The two quickly ran to the side of the demon's corpse and sucked up all the blood and qi in one breath, then rushed to the other end of the alley where another demon's corpse lay.
After all, nobody knew what the checkpoint after defeating the four monsters would be.
What if there were eight monsters...
Anyway, they decided to collect the spoils first, just in case they were accidentally wiped out and regretted not collecting the blood and qi around the corpses after reincarnation.
As for how they knew about this... that's another tragic story.
Anyway, the two quickly ran to the other end of the alley, harvested the blood and qi from the two monsters they had killed, and strangely found that new monsters did not appear.
"Be careful," Cheng Jinyang reminded, "According to the time, it should have appeared by now..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xing Yuanzhi's fruit knife plunged into his back.
Cheng Jinyang groaned in pain, rolled over, then quickly got up. But as he turned his head, his vision was completely occupied by Xing Yuanzhi, who had approached from behind.
Her expression was full of horror, but some black, fragmented patterns spread from her neck, controlling her body eerily and stabbing Cheng Jinyang several times again.
So Cheng Jinyang fell dead on the ground. Xing Yuanzhi, covered in blood and almost on the brink of psychological collapse, was being controlled, struggling to hold the knife and slowly cutting her own neck.
No... no... someone... save me...
She panicked, trying to regain control of her body, but ultimately, still under the manipulation of that eerie force, she placed the dagger against her fair neck and slowly drew it across, dyeing it completely crimson.
When Xing Yuanzhi woke up again, she found herself in Su Li's home.
Cheng Jinyang, who resurrected a few seconds earlier than her, hurriedly searched the house for weapons.
"You..." Xing Yuanzhi, although still trapped in the eerie sense of fear and helplessness manipulated by mysterious forces, along with a strong urge to vomit from the filthy blood, instinctively joined in searching for weapons.
"Aren't you afraid?" she couldn't help but ask while rummaging through boxes and cabinets.
"Afraid," Cheng Jinyang answered.
"Then why..." Xing Yuanzhi wanted to ask "Then why don't you look afraid," but heard Cheng Jinyang reply:
"I'm used to it."
He found a handgun, checked the magazine, strapped it to his waist, and continued:
"So, while you're not used to it yet, remember never to get used to it."
At that moment, footsteps of monsters suddenly came from the staircase outside.
As if rehearsed a thousand times, Cheng Jinyang hugged Xing Yuanzhi's waist, then quickly smashed through the window and leaped downstairs.
....
Morning.
Xing Yuanzhi woke up from her sleep, but still lay in bed, completely without the strength to move.
Although it was the second time experiencing a full-length nightmare, she wasn't sure if she could make it through a third night.
She needed to quickly check the improvement of her bloodline strength to find some motivation to keep going.
Of course, before that, she needed to take a shower. Her body was already sticky with cold sweat, so cleaning herself was the top priority.
After calming her mind for another ten minutes, Xing Yuanzhi finally got up from bed and saw that the bed next to hers was already empty.
"I'm leaving!" Cheng Jinyang's voice came from outside.
"Where are you going?" Xing Yuanzhi subconsciously asked.
"To see the doctor, then to school," Cheng Jinyang replied.
"It's Monday today. Breakfast is in the fridge, I've already eaten. You can make it yourself later."
After saying that, he went out.
Xing Yuanzhi went to the bathroom, turned on the tap, and washed her face. Then she stared at her pale face in the mirror, lost in thought.
Cheng Jinyang...
How can you eat after waking up under such frequent battle pressure and fear of death?
Or is it because you've gotten used to it?
She suddenly slapped herself in the face, then took off her clothes and walked into the shower.
She couldn't delay any longer. Today she must buy a bathtub.
In the clinic, after Doctor Wu Quemei finished using her supernatural abilities to treat him, she said:
"Recently, your nightmares have been causing too much stress. I suggest taking it easy, otherwise, even with my supernatural treatment, there's no guarantee that problems won't arise in the long run."
"Sister Wu," Cheng Jinyang smiled, "I also want to take it easy, but my mind doesn't agree."
"You better find a way to develop your brain domain quickly," Wu Quemei said, producing a can of beer from somewhere, popping it open and taking a gulp.
Cheng Jinyang was about to offer some advice, but ultimately restrained himself, feeling that this doctor is bound to end up with alcoholic liver sooner or later.
After he left, Cheng Xinnan, his elder sister, entered the room and extended her right hand towards Wu Quemei:
"Give me one too."
Wu Quemei took out a beer from the drawer and tossed it to her.
"Is there any way to solve Jinyang's physical issues?" Cheng Xinnan opened the can and took a sip.
"There is," Wu Quemei finished her beer, "Brain domain development, that's the way."
"Is that the only way?"
"That's the only way," Wu Quemei said firmly, "So, we can only bring him back to the Cheng family in Shendu..."
"...If you're really doing this for his own good," the doctor shrugged.
"Alright," Cheng Xinnan remained expressionless.
"Have you let go?" Wu Quemei asked with a smile.
"For now," Cheng Xinnan also smiled sweetly, "But..."
"...They will eventually pay the price."
At school, while the teacher was lecturing at the front, Cheng Jinyang continued to study "Computational Methods" below.
The schools in this world were similar to those on Earth, mainly teaching cultural subjects, and most high school students regarded the college entrance examination as a turning point in their lives.
Of course, this is limited to commoners and some lower-class families. Children of prestigious families generally have their family's support. Even if their supernatural abilities are lacking, they can still be arranged a job within the family business, ensuring them a middle-class lifestyle. They don't even have to worry about marriage and having children.
For many ordinary children with average talents or limited potential, prestigious families basically treat them like pigs, encouraging them to multiply and spread their branches.
Although the bloodline growth values of all descendants generally conform to the weighted regression curve of bloodline growth values of paternal and maternal ancestors in statistical terms, the beauty of statistics lies in the occasional extreme outliers.
If there's one with an exceptionally high bloodline growth value, identified by lineage recognition as capable of reaching the fifth grade or higher, the family's investment in nurturing all ordinary children immediately pays off.
The same law applies to lower-class families. If someone has a sufficiently high bloodline growth value, corresponding prestigious families, especially those with related supernatural abilities, are willing to open their doors wide.
After all, talent is talent; it doesn't matter where you come from. "Why should our prestigious family be embarrassed to have you join us?"
Therefore, most children from prestigious families don't attend school. For example, Miss Ah Zhi receives "family education" within her clan.
The few who do attend school do so just to experience commoner life and don't worry about the college entrance examination at all—so you can imagine how commoner students view these children from prestigious families.
Commoners stick with commoners, and prestigious families stick with prestigious families; they rarely mix.
Occasionally, commoner students try to curry favor, but they are mostly ignored and looked down upon by children from prestigious families.
The most unfortunate are the lower-class children caught in the middle, treated as commoners by children from prestigious families and as lackeys of prestigious families by commoner students, basically not fitting in anywhere...
Of course, this depends on the specific situation. For example, someone like Cheng Jinyang, who faints and gets sent to the medical room every few days, evokes only sympathy and pity from everyone, without any resentment.
"Today, there's something important," near the end of the class, the homeroom teacher, Mr. Sun, suddenly spoke up. "Attention, everyone: in the next class meeting, we'll be doing life planning."
"During the 15-minute break, think carefully about what you want to do in the future. Although life planning is just a survey conducted by the school, don't fill it out casually. Treat it seriously. Subsequently, teachers will conduct individual interviews based on each student's responses."