Chapter 92: The Official Boyfriend

If harm were ever to befall my sister, then for the rest of your life—no, you would have no rest of your life, not even in the next world.

Xu Bing released him, a bright smile blooming across her face as she studied Lin Qiu.

"That aside, you look rather decent. Why not be my official boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?"

Lin Qiu froze, and then his expression darkened.

At once, he thought of the white fish, the white fish to whom he had privately pledged his life.

The mermaid City Lord of Blue Harbor had issued her ultimatum: if he did not appear at the wedding ceremony in one month, she would have White Fish Second Aunt turned into a dish.

Lin Qiu fell silent and spoke no more.

In his mind, the face of that woman surfaced.

Gentle and refined, pitiable and fragile, the woman who had steadied his heart.

"Wait for me. I will certainly rescue you."

Lin Qiu clenched his fists, and the look in his eyes turned cold.

"Huh?"

Seeing that his expression had gone wrong, Xu Bing’s face also darkened. "This young lady is breathtakingly beautiful. Am I really not worthy of you?"

"You are not her."

Lin Qiu gave a faint shake of his head. His expression turned lazy, and he no longer paid Xu Bing any mind. Instead, he said to the others, "Heaven’s Secret has been taken down. Only his head is left now, and I don’t know who picked it up."

"The matter here is finished. It’ll be a little over an hour before daybreak. Let’s head back."

"Heaven’s Secret was taken down?!"

Lei Long’s eyes immediately turned red, and he looked at Lin Qiu with fierce excitement.

"Taken down, yes. But there’s still only the head left; it wasn’t dead, and someone carried it off."

"Still, I think that fellow’s ending won’t be a pleasant one."

Recalling the mysterious person’s attitude toward Heaven’s Secret, Lin Qiu recounted what had happened.

"Such a mysterious person still exists in Lei Family Village?"

Lei Long and Ji Heng exchanged a glance, both filled with curiosity.

"All right, our mission is complete. We’re leaving."

Lin Qiu waved at them. Seeing that Black Ze and the little cutie had recovered some strength, he bid farewell and prepared to depart.

"Wait!"

Lei Long’s voice rang out.

"I want to join you."

"Join us?"

Lin Qiu looked at Lei Long in surprise.

"My Lei family has always been loyal and valiant. Now the family is shattered and its people are gone; I alone remain, an old man refusing to die."

"With the world now undergoing change, I want to continue guarding this land."

"As long as Lei Long still breathes, I will be one of the protectors of this earth."

Looking toward the village ahead, Lei Long’s gaze grew complicated.

Because his Lei family was gone. Completely gone.

Under the monster Heaven’s Secret’s attack, the entire Lei family had been buried in the ruins.

"I can’t make that decision."

Lin Qiu shrugged, then said to the dazed Xu Bing, "Lei Long wants to join the Beast Control Bureau. Ask your big-shot brother, the bureau chief, whether that’s possible."

"Ah!"

Xu Bing came back to herself. Hearing this, a trace of delight appeared in her eyes.

"Absolutely no problem. Lei Long is an immortal zombie, and he’s incredibly powerful."

"If he joins our Beast Control Bureau, our overall strength will rise as well."

"After all, demons like Heaven’s Secret do exist, but they’re not so numerous as cabbages."

"Then it’s settled, as you wish."

Lin Qiu yawned and walked toward the car with lazy steps.

He opened the door, sat in the passenger seat, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Even when the car door opened and closed, he did not open his eyes.

Xu Bing turned her head to look at him sleeping, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"You are not her?"

That phrase echoed in her mind.

She felt that the man before her was a man with a story.

Who exactly was she, that she could make you change color in an instant?

Xu Bing asked herself silently, then started the car. She did not drift away in place, but drove off slowly and steadily.

It bore no resemblance at all to her fierce temperament.

Perhaps the reason she had become so quiet was the softness in her eyes as she looked at the sleeping Lin Qiu.

After spending this time together, Xu Bing had grown very fond of Lin Qiu.

She was a daughter of heaven’s favor. In Capital Martial City and elsewhere, whether because of her beauty or her status, people treated her with deference, even flattery.

Yet ever since meeting Lin Qiu, that fellow had been petty, miserly, and unwilling to spend a single coin.

And toward her, there was no praise, only gritted teeth.

"Could it be that my beauty is not even worthy of your notice?"

As she drove, Xu Bing felt a little unwilling, a little angry, and also a desire to see the woman he had mentioned.

The morning sun rose on schedule, scattering its warm radiance.

Inside the car, Lin Qiu felt it stop, yawned, and opened his eyes.

"Are we home?"

"We are."

Xu Bing answered, opened the door, and got out.

Lin Qiu unfastened his seat belt, got out of the car, and walked into the little shop. From the refrigerator, he took an ice pop and grinned at the shopkeeper. "Put it on Xu Bing’s tab."

"Bastard!"

Xu Bing watched him bite into the ice pop and saunter inside, grinding her teeth in resentment.

"Good morning, Miss!"

The young woman running the little shop was in her early twenties, also one of the Xu family.

Xu Bing nodded slightly at her and went inside with Lei Long and the others.

The big black dog, Black Ze, did not go in. Instead, he lay on the threshold of the shop, basking lazily in the sun.

His ears drooped over his eyes, and after a while, even the sound of even breathing drifted out from him.

He was injured. Only through rest could he slowly recover, so he slept with complete peace of mind.

At the Beast Control Bureau, the little cutie returned to her post and began sorting through the pile of documents.

As for Lin Qiu, he was eating his ice pop and looking at Ji Heng with curiosity.

"I say, old gentleman, Lei Long is joining our bureau, and at the very least he’s a fifth-tier expert. How did an old fellow as weak as paper, with the yellow earth practically up to your armpits, end up coming along too?"

Lin Qiu was genuinely puzzled by Ji Heng.

He had not expected this earth-master to follow them.

Ji Heng smiled. "Although I’m old and no longer useful, I’m still, at the very least, an earth-master."

"I can trace dragons and find burial points; I can read mountains and rivers, and the flow of wind and water."

"I may not have much use right now, but in the future I might yet add a little modest strength."

Ji Heng spoke with great confidence.

After all, he studied the Burial Classic, which recorded many strange and wondrous things.

Though he had never encountered them, that did not mean he had not studied them.

In the past, he had stayed in the village and rarely ventured out, living on the charity of many households. Much of what he learned remained theory and could not be turned into practice. But if he joined the bureau, he believed he would have more time to come into contact with such things.

By then, he might even play a crucial role, for the Burial Classic recorded too many mysterious things.