Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Boss Lu is from Southern State

[Mission Progress: 99/100]

After Lu Wu finished cleaning up her stall, she glanced at the system panel. As far as she was concerned, that number was just the system’s way of keeping her down.

But she would never yield to the system’s tyranny.

[...]

’Ah, me, a system so young... why is my back already breaking?’

Exhausted from a long day’s work, Lu Wu could finally rest. She held the vixen, stroking its fur while listening to the elder talk about matters concerning the Ghost Gate.

"Ah, the Bronze Gate."

Lu Wu mused, reminded of a certain young man named Zhang.

"PURRRR!"

As Lu Wu gently smoothed its fur, the vixen completely relaxed, exposing its belly and melting into a flat fox pancake in her arms.

Mimi: Love doesn’t disappear, it just gets redirected.

As the conversation went on, Lu Wu’s gaze drifted to the top of the elder’s head. Her strange, hesitant expression sent a sudden chill down the spine of the highly cultivated elder.

"Lu, what are you looking at?"

The elder’s voice wavered.

"Elder, your head is smoking."

Lu Wu was just stating a fact. A moment ago, wisps of black smoke had begun to drift from the top of his head.

At first, it was just a tiny amount, and she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. But as time went on, the black smoke grew more distinct.

Now, Lu Wu couldn’t ignore it even if she tried.

"Elder, how can you have Ghost Energy in your body?"

The disciples cried out in alarm, but they quickly forgot about the elder as smoke began to rise from their own heads as well.

As the Ghost Energy left their bodies, they felt significantly lighter.

They exchanged looks filled with a complexity that Lu Wu couldn’t decipher.

The elder’s expression turned grim.

Their Divine Spear Sect was located just outside the Ten Thousand Mountains, very close to the Ghost Gate. To avoid accidental affliction, everyone in the sect regularly took Elixir Pills designed to purge Ghost Energy.

Logically speaking, their bodies should have been completely clean of it.

They hadn’t been in this area for long; the corrosion from Ghost Energy definitely couldn’t have caused such a phenomenon in this short time.

There was only one possibility: the Ghost Energy had been lurking inside their bodies all along.

And that was a huge problem.

They underwent physical examinations every year. Why hadn’t the Ghost Energy been detected?

’A mole!’

That was the elder’s first thought.

Was there a problem with the Alchemy process, or had the examiners tampered with the results? The elder couldn’t be sure.

His thoughts were in a complete jumble.

Even in his turmoil, the elder never once suspected Lu Wu of being involved.

Such was the trust a foodie placed in a top-tier chef.

After a moment of thought, the elder stood up to take his leave. Since Lu Wu had resolved the Rabbit Clan issue, he now needed to return and report these new developments.

The matter was too important to delay.

"We’ll be back tomorrow."

The elder gave Lu Wu a meaningful look.

’The open Ghost Gate still hasn’t been found and the mission isn’t over. We’ll definitely be back tomorrow.’

"See you tomorrow, then."

Lu Wu waved goodbye. ’Looks like tomorrow’s business is all set,’ she thought.

On the way back aboard their Treasure Ship, some Divine Spear Sect disciples gathered to discuss Lu Wu.

They held their One World Communication devices, sharing the day’s events with others.

Many messages scrolled by on One World Communication.

They were also keeping up with interesting news from the other states when, suddenly, a post caught their eye.

Urgent! A 10,000 Spirit Stone bounty for Boss Lu’s location!

Below the post, a horde of foodies, unable to find Lu Wu, had completely lost their minds and were spiraling into madness.

"Boss Lu, my Boss Lu... hehehe... chomp, chomp... hehehe."

Any innocent bystander who clicked on the thread would suffer psychic damage.

"Senior Sister, look. They’re talking about a ’Boss Lu’ who sells amazing food. Do you think it could be the one we met today?"

The junior sister asked, snuggling up to her senior sister.

"But isn’t Boss Lu from the Southern State? We’re all the way in the West State."

Another disciple casually retorted.

’What, does everything good have to come from the Southern State? Are they trying to claim Boss Lu now, too?’

But as they scrolled carefully through the thread, they discovered it was filled with pictures of Lu Wu.

A quick comparison confirmed it: a perfect match.

"It really is Boss Lu!"

The junior sister gasped, covering her mouth. Her eyes lit up greedily at the high reward.

She was a little short on funds and wanted to earn some extra cash.

The disciples exchanged glances, conferred for a moment, and decided to go for it.

"I know where Boss Lu is!"

The junior sister quickly replied to the thread. The thought of a huge pile of Spirit Stones coming her way filled her with happiness.

But the reaction was not what she expected.

No one believed her response.

"Oh, look, isn’t it one of those little barbarians from the West State? Boss Lu is one of ours from the Southern State. If we don’t know where she is, what makes you think you do?"

The West State had once been a savage, untamed land, only becoming the state it was today after being settled and developed.

Though they were all people of the Green Origin Realm, a rivalry existed between the states, and "little barbarians" was the slur the other states used for people from the West State.

"Tsk, tsk. Probably just a troll trying to stir the pot. Wait, spit, spit, spit! Why am I cursing myself? It’s true what they say: without Boss Lu around, my brain has starved into a shriveled husk."

"Oh, spirits of heaven and earth! Great gods above, please just make Boss Lu respawn!"

"Update! The bounty has already gone up to fifteen thousand!"

In the blink of an eye, the amount rose again. The mocked junior sister’s cheeks puffed out in anger, but seeing the new amount, she held her tongue.

"It’s true! You have to believe me! Boss Lu is in the Ten Thousand Mountains!"

The Divine Spear Sect disciples had originally planned to play it coy for a while, maybe even drive the price up. But the junior sister was too eager to prove herself and laid all her cards on the table.

Just as she was regretting her haste, she saw the replies grow even more mocking.

"Hahaha! The Ten Thousand Mountains? Did Boss Lu go off to live like a savage or something?!"

"Even if she’s not a savage, surely she wouldn’t have defected to the West State."

"Shut your mouth, poster above! Boss Lu is from the Southern State!"

"Alright boys, it’s a flame war!"

"Whoa, guys, you have to see this! That Little Prince from the Sea Clan just offered a thirty-thousand-stone bounty for Boss Lu’s location!"

"Gods, the Hong’an City government is getting involved too."

"Yuanhai City followed right after."

"Holy hell, isn’t that Qin Zhan’s account? And Divine Doctor Jiang from the Divine Doctor Valley, and Zhang Yue from the Ghost Sect... they’re all here!"

Seeing this, many were stunned by the influential figures backing Lu Wu.

Her disappearance for just a day or two had caused a seismic event. Unwittingly, Lu Wu was no longer an outsider with no one to back her up.

As the topic drifted, no one paid any mind to the junior sister’s claim.

The main reason was that the foodies demanded proof, and she didn’t have any.

She had been too busy enjoying the rabbit heads to think of taking a picture, and now it was too late to go back for one.

"This is infuriating!"

The junior sister stomped her foot.

"Don’t worry."

Her senior sister consoled her. She had just scrolled through several threads about Boss Lu and had an idea of her business schedule.

An idea sparked, and the senior sister smiled.

"Perhaps... there’s a better way."

’If we sell the information, all those people from the Southern State will just rush over here and compete with us for the rabbit heads.’

’But what if we secretly enjoy Boss Lu’s food, document everything, and then, after she closes up for the day, we hit them with the proof?’

’Then...’

Imagining the regretful faces of all those people from the Southern State, the senior sister couldn’t help but flash a villainous smile.

’She would show them that even "little barbarians" have a temper.’

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