Volume Two: The Anbei Consortium Chapter Nine: The Spiritual Plants Are Seized

At night, after Li Yu finished tutoring Huang Xiu’s homework in the living room, he unexpectedly saw a news notification on his phone.

“Around eight o’clock this evening, a fierce fire broke out at Junhao Hotel for unknown reasons. The blaze was not brought under control until 9:15.”

“Yu, isn’t Junhao Hotel the place we went to today?” Huang Xiu had seen the same news and asked curiously, “How did it catch fire?”

Li Yu shook his head. “Probably the kitchen caught fire by accident.”

He glanced deeply at the message, then dismissed it.

Is this the kind of misfortune he had sensed would happen?

“Go wash up and get to bed,” Li Yu said, taking his phone and heading back to his room.

What a coincidence. Though he spoke lightly to Huang Xiu, his doubts only grew.

Why was it Junhao Hotel, specifically? Such a large establishment rarely loses control of a fire started in the kitchen. And as it happened, there was an exclusive auction being held on the top floor that night. Li Yu could not believe it was unrelated.

They had left the hotel around seven, and Chen Chengde still needed time to transfer 1.5 billion. That wouldn’t be finished quickly—he’d certainly still be there after eight.

“Could it be because of that spiritual plant?” Li Yu mused.

The man in black who had bid from the back row was suspicious. Both spiritual items, he had tried to acquire… though he’d eventually dropped out of the bidding for the plant.

Could it be he gave up but didn’t really give up? There was always the possibility that, unable to pay, he might resort to desperate measures.

Turning this over in his mind, Li Yu decided to make a call. When the call connected—

“Hello, this is Chen Jingfu.”

Li Yu pulled the phone away for a moment, double-checking he hadn’t dialed the wrong number. “Where’s your grandfather?”

“Li Yu?” Chen Jingfu sounded puzzled, but answered, “Grandfather… he’s in the hospital with serious injuries.”

As expected. Li Yu had thought the fire was suspicious, and now it seemed someone was extremely sensitive to items imbued with spiritual energy, willing to do anything to get them.

After arranging to visit Chen Chengde the next day, Li Yu hung up.

Just then, he heard a door closing in the next room—Huang Xiu had finished up and was getting ready for bed.

Not long after, Li Yu could even hear her steady breathing through the wall.

“Time to head to the other world!”

With a thought, Li Yu returned to the alternate world.

If he spent ten hours sleeping on Blue Star, who knew how many days would pass in the other world? Time was life—Li Yu would never waste it uselessly.

Besides, sleeping in the other world… was even more cost-effective! Six days were better than one!

As soon as he arrived, Li Yu saw his simulacrum puppet sitting cross-legged, absorbing spiritual energy. He glanced at the lightning-struck wood in its hands, quite surprised.

“This looks remarkably authentic!”

The simulacrum puppet sensed its master the moment Li Yu returned. The connection across endless space and time instantly became tight and clear as Li Yu appeared at its side.

“Master, you’re back,” the puppet said, closing its eyes. The spiritual energy it had refined began to flow into Li Yu’s dantian, merging with his own.

“What—?”

Li Yu’s eyes widened.

He hadn’t sensed any spiritual energy in the void on Blue Star all day, which meant he hadn’t been able to absorb or increase his own power for quite some time. But now, he could feel spiritual energy pouring into him.

He hadn’t been cultivating.

“It’s the simulacrum puppet!” Li Yu instantly understood the reason.

The puppet truly could absorb lightning-attribute energy—not just follow orders and pretend to be a ‘shut-in’!

Clearly, the puppet’s potential was far from fully explored. If used well, even with the restriction that its power could never exceed its master’s, it was still a powerful trump card.

It could disguise, replenish energy, and, if necessary, even think for itself.

Everything produced by the system was indeed top quality!

Suddenly, a voice came from outside the door—Qing Anqi’s clear tones: “Li Yu, let’s go study!”

“Coming, coming!” With a thought, Li Yu stored the puppet in the system space. Opening the door, he saw Qing Anqi in armor.

Curious, Li Yu asked, “What’s with the outfit?”

Anyone who didn’t know better would think she was headed for battle. And yet, such a pink, delicate little girl, wearing armor and carrying a sword, was somehow adorably fierce.

“Didn’t you say we’d practice together after studying today?” Qing Anqi chirped.

Was there such a thing?

Did the puppet agree to this?

Just then, the simulacrum puppet transmitted its recent memories to Li Yu.

It had filtered out the dull bits, sending only the parts involving other people. Li Yu quickly reviewed everything.

“I never agreed to that!” Li Yu rubbed his brow. She sounded so justified about practice—he’d thought it was settled. But from what the puppet relayed, it had refused her repeated requests every day!

“You coward, are you afraid I’ll beat you?” Qing Anqi huffed.

Li Yu said nothing.

Although he’d only been away from the alternate world for half a day on Blue Star, ten times that had passed here—a good few days. The puppet inherited much, but it couldn’t use items that boosted proficiency or doubled experience.

So, although the puppet still learned techniques quickly, it had lost the aura of ‘peerless genius’ brought by those cheats.

Reduced to merely a once-in-a-thousand-years prodigy!

Over the past few days, Qing Anqi had noticed the puppet’s learning speed slow down. No longer feeling left in the dust, her competitive spirit surged. She challenged him every day, eager to prove herself.

After all, the longer she waited, the greater the gap would become.

“Heh, you overconfident little thing, I’ll show you what it means to be truly unrivaled!”

Now that Li Yu himself was present, he wouldn’t let Qing Anqi have her way. As they walked to the training grounds, Li Yu summoned the two secret manuals transmitted by the puppet, and with his proficiency bonuses, mastered them instantly, skipping the novice stage entirely.

…

…

In a private room of an upscale hospital in S City—

“Diamond Talisman!” A middle-aged man in a blue robe ran his hand over Chen Chengde’s body, feeling familiar traces of spiritual energy. His expression darkened.

“Cough, it’s my own incompetence,” Chen Chengde coughed up blood. “I spent 1.5 billion and still got robbed!”

“This isn’t your fault,” the blue-robed man said, pausing to take out a pitch-black pill. “This elixir will heal your wounds and may even help you reach the next level. Consider it my compensation.”

“Thank you, Elder! Even after my failure, you’re so generous!” Chen Chengde stared at the pill, overcome with emotion.

Given who he was, he wouldn’t make such a promise lightly. An opportunity to advance, even with only a thirty percent chance, was worth far more than 1.5 billion!

After a moment’s thought, Chen Chengde said, “Elder, I have a few suspects. I—”

“No need to speculate,” the blue-robed man interrupted. “Let me help you refine the medicine’s power first.”

That spiritual energy signature was all too familiar. He hadn’t expected that person to target him directly. Did they really think he was a paper tiger?

The blue-robed man remained utterly composed, not the least bit anxious. He only needed to follow the clues, and he would recover the spiritual plant in due time.