Tu Xiao'an couldn't shake the feeling that this girl was taking advantage of him. It had happened again and again.

'If this keeps up, I'll be busy enough in Wencheng just fending off her suitors,' he thought.

'This is the last time,' he silently resolved. 'If it really comes to it, I'll just make her pick one from her horde of suitors.'

"So you're Zhao'Er's boyfriend?"

A chubby guy in front of him glared at Tu Xiao'an, trying his best to look ferocious.

But to be honest, the fatty was fair-skinned and clean. He had to be over two hundred pounds, yet he looked rather cute.

He looked like someone's big, pampered son.

"Is this guy a big deal?" Tu Xiao'an asked quietly, noticing the four or five bodyguards behind the fatty.

"He's the son of Shanye Group's chairman," Li Qingzhao whispered.

Practically everyone had heard of the Shanye Group. By a strange twist of fate, Tu Xiao'an had even been a "guinea pig" in one of their labs.

But he had since reconciled with Dr. Snake, Chen Mo. And since Dr. Snake had been an old friend of his father, he was technically Tu Xiao'an's elder.

Now that he was in Wencheng, Tu Xiao'an had been wondering if he should pay a visit to the Shanye Group to see Dr. Snake.

'The doctor is familiar with Wencheng; I could ask him about some of the city's hidden affairs.'

He hadn't even gone to the Shanye Group yet, and here he was, running into their young master. Tu Xiao'an smiled. 'Interesting.'

"Hey, I'm talking to you! I don't care if you're Zhao'Er's boyfriend or not. Here's a million. Get lost."

This was the very definition of a rich heir, throwing his money around.

"I'm not her boyfriend."

Tu Xiao'an said flatly. Li Qingzhao immediately shot him a glare. 'Isn't he sabotaging my plan?'

Dongfang Yuan chuckled when he heard that. 'Looks like I scared him into telling the truth.'

'How could I not know if Li Qingzhao has a boyfriend?'

"I'm her brother."

A playful glint flashed in Tu Xiao'an's eyes as he said to the fatty, "My sister doesn't like chubby guys. Lose some weight, then come back and try to woo her."

"Oh, so you're my future brother-in-law!" Dongfang Yuan's attitude instantly warmed. But when he heard the part about losing weight, he frowned. "So how much should I lose?"

"About half."

"What?" Dongfang Yuan, a man of over two hundred pounds, practically jumped. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Tu Xiao'an shook his head, holding back a laugh. "It seems you don't like my sister that much after all if you can't even do this. Sister, let's go."

With that, Tu Xiao'an took Li Qingzhao by the arm and turned to leave.

As they walked away, Li Qingzhao pouted. "Since when did I become your sister?"

"What, would you rather actually be my girlfriend?" Tu Xiao'an said.

"In your dreams!"

They had only taken a dozen steps when the fatty, Dongfang Yuan, caught up to them, his whole body jiggling as he ran.

"Brother-in-law, let me treat you and Zhao'Er to a meal! Allow me to show you some local hospitality."

Li Qingzhao rolled her eyes. "Brother-in-law my foot! Who are you calling that? We're not eating."

"It's lunchtime now. Let's just grab a quick bite," Dongfang Yuan said, his eyes narrowing into slits as he looked at Tu Xiao'an.

Tu Xiao'an also shook his head. "We'll pass on the meal. You can ask me to dinner after you've lost the weight."

Dongfang Yuan stood frozen in place, stunned. 'Is this guy discriminating against me? What's wrong with being a little chubby?'

'I may be fat, but I'm rich!'

By the time Tu Xiao'an and Li Qingzhao had disappeared from the school gates, Li Qingzhao said in surprise, "That's strange. How was Dongfang Yuan so easy to get rid of today?"

Tu Xiao'an looked at her. "This just shows your inexperience. If I said I was your boyfriend, it would have easily started an unnecessary fight."

"But now that I said I'm your brother, didn't he back right off?"

"Oh..."

