"I was feeling… unwell recently, so I need to use some recuperation," Chu Feng said.
Jiang Luoshen was leaning on the back of a chair, "promiscuously" placing her snow-white legs on the wooden table, filling the air with all kinds of sexual innuendo.
She was raised and nurtured in a family that cherished dignity and etiquette, but secretly, she had always been leading a life of "debauchery". She had a rebellious character and a dream to become a wild actress, which explained how she became a "national goddess".
Her family had always been against the idea of her coming out in public, but she couldn't care any less about what they thought.
Very few people could have turned down her invitation, especially if she sent the invitations personally. Being invited to a dinner was a request longed for by many people; madness and insanity were the only explanations for anyone to turn down such a request from the "national goddess".
"I have the recipe for a new type of drug, a drug that would cure all kinds of disease; besides, it may also help improve your constitution, making you stronger and more immune to disease. Maybe it can help you too?"
Jiang Luoshen sounded gentle and mild; her voice was a gift to ears. This was her last attempt to ask him out; if it succeeded, she would learn about the "truth" and the secrets about this man. This was what she had long been craving for.
But as she sat there, nothing was gentle or mild. She was fidgeting about, anxious to hear what he was going to say. Those snow-white legs of hers were trembling as they nearly toppled a flower pot on the table.
Sending another invitation after the first being turned down was definitely a first-time for her!
Chu Feng's dogged persistence had even prompted the national goddess to question herself: "Have I lost my woman's charm? How is my beauty not a temptation strong enough for him to surrender?"
"There's no cure for my disease. It is a peculiar illness that can only be alleviated by the supplement of strange soil, but unfortunately, all the strange soil that I previously gathered are exhausted, and I've got none left," Chu Feng said.
Jiang Luoshen grew doubtful. "What kind of illness needs the nourishment of strange soil?"
Suddenly, a glint flashed in her eyes, because at once, she knew that this bastard must have been bluffing again!
She opened her mouth and said, "That's too easy. I've got plenty of strange soil here at my place. I will grant you some if you agree to meet me."
Chu Feng wasn't seriously asking for strange soil from her. It was just a test to see how eager this woman was.
From this, Chu Feng was certain that this woman must have been wanting to get everything to come to light. She wanted to know if he was the man who slay the Ash Wolf.
In the end, he accepted her invitation, because for him, there was nothing he needed to fear.
"Alright, I'll meet you soon." Jiang Luoshen offered an address for their meeting then quickly hung up the phone.
She hummed softly to herself then said to her assistant, "Find me some sand and put it in an exquisite bag. Half a kilo, no more and no less."
Next, she rang up to Xia Qianyu and said, "Wanna head out to spoil ourselves with some fine wines and tasty food tonight? Quickly get ready! I'll meet you at the 'place'."
Her invitation made Xia Qianyu go wild with joy. She took to her heels as soon as she hung up the phone.
Chu Feng had a glance at the flower pot before heading out. There were four kilos of strange soil buried in there, but the white seed was yet to sprout.
"Maybe it needs more strange soil," Chu Feng thought to himself, "but would she bring any for me? Maybe not…"
Chu Feng had another thought about this then shook his head. She was a clever woman, and her intention was clear. She only wanted to confirm his identity, while the gift she promised was only a bait to draw him in.
The streets were lit by the glitter of neon light. The city of Shuntian was keeping pace with the times. There were rows upon rows of skyscrapers painting the urban landscape of the city. The place was full of flavor of life and urban bright.
However, in the distance outside those city walls, birds that were over tens of meters in length were flocking around the metropolis. The night was dark, but people inside the city could still see the birds patrolling the sky and hovering over at their doorstep.
The city had been surrounded by primitive mountains. The wilderness of nature was right next to them.
A world of utter primitiveness stood right next to an urban city; between them, only a wall was standing in the way to define the boundary.
"Her?!"
Chu Feng saw the photo of a woman on an advertisement screen. It was the face of Xu Wanyi, the gorgeous yet flirtatious daughter-in-law in the family of Lin at Deity Biomedical Group.
"Doomsday Emergence?"
This was the name of a movie, and what was on the advertisement screen was a poster promoting this movie. Xu Wanyi had been given a face close-up on this poster, and this shot had captured every detail of her enchanting beauty.
Chu Feng's hatred for this woman had reached its peak. Not only had she been relentlessly trying to kill him, she had also gone so far as to send out men to put his parents' life in jeopardy. Had he not returned to Shuntian in time, the consequences would have been too ghastly to even contemplate.
"Is she playing the leading role in the movie?" Chu Feng gazed at the poster, and it seemed like the movie "Doomsday Emergence" was about to be on air.
"Wow! She looks so beautiful!" Beside him, a young boy was chanting. There was an admiring glint in his eye.
"No, she doesn't. She looks like a vixen to me," a young girl said.
"Ha-Ha! You're quite right!" Chu Feng commended the girl.
