Back in her room, Yan Qi checked the monitoring program she had left running on her computer to confirm that no one had called for her or entered her room while she was away. Relieved, she let out a sigh and muttered,
“Whew, looks like I got lucky today. Mom didn’t come looking for me the whole time I was gone.”
With that, she deactivated her electronic songstress transformation, reverting to her usual form—a little white-haired girl with crimson eyes. Almost immediately, a wave of exhaustion hit her.
Seeing her neatly made bed, Yan Qi decided she should take advantage of the time before lunch to rest. She grabbed a pillow, lay down, and before long, drifted into a deep sleep.
……
About half a day after Yan Qi returned home and fell asleep…
In Ninghang City, Li Canghai, the director of the local Supernatural Affairs Bureau, had just finished wrapping up the aftermath of the Flesh Bloom incident. After jointly reassuring the public with city officials, he finally returned to the bureau’s headquarters.
“Has the cult leader we arrested this morning confessed to his crimes yet?” Li Canghai asked one of his subordinates.
“No, not at all. This guy, Wen Ning, refuses to say anything. He just sits there chanting about his so-called ‘Plague Lord’ all day.”
The agent, who had spent the entire day interrogating Wen Ning without extracting any useful information, replied helplessly.
Hearing this, Li Canghai—who knew full well that these cultists worshipping abyssal beasts were far from sane—frowned and asked,
“Have you exhausted all standard interrogation methods?”
“We’ve tried everything we’re allowed to use.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to resort to… less conventional methods.”
“Less conventional methods? Director, isn’t that a bit… extreme?”
The agent hesitated, knowing exactly what Li Canghai meant.
Understanding his subordinate’s concern, Li Canghai patted him on the shoulder and said,
“Using unconventional methods isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Remember, kid—the world we live in now isn’t the same ordinary place it used to be. Don’t cling too tightly to the old rules. Besides, our suspect isn’t exactly a normal person, is he?”
“…Understood, Director. I’ll follow your orders.”
With that, the agent left to carry out his task, heading straight for the interrogation room.
Watching his subordinate go, Li Canghai didn’t linger. Soon, he was back in his office, settling into a seat by the window.
“I just hope we can extract something useful from these cultists soon—how they grew that Flesh Bloom, how they entered the black barrier…”
Gazing out at the blue sky, Li Canghai couldn’t help but silently worry.
———
“Aaand… fully recharged!”
By evening, Yan Qi—who had been woken up for lunch by her mom and then napped for another three hours—finally felt refreshed, her exhaustion completely gone.
“Alright, now… should I slack off? Keep training? Or do something else fun?”
Staring at the setting sun outside her window, Yan Qi realized how late it was and began pondering her options.
“Ugh, this is annoying. I don’t even know what to do. Whatever—let’s check out today’s rewards first.”
Unsure how to spend her time, she recalled the events of the day—how she and her sister had made quite the scene in Ninghang City.
Deciding it was time to take stock of her gains, Yan Qi pushed aside her indecision and pulled up her system interface, navigating straight to her transformation card library.
[Six-Star Transformation Card: Daoist Empress]
✦ Rarity: 3 Stars (31,650/100,000)
✦ Skills: Truth-Seeking Eye, Daoist Sword Art, Samadhi True Flame
✦ Talents: Swordsmanship (Master), Daoist Arts (Master)
Seeing that her Six-Star card’s EXP had jumped from four digits to five, Yan Qi frowned. Even so, she’d still need to hunt more—and stronger—abyssal beasts to level up further.
The thought of the Plague Lord’s cult and their ritual to summon their “god” into the world made her uneasy.
“Looks like I need to find a safe grinding spot. At this rate, leveling up the Daoist Empress will take forever. And if five or six-star abyssal beasts start appearing in the real world now… even I’d have to run with my tail between my legs.”
Having made up her mind to find a secure place to farm EXP, Yan Qi skipped checking her other cards and instead focused on her current haul—450 million reputation points.
“The reputation boost from a major event only lasts seven days. Now that it’s over, my daily earnings have dropped from over 100 million to less than a million. At this rate, how am I supposed to afford two Six-Star companion cards to give Mom and Dad some self-defense power?”
Staring at her dwindling reputation gains, Yan Qi rubbed her temples in frustration.
But then—a sudden realization struck her.
“Wait… who said transformation cards are the only way to protect them? The modified Daoist techniques I created using the Daoist Empress’s talents—techniques even a normal human like me can learn—they can study those too!”