Li Xianyu was born into an ordinary family. When his adoptive father was young, he was a delinquent. He had no literary accomplishment, so he did not feel that his children needed any as well. Li Xianyu, as well as his sister, did not enroll in any art cla.s.ses ever since they were born.
In elementary school, his teacher tried to induce parents to get their children to take up cla.s.ses. The parents would usually say, "Wow! Teacher, this cla.s.s is too expensive, we cannot afford it."
Li Xianyu"s parents thought to themselves, Drawing, my a.s.s. He has to learn how to do simple maths first. He doesn"t even know this, yet you want him to learn to draw.... Is the school crazy? You"re not doing anything beneficial to him. What kind of cla.s.ses do you want?
That"s how his adoptive father felt. He was stubborn as h.e.l.l.
Hence, Li Xianyu had never touched the piano since he was young. He was especially jealous of his peers who could play the piano.
In the revolving restaurant, besides the staff, there were no other diners after breakfast hours. Although the place was not suitable, the environment was quiet. Victoria played a song on the piano, and suddenly she felt someone behind her.
Looking back, she saw the Chinese demon descendant that injured her younger brother: the newbie.
Victoria smiled and asked, "Was it good?"
The sea seemed to come to life.
Li Xianyu applauded and said in some dialect, "Good, good."
Victoria crooked her head. "Monkeys are tired?" Her Chinese p.r.o.nunciation was not accurate either.
"A dialect, it"s to describe someone or something is very good."
Victoria didn"t have breakfast either. Americans were used to get up in the morning and exercise first, then eat. When she entered the revolving restaurant, she saw n.o.body around. Having itchy fingers, she decided to play a tune on the piano first.
Li Xianyu asked for a small steamed bun with soybean milk and fried dough sticks, sitting in the corner alone. Unexpectedly, Victoria came over to his side with breakfast. Bacon, coffee, toast, hash browns, fried eggs, standard American breakfast.
This American chick"s personality appeared bright and bubbly, and she appeared street-smart as well. Although she grew up in Shanghai, she had little experience in dealing with foreign ghosts. Li Xianyu did not know whether it was her personality or the problem of education in the United States. In any case, being an American in China, she would naturally not be so welcoming, having only exchanged a few sentences.
"Is your brother feeling better?" Li Xianyu found a topic to start the conversation.
"Better..." Victoria swept her lips. "We can communicate in Chinese. Your English p.r.o.nunciation makes me feel awful."
"Okay..." The undergraduate felt as if he was being mocked.
Victoria"s face immediately lit up. "My Chinese teacher said that I have a talent for language. Having learnt Chinese for only two years, I have no problems communicating orally. I can test my language skills here in China."
"Is your brother feeling better?" Li Xianyu asked again.
"No." Victoria looked sad. "Thanks you for your concern. He often says. "s.h.i.+t, my head moves, my chest moves, my whole body moves." He seldom suffers such serious injuries."
Move? Li Xianyu guessed that she referred to the word "pain". However, he didn"t deliberately point out Victoria"s wrong words. It was impolite of him to do so.
"That, that…" Li Xianyu said, "Although I recovered from my injuries, my body is old and weak. I am short of money to buy nutrients."
After that, he had a "you know…" look on his face.
Victoria waved to the waiter and pa.s.sed over a gla.s.s of milk to Li Xianyu. "Eat more nutritious food."
Li Xianyu wanted to flip the table. Who wants milk? Money. I want money. Are you pretending not to understand? It has been three months since you agreed to pay me US$200,000. Why hasn"t there been any action?
"I don"t seem to see your friend around." Li Xianyu was a respectable Chinese "lecher." He wouldn"t talk too ostentatiously, so he changed the topic.
"They went to Myanmar to hunt down a group of drug dealers. I was going with Ryder, but he was injured. I stayed to take care of him." Victoria said.
"Drug dealers? Blood… Superpowered beings?"
"Yes, it"s all bad guys."
"Sorry I"m standing in your way. But, as for Myanmar"s drug traffickers… Why are all of you in charge of hunting them down?"
