Chapter 223: Food Crisis
Xue Zhengying’s expression was odd all the way, unable to figure out who the other party could be.
“Could it be one of his former fangirls?”
In his doubt, he arrived at the club entrance hall.
A woman dressed in a bizarre style stood gracefully at the door, looking like a woman in her thirties. After sensing Xue Zhengying’s presence, she slowly turned back with a playful smile on her stunning face.
“Who is that?”
Xue Lingling and Xue Qingyang were completely baffled, clearly having never seen this woman before.
Wu Xian also felt that there was something off about the woman in front of him.
Looking at Xue Zhengying beside him, he was already frozen in place, his eyes full of shock and panic, with dense beads of sweat quickly forming on his forehead.
“You you you… how did you end up here?!”
Xue Zhengying rushed forward in one swift stride, his expression panicked, the whole person extremely nervous.
“This Empress is just coming to see her beloved consort. Is there a problem?” The bizarre woman’s voice was cold and noble, every gesture exuding the aura of a supreme ruler.
“What the heck, beloved consort?!”
Wu Xian and the other two were stunned on the spot.
Xue Zhengying stiffly turned his head back, forcing an awkward smile: “Uh… Second Brother has some business and needs to step out for a bit. Might take a few days to get back. No need to worry about me.”
With that, he dragged the bizarre woman away without looking back.
The bizarre woman let Xue Zhengying drag her along, curiously glancing back at Xue Lingling with a charming smile, as if greeting her.
Watching Xue Zhengying and the bizarre woman hurriedly leave, Wu Xian exchanged bewildered looks with the others, taking a good while to recover.
The three weren’t fools and quickly guessed what was going on.
“No way, that woman isn’t Second Aunt from the Insectoid Otherworld, is she?” Xue Qingyang exclaimed in shock.
“Keep it down!” Xue Lingling scolded in a low voice, her expression flickering, “Don’t tell anyone. Got it?”
After all, that woman’s identity was special. Her sudden appearance in the Human World could easily bring a lot of unnecessary trouble.
He just hadn’t expected that “Second Sister-in-law” from the Insectoid Otherworld to dare come to their Human World on her own.
“This Empress?” Wu Xian’s expression was odd. “The Insectoid Empress?”
Xue Lingling gave him a strange look. “Seems like she’s called some kind of empress or something. Second Brother didn’t say much about the details.”
Wu Xian clicked his tongue in wonder. “What does Master Sister think of your Second Sister-in-law?”
This was probably the first Otherworld form transformation level being he’d encountered. Honestly, he was quite curious.
“…”
Xue Lingling fell silent. After all, aside from Xue Zhengying, the entire Xue Family knew nothing about that woman.
“As long as it’s true love, right?” Wu Xian asked with a smile.
Though back then, after Xue Zhengying got trapped in the Insectoid Otherworld, that Insectoid Empress had somewhat taken advantage of his situation.
But from their interaction just now, it was undoubtedly true love.
One steadfastly guarding the Insectoid Empress’s information, the other recklessly coming to the Human World to find her beloved consort.
Tsk tsk. Once he made the 【Moon Elder】, it would absolutely lock them in tight.
Xue Lingling was slightly stunned for a moment, gradually coming to terms with it in her heart.
As her good disciple said, as long as it was true love, it didn’t matter if it was human or demon.
“Alright, I’m off to cultivate.”
Xue Qingyang glanced in the direction Second Uncle had left, then at the master-disciple pair in front of him, feeling a mix of emotions.
How had everyone suddenly started pairing up?
No, he needed to find a young lady too.
After all, he still bore the great mission of propagating the Xue Family!
…
On Xue Zhengying’s side, he floored it all the way on coffin board.
Only after entering the Insectoid World dimension did he finally relax a bit.
“You you you…” Xue Zhengying stared at the woman in front of him, his emotions complex. “What if something happens?”
“This Empress knows her limits,” the bizarre woman slightly pursed her lips, as aloof as ever. “On the contrary, beloved consort, how many times has this been that you’ve sneaked out?”
“…” Xue Zhengying’s expression stiffened a bit.
Over these years, he’d been looking for chances to return to the Human World and find his family.
But every time he escaped for a while, he’d gradually be eroded by the Insectoid power in his body, losing his consciousness in the vast Insectoid Otherworld.
“Is the Human World that great?” The bizarre woman asked, puzzled. “This Empress believes she’s never mistreated you all these years.”
Xue Zhengying was silent for a long time before saying, “But my family is still there.”
The bizarre woman huffed and pursed her lips. As an Insectoid, she had never quite understood human notions of family.
“That aura on you is very dangerous,” the bizarre woman frowned. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“Not afraid.” Xue Zhengying’s gaze was firm.
Saying he wasn’t afraid was definitely a lie. After all, it was a fear rooted in the soul and bloodline.
If not for the remnant human consciousness and will he still had, he couldn’t have overcome that fear at all.
“But you’re making it so hard for this Empress to make a move~!” The bizarre woman said with mock seriousness.
Xue Zhengying’s face darkened, a thousand words turning into a soft sigh. “How about trying the human way?”
“The human way?” The bizarre woman was puzzled.
The next second, Xue Zhengying had already pulled her forcefully into his arms and started kissing her messily.
The bizarre woman was initially a bit confused, but soon sank into that wondrous feeling.
…
Inside the North Street District Small Villa, Wu Xian carefully studied the composite divine power factor.
He felt this thing had great potential.
Not to mention anything else, just the boost to his natal God of Wealth was huge.
Yes, the natal God of Wealth could absorb the composite divine power factor directly, just like spiritual substance.
After absorbing a strand of composite divine power factor, the improvement on the panel wasn’t huge, but Wu Xian could clearly feel that the texture of the God of Wealth Scroll had changed slightly.
That’s right, the material texture of the life-bound scroll painting had changed.
This made Wu Xian realize that 【extraordinary scroll paintings】 themselves had another special way to improve.
He just didn’t know yet what the specific effect of this improvement was.
Over the next few days, he and Master Sister opened several 【Underworld】 instances in a row, leading the elite members to farm quite a few composite divine power factors.
After several days of trying and feeling it out, he found this stuff far more useful than any spiritual pigments.
It could be used directly as gold scroll level materials, drastically reducing the production cost of gold scrolls.
During this time, he participated in a Gold Tier League match and won easily.
The alliance big shots also sent people with a batch of 【Underworld】 required materials, as well as a lot of ancient Otherworld outpost materials.
Therefore, research and development on special “domain scroll paintings” like the City God Temple was formally put on the agenda.
However, the atmosphere in Yaoyang City lately seemed off.
News of soaring grain prices was everywhere.
At first Wu Xian thought it was just normal grain price fluctuations, until Mayor Chen Shilong and President Cui Cui Wenxuan came to him together.
And took him to the association, where along with a bunch of association scroll painters, they discussed the severe issue of the recent soaring grain prices.
“Current grain supply can hold out for at most another half month,” Chen Shilong said worriedly. “Several major grain merchants within the province have collectively cut off supply. City farms have limited production volume.
I’ve tried through chamber of commerce channels and means, but still can’t resolve this crisis.
So I can only turn to the association for help.”
Cui Wenxuan was also frowning deeply. “Is Yaoyang City’s self-sufficiency ability really that poor?”
“Even after introducing all sorts of new farms and new technologies these years, we still can’t solve the problem of needing to import grain.” Chen Shilong sighed helplessly. “We could barely keep things running before, but this wave of sanctions from the upper layer has completely stumped me.
By the way, what exactly did you do to the Wang Family? They even resorted to this move.”
