Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

Chapter 88 The Mysterious Shadow of the Manor
Due to the curse of fear, the doll can only eat alone.

Normally, they either get their meals and go back to their own rest room, or they go home and cook for themselves.

This also honed her excellent cooking skills. The dishes she makes taste very good.

So, under her expectant gaze, Li Yelai ate three large bowls of rice.

"I feel like if I keep eating like this, my palate will become too picky," Li Yelai remarked as he washed the dishes in the kitchen.

Thankfully, I train intensely every day, otherwise I would have gained weight sooner or later.

The doll beside her, who was tidying up the cupboard, smiled gently. Her eyes were half-curled and her cherry lips parted slightly: "It's okay. No matter when, I can cook for you. What would you like to eat next time? I'll prepare it in advance."

"Um, let's talk about that later, there's no rush," Li Yelai said, handing the washed dishes to the doll.

The weather in December had turned completely cold, and the high walls of the giant city could not shield the winter winds sweeping across the wilderness.

Once the doll arrived home, it was dressed in a white plush pajama set and had its hair tied in a high ponytail.

Even the thick pajamas couldn't hide her tall figure. And her tied ponytail gave her a handsome and elegant air.

With each encounter, Li Yelai could clearly feel that the doll's smile was becoming more and more radiant.

Who could have imagined that this powerful psychic, feared by countless people, was...

She's such a lively and gentle girl!

Uh... the Flying Gunner might not think that way.
Their relationship has evolved from initial tension and awkwardness to harmony.

However, when Li Yelai saw the doll's smile, he subconsciously looked away.

Every time Li Yelai saw the innocent and naive face of the doll, he would recall the erotic scenes in his fantasy world.

This gave him a deep sense of guilt.

He immediately splashed water on his face at the kitchen sink.

"What's wrong with you?" The doll was startled and grabbed its sleeve to wipe the water off Li Ye's face.

"It's alright, calm down." Li Yelai waved his hand to decline and picked up a tissue to wipe his cheek. "I'm going back now."

"Won't you stay and play some games?" The doll paused, then pointed to the living room, clearly wanting to play the game console again, just like last time. If Li Ye wasn't good at it, she could teach him. (ω)

"Let's play again next time, okay? I have some things to take care of. Besides, it's not really appropriate for a man like me to stay here too late," Li Yelai replied, and this was not a lie.

After his third awakening, Li Yelai needed to go to the equipment department to update his equipment, and he also needed to soothe the injured Mountain Lord clone.

Furthermore, after the official liaison officer criticized me for staying here to play games last time, there will probably be some gossip circulating. This isn't good for the doll's reputation.

A hint of disappointment flashed across the doll's face, but it quickly put on a smile: "Okay, then be careful on your way."

After Li Yelai left, the doll finally showed a dejected expression. ╥﹏╥

A friend told me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It seems I've been missing something.

If her friends found out, they'd probably complain, "That night was a bit ungrateful!"

On the other hand, Li Yelai did indeed have something to do.

He first went to the branch canteen and spent more than three thousand Giant City Coins to buy two pork patties at a fair price.

I found a quiet training room, summoned the Mountain King's clone, and let it feast.

In the battle with the Flying Gunner, the Mountain Lord's clone was seriously injured. First, it was subjected to concentrated fire from the Thread Blast, tearing apart its psionic barrier. Its physical body was also injured by the explosion. Subsequently, it was stabbed by anti-psionic weapons.

The intense pain made it extremely resistant to Li Yelai's summons.

It won't come out again unless you feed it.

After eating two slices of pork, it became friendly with Li Yelai again, nestling close to him and showing its belly.

"You rascal, you really are a sucker. You'll eat me out of house and home sooner or later." Li Yelai laughed and scolded, patting the belly of the Mountain Lord's clone.

Surviving in the giant city is not difficult; the difficulty lies in improving one's standard of living.

One carcass of pork would cost an average person nearly two months' wages. It takes two carcasses for one meal.

In the past, this guy would have eaten up more than three months' worth of Li Yelai's salary in one meal.

If it weren't for the fact that the employee's salary was not low and he didn't need to be fed every meal, Li Yelai really wouldn't be able to afford to support this guy.

The mountain king's clone, however, was completely unconcerned and even started grumbling.

