Since his Little Aunt didn't have a car and had come by bus, and the nearest stop on the intercity bus route was still a few miles from Li Family Village, Li Xiang gave her a ride on his three-wheeler.
His Little Aunt didn't mind at all. She hopped into the back and told Li Xiang to take her for a ride.
They chatted a lot along the way. When his Little Aunt mentioned her son, she sounded quite gratified.
"Xiaoxiang, your cousin may be a good-for-nothing who didn't even test into high school, but he's a very decent and filial person."
Li Xiang: "..." 'Does my Little Aunt have some kind of misunderstanding of what "decent" means?'
As if she had heard Li Xiang's unspoken criticism, his Little Aunt quickly added, "Of course, he has plenty of flaws. He's only sixteen, but he's already a huge flirt and has even brought several girlfriends home."
Li Xiang: "..." He felt like he'd taken ten thousand points of Critical Strike damage. 'Damn, he's just a kid and he's already been with several girlfriends. And poor me, a man of two lifetimes, is still a virgin.'
"How about you? How many girlfriends did you have in college?" his Little Aunt asked.
She really knew how to hit him where it hurt.
Li Xiang said sullenly, "I didn't have any."
"And after you started working?"
"None then either!" Li Xiang felt like a complete failure.
His Little Aunt couldn't help but console him. "You don't have to be so proper all the time. It's not like you have to marry anyone you date, you know. Just date around for fun. Sigh, now that you're back in the countryside, your chances are even slimmer. How about this? I'll have your cousin keep an eye out and see if he can introduce you to any nice girls."
"Oh, thanks, heh." Of course, Li Xiang didn't take her offer seriously. 'What kind of decent girl could I possibly meet through my cousin's social circle? Besides, I'm so poor and haven't accomplished anything. Even if I met a great girl, she would never be interested in me.'
Still, he had to admit he was no match for his cousin in this department. His cousin was also poor and had barely any education, yet he was never short of female company. Perhaps his cousin had inherited his womanizing talents from his blond-haired father.
After some idle chatter, they soon reached the main road.
"Xiaoxiang, you should head back now. It's almost dark. I'll be fine waiting here by myself."
"It's no problem. I'll see you onto the bus before I head back." Li Xiang thought, 'How could I possibly feel at ease leaving you to wait for the bus alone on the side of the road?' Although, the countryside was actually quite safe.
His Little Aunt shrugged, thinking, 'Xiaoxiang really is a sweet guy.' She used to be very close with Li Xiang, but they had drifted apart after he went to college.
During his freshman and sophomore years, Li Xiang would still come home for winter and summer breaks. But by his junior and senior years, he only returned for a few days around the New Year. After he started working, he barely even made it back for the holiday.
In his two years of working, Li Xiang had never once spent the New Year at home with his grandmother. It wasn't that he didn't want to come back, but that train tickets were too hard to get, and he couldn't afford to fly.
He had owed his grandmother too much in his past life. In this one, Li Xiang was determined to take good care of her.
After watching his Little Aunt get on the bus, Li Xiang finally drove his three-wheeler home.
He chatted with his grandmother for a while until night fell. His grandmother was getting on in years and looked sleepy, so Li Xiang went to boil water and get her bath ready. Afterward, he went out to the front yard, sat down in a chair, and enjoyed some tea and mooncakes while gazing at the moon.
The Mid-Autumn Moon was perfectly round and enormous, hanging in the sky like a dazzling silver platter, bathing the courtyard in a light as bright as day.
Li Xiang suddenly felt his entire body relax as the invisible shackles on him fell away.
The hardships of the Apocalypse in his past life and the struggles of his career in this one all vanished without a trace.
He savored this moment of tranquility.
In his past life, there was a time he was unemployed, and it felt like his world was ending. Then he failed the civil service exam he'd spent so long preparing for, and again, it felt like his world was ending. When the Apocalypse arrived, it truly felt like his world was ending...
But looking back now, none of that seemed worth mentioning. Instead, rare and beautiful moments like this were the most precious of all. Once the "Darkness" descended, it would be impossible to find such a haven again.
Li Xiang stood up and began to stretch under the moonlight, performing a series of special, rhythmic movements. He inhaled and exhaled at a specific frequency, repeating the sequence over and over with great concentration.
In his past life, he had obtained a Breathing Technique, several sets of Body Techniques, and a Fighting Technique. He had cultivated them to a high level and become an Extraordinary Being. Now that he was reborn as an "ordinary person," he naturally had to pick them up again.
He had actually started practicing on the very day he was reborn, for at least half an hour each day. However, he no longer felt the strange sensations from his past life, like a warm current flowing through his body or a noticeable increase in strength.
Li Xiang guessed that it was probably because the Apocalypse hadn't arrived yet. The world had not yet been filled with Extraordinary Particles, rendering even the most profound Breathing Technique and Body Techniques useless.
But Li Xiang didn't give up. He planned to persevere, practicing day in and day out. Practice makes perfect, after all. He knew that once the "Darkness" descended, the world would be a different place.
His current Cultivation was about building a foundation, turning the Breathing Technique and Body Techniques back into muscle memory.
Among the Body Techniques was a set called the Black Dragon Eighteen Techniques, which was astonishingly powerful even without the use of Extraordinary Energy.
In his past life, aside from his Fighting Technique, his Spear Technique was actually quite formidable as well. He had handled pistols, rifles, submachine guns, grenades, and even RPGs. Of course, in the current era of strict gun control, that was impossible now. He could only scratch that itch by playing video games from time to time.
…
When Li Xiang woke up the next morning, he saw his grandmother holding a chicken in one hand and a knife in the other, preparing to slaughter it.
Li Xiang hurried over. "Grandma, let me do it!"
'How could I let my elderly grandmother do something like this herself?'
"You don't know the first thing about killing a chicken. I'll do it," his grandmother said. In the past, whenever they slaughtered a chicken at home, Li Xiang would always look away, finding it too gory. After he went to the big city for his education and career, he became even less suited for such rough chores.
"Grandma, watch this!" Li Xiang took the chicken and the kitchen knife from her and deftly got to work.
In his past life, after the Apocalypse began, he had struggled just to survive. There wasn't a dirty or exhausting job he hadn't done. Killing a chicken? Piece of cake!
Slit the throat, drain the blood... His movements were practiced and efficient. But then, suddenly, Li Xiang's hand trembled.
And then, a strange expression came over Li Xiang's face.
His grandmother quickly said, "Here, let me take over." She assumed that since it was his first time killing a chicken, he was having a hard time with it psychologically.
But that wasn't the reason at all. A notification had suddenly popped up in his mind: "Slayed Tier One Exotic Beast: Gossipy Dragon. First Blood achievement unlocked. Reward: 10 Achievement Points."