“Your sister wouldn’t want you to become an Adjudicator.”
“I’ll avenge my sister. I don’t need your opinion.”
“I promised her I’d take good care of you.”
“What right do you have? If it weren’t for you, my sister never would have died!”
The girl standing before him had red-rimmed eyes, but Lin Cheng couldn’t refute a single one of her words. He almost wished she would keep punching and kicking him, letting her vent all her resentment on his body. But she didn’t. Instead, she simply said, “From now on, I’ll take my sister’s place. If you refuse to let me join, I’ll go to another squad.”
In the end, Litchi joined his squad.
In every catastrophe that followed, Lin Cheng ensured she never suffered so much as a scratch. After Shu Wan’s death, his abilities began to grow at a speed no one could have imagined, ascending to heights akin to those of a god. Once he surpassed SSS grade and reached 【Infinite】, he ventured into the Abyss alone.
He sealed the Abyss Crevice, fully expecting never to return—that was the price of 【Infinite】. But something unexpected happened deep within the Abyss. In the end, he escaped with the power to impose seals and chose to retire.
Litchi retired alongside him. Before leaving the Alliance, she erased all records of her existence and used Mental Domination to wipe her from the memories of nearly everyone. Together, she and Lin Cheng founded the original Fruit Shop.
In the Cemetery.
Lin Cheng and Litchi exchanged no words.
Everything they might have said had already been voiced long ago. Repeating them now would hold no meaning. The girl resting in the Cemetery could no longer hear anything. She had been sleeping here for nearly four years.
After a long, long silence, Litchi approached the tombstone and gently squatted down. In a soft whisper, she said, “Sister, we’ve been doing really well these past few years.”
“Rest in peace,” she murmured tenderly.
Litchi’s fingertips brushed against the photo on the tombstone. After a moment, she tilted her head back slightly, refusing to let the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes fall.
At noon, Lin Cheng and Litchi left the Cemetery together. Litchi drove them to a hotpot restaurant on Rose Street.
Litchi had just turned nineteen. Today, she wore a simple white dress, her short black hair falling softly to her shoulders. She and Lin Cheng settled into a small private booth and ordered a mountain of ingredients. Then, with evident curiosity, she asked, “So, what happened last night when both Xu Wanyue and Jiang Lingxue showed up at your place at the same time?”
“Wait, how do you even know about that?” Lin Cheng blinked in surprise.
“Because your phones are both within my tracking range. I was just curious why they’d both end up at your house simultaneously. Or have you been escalating things lately?”
“No.” Lin Cheng scratched his head. “I was out drinking with Xu Wanyue, and we came back together. When we got home, we found Jiang Lingxue already there…”
“And then you all naturally jumped into a threesome?”
“No! Xu Wanyue passed out and went straight to sleep when we got back. Jiang Lingxue and I just chatted for a bit before she left.”
“Just chatted, huh?” Litchi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and picked up a roll of fatty beef with her chopsticks. Lin Cheng’s gaze flickered with a hint of guilt. He had little talent for lying to her—she could read microexpressions like a book, and by the time she asked a question, she already knew most of the answer.
Lin Cheng let out a helpless chuckle and began cooking his hotpot.
It had been ages since he’d had hotpot. Litchi’s dipping sauce had no chili, while his was loaded with it, so every now and then, she’d drop some of her ingredients into his bowl to cook.
“The New Lord has probably already guessed your identity. They just need some concrete proof to confirm it.”
“Even if they have, it doesn’t matter. I’m basically half-useless these days anyway.” Lin Cheng shrugged.
“Tian Yuan in South City has been talking about negotiating with me and Hongshao lately. They want a piece of West City’s territory.” Litchi took a big swig from her bottle of winter melon lemon drink. “You coming along?”
“Do you need me there?” Lin Cheng scratched his head again.
“Up to you. South City has always been pretty mysterious. That place you went to last time? It’s just the tip of the iceberg for Tian Yuan.”
“Tian Yuan’s backed by Green Hair. The Abyss Walkers under Green Hair belong to her.”
“What exactly does she want?”
“No idea. Maybe godhood, or fulfilling some other wish. Her power’s already at SSS grade—she’s probably been to the Abyss. I ran into her a few days ago and caught the scent of the Abyss on her.”
Litchi furrowed her brow, her curiosity piqued. “You saw her a few days ago?”
“Yeah. Wasn’t I handling the Nether River business with Lu Xiaoxiao? We ran into this guy called Mingxiu who’d summoned an SS-rank Black Ze and hijacked its body. That woman showed up, tore him apart, and took Black Ze’s tailbone.”
Litchi frowned in confusion, and Lin Cheng sighed helplessly. “I have no clue what she’s after, but I doubt it’s anything malicious. Might as well let her do her thing.”
Litchi gave a soft hum and picked up some tripe to cook. But Lin Cheng lowered his gaze to the pale, tender little foot now resting on his knee, clad in a pair of white lace-trimmed ankle socks. He glanced up at Litchi, who was intently cooking her tripe.
