Spare Me, Great Lord!

Currently, Kitamura Kijitori took a place of high importance in Lu Shu’s heart. The last time when two words meant so much to him was the “Another Bottle” written on the cap when Lu Xiaoyu was craving lemon iced tea a long time ago…

Those were the golden days. That time Lu Shu got lucky and won seven bottles for free in one shot. Thus, Lu Xiaoyu forced down seven bottles of lemon iced tea…

As a result, she could not bear the mention of “lemon iced tea” now.

Without a new source of distress points, Lu Shu could only resort to singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for cultivation training. At present, the power gained through eight hours of singing was equivalent to that of 24 celestial fruits.

In other words, he could earn 3,000 distress points per hour, which was a far cry from earning distress points actively himself, for he was really talented in that area…

During the day, Lu Shu locked himself up in the room and buried himself in the new information sent by the Heavenly Network. Lu Shu learned from his failure to act as Kirihara Yousuke and decided to put some serious effort into his next mission. He aimed for something bigger!

Thus, not only did he need to familiarize himself with the person’s background, he also had to mimic his way of walking, the stock of the store and even the relevant procedures of storage and re-distribution.

At the very least, it certainly would not make sense if he, as the store manager, had no knowledge about his work. When the Collection of Gods came to transfer goods, he could not possibly reply, “Please help yourselves. Take and store whatever you want.”

That was pure nonsense!

Only then did Lu Shu finally understand that being a spy was not an easy job. People like Taniguchi Bunndai had to spend decades on secret missions, constantly worrying about their personal safety. Not everybody could withstand prolonged mental stress like that.

Lu Shu decided to return to his own self more slowly this time. People would progress over time, after all… And no one else but him could cause the failure of his mission, if he did not want to!

At noon, Chiba prepared lunch for Lu Shu. The atmosphere was rather awkward, as Chiba struggled to interact with him so closely and Lu Shu still found it difficult to explain the situation to her. Nevertheless, he thought it was essential to keep Chiba informed to a certain extent.

Should he reveal everything?

Lu Shu mulled over the thought. His confession to Yaeko had been the only choice then. Besides, it would not harm either of them to let her know the truth. But it was a different case for Chiba. What if she decided to give him away after she learned that he was not the real Kirihara Yousuke?

On the other hand, Oda Tokuma’s death had been confirmed by the Heavenly Network after he was attacked by both Kitamura and Takashima. The Conservatives had officially arrived at the end of their road. All of the members were captured by the Jingoists.

And Lu Shu’s part in it was to flip the military trucks in which the captives were being transported in, or at least burst their tires…

“Kiriharakun, what Class of Practitioner are you?” Chiba asked curiously.

Lu Shu froze. Should he tell the truth? Forget it, a joke would do. Then, he replied, “Well, I’m a Class SSS.”

This time it was Chiba’s turn to be stunned. She asked, “Class SSS?! Does it even exist?”

“Of course. Here I am.” Lu Shu smiled.

“What does Class SSS represent…” Chiba knew that it was not a serious answer, but her curiosity would not allow her to back down. As a rookie Practitioner who had not yet learned the foundations of cultivation, Chiba was filled with curiosity.

Lu Shu pondered about the question. Right, he always saw Class S, SS and SSS in novels, but what did they actually mean?

After a brief pause, he said, “I guess it means Six Six Six.”

“From Chiba Mahiro’s distress, +666…”

But at this moment Chiba seemed stunned. She said, “Kiriharakun, I once came across a post saying Chinese people liked to use 666 to express their admiration for another person… So you…”

Lu Shu’s brain throbbed. How could he expose himself this way? Was it due to Nie Ting’s curse?

Before he could think of a reasonable excuse, Chiba smiled and asked, “So you like China a lot, don’t you, Kiriharakun?”

“Yes! Absolutely!” Lu Shu let out a sigh of relief.

But things were not that simple. When Chiba was eating, tears suddenly rolled down from her cheeks. She said in a crying voice, “Kiriharakun, no matter how hard I try to convince myself, I know, from the day you returned after your sick leave, that you may no longer be the Kiriharakun I knew last time…”

Lu Shu went silent. There were no idiots in the world. Even if he could fool everyone else, how could he deceive Chiba Mahiro, the girl who had paid so much attention to Yousuke all along?

“The Kiriharakun I knew…” Chiba was almost whispering now, “He did not even dare to step on an ant. After someone pushed him, he would no longer have the courage to attend PE lessons… It is impossible for him to have become so different, even with a drastic change in his temperament. Hence, you are not Kiriharakun, right? I’m not blaming you, though. I simply want to know the truth.”

Lu Shu sighed heavily and said, “You are right. I am not Kirihara Yousuke. Yousuke committed suicide half a month ago.”

Just when he finished the sentence, tears welled up from Chiba’s eyes uncontrollably. But immediately, her tears evaporated on her chin by the high heat emitting from her skin.

To Lu Shu’s astonishment, she had experienced an awakening yet again!

“You…” Bewilderment was written all over Lu Shu’s face.

Chiba raised her head with a smile, tears still rolling out of her eyes. She spoke softly, “Maybe he has finally found peace.”

Lu Shu had no reply. During the whole time of Chiba’s honest confession, she produced no distress points towards him, nor any signs of hostility.

He understood her feelings. This girl had been by Yousuke’s side for more than two years, but she had never put her emotions into words. And now, those words could never be delivered to the right person.

It was like a letter, with only the names but no address. As a result, it could never reach its destination, nor be returned.

Slowly but surely, it undulated in the long river of time, either forgotten, or buried, serving as a source of eternal pain.

At this moment, Lu Shu heard the sound of windows opening on the second floor. It was from the room in which Yaeko was resting.

Shocked, he ran up at once, only to see an empty bed and the window wide open. Yaeko was nowhere to be found.

On the bedside table was a note that read “Thank you, Lu Shu-kun. See you again.”

Signed off by Sakurai Yaeko.

Lu Shu took a long while to recover from his consternation. Seriously? She had left? Sis, are you feeling better? I reckon it’s not a good idea to run around amidst swarms of Collection of Gods’ people!