Chapter Fourteen: Ah, how did you know?

Ding-dong!

“Congratulations, Host! You have drawn a Healing Elixir!”

This time, Lin Fan’s mood had improved noticeably. Though he wasn’t too concerned with negative emotion points, getting nothing at all from the draws was disheartening. Now that he’d drawn a healing elixir—something produced by the system, and thus guaranteed to be top-tier—he was quite satisfied. Of course, that “top-tier” label didn’t extend to the other less dignified items he’d sometimes received.

He immediately tried three more draws, but it seemed his luck had run dry. The results were even worse than spicy skewers or hotpot—he didn’t win a single thing. Only then did he remember that it was possible to come up empty-handed in these draws.

Fortunately, on his fifth attempt, he won a Greater Body-Refining Fruit. He was puzzled as to how this differed from the regular Body-Refining Fruit.

The system helpfully provided a note: the Greater Body-Refining Fruit was ten times more effective than the normal one. That made him quite pleased, since just this one Greater Fruit recouped the ten thousand negative emotion points he had spent.

Lost in his satisfaction, Lin Fan soon found himself back at the Lin family’s gates. It was only then that he snapped out of his reverie. Turning to the guard, he said, “Go tell the family head I’ve returned. Tell him I’ll go to my room first to change my clothes—say I got some stray dog’s blood on me, so it’s not proper to meet guests just yet. And make sure you say this in front of the Bai family head.”

“Yes, young master!” The guard bowed and headed off toward the family’s main hall. Watching him leave, Lin Fan returned to his room, immediately taking out the Greater Body-Refining Fruit and swallowing it.

Boom!

A torrent of energy, dozens of times stronger than that from the previous fruit, surged through his body. If the last time had felt like soaking in a hot spring, this time it was more akin to bathing in dragon’s fire and taking a sauna—he broke out in an intense sweat.

For a moment, an overwhelming comfort washed over him, as if all his fatigue had melted away.

After just over ten seconds, the sensation faded completely.

“So, in the end, the Greater Body-Refining Fruit just gives you a few more seconds of bliss compared to the regular one? It’s the difference between a public bath and a private sauna?” Lin Fan opened his eyes, blinking as he couldn’t help but complain yet again.

“Negative emotion points from Bai Xuefeng, +999!”
“Negative emotion points from Bai Shaotian, +999!”

Suddenly, two notifications popped up, leaving Lin Fan momentarily stunned before he broke into a smile. “What wonderful people—two thousand negative emotion points just like that. Seems these messages don’t have to appear right in front of me, but rather within a certain distance!”

Lin Fan was in no hurry to leave his room. Instead, he enjoyed a long, luxurious bath, changed into fresh clothes, and took out the Divine Breaker Crossbow from his system space. He examined it for a while, though he’d need to test its power later, so he stored it in his spatial ring.

At the same time, he purchased twelve more Body-Refining Fruits.

By the time he finished all this, more than an hour had passed. During that time, the Bai family head Bai Xuefeng and his eldest son Bai Shaotian had provided several more waves of negative emotion points.

Though none reached the previous 999, they still hit at least 666 each time, making Lin Fan marvel at how utterly reliable these two were.

He almost felt like following them online!

Lin Fan eventually strolled out and made his way to the Lin family’s council hall. As soon as he entered, he felt four sharp gazes latch onto him, thick with murderous intent.

Following their line of sight, he saw a middle-aged man and a young man in his twenties seated below the head seat. It didn’t take a genius to realize these were the Bai family head and his eldest son, Bai Shaotian. Such intense hostility was almost endearing—he hoped these two would always maintain this “friendly” animosity.

Sure enough, as their killing intent rose, the barrage of notifications in Lin Fan’s mind followed suit.

“Negative emotion points from Bai Xuefeng: +456, 394, 627...”
“Negative emotion points from Bai Shaotian: +278, 324, 558...”

Acting as if he hadn’t noticed their existence at all, Lin Fan bowed to Lin Xiong, who sat at the head seat, and said, “Father, I’m here.”