As Chu Feng paced along the street, he realized that the city had been flooded by the posters of this movie. The cast consisted of some of the biggest stars in the country which made Chu Feng grow increasingly uneasy. "Demon Ox the Great Sage" was about to air too. Having the same release frame as "Doomsday Emergence" meant that their movie was a direct competitor with "Doomsday Emergence" at the box office.
Chu Feng had never expected the movie to succeed. With someone like Zhou Yitian as the director and a cast full of unprofessional actors, how would they compete against "Doomsday Emergence".
Chu Feng was quite diffident. What would that woman say when she found out that he was the leading actor in this calamity of a movie. "She'll probably laugh her a** off…" Chu Feng shook his head and sighed. "Damn you, Zhou Yitian!"
There was not a single poster promoting the so-called "Demon Ox the Great Sage" on the street. This kind of lacking in promotion wasn't really going to help the cause of this movie. Was this how Zhou Yitian was going to "trump" all his competitors?
"Look! There's something interesting over there!"
"What happened?"
"We have a very special promotional poster over here!"
Chu Feng heard the words, so he looked to the direction where people were gathering. He was astonished by the sight at once.
Normally, a movie poster would have handsome boys and pretty girls to attract attention.
However, this poster had a completely different theme, and it was special indeed. The man on the poster had a crew cut and skin as yellow as a piece of topaz. He was not handsome, and was only slightly better-looking than an average man. He was pressing down on a wild boar.
"Oh my god! I reckon this movie should be called 'Beauty and the Beast'. But who is this man? Is he supposed to be the 'beauty' or the 'beast'?"
"Read what it says there. There're words below the photo!"
"Yo! Look over there! Look at the screen! There's a video playing! Look how terrifying and how violent this is!"
A stream of photos appeared on the screen. A wild boar that looked fierce and terrifying crushed into an armored car, and the armored car immediately fell apart. Its feet stamped on the ground, splitting the earth and trembling the forest. There were dead bodies hanging off its buckteeth; they were the bodies of mutants.
"Did this happen in real life?" People were astounded and thrilled.
Because underneath the photos, there was a line of words. It said: "Live Recordings of the Battle of Taihang Mountains!"
"How shocking!"
Chill crawled through people's spines, because what they witnessed had happened in real life.
Then, the frame turned to the next one, and the man on the poster appeared. There was only a single shot of him. In the scene, he freed himself from underneath the wild boar, then pressed the boar underneath him. Things just suddenly turned as wild as one could imagine.
"Why does this seem a bit wrong to me!" someone from the crowd whispered.
"I agree. Wait? It this all they're gonna show us? I want to know what happened next!"
"Look! There's still more!"
People looked up and saw a line of words displayed against a black backdrop. It said: "Live recordings of a real battle. The man is Vajra, the mutant who resides on the top of the pyramid, the strongest of all mutants." Then it said: "Please give Vajra a thumbs-up. On that day, he killed many beasts."
This immediately created a great sensation amongst the crowd. Amongst the four mutants that resided on the tip of the pyramid, Silver Wing was the only one whom people were familiar with. With Vajra being publicized on the poster, people suddenly began boiling over with passion and excitement.
"Quickly! Look up on the internet!"
"What happened?"
"People are giving Vajra a thumbs-up for riding pigs!"
Chu Feng was speechless. He was complaining about the lack of promotion for the movie just then, but now, he realized things seemed to have taken a weird turn.
Although indistinct, there was something that smelt a bit "fishy". While posters and the big screens were promoting Vajra, the internet seemed to have taken a "dark" turn. When searching for Vajra, the top results were conquered by articles with titles like "Vajra: the Legendary Pig-rider". Did Zhou Yitian do this?
The world had changed. The "Big Four" had horrific popularity amongst the masses. For the ordinary people, they were like Jesus walking on Earth.
The appearance of Vajra created a great stir throughout the country!
The number of people who were searching for the term "Pig-rider" suddenly surged to a record high!
Only minutes had passed since the promotional video went on air, and this had already become the most debated topic on the internet.
The streets were bustling with people talking about this. In a time where internet reigned supreme in people's life, words were spread fast and wide.
Thanks to Vajra, the movie "Demon Ox the Great Sage" had also become a title known to all.
"I feel like this movie is going to become a classic, a legend that will be passed on from generation to generation. It's a must-see for me."
"Of course! Look who is casting? Our legendary fighter, Vajra! And I heard that everything shown in this movie are recordings of actual combats. I want to experience the cruelty and the bloodiness of that battle. I want to be awed by the valor of our fighters and of us mankind!"
The so-called "Big Four" and "people on the top of the tip of the pyramid" were terms coined by people on the internet.
Although people had known that both the Taiji Grandmaster and the man from Roaming Jade Temple were stronger and more powerful than these four, people had gotten used to calling them the "Big Four".
The place that Jiang Luoshen had arranged to meet was not far from where Chu Feng lived. Chu Feng walked for ten minutes before he arrived. Following the waitress' lead, Chu Feng was taken to a table.
"Oh my goodness! Why is this lecher here?" Xia Qianyu cried in fear.
