I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 263: Chapter 167: Re-entering the Heart Prison, The Callback

Xiao Buping continued, ”And yet, the world’s number one Great Evil Person went easy on you, even having her personal maid bring you a healing ointment. If I’m not mistaken, that ointment must be the legendary bone-setting panacea, the ’Black Jade Healing Ointment.’ It’s said that it can regenerate bones smashed to dust—in as little as ten days or as long as three months—and make them good as new. This Black Jade Healing Ointment is priceless on the black market, yet she used it on you. And you still have the gall to say she doesn’t admire you? If she didn’t, wouldn’t it have been simpler to just slap you dead? Why would she injure you, only to spend a fortune healing you? I, Xiao Buping, swear to Heaven that if I’m wrong...”

He looked up at Heaven. ”If I’m wrong, may I be punished to reform my ways and never chase women again!”

Xiao Buping made the harsh vow, afraid Zheng Xiu wouldn’t believe him.

Finally, Xiao Buping got to the point. ”My brilliant plan is to sacrifice Younger Brother Gongsun’s charms... to conquer—”

”Xie Luohe!”

Wen Shishan: ???

Chu Chengfeng: ”Brilliant!”

Zheng Xiu was speechless.

Although they had misunderstood some things, it was, in fact, the truth.

For some reason, Xie Luohe’s memories within this world had become entangled with Feng Bei’s, causing the conflicts of a ”past life” to bleed into the ”present.”

It wasn’t that she saw Zheng Xiu in a special light.

Zheng Xiu couldn’t quite figure out what Xie Luohe was thinking, either.

But he had a vague suspicion. Her behavior wasn’t so much a ’temper tantrum’ as it was a form of ’resistance’.

That was why, at the time, Zheng Xiu had gone with the flow, sensing Xie Luohe’s state of mind, and boldly proposed a wager.

The stakes weren’t gold or silver, nor were they life and death.

It was a battle of wills.

And that last bolt from the blue had all but confirmed Zheng Xiu’s hazy theory.

Pulling Feng Bei out of the Cannibal Painting was no longer going to be simple.

Seeing Zheng Xiu remain silent, Xiao Buping assumed the Scholar was just thin-skinned—his heart must be racing, but he was too shy to admit it.

So he began muttering from the side, offering strategies and imparting his wisdom.

He covertly began instructing Zheng Xiu on how to win over Xie Luohe.

”’First, you must give in order to take. Then, you feign criticism before offering praise to lure the enemy in deep. After that, play hard to get. When she pulls back, you advance. When she pushes forward, you retreat. And finally, you read the situation and launch a pincer attack from front and rear...’”

Chu Chengfeng pretended he didn’t understand a thing. Closing his eyes as if to nap, he adopted a meditative pose, but inside, he was cackling.

Wen Shishan, whose relationship with Chu Chengfeng was rather ambiguous, was completely baffled. She felt something was off but couldn’t put her finger on it.

Zheng Xiu rolled his eyes, ignoring Driver Xiao and letting his words go in one ear and out the other.

*Sigh...*

No one was paying attention to Xiao Buping. Realizing it was pointless, he sulkily shut his mouth.

Besides, the Scholar was still seriously injured and weak. Xiao Buping didn’t press the matter, deciding to shelve the plan for now.

In the lonely dead of night, the bandits were already sound asleep.

Snores rose and fell throughout the stockade, echoing the occasional coos of wild birds in the night sky.

Zheng Xiu leaned his back against the iron bars. The confined environment of the cage put him at ease.

Glancing back and seeing that the other three were no longer paying him any mind, Zheng Xiu touched the lump on his forehead. His anxious heart slowly began to calm.

’Relying solely on Gongsun Mo’s strength, it’s impossible to fight a Deceitful Object.’

’If I’m not mistaken, the reason I can maintain my sense of self in the World in the Painting, unlike Feng Bei, must be because my [Prisoner] Deceitful Object is at work.’

’Feng Bei and the Monk both lost to Gongsun Mo, but *I* haven’t.’

He had long been looking for a natural opportunity to get into a cell and experiment. He just never expected Xie Luohe to be the one to give it to him.

’Did she do it on purpose?’

Touching the lump on his forehead, Zheng Xiu’s body trembled slightly as a realization struck him. ’She did it on purpose!’

’Xie Luohe... no, Feng Bei... could she have already figured out the connection between ”Zheng Xiu” and the ”Prisoner”? No... more accurately, could it be that amidst her suspicions, Feng Bei realized the special significance that ”being imprisoned” held for me?’

’Even though Feng Bei has become Xie Luohe, is she still putting up a tenacious resistance?’

At this thought, far from being annoyed that his cover might be blown, Zheng Xiu felt his spirits rise.

’In that case...’

In the darkness, Zheng Xiu’s gaze burned, blazing like a furnace.

’A son of the Zheng Clan never admits defeat so easily!’

With that thought, Zheng Xiu closed his eyes and tried to enter the Heart Prison.

Entering the Heart Prison was not easy this time.

But this was all within his expectations. He didn’t give up, but instead kept trying, focusing on the feeling from his previous attempts.

’Sink down.’

’Sink.’

’Deeper.’

’Deeper.’

’To that deeper place.’

SPLASH.

A sensation of falling washed over him. Zheng Xiu felt the support beneath him vanish as his body plunged into a pitch-black, deep pool of water and began to sink.

Zheng Xiu blankly opened his eyes but could see nothing.

Sight, smell, touch, hearing, sensation—before him was only darkness. His five senses had been completely stripped away.

He only knew that he was sinking, endlessly sinking, with no idea of his destination.

After a long, long, long time.

The sensation of falling stopped. A sliver of vision returned, and Zheng Xiu found himself standing on the surface of a black, mirror-like lake.

As he walked across the surface, ripples spread out from his feet.

Zheng Xiu recognized this place. It was the [Path].

He had arrived within the [Path].

But unlike his previous visits, the [Path] he was in now was just a desolate, boundless void. There were no roads, no doors—nothing.

’Sinking?’

During the descent, Zheng Xiu had vaguely heard someone whispering in his ear.

”It’s not deep enough.”

Zheng Xiu didn’t see it, but in this strange space, his eyes had turned completely black.

’I need to go deeper.’