Chapter 453: I'm So Stupid, Really...
"What did you say?!"
Long Hao's body trembled upon hearing this, his expression changing drastically as he turned to look at the old stall owner.
The stall owner, a man whose face was a roadmap of wrinkles, squinted up at Long Hao from his low stool. A knowing, almost pitying chuckle escaped his chapped lips. "Young man, I remember you," he said, his voice raspy with age. "That white jade thumb ring I recommended yesterday? Someone else came by this morning. Bought it for a clean thirty thousand yuan, no haggling. A very generous fellow, not nearly as… frugal as you."
The word "frugal" landed like a physical slap. Long Hao's breath hitched. "No, that's not what I mean. What was that about an 'immortal doctor's heritage'? Old man, you have to tell me clearly!" he pressed, his voice strained with a desperate urgency. A knot of ice was forming in his stomach, a dreadful premonition solidifying into horrifying certainty.
The old stall owner simply smiled, enjoying the boy's panic. "I'm not too sure about the details myself," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "It was that young man, the buyer. He was muttering to himself, something about the white jade thumb ring being the key to some immortal doctor's heritage. He just said that one line, paid his money, and then left."
Long Hao's blood ran cold. "What did he look like? The man who bought it!"
"Forgot," the old man grunted, scratching his chin. "I just remember he was young. Quite handsome, I think." As the stall owner spoke, his own expression flickered with a hint of confusion. He frowned, trying to picture the young man's face, but found only a strange, indistinct blur. It was as if the memory had been smudged, the details deliberately erased.
In reality, an imperceptible field of psychic power constantly distorted the space around Shen Anyu. It was a subtle warping of light and perception, enough to fool not only the fallible human eye but even the unblinking lens of a surveillance camera. Anyone trying to recall his features would find their mind drawing a blank.
It was much like the shocking difference between the filtered, angelic faces of popular streamers online and their mundane, real-life appearances. Each one was a Dou Zong expert, distorting space.
You couldn't tell. You really couldn't tell.
Long Hao's last hope crumbled. "What about the transfer? The payment record! Let me see it!" he pleaded, grabbing the edge of the stall's worn blanket.
The old man swatted his hand away. "Cash. He paid in cold, hard cash. No transfer," he said, his patience finally wearing thin. "Now, are you buying something, young man? If not, don't block my stall. You're scaring away my customers."
"I... I'm leaving now."
Long Hao stumbled away from the stall, his movements stiff and robotic. The vibrant, bustling antique street faded into a meaningless blur of color and noise. His eyes were vacant, his lips parted slightly as a single, devastating phrase echoed in his mind, spilling from his mouth in a choked whisper.
"I'm so stupid... really..."
The immortal doctor's heritage.
The white jade thumb ring.
The stall right next to Lu Ran's.
The future Immortal Doctor, Lu Ran...
The clues, once scattered and confusing, now wove themselves into a perfect, damning chain of events. A violent shudder wracked Long Hao's body. The realization struck him with the force of a physical blow, knocking the air from his lungs.
He had been so confused before. How could the future Immortal Doctor Lu Ran—a legendary figure whose consultation fee would one day exceed a hundred million yuan, a man who could command the respect of nations—be so utterly miserable right now? Why was he reduced to setting up a shabby stall on Magic City's Antique Street, hawking cheap trinkets?
At first, Long Hao had rationalized it as a classic case of a master playing in the mortal world. Eccentric geniuses had their quirks, after all. Setting up a stall or even disguising oneself as a beggar wasn't out of the question for a man of Lu Ran's future stature.
But the more he observed, the more that theory fell apart. Lu Ran wasn't playing. He was genuinely miserable. His grandfather was wasting away in a hospital bed, his condition critical. His younger sister, Lu Qiong, was also plagued by a chronic illness. Lu Ran was working himself to the bone, juggling a day job and this pathetic nighttime stall, desperately scraping together money for their astronomical medical expenses.
This wasn't 'playing in the mortal world'; this was a clear picture of pure desperation.
In his past life, if someone had claimed that the great Immortal Doctor Lu Ran couldn't afford a paltry two million in medical fees, they would have been laughed out of the room, dismissed as a raving lunatic. And the most glaring contradiction of all: the peerless physician who could supposedly bring the dead back to life and regrow bones from dust had a family he couldn't heal? It was the cruelest of jokes.
