Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!

Chapter 1355 - 176: Open and Aboveboard Tricksters, Narrow Paths for Foes, and a Peerless Flight for Survival

There wasn’t much time for reminiscing this time. To prevent anyone with ulterior motives from noticing anything amiss, Xu Shu quickly left this heavily guarded residential compound, without alarming anyone.

So much so that by the time his foster mother made him a bowl of noodles, Xu Shu was already long gone, leaving only a large bag full of money on the table.

"Ah, why did he leave in such a hurry this time, not even taking a bite before going." Mrs. Zhou complained, having not seen her son in a long time.

But Father Zhou was more philosophical: "This is all for our protection. In this world, we ordinary folks should be content just to live, to live well like this, without greed. Haha, thankfully Yu has also become a big figure among the Transcendents, and I feel happy knowing they won’t have such gaps between them."

"Do you really want to raise our son as a son-in-law?" Mrs. Zhou poked her husband playfully.

Zhou Junjie lay back in his chair, lazily holding today’s newspaper, saying leisurely: "Hey, are you pretending in front of me now? Didn’t you have the same thought? If you ask me, we should find a chance to seriously talk with Ashu, let them settle things early. Let them go on, and not let us old folks hold them back. Look at today’s continuous publication in the newspaper, ’Pure Love Family Between Me and My Sister,’ even those with blood relations are like this, and they have none!"

"Psh! This old rascal, watching all kinds of things every day... we’ll talk about it when there’s a chance. Who knows what Ashu really thinks... I always feel like he just sees Yu as a sister. Saying too much might be bad." Mrs. Zhou spat dismissively, gazing longingly out of the window.

Even though Xu Shu’s figure was long gone, she stood there for a long while.

"Don’t overthink it, children have their own fortunes, worrying too much isn’t attractive." Zhou Junjie said calmly.

Eventually, Mrs. Zhou sighed, "That’s right, those two, their future achievements are beyond what we can imagine. Haha, back in the days who would have thought, the gap between people could be so vast?"

She murmured to herself, sitting back down on the sofa, comfortably stretching out, and casually picking up a newspaper from the coffee table to read intently.

This newspaper is quite special, called ’Affairs of the Extraordinary World,’ akin to current event news.

Mrs. Zhou hadn’t seen it before; this sort of thing doesn’t exist in D8B3 District, it’s a read from Penglai District.

According to people here, it’s something certain big figures concocted for fun, and it’s a rare channel for ordinary people like them to catch a glimpse of the Extraordinary World.

The contents are numerous and varied, often filled with bewildering stories.

Like ’The Legendary Life of the North Sea Giant Monster Olchi’, ’The Tenth Councilor of the Astronomy Association and Concubine Se Shibi’s Love.4’, ’Animal Training Master: Zhu Bi is Truly Coin Casting, Can’t Be Practiced’ and so on.

Truth be told, many of the stories in this publication are absolutely incomprehensible to Mrs. Zhou, as she is merely a middle-aged woman with not particularly high education.

Rather than treating it as the "current event news" of the Extraordinary World, it’s more accurate to see it as a book of curious tales.

Ever since an Transcendent emerged in her family, Mrs. Zhou found these stories much more interesting than things like ’The Carp Leaping Over the Dragon Gate: A Mother’s Position Raised by Her Child’, or ’A Sixty-Year-Old Woman Guarding the National Gate’.

Take today, the story she’s eager to read is titled ’Rise of the Overlord’, seemingly a legendary biography, documenting a young hero named ’Gu Pan’ starting from humble beginnings, growing stronger through fortuitous encounters, and embarking on a journey to save the world.

At first, Mrs. Zhou even thought this story was about the prominent figure from D8B3 District, who rose from a scavenger to become the Director of the Supervision Bureau, the idol of all the common folk.

This time’s title is ’Episode Six: An Enterprising Person Breaks Into Eternal Youth Manor by Night, the Beauty Under Moon Rescues Her Beloved’ — Jump and Jump Publishing House (Reproduction Forbidden).

...

...

It’s seven o’clock in the evening.

Xu Shu, having swapped the trash can on his back for a slightly more elegant black oval wine barrel, quietly returned to his rented room at the Lanling Royal Office in No. 2 Lower District.

"Hey, earlier Old Bai told me to try not to get caught up in the conflicts between living cultivators and dead cultivators, yet still so naïve at his age!

"Wherever there are people, there’s Jianghu; people are Jianghu, how can you avoid it? Unless you always hide, but since I’ve already shown my edge, there’s definitely no way to keep myself unscathed; when the city gate catches fire, it surely affects the fish in the pond.

"Unless he summons a Demigod to help, carrying my entire family across the wilderness, far from Penglai, to hide in another war zone!" Xu Shu grumbled silently in his heart, stealthily nearing his front door like a mouse in the shadows.

Actually, for a moment, he did feel a sudden urge to do just that, but after thinking it through, deemed it unnecessary.

Where is there no conflict?

The only way to truly find peace is to enhance one’s strength.

Of course, so far, everything is just Xiao Ya’s speculation, not necessarily entirely accurate; Bai Yujing’s internal strife might just be her worrying about nothing.

However, in Xu Shu’s view, this possibility indeed seems high.

After all, an old saying goes, when too many coincidences overlap, they surely stop being coincidences...

Apart from dismissing the Native powers of the Annihilation Association and the Ghost Killing Sect, Voodoo belongs to the Annihilation sect, Red Emperor Army belongs to the Salvation Army.

Could it be yet another cult trying to stir up trouble?