I Stepped on a Bug, and the System Says I Slayed a Dragon?

Chapter 185: Chapter 184: Xia He’s Request

Nighttime.

At the Fuhai Villa Complex.

Inside the house, the crystal chandelier shone brilliantly.

After dinner, Qin Yang kept his promise and restored Xiaobai’s fur. Now, she was resting her head on her fluffy fox tail, phone in hand, and scrolling through short videos.

Qin Yang sat beside her, his mind sinking into the Enlightenment Space to contemplate “Heaven and Earth’s Longevity.”

He was continuing his study of the parts he hadn’t finished.

Just as he was deep in thought,

“It’s chaos! Total chaos!”

“Master, you have to see this!”

Xiaobai suddenly cried out, holding out her phone and shoving it right in front of Qin Yang’s face.

“Tch, back off! How am I supposed to see anything when it’s that close?!”

Qin Yang frowned slightly, pulling himself out of his meditative state. He took Xiaobai’s phone, his gaze falling on the screen.

On the screen,

a rapid-fire montage of news from around the city was playing.

Cars burned fiercely. Thugs with clubs smashed the doors of shops, and broken glass littered the ground. The riot squad from the Star Martial Police Bureau had been deployed, forming a black, iron-like line.

A moment later,

the video cut to the end, and an official notice appeared.

[Recently, there have been multiple incidents of vandalism, looting, and robbery in the city. Several Cult Demons have been arrested.]

[In case of emergency, please call the official Police Bureau hotline at 57…]

“Master, shouldn’t we go hide?”

Xiaobai took back her phone, trembling. “Those people look so vicious. And don’t you love to just lie flat? We could go live somewhere else… just hide out for a little while, right?”

“Hide?”

Hearing this, Qin Yang gazed at the night view outside the window and couldn’t help but sigh.

’Where could we possibly hide?’

The faint sound of explosions carried on the wind. The night in Jianghai thundered, and in the distance, he could vaguely see raging fires lighting up the sky.

The turmoil caused by the Beast God Sect was now escalating to a climax.

’What would happen if I just hid?’

’Even if I could hide, those brutes would stop at nothing to draw out the Sword God. They’d probably burn this entire coastal city to the ground.’

The towering flames would eventually illuminate every hidden corner.

Not unless he could abandon everything, ignore the lives of everyone here, and simply flee the city, never to concern himself with its affairs again.

But…

Scenes from the past surfaced in his mind.

The voices of Li Zixuan, Li Qinghe, and that rascal Xia He echoed once more.

“See you tomorrow, Senior Brother…”

“Master, stop messing around and teach me this Array line! I’ll trade you a new Cultivation Technique for it!!”

“Old Qin, your buddy here got a promotion! I’ll definitely be able to look out for you from now on! We can go to the Platinum Han whenever you want!”

…

’Is there any point in being the only one left alive?’

Qin Yang leaned back on the sofa, raising a hand and sighing. ’Sure enough, the indifference of the Celestial Dao is still a bit beyond my reach.’

’In the end, I’m still just a mortal of flesh and blood.’

’I can’t bring myself to be that cold-blooded and selfish…’

……

「The next day.」

Qin Yang was at work in the library.

He glanced at the time clock, checking the number of people who had checked in before him.

His rank was actually in the top five. He had just set a new personal record, achieving the best check-in time of his entire career!

’Fewer and fewer people.’

Qin Yang’s gaze swept across the library. The rows of bookshelves were deserted, without a single patron in sight. Even the employees in the next section were gone.

Almost everyone had left.

A huge number of his colleagues were gone…

“Well now, you’re still here, kid?”

Just then, the Steward walked over and clapped Qin Yang on the shoulder, sounding quite surprised. “I didn’t expect you to actually come back to work.”

“What are you talking about? As long as you haven’t fired me, of course I’m going to show up.”

Qin Yang said matter-of-factly, “I worked that long trial period. If I run off now and you fire me, wouldn’t all that have been for nothing? Besides, if I stick around, I might even get a promotion… I’m just dying to get ahead!”

“Tsk tsk, good kid! Not bad!”

The Steward was visibly pleased by this. He nodded in satisfaction and gave a thumbs-up.

“I never realized it before, but you’re actually such a go-getter! Excellent! Much better than those spineless cowards!”

As he spoke, he picked up a pen and started making marks on the staff roster. “Don’t you worry. As soon as this Beast Tide is over, I’ll definitely double your salary and give you a huge performance bonus!”

“Yes, sir! As long as the library stands, so will I!”

Qin Yang expertly sweet-talked him. “I’ll be sure to hold down the fort here in Area 1 for you.”

After that speech,

the Steward was even more delighted. He nodded contentedly.

“Alright. There aren’t many people around these days, so don’t overwork yourself. Just take breaks when you can. I’m heading out…”

“Take care, Steward!”

After seeing the Steward off, Qin Yang went straight to a lounge chair in Area 1, a bottle of cola in hand.

He sat down.

Scrolled through his phone.

Openly slacking off!

’Nice. This is the life.’

Qin Yang looked around at the empty chairs nearby.

’They all ran away!’

’When others feel fear, I feel excitement. When others run for their lives, I slack off!’

’With his permission, I can slack off in broad daylight…’

’And the Steward even has to thank me for it!’

The thought alone put Qin Yang in a great mood.

He shifted into a new position and, while continuing to scroll through the news, started playing a card game on his phone.

….

Time trickled by…

After a few rounds of cards where he absolutely crushed his opponents, the sound of footsteps reached his ears, accompanied by the heavy scent of smoke.

Qin Yang glanced to the side and saw Xia He.

He didn’t say a word, just stood nearby with his hands behind his back, his bloodshot eyes staring as he waited for the final round of the game to end.

“What are you doing here?”

Qin Yang lowered his phone. Looking at Xia He’s haggard appearance, he asked,

“Why do you look so awful? Pull an all-nighter for work again?”

“Hah, don’t even get me started… I was running all over the city last night, ended up a complete mess. Don’t get too close, you might get the smell of blood on you…”

Xia He sat down next to him, sighing melancholically. “I was passing by the library and thought I’d come see you… son of a bitch, and the first thing I see when I walk in is you slacking off!”

As he spoke,

he subconsciously reached for a cigarette.

He had just shaken out the pack when he remembered he was in the library. With a soft sigh, he put it away again.

“You alright? Come on, let’s go smoke outside.”

Qin Yang frowned. “If something’s wrong, just tell me. Don’t keep it bottled up.”

“It’s… it’s nothing,”

Xia He hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly. “The city’s in chaos these days. Don’t go running around, Old Qin. Just stay put here in the library!

“Last night, a residential complex in the southeast was blown up by the Cult Demons… It’s a mess outside the city walls too. Sons of bitches looting and pillaging everywhere. You better not get caught up in it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m laying low right now.”

Hearing this, Qin Yang nodded calmly. “If nothing’s going on, I’m just holed up at home. I don’t go anywhere. Just back and forth between two points, living a nice, quiet life.”

“Yeah…”

The word hung in the air.

The two men suddenly fell silent at the same time. The soft, soothing strains of a saxophone drifted around them.

Outside the window, the sun was rising, its faint morning light beginning to peek through.

After a long moment,

Xia He spoke again.

“Old Qin, I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Go on.”

“It’s about that Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needle… how many do you have left? Can you… sell them to me?”