For two days, this puzzle had tormented him. While he had been fawning over Lu Ran, trying to curry favor, his mind had been spinning, trying to reconcile the broken man before him with the legend he was destined to become. How could this ordinary, luckless youth transform into the peerless Immortal Doctor Lu Ran in just two and a half years?
But now, Long Hao understood everything. And the understanding was like acid burning through his insides.
Lu Ran was supposed to obtain that white jade thumb ring from the old man's stall. That was the catalyst. That was the Opportunity that would grant him the immortal doctor's heritage and set him on his meteoric rise to fame and power.
And now, that Opportunity had been snatched away. Stolen right from under his nose.
Long Hao had just lost another priceless investment target.
He almost laughed. A bitter, broken sound. It was fine. This was fine. He was getting used to it. Asura Demon King Chu Yun, Leader of the War God Alliance Yan Lingxiao, Lord of Youming Hall Ye Yan, the world's richest man Qi Fan… The list of future titans he'd tried to invest in, only to see them ruined or their Opportunities stolen, was growing longer by the day.
But this... this was different.
This time, the one who had been ruined was himself.
"I'm so stupid... really..." The whisper grew into a guttural moan.
As if possessed by the spirit of Teacher Luo, Long Hao's hand shot up.
SMACK!
The sound was sharp, wet, and shockingly loud. He slapped himself across the face, hard. Then again.
SMACK!
And again.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
His cheeks flared with a stinging, burning pain, but it was nothing compared to the inferno of regret consuming his soul. Red and white marks bloomed across his skin, a clear sign of his violent self-loathing.
He replayed the events of yesterday in his mind, each detail a fresh twist of the knife. He had stood right there, at that very stall. He had held the Opportunity in his hands. The old man had practically begged him to buy it. Thirty thousand yuan. But he, in his infinite wisdom, had tried to be clever. He didn't want to be a sucker. He didn't want to overpay.
At that moment, he had even felt a smug sense of pride. He thought he was so smart, so savvy. He'd watched countless live streams of antique treasure hunting in his past life; he knew all the tricks of the trade on these ancient streets. What Western Zhou treasures? More like treasures from last week. That white jade thumb ring looked like cheap, cloudy plastic, covered in mottled, artificial scratches. Thirty thousand for that piece of junk? It wasn't even worth three hundred!
So he had walked away. He'd spent a thousand yuan on a worthless Yuan Datou silver coin instead, patting himself on the back for his sharp eye.
Now, as the memory mocked him, the truth was blindingly clear.
Yuan Datou?
He was the big-headed sucker. The biggest sucker on the whole street.
A wave of regret so powerful it was nauseating washed over him, and he felt his intestines twist into a tight, green knot.
"Is that guy crazy? Why is he hitting himself like that? So hard, too."
"I don't know, looks like he's lost his mind. Let's keep our distance. Don't want him trying to pull a scam on us if he falls over."
Passersby stared, their faces a mixture of morbid curiosity and alarm. They pointed and whispered, treating him like a deranged patient escaped from an asylum. A wide circle formed around him as people instinctively shuffled away.
Long Hao didn't notice. He couldn't hear their whispers or feel their judgmental stares. He was trapped in a prison of his own making, drowning in an ocean of regret. The emotion was a living thing, a venomous serpent coiling around his heart, sinking its fangs deeper with every frantic beat.
He had been given a heavenly Opportunity. A chance to become the next Immortal Doctor. A path to unimaginable power and prestige, laid bare right at his feet. And he had turned away. He had kicked it aside out of sheer, arrogant stupidity.
To never have an Opportunity was one thing. But to be given one, to hold it in your hands, and to let it slip away through a momentary lapse in judgment... that was a special kind of hell.
The regret was indescribable, a soul-crushing weight that threatened to annihilate him completely.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao's mentality has exploded. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao is experiencing extreme regret. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao has completely broken down. Plundering +66666 Destiny Points!]
...
Concealed in the shadows of a nearby alley, Shen Anyu watched Long Hao's public meltdown with a flicker of amusement in his eyes. A faint, predatory smile touched his lips.
You'll have plenty more to regret soon enough. Don't be in such a rush.
You wanted me and Su Hongmian to kneel and apologize to you? To serve you cappuccino? Keep dreaming.
His thoughts focused, cold and sharp as a shard of ice.
Devour Investment Return System!
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