Chapter 31: Looking for Front Teeth
“Liar.” Lu Qianqian sat obediently, looking toward Gu Qing who had now moved to sit farther away. “You didn’t take the bait at all.”
“This is called the overload effect.” Gu Qing winked at her. Lu Qianqian tilted her head, looking puzzled, so Gu Qing slowly explained, “The overload effect means that when stimulation becomes too much or too intense, it triggers impatience and resistance in people’s hearts.”
“Eh?”
“If you want to train a puppy, you have to give some small rewards before it gets impatient, so positive feedback can form.”
Gu Qing was still smiling, but Lu Qianqian looked at him seriously and muttered quietly, “You’re not a puppy.”
After saying that, she turned her face away, her voice getting softer, “It’s just because I’m shy…”
Her eyes looked out the window guiltily, her fingers lightly gripping the bedsheets as she muttered quietly, “You’ve read so many books, have you ever read that when a girl is being shy, you should be more assertive?”
“Hmph, trying to entrap me again. I won’t take the bait.”
Lu Qianqian turned her face back, puffing out her cheeks, but this time her eyes became resentful again.

The next few days were all hazy and rainy.
A spring rain made the air moist and fresh. Even the withered branches of the peach tree downstairs in the residential complex had now sprouted green buds. During these days, Lu Qianqian and Gu Qing only went out once. Gu Qing held the umbrella while she hid under it, and the two walked through small puddles to the market, bought lots of groceries to put in the refrigerator. Gu Qing still did the cooking, and Lu Qianqian washed the dishes.
He made Lu Qianqian many more delicious dishes with various patterns, causing her exercise plan these days to be practically useless. So she started grabbing Gu Qing to hold her ankles, deciding to do fifty sit-ups every day from now on.
When Gu Qing was bored, he would sit to the side and watch her doing thigh exercises. Under her form-fitting workout shorts, her fair and slender long legs lifted straight up, swaying and bouncing constantly, her small feet in white lace-trimmed socks looking delicate and cute.
Fortunately, Lu Qianqian didn’t skimp on his daily massage sessions. He could still rest his head on Lu Qianqian’s legs and have her gently massage his head for ten minutes each day.
The weather forecast said the rainy days would end tomorrow. Lu Qianqian excitedly brought her head close to show Gu Qing the weather forecast, saying nothing, but Gu Qing shook his head helplessly and said softly, “I received word that there’s a very scary and terrifying demon that has recently infiltrated Qiming City. It devours people without even spitting out the bones, so… it’s best not to go out during this time.”
“Eh…” Lu Qianqian’s mouth immediately pouted, but it wasn’t resentful anymore, just aggrieved. Her little head nuzzled against his chest several times until Gu Qing gently patted her head, and her grievance seemed to melt away somewhat.
“I need to go out tonight.” Gu Qing suddenly said.
“Eh?” Lu Qianqian tilted her head.
“There are some small matters to handle. Stay home and be good.”
“Mm…” Lu Qianqian could only nod obediently.
So after dinner, Gu Qing wiped his mouth and left with the umbrella Lu Qianqian handed him.

