Chapter 246: Chapter 179 Bitter Vegetable Manor
It turned out his wife was right. Under combat conditions, the Paper Maiden Li Banfeng printed couldn’t last a minute before disintegrating.
In fact, it was far from a minute. Li Banfeng had timed it with his Pocket Watch: standing perfectly still, doing nothing, the Paper Maiden could last for fifteen minutes.
Doing some chores, it could last for three and a half minutes.
In hand-to-hand combat, it lasted roughly fifteen to twenty seconds.
When using bladed Weapons, it was about ten to fifteen seconds.
The duration was indeed short, but the Paper Maiden could certainly fight. Its specific combat power depended on Li Banfeng’s intent.
If the infused intent was gentler, the paper figure could perform simple actions like punching or stabbing.
If the infused intent was more intense, the paper figure could even demonstrate a certain degree of Martial Arts, but it would disintegrate even faster.
Clock Pendulum advised, "Master, you should still learn drawing skills with me. These shortcut methods are too unreliable."
"I need to learn drawing skills, but this method is also quite useful." Li Banfeng bought a quantity of brushes and paints. While learning drawing techniques from Clock Pendulum, he also trained the paper figures created through inscription copying, striving to maximize their combat potential within their limited operational time.
Neither task was easy. Li Banfeng gathered all necessary supplies and went to New Land for secluded training.
While walking, Li Banfeng suddenly muttered to himself:
"Have you forgotten something?"
"What?"
"Weren’t you going back to Yuezhou?"
"That’s not urgent anymore."
"Why isn’t it urgent?"
"He’s still in Yuezhou. I don’t know what he’s planning. If I go back now, I’m afraid I’ll be no match for him."
...
In Yuezhou, Dark Star Bureau agent Zou Guoming, also known as Big Head, was at home eating a meal cooked by his wife.
Big Head’s wife, Miao Ruifang, was an excellent cook. She was adept at managing the household, thrifty, and very considerate.
However, since losing her job, Miao Ruifang’s temperament had changed somewhat.
Halfway through the meal, she suddenly put down her chopsticks and said to Big Head, "Let’s sell the house."
"Why?" Big Head was taken aback.
Owning a 103-square-meter house in Yuezhou had been Big Head’s sole source of pride for many years.
Miao Ruifang said, "Our child starts middle school next year. We either need to get a house in a good school district or send them to a private school. We can’t just make do like we did for elementary school."
The salary from the Dark Star Bureau wasn’t low. Even with his wife unemployed, the family lived quite comfortably.
But the tuition fees for private schools in Yuezhou were staggeringly high.
As for houses in good school districts, their prices were enough to make one despair.
Big Head looked at his wife. "I’ll figure something out for the school placement," he said.
"What can you figure out? You said you’d figure something out for elementary school. What did you come up with then?"
When their child was starting elementary school, the Bureau had promised to apply for a spot for him in a key elementary school.
The spot was ultimately secured, but for various reasons, it wasn’t given to Big Head’s child.
The Bureau’s explanation to Big Head was the need to "consider the bigger picture."
The Bureau had also promised to apply for a middle school spot. But what if they asked him to "consider the bigger picture" again?
"I have the night shift tonight, so I have to go," Big Head said, putting down his chopsticks and donning his jacket.
"Didn’t you just have the night shift yesterday?"
"It’s unexpected overtime today."
"I really don’t know what kind of work you actually do!"
In over a decade of marriage, his wife had never visited Big Head’s workplace, nor had she often asked about his job. She only knew he worked at an electronics company, but she couldn’t understand why an electronics company would require frequent night shifts.
Since she didn’t understand, she didn’t press the issue. With a sullen face, his wife cleared the table while Big Head, head lowered, left the house.
He didn’t actually have a night shift today. Big Head went to Flower Lake Park.
When he reached the area behind the Western-style building, he once again saw the sobbing woman.
Hu Lishan, the woman who had drowned herself in the lake—was she still here?
She hadn’t been here for a long time—neither her corpse nor her Lost Soul remained.
Only a mark remained, one He Jiaqing had left for Big Head, visible only to him. Seeing the sobbing woman allowed him to find the entrance to New Land.
Big Head followed the woman step by step into the lake. Unlike the last time, he had come prepared.
He brought an oxygen bag, ensuring he could last for twenty minutes.
He knew how to leave New Land. If he couldn’t hold on, he had an escape route.
Diving into the icy water, Big Head found a loach in the mud at the bottom of the lake.
He carefully pulled the loach from the mud, estimating its length to be about twelve or thirteen centimeters.
This type of loach could increase a man’s ’length’ by five or six centimeters. No surgery was needed. One only had to eat it.
Big Head had once worked a case involving someone bringing these loaches from Puluo State to sell on the black market. A single loach could fetch up to eight hundred thousand. The case eventually went cold, but Big Head knew where the black market was and who to contact to sell them.
I’m just doing a bit of business, he thought. I caught the loach myself; I’ll sell it. It’s no big deal.
One loach wouldn’t buy a house in a school district, but it’s certainly enough for three years of private school tuition.
Clutching the loach, Big Head was about to surface when the previously docile creature suddenly thrashed with surprising strength. It wriggled free from his grasp and viciously bit him.
A wave of intense pain shot through him, and his body began to go numb. His head struck the surface of the lake as if it were solid rock.
He couldn’t break through the water’s surface.
I can’t get out!
Panic rising, Big Head didn’t know what to do. Although he had been to New Land before, this environment was still far too strange for him.
Suddenly, a hole appeared on the lake’s surface. A hand reached down, grabbed Big Head by his clothes, and pulled him up.
It was He Jiaqing.
"I’m a patient! I should be lying in a hospital bed, not constantly running out to save you!" He Jiaqing exclaimed, then looked at the wound on Big Head’s hand. "What were you trying to catch that loach for?"