A Desperate Pursuit and a Mortifying Predicament

Li Chunsheng’s concern had clouded his judgment, overwhelming him completely. It wasn’t until he burst out of Jintai Department Store, the icy night wind striking him, that a critical realization hit him: he had no idea where Liuxia actually was!

However, Li Chunsheng soon discovered that he needn’t worry about that. He noticed a subtle pattern in the “Authority” value flickering before his eyes.

“Could it be…” Li Chunsheng tentatively took a few steps westward.

The “Authority” value before him immediately slowed its frantic flickering.

When he shifted his direction southward, the numbers visibly accelerated their dance once more.

“So that’s it!” He instantly understood, then began testing various directions. Ultimately, he confirmed that the southeast direction yielded the fastest flickering of the numbers.

It was as if Li Chunsheng possessed a compass, precisely pointing towards Liuxia’s location.

At that moment, Li Chunsheng was struck by an overwhelmingly strong intuition: once he got close enough to Senior Sister, this number would cease its flickering and begin a continuous descent!

The flickering, he surmised, likely meant that Senior Sister was constantly trying to draw “Authority” from him—the significant distance between them merely causing the numbers to fluctuate rather than decrease.

A terrifying image flashed through his mind: Liuxia, gravely wounded and bleeding profusely, her miraculous healing ability attempting to activate, yet trapped in a state of ineffectiveness due to the lack of “Authority.”

“Senior Sister, you must hold on!” Li Chunsheng’s heart was ablaze with anxiety, his eyes beginning to redden.

“Right, I still have this!” He abruptly pulled the black cube from his pocket, squeezing it fiercely in his haste.

“Transform! [Pitch-Black Knight: Lancelot]!”

The very next moment, the space around him was instantly enveloped by surging, ominous black mist.

After an abnormal, grating sound, like a tape rewinding mixed with metal grinding, a black knight clad in monstrous armor burst forth from the rapidly condensing black mist like a cannonball, kicking up a gale as he streaked southeastward.

He was now faster than the quickest sports car on the streets!

Yet, it wasn’t enough!

Li Chunsheng swiftly caught up to a speeding blue convertible on the road. With a heavy ‘thud,’ he leaped onto it, the car owner’s eyes wide with ghostly shock.

“You…! What kind of monster are you?!” Seeing the terrifyingly armored black knight before him, the car owner was nearly petrified with fear.

“I’ll be borrowing your car!”

Li Chunsheng had no time for questions. He simply reached out, lifted the hapless car owner from the driver’s seat like a kitten, and tossed him into the back.

Then, he settled into the driver’s seat and frantically channeled the “Authority” within him!

Boundless black mist, as if alive, surged from the monstrous knight armor adorning Li Chunsheng. His intuition told him what he could achieve in this state.

Soon, the blue sports car was entirely dyed black by the dense mist, its form transforming to match Li Chunsheng’s knight armor—ferocious and imbued with power.

“Accelerate… now!”

Li Chunsheng slammed the accelerator to the floor. The monstrous black sports car instantly let out a bestial roar of fury. With a deafening ‘boom,’ the overburdened engine hood violently sprung off, ejecting several parts of varying sizes that scattered into the air.

“Aaaah! My… my brand new car!” The car owner in the back seat let out a wail of despair.

At that moment, countless tendrils of black mist replaced the car parts damaged by the extreme speed. To unleash even greater velocity, the mist continuously shed the original components that proved inadequate at high speeds.

Moreover, to maintain sufficient grip at such breakneck pace, black mist surged from all four tires, like invisible hands, relentlessly pulling at the ground.

In this delicate balance between acceleration and traction, the modified sports car actually surpassed its factory-set top speed. Furthermore, at its absolute peak velocity, the vehicle became increasingly stable.

However, this transformation rendered the car’s appearance increasingly abstract. From a distance, it resembled a dilapidated, smoke-belching steampunk machine.

****

Mu Shengling, at that very moment, also emerged from Jintai Department Store in pursuit. Gazing into the distance, she saw only plumes of black smoke surging through the distant neon cityscape, speeding southeastward.

The pink-haired young lady’s eyes lit up, countless tiny golden sacred runes flashing deep within her pupils. In her vision, Li Chunsheng’s trail was highlighted, extending directly to the distant black smoke.

“Is that… what Li Chunsheng, a Black Iron-tier, is capable of?” Mu Shengling was utterly dumbfounded.

“Miss.” At that moment, the loyal grey-haired maid, Nanny, appeared beside her.

