Chapter 2: Housing Crisis

Zhang Lie did know about the rental contract, but he had been so focused on his personal advancement plan that he hadn't realized Wang Xiaohua would come for him so quickly.

Zhang Lie and Wang Xiaohua's fathers were very close friends, and Zhang Lie's father had apparently saved Wang Xiaohua's father's life before. The two families had always been friendly, and Zhang Lie and Wang Xiaohua had indeed been childhood friends.

In his past life, they had even been in an ill-fated relationship—one that ended when Wang Xiaohua had become besotted with the younger cousin of Qin Xiao, a notable fighter near the top of the gene leaderboard, and had run off with him.

After his rebirth, Zhang Lie had spent all his time cooped up in the damp white-grub cave, and the fledgling relationship between him and Wang Xiaohua had naturally never developed.

Life was hard, and living a good life was even harder. It was natural for Wang Xiaohua to want to seek a better life by giving up on Zhang Lie, but he couldn't tolerate her trying to evict him and his sister and leaving them homeless.

"And if we were to pay to continue renting this place?"

"Ha! In that case, you'd need my permission."

Behind Zhang Lie, Zhang Hanxiang begged, "Sister Xiaohua, please don't kick us out. Where would we live?"

"Oh, the streets? An underground park? I'm sure you'd be able to find a place."

Zhang Lie sucked in a deep breath, repressing his instinctive desire to hit her. "Fine, Wang Xiaohua, what do you want?"

"Leave the Blacksteel settlement—I never want to see you again! Do you know how revolted I feel every time I look at you? How ashamed I am that I know someone like you?"

To leave the Blacksteel settlement would ruin Zhang Lie's plans completely. His living expenses were obtained by killing lifeforms surrounding the Blacksteel settlement. If he were to leave, he wouldn't be able to get any money for rent, and he would never be able to improve his fortunes.

"If I did so, we wouldn't have enough money to feed ourselves."

"Oh? You're tall and strong, aren't you? As long as you're not a cripple like your sister, you'll be able to get by with manual labor, surely. I'm doing this for your own good. Given how low you are on the gene leaderboard anyway, do you really think you'll be able to make a name for yourself? Really, take a look in the mirror! I'm saving you, you hear? What if you were to die in the dimensional world? No one would bring your corpse back!"

"My survival is none of your business."

"Ah? Why are you being so stubborn? Hanxiang, has he not told you anything? Your brother's at the very bottom of the gene leaderboard! Won't you persuade him to face reality? Not everyone's well equipped to deal with such a cutthroat world, after all." Seeing Zhang Lie's stubborn stance, Wang Xiaohua switched targets to Zhang Hanxiang.

Before his sister could reply, however, Zhang Lie stepped in front of her, blocking her from Wang Xiaohua's view. "Wang Xiaohua, I'm warning you, don't make matters worse."

Wang Xiaohua put her hands on her hips. "And so what if I do? Do you want to be evicted?"

Zhang Hanxiang tugged on the hem of Wang Xiaohua's blouse. "Sister Xiaohua, please, let us stay here for just a while longer."

With a nauseated expression on her face, Wang Xiaohua kicked at her wheelchair. "Scram! Don't touch me, you invalid! Do you think you can afford to pay for my blouse if you damage it? You're a cripple, your brother's nothing but trash—both of you are failures as human beings!"

A crisp smack reverberated around the room. Blinded by rage, Zhang Lie had slapped Wang Xiaohua on the face before consciously realizing what he was doing.

Wang Xiaohua clutched her swollen face in shock as she screamed, "Zhang Lie! How dare you hit me?!"

Despite the fact that she had more gene fragments than Zhang Lie, the killing intent in his eyes was such that she didn't dare to retaliate.

Zhang Lie sucked in another deep breath, attempting to quell his anger.

On the other hand, Wang Xiaohua returned to her most practiced fighting style: words. "Zhang Lie, I offered you clemency—I told you that, if you left the Blacksteel settlement, I'd let you two parasites continue to stay in this place. It's not any better than a pigsty, after all, and no one would want it even if I were to give it to them for free—but after that slap, you're not getting anything out of me."

"Will you accept an apology?" For his sister, for his future plan, Zhang Lie was willing to give up his pride.

"Ha! It's far too late! If you want to apologize, then kneel to me in front of the gates of the Blacksteel settlement."

Zhang Lie's eyes turned cold once more. "Do you think I'll do that?"

"I have this contract in my hands, and this is my house, after all. You're both just squatters, and it's perfectly within reason for me to summon guards to chase both of you out."

Zhang Lie shook his head. "You'd be wrong. Look at the contract again: the house doesn't belong to you just yet."

"It's my house!"

It was Zhang Lie's turn to scoff. "According to the contract, we have until the end of the month before you can evict us. There's still two weeks to go, and even if you're the landowner, you can't break the contract."

Wang Xiaohua scanned the contract again to verify Zhang Lie's assertions, but she didn't change her stance. "Is there a difference? It's only a matter of time before I kick the two of you out."

"At the very least, we're legally entitled to this property at the moment. You're the one trespassing on our property, and I'm the one who can summon the guards to kick you out. Well? Are you going to wait for them to show up, or will you leave on your own?"

"Zhang Lie, just you wait! I'll be back at the end of the month!" Knowing that he wouldn't give in, Wang Xiaohua had no choice but to turn around and leave, pointing a warning finger at him all the while.

After finally chasing the hateful Wang Xiaohua away, Zhang Lie leaned down and inspected his sister's wheelchair for any signs of damage. She hugged him tightly, as though only with such an action could she recover a hint of warmth.

"Brother, what will we do? What if Mom and Dad come back and can't find us? Without this house, where will they stay? Where would we go?" The house was filled with memories of family, with proof that the Zhang siblings' parents had once existed.

Upon seeing his sister's tears, Zhang Lie immediately consoled her, "Don't worry, I'll fix everything. If Wang Xiaohua forbids us from renting this place, I'll buy it outright from Uncle Wang, with a price he won't be able to reject."

"And how much would that cost?"

"A million? Ten million? It doesn't matter, it's just money—I'll be able to make it all back."

"But we don't have time, do we?"

Zhang Lie rubbed his sister's head. "Don't worry, Hanxiang. Trust me."

Zhang Hanxiang lowered her head gently onto her brother's chest. With him around, it seemed as though she had nothing to fear.

After calming his sister down, Zhang Lie rested for five hours before returning to the dimensional world. Before setting off once more, he hid a large portion of his remaining money underneath his sister's bed, in case of emergency.

As though sensing Zhang Lie's imminent departure, Zhang Hanxiang opened her eyes. "Brother, are you leaving again?"

"Sorry for waking you, Hanxiang. I'm leaving the rest of my money here. Use it for emergencies."

"Won't you rest a little longer?"

"There's no time."

"Please, be safe. Don't do anything dangerous just because of me. After all, you're the only family I have left, Brother." Zhang Hanxiang tugged on her brother's sleeve, tears glimmering on her pearlescent eyes.

Zhang Lie lowered his head and kissed his sister on the forehead. "I promise you everything will be alright." He passed through the teleportation device into the dimensional world once more, his reappearance immediately prompting a bout of mocking laughter from the crowds in the settlement.

Zhang Lie ignored them all and headed back to the white-grub cave, continuing to slaughter them wholesale.

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

Zhang Lie had only rested for between two to five hours each day, having spent the remainder of his time ceaselessly killing the white grubs. However, the rumored superior-grade white grub never appeared.?How could this be? Could there have been a mistake in the past?