Chapter 48: Brief Leisure

[Sacred Geometry: Would you like to clear all traces of combat and erase all surveillance records?]

"Yes."

Mo Xuanyu cast one last glance at Yan Geng's corpse, then turned and left, closing the private room door behind him.

Under the interference of the World Will, all traces of Mo Xuanyu would be completely erased.

Yan Geng's death was rewritten by the World Will as a suicide.

In a sense, that wasn't entirely wrong. After all, he was the one who pulled the trigger, and Mo Xuanyu had only instinctively deflected the bullet.

For someone who had just returned from the fierce battles of the arena, the fact that Mo Xuanyu managed to restrain himself from going back to stab Yan Geng a couple more times was already commendable.

He retrieved his phone from Sacred Geometry, sat down on a park bench, and began checking what had happened during his absence.

The passage of time in the two worlds seemed to be consistent, with only a time difference of about three hours.

During the time he was missing, the police had published news of his disappearance, hoping to get useful clues, but naturally, that yielded nothing.

Many people felt a deep sense of regret over this, as Mo Xuanyu could be said to be the strongest healing-type esper of the contemporary era, and his disappearance directly left several people with terminal conditions without hope.

As for the Mo family and the Mo Corporation, during the time Mo Xuanyu was gone, they had gone completely bankrupt.

After all, the only person Yan Geng ever cared about was Mo Xuanyu. Once Mo Xuanyu vanished, he naturally showed no kindness to the members of the Mo family.

Yan Geng had even vented his anger regarding Mo Xuanyu's disappearance onto them, resulting in the Mo Corporation being liquidated while still owing a massive mountain of debt.

Now, instead of living a bourgeois lifestyle after bankruptcy, they found it difficult even to secure basic food and clothing.

Because the court had already confiscated and sealed all their hidden assets accumulated over the years, if they failed to repay the money, all their luxury cars and mansions would be put up for auction together.

Mo Xuanyu turned off his phone and walked back to the entrance of his villa.

The police had sealed the place off as a crime scene, forbidding anyone from entering.

He had no intention of living here anymore.

Because right now, crouching at his doorstep was a person—his eldest brother—sound asleep against the wall.

Clearly, he had stayed up all night waiting here for Mo Xuanyu, until he simply couldn't hold on any longer.

Mo Xuanyu went back inside the house to pack some belongings, then emerged carrying a suitcase, wearing a black fisherman's hat, and hailed a cab on the street without giving the other man so much as an extra glance.

"Good evening, sir. Where to?"

"Roland District."

Mo Xuanyu sat in the backseat, the brim of his hat shielding his eyes and revealing only his fair chin.

Although the car's built-in screen was broadcasting his missing person notice, the driver failed to recognize his identity.

The Roland District he was heading to was an area of affordable housing. Many students coming to study in the capital loved living there because of the cheap rent and good public security.

The only drawback was probably that most of the houses here were rather old, densely packed together, and the rooms were relatively small.

Following the address in his memory, Mo Xuanyu arrived at a three-story student apartment building and located Room 203.

This was the place rented by Mo Xuanyu's close friend, Rong Qin, who had been his high school classmate and later admitted to the same Capital University, excelling in his studies.

Before entering Sacred Geometry, Mo Xuanyu had entrusted an Alaskan Malamute named "Hal" to his care.

At that time, he was worried that once he entered Sacred Geometry, he might never return.

Knock, knock.

Mo Xuanyu tapped on the door, but there was no response from inside. Was he not home?

"Woof, woof!" Suddenly, the sound of a human talking to a dog drifted up the stairwell.

"I'm saying... Hal, your stamina is just too incredible! I honestly can't imagine how Xuanyu managed to walk you every single day in the past. He must have been exhausted to death, right?"

A handsome teenager wearing a hoodie and pulling an Alaskan Malamute climbed up the iron-framed stairs.

Judging by his panting, he seemed quite tired.

When he looked up and saw Mo Xuanyu, however, he forgot to breathe for a split second, staring blankly at the figure standing at his doorway.

Seeing this, Mo Xuanyu couldn't help but smile, tilting his head slightly. "Long time no see, Rong Qin."

The winter wind in the capital after the start of winter was chilly and desolate, but Rong Qin felt as though the blood in his entire body had begun to boil, his eye sockets gradually turning moist.

He's... he's alive!!

"Awooo, awooo!"

Hal rushed toward Mo Xuanyu a step ahead of him. The bulky, giant-furred dog sprinted like a deep-sea torpedo.

"Alright, alright, don't get too excited." Mo Xuanyu stroked Hal's head.

"Uh... well... Xuanyu, I, I, I..." Rong Qin was a bit incoherent, not knowing what to say.

"Rest assured, I'm still alive." Mo Xuanyu smiled at him, smoothly soothing the other's nervous and excited emotions.

"Shall we go inside and talk?"

"Okay!"

Rong Qin hurriedly opened the door. Inside was a single-person apartment. The space wasn't large, but fortunately, it faced the sun, so the lighting was quite good.

Hal trotted around Mo Xuanyu's feet, and seeing this, Rong Qin opened a canned meat for him, which finally quieted the dog down so he could focus on devouring his meal.

Mo Xuanyu also sat down at the small table in the room, while Rong Qin poured him a glass of water and then sat nearby, looking somewhat constrained.

