Chapter 204: [172] Attribute Points Soar! The Dragon-Slaying Saber Can Still Slash Another (Seeking Monthly Votes, Recommendations, and Support)_1
 

At 2:25 in the afternoon.

The Investigation Team.

“Been practicing again?” Brother Bi asked, noticing that Pei Jinye’s face seemed somewhat pale. “I know at your age the body is strong, but don’t practice to the point of neglecting sleep and food. The body is your own. If you really hurt yourself, do you think life can reset like a game?”

Pei Jinye smiled shyly, “Have you all eaten? I brought some snacks.”

“You brat.” Brother Bi laughed and swore as he took the bag.

Zhou Ye peeked inside and exclaimed in surprise, “Young bro, this is quite the expense.”

Brother Bi looked over with suspicion.

Zhou Ye pointed at the snacks in the bag, “The treats from Su Guifang aren’t cheap, I didn’t feel like splurging last time. This must’ve cost you a fair bit, huh?”

“Money isn’t important,” Pei Jinye said with a light laugh. “You all came a long way to pick me up, I’ve got to have the chance to show my appreciation, right?”

Zhou Ye looked over upon hearing this.

If he didn’t know Pei Jinye’s age, he might have mistaken him for a slick old hand well-versed in the ways of the world.

But realizing that he could counter-kill a member of the Old Gods Association made him come to terms with it.

“Jinye, no need to do this in the future, we don’t have that kind of custom here,” Brother Bi paused, then grabbed a piece of the treat, “Damn, this is delicious!”

Zhou Ye, by now, had stopped talking; with a piece in each hand, he silently savored the treats.

Pei Jinye couldn’t help but suppress his chuckles at the comical sight of the two.

To him, the money was really nothing.

But Brother Bi’s incessant nagging about wasteful spending and his inability to resist helping himself to more was truly devoid of the pretense often shown by older seniors.

“Eat some yourself too, don’t just let us have all the fun,” Brother Bi snatched the bag from Zhou Ye’s hand and handed it to Pei Jinye.

Then he clapped his hands together and unscrewed the cap, gulping down several mouthfuls of water.

Once everyone had eaten almost enough,

he finally gripped the steering wheel.

“Buckle up, brothers. Charge!”

Pei Jinye couldn’t hold back a chuckle.

To be honest, it was quite exhilarating.

If he hadn’t experienced it once before, he might have thought they were gearing up to go into battle with someone.

It unfolded just as he remembered.

Before leaving, the head of the research institute gave him a red envelope with a thousand yuan in it.

Pei Jinye, as usual, put on a bit of an act and gave a few words of supervision.

Not long after getting back into the car,

Brother Bi let out a strange cry, just as Pei Jinye had anticipated.

Zhou Ye looked over in confusion.

Pei Jinye’s eyes twinkled with amusement.

The topic had indeed turned to the end of the workday.

Zhou Ye, being under their care, could only “tearfully” finish his workday.

“Do any of you have plans tonight? There’s a mutton soup place downtown that’s really good,” Brother Bi suddenly proposed, his gaze turning to Pei Jinye.

Perhaps because he felt indebted after accepting a favor, Brother Bi felt reluctant to take advantage. In his eyes, Pei Jinye was only seventeen, a year younger than his cousin. He couldn’t justify taking advantage himself.

“Brother Bi, are you treating?” Zhou Ye raised his hand and interrupted with a question.

Brother Bi didn’t even look at him, just watched Pei Jinye, waiting for his response.

Zhou Ye awkwardly withdrew his hand.

“Sure enough, in a friendship among three people, there’s always one who ends up isolated.”

“With Brother Bi treating us, I’m definitely in,” Pei Jinye said with a smile. “Are you talking about that place in Bu Yang District, Brother Bi?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Have you been there?” Brother Bi asked with a smile.

“I’ve had a friend mention it, but I haven’t been there myself,” Pei Jinye replied with a smile.

“Alright then, that’s settled.”

…

At five forty in the evening.

