shouldn’t I get a little reward?"
Shen Mengli’s tone shifted as she wagged her fox tail mischievously.
"Oh? So this is what you were after. Fine, what do you want?"
Ye Feng assumed she’d ask for something simple—like accompanying her somewhere or staying in the mountains a few more days.
"Mm... three times! No, five! Wait, that’s still not enough... eek!"
Before she could finish mumbling to herself, Ye Feng rapped her lightly on the head.
"Ow! Why’d you hit me for no reason?!"
"No reason? Mengli, listen to yourself. Don’t think I didn’t catch your drift—none of your word games."
"Hmph, you’re the one misunderstanding me!"
"Misunderstanding?! Alright, then explain what you really meant. If you can’t give a proper answer, you’re in for it!"
"I just meant... the number of times you’d take me back to the orphanage after we get home!"
Shen Mengli pouted, putting on an innocent act as if he’d truly misjudged her.
But Ye Feng knew her too well and saw right through it.
"Oh? I don’t buy that for a second. We can visit the orphanage whenever we want, can’t we?"
"Ugh... busted!"
"Honestly, I ought to scrub your brain clean. Look how far you’ve fallen."
"Well, it’s your fault... you’re just too addicting. And if you really want to empty my mind, go ahead—that just means more space to fill with you~"
Now fully dropping the act, Shen Mengli gazed at Ye Feng like a starved wolf, her love laid bare. Ye Feng quickly decided to end the conversation.
"Ahem... Mengli, let’s focus on dinner instead."
......
"Yuxin, what’s wrong? Things with the teacher didn’t go badly today—at least he didn’t seem impatient."
In the car on the way back, Li Mucheng noticed Su Yuxin resting her chin on her hand, staring gloomily out the window, and tried to comfort her.
"Mucheng, I know the teacher’s attitude wasn’t too bad, but I’m just... scared."
Su Yuxin turned her head, listlessly tugging at her pants.
"I’m afraid Ye Feng might disappear again, just like before."
"So that’s what’s worrying you. Don’t be—the teacher wouldn’t do that."
"R-really? I was even thinking of having someone watch the cabin. If he tries to leave, I could stop him in time."
"No! Yuxin, you can’t do that. The fact that the teacher was willing to talk to us today and open up means there’s still room to work things out. If we push him too hard and make him uncomfortable, it’ll backfire. Right now, we need to trust him, not let our fears take over. Understand?"
"Mm..."
"Li Mucheng’s right. We should wait and see, not panic and ruin things."
Xie Yuyan, who had been silent until now, spoke up, her eyes tinged with something complicated.
"Yeah."
Pleased by Xie Yuyan’s agreement, Li Mucheng smiled at her before continuing.
"Did you notice? When the teacher was explaining his situation earlier, he mentioned a 'method'—something that could free him from this ordeal. But he brushed past it quickly."
"So you caught that too."
Xie Yuyan sighed softly, recounting her private conversation with Shen Mengli in the room. After she finished, the car fell into heavy silence.
Finally, Su Yuxin broke it. "I’ll help too! Whatever it takes to save Ye Feng, I’ll do it. I won’t let him vanish again."
"Same here. I never expected Shen Mengli would cooperate with us, though. If it were me, I’d want to keep the teacher all to myself."
Li Mucheng clenched her fists, clearly surprised by Xie Yuyan’s revelation.
"But we should be careful. Shen Mengli might be hiding something. Right now, the teacher trusts her more than any of us."
"True. Once Ye Feng returns, we’ll find a time to discuss this together. No matter the cost, I’ll help him overcome this danger. Whatever it takes..."
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
