**Chapter 158: Ji Yunpei Takes the Blame**
“Hmm~! What are you doing! Ice cream… Wuwuwu, my ice cream!”
“Wah wah wah! Ancestor!”
Wang Ying’s cries rang out above Lu Family Manor like an ear-piercing air raid siren, soon gathering everyone in the manor into the small courtyard.
Seeing Wang Ying writhing on the ground like a bug that fell onto a burning hot frying pan, everyone froze in shock.
Following the direction of Wang Ying’s small finger, they saw the “Calamity” still clutching half a broken ice cream stick in its mouth, and everyone fell silent.
She really… bit through the ice cream stick.
Can it get any worse?
————
As early as the Stone Age, the cries of human infants were one of the most dangerous sounds in the world, because generally speaking, their mothers would be foraging within a hundred meters, while their fathers would be hunting about five kilometers away.
Once a human infant cried out, within a minute, its mother would appear, confronting whoever made her child cry and calling for reinforcements. Within five minutes, more than half the members of the infant’s clan would surround that person and send flint arrowheads into their body.
In modern times, the consequences of making a human infant cry are even more severe.
Although Wang Ying was not a genuine human infant, her cries, in some ways, had the same effect.
Clearly, Gu Qiqi did not realize this, as her bl**d sugar dropped below 2.8 mmol/L, causing sympathetic nervous excitation and brain cell hypoxia, leading her into a semi-comatose state.
In short, she was fainting from hunger.
As she consumed half the ice cream, her energy was slightly replenished, and her consciousness gradually cleared. She lifted her head and saw the “Hell Scroll”.
Three tall figures and one small figure surrounded her, eyeing her like hungry wolves.
Xuan Ying Luo Fu, dressed like a chef, held a kitchen kn*fe in one hand and an iron spoon in the other, her icy demeanor resembling a butcher looking at a large fish on the cutting board.
Ji Yunpei tilted her head to inspect, her face full of disdain, as if her gaze was saying, “How could I not notice before that you would even snatch a child’s ice cream?”
Qing Ji’s brows furrowed tightly, his face pale. Wang Ying snuggled against him, rubbing around, mixing snot and tears, leaving behind shimmering trails, occasionally looking tearfully at Gu Qiqi and raising her little hand, as if pointing out a criminal.
Seeing them gathered together as if to conduct a trial, the spirit energy fluctuations dissipated, causing the surrounding light and shadows to slightly distort.
As Gu Qiqi gradually regained her awareness, her breath hitched, and her heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
Some might think it was just half an ice cream, there was no need to make such a big deal out of it.
But Qing Ji and Xuan Ying Luo Fu didn’t think so.
To them, it was a matter of principle; if their child was wronged, it didn’t matter the size of the issue—whether it required seven wolves to discipline, they had to get their honor back.
Gu Qiqi didn’t think so either.
In her view, the gravity of the situation was even higher than it was to Qing Ji and Xuan Ying Luo Fu.
That was ice cream!
With an amazing flavor, a super soft texture, and large chunks of strawberry flesh added to it!
Such delicious ice cream must be super expensive, right? What a pity that she didn’t get to savor it properly…
For Gu Qiqi, such exquisitely made, delectable desserts were as precious as an A-Class urban legend core.
If someone tried to snatch the same ice cream from her, she would cry and throw a tantrum just like Wang Ying.
“Tell me, why did you take Wang Ying’s ice cream? If you don’t give me a satisfactory answer today, I’ll turn you into ice cream,” Qing Ji said coldly.
Upon hearing this, Gu Qiqi looked at Qing Ji, their eyes locking at one point. On such a hot day, she felt a chill run down her spine, and her body uncontrollably shivered.
At that moment, she had no doubt that Qing Ji would actually turn her into ice cream.
What kind of person with that terrifying gaze would not resort to anything?
Moreover, that guy bore a striking resemblance to the Calamity, and their cruelty was presumably similar.
“I-I didn’t snatch it; she gave it to me…” Gu Qiqi lowered her head and explained weakly, “I was just too hungry, and I accidentally… finished it.”
Upon hearing this, Xuan Ying Luo Fu froze momentarily, glancing at Ji Yunpei with the corner of her eye, and gently elbowed her, whispering, “You didn’t let her have any of those dishes before, did you?”
Ji Yunpei’s face flashed with embarrassment, blushing as she replied, “No, no, your cooking is too good. I accidentally… finished it all.”
Xuan Ying Luo Fu, “……” Didn’t I hear that somewhere before? Is it my imagination?
“Spurious arguments!” Qing Ji suddenly shouted, interrupting their exchange. He glared at Gu Qiqi and said, “You, an A-Class Spiritual Ability User, don’t get that hungry so easily?”
Usually, an A-Class Spiritual Ability User would not experience significant hunger even after not eating for ten days or half a month, so Qing Ji instinctively thought Gu Qiqi was making excuses.
However, Gu Qiqi was not a typical A-Class Spiritual Ability User.
For her, missing a meal could lead to panic.
“Senior has a point,” Xuan Ying Luo Fu echoed. “I’ve seen Spiritual Ability Users go days without food and still be just fine.”
“Why not…” Ji Yunpei suggested timidly, “just turn her into ice cream?”