“Mm, you’re here, have a seat,” Lin Xiong nodded. He actually knew Lin Fan had already reached the ninth stage of body refinement—Lin Fan had told him he’d consumed a Body-Refining Fruit, and he had no doubt about Bai family’s claim that Lin Fan had injured Bai Shaoming.

Still, he wanted to see how his son would handle the situation.

Once Lin Fan was seated, Lin Xiong asked, “Fan’er, according to the Bai family head, you injured his second son, Bai Shaoming. Is this true?”

“It is. But Bai Shaoming provoked me first, insulted me, and was the first to attack. He was simply outmatched and so was seriously injured by me,” Lin Fan replied with a calm smile, showing neither panic nor denial.

He knew his father wouldn’t actually punish him—though his father had once been distant, when Lin Fan regained his memories from his past life, he also relived those from this one, even those from infancy. He naturally understood the reason behind his father’s former coldness.

“Nonsense! Just because he was outmatched, you crippled him?” Bai Shaotian leapt to his feet, eyes blazing with murderous intent as he glared at Lin Fan. “And what about the three Bai family guards whose arms you severed, and the one whose ribs you broke? By your logic, if we had a contest and you lost, would it be all right for me to kill you?”

“Sorry, and you are...? Why are you barking like that stray dog Bai Shaoming?” Lin Fan tilted his head, looking at Bai Shaotian with a confused expression, as if he didn’t even know who he was.

Bai Shaotian, seething, replied, “I am Bai Shaotian, eldest son of the Bai family, and you—”

“Sorry, not interested in who you are,” Lin Fan cut him off with a wave of his hand before he could finish.

He then turned to Bai Xuefeng, the Bai family head, and smiled. “And you must be Uncle Bai? I deeply regret injuring Bai Shaoming. How about this: when my Lin family distributes next month’s salary, I’ll use my silver tael reward as compensation for Bai Shaoming. Will that suffice?”

“You—!”

Bai Shaotian was even more angered by Lin Fan’s dismissive manner and wanted to speak again, but his father, Bai Xuefeng, stopped him.

He could only sit back down, fuming, his glare fixed on Lin Fan.

“Family Head Lin, is your son’s attitude indicative of the Lin family’s stance?” Bai Xuefeng fixed Lin Fan with a deep look, the murderous aura in his eyes now withdrawn, and turned to Lin Xiong with a voice heavy with implication and veiled threat.

“Oh? How did you know?” Lin Xiong looked momentarily abashed, as though Bai Xuefeng had guessed his true thoughts, and seemed a bit embarrassed.

Bai Xuefeng: “???”

By Bai Xuefeng’s calculation, such an interrogation would force Lin Xiong to prioritize the greater good, apologize, offer compensation, or at least say something conciliatory to protect his son. Yet Lin Xiong’s response, along with his sheepish demeanor, left him completely at a loss.

Pfft—

Seeing his father’s expression, Lin Fan couldn’t help but snicker. For the first time, he realized how infuriating his father could be. Could it be that his own irreverence in this life was the result of growing up under this man’s roof?

Of course, another reason for his laughter was the constant barrage of notifications:

“Negative emotion points from Bai Xuefeng: +234, +457, +687...”
“Negative emotion points from Bai Shaotian: +163, +325, +541...”

“Hmph! Family Head Lin, you’d best take care!” Bai Xuefeng gave a cold snort, his tone icy, and without waiting for a reply, swept out with Bai Shaotian in tow.

After Bai Xuefeng had completely left, Lin Xiong turned back to Lin Fan, chiding him with a laugh, “You little rascal, stirring up trouble for me again.”

“So what if I do? Are we Lin family supposed to be afraid of the Bai family? As long as our old patriarch still draws breath, none of the three great families will dare make the first move against us.”

Lin Fan grinned. As long as the Lin family patriarch was alive and his strength unconfirmed, none of the three families would dare act rashly.

“That may be true, but when it comes to business or the mines, the Bai family has the upper hand. We’ll suffer for it, since our core strength just isn’t as great as theirs,” Lin Xiong nodded. His earlier attitude had, in fact, boxed the Bai family in, ensuring they wouldn’t dare move openly against the Lin family.