Chapter 14. The Tree Demon's Secret Realm (Part 9) (The End)...
Upon seeing the flying car appear, Chen Feng, Cheng Cheng, and the others suddenly quickened their packing process.
Before the Rising Sun Squad appeared, they had already packed up most of the items dropped by the BOSS and had Lin Xiaoxiao quickly store them in her spatial storage.
The moment they saw Liu Duoxin from afar, the Dragon Tooth team members, who were already quick enough, moved even faster to pack up, as if to say: The robbers are here, pack up quickly, pack up quickly.
Liu Duoxin stormed up to Xiao Weizhi, put her hands on her hips and frowned, and said, "Xiao Weizhi, what's this about your Dragon Fang Squad?"
Then Liu Duoxin glanced disdainfully at Lin Xiaoxiao, who was standing next to Xiao Weizhi.
Lin Xiaoxiao noticed the contempt in Liu Duoxin's eyes and was filled with confusion. What did that look mean? Did she look down on her?
Xiao Weizhi patted his robe, which had turned from platinum to gray due to the long battle, and a hint of irritation flashed in his eyes. The battle was over, the core of the secret realm was in his hands, and his mysophobia had kicked in again.
He didn't even glance at Liu Duoxin, his voice calm yet carrying a barely perceptible coldness: "What is it?"
Liu Duoxin's face showed obvious disgust. She crossed her arms, held her head high, and spoke in a spoiled and unreasonable tone: "Xiao Weizhi, let me tell you. Even if you follow me into the secret realm, I will not go back with you. I made that very clear before."
Lin Xiaoxiao pursed her lips into a straight line in displeasure, feeling an inexplicable sense of irritation rising in her heart.
This newly released dungeon isn't owned by the Liu family, so why is it that Xiao Weizhi leading the Dragon Fang team into the dungeon to explore it is considered chasing after her?
I've only been here for a little over a month, and apart from that one time before, this is the only time I've met them, and they were the ones who came here first.
Xiao Weizhi did not say anything.
At this moment, Chen Zhuoran, who was standing behind Liu Duoxin, reached out and patted her shoulder, and said gently, "Captain Xiao, you know Xinxin's temper. When she gets anxious, she does sometimes speak without thinking. I apologize to you on her behalf, and please forgive her."
"After all, you grew up together. Even if your status changes, the bond you've shared over the years will never change."
When Chen Zhuoran finished speaking, Liu Duoxin couldn't help but want to open her mouth to refute him.
But when Chen Zhuoran gently pinched her shoulder twice, she seemed to remember something and angrily shut her mouth.
Upon hearing Chen Zhuoran's sarcastic remarks, Lin Xiaoxiao's alarm bells immediately went off.
What does this male protagonist want? In my memory, every time he said something ambiguous, it was because he had some ulterior motive. What does Xiao Weizhi have that he would want? Could it be that he has his eye on something about Xiao Weizhi?
Xiao Weizhi stared expressionlessly at Liu Duoxin and Chen Zhuoran. His glasses, covered in a layer of dust that had dulled their brightness, obscured the unreadable emotions in his eyes.
He didn't reply, but simply lowered his eyes slightly to look at Chen Zhuoran a few meters away, his clear eyes seeming to see through his clownish behavior.
As time ticked by, Chen Zhuoran, who had been hoping to provoke or evoke some other emotion in Xiao Weizhi, gradually turned pale. He couldn't understand why his previously invincible methods were now completely useless.
Finally, seeing that Chen Zhuoran hadn't spoken as planned, Liu Duoxin bit her lower lip and couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Weizhi, is that secret realm core permanent?"
"Whether it's long-term or not, does it have anything to do with you?" Cheng Cheng, whose white priest robe was covered in darkness, appeared with a sullen face.
If it weren't for the worry that the captain would soften his heart again and fall for this little green tea bitch, Cheng Cheng wouldn't have put down his collection work to get involved in their messy relationship.
Liu Duoxin's chest heaved rapidly, and she stomped her feet a few times: "I'm talking to your boss, what's it to you?"
Xiao Weizhi frowned, his thin lips parted slightly, and his voice was cold: "She is my team member, it is not your place to instruct her, Miss Liu."
Liu Duoxin stared in astonishment, her eyes wide with surprise. Suddenly, her eyes welled up with tears, as if she hadn't expected Xiao Weizhi to speak to her like that and to call her Miss Liu.
Chen Zhuoran sensed something was wrong and turned his head to look at Liu Duoxin's astonished face. A surge of anger, dissatisfaction, and frustration welled up in his heart, but he quickly suppressed it, and his expression remained unchanged.
Suddenly, an unexpected change occurred.
