Alex POV
As soon as I returned to the hotel, all I could think about was relaxing. I felt the weight of exhaustion pressing down on me, and all I wanted was to take off my clothes and soak in the bathtub. As soon as I entered my room, I carefully removed my clothes and tossed them onto the nearby chair. The bathtub was waiting for me, filled with warm water. I sat in it and took a deep breath, ready to face whatever was to come.
I took out one of the pills from my stash and hesitated for a moment. Its foul smell warned me to stay away, but it was necessary to increase my strength.
"Do I really have to take this thing?" I asked myself hesitantly. The smell was disgusting, like the stench of accumulated mold or something that had decomposed long ago. I felt nauseous just bringing it close to my nose.
I pinched my nose with my hand, trying to push the awful smell out of my mind. I closed my eyes and swallowed the pill directly. The taste was worse than I imagined, like I had eaten something straight out of hell.
"Damn, what is this taste? It feels like I ate crap."
I tried to resist the urge to vomit, but the bitter taste was overpowering. I started to feel the pill's effects within minutes.
Intense heat surged through my body, as if I were being consumed by an internal fire. Black spots began appearing on my skin, gradually covering my entire body.
"So, these are the impurities my body is expelling."
It was as disgusting as it was relieving. I turned on the faucet immediately, determined to wash off this filth.
As I felt the slime covering my body, I began washing it off carefully. It took half an hour of continuous scrubbing before I felt I had gotten rid of all the impurities. I looked at my body afterward, and the difference was obvious. My skin had become paler, and my muscles appeared more pronounced and stronger. I even noticed I had grown a few centimeters taller.
"System, show my status."
The information appeared in front of me, organized and clear: [ Ding:
Name: Alex Shun (Butcher)Age: 22Race: Human
Statistics:
Strength: 9 ⬅ 14 (The upper limit for ordinary humans is 10)Speed: 7 ⬅ 10Endurance: 6 ⬅ 11Charisma: 9.5 ⬅ 10Luck: 50
Skills:
Super GuardMedicine (Master)Management (Advanced)Cooking (Advanced)Musician
Abilities:
Block: A skill that allows me to nullify all kinds of abilities with only my right hand, and activates on the whole body for 5 minutes
Titles:
Traveler: Allows me to travel between worlds without being suppressed by the world's willVillain: Hated by all Heroes of Destiny
Inventory:
4 Body Purification PillsSilver NeedlesHerbs]
"Hmm, my status has indeed improved," I said to myself happily. Then I noticed my reflection in the nearby mirror. I couldn't believe my eyes. My face was more handsome than before.
"Damn, I've become so handsome. I knew I was good-looking before, but now I'm unbelievably handsome. Especially my eyes, they look like I'm seeing stars in them. If I were a girl, I'd fall in love with myself."
I smiled with satisfaction as I left the bathroom and sat on the bed. There was nothing else to do that night, so I decided to go to bed early, to prepare for what tomorrow would bring.
•••••
•••••
•••••
The Magical City
It was nine o'clock at night when a mysterious shadow sneaked into an office. Moving swiftly and lightly, it approached a drawer, opened it carefully, and pulled out a hidden file. It muttered with a mix of curiosity and malice, "Now I'll know the secret behind your smile."
This person was none other than Shao Fan, who had broken into Jo Shiner's office. He eagerly opened the file, but when he saw its contents, his face turned red with anger. He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his palm, and he said with a suppressed fury, "Damn you, you bitch."
Before he lost control, he heard a noise from outside. Quickly, he returned the file to its place, closed the drawer, and left quietly, but not before muttering with a voice full of threat, "Alex Shober, right? I'll make you regret it. Don't blame me, blame your bad luck for catching Shiner's eye."
After leaving the office, Shao Fan took out his phone and dialed a familiar number. A seductive female voice answered from the other end,
"King of the Underworld, what do you need?"
Shao Fan replied coldly, "I want some information on someone."
She responded calmly, "Alright, send me the person's name."
He said, "Alex Shober."
She replied seriously, "Pay half a million dollars upfront, and after the job is done, send the other half."
Shao Fan smirked slyly and said, "How about we meet and talk a bit..."
But before he could finish his sentence, he heard the line cut off in his face. He chuckled lightly, saying, "I guess she's shy around me, hahaha."
It didn't take long before Shao Fan sent the half-million dollars, then closed his phone and decided to return to Jo Shiner's villa.
Jo Shiner POV
When I returned home after finishing my work, I quietly called for the servant, "Did you do what I asked?"
He replied in a low, respectful voice, "Yes, ma'am, everything was done as you requested."
I stepped forward and sat in the plush chair, my eyes closely observing the servant, "Did he do anything important after arriving in the magical city?"
The servant, with his gaze focused on the ground in deference, replied, "After arriving in the capital, he visited the herb shop and bought some herbs and silver needles, then went to the real estate agency where he purchased land near the college. He also bought a new car."
I pondered a bit, trying to understand these movements. "It seems he's planning to settle here. But herbs and silver needles... does he know Chinese medicine?" I started to think about the matter.
"And what about today? Did he do anything else?"
The servant hesitated slightly before continuing, "He visited the land he bought, then purchased some clothes, and met a woman named Rose..."
I interrupted him suddenly, feeling a surge of anger rising within me. "In half an hour, I want all the information on this woman."
But I was surprised when the servant calmly replied, "We have already gathered her information, ma'am."
I raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Alright, and who is she?"
The servant quickly answered, "She is a woman of Italian father and Chinese mother, working in home design and decoration."
I felt an unexpected relief, as if a heavy part of my heart had been lifted. "So, he's planning to design his home, that's why he met her... good." Then I smiled a little, "And what happened after that?"
The servant continued, "Five minutes after Miss Rose left, he went to a restaurant and rented it. He stayed there for two hours before returning to the hotel and hasn't left since."
I smiled slightly, perhaps because the idea of cooking intrigued him. "Keep monitoring him and report anything new to me."
"Yes, ma'am."
After that, I went up to my room. I was feeling tired, but before I could sleep, my phone rang. The caller was my father.
I picked up the phone sluggishly, "What's up, Dad?"
My father's rough voice came from the other side, "I heard you were kidnapped."
I replied in a reassuring tone, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
My father responded with a single word, "Alright."
Then I quickly added, "Dad, I want Shao Fan fired. He's not doing his job well, and he's bothering me."
My father sighed deeply, "Sorry, my daughter, this decision was made by your grandfather, and I can't intervene in it."
I answered with understanding, "Alright, Dad. Good night."
He replied with the same gentle tone, "Good night, my daughter."
I hung up the phone and slowly closed my eyes, letting my soul drift into sleep.
.............
.............
In the Depths of the Magic City, the warehouse was dark and damp, echoing with the sounds of rats freely scurrying on the dirty floor. In the middle of this gloomy place lay a thin man on the ground, his clothes torn and his body covered in bruises, blue and purple. His face was disfigured, his mouth filled with the remains of broken teeth, while some teeth were scattered beside his feet on the floor, as if they were clear signs of the brutality he had endured.
A group of men surrounded him, staring at him without mercy. One of them stepped forward. His head was completely bald, and his body looked like a mass of muscles. On his left arm was a tattoo of a tiger, glaring arrogantly, as if the tiger was a reflection of his savage nature.
He spoke in a dry, unfeeling voice, "Where's the money?"
The man on the ground slowly lifted his head, his voice choked with tears and despair, "Please, forgive me... I'll pay you, just give me a week, I'll pay you, I promise."
But his tears only fueled the bald man's cruelty. He moved closer, his eyes narrowing slowly, "You have a week. If you don't pay, I'll make you wish for death a thousand times over."
The man quickly nodded, as if those words offered him a brief chance at life: "Yes, I'll bring it to you after a week... I promise."
The bald man turned and left the warehouse with steady steps, followed by his men like dark shadows. As soon as he exited, his phone rang, and he answered quickly after seeing the familiar number: "Hello."
A cold and firm voice came from the other side: "Mr. Mo assigns you a task."
"What are the orders?" he asked hesitantly.
The voice replied with lethal coldness: "Take care of a man named Shayo Fan."
The bald man quietly hung up the phone, then turned to his men who were waiting for his instructions, and said with a voice charged with determination: "Find this man named Shayo Fan, and don't leave him a way out."
The expressions on his men's faces didn't change, but their eyes gleamed with anticipation, as if they were about to hunt new prey...
Shanghai:
Villa of the Han Family
In one of the luxurious rooms, its walls painted pink with black silk curtains reflecting a blend of luxury and elegance, there was a large bed in pure white. Next to it stood a wardrobe boasting fancy clothes, each piece a testament to a life of wealth and opulence. But despite this apparent beauty, the atmosphere in the room was charged with something else, something heavy that was hard to ignore.
On a small desk, there was a vase filled with white roses, beautiful and pure as a distant dream. To the left of it, a door led to the bathroom, but the focus wasn't on the furniture or the flowers. There was something deeper drawing attention. There was a woman, her beauty undeniable, her long black hair fluttering gently in the night breeze, and her wide honey-colored eyes held an ocean of emotions.
She wore a white nightgown, with a shawl over it to protect her from the night's cold, but she was speaking in the language of pain that no shawl could warm. She sat on a chair on the balcony, staring at the garden below, in a world that seemed far removed from her inner turmoil. This woman was Han Shui, Alex's ex-fiancée.
In front of Han Shui was a table, with two bottles of wine on it, one completely empty, and the other half-full. Han Shui raised her wine glass with a trembling hand, her eyes fixed on the distant horizon, as if searching for something lost in that infinite distance.
She whispered in a broken voice, barely audible: "It's been two days since I separated from Alex... and I'm starting to feel regret."
The separation from Alex was tearing her apart from the inside. Every time she tried to push thoughts of him away, they returned with greater force, haunting her every moment, with every breath. The separation wasn't just an absence, it was a vast void living in her heart, stripping her of any feeling of safety or happiness.
Tears began to gently roll down her cheeks, as if they were a silent expression of her deep sorrow. Her cheeks flushed red from the excessive drinking, but she didn't care. She placed the glass on the table beside her, grabbed the remaining bottle of wine, and drank it all in one go, as if she were trying to drown her sorrows in that bottle.
After drinking, she could barely stand. Her steps were stumbling, as if she were carrying an unbearable weight. She headed toward the bed, but didn't make it there with her strength. She collapsed onto the bed, her body exhausted, her spirit weary.
She whispered lost words into the pillow, her voice muffled and filled with despair: "Alex, I love you... why did you leave me?"
Her tears soaked the pillow, and with them, Han Shui sank into a deep sleep, a sleep filled with fragmented dreams, torn between past memories and harsh reality.