Suiyang.

"Your sister sent a letter!" Mother Feng Yurong came out of the kitchen excitedly with her phone, a smile on her face.

"She got in! She's a real National Zhimie Engineer now!"

Li Zhao was concentrating on setting up his new automatic tea brewing cup, a birthday gift from Li Chengyuan.

Hearing this, he immediately looked up, somewhat surprised and delighted.

"Really?"

"Of course! The certificate has been issued! Here's the photo!" Feng Yurong showed Li Zhao the phone.

"Whoa, not bad! She finally made it!" Li Zhao stood up, snatched the phone, and leaned in for a closer look. He even enlarged the photo with both hands to examine the words on it.

"What's all the excitement about?" Li Chengyi came out of the bedroom, yawning.

He had collapsed into bed for a long sleep after returning yesterday, sleeping until early this morning.

Then he was awakened by his parents' exclamations. The damage from the black纹 was clearly aimed at both the body and spirit. Without the Radiant Field, ordinary people might not be able to eliminate the black纹 at all.

"It's your sister, she's finally become a real National Zhimie Engineer! All her hard work over the years hasn't been in vain!" Li Zhao said with a smile.

As he spoke, he showed the phone to Li Chengyi.

On the screen, Li Chengjiu held a light red certificate with a black border in front of her chest, standing ramrod straight.

With her were about a dozen other people, all posing in the same manner, obviously new recruits.

"Being a National Zhimie Engineer is amazing! Not only are the fees waived, but you can earn military merits for good performance! You can even become an officer!" Feng Yurong explained happily.

Li Chengyi listened with a smile, saying nothing.

After looking at the photo, he suddenly said.

"Oh right, Dad, my company leader is back in the country. Now the branch is under my responsibility as the second in command, my position has been greatly improved. The benefits are also much better."

"That's different. Your sister's is not something that doing business can compare to." Li Zhao waved his hand dismissively.

He thought Li Chengyi was unconvinced and wanted to compare himself to his sister.

"No, I mean, the company, as a benefit, has allocated me a house, much bigger than our current one. How about we all move in together?"

He had had this idea for a long time, and now he finally had the opportunity to say it out loud.

"A house? Where is it?"

Li Zhao and Feng Yurong were stunned at the same time, asking in unison.

*

*

*

A little after four in the afternoon.

Li Chengyi took his parents to see the new house. Although it was only simply decorated, the excessive size of the villa still left the two elders dumbfounded, with a sense of unreality.

The two of them grabbed him, repeatedly asking him if he had done anything illegal.

Li Chengyi also repeatedly assured them that all his income was earned honestly and was definitely not dirty.

He had the confidence to say this. The acceptance of the Nine Luminaries Specialist had tacitly turned the page on everything he had done before.

So he didn't have to hide his money in his account and be afraid to spend it.

After finally appeasing his parents, Li Chengyi inquired about the situation of the rest of the team, confirming that everyone was temporarily fine.

Then he himself prepared to rest peacefully, recharge his energy, and wait for the action.

The black紋 disappeared very slowly.

Even after sleeping for a day, they were still on his skin, on his palms, the backs of his hands, and even the skin of his torso, all over his body.

Even his face had subtle traces, which Li Chengyi covered up with concealer borrowed from Rainbow Candy.

After checking the botanical garden again, he finally had some free time.

For a moment, suddenly free, he found that he couldn't find anything to do.

So he wandered around for a while, found a teahouse on the road, ordered a pot of flower tea, and a few plates of pastries.

Alone in a small cubicle, with a computer projection screen on one side, he could freely watch various programs.

Li Chengyi rested quietly by himself.

He loved to relax like this in his previous life.

Quiet, undisturbed, able to quietly think about what he wanted to think about.

He finally found the opportunity in this life.

Inside the cubicle, the brown curtain printed with advertisements swayed constantly with the movements of the waiters outside.

Li Chengyi sat quietly on the sofa, carefully observing the tiny black紋 on his hands.

Pressing on them, it didn't hurt.

He couldn't feel any traces by touching them, as if they were painted lines, without any bumps.

Beep beep.

Another text message arrived on his phone.

Li Chengyi's train of thought was interrupted, and he picked up his phone to take a look.

It was from Chen Pi, Chen Yijun.

This guy organized small gatherings every now and then, and often sent him messages, inviting him to parties.

But this time it seemed different.

Li Chengyi looked at the content, it seemed to be a group message.

'Bansheng Yuan Marriage Agency, grand opening, Chen Yijun sincerely invites all friends and relatives to attend the opening ceremony, Time: December 14th. Location: 119 Pengcheng Road, original Lanxi Hot Pot City.'

"." Li Chengyi was a little speechless.

This Chen Pi actually ran off to open a marriage agency

He scrolled up and saw a string of various messages before. All of them were invitations to parties.

Putting away his phone, Li Chengyi began to think about where he could find a large number of Jiemao Feilian (variant *Bidens pilosa*).

The new Flower God position needed to evolve once before it could be opened, so he needed to absorb enough mutated flower energy and evil thoughts to complete the first evolution.

Now that Zhuang Yijing was there for evil thoughts, and that Marian Xilian, the problem wasn't too big, the main thing was the mutant Jiemao Feilian.

This kind of flower was usually a wildflower, and because it wasn't very valuable and the flowers weren't very beautiful, they mostly grew sporadically and scattered. It was really not easy to find a concentrated area.

