Listening to the saleslady's endless chatter, Luo Cheng could only respond with a dry “hehe.”
He had some money, but he still needed to buy a whole bunch of essential supplies before heading into the wilderness. Even if he didn’t buy those, he still didn’t have enough to exchange for a higher-tier house.
Examples:
“真·倒霉蛋·张三” (Real unlucky guy Zhang San) – Used when someone is extremely unlucky.
“真·咸鱼·我” (Real couch potato Me) – Used when someone is lazy and unmotivated.
“真·工具人·小李” (Real Tool Person Xiao Li) – Refers to someone always being used as a helper or sidekick.
Besides, if he spent all his money on a house, he might as well forget about going on an adventure. Every time a house leveled up, its area would increase accordingly. Under normal circumstances, where in the wilderness would he find such a large open space to place such a massive house? Unless he installed the latest, super expensive floating formation, or the flying house formation that had been heavily advertised these past few days. But that price… even if he sold himself, he wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Buying a house was quick and convenient. Just pay, receive, and register some personal information, and it was done. Compared to purchasing a physical house, which required going to a designated location for registration, this was much simpler. When Luo Cheng registered his information, he used his original but currently unplugged phone number.
Leaving the portable house store, Luo Cheng turned on his old-fashioned phone. In the document software that came with the system, he had a shopping list he had written before heading out. This was the city center, a hub for selling cultivator goods and wilderness camping supplies. He could completely purchase all the urgent items in one go within the remaining time today. By tomorrow, he would finish the last matter and leave this place.
Yes, since he had already made his decision, there was no need to hesitate. Otherwise, if what he feared, the possibility of someone monitoring him, turned out to be true, he might not even be able to leave when the time came. Or even if he did manage to leave the city, he might still fall into those people’s hands, unable to control his own life and death.
———
Luo Cheng resigned. This news shocked the entire office.
What was even more puzzling was that—after officially starting work for the day—Luo Cheng did not go to the office to greet his colleagues. Instead, he arrived at the company early, organized his personal belongings, and directly blocked the manager at the office door to hand in his resignation letter.
His colleagues in the office only heard the news at noon while having lunch from the manager's secretary. It was said that Luo Cheng had been caught up in the unfortunate demonic beast bird attack on the city the night before, which caused his house to collapse. At the same time, he had received an invitation from a relative in another city. After thinking it over, he simply decided to move and seek refuge with his relatives.
This left many young female colleagues in the company feeling secretly regretful, and even two or three male colleagues were also quite melancholic and disappointed. What made them feel even more regretful and puzzled was that after learning about this, they searched for Luo Cheng’s phone number and TT account from the internal employee records—which had not yet been taken down—and tried to add him. However, they found that there was no response at all, and his phone was always in an unanswered state, as if he had suddenly vanished into thin air.
At this moment, Luo Cheng was already seated on an intercity shuttle bus. This type of shuttle bus was a long-distance vehicle traveling between different cities.
It was said that after the revival of spiritual energy, people attempted to rebuild railways, highways, overpasses, subways, and other high-speed infrastructure. Within the same city, it was still manageable, but any interprovincial or intercity transportation facilities would inevitably encounter various unexpected incidents, making construction impossible.
Demonic beasts and some gradually emerging demons and ghosts seemed to have a particular aversion to these high-speed transportation routes. As a result, the International United Government eventually abandoned these originally highly efficient land transportation methods.
Now, among the civilian transportation tools for intercity travel on the ground, the relatively safer option was this type of intercity shuttle bus. Its exterior was made of special materials, and it was inscribed with talisman formations, allowing it to withstand ordinary attacks. In addition to the driver being required to be a cultivator, each bus was also mandated to have a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator accompanying the trip to ensure the safety of the passengers. Moreover, these vehicles would only travel on routes that had been fully cleared, were not being watched by powerful demons, and were relatively safe, minimizing all possible dangers.
Compared to traveling alone, this type of vehicle was undoubtedly the safest option.
At this moment, Luo Cheng was reclining in a private compartment. This interregional shuttle bus had three levels in total, and every seat was a separate sleeping berth. Each berth was covered with a special soundproof curtain to ensure the occupant's privacy and security. However, the fare for these interregional buses was not cheap. If Luo Cheng wanted to reach a city near his destination, he would have to transfer three times along the way, and each leg of the journey would cost at least three to five hundred yuan.
But the expense was still worth it. First, traveling on this type of bus did not require registering personal information. Second, the road safety was relatively high. And third, of course, the speed was much faster than relying on his own two legs—especially since he had yet to learn any movement techniques.
Based on his plan to transfer to the next bus as soon as he arrived at each stop, he would reach Li'an No. 2 City in just six days. After that, he would still have to venture into the mountains to find his way. The news claimed that the secret realm fluctuation point was about thirty li 1 li (里) is approximately 500 meters (0.5 km / 0.3 miles), so thirty li is about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Li'an No. 2 City—but that was in the mountains! A straight-line distance of thirty li was one thing, but who knew how long it would actually take to get there?
Moreover, Luo Cheng still had to set aside time to find the target location. The news stated that the event took place on June 1st in the afternoon, so he had to find the place before then in order to catch this event that might be either a crisis or an opportunity.
At this moment, Luo Cheng’s expression looked very calm. Outside the half-drawn curtain beside him, sunlight occasionally pierced through the forest, casting a faint radiance on his face.
