Ding!
[Host has successfully left his "Cocoon"!]
[Initialization Completed!]
[System Realization Completed!]
[Congratulations Host! You have awakened the Investment System!]
[Investment Mode: 10,000x Investment Returns Activated!]
He heard the feminine words before he saw them. The blue panel that had always plagued him for the past three years had finally shown changes.
No, it didn’t show changes. It simply multiplied into multiple, each of them displaying sentences he’d heard in his head moments ago.
Still, he doubted what he’d just heard and seen thinking it was Han Lin so he turned to her as she was walking behind him and asked. "Han Lin, did you say something just now?"
She shook her head. That was all the answer he needed. He knew if he asked her if she could see the multiple blue boxes layered in front of him, she would think his madness was back.
So he just paused in his tracks, too stunned to move any further. His sudden stop almost caused Han Lin to bump into him from behind but she quickly noticed and also halted in her tracks as well.
Seeing that he wasn’t taking any steps forward, she curved round him, made her way to his front, and found him staring into an empty space. "What are we looking at this time?"
Han Lin understood perfectly that the only thing that could make Lu Feng pause and stare into empty space was the thing he claimed he could only see. The floating blue box that others have failed to see in the air that he could see. The very reason why people called him a mad individual.
Lu Feng didn’t answer her question immediately as he was busy trying to read through all of the boxes floating in front of his two coloured eyes.
’Is this it?’ He thought to himself. ’Is this the cause of everything? Three years of being called a mad man and it was all because of this? An Investment system that gives ten thousand times the returns?’
As he spoke, he raised his hand trying to touch the boxes in front of him but his hand simply passed through like the boxes weren’t there. "What the hell does this even mean?"
Lu Feng was unaware he’d spoken out loud until Han Lin replied to his question.
"What does what even mean?" She asked, he’d face showing genuine concern.
Lu Feng heard her this time so he replied without thinking. "Shhhhh... be quiet for now."
Then two new panels appeared to answer his previous question.
[Investment Guideline: The Host can invest resources ranging from money and food to cultivation techniques, martial skills, and cultivation treasures into a designated target. The designated targets are all Crippled Heroines and for every investment made into the designated targets, Host receives 10,000x the original investment value.]
[Requirement: The Crippled Heroine is one with an insanely high cultivation potential but due to one circumstance or another, they’ve lost the ability to cultivate and raise themselves higher in the cultivation path. They are rare and hard to come by but they indeed exist.]
Lu Feng was stuck in a dazed state, his mind replaying a series of scenes that he’d encountered. He’d also been seen as a cripple by his family due to the simple fact that he could not cultivate. Now that he looked back at it, it was funny. Very few family members could cultivate and yet, they weren’t exiled like he was.
Were they different?
Was he different?
Or was there an underlying reason why he was the only one they kicked out?
’Oh! Aunt Ruoxi was kicked out as well.’ He corrected his thoughts.
There was definitely an underlying reason his family had kicked them both out. He wasn’t interested in the reason though. All he wanted was to get as far away from them as possible and build a legacy of his own while going on adventures. Hopefully with Han Lin.
Right on cue, she called out to him once more. "Young Master? Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want to sit down?"
Her voice did what she’d intended it to do. It made Lu Feng snap out of his thoughts. He took a moment to feed himself from the grip of his thoughts before he finally responded to her question.
"Yes, Han Lin. I’m fine." He smiled at her before shaking his head. "As much as I would like to sit down. Time is not on our side. The sun is going down and if we don’t get a place to pass the night soon, we’ll be sleeping on the streets."
Han Lin nodded, realising that they would be sleeping in the city tonight. She’d been thinking of how they would manage to leave tonight. Even though there were traveling agencies that functioned at night, they charged double the usual price.
They couldn’t just leave tonight for two major reasons. The first was because they would need to purchase supplies that would take them through the three days journey they were about to embark on.
The second reason was even worse. They had no idea where they were heading. Lu Feng was yet to decide.
That was why it was the best idea to spend the night in the city. The next day, they would purchase the supplies needed and decide where to head. Hopefully, they would get to do all of those before the sun set so they would leave early and avoid paying double the fee for the same journey.
Having accepted the fact that her master was in good physical and mental condition, she moved to the side so he could continue walking and as he took his first step, she asked. "Do you have any place in mind? Or are we going to stay in any one we come across?"