The golden light, which floated in mid-air and was invisible to everyone, seemed to have found its source and suddenly turned and surged towards the center of the crowd that was confronting each other.
With lightning speed, without obtaining the owner's consent, it forcibly merged into Lin Xiaoxiao's body in just a few seconds.
At the same time, after the golden light completely entered Lin Xiaoxiao's body, the corpse of the BOSS Evergreen Tree Demon turned into a pile of ashes.
Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly groaned and vomited a mouthful of blood, which landed precisely on Xiao Weizhi's back. Then, her vision went black, her body went limp, and she uncontrollably fell backward to the ground.
Before losing consciousness, she vaguely heard Cheng Cheng's terrified scream, and...
"Xiaoxiao!" Cheng Cheng screamed in terror, his voice extremely loud.
Xiao Weizhi turned his head and saw Lin Xiaoxiao lying on the ground, her face ashen and bloodstains at the corner of her mouth.
His body moved faster than his mind. He quickly stepped forward, carefully protecting her head with his hands, and swept her into his arms, sternly instructing, "Don't take the rest of the things. Let's go back to the capital."
The entire Dragon Fang team exchanged glances, quickly stopped what they were doing, packed up the already packaged items, and decided to discard the remaining 20%.
As the faint light flickered, the figures of the Dragon Fang Squad twisted and slowly dissipated from their original positions, clearly indicating that they had left this secret realm.
Liu Duoxin's eyes were glazed over, her gaze drifting unfocused to the spot where Xiao Weizhi had disappeared with Lin Xiaoxiao in his arms.
"The Dragon Fang Squad has left. They don't want the remaining resources. Let's collect them quickly and not waste them."
"Wuhu~ We've made a fortune!"
...
Lin Xiaoxiao, who suddenly vomited blood, was pulled into a completely dark space from the moment she fainted, with a ball of golden light floating beside her.
The golden light surrounded her in a human-like manner, sometimes condensing into the shape of a small tree, and sometimes dissipating into a thin mist, just like a clingy pet.
She frowned and asked softly, "What are you?"
But the golden light didn't answer her question with its mouth. Instead, it kept pressing itself against her. With each closer touch, the golden light gradually became smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely.
Lin Xiaoxiao was completely bewildered and had no idea what was going on.
After a long time, her consciousness left this mysterious space, but she didn't notice that there was a small raised area in the completely dark space, from which some very fine specks of gold, like glitter, could be seen, but they were not visible at all unless you looked closely.
Lin Xiaoxiao woke up late at night.
The dim light from the nightlight allowed her to barely make out her surroundings; it was a hospital.
When she turned around to look around, she saw Xiao Weizhi, who had changed his clothes, lying on the small sofa with his eyes closed and his head tilted back, revealing his superior face, prominent Adam's apple, and very shallow breathing.
Lin Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment, then nimbly rolled out of bed barefoot and picked up the cane leaning against the headboard.
She picked up a thin blanket from the bed next door, slowly walked towards him, stood in front of the sofa, gently unfolded the folded blanket, and prepared to cover Xiao Weizhi with it.
Just as the blanket was covering Xiao Weizhi, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Xiaoxiao by the neck, flipped her over and pressed her onto the sofa, his eyes filled with murderous intent like poisoned ice shards.
The next second, when he realized that it was Lin Xiaoxiao lying on top of him, he quickly let go, frowned and reminded her in a deep voice, "I remember I reminded you not to come near me when I'm sleeping."
Lin Xiaoxiao coughed for a while, her eyes red-rimmed, and she touched her neck with both hands where there was a handprint, and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, I forgot, cough cough, I just wanted to cover you with a blanket, cough cough cough, next time, cough, I won't do it again."
The hand that Xiao Weizhi had used to grab Lin Xiaoxiao's neck suddenly became hot, as if it had been burned.
After a moment, he lowered his eyes, his long, thick eyelashes concealing the expression in them, and replied in a deep voice, "Yes, go and rest."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded and was about to use her crutches to go back to her hospital bed when she suddenly felt weightless and her body was lifted into the air.
Xiao Weizhi carried her in his arms, quickly walked to the bedside, gently put her down, his gaze sweeping over the red mark on her fair neck, and said softly, "Sleep."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded: "You should get some rest too."
"Hmm." Xiao Weizhi originally wanted to sit back on the sofa, but after thinking about it, she turned around and lay down on the 1.2-meter-long cot next to her.
An hour later, Lin Xiaoxiao gently lifted her eyelids, quietly turned her head, and saw that Xiao Weizhi had already fallen asleep.