"Hey, young lady, watch your mouth! No more of that slander or I will load you on my shoulder and take you home tonight with me," Chu Feng calmly said to her.
"Luoshen, you said we're going to 'indulge ourselves in drinking and dining' tonight. Why didn't you tell me that this lecher would be here with us too?"
"We might have had some unpleasant encounters last time, but today, we'll feast ourselves on the tasty wine to end all grudges between us!" Jiang Luoshen said with a smile. She was wearing a long skirt. This kind of clothing was both suitable to the occasion…
As the "national goddess", everything about her was pleasant to eye.
Therefore, there was always a sense of unease nagging Xia Qianyu when Jiang Luoshen was around. Even though they were close friends, Xia Qianyu could still feel the pressure and the dominance of Jiang Luoshen's presence.
Jiang Luoshen raised from her seat. There was an exquisite bag in her hand, and she was going to pass it to Chu Feng.
She waited for Chu Feng to stretch out his hand to reach for the bag so that she could see if there were cuts and bruises on his hand. Only three days had passed since the battle, so if he were the wolf-slayer, the wound would not have recovered so rapidly.
She had asked for advices from people who were experts on surgical operations. They all shared the same view, and that was that the man had suffered a trauma too great to heal in just a few days.
Even after it healed, there might still be bruises and scars.
Jiang Luoshen then put the bag on the table beside her and said in a casual manner. "There was strange soil in there. Don't forget to take it before you leave."
She found that Chu Feng didn't reach for the bag at once, and she couldn't hand it over to him either because the fact that there was only sand in the bag would immediately slip out into the open.
"Last time, you didn't receive the greatest courtesy from us. We both were in the wrongs," Jiang Luoshen said.
"Not me!" Xia Qianyu sounded resentful.
"Let's just get over it, and let's really get to know each other!" Jiang Luoshen said with a visceral smile. Her lips were cherry-red, and her eyes were charmingly bright. She stretched out her hand to invite Chu Feng to shake her hand. She looked as if she had really wanted to "get to know each other".
In fact, this was still her tricks to see Chu Feng's hand. When she saw his hand, she would put her hand away immediately.
Chu Feng raised his hand too. He looked rather natural.
Jiang Luoshen looked a bit shocked. Was her guess wrong? There was not a single bruise on his hand!
She immediately drew back her hand and looked for an excuse to take her leave.
But although Chu Feng's movement seemed to be slow, he had already clutched onto the slender fingers of her hand and said, "You're right! Let's get over it!"
Xia Qianyu was taken aback by what she witnessed. She was candid and straightforward. "Hey, Luoshen! Didn't you say that you would never be taken advantage of by this lecher? Why are you shaking his hand?"
She grew worried for her friend. To her, Jiang Luoshen was playing with fire. In the ordinary course of events, things like this would never take place, but something seemed to have gone awry for the past few days.
Chu Feng tried to mislead the situation and said to Xia Qianyu, "My hand was injured, so although I understand your concern, I don't feel anything in my hand at all. It's all numb and unconscious."
"Really?" The look on Jiang Luoshen's face shifted. For the first time, she was certain that she was near the moment of revelation of truth.
She didn't loosen up her hand; instead, she took this opportunity to give Chu Feng's hand a more thorough look.
"I don't find any injuries…" Only up until now had she realized that Chu Feng's hand looked rather sparkling and crystal-clear. The texture of his skin was no less fine than hers. It was nothing like an injured hand.
Jiang Luoshen quickly loosened up her grip and drew back her hand. She realized that she had been taken liberties with by this bastard again.
Sure enough, as she looked up, she caught a grim of smile on Chu Feng's face before it disappeared.
"Mr. Chu, I heard that Lin Naoi and you used to be classmates in college. Is that correct?" Jiang Luoshen asked after everyone was seated.
Chu Feng knew that he had been under Bodhi Genetics' investigation. They must have sensed something bizarre about him. No wonder she was this curious about him, eagerly wanting to expose his identity.
"Yes." Chu Feng nodded.
The atmosphere was very delicate and subtle. There was nothing unpleasant during the dinner, but there was something peculiar happening.
"Oh my goodness! Someone is making up stories about you!" Xia Qianyu suddenly butt in on their conversation.
She passed her communicator to Jiang Luoshen and showed her something sensational.
Someone on the internet had tipped off the media with a photo. The scene in the photo was set in Taihang Mountains. In the photo, Jiang Luoshen and Angel Ox were standing shoulder to shoulder with a smiling face that looked just as charming as a blooming flower. The two seemed to have had some close and intimate talk.
The photo came with a comment. It wrote: there are unspeakable secrets between Jiang Luoshen and Angel Ox. Stay tuned!
There are comments posted by internet users down below.
"What? What do you mean? What secrets?"
"Oh! I remember! There had been a news article on Wang De Evening Newspaper about this before. The title was 'Three days and Two Nights: The Unspeakable Secrets between Jiang Luoshen and Angel Ox'. Oh! So this is true!"
Jiang Luoshen's face grew gloomy as she read through the comments.