Chapter 60 Taking Stock of the Spoils

"You truly live up to your reputation as a night owl, staying up so late?" Lin Xiao squatted down and rubbed its furry head.

Little White instantly turned around, nudging the backpack strap with its damp nose.

"Woof!"
(Big Boss, please help me out~)

Those round, dark eyes shimmered with moisture under the streetlamp, its ears drooping slightly from the heavy load.

Understanding immediately, Lin Xiao untied the backpack and held it in his hand. Usually, Little White was as swift as the wind when delivering messages, but today it had deliberately waited for him, which meant it must be taking back a reply.

He unlocked the back door of the shop and led Little White inside.

Walking into the bedroom, Lin Xiao couldn't help laughing. "I bet your master fell asleep long ago. You're quite the hardworking little messenger..."

But the next moment, his voice trailed off completely.

Neatly stacked inside the backpack were three thick exercise books. Every page was filled with elegant handwriting, yet the corners were so pristine they weren't curled in the slightest.

Lin Xiao flipped through them at random and found that even the most complex calculus problems had detailed calculation steps listed below them.

"No way? Are you playing for real?" Lin Xiao asked in astonishment.

How long had it been since these three exercise books were handed to Yang Shubai, and she had already finished every single one of them?

It seemed she was truly putting her back into studying, eager to master the technique of crafting transcendent gear herself as soon as possible.

Lin Xiao continued flipping through the workbook and noticed a few out-of-syllabus questions marked with tiny question marks, accompanied by a small sticky note.

He pulled out the note. On it, Yang Shubai had written in delicate script: "Page 37, Question 5, Page 89, Example... Please guide me~"

At the bottom, she had even drawn a little doodle of a person with hands pressed together in a plea.

Lin Xiao smiled wryly and wrote down the problem-solving approaches in the blank spaces of the exercise book.

As his pen scratched softly across the paper, Little White sat obediently at his feet, occasionally sweeping its tail against his trouser leg, as if urging him on or simply keeping him company.

After finishing the exercises, Lin Xiao pulled out another sheet of stationery and briefly described how he had used a Tier 4 transcendent material—the five-thousand-year-old Holy Spirit Wood—to craft a Tier 4 piece of equipment and a Tier 5 piece of equipment.

In the letter, he asked Yang Shubai if there was any aspect that could be further improved.

"All done." Lin Xiao stuffed the exercise books and the letter back into the backpack.

"Woof!"
(Thanks for your hard work, Big Boss! I'm heading back now!)

Little White hoisted the backpack back onto its shoulders, fully prepped for departure.

"Wait a moment!" Lin Xiao retrieved a small box from the drawer by his bedside.

Little White tilted its head in confusion. "Woof?"
(What is this for?)

"A little gift for you!" Lin Xiao said with a smile.

Before the box was even unwrapped, Little White spun around in three circles on the spot. "Woof, woof, woof! Woof, woof, woof!"
(Thank you, Big Boss! I love your gifts the most! You are the best person in the entire world!)

That joyful appearance made it seem as though it had received the most precious treasure in the world, even though it had no idea what was inside the box...

Lin Xiao: "..."

Damn, I'm so envious. I really want a cat like this.

However, Little White possessed a dog-like loyalty, so it probably couldn't be lured away, right?

Lin Xiao pulled a delicate silver clip from his pocket. Unlike a document binder or a women's hair clip, this was clearly a specially crafted clip featuring a pair of rounded "counter-teeth," yet designed with a special soft padding.

"Head down," Lin Xiao said with a smile.

Little White tilted its head and inquisitively leaned closer.

Lin Xiao squeezed the clip open and gently attached it to the soft fur at the back of its neck, exerting just the right amount of pressure to simulate the sensation of a mother cat gently carrying her kitten.

"Whimper..."

Little White suddenly let out a prolonged, soft hum, its round eyes instantly misting over.

Its limbs relaxed involuntarily, and its tail dropped tamely—a manifestation of the deep-seated sense of security encoded in its genes being awakened.

In a daze, it felt as though it had returned to the days of its youth when its mother would carry it by the scruff of the neck to a safe location.

The next second, Little White sprang back to life, joyously trotting in circles around Lin Xiao and rubbing its furry head against his trouser leg.

"Woof, woof! Woof~ Woof~ Woof!"
(This gift is amazing! I love you so much!)

It even rolled over onto its back, exposing its soft belly while its tail swept a small fan shape across the floor.

Lin Xiao chuckled and reached out to remove the clip. "Let me take this off for you first, you can wear it again when you get back."

To his surprise, Little White gave a start, flipped over, and hopped backward, defensively guarding the back of its neck.