This was Luo Cheng’s first time formally leaving, all by himself, the city where he was born and had lived for twenty-six years. Zhiluo No. 7 City was relatively large, with a permanent population of around two million—this was the number of people who had gradually recovered here since the revival of spiritual energy. The reason it was called "No. 7 City" was naturally because it was one of the new cities formed after Zhiluo City underwent the spiritual energy revival, the fusion of heaven and earth, and the reintegration of fragmented space that had been floating around this world. When those fragments were forcibly merged back, they filled the surrounding area, and the original residents of the city, now scattered across the nearby mountains, each established their own settlements.
Aside from that, some people, for various reasons, left Zhiluo City and built small cities on the farmland nearby that was suitable for cultivation. As the surrounding cities gradually prospered, they were simply renamed using the format of a major city plus a number.
Before this day, even for work reasons, Luo Cheng had rarely stepped out of the city. This was not just his own experience but the reality for most ordinary people. Ever since the revival of spiritual energy, as the outside world became abnormally dangerous and strange, nearly everyone had lived their entire lives without ever leaving their birthplace.
However, even without stepping outside, the existence of the spiritual energy network allowed people to witness different sceneries, landscapes, and even the lives of others from all over the world.
At this moment, as he watched the scenery outside the window rapidly retreating, Luo Cheng appeared calm on the surface, yet his heart surged with emotions.
He had left.
He had truly left the city where he had lived for so many years, the place he once believed he would grow old in.
Despite leaving his hometown, he felt no real worry or unease. Instead, with the danger now behind him, a deep awe for the unknown, an eagerness to explore the outside world, and a quiet anticipation for the cultivation path ahead arose from the depths of his heart.
In the end, he was still the child of that couple. The goal and direction they had devoted their entire lives to had once left young Luo Cheng confused and curious, had made the adolescent Luo Cheng feel disgusted and resistant, and now, with his mindset finally settled, left him both doubtful and faintly longing.
Some things could perhaps only be truly understood after experiencing them firsthand. Even if, at this moment, he had only taken a small step. Even if, at this moment, he was still far from being considered even the most basic of cultivators.
———
Luo Cheng spent a full six days traveling and finally entered Li'an No. 2 City at midnight on the twenty-third. The pitch-black night made it impossible for him to see the city's appearance clearly. Fortunately, outside the intercity bus stop, quite a few spirit-powered vehicles were parked. He hailed one and had it take him to the inn he had booked online two days ago while on the road.
At the same time, in a city much farther from Li'an No. 2 City and even farther from Luo Cheng’s hometown, Zhiluo No. 7 City, several people sat inside a private booth of a nightclub, their faces filled with dissatisfaction as they exhaled smoke.
"That kid is really not dead?"
"His name isn’t on the death list."
"This is such a pain! He’s far away, and we don’t have our people there. The kid's fine, but the two unlucky bastards we sent ended up getting crushed to death by a falling house! TM, "TM" is a common Chinese internet slang abbreviation for "他媽的" (tāmāde), meaning "damn it" or "f*cking," used to express frustration. this is way too unlucky!"
One person patted the agitated brother beside him. "What’s there to be so anxious about? Just send two more over to keep an eye on him, and that’s it. The kid is just an ordinary person. As long as he’s not dead, he’s definitely still living and working over there. Just have someone keep watching him."
"Yeah, Wu-ge, even if the kid’s crippled, as long as he’s still alive and can help us find that thing, isn’t that good enough?"
The man called "Brother Wu" looked gloomy. "What do you guys know? That place was never our base to begin with. Sending people over is easy, but having them settle down there, keeping an eye on that kid at all times, and gathering information about him isn’t."
"The two we sent this time had just arrived and rented a place, and then they just up and died like this! No wonder I couldn’t reach them these past few days—both their phones got smashed!"
"It wasn’t until Xiao Liu noticed that the city attacked by demonic beasts was Seven City and had their families call the Qingtian Squad to verify that we even confirmed they were dead! If the next people we send end up in trouble too, what are we supposed to do about the surveillance?!"
Everyone’s expressions turned a bit awkward. Who could have predicted something like this? They had only wanted to send a phone over to test the kid and see if they could dig up any information. Zhiluo City area was never their turf. Let alone them, even that couple rarely returned there. So if the people they sent ran into trouble, they had no way of asking around or tracking them down! If they hadn’t had their families use the excuse of "traveling" to inquire with the Qingtian Squad, they probably wouldn’t have even known whether those two were dead or alive!
Brother Wu took a deep drag of his cigarette, then exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "Lao Si, this time, you're going over there. Take two people with you and be sharp. Don't let that kid notice you, and keep an eye on the surroundings. That place is a small city, its security isn't that tight. Remember, our main focus is on that kid and that phone. See if he can dig up anything!"
Lao Si scratched his head. "But we can't even install any spy software on that phone..."
Brother Wu shot him a glare. "Can't you grab it and check it every night while he's asleep? Also, watch if he suddenly goes to places he normally wouldn't. It's exactly because there's nothing on that phone, and nothing can be put on it, that something's definitely off! That thing couldn't have just vanished into thin air! Those two must've hidden it somewhere before they died!"
Lao Si shrank his neck and replied with a bitter face—he had never even seen that kid before. The two guys who had been tailing him were already dead, so how was he supposed to know where that kid usually went? And where would even count as someplace he wouldn't normally go? Back then, when Wu-ge had his eyes on that couple’s fortune, why didn't he just make a move and snatch it directly? Why wait until they were dead to start searching? Isn't that just making things harder for themselves?
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