Chapter 24: Protecting Twenty Thousand Yuan

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“Officer Li, punctual as ever.”

The sound of high heels drew nearer from the distance, each click seeming to land directly upon Li Xu’s heart. His pulse quickened uncontrollably. Only when the footsteps reached the door did he hold his breath.

“Officer Li.” The shrill voice turned briefly coarse. Li Xu could not help frowning, but he still spoke as instructed.

“We had a deal. I came to exchange for the hostage.”

“Very well!”

The owner of the voice slowly leaned toward the peephole. A pair of bloodshot eyes stared through it, filled with reckless, near-mad frenzy.

Li Xu exhaled slowly and began walking toward the door, one step at a time.

“Wait!”

The voice grew even raspier, its excitement seemingly forced down with deliberate effort. “Officer Li, you’re not being sincere. How can you bring a weapon when you came to make the exchange?”

With that, he plunged the knife into Liu Zi’s thigh again, without the slightest warning.

“Ugh!”

Another muffled groan, enough to make flesh ache in sympathy.

“What are you doing?” Li Xu shouted furiously.

But the person inside remained utterly indifferent. Instead, he leisurely pulled out the knife and murmured hoarsely, “What are you waiting for, Officer Li? Take it off.”

He had clearly left Li Xu no room to survive, cutting off every possibility that he might conceal a weapon.

Li Xu’s eyes burned red. If one listened carefully, one could almost hear blood dripping onto the floor, drop by drop.

“Fine. I’ll take it off!”

Without hesitation, Li Xu quickly removed his watch, coat, shoes, socks, trousers…

Xu Si had just been looking forward to seeing his abs when everything before her eyes suddenly went dark.

A dry, warm palm pressed over her face, faintly damp against her skin.

“What are you doing?” Xu Si protested. That had been an extra benefit worth twenty thousand!

“You’re not allowed to look.” Nan Xian complained indignantly, “You already have me. How can you still look at other men? No, I…”

“You what?” Xu Si raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smile appearing in her eyes. As she turned her head, her gaze happened to sweep across his palm.

She then watched with satisfaction as the certain deity’s face turned so red it looked ready to smoke.

“Nan Xian, are you jealous?”

“Jealous? How could I possibly be jealous? I am a mighty Divine Sovereign! How could I be jealous? What a joke. Countless celestial maidens and goddesses have pursued me, and I never even spared them a second glance!”

“Besides, you’re only a lowly wraith. Why would I ever be jealous of you?”

Nan Xian’s little mouth chattered away, but his eyes glared viciously at the criminal in the room. Honestly, what kind of pervert made people strip before carrying out a crime?

Seeing Li Xu actually begin undoing his belt, Nan Xian was so furious that even his toes curled against the floor.

Six-Nine, quickly investigate what crime it is to interfere with another person’s karma.’

‘Reporting to the Divine Sovereign: interfering with another person’s karma results in being struck by lightning!’

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‘Struck by lightning?’

His true form was a tree. To be honest, he was genuinely afraid of thunder. But when he saw Li Xu removing more and more of his clothes, the deity narrowed his eyes at once.

Hmph. A little lightning was nothing. He could handle it!

Just as Li Xu had stripped down to his underwear, the breathing all around them suddenly grew heavier. Xu Si’s ears twitched slightly.

From inside the room came the slow sound of the lock turning. Cold sweat broke out across Li Xu’s forehead.

“Officer Li, today is the day of your—”

In the blink of an eye, a pair of black high heels thrust through the gap beneath the door, followed by a thick, muscular leg. Li Xu froze for a moment.

“—death!”

The deep voice carried the murderous resolve of a man with nothing left to lose.

He had never wanted to live in the first place. All he wanted from today’s affair was to drag a few others down with him.

Li Xu had imagined the so-called “broker” countless times. Either a woman, an effeminate man, or perhaps a short and slight male.

He had never imagined, however, that the broker would be a burly man with legs covered in hair.

His estimate of the man’s build had been completely wrong, and the disparity in strength was therefore far greater than expected.