She pulled the blanket over her head and then pulled up her personal profile screen:
Name: Lin Xiaoxiao
Age: 21
Occupation: Treasure Chest Merchant [Super Hidden Occupation]
Destined Bound Person: Xiao Weizhi [Effect: Shared Life and Death]
Level: LV42 (4,563,124/180,000,000) [Saved Experience Points: 34,245,348]
Job Skills: Daily Treasure Chest [10/10] (10,000 Gold/each), Luck Treasure Chest (refreshes daily), Experience Treasure Chest [3/3] (100,000 Gold/each), Sacrifice to the Goddess of Fortune (once every six months)
Other skills: Appraisal (Beginner), Gathering (Intermediate), Listening to the Sounds of All Things
Talents: Extra-large storage space, Lucky Libra, [Negative Buff: Experience Points -50% (Permanent)]
Task module: [Task 1 (Please expand to view details)]
[The quest from the BOSS Evergreen Treant: It implores you, as *****, to help it fulfill its last wish and settle the descendants of its people.]
[Quest Item: A bag of special seeds [Grayish status] (Currently, the conditions for claiming the quest have not been met)]
[Reward for completing the task: ********* (Claim upon completion)]
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at the suddenly appearing task, her brows furrowing deeply into a deep frown. It turned out that the voice she heard before losing consciousness in the secret realm wasn't an illusion.
She vaguely heard a voice echoing in her mind:
[Congratulations on receiving a mysterious quest: Quest panel now open]
What do these fourteen asterisks mean?
Lin Xiaoxiao counted them several times; there were fourteen.
She racked her brains trying to figure out if the asterisks had any special meaning, but she couldn't come up with the mystery no matter how hard she tried.
Just as Lin Xiaoxiao was sucking her thumb, pondering what this sudden task was all about, the blanket covering her head was suddenly pulled off.
Xiao Weizhi's voice was deep: "Trying to suffocate yourself?"
His gaze fell on the personal attribute panel in front of her, and he reminded her in a deep voice, "Go to sleep, check the panel tomorrow."
Lin Xiaoxiao noticed something was wrong when she saw Xiao Weizhi's expression. She pointed at the task module on the last row of her attribute panel and asked tentatively, "Can you see it here?"
Xiao Weizhi frowned: "What's here?"
Based on his reaction, Lin Xiaoxiao guessed that probably no one but her could see this task module, just like that golden light.
She obediently turned off the attribute panel, pulled the blanket up to her chin, and looked longingly at Xiao Weizhi standing by the hospital bed: "It's nothing, I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep."
After saying that, he closed his eyes, indicating that he was going to sleep.
Xiao Weizhi stared at her peaceful sleeping face for a while, then turned and went back to the small bed next door. He made a mental note that she might be hallucinating and would have the doctor examine her carefully tomorrow.
Yes, apply medicine to your neck too.
-
A few days later, after being taken for more than ten check-ups, Lin Xiaoxiao was finally released from the hospital after it was confirmed that there was no problem.
Lin Xiaoxiao, dressed in a rose-red silk dress, sat in the flying car, idly fiddling with the jade pendant adorning her belt. Next to her sat Xiao Weizhi, who was engrossed in reading documents.
As the car drove into the most prosperous high-end trading street in the imperial capital, it slowly stopped in front of a magnificent building.
There is a pair of 6-meter-high stone lions in front of the building, and a golden sign is hung on the gate with a few big words written on it: Thousands of Treasures Auction House.
Through the car window, Lin Xiaoxiao saw that the area in front of the auction house was filled with men and women dressed in custom-made, gorgeous outfits, all perfectly styled and impeccably dressed.
Puzzled, he asked, "Aren't we going back?"
Xiao Weizhi turned off the communicator screen in his hand, reached out and pushed up the nose pad of his glasses which had slipped slightly with his index finger, and said in a deep voice, "Okay, turn around and buy something."
After saying that, he opened the car door and sped off.
He turned to Lin Xiaoxiao, opened the car door on her side like a gentleman, and extended his arms to her.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Lin Xiaoxiao stiffly took Xiao Weizhi's arm and let him lead her, still stiff as a board, inside.
As soon as I entered the building, a short, stout man in a burgundy suit, with a belly that looked like he was carrying a watermelon, greeted me with a beaming smile.
He put his hands together and rubbed them lightly, smiling kindly and speaking in a flattering voice: "Young Master Xiao, you're coming. Why didn't you let me know in advance? I should have sent someone to pick you up."
Xiao Weizhi nodded reservedly, her tone polite and distant: "No need, I just came to buy some things, there's no need to make a fuss."
The man's smile widened, revealing eight teeth: "Alright, Young Master Xiao, would you like to sit on the second floor today, or in a private room on the third floor? By the way, what is this young lady's name?"
