By the time Li XinWen returned with his disguise, he saw that Sun Xiao was nowhere in sight. Li JingHua had also left for her job, but he clearly told Sun Xiao to wait for him earlier. "Mom, where's Ah'Xiao?" Li XinWen asked as he approached madam Li.
"Ah'Xiao? He should be outside waiting for you," his mother replied as she looked up from the newspaper that she had been reading.
"Alright. Thank you, mom. I'll leave now," Li XinWen said with a chuckle. Leaning down, he planted a kiss on her cheek before walking to the front door. Although Li XinWen wasn't actually used to such intimate gesture, the original made it a habit to do so. Remembering the original's fate made Li XinWen sigh. Shaking his head, he opened the door and saw Sun Xiao patiently waiting for him outside.
"Why did you wait outside? You could have just waited inside and stayed comfortable," Li XinWen said to Sun Xiao.
"I... just wanted to feed the neighbour's dog before I go..." Sun Xiao answered as he looked down on the ground.
Li XinWen compared this Sun Xiao to the Sun Xiao in Li JingHua's memories. Though his appearance then was different, his personality remained the same. He remembered seeing how Li JingHua always had to save Sun Xiao from being bullied during the apocalypse. 'This won't do. I should help this boy gain some confidence,' Li XinWen thought as he hooked an arm around Sun Xiao's shoulder.
"Right. Shall we go? I remember your school is only a fifteen-minute walk from here," Li XinWen said as they started walking. They left the main gate of the house and quietly walked through the neighbourhood. All the while, Li XinWen was thinking how he can make Sun Xiao gain his confidence.
"Ah'Xiao, do you still remember what Hua-jie talked about last night?"
"En. About the apocalypse and such... right?"
"Yes. And you said you want to learn martial arts so you can protect your elder brother, right?" Li XinWen turned his head to face Sun Xiao, flashing him a big grin.
"En! En! I will work hard and make sure to protect Xin-gege! Hua-dajie said that Xin-gege doesn't have any ability and since Ah'Xiao has two abilities, then Ah'Xiao must protect Xin-gege!"
"Good, good. Then your Xin-gege will wait until Ah'Xiao is strong enough to protect me! So, you should hurry and grow up," Li XinWen pinched Sun Xiao's cheek playfully and the two started laughing. After a while, they stopped and Li XinWen ruffled Sun Xiao's hair. "You look better when you smile. So, smile more, okay? I'll be very happy if my Ah'Xiao smiles more!"
Sun Xiao stared at Li XinWen's smiling face and he suddenly felt his heart race. He quickly shook his head and took a few steps back. "Xin-gege, up until here is enough. Ah'Xiao is running a little late so Ah'Xiao is going to run now! Xin-gege is still injured so you cannot run with me!" Sun Xiao said before he turned and quickly dashed away. Even after he reached the school, his heart still hadn't calmed down.
Meanwhile, Li XinWen who was suddenly left alone was confused. "Late? But there's still thirty-eight minutes left before the school closed its gates! Or was the original's memory wrong? I wonder what's gotten over that boy? Hmmm…" Li XinWen mumbled as he stared at the time displayed on his phone. After a while, he slid his finger across the screen, quickly opening the chat app. He saw several unread messages from Xue Rui from the night before and smirked.
"This little puppy really doesn't want to give up…" he said as he tapped on the chat. The most recent message from Xue Rui was just this morning, greeting him for the day. Li XinWen kept scrolling, ignoring most of the messages and only stopped when he saw the message that he wanted to see.
It was the location of the shop where Xue Rui acquired LanYu from. Tapping on the link, the phone's built-in map application displayed the different routes available.
According to the app, it was approximately 30 kilometers away from his current location. It would take around half an hour if he drove a car, around an hour by train and two and a half hours if he decided to walk.
"If this was in LongXing, I could have easily reached thirty kilometers in ten breaths time. Being a mortal is so inconvenient. I guess I'll have to do this the mortal's way!" Li XinWen lamented, especially the fact that he could not use any of his skills to get to his destination.
Starting December, updates will be on every Monday. But it also depends on the buffers. Currently, I have 10 chapters buffer so it should still be alright!
Moments later, Li XinWen found himself in the backseat of a taxi. The driver kept on glancing back at the rearview mirror, looking at him worriedly. Li XinWen saw this and had to ask, "Is there something wrong with my face?"
"No! No! Nothing's wrong! Just... um... that's it! Your eyes look pretty!" the driver answered in a panicked tone.
