Chapter 31: Conversation

"Since that's the case, then he deserves it." Fang Cheng crossed his arms and looked coldly at Zhao Ze's still burning body. He had no intention of helping him.

"Aren't you worried that I'm lying?" Ling Yi asked, confused.

To Ling Yi's surprise, Fang Cheng just laughed and shook his head. "I have a Truth Bell on me. It will ring when you tell a lie."

"Oh, I see." Ling Yi nodded thoughtfully. He then asked, "Are you just going to watch him die? Is this really okay?"

It doesn't seem like what a righteous person would do. 

"It's fine," Fang Cheng said. Then with a relaxed smile, he continued, "I'll bring him back to life when he's almost completely burned."

At Ling Yi's bewildered look, Fang Cheng explained, "There are many horrible players who think that they can get away with all the consequences of their actions once they're dead. To end this kind of thinking, we must resurrect and rightfully judge them according to their crimes. When they do get their guilty verdict, we'll kill them."

Fang Cheng paused. His gaze purposely sized up Ling Yi for a while.

"Even if he has been in the grave for 20 years, as long as we find that he or she is involved in an unresolved punishment, we will still resurrect them to deal with it. After that, we will let him lie back down again. So…"

Fang Cheng's eyes were like daggers as he stared at Ling Yi. His voice deepened, and his tone turned serious as he warned him, "After you become a player, you must restrain yourself. Don't enter a stranger's house, don't take things that aren't yours, and don't use skills in public..."

Ling Yi nodded, but his mind raced in curiosity. 'It's an odd thing to say. Did he know that I just became a player recently?' 

As if he had read Ling Yi's mind, Fang Cheng's stern expression relaxed again, and a kind smile lifted the corner of his mouth, "I know most of the players in the Firefly branch. The only ones I don't know are some foreign players and the new players from the past two months. If I'm not wrong, you should be in the May batch, right?"

"Uh..."

"Wait. Don't tell me you're from the April batch... Ah, it's fine. It's slow to level up... It's normal. It took me quite a while before I got to where I am today." Fang Cheng smiled awkwardly. "If there's nothing else, you may leave," he said politely. "Leave this to me."

"... Alright."

...

When Ling Yi opened the front door, Lin Shurou immediately flew out and told the officer about her neighbor's, Zhou Shi's involvement.

Without any more fuss, Fang Cheng brought both Zhou Shi and Zhao Ze into questioning.

It was a little past eight in the morning when everything finally quieted down.

By the time the first rays of the sun shone into the living room from the east window and lit up the entire room, Ling Yi had just finished a delicious breakfast.

He was resting on the sofa in the living room.

After a while, Lin Shurou, who had taken off her rice-colored printed apron, walked over in her pink slippers and sat beside him.

She brought him a soft and mesmerizing fragrance that tingled his heart.

"Thank you," She said in a delicate and gentle voice, "It's indeed better to have you around."

Ling Yi thought that she would say something more to thank him but didn't expect her to continue with, "But didn't you say that you just entered God's Path yesterday? How come you already have a support skill?"

When she heard Ling Yi's interaction with the two intruders outside her house, she worried for his safety. She quickly ran up to the second floor to check.

But the scene she walked into wasn't something that she would have expected. The images of him summoning his dual Elemental Spirit Blade and how he had so effortlessly defeated Zhao Ze were still vivid in her mind.

"Maybe I reached level 10 in two days?"

"Hehe, sure." Lin Shurou covered her mouth and chuckled. In her mind, she was sure that Ling Yi was one of the players from the May batch.

It was common for most players to reach level 10 in half a month and level 13 in one month.

Based on the strength she saw Ling Yi had displayed, he was probably around level 10. As someone who had experienced the hardships of leveling up herself, she could still make some calculated guesses.

"I didn't expect you to possess two elements... You have a bright future ahead of you." Lin Shurou's blue eyes stared at Ling Yi in slight envy. There was a hint of melancholy on her exquisite, snow-white face as if she was reminiscing about her past as a player.

Seeing this, Ling Yi raised his eyebrows. He was suddenly curious.

"You were an ex-player who is 'forced' to be an ordinary person... Can't you continue to participate in the player assessment?"

Lin Shurou had told him more about herself yesterday.

Initially, Ling Yi thought he wouldn't have much contact with her, so he didn't feel the need to get to know her. Now that he had decided to stay with her, he felt it necessary to understand her situation better.

"I can't," Lin Shurou shook her head, then sighed. "Strictly speaking, I'm still a player… But a powerless player all the same. The player's skills, attributes, and even the items in my rucksack are still there. I just can't use any of them."

"Oh?" Ling Yi's curiosity grew when he heard her mention the items in her bag. "What do you have in your rucksack?" He asked.

Seeing Ling Yi so curious, Lin Shurou was stunned for a moment, but it melted her heart. She immediately revealed a gentle smile to him, her watery eyes curved into crescents. "It's nothing much, just some common treasures, weapons, and skills," She said.

She pushed a few strands of hair from her forehead to her cute little ears, then rolled her eyes. "But I do have a special skill in my bag. What a pity that I can't use it now. And now that you're here, I would have given it to you. But with the restriction in place…."

It would have been fine if she didn't say it was for him, but now that she mentioned it, Ling Yi couldn't help but ask again, "What skill?"

"Hehe." Lin Shurou couldn't help but cover her mouth to hide her giggles when she saw how curious Ling Yi was.

Only then did she realize that this young man's way of thinking was unusually straightforward, and he didn't put in the effort to hide what he was thinking.

He wasn't like other people who acted a certain way on the surface and felt another way on the inside. Even his words were honest, unlike the way most people's simplest words could carry some deep meaning, which annoyed Lin Shurou to no end.

Lin Shurou quickly stopped her bell-like giggles. She can feel her cheeks getting warm at Ling Yi's curious gaze.

She cleared her throat and quickly answered, "It's an extremely rare nine-star skill that can temporarily lower the enemy's intelligence."

"Lower the enemy's intelligence?"

"Right! It can make the enemy stupid."

"Has anyone tried it before?"

"Not yet. I'm probably the only one in the world who has it."

"Really?"

"The only boss monster that would drop this skill is the one from the assessment. Nobody but our district has ever experienced this assessment. Only one boss monster could drop this item, and I happened to get my hands on it." Then Lin Shurou added, "That's why I said it's extremely rare."

"That sounds awesome!" Was all that Ling Yi could say as his mouth hung agape in awe.

"Hehe." Lin Shurou covered her mouth and chuckled again. Her fragrance seemed to expand as her shoulder shook with laughter.