Chapter 725 - 439: An Interesting Handbook of Strange Tales

Chapter 725: Chapter 439: An Interesting Handbook of Strange Tales

A moment later, a silver-white van was parked in a spot in front of a restaurant specializing in rustic cuisine.

Lin Li parked the van, got out, and strode toward the nearby restaurant.

It was just past the dinner rush, so there weren’t many customers. As Lin Li walked in, a waitress at the front desk greeted him enthusiastically.

"Are you here to eat, sir?"

"Yes. Do you have any private rooms? If so, I’d like one," Lin Li asked.

"We do. How many in your party, sir?"

"Just me."

"I’ll put you in a small private room, then!"

"Alright, thank you."

After the brief exchange, Lin Li followed the waitress toward a corner of the restaurant.

Once inside the small private room, the waitress immediately turned on the air conditioning.

Cold air gushed from the vent, quickly lowering the temperature in the room. ’This AC works surprisingly well.’

His stomach growling with hunger, Lin Li sat down, took the menu from the waitress, and quickly ordered a ton of food.

"This one, this one, and this one... and bring me a large bowl of rice, enough for three adults."

After ordering, Lin Li emphasized the portion size for the rice. When he didn’t get a response, he looked up. The uniformed waitress was staring at him, her face a mask of astonishment.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?" Lin Li asked.

The waitress, her expression one of utter surprise, snapped out of it and said quickly, "No, it’s not that, sir. Our portions are already very large. You’ve ordered so much for one person, you won’t be able to finish it all."

"It’s fine. If I can’t finish it, I’ll take the leftovers to go." Lin Li didn’t say he could definitely finish it, but simply stated that even if he couldn’t, the food wouldn’t go to waste.

Hearing this, the waitress didn’t try to persuade him further. She finally understood why this customer needed a private room for just one person.

’If he ate in the main dining area, ordering a whole table of food for himself would definitely draw stares from the other customers.’

After the waitress left the room to prepare Lin Li’s meal, he was alone. With a thought, he retrieved his phone from the Mysterious Small Island.

CHIME.

The phone, having regained its signal, sounded a few times. Lin Li unlocked the screen and saw that Su Yue had sent him some messages earlier in the evening, along with a photo.

"I’m off work," the first message read. "Heading to meet my friends for a party."

Lin Li looked at the photo and the short message, thought for a moment, and typed a reply. "I was out and my phone died. Just got it charged and saw your message."

A moment later, she responded.

"Are you home now?"

"Not home. I’m out eating. Just ordered..."

"Are you free later?"

"What for?"

"If you’re free, I was wondering if you could pick me up after the party ends. If not, no worries, I’ll just get a cab myself."

"I’m free," Lin Li typed back. "Send me the address of the party. Just text me a little before you’re ready to leave, and I’ll come get you."

"Okay, thanks!" came the quick reply.

Inside a chic and relaxed lounge, a group of men and women sat in a corner booth, drinking and chatting cheerfully.

A smile spread across Su Yue’s lovely face after she finished messaging Lin Li. Sitting beside her, Wang Ling noticed the change in her expression and asked curiously.

"You look happy. What’s on your mind? Share it, let me in on the fun."

Su Yue locked her phone and put it in her bag. She smiled at her friend and said, "Nothing!"

"Oh, really?" Wang Ling gave Su Yue a suspicious look. Just then, a few of the other girls at the table started a new conversation, drawing Wang Ling’s attention away.

Su Yue, who had come to the party with her friend, was the most eye-catching person in the bar. Her every move, every frown and smile, captured the attention of many.

In the time she had been at the bar, quite a few people had already come over to hit on her, hoping to become friends.

Unfortunately, not a single one had succeeded so far; they couldn’t even get her contact information.

’I can probably leave in another hour.’ Su Yue sat quietly beside Wang Ling, occasionally chiming in on the conversation, all the while mentally planning to text Lin Li half an hour beforehand.

Meanwhile, Lin Li, still waiting for his food at the restaurant, finished his brief chat with Su Yue and began to estimate his haul from the wilderness that day.

The afternoon’s hunt had gone smoothly. In addition to the two Tier Two Mutant Beasts he’d killed at the start, he had taken down four more before sunset. The maturation progress of the Magical Little Fruit was now at a total of 8.7 percent.

"It’d be great if the next few days of hunting go as smoothly as today," Lin Li muttered.

Just then, the door to the private room was pushed open. The waitress walked in carrying several cooked dishes and placed them on the table in front of Lin Li.

"Enjoy your meal, sir. The rest of your dishes will be out shortly," the waitress said with a smile before turning to leave.

RUMBLE...

His stomach roaring, Lin Li reached directly for the large bowl of rice—enough for three adults—picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a large piece of sweet and sour pork, and began to dig in with relish.

...

「Spirit Realm, Dongwu City.」

A bright, full moon hung high in the sky, surrounded by a court of brilliant stars.

Looking up at the star-strewn night sky, one could occasionally see a shooting star streak by, quickly vanishing at the edge of the heavens.

During the day, the area around the house Lin Li had bought in the Spirit Realm’s Dongwu City was quite noisy due to construction.

After dark, because of city regulations, the construction workers couldn’t continue working at night, so they had all gone home to rest. For a time, this residential area, where only a few houses had been completed, became perfectly still.

On the second floor of the villa, a Spiritual Lamp hanging from the ceiling cast a bright light, illuminating the room completely.

Steam filled the spacious bathroom, making the light from the lamp appear hazy and dreamlike.

Having removed her disguise and returned to her true form, Qin Muqing raised a hand to gently pin up her long, dark hair. She lay back comfortably in the enormous bathtub, soaking amidst the numerous rose petals floating on the water’s surface.

Back home, taking a flower petal bath was an extremely common affair. Since running away, however, this was her first time. ℯ𝕝.

’The quality of the rose petals I bought isn’t great, but given my current situation, it’s good enough to have them at all. What more could I ask for?’

SPLASH...

The breathtakingly beautiful Qin Muqing lifted a slender, pale arm from the water, held onto the side of the tub, and stood up.

「A moment later.」

After her bath, Qin Muqing washed the clothes she had changed out of, hung them to dry in the courtyard, and then returned to her bedroom.

She had changed into a pink dudou embroidered with peonies, with a pure white nightgown worn over it.

She leaned lazily against the headboard, engrossed in a book of oddities she had bought from a roadside stall while out grocery shopping earlier that day.

The pure white nightgown was very loose, but it still couldn’t hide Qin Muqing’s exquisite curves.

A pair of small, fair feet peeked out from under the nightgown, crossed and dangling playfully.

’The stories in this book of oddities are quite interesting, but a lot of them are clearly fabricated. You can tell at a glance.’

Qin Muqing mumbled to herself as she flipped through the book. Suddenly, her beautiful, willow-leaf brows furrowed.

...