The King of Black Fog

"I wonder if it will work," Li Qianxia munched on a cucumber.

"Not optimistic," Yang Qinglan, holding a handful of fresh peas, ate them leisurely like a noble lady, "but progress is good, at least we won't die."

Li Changzhou stroked his chin, staying silent.

Compared to Hede's reaction, he was more concerned about the fact that as soon as he muttered to himself, Hede "awakened".

Was it a coincidence, or did the black mist hear his words?

Compared to the ability to communicate with the black mist, the mere gifting of skills to others was nothing. There were far more mysterious and unfathomable aspects to the black mist.

The doorbell rang twice.

"Come in." Li Changzhou pulled his thoughts back.

Yafeiluna entered the room, holding several boxes, and gently closed the door behind her.

"'Master'." She presented the boxes she held.

Li Changzhou took them first, ensuring they were safe, before handing them over to Yang Qinglan.

Yang Qinglan didn't take them, her slender fingers pointing to the table—a silent instruction to place them there as she wanted to finish her peas without getting her hands dirty.

Li Changzhou complied and turning to Yafeiluna, he said, "Have someone watch Hede, and if he gains consciousness, make him hand over that Ren..."

"Gregory." Yang Qinglan, fingers pinching a bright green pea, interjected a reminder.

"Have him hand over Gregory's Identity Card." Li Changzhou continued his instructions.

Li Qianxia, crunching her cucumber, almost laughed out loud, finding the couple's interaction to be very much like husband and wife.

"Yes." Yafeiluna responded with her head bowed.

"You may leave if there's nothing else."

"Master..." Yafeiluna hesitated, as if wanting to say more.

"Something the matter?" Li Changzhou looked at her.

"Please punish me," Yafeiluna's head sank even lower, "the matter with Renado was my mistake."

Li Changzhou drummed his fingers on the table, looked at her for a while, and then said:

"I will not reward you for how many players you recruit nor will I punish you for what your subordinates do. That's your business. The only criterion for my punishment or reward is what you have done for me.

"You did well this time, finding some very useful herbs for me. I won't punish you, but I will reward you later. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"...Understood." Yafeiluna nodded.

"Good. But you should also be careful about your own safety. It would be troublesome for me if you died. Finding another person like you—who can grow in strength without intentional cultivation and keep up with me—is hardly possible. Now go and take care of the tasks I've given you."

"Yes, you should rest well."

Yafeiluna backed away three steps, then turned and left.

"Bro," Li Qianxia leaned in, "I think you shouldn't be a lawyer, you should be an actor."

"Then you'd be my agent?"

Li Changzhou took her cucumber, snapped it in half, gave back the half she had bitten, and started eating the rest himself.

"Agents are such a hassle, I wouldn't want that. I'll be the assistant; there's food, there's drink, you can have air conditioning even in the desert. Traveling around the world with you all day long, how cool would that be." Li Qianxia's face was filled with anticipation, thinking such a future wouldn't be too bad.

"Are you sure you're talking about an assistant?" Yang Qinglan, who had finished her peas, wiped her hands with a paper and began to inspect the herbs.

Calvino and Hede, probably because they had more subordinates, had collected seven types of herbs in total: three for Strength, two for Agility, one for Constitution, and one for Perception.

In terms of Strength, Li Qianxia lacked 1 point, Yang Qinglan lacked quite a bit more, needing 6 points. All three Strength-enhancing herbs needed to be processed into 'Power Pills,' of which two could be saved.

"If you don't lack them, we can save one," Li Changzhou told his sister.

"Yang Qinglan lacks six points and you don't mention it, but you mention my single lacking point?" His sister disagreed.

"Six points is just perfect for two herbs," Yang Qinglan claimed matter-of-factly.

"Qing Lan, are you too shameless!"

During their laughter, the 'Power Pill' was ready. The two took seven pills and boosted their Strength to the limit.

Alchemy was handled by Yang Qinglan.

The goal was: using the recipes provided by the rice cooker manual, to accumulate and study the experience and techniques of cooking, in hopes that one day she would be able to use the rice cooker to make dishes not listed in the manual—excluding the inedible "Unnamed" ones.

For Perception, Li Qianxia lacked 5 points, Li Changzhou lacked 1 point, and this time it was a perfect match for the total of six points needed, but there was only one Perception-enhancing herb.

"Bro, you eat it first," Li Qianxia said to her brother.

"You eat," Li Changzhou discarded the end of the cucumber, "My lacking 1 point can be easily gained by entering any instance."

"It's a loss to risk it for just 1 point."

"If you eat three, your Perception is 8. Your brother enters an instance, upgrades the Black Card, you both have full values for four items; but if your brother eats first, you eat two, you have only 7 points, and it's not about entering an instance for your brother, but about leveling you up twice," Yang Qinglan explained.

"Alright, I'll eat," Li Qianxia visualized the situation and nodded obediently.

She suddenly laughed again, "Who would have thought among us three, it would be Qing Lan who first reached full values in four items, she might even be the first in the whole world to do so!"

"Strength," Yang Qinglan uttered indifferently.

"Damn!" The siblings were shocked by her shamelessness.

Yang Qinglan began to laugh.

They chatted for a bit longer, and the 'Perception Pill' was ready. Li Qianxia, like snacking on peas, swallowed one pill after another, pulling her Perception up to 8.

"Taking these pills is too easy. Why did we struggle so much before!" Li Qianxia sighed.

In just one day, she had improved by 5 points, while Yang Qinglan had increased by a formidable 8 points!

"Otherwise, why would the protagonists in novels always love alchemy and popping pills?" Li Changzhou, who had worked for nothing and received no pills, commented.