Li Yelai had the Mountain Lord's clone return to the halberd, and then went to the equipment department to prepare for equipment upgrades.

Li Yelai doesn't want to use psionic weapons anymore; he has enough for now, and having more would only make things more dangerous.

Currently, Li Yelai wants to strengthen his large black umbrella as well.

The Equipment Department warmly welcomed this, as they had long wanted to attach a gun barrel to the large black umbrella.

According to them, if Li Ye encounters an enemy, he can first use the large black umbrella to stab them. Once the enemy gets close, he can then draw his halberd from the umbrella and engage in close combat.

The idea was excellent, and Li Yelai liked it very much.

However, the price made Li Yelai very unhappy!
"Forty merit points? Do you want to rob me?" Li Yelai was dumbfounded: "What kind of gun barrel do you have that costs me forty points?"

Merit points can be converted into Giant City Coins; one point can be exchanged for around 15,000 Giant City Coins.

Forty merit points are close to six hundred thousand Giant City Coins!
That's enough to buy a house! Why would I need a gun?
Even for scavengers, guns are already quite expensive, but a few thousand Giant City Coins are enough to buy you a dozen!

The staff in the equipment department were not surprised at all; every clerk who came here to shop looked the same.

"It's different. We're going to use a large-caliber thermobaric gun," the equipment department staff explained. "It's extremely powerful and can effectively deplete psionic barriers. This will greatly facilitate your subsequent battles."

Li Yelai was certainly aware of the power of the heat gun. It was one of the few technological weapons currently capable of inflicting significant damage on psionicists. It looked like a large shotgun, releasing a stream of extremely high heat that could liquefy metal in the blink of an eye.

This is also why a hot melt axe can easily cut through metal.

The power and effect of the hot melt gun are even greater, but its effective range is very short.

However, it can also deplete a psionicist's massive psionic barrier in a very short time. If a low-awakening psionicist is directly hit by the thermal melt, they will instantly run out of psionic energy and die if they are unlucky. Even psionicists at the third or fourth awakening level will suffer the same fate if they are relentlessly targeted.

Before the establishment of the processing department, the border guards eliminated a large number of illegal psionicists using hot melt guns and chainsaw swords.

Although the cost was enormous, it also established the reputation of hot melt.

Later, that old bastard Wang De brought back the blueprints for an improved version of the hot melt gun from outside the city.

This makes the thermos gun more maneuverable. Even those who aren't Iron Guards can wield it. It's just a bit less powerful.

The equipment department, however, chose the Iron Guard version of the Meltgun for itself. While retaining its power, it also made it more concealable.

That's the price.
Li Yelai hesitated for a long time, and after bargaining with the equipment department, he finally agreed to buy it.

Two days later, Li Yelai received the modified large black umbrella. The umbrella ribs had all been replaced with higher-strength titanium alloy. And at the tip of the umbrella, three inconspicuous heat dissipation pipes had been added.

Clearly, the hot melt gun was fired from the tip of the umbrella.

As long as Li Yelai puts the halberd into the black umbrella and grabs the umbrella ribs, he can twist it in a certain direction.

The umbrella head will then emit heat.

Li Yelai tested the power in the training room. As the halberd twisted, a molten bomb was quickly launched.

In an instant, it melted most of the metal cube ten meters away.

This level of power is enough to even fight tanks.

Its power is quite good, but its drawback is that it can only hold five thermobaric rounds under normal circumstances. In addition, the weight of the modified Big Black Umbrella has also increased significantly.

If Li Yelai weren't a psychic, and not a psychic with high physical strength, he might not have been able to carry it.

After checking the weapon's power, Li Yelai paid the remaining balance.

At this point, Li Yelai had only forty merit points left.

They were indeed facing some financial difficulties.

"Looks like I should take on some missions or side jobs?" Li Yelai thought to himself. Although he had only just awakened to the third awakening, based on the experience of his other processor colleagues, he should start saving up to buy potions for the fourth awakening.

The fourth awakening potion costs 500 merit points; I wonder how long it will take to accumulate them.

Li Yelai remembered the recipe for the Four Awakenings Whispering Potion - Dragon's Roar, which he had brought back from the Ark.

According to Yin Huo, once the official trials are completed and the efficacy is confirmed, Li Yelai will be given a potion.

Back then, if we sold it, we might not have been short of merit points.

