Ji Li's obsession with appearances obviously exceeded Lu Xun's expectations.
He was actually worried that her favorability would increase too quickly, leading to situations out of his control.
He was firmly against becoming a human furnace, as he treasured his life.
The sky had now completely darkened, revealing a spectacular view without the usual smog. The stars dazzled brightly and the moon hung high in the sky.
However, the dense forests of this world were filled with dangers. Staying here overnight required extra caution.
"Shall we take turns keeping watch tonight?" Lu Xun proposed.
"Okay." Ji Li nodded.
"You rest first." Lu Xun suggested, clutching the luxurious longsword he'd pilfered from a corpse.
The sword was extravagant in appearance, radiating an undeniable sense of luxury. Its quality surpassed all the mortal iron around them. The dead man must have spent a vast fortune on it.
Ji Li glanced around cautiously. "There won't be ghosts at night, will there?"
"That would be great." Lu Xun thought of the experience points he could gain, a smile couldn't help but spread across his face.
Ji Li was left speechless.
Before resting, she couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to ask why I was being pursued?"
Lu Xun looked at her, teasing, "Because you like turning people into human furnaces?"
Ji Li turned away, aiming to avoid looking at Lu Xun; she worried that if she saw his face, she would unwillingly suppress her anger...
She seemed truly exhausted and quickly fell asleep.
As one could imagine, her sleep must have been light, more of a nap, rather than a deep slumber.
Despite her seemingly innocent and cheerful disposition, after facing these multiple pursuits, Ji Li should have developed a habit of maintaining vigilance.
Otherwise, she would have been dead by now.
Lu Xun, however, wasn't sleepy yet. He continued to analyze his in-game panel and pondered over his next moves.
It wasn't until the middle of the night that he handed over watch duty to Ji Li.
The night went by without any incident. While Ji Li sighed with relief over encountering no more demons or monsters, Lu Xun wished he could kill a few more Black Sillies. Unfortunately, there were none in the vicinity, which left him slightly disappointed.
Encountering mobile experience packs indeed was a matter of luck!
When morning came, they resumed their journey.
After the recent events, Ji Li stopped clinging onto Lu Xun while traveling, leaving Lu Xun with a strange sense of loss, as if he'd lost his mount.
How comfortable is walking compared to riding a mount?
In myths, all the immortals who could traverse the earth and heavens also had mounts, didn't they?
However, for him, a grown man, to ask a young girl for a "piggyback ride" seemed both shameful and embarrassing. Forget it, let's just rely on my long legs then.
Along the way, Lu Xun learned that Ji Li had an incredibly poor sense of direction and liked to make decisions by flipping her 'Wedding Sword' like a coin.
It seemed she liked to go in the opposite direction to that which the sword pointed. If the sword pointed east, she'd definitely go west; if it pointed south, she would go north.
Was she naturally defiant, or did she just not get along with the magical sword?
A few hours later, after expending a lot of energy, they finally saw a small city in the distance.
Ji Li's eyes curved in a crescent shape as she saw the city. All along the way, she'd been insisting, "I've always had a good sense of direction." However, as she kept repeating this, she started to feel doubtful. At that moment, she felt compelled to say,
"I told you, I've always had a good sense of direction. Look, we've reached Qingmu County, haven't we?"
Lu Xun didn't respond but just pointed towards the entrance of the town.
Following Lu Xun's pointing finger, Ji Li saw that the gate had two large characters inscribed on it—Wei County.
She instantly fell silent, taken aback.
Lu Xun, on the other hand, his eyes lit up as he saw the characters for Wei County.
"Interesting." he thought to himself.
...
...
As mentioned earlier, Lu Xun earned his living through the game "Heavenly Dust".
He created numerous small accounts, completed the difficult initial tasks, and then sold the in-game characters.
Thus, he earned the title of "Number One Trader in Heavenly Dust".
Heavenly Dust Continent was vast, the game background was complex, and there were many starting villages. Wei County was just one of them, and coincidentally the starting point of one of Lu Xun's small accounts.
During the journey, Lu Xun gathered some information and confirmed that it was the year 3997 according to the Heavenly Dust Calendar.
He remembered very clearly that when the game "Heavenly Dust" was in open beta, the game background was set in the year 4000 of the Heavenly Dust Calendar.
Wouldn't that mean he had arrived three years early?
If the players from open beta were really going to appear, then it wouldn't be until three years later, right?
He did not participate in the closed beta, so he didn't know its exact timeline, but it definitely started earlier than the open beta.
Back then, he vaguely saw the timeline for the closed beta on the forum, but he'd since completely forgotten it.
In many stories of reincarnation, the male protagonists remember every little detail. That's completely like being an emotionless show-off, isn't it?
Lu Xun didn't possess that kind of talent, he only remembered some parts. However, Wei County was definitely a place he was familiar with.
Indeed, once he entered Wei County, the surroundings seemed familiar yet somewhat strange.
After finding the cleanest looking inn, Lu Xun and Ji Li went in together. Actually, now it was Lu Xun leading the way with Ji Li following him like a little tail.
Originally, she wanted to take Lu Xun as her human furnace, but now he was her life-saver.
She was aware that being used as a human furnace has no good ending. She couldn't bear to harm Lu Xun this way, but, at the same time, she couldn't let go.
She still wanted to practice her cultivation technique. If she didn't, she might never get her revenge in this lifetime.
And she knew, it would be impossible to find a better human furnace than him.
So...
"At worst...at worst we can lie down together and study it properly, to see if there's a way that doesn't harm anyone." That was how Ji Li thought of the situation.
That was why she had been following Lu Xun shamelessly, with the Wedding Sword hanging from her waist, arms filled with items like iron rods and heavy hammers, ready to sell them later. She hadn't taken her hands off them the entire journey.
Such a miser!
Upon entering the Lai Fu Inn, a waiter immediately approached them, "Dear guests, are you here for a meal or to stay?"
Lu Xun was so good-looking that the waiter even thought he might be an immortal.
"Book a room, an upper floor one." Lu Xun, flush with wealth from his grave robbing adventure, demanded.
"Very well!" The waiter became even more enthusiastic, then, unable to resist, he asked, "Would the two of you need one room or two?"
Lu Xun shot Ji Li a mischievous smile, and not answering deliberately to stir her.
After hesitating for a while, Ji Li finally seemed to make up her mind, "One!"
"Ssshh----" Lu Xun inhales sharply indicating his dismay, quickly waved his hand decisively, "We need two rooms."
I cannot provoke her anymore.
The girl was actually not giving up, did she still want me as her human furnace?
Damn girl, you don't give up easy, do you?
As they were preparing to go upstairs, a new group of customers entered the Lai Fu inn.
Lu Xun looked over casually, but upon seeing who it was, his brows furrowed slightly.
"Interesting." He thought to himself.
….