Chapter 2: Time to Move
Su Ping was aware of the rental contract, but he had been so focused on his personal advancement plan that he hadn't realized Grace Wang would come for him so quickly.
Su Ping and Grace Wang's fathers were very close friends, and Su Ping's father had apparently saved Grace Wang's father's life before. The two families had always been friendly, and Su Ping and Grace Wang had indeed been childhood friends.
In his past life, they had even been in an ill-fated relationship—one that ended when Grace Wang had become infatuated with the younger cousin of Donovan Qin, a notable fighter near the top of the gene leaderboard, and had run off with him.
After his rebirth, Su Ping had spent all his time cooped up in the damp Milk Slime cave, and the fledgling relationship between him and Grace Wang had naturally never developed.
Life was hard, and living a good life was even harder. It was natural for Grace Wang to want to seek a better life by giving up on Su Ping, but he couldn't tolerate her trying to evict him and his sister and leaving them homeless.
"And if we were to pay to continue renting this place?"
"Ha! In that case, you'd need my permission."
Behind Su Ping, Su Lingyue begged, "Grace, please don't kick us out. Where would we live?"
"Oh, the streets? An underground park? I'm sure you'd be able to find a place."
Su Ping sucked in a deep breath, repressing his instinctive desire to hit her. "Fine, Grace, what do you want?"
"Leave the Dusksteel District—I never want to see you again! Do you know how revolted I feel every time I look at you? How ashamed I am that I know someone like you?"
To leave the Dusksteel District would ruin Su Ping's plans completely. His living expenses were obtained by killing lifeforms surrounding the Dusksteel District. If he were to leave, he wouldn't be able to get any money for rent, and he would never be able to improve his fortunes.
"If I did so, we wouldn't have enough money to feed ourselves."
"Oh? You're tall and strong, aren't you? As long as you're not a cripple like your sister, you'll be able to get by with manual labor, surely. I'm doing this for your own good. Given how low you are on the gene leaderboard anyway, do you really think you'll be able to make a name for yourself? Really, take a look in the mirror! I'm saving you, you hear? What if you were to die in the dimensional world? No one would bring your corpse back!"
"My survival is none of your business."
"Ah? Why are you being so stubborn? Lingyue, has he not told you anything? Your brother's at the very bottom of the gene leaderboard! Won't you persuade him to face reality? Not everyone's well equipped to deal with such a cutthroat world, after all." Seeing Su Ping's stubborn stance, Grace switched targets to Su Lingyue.
Before his sister could reply, however, Su Ping stepped in front of her, blocking her from Grace's view. "Grace, I'm warning you, don't make matters worse."
Grace put her hands on her hips. "And so what if I do? Do you want to be evicted?"
Su Lingyue tugged on the hem of Grace's blouse. "Grace, please, let us stay here for just a while longer."
With a nauseated expression on her face, Grace kicked at her wheelchair. "Scram! Don't touch me, you invalid! Do you think you can afford to pay for my blouse if you damage it? You're a cripple, your brother's nothing but trash—both of you are failures as human beings!"
A crisp smack reverberated around the room. Blinded by rage, Su Ping had slapped Grace Wang on the face before consciously realizing what he was doing.
Grace Wang clutched her swollen face in shock as she screamed, "Su Ping! How dare you hit me?!"
Despite the fact that she had more gene fragments than Su Ping, the killing intent in his eyes was such that she didn't dare to retaliate.
Su Ping sucked in another deep breath, attempting to quell his anger.
On the other hand, Grace Wang returned to her most practiced fighting style: words. "Su Ping, I offered you clemency—I told you that if you left the Dusksteel District, I'd let you two parasites continue to stay in this place. It's not any better than a pigsty, after all, and no one would want it even if I were to give it to them for free—but after that slap, you're not getting anything out of me."
"Will you accept an apology?" For his sister, for his future plan, Su Ping was willing to give up his pride.
"Ha! It's far too late! If you want to apologize, then kneel to me in front of the gates of the Dusksteel District."
Su Ping's eyes turned cold once more. "Do you think I'll do that?"
"I have this contract in my hands, and this is my house, after all. You're both just squatters, and it's perfectly within reason for me to summon guards to chase both of you out."
Su Ping shook his head. "You'd be wrong. Look at the contract again: the house doesn't belong to you just yet."
"It's my house!"
It was Su Ping's turn to scoff. "According to the contract, we have until the end of the month before you can evict us. There's still two weeks to go, and even if you're the landowner, you can't break the contract."
Grace Wang scanned the contract again to verify Su Ping's assertions, but she didn't change her stance. "Is there a difference? It's only a matter of time before I kick the two of you out."
"At the very least, we're legally entitled to this property at the moment. You're the one trespassing on our property, and I'm the one who can summon the guards to kick you out. Well? Are you going to wait for them to show up, or will you leave on your own?"
"Su Ping, just you wait! I'll be back at the end of the month!" Knowing that he wouldn't give in, Grace Wang had no choice but to turn around and leave, pointing a warning finger at him all the while.
After finally chasing the hateful Grace Wang away, Su Ping leaned down and inspected his sister's wheelchair for any signs of damage. She hugged him tightly, as though only with such an action could she recover a hint of warmth.
"Brother, what will we do? What if Mom and Dad come back and can't find us? Without this house, where will they stay? Where would we go?" The house was filled with memories of family, with proof that the Su siblings' parents had once existed.
Upon seeing his sister's tears, Su Ping immediately consoled her, "Don't worry, I'll fix everything. If Grace Wang forbids us from renting this place, I'll buy it outright from Uncle Wang, with a price he won't be able to reject."
"And how much would that cost?"
"A million? Ten million? It doesn't matter, it's just money—I'll be able to make it all back."
"But we don't have time, do we?"
Su Ping rubbed his sister's head. "Don't worry, Lingyue. Trust me."
Su Lingyue lowered her head gently onto her brother's chest. With him around, it seemed as though she had nothing to fear.
After calming his sister down, Su Ping rested for five hours before returning to the dimensional world. Before setting off once more, he hid a large portion of his remaining money underneath his sister's bed, in case of emergency.
As though sensing Su Ping's imminent departure, Su Lingyue opened her eyes. "Brother, are you leaving again?"
"Sorry for waking you, Lingyue. I'm leaving the rest of my money here. Use it for emergencies."
"Won't you rest a little longer?"
"There's no time."
"Please, be safe. Don't do anything dangerous just because of me. After all, you're the only family I have left, Brother." Su Lingyue tugged on her brother's sleeve, tears glimmering on her pearlescent eyes.
Su Ping lowered his head and kissed his sister on the forehead. "I promise you everything will be alright." He passed through the teleportation device into the dimensional world once more, his reappearance immediately prompting a bout of mocking laughter from the crowds in the settlement.
Su Ping ignored them all and headed back to the Milk Slime cave, continuing to slaughter them wholesale.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.
Su Ping had only rested for between two to five hours each day, having spent the remainder of his time ceaselessly killing the Milk Slimes. However, the rumored advanced-grade Milk Slime never appeared. How could this be? Could there have been a mistake in the past?