Chapter 383: Caught Red-Handed

Chen Miaomiao exchanged greetings with Mo Xiao, and after a few simple pleasantries, she went inside her apartment.

On the dining table in the living room sat a pot of small, thriving purple and white flowers, their roots starting to crawl out of the container.

It was a flower she had casually brought back from the wild.

It had been on the verge of death.

Then, unintentionally, she seemed to have used a Wood Element mantra from the game.

The wildflower had come back to life.

It was even more vigorous than before.

Chen Miaomiao stared at the flower without blinking, then sent a message to Mu Qiu: [I’m flying over this afternoon. Buying the ticket now.]

Mu Qiu was probably in-game, but the system had long since stopped trying to be subtle and would just push notifications through.

Mu Qiu quickly replied, [Okay, but I heard you just talked about taking a leave of absence from school today. Why the rush?]

Chen Miaomiao: [Something’s come up on my end.]

She quickly ordered a plane ticket on her phone, since she and Mu Qiu didn’t live in the same city.

It only took her half an hour to finish packing.

She contacted her landlord to terminate the lease, saying she was leaving the small furniture she had bought as a gift.

She also contacted the gaming pod company to have staff come pack up her pod and ship it to Mu Qiu’s place.

With everything arranged, Chen Miaomiao walked out the door with a large suitcase.

It was quiet.

Chen Miaomiao hadn’t enjoyed such a long period of time to herself in a long while.

In the game, she had grown accustomed to having the system to talk to. The system wouldn’t actively disturb players, but she would occasionally chat with it.

And in a way, players like her had become too reliant on the system.

It was just too convenient.

Even when she was lying in the gaming pod before officially logging in, the system could monitor parts of her home for her.

Her plans were made in a hurry. As she was heading downstairs with her suitcase, her next-door neighbor, Mo Xiao, appeared as if by coincidence. Looking at Chen Miaomiao’s luggage, she asked in surprise, "Shui Ping, are you going on a trip?"

Chen Miaomiao smiled. "No, I’ve taken a leave of absence from school, so I’m moving out. We’ve only known each other for a day, but it was nice meeting you."

With that, Chen Miaomiao turned and left.

The moment she turned, she didn’t see Mo Xiao’s expression instantly turn terrifyingly grim.

’It’s only my first day here, and now the target is leaving?’

’Doesn’t that mean everything we did was for nothing?’

In her panic, Mo Xiao blurted out, "Hey—now that you’ve left school, are you going back to your hometown?"

Chen Miaomiao’s eyes narrowed slightly. She then replied, "I’m moving to another city for work."

She had already reached the elevators with her suitcase.

As the elevator doors slid open, Mo Xiao’s fingers balled into a fist, but she slowly unclenched them in the end.

The doors slid shut.

Mo Xiao returned to her apartment, took out her phone, and made a call. She seemed to be complaining as she said, "The target has left. She actually took a leave of absence from school. Our timing was terrible. How are we supposed to get close to her now?"

"What?"

The person on the other end of the line seemed just as surprised. "How is that possible?"

Mo Xiao said, "I didn’t expect it either. What’s the plan now? Do we switch targets?"

The person on the other end was silent for a long time before saying, "Do your best to find out her new destination. We went through a lot of trouble to track her down. She’s a relatively important player in that game. The other targets aren’t as significant."

The person told Mo Xiao to wait for further instructions. After hanging up, Mo Xiao suddenly heard the sound of the elevator doors opening outside.

’There are only a few residents on this floor. Could it be a coincidence that another resident is coming back right after Chen Miaomiao left?’

’Could it be Chen Miaomiao?’

Mo Xiao peeked through the peephole.

It was indeed Chen Miaomiao, back with her suitcase. It looked like she had forgotten something and returned to get it.

Mo Xiao’s heart leaped with joy. She opened her door again and called out, "Shui Ping, did you forget some—"

In the next second, the smile on her face froze completely.

From the staircase on the other side of the elevators, a man and a woman wearing hats had stealthily come up at some point.

Their faces were plain; they wouldn’t stand out in a crowd.

But their presence was extraordinary.

The woman approached, smoothly wedging her foot in Mo Xiao’s doorway. She looked up at Mo Xiao with a smile. "Hello. Care to chat?"

Over by the elevator, Chen Miaomiao smiled at the stiff-faced Mo Xiao. "That’s right. I forgot to take care of something."

Mo Xiao: "..."

Then, Chen Miaomiao nodded to the man and woman, returned to the elevator, and went back downstairs.

*

In reality, Chen Miaomiao was already on a flight to Mu Qiu’s city. In the game, she hadn’t been online much all day.

Song Jiulai was fast approaching the Fierce Eagle Sect’s territory.

She was flying fast and wearing the uniform of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, so she met almost no resistance.

The environment of the Fierce Eagle Sect wasn’t much different from the Feique Sect’s; both were surrounded by mountain ranges.

The Fierce Eagle Sect was located on a mountain, with a mortal town at its base.

Cultivators had their own separate territory that mortals could not enter.

The Fierce Eagle Sect was rather exclusionary, so it didn’t have as many visiting Cultivators as other sects.

Dressed in the robes of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, Song Jiulai was quite conspicuous. Even though she was riding a very low-key Mystic-grade Flying Sword, she was spotted before she even reached the town.

The expressions of the Fierce Eagle Sect disciples guarding the gate changed. "What’s a disciple from the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect doing here?"

Song Jiulai was wearing the basic white uniform of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect. However, even an ordinary disciple who could enter the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect was on a completely different level from the disciples of a small sect like this.

But before Song Jiulai could get any closer, she suddenly veered off in mid-air and flew in another direction.

The Fierce Eagle Sect disciples breathed a sigh of relief.

In reality, however, Song Jiulai hadn’t done it willingly.

She had been forcibly dragged away by some power.

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA—"

The force was impossible for Song Jiulai to resist. It didn’t harm her, but she was screaming internally, ’Sys-System! Something’s wrong!!’

’My Divine Sense didn’t pick up any danger signals at all!’

But the system said, "Do not panic."

Song Jiulai started shouting, "Who goes there?! I am from the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect—"

’When you’re out in the world, you have to ride on the coattails of the powerful. I have to see this through.’

Before she could finish her sentence, she saw Han Daozi on the ground, staring up at her.

Song Jiulai: "..."

She immediately shut her mouth, her gaze darting elsewhere guiltily.

Realizing that something was off, she quickly put on an act, cupping her hands in a formal salute. "This junior, Jiushong of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, greets Senior."

"Stop pretending." Han Daozi glared, studying Song Jiulai from head to toe with his hands behind his back. "Impressive. I really underestimated you. I can’t believe you managed to sneak into the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect."

Song Jiulai feigned surprise. "Is my disguise that bad? I can’t believe Senior saw through it."

Han Daozi was exasperated. "You underestimate my abilities far too much! It is I who underestimated you! A Sect Master like you, managing to infiltrate the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect without a single flaw—do you know how I recognized you? The disciples of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect always walk around looking like someone owes them millions of Spirit Stones. But you? Your shifty-eyed, sneaky aura is exactly the same as your disciples’."

Song Jiulai: "..."

’Attacking the players is one thing, but why attack me?’