Chapter 20 - 18: I Choose You

Chapter 20: Chapter 18: I Choose You

According to the information from her past life, Xie Shaokun was a powerful figure who rose to prominence in another city. Why would he show up here?

’Could this person be his brother?’

’Or maybe he’s been in this city all along and left later?’

Xia Yu fell silent for a moment, then strode away.

「A few minutes later.」

She returned with a bottle of mineral water and poured it on Xie Shaokun to wake him up.

"Who the hell are you? What do you want?"

Xie Shaokun shivered from the cold, asking through gritted teeth. At the same time, he scanned his surroundings out of the corner of his eye, ready to escape at any moment.

"You’re a little stupid."

Xia Yu’s brow furrowed slightly as she spoke.

"You..."

Being called stupid by an extremely beautiful, elegant woman who happened to be exactly his type, Xie Shaokun was instantly indignant and even more annoyed.

"Not convinced?"

Xia Yu said flatly, "I dislocated your right leg. Didn’t you notice? And you’re still thinking about running. If you’re not stupid, what are you?"

Xie Shaokun froze.

He clenched his fists. Since he couldn’t run, he would prepare to fight back!

"If you want to fight back, you don’t have to clench your fists, grit your teeth, and make a vicious face to remind me, do you?"

Xia Yu’s frown deepened. "How does an idiot like you survive for so long? And how could anyone possibly follow you?"

Xie Shaokun shouted with adolescent arrogance, "A gentleman prefers death to dishonor! If you have business with me, state it, but do not insult me!"

Xia Yu gave him a strange look.

’Just as you’d expect from a sixteen or seventeen-year-old. Learn a few classical poems and you start spouting archaic prose.’

’Good thing he didn’t try to show off with English, or I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from beating him up again.’

"What’s your name?"

She glanced around. The number of people coming and going had increased, so she didn’t waste any more time and asked her question.

???

’You hit me without even knowing who I am?’

Looking utterly baffled, Xie Shaokun said, "Lady..."

THUD.

Xia Yu kicked out.

"Ow."

Xie Shaokun was in so much pain that his local dialect slipped out.

!!!

Xia Yu’s eyes narrowed. "Are you from Yunan or Yu Bei?"

The powerful figure from her past life was from Yunan.

「A few minutes later.」

Xia Yu got the answers to all her questions. The guy’s name was Xie Shaokun, from Yunan. After beating up Xia Tian, he planned to offer a formal apology. If Xia Tian and his family refused to let it go, he was also prepared to drop out of school.

He hadn’t beaten up Xia Tian over a personal grudge. He was hired to do it. Afterward, he would receive a sum of money and a chance to join the crew of the person who hired him.

As for who was behind it...

"I could tell you, but would you dare to listen?"

"What could you do even if you knew? Let me go right now, and I can pretend this never happened."

Xie Shaokun sneered and said, "He who understands the times is a wise man. Dost thou comprehend?"

Xia Yu: "..."

’This is the future peerless expert who held sway over all of Sanctuary No. 9?’

’Indeed.’

’All the strong have a past they’d rather not look back on.’

Pushing her thoughts aside, she was now almost certain that the person before her was the same Xie Shaokun from her past life. The world couldn’t have that many coincidences.

As for the finer details, her power level in her past life wasn’t high enough to have contact with a powerful figure like Xie Shaokun, so she didn’t know them.

’Do I take the gamble?’

Xia Yu hesitated for a second. She could feel the Spiritual Energy fluctuations from the Servant Spirit Species in her pocket growing weaker and weaker. Always decisive, she quickly made her choice: ’Gamble!’

’As for needing a lot of money to hoard resources before the Apocalypse, I’ll figure that out later.’

’First, I need to control a Spiritual Ability User!’

’That’s more important than anything else!’

The next moment, she opened the brocade box. The Servant Spirit Species instantly flew into the air and circled her once more.

!!!

Xie Shaokun’s eyes shot wide open, as if he had seen a ghost.

’A Magician?’

Before he could figure out what was happening, he saw the white-and-reddish object fly toward him.

"Th-thou... What art thou doing?"

"I..."

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could finish, the Servant Spirit Species suddenly accelerated and shot into his mouth.