Li XinWen raised an eyebrow before lifting his hand to touch the sunglasses he was wearing. 'Weird... I still have this on so why is he saying that my eyes look pretty?' Li XinWen couldn't help wondering.
On the other hand, the driver gripped the steering wheel tightly. His mind was in a mess while his heart was filled with fear. 'This guy is not some gang member, right? The place he's going to... isn't that one of the underground organization's turf?'
With one person misunderstanding, and the other oblivious, the entire trip to Li XinWen's destination could only be described as awkward. Whenever Li XinWen tried to strike up a conversation, the driver would answer but Li XinWen could see that the driver became increasingly anxious and uncomfortable, each time avoiding his question like the plague.
Half an hour later, the taxi finally came to a stop and Li XinWen got out after paying. A huge building stood before him with a sign saying: "Hundred Treasures Antique Shop".
The shop building stood out from the rest of the surrounding establishments. The area was mostly occupied by smaller buildings, a convenience store, a book shop, a couple of cafes, a laundromat and a quaint little restaurant. The shops were designed with modern and contemporary architecture while the antique shop building gave off a retro feel to it. Like traveling back in time.
Below the sign was a ceramic tiled roof which served as an awning above the entrance. It was intricately designed, and the door was framed with wooden posts.
'Interesting contrast,' Li XinWen observed. "Looks like this is the place…" Li XinWen muttered to himself before taking a step forward.
Just then, Lan Yu started sending warm streams of spiritual energy but perhaps due to its excitement, the supposedly warm streams became increasingly hot to such a degree that Li XinWen ended up hissing.
'Calm down! I know parts of you are in there…' Li XinWen scolded LanYu in his mind and only then did the jade calm down.
Li XinWen was just about to take another step forward when he realized the spiritual energy around him shifted. He knew this was LanYu's doing and under its guidance, the spiritual energies gathered and formed a trail. 'You want me to follow this spiritual trail?' he asked and LanYu responded by sending out another stream of warmth towards Li XinWen. 'Alright. Let's see where you're leading me.'
Following the trail, Li XinWen found himself walking towards the alley at the back of the building. The trail led him deeper until he reached the area where trash was being dumped. Don't think that just because it's a dumpster, it would look and smell disgusting. Unexpectedly, the dumpsters were clean and properly organized. Li XinWen continued to follow the trail that LanYu made until he found himself standing before a black plastic bag. 'In here?' he asked, before he reached out with his spiritual sense. Sure enough, there were small bits of jade within the plastic. Left with no other choice, Li XinWen ripped the plastic and began his search.
While he was searching, he noticed someone approaching him from behind. Thinking that it might just be someone wanting to throw some trash, he ignored it. That was until he felt the hostility emanating from the other person. Li XinWen quickly stood up and turned to face the individual. The person who was approaching him suddenly stopped and pointed a gun at Li XinWen.
"Don't move! Raise your hands! Palms open!" the man dressed as a police officer held the gun steadily.
"Sir, I believe that there seems to be some kind of misunderstanding." Li XinWen said as he raised his hands, not wanting to cause any unnecessary problems.
"Keep quiet and cooperate! Turn around now!"
Li XinWen sighed and turned around, still with both hands raised. He could hear the footsteps of the approaching officer and not long after, his hands were roughly pulled from behind and cuffed. "Sir, this is an... unlawful arrest... " Li XinWen stated with a slight hesitation. He himself wasn't sure if that was right. He only remembered that there was once a scene in one of the original Li XinWen's drama where he acted as a lawyer and had to defend a person who was arrested unlawfully.
"Someone from the underground organization is actually talking about the law?" the police officer scoffed. "Guys like you keep bending the laws to your liking and to get away with a lot of s#*&, so how is this unlawful?" the officer continued.
"Officer there seems to be a mistake, I—"
"Shut up punk! Keep your mouth shut before I charge you even further," the police officer cut Li XinWen off and became rougher. At that point, Li XinWen knew that he had indeed been misunderstood
'Seems that there's nothing else I can do... I can only knock him out and erase his memories,' he thought. But just as he was about to exert some effort to break the handcuffs, a cold voice sounded behind them.
"This is not a place for you to be hanging about, officer. Let that man go and leave, otherwise don't blame me if you're out of job the next day."
Today is the 28th of November and it's Thanksgiving, right? I don't know if any of my readers are celebrating Thanksgiving, but here is an extra chapter for this week!
Enjoy!
I also have a character illustration for Li XinWen coming up soon because there was an event in another platform and I managed to get the required amount of inks and I had to do my part by revealing it lol.
When the artist has finished with it, I'll be sure to update you guys! I'll create a discord server to share it so keep an eye on it!
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