Chapter 32: The Future

“Twenty million? Impossible…” Sister Mei shook her head. “I knew exactly how much money Li Yiyuan had.”

“Maybe he borrowed it from his family?”

“Also impossible. He was an only child, and his parents had been laid off for many years. They relied on him for support…” Sister Mei said this very firmly to Lü Yang. She found it very strange that Lü Yang would suddenly mention something like this.

“Alright, regardless of the amount, Sister Mei, who do you think would borrow money from him, especially a large sum?” Lü Yang decided to ask Sister Mei directly.

The sound of footsteps came from behind. Sister Mei and Xia Yan both turned their heads and saw that it was the two Porters who had earlier been beaten by Lü Yang and fled!

The two Porters saw Lü Yang lying on the ground, bleeding heavily with his legs badly mangled. They seemed to realize something. They stepped closer to the three of them, step by step, and began leering at Xia Yan and Sister Mei again.

“Let’s kill the man first… After we kill him, we can each take one of these women. Otherwise, dying in the Apocalypse like this would be such a waste.” The two Porters discussed this between themselves as they approached.

“Don’t come any closer!” Sister Mei laid Lü Yang’s body back on the ground and stood in front of him, shouting sharply at the two Porters, but her voice was clearly trembling.

It felt like a rabbit trying to scare an eagle or a bear—it only made the eagle or bear find it amusing.

“That guy’s lost so much blood, he’s almost dead. Forget about him. Let’s just take these two women, and then swap afterwards…” one Porter suggested to the other.

“Alright, hehe. Let’s see who can save you now!” After agreeing, the two Porters suddenly charged. One rushed at Xia Yan, the other at Sister Mei, and they tried to force them to the ground.

Sister Mei and Xia Yan struggled desperately, making it difficult for the two Porters to succeed immediately. Lü Yang, lying on the ground, suddenly pushed himself up with effort and slammed the half-brick in his hand hard onto the head of the Porter pressing down Sister Mei.

Wham! The blow was heavy and vicious, hitting its target perfectly. The Porter who was trying to rape Sister Mei screamed in pain and quickly covered his head with his hands.

After succeeding, Lü Yang didn’t stop. He delivered two more heavy blows to the Porter’s head. The Porter’s body twisted and he collapsed.

The other Porter, who was trying to rape Xia Yan, heard the noise and saw what happened. His face showed extreme shock, probably not expecting Lü Yang to be so fierce in his condition. As he stood there stunned, Xia Yan suddenly pulled out a small bottle from her clothes and sprayed it wildly into the Porter’s face.

The Porter screamed, covered his eyes, spun around in place, and then blindly charged towards where Lü Yang and Sister Mei were. Clearly, his eyes had been severely irritated, he couldn’t see, and he had lost all sense of direction.

Lü Yang, still on the ground, met the charge with another brick swing, hitting the Porter squarely in the lower abdomen. The blow made the Porter drop his hands from his eyes and double over, screaming and clutching his stomach. Sister Mei, staying near Lü Yang, had picked up another half-brick from the ground. She struck the back of this Porter’s head several times in a row, causing him to scream repeatedly and fall face down on the ground.

Lü Yang delivered another brick blow to the top of the Porter’s head. With a crack! of breaking skull, this Porter was finally finished. His body went limp and he fell forward onto the ground.

Underestimating a rabbit—even something as powerful as an eagle or a bear—could lead to a gruesome death.

Lü Yang’s ears rang several times with notification sounds from the Eerie Computer. For killing these two Porters, he received two more Eerie Points as a reward. Furthermore, for completing a Side Quest in the Mysterious Domain, he got an additional two Eerie Points. Added to the Eerie Points he got from the earlier Blue Text and Yellow Text Missions, he now had a total of eight Eerie Points.

When Lü Yang first received the Eerie Computer, his Phantom Points account was in the negative. Completing those two tasks for Yi Yi only brought his Phantom Points to zero. But completing those two tasks also meant Lü Yang had one year to save Yi Yi.

If he could find the real culprit behind Li Yiyuan’s murder case and complete the Main Quest of this Mysterious Domain, he would receive two more Eerie Points as a reward, making a total of ten Eerie Points in his account.

It seemed that gathering a hundred Eerie Points to exchange for Yi Yi’s life might be achievable by going through a few more Mysterious Domains. But… if he had to experience a few more of these dangerous Mysterious Domains, Lü Yang seriously doubted he could last that long.

This first Mysterious Domain had already left him crippled like this. Even if he barely survived, his legs would probably need to be amputated. Would he have to spend future Mysterious Domains in a wheelchair?

Thinking about this made Lü Yang feel somewhat disheartened.

Especially because even if he got Yi Yi back, he would become a burden to her.

Better not think too far ahead for now. Focus on completing the Main Quest of this Mysterious Domain first.

Besides, helping Sister Mei find the real culprit behind her husband’s murder, and even helping her get back the twenty million that rightfully belonged to her, was a good deed.

The future… if there even is a future, then we’ll talk about it then.

…

After barely managing to kill the two Porters, Lü Yang nearly passed out again. It took a long while for him to recover slightly.

“Sister Mei, who do you think would borrow money from your husband?” As soon as Lü Yang was a bit more lucid, he immediately asked Sister Mei again.

“Who could it be? Poor relatives from the countryside? Impossible… borrowing at 20% monthly interest for turnover, it must be someone running a big business…” Sister Mei seemed to have already thought about this question but was still very puzzled.

“Where exactly did your husband’s car accident happen? How did it happen that day? Who did he see before the accident? You need to tell me everything in detail. This is very important.” Lü Yang had no choice but to spend more time looking for clues from Sister Mei.

“He was playing cards at Li Weimin’s house that night. They played very late, and he drove away in the middle of the night. Soon after leaving the gate of this Residential Area, he had the accident on the street ahead…” Although Sister Mei didn’t understand why Lü Yang was asking these things, she still explained them to him in detail.

“Was it that four-lane street?” Lü Yang confirmed with Sister Mei.

“Mhm.” Sister Mei nodded.

“Would Li Weimin borrow money from your husband?” Lü Yang then asked Sister Mei.

“Him… him… he owns a large chain of wedding photography studios. He has three branches in Guishe City and two more in other cities. In the last couple of years, he also acquired several plots of land in the suburbs and got into real estate. He’s wealthy and powerful, he probably wouldn’t borrow money from my husband, right? When my husband was alive, he had a very good relationship with Weimin. Because my husband’s wedding planning shop wanted customer lists from his photography studio, he often treated Weimin to meals and drinks…”

“What kind of person is Li Weimin?” Lü Yang continued asking.

“He’s… a very good person. After my husband died, he helped with many arrangements. He often asked if I had enough living expenses and offered me money, but I never took it.”

The conversation with Sister Mei made Lü Yang fall into thought. According to her, her husband simply couldn’t have had twenty million to lend to anyone. So why did that Loan Note float onto him in the Mysterious Domain?