Chapter 140, Chapter Forty-One: The Lost Manor

"Don't be nervous." Li Yufei handed a backpack to Wang An'an. "Take these and follow behind me. I'll keep you safe."

Wang An'an took the backpack that she handed over with both hands.

Then he fell headfirst to the ground.

Li Yufei reacted quickly, grabbing her with one hand and carrying her bag with the other, saying, "You're so frail! Don't universities have physical education classes anymore?"

Wang An'an supported herself on Li Yufei's forearm, "Sister, I guess it weighs fifty pounds."

Li Yufei weighed it in her hand: "Forty-five jin, I guess."

Wang An'an looked up at her and said sincerely, "Sister Yufei, I only have a ninety including myself and my clothes."

"What?" Li Yufei exclaimed in horror, "Are you alive?"

"It can't be that exaggerated, can it?" Wang An'an said doubtfully. "Many of the beautiful female bloggers and models you follow have this weight."

"Oh my god," Li Yufei covered her mouth, "the outside world is really scary."

Having grown accustomed to the combat life at the manor, she could no longer imagine being surrounded by a group of adults weighing eighty or ninety pounds. What was even more terrifying was that she had actually complimented their figures.

That's terrible! Didn't she often encourage others to commit suicide before?

Li Yufei glanced around nervously. Those were just empty words; she had never thought they had great figures. She hoped those people would have some self-awareness and realize she was just being polite.

“Your body is definitely not up to the task. Even if I gave you ten million for free, you wouldn’t be able to handle it.” Li Yufei unzipped her pants and took out some things. “Look, so many good things, but you can only take a little bit.”

"No one could catch ten million with their bare hands, right? But I definitely could. I'd break my bones and use a tripod to catch it." Wang An'an squatted down to look at the things Li Yufei had taken out. "What are all these?"

“These conical flasks and test tubes are ‘holy water’.” Li Yufei picked up one of each. “The blue one can shorten your card skill cooldown; the gold one can damage demons; the red one can increase your faith value by 10%, but only for five minutes.”

"That red one is completely useless to me." After the initial increase, it only rose by 0.9, with the decimal places automatically erased, meaning it increased by 0 points!

“I know,” Li Yufei said frankly. “Red has never sold well, so it’s sold bundled with other holy waters when it’s nearing its expiration date. All this red stuff only costs 5 faith points, so why not buy it?”

"Do the props in ghost stories ever expire...?" Wang An'an asked again, "What's the difference between the holy water in the conical flask and the test tube?"

"Can't you tell?" Li Yufei placed the two together and clinked them together. "The conical flask—it's big!"

Wang An'an was stunned: "That's it?"

"Oh, what else? Detergent comes in small bottles and family packs."

"Okay." This ghost story shop has a very commercial feel to it.

“When facing demons, use test tubes for single targets and conical flasks for groups,” Li Yufei said, pulling out a telescopic baton from the bottom of her bag.

She slammed the metal rod down her throat. “Your faith value is less than 10 points. I was thinking that if faith attacks didn’t work, I would add physical attacks to your character, but looking at your weight, physical attacks are even less likely to work. You can just watch the game from behind me for now. If you’re scared, you can hug it for some comfort.”

Wang An'an took it and hugged the stick to her chest: "Now I understand how the products being reviewed on the 'Extremely Sharp Tongue' channel feel."

"What are you talking about? You've always been on the 'Extremely Gentle' channel." She wasn't even one percent as gentle as she was towards Wang An'an, let alone her own younger brother.

Of course, the main reason is that the kid deserved to be beaten.

"Sister Yufei, is that a sacred artifact you're carrying too?" Wang An'an pointed behind her.

Li Yufei turned her head, revealing a silver longbow behind her. "Yes, I personally think a bow is the easiest to use, but it's also the hardest to draw. Try it when you can draw 60KG."

"But I myself only weigh 44KG."

"Then you'll become 60KG."

"Can you draw a bow while wearing manicured nails?" Wang An'an wondered.

Li Yufei proudly shared her experience, "You can't do it in the first year. You have to grasp the balance between your fingernails and the arch. Once you master that balance, you can control it. This is a skill that even your brother-in-law hasn't mastered. It's my unique skill, and only I can do it."

"It's really hard for my brother-in-law to train this skill." Let alone ballet nail art, he doesn't even seem to grow his own nails long.

Knock knock.

The door was not closed, and there was a knock on the door frame.

Cheng Yuzhou appeared at the door: "Is everything ready?"

Upon seeing Cheng Yuzhou, Wang An'an awkwardly avoided his gaze.

What happened on the street that day left a deep impression on Wang An'an.

Despite Li Yufei's explanation that Cheng Yuzhou had formulated stricter security regulations because treatment was easy here.

But understanding is one thing, and agreeing with it is another.