"Um... I don't know if I should ask." Rong Qin hesitated.

"Perhaps it's better not to ask." Mo Xuanyu picked up the water glass and took a sip.

"Some secrets, I cannot tell."

Hearing this, Rong Qin was stunned for a moment, then nodded earnestly. "I understand, Xuanyu. I won't be curious about things I shouldn't know."

"It's just... what are your plans for the future?"

He was a smart person. The moment he saw Mo Xuanyu carrying a suitcase, he realized that Mo Xuanyu had already prepared to leave the Mo family behind.

"If you need to, I can help you. I saved around 300,000 during my school years."

Rong Qin was clearly worried that Mo Xuanyu would be short on money after being declared missing and refusing to return to the Mo family.

After all, the Mo family had already gone bankrupt, and his bank accounts had long since been frozen.

He knew Mo Xuanyu had lived the life of a wealthy person since childhood, and his little bit of money probably couldn't even compare to a single watch of Mo Xuanyu's.

Yet, he still hoped to help his friend as much as possible—at least he couldn't let Mo Xuanyu sleep on the streets and eat in the wind! The very thought made him feel distressed.

Mo Xuanyu was quite surprised by this.

Then, he gently shook his head, his voice soft and tender.

"Don't worry, you don't need to fret over me. A long time ago, I opened an anonymous account in the Federation with quite a lot of money stored inside, which is more than enough for my future life."

"Is that so... alright then." Rong Qin looked somewhat disappointed.

He felt the gap between himself and Mo Xuanyu was simply too vast, to the point where he couldn't help him with anything at all.

"Right, thank you for taking care of Hal for me during this time."

Mo Xuanyu fumbled through his suitcase, but actually retrieved a gift bag from his storage space and handed it to Rong Qin.

"A small gift, accept it."

"For me?" Rong Qin took it happily and opened the gift bag to find a delicate red and white intertwined hand-woven rope inside.

Symbol of Friendship
Equipment Description: Do you have family or friends who need protection? Then this equipment is definitely suitable for you. This is a piece of gear custom-crafted for ordinary mortals.
Quality: Green
Equipping Effect: Before wearing it, the Chosen One can inject a portion of their own power into the hand rope to form a projection and seal it within.
Once the wearer encounters a crisis, the projection will automatically release and protect the wearer, while simultaneously notifying the Chosen One who injected the power.

This was something Mo Xuanyu had specifically bought at the trading market before returning to his native world.

He had injected three slashes of his prime-condition strength into it, which had reached the equipment's maximum limit.

In his native world, barring any freak accidents, this piece of equipment was definitely sufficient to protect an ordinary person.

"Thank you, Xuanyu! I'm sorry, I really don't have any decent gifts here. Are you hungry? How about I cook you something to eat?"

Rong Qin looked at the braided rope with fondness and couldn't put it down.

"Sure." Mo Xuanyu nodded gently while stroking Hal, who was dozing off after eating his fill.

"Let me check the fridge..."

Rong Qin poked his head out of the kitchen. "Do you like beef noodles?"

"Will it be very spicy?"

"It's tomato-based."

"Then I like it."

He had long since lost any sense of having eaten breakfast, and Mo Xuanyu indeed felt hungry. He couldn't handle spicy food very well, which was why he specifically asked.

Without making Mo Xuanyu wait too long, Rong Qin soon walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of beef noodles, topped with so much beef it was overflowing, steaming hot and exuding a rich aroma.

The beef was braised by Rong Qin himself, and the noodles were hand-rolled by him as well. If Mo Xuanyu were to rate it, Rong Qin's culinary skills easily deserved a score of 9 out of 10 in his book.

Of course, part of this might also be due to Mo Xuanyu returning to his native world.

After all, when people stay in a familiar environment, their appetite always tends to be better.

Soon, the bowl of noodles was completely finished by Mo Xuanyu, not even leaving the broth behind.

Looking at the empty bowl, Rong Qin felt that his cooking skills had gained the other's approval, making him very happy.

"Xuanyu, have you figured out where you're going to stay next?"

Rong Qin washed the bowl, glanced at the falling dusk outside the window, and grew worried again.

"Not yet..." Mo Xuanyu raised his hand to stretch lazily, looking unbothered.

"I plan to buy a boat ticket tomorrow and move to the Federation with Hal."

As he spoke, he took out his phone and began booking tickets.

With the help of Sacred Geometry, he successfully secured an anonymous first-class boat ticket.

"The Federation? I've heard it's really nice there, and the imperial family's influence definitely can't reach that far."

Rong Qin nodded in agreement. The current imperial environment was indeed far too troublesome for Mo Xuanyu; far too many people knew him.

Although he didn't know where Mo Xuanyu had gone during his disappearance, it was clear the other party no longer wanted to be tangled up in all that mess.

"I will keep this secret safe, I swear!" Rong Qin said earnestly.

Mo Xuanyu nodded. "Mm, I believe you."

Rong Qin felt a slight blush of embarrassment.

"Right, can I crash at your place for the night? I can just sleep on the couch. I heard the sanitation in the hotels around Roland District isn't very good..."

Mo Xuanyu sat on the soft cushion, holding Hal who had burrowed into his arms, blinked, and looked up at Rong Qin.

Hearing this, the other froze, and then a flush visibly spread across his face as he stammered, flustered,