The King of Black Fog

After Zheng Qing left, Li Changzhou rode his electric scooter to buy some food: barbecue, scrambled eggs with leeks, spicy lobster, a portion of stinky tofu, and two portions of crispy potatoes.

The dishes were laid out one by one on the cherry wood table where Yang Qinglan usually ate.

There was no need to buy drinks; they just took them directly from the bookstore.

"How's your training going?" Yang Qinglan asked, glancing at the scar on Li Changzhou's neck.

"Now when I meet someone," Li Changzhou said as he picked up a grilled lamb chop, "I don't think about charging forward or running away first thing. I know how to dodge left and right."

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"The world is mine," Li Changzhou declared, boasting while eating his lamb.

Li Qianxia seriously enjoyed the food, holding a snail in her left hand and a toothpick in her right.

First, she would 'hiss' as she sucked the juice out of the snails, smack her lips, and then gently prod with the toothpick to hook out the snail meat and savor it with 'mum mum' sounds.

While eating the snail meat, she started looking for her next target; whether to eat grilled pork belly, crispy potatoes, or the stinky tofu.

Before she had decided, the small piece of snail meat was gone. Her hand, not waiting for her brain's command, directly grabbed a bright red spicy lobster.

With a long 'hiss', she sucked the sauce off the lobster, then broke it apart and sucked a piece into her mouth.

She then picked up a disposable chopstick, poked it into the tail end of the lobster, and nudged out the whole piece of lobster meat.

She held the lobster meat and rolled it in the sauce (her fingers got covered too) and placed it in Li Changzhou's bowl.

"Hard work running around," she said.

"At least you have some filial piety," Li Changzhou said as he tossed the peeled lobster meat into his mouth.

At this moment, Li Qianxia would not argue with him; she pouted her fingers, her eyes already scouring for the next target.

Seeing her enjoying the food so much, Yang Qinglan also put on gloves and picked up a spicy lobster.

Li Changzhou picked up a snail, eating it with a toothpick.

"What are you doing?" Li Qianxia asked, puzzled as she watched him.

"What am I doing?" Li Changzhou asked, confused.

"Because Qing Lan is here, you're using this delicate method of eating? Not even sucking the soup? Trying to act cultured? Playing cool? Give me a suck!"

"..."

"Hiss! Hiss!" Li Changzhou let loose.

He noticed that that evening, Yang Qinglan didn't eat any scrambled eggs with leeks; not sure if she didn't like it, or was just trying to look delicate and cultured.

As the King of Black Fog, he definitely was putting on an act, but young Miss Qing might genuinely dislike it, truly cultured.

By Friday, Li Changzhou and Li Qianxia had no afternoon classes and began to look for a rental house.

Firstly, it had to be slightly larger to accommodate their equipment, preferably a standalone house to avoid disturbing neighbors.

Secondly, it should not be too far from school to facilitate attending classes and dining.

"It also needs to be a bit closer to Qing Lan's house," Li Qianxia added.

Eventually, they rented a house on Yanhe Road, five shop spaces away from Qing Lan's bookstore.

The house had three rooms in total: renting one room was 4200, two rooms 8000, and renting the whole property was 10000.

Li Changzhou was against it; he thought about renting an old residential house, but Li Qianxia really liked this place. It was right next to the commercial street, quiet amidst the hustle and bustle, had a courtyard, luxurious decor.

Additionally, it was near the Moat, where they could go for runs in the morning and evening.

"Bro, let's just settle here. After all, ten thousand yuan is just a bit of Game Coin, and you just have to sell a bit every month, right?"

"Why should I sell?"

"Then I'll sell yours."

The siblings could use each other's Game Coin without condition, something not even married couples could achieve with such 'shared' property.

There was no choice; they had to rent it.

The front half of this courtyard was rented out to a pharmacy, and the small yard at the back was rented separately—blocked off by a wall in between.

The courtyard's patio also had apricot trees planted, lush and heavy with fruit, which would surely rot all over the place by autumn.

Complaining was useless. One couldn't chop down the trees in one's own yard now without facing a fine.

Once the contract was signed, the two of them immediately began "moving" non-stop- calling a van, taking all the dormitory items like quilts, clothes, toothbrushes, and other living supplies, in one fell swoop.

They made plans with everyone from Dorm 407 (Li Changzhou) and Dorm 203 (Li Qianxia) to come together to the "new home" for a meal the next day.

When Li Changzhou left, Chen Shao and Dong Ge had already started assigning targets for tomorrow's social gathering while Bed Number Four's Da Huang was still cursing his teammates for being blind.

At night, when Yang Qinglan returned, the three tidied up and boarded a bus to begin a new round of the Value Game.

The brightly lit night saw the bus moving silently. With darkness inside and light outside, it offered a sense of security and warmth, as if nestled in a blanket.

Only Li Changzhou and his two companions looked somber.

Suddenly, without any abruptness, singing started on the usually quiet bus as if it had always been there, or as if approaching from afar, unnoticeable by anyone.

(Z,"Buses, subways, ships, planes, just like us, are destined to wander.")

(Z,"Someday, though we don't know when, we will become our true selves.")

...

(Z,"'Arena 352' is now arriving. Please be careful when you open the door, and watch your step as you exit.")

Li Changzhou opened his eyes to see heavy rain pouring down as a mountain abruptly rose from the ground.

"Heavy snow promises a prosperous year, a good omen." He spread his hands to start summoning an AK.

Li Qianxia and Yang Qinglan awoke as well.

"I'm starting to miss the desert," Li Qianxia said looking at the water-drenched glass window, devoid of any desire or courage to step outside.

"Let's go," Yang Qinglan said, still relatively calm.

This time, they were dressed intricately.

Swimsuits were the innermost layer, followed by summer short-sleeves, then thermal underwear, then a thermal vest, and finally a jacket that seemed to offer protection against sun, rain, and wind.

Just buying clothes was a significant expense.

Adding up the rent and cost of gym equipment, the recently received $46,000 by Li Changzhou and Li Qianxia was gone before it even warmed up, and they even dipped into their savings.

The three put on hats, tightened their shirt collars and pant cuffs, checked their weapons again, and stepped off the bus.

Their faces were immediately drenched.

The icy rain invaded mercilessly, relentlessly stealing their body heat.

Li Qianxia, as if unconscious, turned to get back on the bus, but was grabbed by Yang Qinglan.

"The frozen rain recklessly slaps our faces!" sang Li Changzhou.

The two girls blinked their eyes, black as gemstones, frozen into penguins, with no time to deal with him.

Li Changzhou licked the rainwater at the corner of his mouth and walked toward a huge rock that served as a bus stop at the foot of the mountain.

[Station Name: Arena 352]

[Terrain: Mountain Plains]

[Next Bus Arrival Condition: Life Below 20]

Li Changzhou wiped his face, the rain so plentiful it was as if his hand had skimmed through lake water, and he continued reading.

[Outstanding Performance Life Comments in this Arena]

[Comment 1: On this side of the mountain is heavy rain, hail, and cliffs; on the other side is a sun-bathed plain. No thanks needed. (Chopin in December)]

[Comment 2: Expel every ant from this world without exception!! (Attack of the Aphids)]

[Comment 3: The taste of a ewe is unbeatable! (How do you evaluate 'How do you evaluate?' Dear brothers, how do you evaluate?)]