Chapter 32: The Beast's Instinct

“I only have you as my son!”

“Even if she knows, is it worth it? There are so many women in the world, you could choose anyone. That girl Dai Dai from yesterday looked quite nice, and she clearly likes you. Most importantly, she doesn’t have children, and she’s still single…”

“Mom.”

Lin Zhe was even more helpless. “She has a boyfriend.”

“Besides, Yan Yan is really wonderful. I like her very much. Please don’t try to arrange my marriage.”

Being with Yu Yan was a matter for him and Yu Yan alone. As long as he felt she was the right one, and Yu Yan was willing to be with him, what did it matter if his mother disagreed? He was willing to be filial, but that didn’t mean he would sacrifice his lifelong happiness. He just wasn’t sure if he could overcome this hurdle.

Lin Zhe felt the blood draining from his body, and Yu Yan’s sweet smile flashed before his eyes.

His mother didn’t understand; if she was the earth that nurtured him, then Yu Yan was his sunshine and water. Without Yu Yan, his life lacked nourishment—he might live, but it would be a fate worse than death. Lin Zhe’s consciousness grew vague.

He seemed to see a group of people approaching in the distance, his mother tearfully pleading with them.

All along this journey, to find Yu Yan as quickly as possible, Lin Zhe dared not take too many detours; as long as the instance wasn’t above level C, he entered without hesitation.

Then Lin Zhe discovered that once he cleared an instance, it would enter a cooldown period.

During this cooldown, the area covered by the instance would reveal the real world. But as time went on, this cooldown was rapidly shrinking. Lin Zhe remembered that at first, every time he cleared an instance, the cooldown lasted a full twenty-four hours—a whole day and night!

His smart watch, which had lost most functions but could still keep time, told him this.

Later, it was only twelve hours.

And just in the past few days, the cooldown had shortened again, now down to a pitiful six hours. Moreover, Lin Zhe noticed that as the cooldown decreased, the strength of creatures in instances of the same level was growing rapidly! If this continued, eventually the cooldown would drop to zero.

The difficulty of clearing instances would multiply exponentially.

Then, searching through countless instances to find Yu Yan would be like trying to find a needle in the ocean!

He had to find Yu Yan before the cooldown dropped to zero—Lin Zhe’s resolve was firm… So tired, Mom, I’m sorry for worrying you. But I truly can’t let go of Yan Yan. Maybe in the next life, in the next life I will be your son again.

Then I’ll be even more filial, making up for the regrets of this life.

Lin Zhe slowly closed his eyes, finally falling into unconsciousness.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Su Xi County, Y City, on the sofa in the first-floor living room.

Yun Duo’er looked anxiously at Yu Yan, who had suddenly become restless. Yu Yan fidgeted on the sofa, finally standing up. “It’s nothing. Mommy’s just a bit upset. I’ll go outside for a walk.”

For some reason, her heart had suddenly quivered, as if she was about to lose someone very important.

Three years in the instance world had honed Yu Yan’s instincts to a beast-like level.

Sometimes she doubted her own strength, but never this profound intuition. It was this animal instinct that had allowed her to avoid countless life-and-death crises in her past life. Could it be that something happened to her mother, or her siblings?

Or perhaps… a name flashed across Yu Yan’s mind, and she suddenly felt unable to breathe.

No, it couldn’t be!

“Quan, what’s that woman’s status anyway? Why are you so afraid of her?”

In the backyard of Lu Hao’s villa, a group sat around a bonfire.

Hao Guangming took a bite of juicy roasted venison.

Such wild game had been rare before the instance world appeared, but afterward, it became common prey. Of course, hunting them required a certain level of strength; otherwise, there was no telling who was the hunter and who was the hunted.

“Afraid? Me?” Zhang Quan’s face flushed, but his skin was dark, so even beside the fire it was hard to tell. “That’s not fear, it’s respect for a master’s strength! You lot have eyes but can’t see, you didn’t even recognize her.”

“You thought she was some weak woman you could bully? You wouldn’t even know how you died.”

“Luckily, I saw her for what she was and saved all of you.”

Hao Guangming: “…” I didn’t bully her, though? Actually, she kicked us all out.

Besides, “Quan, I don’t think you’re using ‘seeing her for what she was’ correctly…”

Zhang Quan glared at him. “I use it however I like. Got a problem with that?” He wouldn’t dare offend the woman in the villa, but if these kids wanted to rebel, it depended on whether Zhang Quan would allow it.

Hao Guangming pulled a face. “No, I have no problem.”

Lu Hao slowly roasted his venison, giving Hao Guangming a sidelong glance. This fool! Zhang Quan had already lost face in the villa and was just waiting for an excuse to assert authority, so these people wouldn’t get any ideas.

He just had to bring up the wrong subject and became Zhang Quan’s example for others.

He was the unlucky chicken in Zhang Quan’s lesson.

Look at Song Xiaoqing—so clever. Even though she no longer wanted to follow Zhang Quan, she smiled sweetly at him, acting no different than before. If Lu Hao hadn’t seen Song Xiaoqing glancing at the villa a few times when Zhang Quan was busy with his grandmother these past days…

Her gaze was sticky and thoughtful, and even Lu Hao wouldn’t doubt her devotion to Zhang Quan.

“Boss!”

Zhang Quan’s shout startled Lu Hao from his thoughts.

Lu Hao looked up; the woman from the villa had wandered into the backyard. She was lost in thought, and Zhang Quan nervously stepped forward. “Boss, would you like some meat? We roasted venison… Wait, how could venison be worthy of you?”

“Xiaoqing, go to my car and bring out the remaining wild boar meat. I want to give our boss a proper meal!”

Song Xiaoqing’s eyes widened in shock.

That meat had been hard-won in the instance, and there were only a few pieces left. Don’t be fooled by the ordinary name ‘wild boar’—it was a high-level creature in the instance world, containing rich fire energy.

Usually, Zhang Quan only shared it with her, Lu Hao, and Hao Guangming, just a small piece at a time.

“Go!”

Zhang Quan saw Song Xiaoqing hesitating and pinched her waist hard.

This woman—why was she holding him back at this critical moment? Clearly she’d been spoiled too much and couldn’t tell what was important. Song Xiaoqing’s eyes flashed with resentment from the pain, but she said nothing and obediently went to get the meat.

Lu Hao’s eyes narrowed.

Song Xiaoqing was Zhang Quan’s favorite.

Now, after pinching her, Zhang Quan didn’t even spare her a glance, focusing all his attention on Yu Yan.

Looks like he had underestimated her, made the mistake of judging by appearance. If it had only been Tang Yan obeying Yu Yan, one could blame Tang Yan’s foolishness. But even the strongest among them, Zhang Quan, was cautious and deferential toward Yu Yan.

That could only mean this woman truly had some skills.