Jin Bao ignored what happened at Huangkou Hospital and headed straight home after leaving.
This time, he did not use the automatic navigation mode but switched to manual holography, slowing down to appreciate the scenery along the way.
It’s worth mentioning that when he boarded the anti-gravity car, he used the car’s communication system to contact Qin Yan and Ye Cang’s group.
They had just boarded the plane when they received the call, and it had only been 40 minutes since Xiao Man left the cultivation conference.
Upon learning that the mysterious expert had already eliminated the menace, everyone was too shocked to speak and only came back to their senses after Xiao Man reminded them.
Qin Yan was especially grateful, his voice choked with emotion.
Xiao Man declined Mr. Ye’s request to meet immediately and arranged to see each other the day after tomorrow.
He was a bit tired now, having been constantly on the move recently, and although he was curious about the Dragon Sleep Stone, he still reserved some leisure time for himself.
The events of the day had indeed been numerous, from upgrading his anti-gravity car in the beginning, to the trip to Anling, attending the cultivation exchange conference, and finally slaying the Blood Butterfly.
In just a half day, Xiao Man had checked in at three different places across the country.
The root cause of all this was the upgrade of the anti-gravity car. Clearly, no matter when, transportation is always the first element affecting efficiency.
Although located in Jiangbei, it boasted scenery superior to Jiangnan, renowned as the foremost city along the Huaxia Canal, with the ancient poem describing it: "The famous city to the left of the Huai River, Zhu Xi’s beautiful place."
Even though the peak season for Qionghua blossoms had passed, the willow shade grew denser, deep green like ink, and the canal sides were brimming with life. Among the sounds of chirping insects and calling birds, the city had a unique summery beauty.
Xiao Man flew slowly along the canal, lowering the altitude of the flight to fully appreciate the beauty of this small city.
He had been ignorant before but now, having slowed down, realized how much he had missed.
The anti-gravity car made almost no noise during flight, and it was only after Xiao Man sneaked through the broken wall that his mother barely heard footsteps from next door.
Of course, the first to detect his arrival was the sharp-eared Jin Bao, who started barking in a series as soon as Xiao Man stepped out of the car.
"Boss is back! Boss is back! Let’s go out and play! I want to go out and play!"
Master Liu’s big black dog seemed to be really getting on in years, or maybe it just hadn’t adapted to the new environment, as it was seldom heard barking at home.
However, Xiao Man had no mind to deal with other matters at the moment, especially since his mother was already standing at the door with a questioning look on her face.
"Mom, it was just an accident, and you should actually be happy..."
As he spoke, Xiao Man fished out a bank card from his pocket.
Late at night, at home.
Ever since his mother found out that the small card contained 5 million, she hadn’t stopped holding and admiring it, still delightedly inspecting it now, as if trying to find something new between its two sides.
"Mom, come on, you’re an intellectual, a teacher of the people, can’t you be a little less trivial? You’ve looked at it for hours. If your students saw you, who knows how they would laugh at you," Xiao Man couldn’t help saying.
His mother gave him a glance and said irritably, "If you’re not trivial, just give it all to me. I’m on summer break and have nothing to do."
Xiao Man quickly waved his hands, "No, no! You can’t take it all, I need the money!"
His mother asked suspiciously, "You need it? What are you planning to do?"
"I’m obviously going to... obviously going to..." Xiao Man stammered for a long time, ultimately unable to come up with a reason.
He had initially wanted to say he would buy a car, but then realized he already owned an anti-gravity car, making it seem unnecessary to buy ordinary ones.
Then he thought about buying some equipment and warehouses but remembered the multitude of items provided by the System, realizing he didn’t need ordinary things, aside from firearms, which seemed too much trouble and not worth it.
Getting guns within Hua Xia Country was nearly out of the question, and without any leads abroad, it seemed less useful than delving into his Dark Ability.
Unless it was some truly heavy firepower, in terms of combat, his Ability was more effective.
Moreover, some monsters required specific methods to subdue, such as Holy Water, and light firearms didn’t seem to have much advantage.
As for warehouses, after acquiring Rebirth Island and the Original Realm, Xiao Man no longer needed the original plan.
So after much thought, he couldn’t name a reason that required spending a large sum of money and found himself at a loss for words.
Poverty limited his imagination; for an average family like Xiao Man’s, buying a house and a car were the extent of their wealthy fantasies.
"How about we buy a house first?" his mother suggested.
"Look at our home now, it’s small and drafty. You don’t even have a decent bed, and you can’t always sleep on that foldable bed in the little room, can you?"
"I’ve looked into it, that villa nearby is nice and cheap. We might as well buy it. It comes with a private garage, which would make parking your car much more convenient and less likely to be seen..."
After hearing her analysis, Xiao Man started to be swayed.
Initially, he had overlooked the option of buying a house because, with the Original Realm, he subconsciously treated it as his main base, not needing to waste money on a house.
But after hearing his mother’s words, he realized that the Original Realm wouldn’t be established so quickly. In the meantime, while he could roam freely around the world, his family couldn’t just wander with him, could they?
He knew his mother had long coveted that house, as they had fantasized during meals more than once about someday living there.
Now, setting all factors aside, if his mother liked it, he would not hesitate to buy it.
Deciding then and there, Xiao Man made up his mind about his next steps and entrusted the house-buying task entirely to his mother, his only responsibility to move in comfortably when the time came.
Now, he could finally utter the words he always wanted to say.
"Mom, here’s the money, spend it however you want!"