Gu Qing hadn’t lied to Lu Qianqian.
A very terrifying demon had indeed infiltrated Qiming City recently, and that demon was absolutely from the demon faction. It had infiltrated A City, and thirteen people had already died. The Alliance had begun martial law and notified all citizens that it was best not to go out at night, not to be alone, and not to go to places with few people.
Rain was falling on the streets. Gu Qing held up his umbrella. Fortunately, he hadn’t left too late, and there was still one last bus. He took the No. 303 bus to the address of the fighting club, used his fingerprint to unlock the exclusive elevator, went upstairs, and opened the bar door of the fighting club.
At the bar counter, Li Si was already sitting there. A candle flickered on the table in front of him, and he held a cigar in his hand that had been cut but not yet lit. When Gu Qing came to sit beside him, Li Si quickly spoke up, “One Negroni, put it on his tab.”
Gu Qing’s eye twitched slightly.
“I heard you recently recommended Ji Yueling to join us?” Li Si brought over a torch lighter to light his cigar, took a deep drag, and the smoke soon made Gu Qing cough. Gu Qing thought for a moment and answered, “Yes.”
“Brother Gu, didn’t you say you weren’t familiar with her?” Li Si’s face showed an ambiguous smile.
“We’re indeed not that familiar.” Gu Qing thought about it. “But she barely meets our fighting club’s recruitment standards.”
Li Si just smiled, then continued, “About that matter you asked me to investigate last time, there’s been some progress.”
“Oh?”
“It’s related to a small organization from C City. That organization is insignificant, just a few small fry. They don’t seem to have the guts to do something this big.”
“In C City?”
“Yes, C City.” Li Si nodded.
“Got it.” Gu Qing nodded. Li Si looked at his calm face with some surprise, then asked, “What, are you going to eliminate them all?”
“If nothing unexpected happens, any one of them could easily eliminate me.”
“That can’t be right… No matter how I think about it, I feel like Brother Gu, you’re a hidden master.”
“I’m only a drinking master.” Gu Qing’s martini was served. He picked up the glass and drained it in one gulp, his face quickly showing a pleased expression, then said, “I’m running low on points. Shall we fight?”
Li Si chuckled, “I won’t fight you tonight, but someone will.”
“Huh?”
“A few days ago, Ji Yueling came to buy information about you from me.”
“Selling out your brother?”
“That’s unfair accusation. I don’t know much about Brother Gu either, so what information could I sell? She only used a hundred thousand to have me tell her the next time you appear at the fighting club. If nothing unexpected happens…”
Just as Li Si’s words fell, a woman walked in from outside and sat calmly beside Gu Qing, looking at the bar counter in front of her and saying, “One Sex on the Beach.”
“Extravagant!” Gu Qing immediately spoke up.
Sex on the Beach was also a classic cocktail, but it was very expensive at the fighting club’s bar, twenty-five points per glass. Gu Qing often couldn’t bear to drink it, but it was also his favorite. Ji Yueling glanced at him coolly, “Fight me once, and I’ll buy you a drink.”
“Let’s fight then.” Gu Qing answered casually.
It seemed like he and Ji Yueling hadn’t seen each other for a week. Ji Yueling hadn’t sent him any messages either, which made Gu Qing particularly fond of Ji Yueling at this moment. This kind of proud woman was really wonderful. If you just slightly shatter her self-esteem, she’ll grow thick calluses and shut you out completely.
Ji Yueling was still wearing a black sports tank top, denim jacket, loose athletic pants, and black sneakers today—a very practical outfit. After Gu Qing glanced at her, he looked back at Li Si beside him. Li Si was pinching nuts from the snack dish he’d bought with points. Gu Qing unceremoniously reached into his nut dish and grabbed a large handful, then asked, “What’s the background of that demon that infiltrated the city recently?”
Ji Yueling also perked up her ears out of curiosity.
Li Si slowly chewed the cashews in his mouth, and only after finishing did he speak leisurely, “Seems like it ran out from the Great Wilderness. It’s about to break through to SS level, but apparently couldn’t get advancement resources in the Great Wilderness, so it angrily ran to A City, wanting to cause some commotion and lure out a couple of Qiming City’s eliminators to devour for advancement.”
Ji Yueling was slightly stunned.
The Alliance had investigated that demon’s information for a long time but still hadn’t confirmed its identity. Now Li Si had directly cleared away the mystery with one sentence. Then Li Si said leisurely, “Hey hey, you’re not deliberately asking so she can eavesdrop and report back to the Alliance, are you?”
“Of course.” Gu Qing turned to look at Ji Yueling. “Good, now you owe me two drinks.”
“Oh.” Ji Yueling agreed coolly but didn’t refuse.
Gu Qing looked at the bar counter in front of him, then at Li Si, “How about sharing some of your stored wine?”
Li Si glanced at him sideways, “Damn! I haven’t settled accounts with you for drinking eight glasses on my tab last time.”
“You call me Brother Gu every day. Now that your sister-in-law is here, shouldn’t you show some hospitality?” Gu Qing immediately moved closer to Ji Yueling. Before Ji Yueling could speak, Gu Qing had already put his arm around her shoulder, pressing his cheek against hers. Ji Yueling was momentarily stunned, then showed a perfunctory smile.
Li Si looked at him with complete disdain, “How do I remember you saying three minutes ago that you had nothing to do with her?”
“I’m tsundere.” Gu Qing answered matter-of-factly.
“Really your girlfriend?”
“Of course.”
“Kiss her then.” Li Si looked at him with a smirk.
Gu Qing tried to turn his head to look into Ji Yueling’s eyes, but unfortunately only received Ji Yueling’s cold response: “Get lost.”
So Gu Qing sheepishly shrank back, while Li Si laughed gleefully on the side.
“Sigh.” Gu Qing picked up his water glass and sighed deeply, “How about we cooperate? You approach him as my girlfriend to get information, and he’ll have to give his sister-in-law some kind of meeting gift, right?”
Ji Yueling’s body stiffened slightly, but it seemed too late for regrets. She just silently picked up her wine glass and finished the drink, got down from the bar stool, and looked at Gu Qing, “Shall we go?”
Gu Qing also got down from his stool, took off the gray sweater he’d worn out, and walked bare-chested into the club’s fighting hall. There were still people fighting on the platform. Ji Yueling generously bought Gu Qing a bottle of beer, and the two held their bottles, watching the man on stage continuously throwing punches until he was completely exhausted. The match ended and the arena became available.
Gu Qing and Ji Yueling went on stage. Gu Qing stretched his muscles and looked at Ji Yueling in front of him, “I feel like you have a lot of resentment toward me…”
“Narcissistic people really do like to be presumptuous.” Ji Yueling answered coolly.

Five minutes later.
Gu Qing began looking on the ground for his fallen front tooth. His front tooth had been knocked out by Ji Yueling, and the pain brought tears to his eyes. Fortunately, he had also broken one of Ji Yueling’s ribs, so he figured they were even. The fighting club never had winners or losers. Today the two didn’t obsess over victory or defeat either. When they were both tired, they tacitly ended the match, walked off the platform, and before going to the shower room to change clothes, Ji Yueling generously reached out her hand and pressed it on his head to heal his injuries.
“What about my front tooth?” Gu Qing looked at her resentfully.
“Your lisp sounds cute now. I’ll heal it later.”
“…Damn.” Gu Qing gave her the middle finger.