Or, in other words, in the Ark, see if anyone wants to trade with you for anything? Maybe trade some materials or something?

However, it seems that Li Yelai can't offer any compensation either.

"Missions don't come often, I should look into side jobs first," Li Yelai thought to himself, deciding to make a call to the detective.

But I unexpectedly saw a message from the antique shop owner.

Xiaoye, come to the shop sometime, someone's looking for you.

I was just arguing with the equipment department and didn't notice it immediately.

"Going to the antique shop specifically to find me? Are you one of the people from the Red Dart Merchant Guild that time?" Li Yelai pondered for a moment and then understood.

The antique shop owner knew Li Yelai's official identity.

Although Li Yelai hasn't been to the antique shop during this period.

But the boss kept his name on the payroll and continued to pay him a salary, which made Li Yelai feel very embarrassed. He tried to resign several times, but the boss refused each time.

According to the boss, because of Li Yelai's behavior at the Red Darts Chamber of Commerce, the newly reformed Chamber of Commerce treated him with great courtesy.

Scavengers all speak with their fists. Li Yelai had practically eliminated their leaders, and they all respected Li Yelai and his antique shop greatly.

In this situation, who would come looking for you?

Li Yelai pondered for a moment, then left the branch office and picked up his phone to call the antique shop owner.

"Hey, Xiao Ye." The boss answered the phone quickly, his voice full of energy, as if there was no problem: "Do you have time? Someone is looking for you."

"Who is it? What do you want with me?" Li Yelai asked.

"He's one of the merchants from the Red Darts Merchant Guild last time. His surname is Zhao, you can just call him Old Zhao."

"He recently helped a client buy a house, but something strange happened. So he wanted you to take a look. He's still at the shop now," the shop owner said in a low voice. "Should we refuse?"

"No need for that," Li Yelai replied. "Could you tell me the specifics?"

"He didn't go into details, but it turned out that a caravan from a distant metropolis planned to develop in Border City No. 3. Before the main force of the caravan even arrived in the metropolis, they sent a team to Border City No. 1 to contact Old Zhao as an intermediary, intending to buy a house in the metropolis. Old Zhao also chose a location as requested, a manor in the new urban area."

"They really are rich and powerful!" Li Yelai exclaimed. He couldn't even imagine the housing prices in that area.

"Yeah, those guys are really rich. They just spent eight million Giant City Coins to buy the manor. They're really extravagant. Traveling all over the country with that much money, aren't they afraid of being robbed?" the boss remarked.

After the calamity, within the same great city.

Such as border cities number one, two, and three, as well as lava mine city.

The four mega-cities form a mega-city cluster, and within the four mega-cities, bank data can still be shared.

The money deposited in the third border city can be withdrawn in the other three cities.

But if other major cities want to trade, they have to carry their currency across the wilderness. Banks can't help. Calamity has severed the connections between some major cities.

Being able to produce eight million Giant City Coins directly is equivalent to them carrying enough wealth to cross the wilderness.

"But while cleaning up the manor, some unexpected things happened to Lao Zhao's men. They often saw strange things in the middle of the night."

"Something strange?" Li Yelai asked.

"It was as if they saw a deceased relative. But the phenomenon quickly disappeared. Although there's no immediate danger, Old Zhao is still worried."

"With the delivery deadline fast approaching, I was planning to ask you to take a look. If you can resolve the issue, the reward will be substantial—fifty thousand Giant City Coins!"

"Oh, okay. I'll be there in a bit."

Li Yelai planned to find out what was going on first.

If there is anything truly strange, then the authorities need to get involved.

While it may be a private job, when it comes to such bizarre events, the authorities still have to get involved.

After thinking for a moment, he called the detective again and explained the situation.

When it comes to investigating strange events, detectives are the professionals.

The detective replied, "Goodness, I was just thinking about how to find you some side jobs, but you've already got one. Okay, I'll come pick you up!"

Meanwhile, inside the antique shop, the owner reassured Old Zhao, saying, "Alright, Old Zhao, don't worry. He agreed. You know his strength and status. With him here, there won't be any problems."

A middle-aged man with some gray hair nodded: "I know, but it's still best to be careful. Old Zhang, you've never been to the North, you don't know the power of that family. I don't want to offend them."

"What family?" the boss asked, frowning.

"The Yaoqing Jing family."

(End of this chapter)