As soon as her words fell, they heard a sobbing sound.
The sobbing was faint, as if it was being suppressed with great effort, but the emotions contained within were much deeper than Wang Ying’s heart-wrenching cries.
Gu Qiqi’s eyes widened, and tears began to well up, although her long and thick eyelashes temporarily held back the tears, creating a thin, crystal-clear curtain that obscured her eyes.
Her entire small face tensed up, her pale lips trembled, but she could not produce a sound, as if she were on the verge of d*ath, undergoing great pain, with waves of sourness surging from deep within her chest, almost making her burst into tears.
She understood the logic of having to accept punishment for making a mistake and was ready to apologize to Wang Ying.
However, when Ji Yunpei’s voice echoed in her ear, and the figure of the system flashed through her mind, she suddenly lost control of her emotions.
Gu Qiqi suddenly thought of the time shortly after she met the system.
Back then, she hadn’t succeeded in drawing spirit patterns, and even the weakest urban legends were difficult for her, while the system was also very weak. When they encountered a newly transformed urban legend, a large black dog, they had to run away from it.
Yet, even then, when she finally hunted her first urban legend and held the D-Rank core in her hands, feeling joyful, it was abruptly snatched away by another urban legend. The system still rushed to help her, fighting that urban legend until it was covered in wounds.
Gu Qiqi had never doubted why something like a system could manifest a physical form and battle with urban legends.
She only remembered the care and protection the system gave her.
And at that moment, the system had just fallen into a deep sleep when she was bullied time and again, leaving an obvious psychological gap.
With her thick nerves, she could normally tolerate such a gap, but at that moment, she heard the voice of the “system”…
So, she cried like a child who had suffered an enormous grievance outside, holding back her tears until she got home and saw her parents, and all her strength instantly crumbled.
Noticing Gu Qiqi’s reaction, the others present were suddenly at a loss.
Although she didn’t make a sound, it was clear that strong sadness was drawn from her body, thread by thread, seeping from every pore, creating a painful web that enveloped everyone.
Noticing this, Qing Ji’s peripheral vision slowly drifted towards Xuan Ying Luo Fu, who froze for a moment. Then, she shook her head vigorously like a rattle drum and pointed at Ji Yunpei.
Feeling two gazes suddenly land on her, Ji Yunpei was taken aback and pointed at her own nose with wide eyes.
You both don’t think the responsibility for this lies with me, do you?
Indeed, Qing Ji and Xuan Ying Luo Fu both nodded in agreement.
Ji Yunpei, “???”
Just as the three were engaged in silent communication, completely oblivious to the situation, Wang Ying finally noticed the tears in Gu Qiqi’s eyes.
She tilted her small head in confusion, wiped her face of tears and snot on Qing Ji’s shoulder, and then raised a hand, pointing to Gu Qiqi, saying in a cute voice, “Ancestor, she’s crying! Did you guys bully her just now?”
As soon as this was said, Gu Qiqi, who was already on the brink of collapse, suddenly burst into tears like a bomb that had been ignited.
“Wuwuwu——! No one wants me! I’m so pathetic!”
“Wah——! But I’m really hungry!”
“Wuwuwu! I’ll pay you back for the ice cream, why do you have to bully me?”
Just like in kindergarten, when one child started to cry, the others quickly followed suit without knowing why. Shortly after Gu Qiqi cried out, Wang Ying’s cries, which had just subsided, reignited.
“Wuwuwu wah——!”
Qing Ji, Xuan Ying Luo Fu, Ji Yunpei, “……”
They hadn’t intended to really hurt Gu Qiqi; they just wanted to scare her a little to help Wang Ying reclaim her dignity, completely unprepared for such a situation.
Wasn’t she the imposter caught by Luxianbei (Wang Buliu, Miss Lan Yi)?
I heard she was the leader of the desert pig bandits, and an A-Class Spiritual Ability User at that…
She shouldn’t be this fragile!
The legendary Imposter Calamity, the infamous leader of the desert pig bandit group, supposed to be a cruel and sinister high-level Spiritual Ability User, ended up crying like two kids quarreling over a trivial matter. It felt somewhat surreal.
Everyone was momentarily at a loss.
The first to snap back to reality was Qing Ji. He put down Wang Ying and suddenly performed a movement technique, disappearing from the spot with a swish.
His speed was so fast that it left a series of afterimages behind.
Noticing Qing Ji fleeing, Xuan Ying Luo Fu hesitated for a moment, glanced at Ji Yunpei out of the corner of her eye, and subtly took a step back. Seeing that Ji Yunpei didn’t notice, she took a step back again, and then another step… until she slowly retreated and disappeared into the small building behind her.
A few seconds later.
When Ji Yunpei finally came to her senses, she suddenly realized that the courtyard only had her and the two crying children, who were now completely uncommunicative.
Ji Yunpei, “……”
Already weak in nature, she suddenly felt an urge to cry when looking at the two.
————
On the other hand, in the back room, Luxianbei was completely unaware that the courtyard of the Lu Family Manor in the God Realm Prototype had turned into the scene of the “Storm Crying Competition.”
Because, as she severed her connection with Wang Ying and adjusted her emotions, Nanling Yaohua woke up…
