Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 111: Chapter 10 Gatekeeper Li Yan

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The early sun rose in the east, a corner of the fiery red sun ascending.

Gazing eastward, the sky and earth became one, the mist dissipating.

“That hits the spot.”

Li Yan fished a carrot out of his trench coat pocket and put it in his mouth. He mumbled unclearly,

“I say, bro.”

He glanced down at the portable tape player in his hand, only to realize the screen was a deep indigo color.

Out of battery?

Li Yan pressed the power button several times, but the portable tape player did not respond.

The aluminum alloy roller door opened, and a middle-aged woman wearing blue arm covers, hair curled by herself, collided face-to-face with Li Yan.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She noticed the Ring Dragon Sword in Li Yan’s hand, and chuckled: “Yo, comrade, where are you off to practice with that outfit?”

Li Yan looked at himself.

The bits of paper and dust on his shoulders had vanished, the bloodstains on his sleeves and collar had disappeared, and aside from his exhausted red eyes, Li Yan now looked no different from an ordinary person.

The ground where the torn paper figure, black oil stain, the dilapidated van had been, along with the tattooed body of a man smashed beyond recognition by Li Yan’s socialist mailbox, were all gone without a trace.

Vehicles of various shades of red and black passed by, and the noise from the buildings behind the dozens of signs began to rise.

Waitresses in restaurants bustled around with large bowls and utensils, and young men and women emerged from small hotels, clutching each other’s hands, utterly ignoring Li Yan’s eager gaze.

The sky was just beginning to brighten, as if everything had yet to start, as if nothing had happened.

In the “Rolling Stone Culture” hall, various CDs were arranged neatly. The shop assistant with a single ponytail yawned, having stayed awake all night.

Li Yan pulled out two fifty-dollar bills and examined them closely. He then wrapped the Ring Dragon carefully in a few old newspapers and walked into the store.

On the TV under the glass skylight, Li Zongsheng and Lin Yilian sang a heartfelt duet.

“Excuse me, how much for this?”

Li Yan tapped the table to draw the attention of the ponytailed assistant, and then pointed to the old-fashioned gramophone in the corner, just for show.

“We don’t sell that, I don’t have the authority,” the girl answered, her eyes still sleepy.

“Wang, your shift is over~”

A middle-aged woman with drooping eyebrows descended from upstairs.

“Yeah,” the girl replied, then said to Li Yan, “She’s the boss’s wife. Maybe you could ask her?”

“Looking to buy something?”

The middle-aged woman sized up Li Yan, who was holding a long object wrapped in newspaper, with a half-eaten carrot peeking out from his chest pocket, looking rather odd.

“Boss’s wife, I really like this item. You name the price, and I won’t haggle,” said Li Yan.

“Young man, I sell records here. You should go to Shangguan Yuan or Dazhong Temple, not loiter around here,” the boss’s wife replied without any further ado after seeing Li Yan’s sincerity.

Li Yan did not leave.

“It was love at first sight, I don’t fancy anything else, please do me this favor, can we do that?” he pleaded.

The boss’s wife also found it amusing, her heart aflutter with a hint of defiance.

“Alright, if you really want it, it’s yours for eight thousand,” she said.

“Deal~” Li Yan beamed with a mouthful of white teeth. “Give me a few days.”

Without any hesitation, he turned around and left.

The boss’s wife and the single ponytail assistant exchanged glances, both utterly bewildered.

“The woods are big, indeed; all sorts of birds can be found.”

…

“Three hundred bucks a month, room and board included, with a bonus at month’s end. You don’t have to do much, just guard the gate, ward off thieves and such, night shift. Whenever you want to leave, just give me a half-month notice. Just to be clear, it’s a temp job.”

The person speaking appeared somewhat cultured, in his thirties, a bit saggy in the face, with prominent ears and still a full hairline.

“Hey, that works,” Li Yan agreed succinctly, stamping on the ground, not much for words.

This was a third-rate teachers’ college in Yan Capital, and after wandering around a great deal, Li Yan finally ended up here.

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Working as a security guard.

You can rest your feet, no miscellaneous tasks, and no drawing attention.

