Chapter 126: Chapter 120 Coastal City 1 Chapter 126: Chapter 120 Coastal City 1 “How could you think of seeking me out? Although our last cooperation was fairly pleasant,” Lin Fei sat back down and asked softly.

“Pleasant cooperation? You deliberately killed all South Korean personnel within several kilometers, nearly getting me accused of being a spy upon my return. So many people died, and it was abnormal that only I returned alive,” An Caiyuan said indifferently.

“Didn’t you come out of it unscathed?” Lin Fei spread his hands innocently. “Besides, you tampered with my phone too, didn’t you?”

An Caiyuan walked to the riverbank, her trench coat rustling loudly in the cold wind. She showed no reaction to Lin Fei’s response. The two remained silent for a moment.

“I came to find you this time because I can’t think of anyone else who might help me,” she resumed, her tone very calm.

“You’re very candid. Aren’t you afraid I’ll make outrageous demands?”

“It’s up to you. If I lose this time, I’ll end up with nothing anyway,” An Caiyuan said nonchalantly, as if she didn’t place much confidence in Lin Fei and was merely making a desperate move.

“I’ve already been at a disadvantage within my family, and the last incident pushed me into the storm’s eye. If I don’t get past this, perhaps we’ll never meet again.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Lin Fei placed his hand on the book cover, leaning against the bench’s backrest.

“This time, I’ve come sneaking out of the family, spending the last bit of my resources. If you help me, you might gain a lasting friendship with South Korea’s third largest family dynasty,” An Caiyuan turned to say.

“Not interested,” Lin Fei said flatly. “This is a transaction; I can’t guarantee that I will fully satisfy your request, but as the benchmarks on either side of the scale, there must be equilibrium. That’s common sense.”

An Caiyuan nodded, “I’ve thought carefully about what you might need. Perhaps you’ll be interested in this.” She reached into her trench coat pocket and pulled out a small black bag, no bigger than a palm. It was wrapped in a plastic bag, square and neat. She tossed it directly to Lin Fei.

He caught the small bag accurately and weighed it casually.

“What’s this?”

“Open it and you’ll see,” An Caiyuan’s tone was indifferent but carried immense confidence. “You’ll like it.”

Lin Fei’s interest was indeed piqued. He carefully tore open the black packaging, revealing a stack of photos inside.

“What is this…?” He narrowed his eyes slightly.

The photos showed a plethora of gemstones, antiques, and ancient weapons. They appeared stained with many blemishes and covered with green seaweed, as if just salvaged from the sea floor. Although Lin Fei considered that An Caiyuan might be trying to deceive with fake photos, discerning their authenticity held no value for him. Moreover, An Caiyuan wouldn’t stoop to using inferior goods as deception.

“Do you have a sample?” Lin Fei asked softly, putting down the photos.

“Of course.” An Caiyuan seemed to have anticipated from their previous cooperation that antiques could be of significant help to Lin Fei, so she had prepared these items in advance. “The items in the photos were salvaged from the coastal regions. In addition, I’ve prepared a gift. You’ll need to come and see it with me.” She produced a small, transparent diamond from her trench coat pocket and tossed it to Lin Fei.

He caught it and examined it closely.

It was very similar to the one he had absorbed before, containing a significant amount of True Force.

“How many of these diamonds do you have?” Lin Fei asked as he fiddled with the diamond.

“A total of five. What do you think? Are you satisfied?” An Caiyuan noticed Lin Fei’s keen interest.

“Not bad,” Lin Fei said as he absorbed a trace of the diamond’s True Force into his body.

Almost instantly, that strand of True Force merged seamlessly with the new True Force core inside him, indistinguishable from one another.

“There are other parts to such a True Force Core,” Lin Fei’s mind raced. “If I can get all five, then I would be able to push my Qi Cultivation Level to Perfection in The First Layer.”

The Second Layer is where the strength enhancement begins. According to the number of True Force Cores previously absorbed, five would be enough to advance to the Second Layer. Originally, Lin Fei had planned to achieve Perfection of the fifteen images of The First Layer within two years, but now with the True Force Cores, the speed could naturally increase by a lot. Even though they couldn’t be absorbed all at once and had to be absorbed slowly, at most it would shorten the time by two-thirds. But that was already considered extremely fast. Now, his own Cultivation Level was improving very fast, any faster and the other aspects might not be able to keep up.

Combat Power was a comprehensive assessment of strength. If he could complete the Tracing Shadow Sword Art, Lin Fei estimated that he could reach the peak of C rank. But that would still be just the peak of C rank. Without strength and lethality, it would be impossible to reach the level of B rank.

“Additionally, I’ve prepared a special gift for you,” said An Caiyuan as she took out a photo and threw it to Lin Fei. “You’ll need to come with me to fetch it.”

Gently catching the photo, Lin Fei noticed that it was an ancient-looking longsword, seemingly in the style of ancient Hua Nation.

“This is the personal longsword of the ancient swordsmanship master Yi Cai, exceptionally sharp. It’s currently in the hands of the Shi Family from Jiangnan, a family famous for their swordsmanship since ancient times, but also one of the strong forces recruited by my big brother. In other words, they are now my biggest enemy.” An Caiyuan’s implication was clear—if you help me deal with my big brother’s subordinates, all these things will be yours.

“That’s not enough,” Lin Fei said indifferently, pocketing the photo.

“I know. There’s another bargaining chip,” An Caiyuan finally threw her ace in the hole. “I heard you’ve started developing your own industries?”

Lin Fei simply smiled noncommittally.

“I have a three-star hotel in Zhanjiang of Hua Nation, two villas, and a biopharmaceutical company in New York, United States. In addition, I can spare an orphanage for you,” offered An Caiyuan directly, handing over a list with the promised properties detailed in black and white.

Lin Fei briefly glanced over it. All told, the total assets were about thirty million U.S. dollars.

“What’s the deal with this orphanage?” he asked.

“You know. Besides charity, we people always need to cultivate some talented children as future forces,” she explained.

“Undeniably, you’re quite ambitious,” Lin Fei keenly captured the connection between these properties.

“So, it depends on what you want,” An Caiyuan seemed calm but was actually a bit nervous.

“I need time to investigate the credibility of your information,” Lin Fei replied. “I will give you an answer within three days.”

“That works.”

************

Hiss!

A small flame suddenly lit up in the darkness, slowly beginning to burn.

The surrounding area only allowed a faint glimpse of the room’s outline.

“Little You~~~ be careful~~~ my evil grasp is everywhere…” A voice, at times distant and then near, kept coming from around Lin You.

Lin You stood tense in place, her eyes straining to make use of the light in her hands to see her surroundings. However, the small flame seemed to be blocked by something, allowing her to see only a half-meter radius around her at best.

She certainly didn’t want to be caught by that perverted uncle. Just thinking of the uncle’s disgusting, sleazy expression filled her with an indescribable disgust. Feil had also disappeared recently, leaving her alone to face this perverted uncle.

The uncle had said he wanted to train her ability to combat in the dark starting the day before yesterday and began this so-called training, which was actually sexual harassment under the guise of training.

She was made to stand in the darkness, holding a light as a target, while he launched sneak attacks from the shadows at any moment.

Fortunately, so far, he hadn’t succeeded even once. Lin You didn’t know if it was because her strength had improved, or if he was going easy on her. But it was probably the latter.

That’s what she thought. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a slight gratitude towards the perverted uncle.