Mu Shengling snapped back to reality and immediately commanded, “Take me after him!”

The grey-haired maid nodded, pulled a lifelike stone scorpion carving from her pocket, and tossed it to the ground. With a ‘boom,’ a giant scorpion, as tall as a person and entirely composed of bronze, materialized before them.

Mu Shengling was clearly accustomed to such sights; she merely leaped gracefully, landing steadily on the giant scorpion’s back.

The grey-haired maid waved a hand, and the giant scorpion, its sharp segmented legs pulsing, began to race down the road. Its scuttling pace was no slower than that of the cars.

Yet, in the pink-haired young lady’s vision, the distance between herself and the highlighted black smoke ahead continued to widen.

‘This speed… it already surpasses more than half of Bronze-tier Paladins.’

“I’ll risk it!” Mu Shengling gritted her teeth, decisively withdrawing the computing power she was currently cloud-computing from the Holy Temple’s blessing network.

The pink-haired girl felt a surge of annoyance. With this single withdrawal, countless gold coins she should have earned would vanish from her account.

‘Li Chunsheng, whatever you’re hiding, it better… be worth everything I’m sacrificing for you!’

Mu Shengling clenched her pink fist. The next moment, countless dazzling red sacred runes erupted from her body, transforming her entire being into a red, humanoid light source composed of pure radiance, standing like a crimson unicorn horn on the giant scorpion’s forehead.

“Value Multiplier: Triple Speed!” From within the light source, a clear, delicate cry resonated.

****

Let’s rewind the clock a little.

At this moment, Liuxia was experiencing the most awkward and mortifying predicament of her entire life.

The young woman stood there, utterly flustered, urged by everyone’s gaze to produce a gift of money she simply didn’t possess.

“Oh my? Miss Liuxia, could it be that you’re unable to provide it?” Miss He asked, feigning surprise as she covered her mouth, her voice perfectly pitched for all around to hear clearly.

“I… I…” Liuxia was speechless, her pretty face flushing crimson, wishing she could instantly vanish into a crack in the floor.

Her “Authority” had only just recovered to a positive value; she had to budget carefully even for a few coins to buy groceries. How could she possibly produce a gift of tens of thousands?

At this point, the surrounding guests finally realized that this celestial beauty before them was, in fact, a genuine pauper. Unconcealed sneers spread across their faces.

“How does this woman even have the nerve to attend Miss Liao’s birthday party?”

“Who even invited her? They must have terrible judgment!”

“Don’t say anything, it seems it was Miss He… she was probably fooled too.”

“But coming empty-handed, is she planning to freeload here?”

“Oh, I truly feel for Miss Liao, to have such a person sneak into her birthday party.”

…

Among the mocking crowd, women were particularly numerous. None of them possessed Liuxia’s breathtaking beauty. Upon first seeing Liuxia, most had instinctively felt overshadowed and inferior.

Now, discovering that this stunning young woman was merely a pauper, a dark desire arose within them: to ridicule her mercilessly, compensating for their earlier feelings of inferiority.

‘What do I do? What do I do? I think… I’ve ruined everything!’ Liuxia’s heart was utterly collapsing at that moment.

She had been the one to volunteer to help Chunsheng.

At that time… she had, in fact, harbored a selfish desire not to let that woman, Mu Shengling, stay by Chunsheng’s side…

Yet, this small selfish motive of hers was now on the verge of completely destroying everything.

If her assumed identity were exposed now, then Chunsheng, appearing as her male companion, would likely struggle to gain Miss Liao’s trust.

As the young woman’s mind raced with such thoughts, the host of the birthday party, Liao Xinyi, finally noticed the situation by the entrance. Frowning, she slowly began to approach.

If she were to speak with Liao Xinyi and fail to adequately explain the current predicament, then Li Chunsheng’s plan to get close to Liao Xinyi would irrevocably fail.

Despair mounted in Liuxia’s heart. Suddenly, a fleeting thought of escaping reality sparked within her.

‘…If only I had known, I shouldn’t have offered to help Chunsheng, especially with my selfish motives.’

‘Or perhaps, I shouldn’t have come ahead with Miss He, but waited for Chunsheng to be ready, and come together…’

Many “what ifs” arose in the young woman’s mind, but no matter how she pondered, they remained mere “what ifs.”

Finally, all her regrets condensed into a single thought…

‘…If only I could go back in time…’

In the deepest recesses of Liuxia’s consciousness, the “Authority” value unique to her suddenly began to pulsate violently at that very moment.