Xiao Weizhi glanced at Lin Xiaoxiao, who was stiff in her movements, and gently patted her small hand that was linked with her arm, signaling her to relax. He then nodded to the man and said, "Her surname is Lin. She can sit on the second floor today."
The man's indifference vanished; he had dealt with the Xiao family for many years, so he couldn't say he knew them very well.
However, given the young master Xiao Weizhi's habits, one can probably guess about 50-60% of them. The young master's actions... this young lady is probably not the female companion rumored to be used to annoy his ex-fiancée.
He smiled brightly at Lin Xiaoxiao. "Nice to meet you, Miss Lin! My name is Jin Dabao, and I'm the manager of the auction house. If you need anything at the auction house, you can come to me."
Lin Xiaoxiao responded softly: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Jin."
Then, a waiter in a black suit led Xiao Weizhi and Lin Xiaoxiao to their seats on the second floor.
The entire auction venue is divided into three floors. The first floor has semi-enclosed booths, the second floor has semi-circular balconies separated by thick curtains, and the third floor has private boxes with excellent privacy.
There was already a man and a woman in suits on the balcony, standing respectfully by the side with their hands folded in front of their abdomens, waiting.
Inside, there were only two velvet sofas, a small square table in the center of the sofas with a leather auction catalog on it, and two small tea tables right next to each other, filled with drinks and fruit.
Xiao Weizhi led Lin Xiaoxiao to sit on the sofa. He crossed his legs and picked up the auction catalog on the small square table as usual.
While looking around, he said to Lin Xiaoxiao, "Let's eat something first. It'll be a while before we go back after we finish shopping."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded nervously, and after waiting for a while, she reached out and picked up a piece of apple with toothpicks stuck in it, cut into the shape of a rabbit.
Before I could even take two bites, I heard a commotion outside.
A few minutes later, the noise stopped and the auction officially began.
The host on stage, microphone in hand, passionately introduced a projected ring: "This ring is a bronze-level protective item, capable of effectively withstanding silver-level damage for 5 seconds..."
Xiao Wei waved to the waiter standing to the side.
The waiter quickly understood, walked to the railing, raised the number plate high, and waved it a few times.
The number plates are specially designed; they flash a faint orange light with each wave so that the auctioneer can see them immediately.
The host asked excitedly, "The bid for balcony number 2 on the second floor is 50,000 gold coins. Is there anyone else who wants to raise the price?"
After several rounds of bidding, Xiao Weizi finally bought the ring for 180,000 gold coins.
Xiao Weizhi bought all the protective gear items in the next auction without regard to cost, with the most valuable being a diamond-grade protective gear necklace—Angel's Heart.
This necklace is worth 346 million gold coins.
Midway through the auction, Lin Xiaoxiao inadvertently discovered that the male and female protagonists, Liu Duoxin and Chen Zhuoran, were also in the venue, but they were in a booth at the back of the first floor.
She deliberately poked Xiao Weizhi's arm with her finger and whispered a reminder: "Your ex-fiancée and her new boyfriend are downstairs."
Xiao Weizhi turned to look at her, her tone calm: "Yes, you can also take a look at the auction catalog. If you like something, have the waiter raise a paddle."
Lin Xiaoxiao looked puzzled. Why was he so calm?
Doesn't the book say that Xiao Weizhi loses control of his emotions whenever he meets Liu Duoxin, and often clashes with Chen Zhuoran, the male lead?
Before the auction ended, Xiao Weizhi, who had already bought what he wanted, took Lin Xiaoxiao back to the Xiao residence.
Unbeknownst to them, new rumors were already circulating in the capital:
Rumor 1: Young Master Xiao, who has once again conquered a C-level secret realm, has gone on a rampage for his beloved, spending hundreds of millions of gold coins at an auction to purchase protective items for his new love.
Rumor 2: Before the auction began, his ex-fiancée, Ms. Liu, caused a scene at the auction hall, saying, "I always sat on the second floor before, why can't I now?"
One of the managers gently reminded me that the second floor requires a total expenditure of 100 million gold coins to enter. Ms. Liu, the current expenditure in your name is 16 million gold coins.
Ms. Liu's expression changed drastically on the spot. She angrily berated the auction house manager without any regard for her image. She was then persuaded by her new boyfriend and reluctantly went to the first floor.
Rumor 3: At the time, his ex-fiancée and her new boyfriend were sitting in a booth in the lobby downstairs. They seemed to be having a fight. Young Master Xiao spent money on his new love without batting an eye. After leaving him, Miss Liu fell on hard times.
...
A note from the author:
----------------------
Thanks for pointing out the bug; it's been fixed in time. [heart emoji]
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