He had already asked someone from the botanical garden to collect the wild Jiemao Feilian specifically and transplant them back.

Beep beep.

Another text message came.

Li Chengyi picked it up and glanced at it, and this time it was a bit of a surprise.

It was Zhou Xingtong.

"Can I ask, have you seen that blonde girl at the entrance of the self-service bank that day? It's Qiu Chenyan, you even asked for her name." --Zhou Xingtong.

"Haven't seen her." Li Chengyi replied simply.

Becoming a Dead Zone person meant that everyone except him might die sooner or later.

So... he didn't plan to explain so much to Zhou Xingtong.

"Can we... meet?" --Zhou Xingtong.

Li Chengyi frowned slightly, feeling that this girl seemed to know something.

His impression of this girl had always been simple.

Diligent, hardworking, positive, a very down-to-earth pretty girl.

She clearly had a pretty face, but she was unwilling to rely on her looks and had been working hard outside.

So he had a pretty good impression of her.

"How about this, I'm drinking tea at Shuangfu Teahouse, if you're free, come and talk in person. Come and look for room 5." Li Chengyi thought for a while and decided to tell her the truth.

Dead Zones weren't really something that anyone deliberately concealed, it's just that most people didn't believe it.

The country didn't actively publicize it for the sake of stability.

But many family members of Dead Zone people had also spontaneously organized some large and small investigation forums and small groups online.

So there were some ordinary people who knew about it. It was just a small number.

"Okay! I'll be there soon." --Zhou Xingtong.

She replied extremely decisively, obviously her relationship with that Qiu Chenyan wasn't shallow.

Putting down his phone, Li Chengyi closed his eyes slightly.

He suddenly remembered the topic he had talked about with Rainbow Candy.

Once ordinary people enter the Dead Zone, it was likely to be a certain death, without any accidents.

Only a very few clever people could temporarily escape.

But in reality, most Dead Zones had warning signs before they arrived. If these people could get enough psychological preparation and various auxiliary help in advance.

In fact, the possibility of surviving the first Dead Zone was very high.

'The core is that the Dead Zone doesn't produce benefits.

Helping most of the Dead Zone people also doesn't produce benefits.'

He sighed.

'There is no organization in this world that only gives without receiving, such an organization simply cannot be sustained.'

Picking up the flower tea, he poured himself another cup.

Rose, chrysanthemum, lily, three kinds of petals rolled slightly in the clear crystal cup.

Eating pastries and drinking flower tea, only a dozen minutes passed.

Outside the curtain of the cubicle, there was a rush of footsteps.

Then a girl in a purple t-shirt and dark jeans gently lifted the curtain, revealing a somewhat haggard but pretty face.

It was Zhou Xingtong.

She had simply tied her hair in a ponytail, and her black hair had just calmed down from swaying from running.

Her full chest supported the purple t-shirt, which should have been loose, extremely tightly.

In the center of the t-shirt were printed the words: Kangaroo Moving.

"You... hello." Zhou Xingtong gasped, her forehead faintly sweaty, obviously she had run over.

"Please sit down." Li Chengyi pointed to the seat opposite.

The cubicle wasn't big. In the square space, there was only a table and two sofas.

The sofas were placed relatively close to the wall, sandwiching the table in the middle.

"Thank you, it just so happens that the place where I work is not far from here, so I... ran over." Zhou Xingtong came in, sat down, feeling a little restrained.

Because she had run all the way, she was not only panting, but also constantly sweating, watching as the t-shirt gradually became soaked with sweat, making it even more form-fitting.

A strong smell of sweat vaguely spread in the cubicle.

Her cheeks were red, whether from exercise or from shyness.

"It's okay, eat some iced lychees. Take a rest." Li Chengyi took a small plate of lychees from the pastries and handed it over.

"Thank you." She took the lychees and placed them on the table in front of her. "Now, can you tell me about my friend?"

"How do you know I know about her?" Li Chengyi asked.

"I can't find her anywhere. Only you that day, only you asked me about her. I have a feeling that you should know something." Zhou Xingtong said seriously.

"I do know a little." Li Chengyi nodded, admitting it very readily.

These words made Zhou Xingtong open her eyes wide, and you could see that her eyes had faint blood streaks and her eye sockets were a little dark.

Obviously, she hadn't rested well for the past few days.

"Can you tell me?"

"In a sense, she helped me a little." Li Chengyi paused and continued, "Do you know about the Dead Zone?"

".!?" Zhou Xingtong's face turned white.

Clearly, she knew.

"Xiao Yan, she was looking up about this stuff all over the internet before... We didn't believe it... Later, she said she was afraid that if she left, her younger brother wouldn't be able to survive..." She said intermittently.

"So... she went to the night club ktv?" Li Chengyi had checked Qiu Chenyan's information and knew this.

"She said she wanted to earn more money while she was still around..." Zhou Xingtong's voice was a little choked up.

She lowered her head.

"I used to think she was joking... Later, she went to the night club, and I scolded her. But she was always smiling."

Tears dripped from her lowered head, hitting the lychees on the table, wetting the shells and making them darker.

"If there was really no other way, she wouldn't have chosen this path." Li Chengyi replied.

Qiu Chenyan's matter not only made Zhou Xingtong feel guilty, but it also touched him as well.

"I always thought it was fake. I thought she was joking." Zhou Xingtong covered her face with her hands.

(End of this chapter)