It melted the moment it entered.

There was no taste.

It was as if nothing had happened at all.

"Thou... What did you make me eat?"

Xie Shaokun stuck his fingers into his mouth, digging around, but couldn’t get anything out.

Immediately after, Xie Shaokun felt as if his soul was being torn apart. He, who never cried out in pain even when beaten, couldn’t help but scream. Unfortunately, the well-prepared Xia Yu clamped a hand over his mouth, muffling his cries into whimpers of "MMPH MMPH MMPH."

’Not bad willpower.’

At this moment, Xia Yu was basically certain her ’gamble’ had paid off.

The agony of that moment was comparable to the entire pain of childbirth concentrated into a single instant. An ordinary person would have fainted immediately. Even she couldn’t help but frown at the thought.

Such a tenacious will was one of the essential requirements for becoming one of the strong.

"Tell me, who was the mastermind?"

Xia Yu said calmly.

"Bring it on."

"Whoever’s scared is the other one’s bitch!"

Xie Shaokun was acting tough.

’What an idiot.’

’Since you’re asking for it, I’ll oblige.’

With a mere thought, Xia Yu activated it.

"MMPH MMPH."

Xie Shaokun once again endured the inhuman agony.

「Half an hour later.」

Xie Shaokun was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted. His entire body was steaming, making him look like he was in some ethereal paradise.

"It’s not that I’m scared of you."

He said weakly, "I just figure it doesn’t matter if I tell you who’s behind it. You wouldn’t dare offend him anyway."

’Still talking tough?’

’Is this a man’s last stand of stubbornness?’

"Who?"

Xia Yu didn’t expose Xie Shaokun’s brave front. In fact, she was rather impressed that he had held out for so long before breaking.

He was very tough.

’After experiencing the harsh beatings of society and the trials of the Apocalypse, his strength will continuously grow, and he’ll become even tougher.’

"Brother Li."

Xie Shaokun confessed everything. "He told me to put Xia Tian in the hospital. I don’t know the reason."

"I really don’t know."

Xia Yu paused in thought for a moment.

She asked a completely unrelated question: "Do you have any money in your bank account?"

???

Xie Shaokun couldn’t understand Xia Yu at all, but he had been thoroughly terrified by this little tyrant. He obediently shook his head and said, "A few thousand yuan left."

"That’s what’s left after I spent the 100,000 I borrowed."

Xia Yu was speechless.

’I knew you were broke, but I didn’t expect you to be in debt.’

’I originally planned to find a rich Spirit Servant to solve my money problems, but now I’m the one who has to solve his?’

"Ahem... I like martial arts, but I couldn’t afford a master. I happened to meet someone with real skills, so I paid to study under him for two months."

Xie Shaokun explained.

’He spent 100,000 in two months?’

’Did you run into a scammer?!’

"You’re not even eighteen, are you? How could you get a loan?"

Xia Yu asked.

"I didn’t get it through official channels. The interest rate is pretty high. On the streets, they call it a ’shark loan’."

Xie Shaokun said, "With principal and interest, it’s already snowballed to 300,000."

Xia Yu fell silent again.

She was now completely sure that this was the same Xie Shaokun from her past life.

’This is not something an ordinary person could pull off.’

’He must be one of the strong!’

"A shark loan? If you can’t pay it back, people can get killed, right?"

She calmed her fluctuating emotions and asked.

Xie Shaokun nodded, but stuck his neck out, completely unafraid. "They don’t dare to kill anyone. At worst, I’ll take a beating and do some work for them."

"Do you want to pay it back?"

Xia Yu couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense and asked directly.

"I do."

Xie Shaokun’s answer was crisp. "Sis, if you can help me pay it off, I’ll follow you from now on!"

’I don’t want you following me anymore. Can I get a refund?’

Xia Yu complained internally, but her expression remained calm as she said, "Do one thing for me, and I can help you pay off the ’shark loan’."

"Pray, tell."

"I don’t care how you do it, but at 9:18 AM tomorrow, get Brother Li to bring a bunch of his guys to the White Building. Don’t mention me."

"Huh? Sis, what are you planning? If this goes wrong, you and I are both screwed! Brother Li, he..."

Xia Yu had already walked away.