"Woof! Woof!"
(Don't take it off! Just leave it like this! Leave it!)

Resolute determination filled its large eyes, leaving Lin Xiao with no choice but to indulge it and bid it a smiling farewell.

Watching Little White's figure bounce away into the night—carrying a large school bag and wearing a small silver clip on the back of its neck—Lin Xiao couldn't help but laugh softly.

"It seems it really does love it!"

Lin Xiao locked the door, returned to his bedroom, and collapsed onto the bed.

The moment his head hit the pillow, his heavy eyelids closed uncontrollably.

Two consecutive nights of intense tension and sleep deprivation had finally pushed his body to its limit.

Yet—consciousness transfer!

Almost the instant he plunged into sleep, his consciousness immediately shifted into the phantom clone he had prepared in advance.

Phantom Lin Xiao picked up the black backpack reeking of gunpowder residue, walked over to the safe, entered the combination, and swung the door open.

Inside, neat stacks of banknotes exuded the scent of ink. Even after deducting this month's rent and other expenses, there was still nearly sixty thousand yuan remaining.

Although he had closed the shop frequently over the past few days, he had still gradually sold seventy gourmet memory experiences, bringing in a total of thirty-five thousand yuan.

Out of the original four hundred gourmet memory experiences, two hundred fifty-six had now been consumed, leaving only one hundred forty-four.

He should have been worrying about how to make money next, but tonight had yielded a bountiful harvest of spoils.

Lin Xiao unzipped the backpack. Inside lay four hundred forty thousand yuan in total—the blood money of the Cross-Eyed Man.

He wasn't hypocritical enough to consider this dirty money and reject it due to moral flaws; that would be utterly brainless.

However, Lin Xiao didn't intend to keep all of it for himself. He planned to donate one hundred thousand yuan to the orphanage that Yue Chongguang had always sponsored.

Huang Lingzhao, who had survived the valley, and several other children had grown up right there.

Lin Xiao still remembered that when he bought Yue Chongguang's painful memories last time, he had scored a massive bargain; now, he would use the money from Jin Baolai to make amends.

Additionally, he planned to set aside seventy thousand yuan to build a new gravesite for the Cross-Eyed Man's deceased daughter.

The Cross-Eyed Man was no good, but his daughter truly was a good child, heartbreakingly so.

The poor girl didn't even have a proper burial plot, and her wooden gravestone was on the verge of rotting away entirely. Lin Xiao wanted to do something for her.

After allocating these two sums, Lin Xiao kept the remaining two hundred seventy thousand yuan, feeling much more at ease inside.

He certainly wouldn't complain about having too much money, nor would he worry about not being able to spend it.

He already knew that in this world, money could, to a certain extent, be omnipotent.

After all, this was currency issued with the endorsement of the Heavenly Dao Divine Palace, and it could be used directly to purchase transcendent power.

Lin Xiao locked the safe and began taking stock of his remaining Source Energy: 156 points!

How had it accumulated so much?

After acquiring Yue Chongguang's painful memories, his Source Energy had instantly surged to 95 points.

However, it had subsequently entered a period of continuous decline: the network environment and surveillance cameras had consumed 5 points;

After discovering the threat posed by the Cross-Eyed Man and his associates, copying reconnaissance drones and other equipment cost another 5 points;

Replicating Madam Lu's clear noodle soup cost 1 point;

And finally, during tonight's actual combat against Zhang Kui, he temporarily spent 3 points of Source Energy to replicate a rocket launcher and a thermobaric bomb.

This had temporarily caused his Source Energy to drop to 81 points.

Yet the painful memories harvested from the Cross-Eyed Man and Zhang Kui once again caused Lin Xiao's Source Energy to skyrocket.

Zhang Kui's painful memories granted Lin Xiao 45 points of Source Energy, while the Cross-Eyed Man's painful memories provided 30 points.

This outcome confirmed a hypothesis Lin Xiao had formed: the intensity of the Source Energy contained within a memory amber was related to three factors:

1. His own transcendent level, which determined the baseline amount of Source Energy.
2. The transcendent level of the owner of the painful memory.
3. The degree of pain contained within the memory.

Zhang Kui's memories were noticeably less painful than the Cross-Eyed Man's, but because his transcendent level was higher, his Source Energy yielded more than the Cross-Eyed Man's.

Lin Xiao couldn't help marveling, "It seems that if I want to accelerate my accumulation of Source Energy, I must interact more with powerful individuals."

Thinking of how Yue Chongguang's memory last time had provided 85 points of Source Energy, Lin Xiao suddenly found a question popping into his mind:

Just how strong was Yue Chongguang?