Before leaving, Wen Li instructed him, "Try not to go out too much during this time if you have nothing important to do."
After all, a demon beast disturbance just happened this morning; who knows if there will be a second or third time?
Furthermore, this city hadn't been peaceful lately.
For ordinary people like Yan Xiao, who had low strength, it was safer to stay at home.
Besides these warnings, Wen Li, like the homeroom teacher Wang Bengsun, also advised Yan Xiao to go back to school.
Because for him, the college entrance exam was the only way out!
If he just kept slacking off at home, he wouldn't even know when he might die.
"Old Yan, think about what I just told you carefully again!"
"Don't give up on your future because of a momentary fit of anger, feeling like you've lost face!"
At the doorway…
Wen Li patted Yan Xiao's shoulder with a serious expression, then turned and left.
As a good friend, that was all he could do to help.
After watching Wen Li leave, Yan Xiao returned to the kitchen to continue cooking noodles. Recalling what Wen Li had said earlier…
He couldn't help but shake his head.
If he were still the previous Yan Xiao, the college entrance exam would naturally be the best way out.
But now that he had the System by his side, the college entrance exam was no longer the optimal choice!
Yan Xiao understood the good intentions of his homeroom teacher and good friend, but he could only accept their kindness in his heart.
There was no way he was going back to school.
His current life… was quite good!
Yan Xiao shook his head slightly, clearing his mind of these thoughts.
The most important thing now was… to eat noodles!
Just like in the morning—three packets of instant noodles, two sausages, two eggs, plus a few fresh green bok choy.
A large bowl of fragrant, cheap, and delicious instant noodles was ready.
After a simple lunch, Yan Xiao pondered for a moment and checked the time.
"Is it this late already?"
Then he opened his door and walked out.
On one hand, it was to find a way to earn money and food.
He had eaten instant noodles for breakfast and lunch; he absolutely had to improve his dinner.
On the other hand… he wanted to wander around.
What if he triggered another System mission?
Having tasted the sweetness of the System's rewards, he was already looking forward to the next mission reward.
One must know!
The System was never vague when it came to mission rewards.
After all, one comprehension pill could save several months, or even years, of arduous cultivation.
Who wouldn't be tempted by that?
He strolled leisurely, like he was out for a walk, and arrived at the street outside…
Looking at the peaceful and bustling scene outside, Yan Xiao decided to eat first before anything else.
As the saying goes: "Humans are iron, rice is steel; one meal missed and hunger is real!"
He had only two things on his mind: doing missions and eating!
But he had only walked several steps…
"Beep, beep, beep!"
"Warning! Warning!"
"Detecting many Mid Stage Qi Refining Demon Beasts — Black Panther Shadow Ants — in front of you!"
"This demon beast is extremely dangerous. Warning, host, flee immediately, or you will be surrounded and perish!"
"Attention! Attention!"
"Host, flee immediately, or you will perish!"
He looked around carefully.
Nothing.
He looked again.
Still nothing.
Then he looked down.
There, on the cracked paving block, was an ant nest. Too many ants were moving fast, darting toward the gap beneath the paving block and the road.
Yan Xiao stared at the ant nest and smiled strangely. Yan Xiao's feet moved before his brain did. He stepped on the nest with his foot.
"Ding! Retreat quickly!"
"Huh... Ding! Holy f**k, detecting the host's ultimate counter-kill of many Mid Stage Qi Refining Demon Beasts — Black Panther Shadow Ants!"
"Counting: 100 casualties!"
"Reward: 100,000 yuan. Already transferred to host's bank account!"
"The host has the bearing of an Immortal Emperor, but please do not engage in such dangerous behavior next time. If the host croaks, this System will croak too!"
Hearing the voice in his mind and looking at the corpses of the "many Mid Stage Qi Refining Demon Beasts" on the ground,
Yan Xiao raised an eyebrow and asked:
"System, I am curious. Do you have eyes?"