Inside a mutton restaurant in the Bu Yang District.

Zhou Ye looked around: “This many people?”

“Nonsense, it’s an established brand to begin with, and honestly delicious… sit down, sit down,” Brother Bi called out.

The waiter quickly served up three bowls of mutton soup accompanied by three plates of flatbread.

“What do you think?” Brother Bi asked.

Zhou Ye said somewhat reluctantly, “It’s tasty alright, but Brother Bi, you’re a bit too thrifty. That barbecue place across the street…”

“Always you with the extra words,” Brother Bi replied grumpily.

Zhou Ye chuckled and exchanged a look with Pei Jinye.

After the joke.

Zhou Ye quietly asked, “Brother Bi, what do you think about Chief Xie’s situation…?”

“I think it’s a long shot,” Brother Bi shook his head, unwilling to elaborate.

Zhou Ye sighed, “What’s going on this year? Since the beginning of the year, there’s been a constant stream of big and small cases.”

“It’s not just our city. The neighboring city had it even worse a while back.” Brother Bi took a bite of the flatbread, looked around, and said softly, “A developer claimed to be building houses, but when they dug the foundation, they unearthed something filthy, and quite a few people died… If it weren’t for someone from Central State stepping in, the death toll would have been what you see.”

“A thousand?” Zhou Ye cautiously asked.

“Bullshit, starting at ten thousand!”

“Yikes!”

“When did this happen? How come I didn’t know about it?” Zhou Ye was stunned.

“Three months ago. You remember when Da Peng City suddenly went into lockdown? Guess why,” Brother Bi said with a chuckle.

Zhou Ye gasped in shock.

Brother Bi turned to Pei Jinye, “Since you’ve only just arrived, you might not know about it. Back then, the whole city was under martial law, and everyone entering the city was checked.”

“Was there an incident?” Pei Jinye asked, puzzled.

“How should I put it… Have you heard of Cursed Objects? They’re tainted with misfortune and can bring bad luck to people, extraordinary items.” Brother Bi lowered his voice, “At that time, a calamity-level Cursed Object with no records was unearthed in Storm City. Anyone targeted by it didn’t survive. Oh wait, one person did survive.”

“Calamity level? Brother Bi, you sure you’re not mistaken?” Zhou Ye said exaggeratedly, “There are only four grades of Cursed Objects, and generally, the ones we find are just of the Sorrow and Despair grades. Even seeing the third grade, Sin, is rare. That thing in Storm City was calamity level?”

“Otherwise why would those big shots from Central State come down?” Brother Bi joked with a smile. “That was a calamity-grade Cursed Object. Logically, something of that level shouldn’t be left outside, especially unrecorded, and look, there are still quite a few new faces in Storm City every day.”

Zhou Ye couldn’t help but ask, “Are they all treasure hunting?”

“Yeah. Cursed Objects often possess ancient attributes. Some people speculate that underneath Storm City might be buried some legend… But so far, nobody has found anything,” Brother Bi shook his head.

“Isn’t it said that Cursed Objects above the level of Sin have a chance to be transformed into Extraordinary Weapons?” Pei Jinye suddenly said.

Brother Bi and Zhou Ye both looked at him.

“In theory, that’s possible, but as for how to transform them, no one knows except for the headquarters,” Brother Bi shook his head, “Plus, that’s all just rumors… Where those calamity-level Cursed Objects went, nobody knows.”

Zhou Ye added from the side, “It seems some Sealing Objects are also transformed from Cursed Objects, and those above don’t seem to want to disclose this information. The Sealing Objects in the big places now seem to be made recently… Transformed objects are rarely circulated.”

Pei Jinye pondered upon hearing this.

Perhaps this was what Teacher Chang referred to as “sealing.”

Most of the dinner was dominated by Brother Bi and Zhou Ye, with Pei Jinye chiming in from time to time.

Six thirty-two.

Brother Bi glanced down at his wristwatch.

Zhou Ye asked enthusiastically, “Do you guys have any plans for the evening? If not, how about we all go sing?”