Li Xianyu thought to himself, Your connections are insane. Even those drug traffickers in Myanmar have something to do with all of you.
"Oh, yes, this group of drug traffickers in the United States performed secret transactions in our land last month. They were discovered by our a.s.sociation"s law enforcement officers. That law enforcement officer was alone at that time. He chanced upon the transaction, but two fists could not beat four hands. He was beaten to a pulp." Victoria said sadly, "A young life was lost like that."
Li Xianyu exhaled coldly. Were these drug traffickers animals?
Victoria said, "This time, the deputy director is going to take revenge and return B"s body in the way of B."
What she said seemed to refer to: Let them experience a taste of their own medicine?
Li Xianyu suddenly felt that he was not proficient enough in Chinese. Li Xianyu shuddered and said, "Your deputy director wants to love back?"
Victoria wondered why Li Xianyu had this expression on his face. She shook her head and said, "Our action is not love. It is to uphold the law and justice."
Li Xianyu suddenly understood. What the h.e.l.l was love? It was obviously harm. Your vocabulary makes me quiver.
Victoria was a talkative girl, born to a family of demon descendants, and unlike the old n.o.bles of the Neverending Daylight Empire, she was full of innate pride and self-esteem. She was able to engage in a detailed conversation with Li Xianyu, but soon enough, the newbie from China stopped talking to her.
Victoria was befuddled.
Li Xianyu just felt too tired to chat with this girl. Chinese was his mother tongue, but why did he feel that he was a newbie talking with a proficient expert? This was an illusion.
Every sentence seemed to have a deep meaning. A novice needed to mince her words before she woke up.
Li Xianyu browsed the chat for demon descendants as he ate breakfast.
Today, the chat was very lively. Many colleagues exchanged full-on conversations with each other.
"Who"s still at the Shanghai Stock Exchange? Go back to the company and beat Long Aotian up."
"You haven"t finished yet? It"s been half an hour."
"Originally we were going to beat him till he was half dead, but suddenly, we found that Long Aotian could not be killed."
"Yeah, yeah, as we beat him to a pulp, he revived. Although the reason is unknown, everyone is happy. This means that we can shower him with love."
"G.o.d, please let me in, the equipment room is full of people, yet I have not kicked Long Aotian once."
Li Xianyu lit a candle figuratively for Long Aotian in his heart. Suddenly, he realized Lightning King"s motive for drawing his blood: it was to "look out" for Long Aotian.
If he had not been infused with Li Xianyu"s blood, he would only have been beaten up once. However, since he was infused with it, the beatings could carry on until dawn.
The old veterans were still the most experienced.
Victoria held a fork in her left hand and a knife in her right as she carefully cut the fried eggs. "I heard Long Aotian from your company woke up?"
Li Xianyu looked up at her and said, "How do you know?"
"I overheard the restaurant staff," Victoria said. "He really woke up." She looked and sounded surprised.
Li Xianyu"s heart twitched. "Do you know him?"
Victoria smiled, her pretty blue eyes s.h.i.+ning. "Let me tell you discreetly. He"s very well known within the a.s.sociation for Superpowered Beings. He has become a laughing stock, you know. Baoze has risen so fast that a little trivial matter has been magnified internationally, arousing ridicule. Two years ago, Baoze declared internationally that it was ready to pioneer a new era of VR. It was highly scrutinised. However, I heard this year that Long Aotian lost control and trapped many powerful people in the virtual world. Hmm, based on your mother tongue, the boat of friends.h.i.+p has capsized."
Li Xianyu felt a little awkward.
"The Superpower Daily has created a special section for this purpose, which is nothing more than some bystanders" gossip. However, the following a.n.a.lysis is very interesting. It says that unless the leader of Buddhism in your country or the sword-bearer of Baoze breaks through, the development of VR is doomed to be an aimless project," Victoria whispered, "Who can wake up Long Aotian? It must be a great man, Li. Is it your big boss? Is he here?"
Her eyes shone with antic.i.p.ation and nervousness.
Li Xianyu thought for a moment and asked, "Do you think that only our boss who lives in his own world can solve this problem?"
Victoria nodded and said in a natural tone: "Who else but him?"