The King of Black Fog

"What have you two been muttering about since just now?" Bi finally snapped out of her excitement over the pot lid and addressed the two people sitting across the dining table.

"What do you think we've been doing?" Li Changzhou retorted.

"Gossiping about women?" Bi guessed, as she often caught maids doing this.

"A man and a woman."

"A blind date?"

"You're pretty close," Li Changzhou said.

"What are you really doing?" Bi frowned, her good mood rapidly draining.

"Talking about love."

"Talking about love?!"

"Bi," Yang Qinglan began, "have you thought about your situation after returning to Russia? Your identity has already been exposed, and you have many maids, among whom may be hiding a Black Card."

"I now have telekinesis for attack, and this for defense," the Czar Princess swung the wooden pot lid, her face full of arrogant pride, "who else is my opponent!"

Li Changzhou pulled out an 'identity card' from his pocket and handed it to her.

Bi took it with a puzzled face.

"You're so cute, being stealth-attacked by such an instinct, how are you planning to handle it?" Yang Qinglan supported his cheek with his hand, his tone as leisurely as a kindergarten teacher asking a child what their grandmother's name was.

The Czar Princess's green eyes flicked down several times, her face soured, and she huffed angrily and fiercely, throwing the identity card at Li Changzhou before plopping down onto the couch.

She was so light that her body bounced off the couch, appearing even less imposing.

Li Changzhou caught the flying identity card between his fingers, his eyes lingering on Yang Qinglan, who was propping his cheek.

The contour of his face was breathtakingly beautiful, his long slender neck as regal as that of an Immortal Crane.

The seriousness when teasing a child was particularly tantalizing, making one want to engage in conversation with her, laughingly tease her that such a grown person still participated in such childish acts.

As Yang Qinglan shifted his gaze to him, Li Changzhou looked towards Maria Yafelona.

"Your response just now was pretty good."

In the battle with Wang Donghua, Yafelona had stuck with Li Changzhou despite not knowing their own strength—and even appearing slightly at a disadvantage (Bi was restrained), still refusing Wang Donghua's invitation.

"That's what I should do," Maria Yafelona replied with a smile.

She suddenly remembered an earlier thought and hastily told Li Changzhou, "Lord Heimu, after the event is over, I'd like to take over the Mafia to serve you better."

Li Changzhou chuckled and said, "Then I must be more diligent in ensuring your safety."

Yafelona wasn't sure what he meant by that, could it be that he thought she was threatening him with her interests?

She was about to explain when she heard Li Changzhou say:

"In the future, do not actively do evil, but I also don't require you to be a completely good person, staying alive is the most important."

Maria Yafelona paused, a surge of joy rushing through her heart, realizing she had been preliminarily accepted.

"Moreover," he paused, then added somewhat poignantly, "If the profit is large enough, losing control over yourself is okay too, including killing me to gain your freedom. These are all allowed, or rather, even if I don't allow it, you would still proceed."

"My lord, I will never betray you!" Yafelona assured anxiously, "I've understood that only by following you, under your boundaries, do I possess strength and true freedom."

"Well said," Yang Qinglan nodded in agreement, "the freedom within boundaries is the true freedom; to do whatever one wishes is merely being a slave to desires."

She looked at Li Changzhou, as if she was speaking to him… perhaps it was indeed meant for him.

Li Changzhou, who had originally been flipping the identity card like cutting cards, slowed down his movements after hearing this, and eventually stopped altogether.

He neatly stacked all the identity cards on the dining table, like a student resolved to no longer be controlled by a phone.

He pulled out a bottle of snow mountain mineral water, and Yang Qinglan smiled slightly, taking it upon herself to pour a glass for both him and herself.

In the sound of the water hitting the bottom of the glasses, Li Changzhou turned to instruct Yafelona, "You've had a tough day, go rest. This place is very safe, even if someone finds this place, we are still here."

"Yes."

After taking a bath upstairs, Yafelona lay down on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately; since the start of the value game, she didn't know how long it had been since she had slept so peacefully.

Downstairs, Li Changzhou withdrew his gaze from Maria Yafelona, deep in thought.

He could vaguely sense the subtle changes in her psyche.

Unable to resist, he asked Yang Qinglan, "Is there a philosophical theory where after being abused, one wholeheartedly devotes themselves to someone and feels happy about it?"

"Philosophy is philosophy, perversion is perversion," Yang Qinglan put down the kettle.

"..." Li Changzhou picked up a cup.

"However, self-sacrifice does sometimes bring pleasure."

"Like those who enjoy supporting in games?"

"I'm not familiar with games, but it generally means willingly serving others and finding self-fulfillment in that service. Some philosophers think that such people aren't selflessly sacrificing for others; at their core, they are still satisfying their own desires."

The two shared an idle chat, centered around topics of no interest to the Czar Princess.

"I'm going to sleep too, tell me when Xia gets back," Bi said sulkily as she headed to the master bedroom. She was determined to sleep in the best one, and no one contested it.

The living room was left with just the two of them.

"Let's begin the experiment," Yang Qinglan said.

"Hmm," Li Changzhou nodded.

Yang Qinglan handed him a dagger, and Li Changzhou took it and sliced his wrist with it.

"Make a smaller cut," Yang Qinglan advised, "slower flow means we can collect more."

"…Are you a devil?"

They were testing the effects of "Qilin Blood Exhaustion," determining how many milliliters of blood were needed to heal various injuries.

As the blood flowed, under the effect of the skill and Li Changzhou's will, it transformed into beads of blood.

The blood could have formed into any other shape—powder, capsules, pills—but spherical shapes seemed more convenient for swallowing (whether this was really the case or not).

"Do you think the researchers in those pharmaceutical companies might awaken an Alchemy instinct and become legendary alchemists?" Li Changzhou asked while collecting his blood unflinchingly.

"If that researcher loves Alchemy," Yang Qinglan replied, frowning as she cut a small incision on the delicate back of her young hand.

She pinched a 10-droplet blood pearl and placed it in her mouth, took a sip of water, and mimed a swallowing action.

The small cut on her hand immediately clotted and began to heal as if in slow motion.

After consuming another pearl, the wound disappeared, and her hand returned to its original state, becoming smooth and delicate like jade.

"The effects are quite good," she noted.

Li Changzhou watched her for a while, and seeing no response, couldn't help asking, "Is that it?"

Yang Qinglan touched the back of her left hand and said flatly, "It hurts."

…Was she behaving coquettishly?

The wound on Li Changzhou that had almost clotted suddenly squeezed out several more drops.

The blood pearls were divided into three specifications.

100 drops of blood could heal acute wounds (those that would heal on their own within 2 months), 10 pearls;

200 drops of blood could heal chronic wounds (those that haven't shown any signs of healing after 8 weeks), 10 pearls;

500 drops of blood could heal wounds with necrotic tissue, 10 pearls.

This was their initial estimate; the specifics would depend on the level of the injury.

A total of 30 blood pearls used up 8000 drops of blood.

Naturally flowing in the lab, 1 milliliter of blood was approximately 20 drops, and Li Changzhou shed 400 milliliters this time, equivalent to donating 400cc of blood.

Given his physical condition, this amount of blood was negligible, but the situations he had to manage were not ordinary; he required a lot of exercise and could not afford to lose too much blood.

Unfortunately, a Level-C "Healing" skill could only repair wounds, not replenish blood.