Chapter 54: A Taste

Xu Yancheng nearly choked on a sip of coffee. “There are movies like that?”
Lin Lu continued her fabrication, “Of course, plenty have been released recently.”
“Alright, whichever one you want to watch is fine.”
The two of them arrived at the cinema. As soon as Xu Yancheng finished collecting the tickets, Lin Lu pointed eagerly at the nearby stall. “I want some popco—”
Guiqin looked down at her shoes. The fabric of her embroidered slippers was rather thin, and if you looked closely, the front was indeed a little bulged.
Fourteen, afraid the wind would harm my head, wrapped both of us tightly in a sable cloak, one arm securely around my waist and the other gripping the reins.
This was a society with a highly developed internet. At the slightest disturbance, news would spread across the world in an instant. What’s more, she had been snatched by a monster in broad daylight before a crowd—such an incomprehensible event had surely already gone viral globally, even making the headlines and trending topics.
Cao Cao’s face turned ashen, but it was inconvenient to intervene. He was deeply displeased. Liu Bei’s formidable generals grew in number, destined to become a powerful adversary. If the opportunity arose, Liu Bei would have to be eliminated early, lest trouble fester and dreams be haunted by worry.
The Eighth Consort was fiery by nature and loved to hear auspicious flattery. She lounged on the couch daily, chatting with visitors about her pregnancy.
This old apartment was Zhao Wansong’s former residence. After he became successful, he moved to a villa in the new district, but he still had workers come regularly to clean, and he often returned to reminisce.
“What’s the connection? Master Mo, Senior Linghu forbade me from speaking. Surely you can understand that!” Liu Chuan spoke ambiguously.
Concubine De’s impatience showed. “Speak.” The Fourth Prince had been raised by Empress Xiao Yi Ren. After coming of age, though he honored Concubine De dutifully, the rift between mother and son only deepened. In front of Concubine De, the Fourth Prince was always polite yet distant. As for Concubine De, she never opened her heart to him as she did to Fourteen.
In an instant, Zhao Jingyi’s heart blossomed with joy. Though he trusted in their mutual affection, he always feared Lin Xi would eventually buckle under pressure and leave. Now, hearing this straightforward confession, his anxious heart was finally at peace.
“Liu Chuan, let’s not beat around the bush. Just tell me—what will it take for you to come out and talk to me?” Qingcheng Aoxue asked.
“Isn’t it because you were so over the top in messing with me?!” The young Kamijo blurted out the truth in his flustered state.
This was the most terrifying moment of the day—the hour when ghosts crawled out from their graves and hell itself released its malevolence upon the world. At this time, monsters could drink hot, fresh blood to their fill and commit horrors that people could not bear to witness in the light of day.
These days, the main topic in the teahouse had changed. Earlier, the Beiyang Army had captured Xuzhou. When the news reached them, seeing Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang forces rising with the momentum of blazing oil and blooming flowers, the Manchus in the teahouse could only curse quietly, “May that living Cao Cao come to no good end.”
“I have no family for you to confiscate, nor do I know what clan I belong to, so you can’t exterminate it, either…” This left not just Jia Cheng speechless, but even the nearby bodyguards struggled to stifle their laughter. It was the first time they’d heard someone interpret the confiscation of family property and extermination of a clan in such a way.
With the passage of time, everything began to change. Some things happened; some people returned to this world.
“Don’t worry, senior, I have no intention to threaten you. I just wanted to test the power of the formation, so we’ll have some confidence when facing the Dark Sanctuary in the future, right? Haha, look at you, you’re perfectly fine,” Xia Yang laughed.
In the end, the Yamatai coalition was either killed or captured—almost a total annihilation. Only a little over three thousand escaped down the hillside, while the leaders of Yamatai and the Ezo tribes all perished in the ambush. Even Pingzheng Sheng’s one hundred thousand ambushers lost nearly sixty thousand men.