“I’m not going,” Brother Bi flatly refused.

“You have other plans tonight? Is there a task in the group?” Zhou Ye asked, surprised.

Brother Bi yawned, “It’s getting late, I need to go back and play video games.”

“Video games???”

Zhou Ye’s face was exaggerated, “Really? You’re going back this early just to play video games???”

“Why can’t I play video games? I’m not married, I don’t have a partner, nor do I have kids, so why shouldn’t I play games after work?” Brother Bi said irritably.

Seeing this, Zhou Ye smirked awkwardly, turned his head to look at Pei Jinye, but before he could ask, Brother Bi suddenly spoke again, “Let’s call it a day if there’s nothing else. We’ll see if there are any other tasks tomorrow morning.”

Zhou Ye could only sulk and shut up.

Pei Jinye smiled at him, understandingly said, “Let’s make plans another time.”

Zhou Ye’s face eased a bit.

…

At the entrance of the residential area.

After seeing off Brother Bi and Zhou Ye, Pei Jinye turned and went to the small shop next door, buying a bottle of water.

Through the rearview mirror hanging by the gate, he had a clear view of the outside world.

“No one?”

Standing at the doorway, he unscrewed the bottle cap.

Pei Jinye calmly took a couple of sips of water.

Pedestrians passing by on the street walked past him, and in his perception, these people showed no fluctuations.

“Am I overthinking it?”

Pei Jinye’s gaze was calm.

He decisively pulled up the attribute panel.

He noticed that all three of his values had been restored to above twenty.

This was somewhat good news.

Unfortunately…

The second Blood Lotus had yet to open, and his Bone Forging from the Lower Three Realm hadn’t broken through to the Middle Three Realm.

“I need to hurry.”

A gust of evening wind blew.

The figure at the door disappeared as if it were a bubble.

The shop owner who was lying on a chair inside watching a live broadcast suddenly shuddered.

“Darn it, where did he go?”

…

…

…

“Master.”

At the restaurant’s long table.

The middle-aged butler attended to the old master with care, unaware that the old master had already “changed.”

He projected a design from the smart tablet.

“According to your instructions, we have made improvements here, here, and here…”

“Can I move in tomorrow?” Pei Jinye looked up and asked.

The previous two annexes were quite simple, built by the Jiang family’s manpower and financial resources within a single day.

But this time was different.

Pei Jinye had specifically chosen a new area at the back mountain to be able to take the Silver-White Small Sword from the Jiang Family Ancestral Hall.

The reason for his rebirth was entirely due to a misjudgment of the Sword Intent of the Silver-White Small Sword.

But the good news was…

Because he had offered blood to it before, the Little Sword was not unfamiliar to him.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have immediately sought it out right after his rebirth.

This time, however, Pei Jinye had learned to be smart.

Instead of foolishly grabbing it directly, he spilled blood on the painting, and indeed, as he suspected, the painting’s Little Sword was able to absorb his blood.

He would feed it once a day; he was determined to make this thing obey him!

“Right, deploy the Black Armor, I need someone captured.”

The middle-aged butler took the note, glanced at the information, and hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, “The person you are looking for seems to be a group of outlaws?”

“That’s right, act discreetly and leave no trail.”

“Don’t worry, Master.”

…

Deep into the night.

Pei Jinye prepared to bathe, with the steaming mist concealing the delicate figures of several women veiled in thin gauze.

“Master.”

Eight young and beautiful girls bent down respectfully to greet.

“Water is ready; you all may leave now,” he said.

“Yes.”

The door closed again.

Pei Jinye submerged into the medicinal bath, leaning back and sinking into repose as his body’s functions began to recover steadily.

Eleven o’clock at night.

Pei Jinye’s eyes suddenly opened.

On the attribute panel.

Vitality Value: 25;

Physical Strength Value: 25;

Spiritual Power: 26;

…

“With this, I can still slay one more!”

The lights went out.

Quietly, one person vanished from the Jiang ancestral home.