“What?” Lin Cheng asked, his expression turning strange.
“Aren’t the novels you’ve been reading lately full of scenes like this? Getting stepped on while eating.”
“…I was just browsing.”
“You seemed pretty into it.” Her toes lifted a bit higher. Lin Cheng gently pinched her foot. “Your eyes looked downright ferocious just now.”
“Why does it feel like the number of women around you keeps growing? You’re always out on dates with this one or that one.”
“Where? I’ve just gotten closer to Xu Wanyue and Lu Xiaoxiao, that’s all.”
“Just?”
“…Fine, I’m guilty.”
Litchi quickly grew bored and pulled her soft little foot back, returning her focus to the hotpot. Once they were both stuffed, she looked at Lin Cheng. “Go pay the bill.”
“I… I’m broke.” Lin Cheng looked like he was about to cry.
“Where’s your money?”
“Lost it all to Xu Wanyue and Lu Xiaoxiao playing Fight the Landlord a while back.”
“Oh.” Litchi covered the three-hundred-yuan tab. Casually, she added, “Deduct three hundred from next month’s allowance.”
“Can I get an advance?”
“You think?”
“I’m done for.”
Lin Cheng followed her upstairs. While Litchi handled some company business, he headed to Lemon’s lab. Lemon was fast asleep amid a pile of burst bubble balls.
The moment she heard footsteps, her eyes snapped open. She sat up slowly as Lin Cheng approached. “Where’s your Black Cat?”
“Forgot to bring it. I’ll bring it next time. Got something good for you.”
Lin Cheng pulled out Black Ze’s energy core. Lemon gave it a once-over. “Not bad. Where’d you get it?”
“Dug it out of a Black Ze a while back. Can you use this core to make me a dog like Little Qi?”
Lemon rolled her eyes at him. “What are you dreaming about? Little Qi took six SS-grade cores from me, plus a ton of alchemy materials refined from Abyss Creatures. You think one Black Ze core is enough for another?”
“…Guess I’ll save it up, then. Make one when I’ve got enough.”
Lemon rose from the pile of bubble balls and lounged back on a recliner. Silicone hands immediately extended from it to give her a full-body massage. Lin Cheng’s eyes lit up. “That’s awesome.”
“Lemme try.”
Lemon got up. She eyed Lin Cheng, who dashed over and lay down. The next second, she hopped right into his lap. Lin Cheng yelped, “You’re gonna crush me!”
She ignored him completely, resting her head on his chest and murmuring, “Dual mode.”
A fresh batch of silicone hands emerged from the recliner. The sight was a little grotesque, but Lin Cheng had to admit the massage felt great. He gently wrapped his arms around the girl’s waist.
Lemon wore nothing but an oversized T-shirt. Her figure was like that of a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl—not due to any illness, but because she’d drunk an alchemy potion to halt her growth. Why? She simply didn’t want to grow up.
“I heard from Litchi that you’ve been tangled up with a bunch of women lately?”
“Not a bunch. Just… one or two.”
“Ew, you’ve gone bad, Lin Cheng.”
“Things might sort themselves out soon. Oh, right—what’s Black Ze’s tailbone good for in alchemy?”
“Hmm, Black Ze’s tailbone?” Lemon pondered seriously, rifling through her inherited knowledge of alchemy. “It can be used to craft weapons. The marrow in the tailbone is active enough to make alchemy puppets. Can’t think of anything else offhand.”
“Is that so?” Lin Cheng nodded. He held Lemon close as they reclined, enjoying the soothing massage while the rain pattered against the glass window outside. It gradually picked up.
A while later, Lemon slipped from his embrace and moved to her desk to draw an alchemy matrix. Lin Cheng watched curiously. “What’s that for?”
“It’s an alchemy potion Jiang Lingxue commissioned.”
“What kind?”
“You drink it, and poof—fox ears and a tail grow out?” Lemon tilted her head. “Maybe she wants to look cuter?”
Lin Cheng’s mouth twitched.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that his entire world was under constant surveillance. Every manga, doujinshi, and novel he’d checked out lately seemed to be common knowledge. He reached out and touched the alchemy ear clips. “Hold off on that for now. Can you check if this sword’s energy can be replenished?”
In his hand was the slender black-gold sword—Branch Snapper.
Lemon examined it closely for a moment before shaking her head. “Nope. It was designed for a single infusion from the start. Trying a second one would shatter it. If you want to recharge it, you’d have to alter the alchemy runes on the blade. Want me to?”
Lin Cheng hesitated. “I need to check with the owner first… We’ll talk about it later.”
The sword had been lent to him by someone else—a heirloom from her family. She’d returned to her clan for a time, leaving the sword with him and a note: she’d track him down using the runes on the blade, so he should keep it safe until then.
It was one of humanity’s greatest alchemical creations and had saved Lin Cheng’s skin in the Abyss more than once. But nearly three years had passed, and the owner still hadn’t come to claim it.