When the cleaver came down, Li Xu could only twist aside awkwardly, sacrificing his entire shoulder.

“Twenty thousand! Get down!”

Seeing that Li Xu intended to stake his life in a fight, Xu Si felt as though the money already in her hands was about to turn into bubbles and float away.

Without a second thought, she ignored Nan Xian beside her, sprang forward, and landed next to Li Xu. Both hands clamped around the knife-wielding wrist.

She turned and drove her elbow into the man’s throat.

With a crisp crack, his spine shifted out of place.

His nerves severed, the man did not even have time to cry out in pain before Xu Si snatched away the cleaver and pressed it against his throat.

The entire sequence flowed as smoothly as water. By the time Li Xu opened his eyes in panic, the man had already collapsed limply onto the floor.

Xu Si looked down at him, then punched him squarely in the back.

“Well, well. So it’s you, you idiot, trying to ruin my twenty thousand! Do you know that you nearly chopped my twenty thousand and eight hundred to pieces?”

“Ha! I’ll beat you to death, you hopeless moron!”

She landed several solid blows on the fleshiest parts of his body.

Only belatedly realizing what had happened, Li Xu immediately covered his chest when Xu Si glanced over at him.

“What are you covering? I’ve already seen everything.”

Xu Si looked down without the slightest concern. A chill ran down Li Xu’s back, and he quickly used one hand to cover himself below as well.

“Miss Xu!”

“Present.”

Xu Si whistled at Li Xu like a little hoodlum. “Not bad. You’re in good shape.”

“You little wraith!”

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Nan Xian had never imagined that Xu Si would act even faster than he did—and then go so far as to compliment another man’s figure.

Was she going to fall in love with someone else?

Hmph, little wraith. One day, you will chase after your husband all the way to the crematorium!

Though he cursed her inwardly, his body was perfectly honest. He stepped in front of Xu Si and blocked her from view.

“What’s so good about him? Is he as good as me?”

“Hmm…” Xu Si pondered for a moment.

Nan Xian’s face darkened like ink. “You’re still thinking about it? You’re actually savoring the memory?”

“Uh—”

Xu Si tossed the cleaver aside and spread her hands innocently. “I’m not! Don’t slander me. I was only worried about the condition of my twenty thousand!”

“Really?”

“Truer than pure gold!”

Of course, her gold was not real either. What was wrong with thinking about it?

Even so, Xu Si nodded earnestly. Seeing that Nan Xian was still scowling, she immediately cupped his face in both hands. Rising onto her toes with instinctive ease, she seriously pressed her lips against his trembling ones.

Cool, soft, and seemingly delicious.

It was the first intimate contact either of them had ever shared with someone of the opposite sex. For a moment, both of them forgot what they were supposed to do next.

Recalling the tutorials she had found online, Xu Si tentatively extended the tip of her tongue and lightly licked his lips.

‘Hmm? So this is how I can cultivate with a god and obtain divine powers?’

Nan Xian felt unbearably hot all over. Every leaf on his body seemed to be steaming.

‘W-what is the little wraith doing? Is the little wraith licking me? Is she trying to eat me? But we haven’t formed a bond yet. I can’t bear fruit! But this feels so good. What should I do?’

At that thought, wisps of vapor began rising from the top of Nan Xian’s head. There was so much of it that it rivaled the output of a hundred humidifiers.

Thus, when Li Xu lowered his head to finish dressing and then looked up, he found the entire corridor filled with billowing white mist.

“Huh? I failed to escape my deadly tribulation? Have I gone to heaven?”

The moment he finished speaking, his head began to spin, and his entire body swayed unsteadily.

With a soft thud, he collapsed completely to the floor.

The violent sound jolted Nan Xian back to his senses. He hurriedly pushed Xu Si away and stammered an explanation.

“N-no, we can’t. We—we haven’t formed the bond yet!”

“Then let’s form it.”

Feeling power surge through every inch of her body, Xu Si agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Then she hooked a finger into Nan Xian’s collar.

“Come on. Let’s go home!”