“Follow Uncle Qin around, and if you have any questions, ask him.”

Uncle Qin was over fifty this year, quite lean and short, with a bald head.

“How old are you?”

Uncle Qin tossed Li Yan a cigarette.

“Twenty-five.”

“Then you should call me ‘uncle’.”

Uncle Qin spoke with a bit of an accent.

“Uncle.”

Li Yan, smiling, looked quite honest.

“Hahaha, alright, come with me.”

The two of them, one in front of the other, walked into the school’s duty room. There were two single beds.

“Previously, I had a partner called Old Dong, but now he has gone back to his hometown and doesn’t work here anymore. These beddings are all ready; if you’re not picky, you can sleep here at night.”

“No problem.”

“I’m getting on in years; I can’t stay up late. It’s up to you young people…”

“Uncle Qin.”

A gentle-looking woman carrying books walked by, greeting Uncle Qin,

“Hey, Ms. Wang.”

Upon responding to her with a ‘Hey’, Uncle Qin gazed at the woman’s shapely back, his lips spreading into a wide grin.

Suddenly realizing he was not alone, Uncle Qin quickly averted his gaze, but he found that Li Yan, just like him, was also interestedly staring at the woman’s receding figure.

Uncle Qin blinked, was silent for a while, then looked in the teacher’s direction again as both the old and the young in the duty room leaned forward, harmoniously watching the woman’s graceful waist as she walked away.

“Uncle.”

Li Yan suddenly spoke, “Do you know where in Yan Capital there is a night club?”

“What’s a night club?”

“Oh, I mean a bar…”

…

Using the time to rest during the day, Li Yan finally had time to check the number of Yan Fu wanderers who had died that night, and the result left him speechless.

It was just the first midnight, and even without the “Designated Confrontations” that halved the number of people each night, a total of fifty-nine out of one hundred and sixty-four Yan Fu wanderers had died!

Of course, the high casualty rate in the early stages was just filtering out those who were simply not fit to survive in Yan Fu. As time went on, the casualties caused by “Boiling Midnight” would decrease.

The real brutal slaughter was in the “Designated Confrontations” after twelve o’clock.

“Enter the suppression area with the designated opponent; kill the opponent to obtain their inheritance with a hundred percent chance.”

Based on the current number of around a hundred Yan Fu wanderers, it would take no more than six days for this intense escape and pursuit to conclude.

There’s no denying, the pace of this Yan Fu event was so fast it leaves one breathless. High intensity, heavy casualties, and extreme randomness.

High risk, high reward.

The gains from this Yan Fu event were almost equivalent to those from five or six, or even up to a dozen other Yan Fu events.

It was enough to allow any Yan Fu wanderer to break through the peak of their first inheritance Awakening Degree.

Just taking Li Yan himself as an example, to break through the peak with a hundred percent certainty, he needed 35% Awakening Degree. But adding the two 9% inheritances to his own original 7% excess Awakening Degree, he just needed another 10% Awakening Degree for Li Yan to complete the breakthrough!

Of course, Li Yan could also choose to use the Dragon Tiger Qi, which at twenty ‘ticks’ would be just enough for use now. (Remaining ten ‘ticks’ for the Nine Phoenix Talisman, ten ‘ticks’ monthly salary for the Flying Cavalry Captain, totaling twenty ‘ticks’)

But the explanation for Dragon Tiger Qi was very clear, for the three peak breakthroughs of an inheritance, Dragon Tiger Qi could only be used once.

Among them, the second peak breakthrough needed 65% additional Awakening Degree, and the third breakthrough needed 95%!

And if Dragon Tiger Qi is used for the breakthrough, the first peak would require twenty ‘ticks’, the second would take thirty ‘ticks’, and the third would need forty ‘ticks’.

Li Yan’s upper limit for Dragon Tiger Qi was thirty ‘ticks’, so using it for the second peak breakthrough was undoubtedly the most cost-effective.

This was also why Li Yan, knowing the dangers, was not in a hurry to use the Dragon Tiger Qi for the breakthrough.

If he’s lucky, he might be able to attempt a second peak breakthrough with the Gu Huo Bird after the next Yan Fu event!

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