Over the past three days, Wang An'an has come to a deep understanding of Cheng Yuzhou's influence in this manor.

The initial impression of kindness and friendliness gradually soured. The thought that this man had once ordered the cutting off of countless people's hands and feet made Wang An'an shudder.

She could tease Cheng Yuzhou a bit in front of Li Yufei; but in front of him, she felt an inexplicable fear and didn't really want to get too close to him.

"That's about it," Li Yufei nodded in response.

"I'm finished here too," Cheng Yuzhou said. "Shall we set off now?"

With more than half an hour to go before midnight, all the groups were already in place.

Compared to the beginning, the number of people has increased significantly, but the area where the ghost stories are told has also increased considerably.

The ratio of demons to believers has remained stable, making the holy war anything but easy.

From a human perspective, the greatest advancements have been in transportation and communication.

With cars and signal towers, the speed of support and the speed of battle report transmission have been greatly improved.

Today, the holy war has a set procedure.

A basic defensive team consists of defensive card holders like Hera, supplemented by two low-level damage dealers.

The defense team was stationed in front of the barrier, while the other believers were divided into several combat teams, each led by a high-level damage dealer. They patrolled in a cross-patrol manner, going to each defense point in turn to support and clear out the enemy.

Throughout the entire manor, Cheng Yuzhou undoubtedly possesses the highest combat strength.

After obtaining the Apollo cards, Li Yufei, who held both cards, should have taken on the responsibility of the team leader, but she basically still acted with Cheng Yuzhou, only separating briefly when there was a severe shortage of manpower.

Normally, it's fine when she's fighting monsters with Cheng Yuzhou alone; everyone in the manor knows her Psyche-like nature. But today, with Wang An'an sticking to her side, and under the girl's expectant and trusting gaze, Li Yufei really couldn't bring herself to suddenly kiss Cheng Yuzhou in the middle of a fight.

She walked ahead of Cheng Yuzhou and coughed twice meaningfully.

Normally, she would give Cheng Yuzhou a lot of face in front of his henchmen, but now that her girlfriends were here, he knew what he should do.

Cheng Yuzhou, understanding the unspoken meaning, tactfully withdrew and became Li Yufei's assistant—in fact, he had been Li Yufei's assistant ever since the first time she used the Apollo card.

Li Yufei, caught up in the battle, completely forgot about her support card. At first, she set an alarm to kiss him every fifteen minutes, but the alarm kept ringing during the intense fight, and she found it annoying, so she stopped setting it.

When Li Yufei will provide support for Cheng Yuzhou depends entirely on when she remembers.

At that moment, Li Yufei kissed the Apollo card, and under the golden-red beam of light, fiery red sun spheres lit up behind her.

Song Xiaona commented that the Apollo cards and Eros cards are highly similar. This is true.

Apollo can be described as a low-precision, low-density, high-strength version of the Eros card.

Unlike the hundreds of light arrows that tracked and targeted enemies, thirteen red suns lit up behind Li Yufei.

Wherever the finger pointed, the red sun shot out like a cannonball, landing and exploding into a scattering.

She unleashed a barrage of attacks on the demons outside the barrier, the loud bangs and crackling sounds clearly audible for miles around.

After detonating thirteen bombs, she took out the Psyche card. In the past, when she was fighting alone, Li Yufei would kiss the back of her hand. Today, as she raised her hand, a sparkling diamond ring on the back of her hand came into view.

She paused, then placed a kiss on the ring.

Cheng Yuzhou, who was keeping a close eye on Li Yufei's movements, saw it and his ears turned red instantly.

The stark contrast between her menacing gaze when she stared at the devil and the gentle way she kissed her wedding ring sent shivers down Cheng Yuzhou's spine.

The moment his luscious lips touched the ring, he seemed to suddenly become the rose before Li Yufei's nose, receiving her cherishment and tenderness.

He didn't want Li Yufei to participate in the holy war, but at a certain moment, Cheng Yuzhou suddenly realized that the battle had invisibly made his relationship with Li Yufei even closer and deeper.

Because of the holy war, they had more common topics, more experiences, and more empathy. The holy war became an important bond between them.

Li Yufei reset her card skills, and thirteen red suns rose again.

She unleashed a barrage of attacks, clearing out all the demons in her field of vision, while any that slipped through were finished off by Cheng Yuzhou with arrows.

That wasn't all; she had to demonstrate the uses of the holy water and the sacred artifact to Wang An'an.

Upon reaching the next defensive point, Li Yufei grabbed the conical flask and threw it out like a Molotov cocktail.

"You know how to throw it hard?" she demonstrated as she explained to Wang An'an. "The harder you throw it, the wider it splashes and the larger the area it covers."

“And the weapon—” she took the silver bow off her back, “Of all the bows, this is the one your brother-in-law and I like the most.”