"Ding... Don't be ridiculous, host. I am not human. How can I have eyes?"
Hearing this, Yan Xiao frowned. And he asked again:
"System, how can you detect the demon beast?"
"That's easy, host. I am an almighty system. I use my sensory perception."
Yan Xiao stood there without a sound. And then he raised an eyebrow.
What the hell!
There was something really wrong with this System!
"Ding... Your bank account ending in xxxx76 just received 100,000 yuan from xxxxx. Please make sure to check that the money has been received."
Yan Xiao opened his phone and looked at the message. A smile plastered all over his face.
After confirming the transfer, Yan Xiao pocketed his phone and stood still for a moment.
One hundred thousand yuan.
From stomping on an ant nest.
He stared at the crushed paving block beneath his foot, then slowly looked up at the street ahead.
He had two sausages and half a bag of instant noodles left at home.
That was no longer acceptable.
His first stop was the supermarket three blocks down. He walked in, grabbed a basket, and moved through the aisles without hesitation. Proper rice. Cooking oil. Eggs — a full tray this time, not just two. Pork belly. Fresh vegetables. Garlic. Chili. A bottle of soy sauce that wasn't the cheapest one on the shelf.
When he placed everything on the counter, the cashier looked at the pile and raised an eyebrow.
Yan Xiao paid without blinking.
He walked out with four bags.
His second stop was the hardware store two streets over.
He had been thinking about this since the last time he used it and an iron rod was blunt, heavy, and had no edge. Against a pest-sized target, it worked fine. Against something faster and larger, it would get him killed.
He needed a blade.
The hardware store didn't sell swords, obviously. But it sold long kitchen knives, steel files, and metal rods of various lengths and grades. Yan Xiao walked the aisle slowly, picking things up and setting them down. His hands remembered what a proper weapon felt like, even if his eyes hadn't seen one in days.
He settled on a long, heavy-duty steel chopping knife — the kind used in restaurant kitchens, thick-spined and well-balanced — and a sharpening stone.
Not ideal.
But workable.
"You plan on opening a restaurant?" the store owner asked, eyeing the groceries in his other hand.
"Something like that," Yan Xiao said.
His third stop was a small rice noodle shop on the corner of the street, because he had never eaten there and now he had money. Why not give it a try? And the groceries were for tomorrow, not right now.
He sat down at a small plastic table by the window, ordered a large bowl of beef rice noodles with an extra portion of meat, and ate slowly for the first time in days. Not standing over a pot. Not half-distracted by a System alert. Just sitting, eating, watching the street outside.
The city looked ordinary. Busy. Completely unaware that a First Stage Qi Refining cultivator with a trash constitution had just earned a hundred thousand yuan by stepping on ants.
Yan Xiao finished the last of his broth, set down the chopsticks, and leaned back.
"System."
"Yes, host!"
"How much money would a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Demon Beast Core be worth?"
A brief pause.
"Extrapolating from current reward scaling… approximately 10 to 50 million yuan, host!"
Yan Xiao looked out the window at the street.
Somewhere out there, in the cracks of pavements and the corners of walls and the dark gaps beneath city infrastructure, his next mission was already waiting.
He left a tip — small, but he left one — picked up his groceries and his new knife, and walked home.
Tonight, he was cooking a proper meal.
---
On the way home—
"Yan Xiao!" This was definitely a high-pitched woman's voice, and it sounded right in front of Yan Xiao. Just then, Yan Xiao was only focused on checking the roads, so he forgot to look around at the situation.
"Yan Xiao, is that you?" After this woman had yelled, she asked in a very surprised tone. She obviously knew Yan Xiao.
Yan Xiao looked at this woman in front of him, astonished. Her hair was long, and although she wasn't pretty, something was endearing about her face. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember her. The other memories of the original Yan Xiao had started to blur after some of them resurfaced in class. He only had the memories from his past life.