It took a moment for him to answer as he tried to recall places he might know through his memories but he eventually answered.
"There’s a place. It’s quite luxurious and away from most of the city’s noise. I might’ve been there a couple times in the past."
Han Lin’s eyes squinted, her expression looking like she was silently judging him. "A couple times to do what?"
Lu Feng coughed at her question. The tone made it sound more like an interrogation though.
"It’s a little embarrassing to say." Was all he said and Han Lin despite the burning desire to keep teasing and interrogating him, decided to stop.
Some seconds later, they’d entered one of the major roads that led through the entire Silver Jade City. Lu Feng led while Han Lin simply followed his every move.
Whenever he increased his pace, she did the same and whenever he slowed down, she would too.
The road to their destination involved cutting through a lot of streets which made her even question his sense of direction.
After she was employed three years ago, Lu Feng seldom left the estate so how was it that he knew the city streets so well? Even better than she did.
She didn’t voice her question though. She let it drown in her belly, concluding that he’d probably done a lot of exploring of the city during the years before she had been employed for his sake.
’He definitely did. The estate is boring and with no one to talk to or even play with, it’s worse. And since his parents couldn’t care less about him, he wandered outside a lot. That’s probably how the city came to know about him.’ She thought as they cut another street again.
Lu Feng was also lost in thoughts of his own. However, his thoughts were about tomorrow.
He had enough gold coins to start up a business that could sustain them both but nothing too exotic or glamorous. Just a simple business.
However, he still needed to decide two very important things and those were what was bugging his mind right now.
The first was the system panels he could still see, stacked on top of each other. ’Are they real? How do I get rid of them? If they are real, how do they work?’
Despite having read the guidelines, he still heavily doubted it and believed it was his mind playing tricks on him. He also wanted to get rid of them. Even if he couldn’t do it permanently, he wanted to at least see without having to always see the panels moving with him.
The second important thing that bugged him was more urgent. It was the decision of where they were headed.
’She hasn’t said anything.’ Lu Feng was thinking. Han Lin was yet to ask where they would head tomorrow but he knew she needed an answer to that question and he needed to come up with one.
Silver Jade City was large. But there were four equally large cities located on the four sides of the city.
The northern route of Silver Jade City led to a city known as Crystal City due to their main export being all types of crystals. Although not as solid as Silver Jade City, the Lu family held a strong position in Crystal City as well. They could as well keep an eye on him and he wanted no such thing.
The eastern route led to Cloud Mist City where his aunt now resided with her wealthy husband. Although he knew he would be relatively safe there, he didn’t like that option either. He didn’t want to live a simple quiet life. At least not yet.
With those in mind, he only had the southern and western paths to follow, each of them leading to two different cities where his family had very limited reach.
’One of you it is.’
He would decide which of the two when he found a bed to lay his head.
As if the world heard his wish, it came into view.
The place he’d been leading Han Lin towards. He pointed at the tall structure that stood out from the others around it. They’d left the main paths of the city into the calmer sections. "That’s our destination. The Silver Crane Inn."
Indeed, atop of the building was a large sculpture. It was shaped like a crane and was silver in color.
The environment was calm but everything about the building screamed elegance. It had been built for the wealthy and right now, Lu Feng was feeling quite wealthy.
"Let’s go in." He smiled at Han Lin who nodded without asking a single question.
As they approached the doors, Lu Feng dipped his hand into his robes and further into his pouch of gold coins and pulled out one of them. This should cover our expenses. We deserve the best tonight.
He reached the counter and the innkeeper’s eyes sparkled when he saw Lu Feng.
The middle aged man was below average height and had white hair that fell to his shoulders. His face was smooth like someone who took his time to apply his skincare routine and his sky blue silk robes told them he was well to do. "Young Master Lu. Welcome back to the Silver Crane Inn. How may we be of service today?"
The man then noticed Han Lin just behind Lu Feng and raised his brows. "Oh! Young Master Lu came with a guest."
Han Lin frowned. She understood what he meant by that statement and luckily, before she answered him, Lu Feng did.
"That’s Han Lin, my caretaker and we need a place to spend the night, Manager Cang. Two separate rooms, please."
Lu Feng tossed the gold coin over to the man. "Dinner should be included too."