It dawned on Li Qingzhao. She gave Tu Xiao'an a thumbs-up. 'Claiming to be family works better than claiming to be a boyfriend.'

"Actually, there's another identity that would have worked even better."

"What identity?"

"Your dad."

"Tu Xiao'an, you're taking advantage of me again!"

Li Qingzhao's exasperated voice echoed from behind him. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

An hour later, Tu Xiao'an and Li Qingzhao parted ways. After some thought, he decided to arrange a meeting with Dr. Snake.

But Tu Xiao'an didn't go to the Shanye Group. Instead, he arranged to meet the doctor at a coffee shop across the street from their headquarters.

It was worth noting that Wencheng University and the Shanye Group were only separated by a couple of streets, both located in the city's most central and bustling district.

Tu Xiao'an was already seated in the coffee shop by a window. Soon, he saw an assistant pushing Dr. Snake toward the entrance.

But the assistant didn't come in. Tu Xiao'an got up, went over, and pushed Dr. Snake to his table.

Dr. Snake, Chen Mo, gazed at the refined young man before him with a complicated expression. 'Who could have imagined that this young-looking man was the human form of an unimaginably enormous Giant Snake?'

"I didn't expect you to actually come, and much sooner than I thought."

Only about half a month had passed since their conversation under the streetlight.

"I arrived yesterday. Just as you said, Doctor, if I had stayed in Bai Town, I was afraid I would attract a lot of Martial Cultivators. It's not that I'm scared, I just felt that Bai Town was no longer the right place for me."

Tu Xiao'an wanted to attain his Dao, and leveling up in Bai Town had become far too slow. 'This metropolis, with its Martial Cultivators, numerous awakened Spirit Monsters, and even Rank Three Creatures (Demons)... now *this* is where things get interesting.'

When Chen Mo heard he had arrived yesterday, he suddenly frowned. "A swarm of snakes suddenly appeared at Wencheng University yesterday. Could that have something to do with you?"

In his eyes, Tu Xiao'an was the human form of a Snake King. Only he would have the power to command all snakes, with none daring to disobey.

"I was indeed at Wencheng University yesterday, but the swarm of snakes had nothing to do with me."

Tu Xiao'an told him the truth. "The snakes came to the campus because of a Cat Spirit."

"A Cat Spirit?" Dr. Snake was puzzled. 'What does a Cat Spirit have to do with a swarm of snakes?'

Tu Xiao'an smiled. He knew that if he didn't explain the whole story, Dr. Snake could let his imagination run wild and still never guess the truth.

"The Cat Spirit stole a Snake King Stone from the Bai Family—a stone left behind by a Snake King after it attained its Dao. It swallowed the Snake King Stone, and so, wherever the Cat Spirit went, the snakes would swarm."

Dr. Snake was astonished. "Something like that happened? What then?"

"The Cat Spirit tried to use the power of the Snake King Stone to attain its Dao, but unfortunately, it failed. As it happened, I had nothing better to do and stumbled upon the situation. I convinced the Cat Spirit to let me get the Snake King Stone out of its body."

"Where is the Snake King Stone? Let me see it."

A Snake King Stone left by a Snake King that had attained its Dao was an immense treasure to a researcher of the Snake Race like Chen Mo.

Tu Xiao'an pointed to his own left eye.

Dr. Snake didn't understand at first, but after observing Tu Xiao'an's left and right eyes for a moment, he noticed a distinct difference between them.

The left eye exuded a powerful pressure, one that made even someone like him, a person with a mastery over snakes, feel a heart-pounding sense of dread.

"Could it be... that the so-called Snake King Stone is that left eye?"

Dr. Snake was incredibly sharp and understood immediately.

"That's right. I was the one who caught this pie that fell from the sky."

For Tu Xiao'an, the Snake King Stone was a pie that fell from the sky. It might have been for the Cat Spirit, too, but it couldn't catch it and was nearly crushed to death instead.

Tu Xiao'an, however, had caught it securely, and he'd devoured it in a single gulp.