A Taste of Despair and Jinx

The CEO got an earful from the small creature—even when the two of them got into his car to head back to Shanghai. Li Yang had essentially tuned those words out, instead focusing on the road ahead of him as they traveled between cities. With the sky still dim and still glimmering with stars, there was a certain amount of peace he managed to draw from it.

He could say that there was a sleepy atmosphere to hours like this, buses and their drivers starting their routes.

Not too long after, the Panda quieted down from the incessant screaming.

But it still gave him a glare, "Why the heck are you trusting complete strangers—you're more gullible than I think you are! Aren't you supposed to be some snazzy business person, but now you're meeting with these 'Shen Society' to help you with your problem."

Li Yang kept his eyes on the road.

With their current pace, they could get to the city much quicker than usual without the usual flow of traffic. But the creature did warrant an answer, or Li Yang supposed it should get an answer or else he would get hit by it, "It's a little difficult to explain it, the Shen Family is a known name in the entire country. Those who haven't heard of those two young siblings losing their parents in an accident when they were kids but still taking care of themselves and the business—it's a respectable story. Even I wasn't forced to grow up at ten years old..."

"What, did you just tell me a pathetic excuse of a story?" the panda gawked and stabbed a paw in his face. "I didn't ask for their sobbing backstory, how does that have anything to do with you trusting them? Besides, surely they have had relatives or something."

"Relatives or perhaps an avaricious bunch of people who happened to share the same blood—but I suppose that's entirely the same."

The creature leaned back into its seat, once again not wearing its seat belt at all in lieu for moving around. "Geez, I don't know what it is with you but you're a bucket full of sunshine now. You think that their parents got murdered or something?"

Li Yang frowned at those words, "It's not something that's meant to be discussed or hypothesized about. That's quite rude."

"And here I thought you were a block of wood—hah, you got emotions!" the creature laughed, "Who knew?"

"Very funny."

"Well it's a good thing that you finally let me in on this—you never said a word yesterday. At least I'll get to see how this world of yours compares to those of others. What are the chances that they'll have something that your System and the Heavens can provide you?"

"I can only hope—I'm more willing to pay for cash than these charm point currencies."

The Panda bit back a chuckle, "Wow you actually sound rich for once."

"It beats relying on the System," he admitted and almost expected a thunderbolt from the heavens to strike him—but none came. When he glanced at his right, even the Panda just stared at him with a blank expression.

"You're a pitiful thing, I almost feel bad for you." the panda huffed and waved a paw, "I won't even elaborate how sad of an attempt that is. We're in this for the bad, the good and the ugly. You should accept your fate already."

Those words hit him—but he resumed driving and did not give the creature a reply. It had been a little foolish for him to say that aloud, but it also just irritated him as well. It was as if all of his attempts to maintain his own life were nothing more than just attempts. What indeed were the chances that he'd find an ancient item similar to what the System could provide?

Despair hung thickly in the air for a moment and clouded his vision.

[ Evil Qi Is Rising ]

[ Evil Qi-Dispelling Talisman Is Working… ]

Li Yang drove on and dismissed the notifications at once.

[ Evil Qi-Dispelling Talisman Is Eroding ]

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Back in Shanghai, a young woman accompanied by her older brother's men were with her at the headquarters of Shen Society. It was another day for them and two out of the Four Pillars so happened to be present unlike last night. Dai Song Lan was in front of the PC and doing whatever it was that he was doing, and Hua Zhao was on the couch fast asleep and snoring.

Shen An Na rubbed the corner of her eyes and stifled back a yawn. She had a can of iced coffee in her hand and took a sip, the refreshing bolt of caffeine rushing to her veins. It was a little early than usual, even earlier than when she had to go to her university but the situation required her to be awake and face things with more finesse than usual.

Without her older brother to manage things, she was the de facto leader.

Even with bumbling idiots around.

And yet she couldn't help but feel a tad nervous—maybe it was the coffee—as she awaited for CEO Li Yang to arrive. Maybe it was her woman's intuition, or maybe it was just the same feeling that she had when she was a child in the back seat of their parent's car before everything changed.

Shen An Na had no special cultivation skills of her own, but the unease in her chest was enough to make her strode over to the sleeping man and shake his shoulders. "Zhao, Zhao."

A grunt came from the slumbering man, his long dark ponytail hanging loosely over the edge of the sofa's headrest.

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked out at the door, "Oh, look who's here? It's Ning Bi—"

The man bolted up from the sofa with bloodshot eyes, or that was his natural eye color. "What gives? I was trying to get some shut eye and god knows I need it since we're going to the black market." Hua Zhao scratched his cheek, "I don't why I have to be the one who's here instead of Mou Gu."

"I want you to scout for the CEO," she said.

He frowned even when pulled himself up to his feet, "Isn't he supposed to come here? Didn't you two have an agreement?"

"I'm… just a tad apprehensive."

"Oh, great. Mou Gu might end up being right about me jinxing things—but if he's not in Shanghai yet doesn't that mean we're out of our jurisdiction..."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he raised his hands up, "Alright, I'm going!"