"What's so special about it?" Wang An'an asked.

Li Yufei slowly drew back the bowstring, and a golden-red arrow hovered on the arrow stand.

Her draw wasn't swift, it was rather slow; as the string was gradually stretched, a second arrow of light appeared on the quiver, followed by a third, a fourth, a fifth…

When Li Yufei's arm muscles were stretched to their limit, a total of nine arrows were arranged on the arrow stand.

She suddenly released the string, and as her right hand withdrew, her left hand, holding the bow, skillfully and swiftly pulled it diagonally.

Nine arrows of light were flung out in a row, shooting outwards from the barrier and instantly killing the nine-headed demon.

Wang An'an couldn't help but exclaim, "That was amazing! That flick shot was so cool, Sister Yufei!"

Li Yufei handed her the bow, "Give it a try."

Encouraged by the arrow she had just shot, Wang An'an excitedly took the bowstring and drew it in the same manner as her.

It can't be pulled at all.

The silver bow, with its sleek appearance, was indeed very light to hold, but the bowstring was impossible to draw.

Undeterred, she tried repeatedly, putting in all her strength, and finally managed to pull it apart a little.

A trembling arrow of light appeared on the arrow platform.

The light arrow flickered and trembled along with Wang An'an's trembling arm, flashing like a short-circuited light bulb.

Li Yufei took it and said, "Got it? The more you draw this bow, the more arrows you shoot."

Wang An'an was panting heavily. "You're too strong, sister. You're really too strong."

Li Yufei comforted her, "If you stay here for a year, you will become stronger too."

Before this holy war, humanity had already won eight battles, and the manor's highest record to date is eight consecutive victories.

Although people don't deliberately pursue a winning streak, consecutive victories are always exhilarating. Wang An'an arrived at just the right time, just as the morale of the Holy War was at its peak.

Amid the atmosphere of continuous victories, she didn't feel much oppression or fear; instead, she found it exciting and novel, like playing some kind of virtual game.

Cheng Yuzhou followed the two, paying attention to the surrounding movements and calculating the number of demons Li Yufei had killed.

A nine-game winning streak is a very special milestone, and the rewards for winning are extraordinary.

Prior to this, Cheng Yuzhou had been carefully controlling the game, consistently avoiding a nine-game winning streak.

On the one hand, too many victories are not conducive to generating negative emotions;

On the other hand, he was not really hoping for the prize for a nine-game winning streak.

Although it wasn't anything particularly difficult to obtain, he still didn't want it to fall into anyone else's hands.

However, considering the overall picture, Li Yufei is very likely to be the first place winner this time.

If Li Yufei were the one who got that item...

The black mist condensed and dissipated at Cheng Yuzhou's fingertips, then condensed again.

This prize was established when the ghost story was first started.

At that time, he was wavering, worried about whether his decision to start the ghost story was the right one, and concerned that Li Yufei would hate him. He even had to rely on Zheng Jianbin's appearance to get in touch with her.

But now, he has realized her feelings.

There is no longer any trace of Zheng Jianbin in this manor or in her heart; in its place stands Cheng Yuzhou.

The way she looked at him was completely different from how Fang Yuzhou looked at Cheng Yandong.

He loves her, and she loves him too. They are mutually in love and don't need that thing.

Black smoke condensed and silently clung to the inner wall of the barrier, echoing the poppies outside the barrier.

Li Yufei doesn't need that prize.

"Sister Yufei, you made it sound so scary before, I thought it would be terrible, but half a day has passed and everything is going smoothly." Wang An'an's nonchalant voice came from the front.

"You heartless rascal," Li Yufei said with a laugh, "To avoid scaring you, I even used my and your brother-in-law's retirement savings to buy so much holy water and recruit five knights. How could things not go smoothly?"

"Is that so?" Wang An'an blinked.

"Of course! Haven't you seen me playing cards and archery non-stop all day? My arm's practically giving out. I'm determined to win this battle; I can't afford to lose." She turned to look at Cheng Yuzhou, as if to prove her point. "Right?"

Those fox-like eyes looked over, vibrant and beautiful.

The surrounding black mist instantly melted away and dissipated from the barrier.

Cheng Yuzhou stroked the matching rings on his finger and smiled back at her, "Mm."

It doesn't matter.

They are not Fang Yuzhou and Cheng Yandong. Despite being in a bizarre and fantastical world, their feelings are pure and untainted. He held firm to his principles and prevented their relationship from being corrupted or distorted by superhuman forces.

They were in love, so it didn't matter even if she got it.

He repeatedly pressed his fingertip against the ring, the rose and thorn pattern engraved on the inner circle pressing against his skin, leaving shallow marks.

She put the ring on his finger and proposed to him.

They were in love with each other.

It doesn't matter.

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Author's Note: Swallow (Offline Version): Oh no! This plot feels so familiar!